Category: Covid-19

Since 2004, when David Chang helped to reconfigure the dining establishments ideas about what a great restaurant could be with Manhattans Momofuku Noodle Bar, he has opened more than a dozen restaurants around the world; hosted two seasons of his Netflix documentary series, Ugly Delicious; started a hit podcast, The Dave Chang Show; published the defunct, much-loved food magazine Lucky Peach; and now written a memoir, the forthcoming Eat a Peach, with a co-author, Gabe Ulla. In doing all that, Chang, 42, has become a food-world icon, broadened the countrys palate and made us more thoughtful about what we eat. None of which is much help with moving forward in the wake of the economic destruction that the coronavirus has wrought in the culinary world. Im not being hyperbolic in any way, Chang said about the future of the field in which he made his name. Without government intervention, there will be no service industry.

Can you describe the state of things on your end right now? Were still trying to sort that out. We made the decision to close our restaurants before it was mandated, and were currently in the process of trying to figure out the best way to help our employees. Im not being hyperbolic in any way: Without government intervention, there will be no service industry whatsoever. Theres so many people that work for me whom I am incredibly concerned about. Where are they going to get their next meal? Do they have health care coverage? How are they going to pay their bills? But this is the way Ive been weirdly internalizing it: Its as if aliens came from outer space and decided to totally destroy restaurants. I wouldnt be like, I cant believe I didnt see this coming. In some way coronavirus is an invisible enemy that we could not have anticipated. No one could have.

What needs to happen next for restaurants? We may be headed for the worst-case scenario. Even with more government intervention, Im afraid that its not going to be adequate for the people who need it the most. I feel like its the polar opposite of 2008, when they helped the big banks and insurance companies because they had to or the world as we knew it would end. And now, in 2020, were talking about nonessential businesses and people who dont have the clout to be able to speak to the government. I have a hard time seeing all the mom-and-pop shops getting help from the government.

Ideally, though, what would that help look like? More than anything, David, I do not want to incite panic and hysteria, but I think for restaurants and the service industry, there is going to be a morbidly high business death rate. My fear is the restaurants that survive are going to be the big chains, and were going to eradicate the very eclectic mix that makes America and going out to eat so vibrant and great. And there is a lot of feeling that even in good times, if chefs cant make their numbers, theyre going to lose everything, so imagine what they must be feeling now. When the economy is booming, its hard for restaurants to get loans from the bank because theres no assets to back them. I dont know if its going to be feasible for the government to give out a stimulus loan to a restaurant or restaurant groups the way they were able to do in 2008 to the auto companies. So Im trying to figure out what the best way is. The government should give a greater bailout package to real estate owners so that there can be relief for restaurant owners. It has to move up the chain.

Chang at Momofuku Ko in 2012. Gabriele Stabile

And the hope there would be that bailing out real estate owners would give restaurants a little bit of financial breathing room? Correct. Most restaurants dont own their real estate, so if they are going to get help, its going to entail helping out the landlords and lenders who are higher up the chain. Then the next thing to help the restaurants out would be an amnesty of accounts payable and bills. I dont know how that plays out. This industry has a trickle-down effect in the sense that you have purveyors, you have farmers, you have delivery people. Its a massively intertwined, connected system. So if a restaurant cant pay its bills, thats a problem, but we need to figure that out. There are so many restaurants in different scenarios, from ones that do $70 million a year to $5,000 a week, and every one of those restaurants is going to need help because the burn rate per day is astronomically high. We have ingredients that if you dont sell, they literally deteriorate. Its the most exposed business. Theres a lot of successful chefs I know who have five to nine days left of money. And then what do you do? I dont know. Lastly, I think every hospitality worker should get universal basic income of $1,000 a month or minimum 500 bucks or whatever to stay afloat. On top of that, they all need to have some kind of health care assurance. Something like that probably has to happen. But I dont expect the government to actually come through on any of that.

I saw that the White House had a call with representatives from the restaurant industry, and it was McDonalds, Papa Johns All of Trumps [expletive] that he eats on a daily basis.

Do you have any reason to believe the White House will be responsive to independent restaurant operators? This is why it matters what you eat! I get really mad about this because of how Trump talks about immigrants, Mexicans, Chinese anyone thats not in his circle, why would he care about them? If he doesnt care about them as human beings, why would he care about the food that they make? But listen, if he decides to actually help out everyone, it may be the only time in my life I want to give him a hug and a kiss. If Momofuku and restaurants like Le Bernardin and Daniel Bouluds and Danny Meyers are exposed and in high-trouble situations, I cannot imagine the fear of someone who just opened up a restaurant or some immigrant who came to this country five years ago who just opened up a pizza shop and this is their American dream.

What about people who want to help the restaurants they care about? Is there anything they can do? Call your representatives. Were going to need to have our leadership make decisions for people whose vote they might not always represent. And support any restaurant thats doing delivery. The short-term solution is to buy as much as you can from a restaurant. If this thing goes as bad as its going, the landscape is going to be forever changed. Its going to be a whole new world.

Is there a sustained move toward delivery and away from in-restaurant dining in that new world? Yes. Not to sound callous, but thats it. I thought that shift was going to happen over the next 10, 15 years, and no one would have noticed because it wouldve happened gradually. This change is now going to happen instantaneously. Im not sure what that looks like. The same issues of delivery are going to remain: who delivers food and what kind of food is delivered.

