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Wuhan Institute of Virology Hector Retamal/Getty Images
The Chinese lab eyed as a potential source of COVID-19 has admitted having three live strains of bat coronavirus on-site — but insisted none are the source of the global pandemic.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology has since 2004 “isolated and obtained some coronaviruses from bats,” its director Wang Yanyi said in an interview that aired Saturday, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“Now we have three strains of live viruses… But their highest similarity to SARS-CoV-2 only reaches 79.8 percent,” Yanyi said, referring to the coronavirus strain that causes COVID-19.
“It’s an obvious difference,” she said, according to AFP.
Yanyi trashed the conspiracy that the pandemic started in her lab — one pushed by President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — as “pure fabrication.”
Her scientists had never “encountered, researched or kept the virus” until it received samples on December 30, when it had already unknowingly taken hold on Wuhan, the contagion’s epicenter, she said.
“In fact, like everyone else, we didn’t even know the virus existed,” she said of the new virus that as of Sunday had infected more than 5.3 million and killed more than 340,000 worldwide.
“How could it have leaked from our lab when we never had it?”
A Chinese virologist is seen inside the P4 laboratory in WuhanJohannes Eisele/Getty Images
Chinese scientists have always said that the virus first emerged at a wet market selling live animals in Wuhan.
But US authorities raised suspicions over the lab at the heart of the epicenter — claims that the World Health Organization have insisted are purely “speculative” without evidence being offered.
Chinese Foreign minister Wang Yi on Sunday claimed US politicians chose to “fabricate rumors” about the origins to “stigmatize China.”
He said China would be “open” to international cooperation to identify the source of the novel coronavirus, as long as any investigation is “free of political interference.”
Justice Buress, 4, hides under a table while demonstrating a drill at Little Explorers Learning Center in St. Louis. Tess Trice, head of the day care program, carries out monthly drills to train the children to get on the floor when they hear gunfire.
Carolina Hidalgo/St. Louis Public Radio
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Carolina Hidalgo/St. Louis Public Radio
Justice Buress, 4, hides under a table while demonstrating a drill at Little Explorers Learning Center in St. Louis. Tess Trice, head of the day care program, carries out monthly drills to train the children to get on the floor when they hear gunfire.
Carolina Hidalgo/St. Louis Public Radio
Champale Greene-Anderson keeps the volume up on her television when she watches 5-year-old granddaughter Amor Robinson while the girl’s mom is at work.
“So we won’t hear the gunshots,” says Greene-Anderson. “I have little bitty grandbabies, and I don’t want them to be afraid to be here.”
As a preschooler, Amor already knows and fears the sounds that occurred with regularity in their St. Louis neighborhood before the pandemic — and continue even now as the rest of the world has slowed down.
“I don’t like the pop, pop noises,” Amor explains, swinging the beads in her hair. “I can’t hear my tablet when I watch something.”
And when the television or her hot-pink headphones and matching tablet can’t mask the noise of a shooting? “She usually stops everything,” says her mother, Satin White. “Sometimes she cries, sometimes she covers her ears.”
Her grandmother has even watched Amor hide inside a narrow gap between the couch and recliner.
Five-year-old Amor Robinson shows where she went when she heard gunfire outside her grandmother’s home in St. Louis. The narrow gap between the couch and armchair recliner became her hideaway.
Carolina Hidalgo/St. Louis Public Radio
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Carolina Hidalgo/St. Louis Public Radio
In communities across the United States this spring, families are dealing with more than just the threat of the coronavirus outside their homes. In the midst of violence that does not stop even during a pandemic, children like Amor continually search for safety, peace and a quiet place. “Safer at Home” slogans don’t guarantee safety for them.
More than two dozen parents and caregivers we spoke with attested that the kids hide underneath beds, in basements and dry bathtubs, waiting for gunfire to stop while their parents pray that a bullet never finds them.
In St. Louis, which has the nation’s highest murder rate among cities with at least 100,000 people, the reasons are especially stark. More than 20 children in the St. Louis area were killed by gunfire last year, and this year at least 10 children have died already.
While some of the children’s deaths were caused by accidental shootings inside a home, regular gunfire outside is a hurtful reminder that adults have to find ways to keep children safe. And while parents hope their kids grow into healthy adults, evidence shows that children who grow up around violence or witness it frequently are more likely to have health problems later in life.