Youve talked on your podcast about how food delivery is already changing insofar as more people are trying to deliver good-quality food thats not just pizza or Chinese. What would that change being accelerated mean for the restaurant business? I see the complete destruction of the midmarket restaurant, the mom-and-pop restaurants. If delivery can be a model that is viable and people can work fewer hours and have better balance, then it is something that we should explore. Im really worried for this industry. Sometimes cooks have gotten into this being sold a false bill of goods. No ones told you whats going to happen at the end of the rainbow. There is no rainbow. Its like glamorizing being an oil-rig worker or a coal miner. Yes, there is beauty and success, but for the most part cooking is a hard job, and it bothers me that theres not a better way to do it.

Chang with the scholar Psyche Williams-Forson on an episode of Ugly Delicious. From Netflix

What could be better? With delivery, you have two completely different worlds: the tech world and the restaurant world. The tech world is all about scaling and throwing money at something. But you cant fully automate cooking. Maybe someone will. Im worried about what that looks like. Would I like to be at home and be like boop, press a button and get something delicious delivered? That would be amazing, but it also scares me. Were not supposed to live this way.

You mean with the expectation of near-instant gratification? Yeah, if we just think about meat maybe it needs to be extremely expensive, and if it is expensive, were probably going to treat it how the Japanese cook their beef. Very thinly, very delicately, and eating it is a celebration. As humans, we dont want to suffer. Its not in our DNA. Its natural that we want to enjoy immediate gratification, and that has [expletive] everything up. Even steakhouses today, theyre getting the aging room removed because people dont want to see the meat. They used to trolley out the meat to people. Now thats gone. We dont want to be reminded of suffering. Just bring me the food. People dont even know where their food comes from, and that is a metaphor for a lot of our problems.

Its indisputable that lots of Americans are now open to foods that maybe they werent open to in the past, which seems like an obvious positive outgrowth of the rise of interest in food culture in this country. Has there been any downside to that rise? Its weird that in the history of the world, no one has ever known more about food than this generation. I talk to younger people that know different kinds of kimchi. That never stops boggling my mind. So what do we do with that knowledge? Its got to be two schools. You need the people who are going to try to maintain tradition. You have people cooking food who are artisans. Like Anthony Mangieri at Una Pizza Napoletana. Theres something religious about that. I admire it more than anything in this food world, to be like a Dom DeMarco. But then we have all this other stuff, and everyones doing the same. We should be seeing the most insane things. Were still a conservative steak-and-potatoes country, and that bums me out. Theres less risk-taking. Thats OK if you want to be a craftsman, but theres fewer people that want to do that, too.

What would the alternative to a steak-and-potatoes country look like? Every country has its staples. Thats a great question. I guess for me its: How do we find openness? So much of my life is because of the hell I experienced as a kid. A lot of it was like, as silly as it seems, Oh, Chang, you eat dog, or you eat poo, or your house smells. All of these things. What bothers me about steak and potatoes and I love steak, I love potatoes, I love them together is when people dont want to try anything else. That myopic viewpoint scares me. If I learn to appreciate something, then it better allows me to understand someone elses culture.

Whats the connection between more people being interested in food culture and the risk-aversion you just mentioned? When we talk about food, it almost always is about how awesome it is, how accessible it is. But how do you get to a place where it has meaning? Having so much accessibility maybe dulls our ability to appreciate things. I think about moments that are real, like when I had my first fresh-squeezed orange juice. I grew up with that frozen stuff. Then you taste fresh-squeezed, and you realize, this is orange juice. But that was a rarity. Now its something you could have every day. That accessibility were not supposed to have everything.

Momofuku Noodle Bar in New Yorks East Village in 2012. Gabriele Stabile

Do you think you still have innovations left in you? Well, yeah. What I want to get better at is making sure that I can prepare other people so they can tell their stories. That process is so hard, and in some ways, all I want to do is take that struggle away. I also realize that would be, like, the worst form of parenting possible. I had an argument with my mom this is a tangent. My mom got mad at my wife and me. She was like, Hugos crying. Why are you not going into the room? She came from the generation that was anything the baby needs, youre there. But Grace and I were huddled in the room next door looking at the monitor: Should we go in? Should we go in? This is the worst. This is the worst. Im going to go in. No, you cant. Being there but not intervening thats so hard.

According to your own memoir, you were a horrible boss for a long time. Absolutely. I was immature and a total jerk, and I developed a giant ego. I want to beat the [expletive] out of myself for not being better. This is what years of therapy have been about. I cant get mad at myself for not being perfect as much as I will continue to be mad at myself.

The macho, hotheaded behavior that you thought was acceptable in kitchens was that the result of your having bought into the whole myth of the swashbuckling genius male chef? Youre taught in kitchens that anything short of excellence is unacceptable. The only thing that matters is to make it perfect. So what are you supposed to do when youre told this is how youre supposed to run a kitchen? There were certainly people that were like well, thats stupid, but I didnt have that insight. And how I was raised: You suck, you suck, you suck. I do better when Im getting yelled at. Ive been yelled at my entire life. I have been conditioned to work better when getting yelled at. This may be completely inappropriate to make the comparison, but its like if youre stuck in a religious household, how are you supposed to know that something else exists?

You frame things in somewhat similarly paradigmatic terms when you talk in your book about #MeToo and the food world, including Mario Batali. Your conclusion was that you werent sure if you were ignorant or wanted to be ignorant. But Im wondering if you could revisit that question now: Why did you miss the signs? When I think about Mario or Ken, I felt like I was a freshman in high school and these were the seniors. Like: This is how it is. Im wrestling with all of this. Mario was one reason why Momofuku didnt go out of business. He would come in for lunch with politicians, businesspeople, celebrities, artists. But why didnt I say something when there was a joke or connect the dots? Its been a lot of processing. We have to hold ourselves accountable.

Have you taken steps to do that? A couple of years ago, you were the subject of a pregnancy-discrimination allegation. Right.I was so busy trying to be right that I wasnt looking at how to make things better. I was a [expletive].

Are there specific things that you implemented or can point to in terms of making your workplaces more inclusive for women? I think that weve just tried to build the best company possible. I want to build the most inclusive workplace possible. Thats a goal that we all should strive for and that we need to get better at. I think that were doing our very best, and I dont know what else you can say about that.

Chang with the actor Seth Rogen in the Netflix series Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner. From Netflix

But does doing your best translate to specific policies that youve implemented? Obviously we do everything we can with policies. To me, were reverse-engineering it. How do you get a place where people like when theyre at work and dont speak negatively about the place with their friends? And instead theyre like, This is great! Thats the goal, and making it inclusive and making it equal. That has to happen.

In your book, you talk about having had suicidal thoughts. Do you still have them? Um, a lot. I dont think theres a day that goes by where it doesnt happen. Its what I talk about with my doctor. Its weird to verbalize this not to my shrink but to you. Its just more, like, existential dread. What Im working on right now is what happens when at some point you dont want to push the boulder up the hill anymore. I worry about that day, and what happens when a lot of your heroes call it quits, whether its Tony Bourdain or Dave Berman. The way Ive determined a lot of happiness is weird. A lot of this is Camus: Happiness is saying no. I refuse. What I worry about is what happens if I dont want to do that anymore. Yes, there are rich relationships that I have, and I would do anything for my family but my depression is like an A.I., and its constantly getting smarter as I become more aware. The thing that happens when people get depressed is all you do is think about yourself in relation to the world because you have disassociated from everything else, and then it starts to destroy your sense of worth, your sense of identity. Ultimately I get through that, and I can center myself. Everythings telling you to stop, but you have to never give up. You have to pick yourself up and find some baseline. I know it sounds crazy, but you just have to push through.

Is cooking something that can help with these problems? I think people have lost the idea of why someone cooks for someone else: I want you to feel good. I want you to eat something delicious. I may not even know you, but heres a bowl of love. The other day, I made Hugo sockeye salmon. I shredded it, and then I blended spinach and broccoli with a little butter. Ive never cooked at home in my life. Ever. Being able to do that has been like, oh, this is what cooking should be.

What food is giving you comfort? Snow pea shoots with garlic and some chicken broth and a bowl of rice. I put a little MSG in it, and it was great. So right now its been a lot of snow pea shoots and its a lot of oxtails with broths and soups. I just cook like a grandma now. I would love to have a restaurant where it feels like youre at home. How do you open a restaurant where youre just giving people that?

David Marchese is a staff writer and the Talk columnist for the magazine.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity from three conversations.

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David Chang Isn't Sure the Restaurant Industry Will Survive Covid-19 - The New York Times

For the poor, work has dried up entirely, and so those migrant workers who could sought to beat the lockdown by heading home in huge numbers. Since the restrictions came into force, buses and trains have stopped ferrying passengers across the country, leaving them to walk, often for days, with their families back to their towns and villages.

Again, the authorities callousness has been on display: In one heartbreaking video that went viral, police in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh force young boys to perform frog jumps as punishment for violating the curfew. Another video shows police waiting outside a mosque in the southern state of Karnataka, beating worshippers with a stick as they leave. Similar cases of police brutality have been reported around the country, and social media have filled with messages of people running out of food yet afraid to leave their dwellings, fearful of the police.

All of that is to say nothing of the medical disaster that may well await India, one I am familiar withI have covered health care in India for 17 years, and was previously the health editor of The Hindu, one of the countrys biggest newspapers. As the government focused in recent months on passing the controversial anti-Muslim law, stoking protests and eventually communal violence, crucial time to prepare for this pandemic was lost. The World Health Organization warned on February 27 of a coming disruption in global supply chains, advising countries to create their own stockpiles of the personal protective equipment that medical workers would need. The Indian government waited until March 19, however, to finally issue an order prohibiting the export of domestically made PPE, and a further five days to ban the export of respiratory apparatuses. There are more such delays: Only last week did the government finally allow health-care workers treating patients suffering from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, to be tested; it also only recently began testing those without a travel history, a long-overdue implicit admission that the virus was being transmitted locally; and it has just issued notices to private hospitals to submit tallies of the number of intensive-care beds and ventilators available and to cancel nonessential surgeries, and directed facilities nationwide to ensure those suffering COVID-19 are neither stigmatized nor turned away. Even the measures the authorities have taken have had unintended consequences. The lockdown, for example, bars factory workers from going to work, leading to a shutdown of the medical-device industry, and prevents truckers from transporting materials and stocks to hospitals.

There is, unfortunately, good reason to believe that all of this will not be enough. For one, India is still not testing enough people, having conducted the fewest number of tests of any country with confirmed cases of the coronavirus, at just 10.5 per million residents (South Korea, by contrast, has conducted more than 6,000 tests per million residents). That private laboratories are allowed to charge $60 per testremember, just $7 a month has been offered as income support for some residentsmeans significant barriers to confirmation and treatment remain in place. (The government argues that because of the size of the population, widespread testing is not feasible.) The authorities are also not meticulously contact tracing, people are fleeing isolation centers, and measures such as self-quarantines and social distancing are impractical in a country where much of the population lives in dense clusters in overcrowded megacities. Whereas the WHO recommends a ratio of one doctor for every 1,000 patients, India has one government doctor for every 10,000, according to the 2019 National Health Profile. A 2016 Reuters report noted that India needed more than 50,000 critical-care specialists, but has just 8,350. In short, the countrys health-care system is in no position to cope with an avalanche of patients with a contagious respiratory infection in the manner that China and Italy have been doingIndias continued inability to deal with the epidemic of tuberculosis speaks to that struggle.