Although the mental health of children around the world has been taxed these past few months, for some children the stress has been going on far longer. Regularly hearing shootings is one example of what’s called an “adverse childhood experience.” Americans who have adverse childhood experiences that remain unaddressed are more likely to suffer heart disease, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and stroke, according to a 2019 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.
St. Louis mental health counselor Lekesha Davis says children and their parents can become desensitized to the violence around them — where even one’s home doesn’t feel safe. And, researchshows, black parents and children in the U.S., especially, often cannot get the mental health treatment they may need because of bias or lack of cultural understanding from providers.
“Can you imagine as a child, you are sleeping, you know, no care in the world as you sleep and being jarred out of your sleep to get under the bed and hide?” Davis asks.
“We have to look at this, not just, you know, emotionally, but what does that do to our body?” she adds. “Our brain is impacted by this fight-or-flight response. That’s supposed to happen in rare instances, but when you’re having them happen every single day, you’re having these chemicals released in the brain on a daily basis. How does that affect you as you get older?”
Still, future health problems are hard to think about when you’re trying to survive.
The program’s assistant director, Tawanda Brand, works with students at the Little Explorers Learning Center in St. Louis on Jan. 29. After closing temporarily because of the coronavirus, the center re-opened in May for the children of essential workers. All staff members now wear masks.
Carolina Hidalgo/St. Louis Public Radio
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Carolina Hidalgo/St. Louis Public Radio
At this day care center, ‘Dora’ means drop
The children at Little Explorers Learning Center are getting reacquainted with their daily routine now that the day care facility has reopened for families of essential workers as the COVID pandemic stay-at-home orders loosen. And there’s a lot to remember.
Teachers at the center remind the children of their hand-washing, meal time and academic routines. They also make sure the kids remember what to do when gunfire erupts nearby. Assistant director Tawanda Brand runs a gunfire safety drill once a month. First, she tells the children to get ready. Then, she shouts: “Dora the Explorer!”
Justice Buress, 4, demonstrates how she drops to the floor when she hears her teacher call out “Dora the Explorer” during monthly drills at Little Explorers Learning Center.
Carolina Hidalgo/Carolina Hidalgo/St. Louis Public Radio
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Carolina Hidalgo/Carolina Hidalgo/St. Louis Public Radio
“Dora” is a code word, Brand explains, signaling the kids to drop to the floor — the safest place — in case gunfire erupts nearby.
During a drill one morning before the pandemic, most of the children got down. Others walked around, sending Brand on a chase as she tried to corral the group of 3- to 5-year-olds.
The drill may sound playful, but sometimes the danger is real.
The Little Explorers protocol isn’t like the “active shooter” drills that took place in schools around the country on the rare chance someone would come inside to shoot — as at Columbine, Parkland or Sandy Hook. The day care program performs these drills because nearby shootings are an ongoing threat.
Day care director Tess Trice says a bullet pierced the window in November while the children were inside. Then, the very next day, bullets flew again.
“We heard gunshots, we got on the floor,” Trice says. “Eventually, when we got up and looked out the window, we saw a body out there.”
Tess Trice owns and runs the Little Explorers Learning Center. A bullet pierced the day care center’s window in November while the children were inside, she says, then bullets flew again the next day. Trice was photographed on Jan. 29, before the Center temporarily closed; it re-opened in early May for the children of essential workers, and all staff members now wear masks.
Carolina Hidalgo/St. Louis Public Radio
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Carolina Hidalgo/St. Louis Public Radio
Trice called parents that day to see if they wanted to pick up their children early. Nicollette Mayo was one of the parents who received a call from the teachers. She knows the neighborhood faces challenges, but can’t see her 4-year-old daughter, Justice, and infant son, Marquis, going anywhere else.
“I trust them,” Mayo says. “And I know that, God forbid, if there is an incident that I’m going to be contacted immediately. They’re gonna do what they need to do to keep my children safe.”
Trice considered bulletproof glass for the day care center but could not afford it. A local company estimated it would cost $8,000 to $10,000 per window. So she relies on the “Dora” drills and newly installed cameras.
‘You live better if you sit on the floor’
In a city with such an alarming homicide rate, such drills aren’t happening only at the few day care facilities that have reopened. They also happen at home.
Long before the coronavirus pandemic pushed the world to isolate at home, the Hicks family had their own version of sheltering in place. But it was from gun violence. When they hear gunshots outside their home in East St. Louis, Ill., everyone hides in the dark.