Original post:

The Callousness of India's COVID-19 Response - The Atlantic

Apple today released a new screening tool and set of resources to help people stay informed and take the proper steps to protect their health during the spread of COVID-19, based on the latest CDC guidance. The new COVID-19 website, and COVID-19 app available on the App Store, were created in partnership with the CDC,1 the White House Coronavirus Task Forceand FEMA to make it easy for people across the country to get trusted information and guidance at a time when the US is feeling the heavy burden of COVID-19.

The COVID-19 app and website allow users to answer a series of questions around risk factors, recent exposure and symptoms for themselves or a loved one. In turn, they will receive CDC recommendations on next steps, including guidance on social distancing and self-isolating, how to closely monitor symptoms, whether or not a test is recommended at this time, and when to contact a medical provider. This new screening tool is designed to be a resource for individuals and does not replace instructions from healthcare providers or guidance from state and local health authorities.

The app and website also offer access to resources to help people stay informed and get the support they need. Users will receive answers to frequently asked questions about COVID-19, including who is most at risk and how to recognize symptoms. In addition, they will learn the most up-to-date information from the CDC like best practices for washing hands, disinfecting surfaces and monitoring symptoms.

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Apple releases new COVID-19 app and website based on CDC guidance - Apple Newsroom

-Photo by Hans MadsenCarol Tell, the wife of Messenger Reporter/Photographer Hans Madsen, peeks through the window with the couples granddaughter Lydia, 4, at the home they are sheltering at in Ames. -Photo by Hans MadsenRobert Marble, who was on his way to Grand Rapids, Minnesota, poses with his arsenal of protective gear at a gas station in Ames Friday morning. Marble and his wife Bridget are old friends and the stop was supposed to be a social visit that couldnt happen due to the COVID-19 pandemic.-Photo by Hans MadsenOne of the few vehicles out on the highways early Friday morning heads east along U.S. Highway 30 just past the Ogden exit.

-Photo by Hans MadsenCarol Tell, the wife of Messenger Reporter/Photographer Hans Madsen, peeks through the window with the couples granddaughter Lydia, 4, at the home they are sheltering at in Ames.

AMES Meeting my friends Rob and Bridgett Marble as they came through the area on their move from Arizona to Minnesota wasnt supposed to be the way it was.

Then again, nothing much is.

COVID-19 has changed pretty much everything.

They were pumping gas at a station on the east side of Ames when I pulled up to meet them. Both in blue Nitrile gloves. The USDA labs, where they have the really nasty bugs, were just to the north.

We waved, talked from 10 feet away and then moved the U-haul truck to unload a few things into my car.

-Photo by Hans MadsenRobert Marble, who was on his way to Grand Rapids, Minnesota, poses with his arsenal of protective gear at a gas station in Ames Friday morning. Marble and his wife Bridget are old friends and the stop was supposed to be a social visit that couldnt happen due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Their breakfast was a sandwich and muffin from inside the store eaten with the smell of hand sanitizer lingering in the air. I wasnt hungry.

We talked for a bit, tried to catch up.

That breakfast was supposed to have lasted a while, a meal with old friends in a decent restaurant. Not a standup sandwich with the hood of my car for a table.

Rob never did take off his gloves.

On the way, I mostly had the roads to myself. Eerie for an early Friday morning.

-Photo by Hans MadsenOne of the few vehicles out on the highways early Friday morning heads east along U.S. Highway 30 just past the Ogden exit.

Lincoln Way in Ames takes you through the campus. I counted four people on the sidewalks. A jogger, someone walking their dog two pedestrians.

An empty campus with little life. Without the students, its just a collection of buildings.

My wife, Carol, is sheltering in place with her daughter and our granddaughter Lydia. Theyre in Ames for the duration.

I decided to stop, we could safely visit through the window.

I had to stand in the flower bed. They got as close to the window as they could. We both put our phones on speaker to talk.

I made a photograph on film, realizing as I put the camera down that the window screen would blur their faces.

It seems apt. So close to those I love yet far enough away that the image becomes unclear. Something like a memory but right there. Something in a dream you cant quite touch.

I left them a four pack of Dr. Pepper on the step. Carol put a sandwich bag with two cookies that her and Lydia had made out in return. Lydia wanted Bakka Han to have some cookies.

I felt helpless and lost halfway across the yard. Then I walked up and picked up the cookies. They were wonderful, each in the sort of beautiful odd shapes that only a 4-year-old can make when they smash cookie dough.

I returned to my car, Tex, my German shepherd, sniffed my ear from the back seat.

If he could talk, Im sure it would be something like Cookies? I smell cookies. Can I have a cookie?

He muzzled my arm a few miles up the road. Dogs do that when they sense their humans arent okay. I reached down and petted his head. Dogs are like that.

Ive learned something the hard way over the years, its okay, not to be okay. Its okay to miss those you love and its okay to feel that intensely. Its okay to cry while driving down a highway with almost nobody on it with a big dog in the backseat that pushes his nose into your arm.

Part of me regrets stopping. It was a painful experience in many ways but for almost all of us, theres going to be some of that as this pandemic plays out.

Embrace them if you can, tell them you love them if you cant.

Continued here:

Life in the time of COVID-19 | News, Sports, Jobs - Fort Dodge Messenger

MIDLAND, Texas It's a question many of us are asking: will warm weather kill COVID-19?

Coronavirus is a respiratory virus, passed along mainly by water droplet spread, so West Texas' climate may be well suited to reduce the spread, especially as we get closer to summer.

But until we get to that point, the virus might currently be in favorable conditions to survive.

The virus has been shown to survive on hard surfaces for a couple of days and in stagnating air for up to two or three hours in conditions when it's sitting in a moist, room temperature climate.

Dr. Wilson is optimistic that as West Texas gets warmer and drier, the number of cases should go down, similar to the flu virus.

"We hope that it's going to behave like every other virus that we know of that's respiratory spread and water droplet spread," says Dr. Larry Wilson, Midland Memorial Hospital's Chief Medical Officer.

It's too soon to say for certain, but there is some research to support Dr. Wilson's hypothesis.

According to a 2010 study from the Centre for Infectious Diseases at the University of Edinburgh, three out of the four studied coronavirus strains showed a marked seasonality, with the highest spike of infections in winter.

It's important to note that the strains studied in 2010 were different from COVID-19, but it does give reason to believe that we may see some relief in the summer.

Whether or not COVID-19 is seasonal, Dr. Wilson believes that the virus just may have a difficult time of surviving in the heat. He believes that because we are not shut indoors and huddled together in the summer, the virus won't be able to spread from person to person as easily.

MORE FROM NEWSWEST 9:

Protecting our frontline in West Texas amidst COVID-19

First case of COVID-19 confirmed in Martin County

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Can COVID-19 be killed by the heat? - NewsWest9.com

Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order Moving New York Presidential Primary Election to June 23rd | Governor Andrew M. Cuomo Skip to main content March 28, 2020

Albany, NY

Issues Executive Order to Enable Moving Tax Filing Deadline for Personal and Corporate Taxes to July 15th

New York State's Wadsworth Lab Has Started Evaluating New Antibody Test

Governor Announces Three New Sites to Add 695 Hospital Beds to the State's Capacity; State Will Begin Using Some Facilities Only for Patients with COVID-19

Following Governor's Request, Federal Government Has Approved Four Additional Sites for Temporary Hospitals

First 1,000-Bed Temporary Hospital at Jacob K.JavitsConvention Center Expected to Open Monday

70 Non-Profit Organizations Statewide Will Receive $7.5 Million in Operating Support Funds to Provide Technical Assistance to Small BusinessAmidCOVID-19 Pandemic

Confirms 7,681 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 52,318; New Cases in 44 Counties

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo is issuing an executive order to move the presidential primary election from April 28 to June 23, aligning it with the congressional and legislative primaries in New York.

Governor Cuomo also issued an executive order to enable the tax filing deadline for personal and corporate taxes to be pushed back to July 15. The federal government took similar action earlier this month.

The Governor also announced that the State Department of Health Wadsworth Lab is working in partnership with others labs to evaluate antibody testing that is designed to help very sick COVID-19 patients.

Audio Photos

The Governor also announced three new sites - South Beach Psychiatric Center in Staten Island, Westchester Square in the Bronx and Health Alliance in Ulster County - to serve as a place for emergency beds. The three new sites will add 695 more beds to the state's capacity. Additionally, in a new approach, the State will begin designating some facilities only for COVID-19 patients. The state has identified three sites - South Beach Psychiatric Facility in Staten Island, Westchester Square in the Bronx andSUNYDownstate in Brooklyn - that will provide more than 600 beds specifically for COVID-19 patients.

Following a conversation with President Trump this morning, Governor Cuomo also announced the federal government has approved four new sites for temporary hospitals for construction by the Army Corps of Engineers - the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, the Aqueduct Racetrack facility in Queens, CUNY Staten Island and the New York Expo Center in the Bronx - adding an additional 4,000 beds to the state's capacity. The Governor toured the four sites yesterday. These temporary hospital sites are part of the Governor's goal of having a 1,000-plus patient overflow facility in each New York City borough as well as in Westchester, Rockland, Nassau and Suffolk counties.

Every emergency situation is unique, but the number one rule is always plan ahead and be proactive and that's exactly what we have been trying to do

"Every emergency situation is unique, but the number one rule is always plan ahead and be proactive and that's exactly what we have been trying to do,"Governor Cuomo said."Our mission is to be prepared and have the proper equipment, supplies, facilities and personnel when the apex hits. We are continuing to advance emergency measures that reduce density as much as possible, and to that end we are going to delay the presidential primary election until June because it's not wise to be bringing large numbers of people to one place to vote."

The Governor also announced that the first 1,000-bed temporary hospital at the Jacob K.JavitsConvention Center is expected to open on Monday. The temporary hospital site was constructed in one week.

The Governor also announced that the Empire State Development Board of Directors approved $7.5 million in COVID-19 Business Counseling support to 70 non-profit partners across New York State. The funding will enable these organizations to provide small businesses with necessary guidance to secure disaster assistance, such as Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loans, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Up to 24Entrepreneurship Assistance Centersand up to 23Small Business Development Centerswill receive $5 million, with an additional $2.5 million awarded to up to 23Community Development Financial Institutions.