Anajah Hicks, 13, demonstrates the position she’s been taught to take when she hears gunshots. Her mom and grandmother make sure the teen and her siblings practice getting on the floor quickly to stay safe.
Carolina Hidalgo/St. Louis Public Radio
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Carolina Hidalgo/St. Louis Public Radio
Anajah Hicks, 13, demonstrates the position she’s been taught to take when she hears gunshots. Her mom and grandmother make sure the teen and her siblings practice getting on the floor quickly to stay safe.
Carolina Hidalgo/St. Louis Public Radio
The goal is to keep the family out of sight, because bearing witness to a shooting could put them at a different kind of risk, mom Kianna Hicks says.
So when trouble erupts, they do their best to remain unseen and unheard.
“We turn the TV down,” says 13-year-old Anajah Hicks, the oldest of four. “We turn the lights off, and we hurry up and get down on the ground.”
A few times each month, the family practices what to do when they hear gunshots. Hicks tells the kids to get ready. Then, their grandmother Gloria Hicks claps her hands to simulate the sound of gunfire.
“I need them to know exactly what to do, because in too many instances, where we’ve been sitting around, and gunshots, you know, people start shooting, and they’ll just be up walking around or trying to run,” Kianna Hicks says. “I’ll tell ’em, ‘Naw, that’s not what you do. You hear gunshots, you hear gunshots. No matter where you at, you stop — you get on the ground and you wait until it’s over with and then you move around.’ “
And this summer, Hicks wants to make sure the kids are ready. At least twice a week in past years when the weather warmed up, the family got on the floor in response to real gunfire. Violence spikes in summer months, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. And she knows they could be spending more time in the house if football camp for her boys is canceled because of coronavirus fears.
Other families in tough neighborhoods sit on the floor more often, even amid moments of relative quiet. The first time Gloria Hicks saw a family sitting on the floor, she was visiting her godson in Chicago decades ago. It was hot that summer, Hicks recalls, so families kept their apartment doors open to stay cool.
“They were sitting on the floor watching TV and I wondered, Why is it like that?” Hicks recalls. “Then I learned that you live better if you sit on the floor than on the couch, because you don’t know when the bullets gon’ fly.”
‘I immediately dropped to the floor’
Although 16-year-old Mariah knows what to do when bullets fly, she says, she still has a difficult time processing the sound of violence. The honor student was babysitting her little cousins at her St. Louis home last winter when she heard gunshots.
“It couldn’t have been no further than, like, my doorstep,” says Mariah, whose mother asked that the teen’s last name not be printed so the discussion of the trauma doesn’t follow her into adulthood. “I immediately dropped to the floor, and then in a split second the second thing that ran through my head is like, ‘Oh, my God, the kids.'”
When Mariah walked into the next room, she saw her two younger cousins on the floor doing exactly what their mother had taught them to do when gunfire erupts.
Get down and don’t move.
“I was so worried,” Mariah recalls. “They’re 6 and 3. Imagine that.”
The three kids walked away physically OK that day. But later that night, Mariah says, she pulled out strands of her hair, a behavior associated with stress.
“Pulling my hair got really bad,” she says. “I had to oil my hair again, because when I oil it, it makes it hard to pull out.”
Mariah and her mom, Eisha Taylor, at their home in St. Louis in early February. The teen was babysitting her young cousins last winter when they heard gunshots on the street. “I was so worried,” Mariah recalls. “They’re 6 and 3. Imagine that.”
Carolina Hidalgo/St. Louis Public Radio
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Carolina Hidalgo/St. Louis Public Radio
Davis, the mental health counselor who has worked for 20 years with children experiencing trauma, encourages parents to comfort their kids after a traumatic event and for the kids to fully explore and discuss their emotions, even months after the fact.
She says getting on the floor explains only how families are maintaining their physical safety.
“But no one’s addressing the emotional and the mental toll that this takes on individuals,” says Davis, vice president of the Hopewell Center, one of the few mental health agencies for kids in the city of St. Louis.
“We get children that were playing in their backyard and they witnessed someone being shot right in front of them,” Davis says. “These are the daily experiences of our children. And that’s not normal.”