Finally, the Governor confirmed 7,681 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 52,318 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 52,318 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:

County

Total Positive

New Positive

Albany

195

8

Allegany

2

0

Broome

23

5

Cattaraugus

1

1

Cayuga

2

0

Chautauqua

5

4

Chemung

12

1

Chenango

8

4

Clinton

12

1

Columbia

22

2

Cortland

5

1

Delaware

8

0

Dutchess

262

37

Erie

318

99

Essex

4

0

Franklin

4

2

Fulton

1

0

Genesee

7

1

Greene

7

1

Hamilton

2

0

Herkimer

9

0

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Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Issues Executive Order Moving New York Presidential Primary Election to June 23rd - ny.gov

Covid-19 is very much a disease of the moment, emerging in a crowded city in a newly prosperous and connected China before spreading to the rest of the world in a matter of months. But our response to it has been both hyper-modern and practically medieval. Scientists around the world are using cutting-edge tools to rapidly sequence the genome of the coronavirus, pass along information about its virulence, and collaborate on possible countermeasures and vaccines, all far quicker than could have been done before.

But when the virus arrived among us, our only effective response was to shut down society and turn off the assembly line of global capitalism. Minus the text alerts, the videoconferencing and the Netflix, what we were doing wasnt that different from what our ancestors might have tried to halt an outbreak of the plague. The result has been chemotherapy for the global economy.

Just as the eventual emergence of something like Covid-19 was easily predictable, so too are the actions we should have taken to shore ourselves against its coming.

We need to strengthen the antennae of global health, to ensure that when the next virus emerges which it will well catch it faster, perhaps even snuff it out. The budget of the WHO, the agency ostensibly charged with safeguarding the health of the worlds 7.8 billion citizens, is somehow no more than that of a large urban hospital in the U.S.

We need to double down on the development of vaccines, which will include assuring large pharma companies that their investments wont be wasted should an outbreak end before one is ready.

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Covid-19: The history of pandemics - BBC News

Capitalist orthodoxies fail in the face of a crisis that can only be endured and resolved by rediscovering the virtues of collectivism and solidarity, writes Andrew Rawnsley (Comment). Precisely, and this is why a similar approach is needed to confront the climate emergency and why rightwing governments will fail to do so unless they adopt a leftwing approach that does not prioritise market and profit and instead sees the merits of massive state intervention. And the coronavirus crisis rather pointedly undermines Philip Cernys remark that the nation state cannot have a key role in this (My solution to the climate crisis, Letters). What we are learning now is the importance, yes, of individual responsibility and local initiatives but also of decisive governmental action to enforce the suspension of business as usual, and of international cooperation. The only other essential element is a recognition that the climate emergency is just as pressing and very much more of a mortal threat than even the current pandemic.Jem WhiteleyOxford

I read with interest the interview with Professor Tim Lang with its important messages and mention of Covid-19 (Why our food supply system doesnt work, Focus). I too am concerned about the UKs food supply chains, given it imports at least half of its food. If imports of food, particularly fresh fruit and vegetables, decline because countries like Spain and Italy are going to struggle to feed themselves because of this pandemic, this would affect the diet of the UKs population, particularly the elderly, young and disadvantaged. It would be reassuring to know what the UK governments contingency plans are.

Furthermore, given the likely longer-term nature of the pandemic, we should also instigate the free distribution of these foods and vitamins for the elderly in our care homes and similar institutions throughout the UK, as a matter of urgency. Vulnerable elderly people have been told to self-isolate, possibly for many months, which will reduce their exposure to sunshine, which is essential for the biosynthesis of vitamin D. Dr Laurence HarbigeLondon E4

Your Sport section detailed two sums of 50,000 being donated by each of Manchesters richest clubs, United and City, to their local food bank (United and City donate combined 100,000 to Manchester food banks). An act to be applauded. However, you omitted to mention that Stockport County, playing in the leagues fifth tier, and with a somewhat lower financial income, has donated the sum of 75,000 to its local NHS foundation trust charitable fund to help support the staff looking after local people in these troubled times. Perhaps a mention of this fact might be worthy of consideration.Dave JohnsonHayfield, High PeakDerbyshire

I gave up watching Question Time (BBCs Question Time accused of giving platform to far right, last week) several years ago, when questions and comments from the audience persistently ran the full gamut from neo-Nazism to proactive idiocy, laced with an occasional smattering of common sense and decency. While audience applause would often imply a more balanced composition, spoken emphasis was consistently on the right, and had a nasty ring to it. Last weeks QT was great I found politicians I thought I loathed rather nuanced and interesting, the discussion became constructive and illuminating, and we could at last see why the BBC chose Fiona Bruce. Good move, BBC! Fiona, Keep it up! Marcia SaundersLondon N10

Im writing with regard to the article about University Challenge by Lucy Clarke from Jesus College, Oxford (I loved appearing on University Challenge. Then I went on Twitter, Viewpoint). It saddens me greatly that, since her appearance, Lucy has received such vile and ignorant comments on social media. I would like to assure Lucy that there are many of us men out there who do not judge the contestants (of whatever gender) by their appearance, nor indeed by the sounds of their voices. I do take note of who is, and who is not, answering questions, but this is certainly not gender-related; it is simply a reflection of the comparative ability of contestants. I advise Lucy to ignore puerile and prejudicial comments, because they are just not worth your time and energy. They are written by people who probably cant even operate a Biro, never mind answer a question on University Challenge.Jon GruffyddCrughywelPowys

Barbara Ellen defends the Liberals claims during their disastrous 2019 election campaign as a tactic to distance the Liberals from Labour in Tory seats (A shout-out to the Lib Dems, who at least were an option, Comment). What a pity that the rest of us cant distance ourselves from the consequences of the 2010-15 rundown of the NHS and social care which Liberals voted for under Nick Clegg, or the Liberals 2015 endorsement of absurd Tory claims that it was Labours investment in public services including the NHS not the recklessness of the bankers which was the cause of the global banking crisis, thereby legitimising the continued Tory rundown of the NHS in 2015-20.Christopher ClaytonWaverton, Chester

Your article, Fewer oaks, more conifers: Britains forests must change to meet climate targets (News), is a prime example of not seeing the wood for the trees. Yes, there are trade-offs between the types of woodland we create: exotic conifers suck carbon out of the atmosphere faster, whilst native broadleaved species grow more slowly but tend to support more species of wildlife. But endless infighting between foresters and conservationists risks obscuring the bigger picture.

We face a dual ecological crisis the climate emergency and the breakdown of nature. Friends of the Earths analysis shows we easily have enough land to double UK tree cover. By growing the right trees in the right place, we can help lock up millions of tonnes of carbon and create much more space for wildlife. To achieve this we need a diverse group of approaches, including rewilded woods, sensitively planted commercial forests, bigger hedgerows, and agroforestry on farms. Rather than squabble over the details, lets collaborate to make this broader vision a reality.Guy Shrubsole, Friends of the EarthLondon SW9

David Head asserts that science and technology have made little impact on the metaphors that we use in everyday life (Metaphorically speaking, Letters). Really? What about all those lightbulb moments and quantum leaps, the occasions when we are railroaded into a decision, things that disappear into black holes, governments that lack the bandwidth to deal with more than one issue? But perhaps scientific and technological metaphor is now so much part of our DNA that we are hardwired not to notice it.Elizabeth SwinbankYork

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Letters: a collective solution to Covid-19 and climate change - The Guardian

WASHINGTON Older people remain most at risk of dying as the new coronavirus continues its rampage around the globe, but theyre far from the only ones vulnerable. One of many mysteries: Men seem to be faring worse than women.

And as cases skyrocket in the U.S. and Europe, its becoming more clear that how healthy you were before the pandemic began plays a key role in how you fare regardless of how old you are.

The majority of people who get COVID-19 have mild or moderate symptoms. But majority doesnt mean all, and that raises an important question: Who should worry most that theyll be among the seriously ill? While it will be months before scientists have enough data to say for sure who is most at risk and why, preliminary numbers from early cases around the world are starting to offer hints.

NOT JUST THE OLD WHO GET SICK

Senior citizens undoubtedly are the hardest hit by COVID-19. In China, 80% of deaths were among people in their 60s or older, and that general trend is playing out elsewhere.

The graying of the population means some countries face particular risk. Italy has the worlds second oldest population after Japan. While death rates fluctuate wildly early in an outbreak, Italy has reported more than 80% of deaths so far were among those 70 or older.

But, the idea that this is purely a disease that causes death in older people we need to be very, very careful with, Dr. Mike Ryan, the World Health Organizations emergencies chief, warned.

As much as 10% to 15% of people under 50 have moderate to severe infection, he said Friday.

Even if they survive, the middle-aged can spend weeks in the hospital. In France, more than half of the first 300 people admitted to intensive care units were under 60.

Young people are not invincible, WHOs Maria Van Kerkhove added, saying more information is needed about the disease in all age groups.

Italy reported that a quarter of its cases so far were among people ages 19 to 50. In Spain, a third are under age 44. In the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions first snapshot of cases found 29% were ages 20 to 44.

Then theres the puzzle of children, who have made up a small fraction of the worlds case counts to date. But while most appear only mildly ill, in the journal Pediatrics researchers traced 2,100 infected children in China and noted one death, a 14-year-old, and that nearly 6% were seriously ill.

However, a Cook County infant with COVID-19 died, Gov. Pritzker announced Saturday.

Another question is what role kids have in spreading the virus: There is an urgent need for further investigation of the role children have in the chain of transmission, researchers at Canadas Dalhousie University wrote in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.

THE RISKIEST HEALTH CONDITIONS

Put aside age: Underlying health plays a big role. In China, 40% of people who required critical care had other chronic health problems. And there, deaths were highest among people who had heart disease, diabetes or chronic lung diseases before they got COVID-19.

Preexisting health problems also can increase risk of infection, such as people who have weak immune systems including from cancer treatment.

Other countries now are seeing how pre-pandemic health plays a role, and more such threats are likely to be discovered. Italy reported that of the first nine people younger than 40 who died of COVID-19, seven were confirmed to have grave pathologies such as heart disease.

The more health problems, the worse they fare. Italy also reports about half of people who died with COVID-19 had three or more underlying conditions, while just 2% of deaths were in people with no preexisting ailments.

Heart disease is a very broad term, but so far it looks like those most at risk have significant cardiovascular diseases such as congestive heart failure or severely stiffened and clogged arteries, said Dr. Trish Perl, infectious disease chief at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Any sort of infection tends to make diabetes harder to control, but its not clear why diabetics appear to be at particular risk with COVID-19.

Risks in the less healthy may have something to do with how they hold up if their immune systems overreact to the virus. Patients who die often seemed to have been improving after a week or so only to suddenly deteriorate experiencing organ-damaging inflammation.

As for preexisting lung problems, this is really happening in people who have less lung capacity, Perl said, because of diseases such as COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or cystic fibrosis.

Asthma also is on the worry list. No one really knows about the risk from very mild asthma, although even routine respiratory infections often leave patients using their inhalers more often and theyll need monitoring with COVID-19, she said. What about a prior bout of pneumonia? Unless it was severe enough to put you on a ventilator, that alone shouldnt have caused any significant lingering damage, she said.

THE GENDER MYSTERY

Perhaps the gender imbalance shouldnt be a surprise: During previous outbreaks of SARS and MERS cousins to COVID-19 scientists noticed men seemed more susceptible than women.

This time around, slightly more than half the COVID-19 deaths in China were among men. Other parts of Asia saw similar numbers. Then Europe, too, spotted what Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus coordinator, labeled a concerning trend.

In Italy, where men so far make up 58% of infections, male deaths are outpacing female deaths and the increased risk starts at age 50, according to a report from Italys COVID-19 surveillance group.

The U.S. CDC hasnt yet released details. But one report about the first nearly 200 British patients admitted to critical care found about two-thirds were male.

One suspect: Globally, men are more likely to have smoked more heavily and for longer periods than women. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control is urging research into smokings connection to COVID-19.

Hormones may play a role, too. In 2017, University of Iowa researchers infected mice with SARS and, just like had happened in people, males were more likely to die. Estrogen seemed protective when their ovaries were removed, deaths among female mice jumped, the team reported in the Journal of Immunology.

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Age is not the only risk for severe COVID-19 disease - WGN TV Chicago

Sometimes being a journalist means having to improvise. It was Sunday 23 February when Italy announced draconian measures to stop people leaving or entering 11 towns that had been put under quarantine - 10 in the Lombardy region and one in Veneto. I got up early that day to hike around Lake Albano in Castel Gandolfo, about 40 minutes by train from Rome. I had left home more prepared for the possibility of needing to work bringing with me a notepad and pen than I did for the hike.

Sure enough, 20 minutes into the walk the announcement came. I stopped, found a spot by the lake, and wrote the first 600 words that began the Guardians coverage of Italys coronavirus outbreak. Fortunately, I have a robust smartphone. Sitting by the lake, I had a feeling that life as we knew it had stopped. By the end of that day, three people had died of the virus and 152 were infected.

We knew Covid-19 had made it to Italy in late January, when two Chinese tourists in Rome were confirmed to have contracted it. No more masks signs started to appear on the windows of chemists; my neighbour in Rome began disinfecting the banisters of the buildings stairwell and door handles. You never know, he said one morning, smoking a cigarette. I chalked most of this up to paranoia, not quite grasping that something that was happening so far away in China could reach Europe.

So when the outbreak suddenly emerged, it caught most of us off guard. As with any major breaking news story, a journalists first instinct is to get to the scene quickly. In recent years, Ive covered an earthquake, an avalanche and the collapse of Genoas Morandi bridge. All of those were tragedies that had a profound impact, but they were also ones in which the cause of the events and level of destruction was known and clearly visible. Covering the coronavirus outbreak, especially in the early stages, has been different in the sense that the threat is there, but cannot be seen or properly understood. Coverage needs more caution and planning.

With journalists unable to cross into the quarantined towns, the closest I got to the centre of the outbreak was Milan. That was on 25 February. I was fairly relaxed, worrying most about meeting my deadline. This time I had my computer with me, and filed the story from the foyer of a hotel close to the cathedral. A group of tourists were sitting nearby, coughing repeatedly. Did they have coronavirus? I became hypervigilant for potential symptoms.

Since then, most of my reporting has been done by phone, as the country rapidly shut down.

The death toll and number of people infected kept going up. However, the high number of those recovering, including the two Chinese tourists, was reassuring. Three people I spoke to who had recovered said their symptoms were mild. My first insight into the viruss real destructiveness only came when I spoke to Costantino Pesatori, the mayor of Castiglione dAdda, one of the first Lombardy towns under quarantine, on 6 March. The town lost 18 citizens in less than two weeks, one of them a 55-year-old man who had no known underlying health issues. Three of the towns five doctors were in quarantine, the other two hospitalised with the virus. We have many people with a fever who are at home and who are unable to be visited by a doctor, Pesatori said.

Still, at that point, the voices including some medics saying this is no worse than flu or millions die of flu were louder than the voices of people such as Pesatori. The media came under attack. In one post shared on Facebook, coronavirus was described as a godsend for journalists who were using it to enjoy a moment in the limelight. Seeing friends who run small businesses in Italy worrying about their livelihoods, I felt guilty. Was I being irresponsible? But the more I wrote, the more I learned about the virus. I thought about family and friends who would be vulnerable to it, those either suffering or recovering from cancer, those with heart issues, diabetes, or high blood pressure. This wasnt an illness that affected only the elderly or frail. People were dying before their time, regardless of their age.

As we told stories about the victims, the overwhelmed hospitals and how Italy was struggling to bury its dead, the horror of the viruss impact started to hit home, especially abroad. When a reader emailed thanking us for our responsible coverage, I cried. The reader had shared a story about Bergamo, the worst-affected province, with friends in the UK and said it had made an impact in terms of the message sinking in there.

The whole of Italy has been under lockdown for almost three weeks. Every day at 6pm the population solemnly tunes in for the war bulletin, when the civil protection authority gives an update on the number of deaths and infected. There was hope on Monday when, for two days in a row, the numbers for both had decreased. All we have now is hope that Italy will soon turn a corner. And when it does, I look forward to finishing the hike around Lake Albano.

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Reporting on Covid-19 in Italy: 'Life as we've known it has stopped' - The Guardian