This story comes to NPR as part of a partnership with Kaiser Health News. Carolina Hidalgo contributed to this report as a journalist at St. Louis Public Radio. Cara Anthony is on Twitter @CaraRAnthony
You wash your hands more than you wash your face mask—and new research shows maybe that’s not such a good thing. “A new report from an Italian health authority explains that SARS-CoV-2″—that’s the coronavirus—”can survive on the interior of face masks for as long as 4 days, which is an important reminder that masks have to be handled with care, especially if you’re handling them for a loved one who is infected,” reports BGR.
Yes, you read that right: 4 days on the interior.
“The ISS says that SARS-CoV-2 particles have been detected on the interior side of the mask as long as 4 days after a mask was worn, and up to 7 days on the exterior,” continues the website, quoting a report from HuffPost Italy. “A separate study a few weeks ago also explained that the novel coronavirus can survive up to 7 days on the surface of face masks.”
Although the CDC recently said the transmission of COVID-19 on surfaces is unlikely, the agency added that there was still more research to do and urged you to clean surfaces you touch—including your mask—to protect yourself and others from catching the virus.
How to Clean Your Face Mask
The CDC offers comprehensive advice about how to keep your face mask germ free:
“Washing Machine
You can include your face covering with your regular laundry.
Use regular laundry detergent and the warmest appropriate water setting for the cloth used to make the face covering.
Washing by Hand
Prepare a bleach solution by mixing:
5 tablespoons (1/3rd cup) household bleach per gallon of room temperature water or
4 teaspoons household bleach per quart of room temperature water
Check the label to see if your bleach is intended for disinfection. Some bleach products, such as those designed for safe use on colored clothing, may not be suitable for disinfection. Ensure the bleach product is not past its expiration date. Never mix household bleach with ammonia or any other cleanser.
Soak the face covering in the bleach solution for 5 minutes.
Rinse thoroughly with cool or room temperature water.
Make sure to completely dry cloth face covering after washing.
How to Dry
Dryer
Use the highest heat setting and leave in the dryer until completely dry
Air Dry
Lay flat and allow to completely dry. If possible, place the cloth face covering in direct sunlight.”
High school pool party spurs cluster of positive cases amid ‘second peak,’ Arkansas governor says
A cluster of people who attended a high school pool party tested positive for the novel coronavirus as Arkansas faces a “second peak” of cases, the state’s governor said Saturday.
“A high school swim party that I’m sure everybody thought was harmless,” Asa Hutchinson (R) said during a briefing. “They’re young, they’re swimming, they’re just having activity, and positive cases resulted from that.”
Hutchinson didn’t specify the number of cases linked to the party, and the state’s health department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post.
He also didn’t say how residents in his state should ensure they don’t spread the virus, but in a morning interview on Fox News Sunday, Hutchinson didn’t stress staying home.
“We have to manage the risk,” he said.” “We take the virus very seriously, it’s a risk, it causes death, but you can’t cloister yourself at home, that is just contrary to the American spirit.”
Hutchinson never issued a statewide stay-home directive, and at a White House meeting with President Trump on Wednesday, the governor emphasized Arkansas is “at work” and businesses are open.
But on Saturday, he warned people celebrating the holiday weekend to “be safe.”
“During this Memorial [Day] weekend, we want to be out and we want to enjoy ourselves, we want to remember this holiday and those that have served our country and given their lives in service of our country,” he continued, “but let’s be safe and let’s be disciplined at the same time.”
Earlier in the week, the state had logged its highest single-day count of new cases: 455. Then, on Saturday, Arkansas added 163 confirmed cases and two deaths. To date, 115 people in the state have died of covid-19, the illness caused by the virus.
“It’s clear and evident to me that we had one peak and then we had a deep dip and then we’re having a second peak right now,” Hutchinson said Saturday.
By Candace Buckner and Meryl Kornfield
May 24, 2020 at 12:06 PM EDT
Taking aim at Trump, Pelosi tweets New York Times front page listing 1,000 covid-19 deaths
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Sunday shared the New York Times front page memorializing people who died of covid-19, faulting the Trump administration for the rising U.S. death toll.
Instead of taking fact-based action, Trump blames others for his chaotic failures and erratic response; undermines scientists; and ignores Americans’ hardship.
“Instead of taking fact-based action, Trump blames others for his chaotic failures and erratic response; undermines scientists; and ignores Americans’ hardship,” she wrote. “Our lives are at stake in this election. Vote.”
The political foes have long traded barbs, with Pelosi saying Trump shouldn’t take hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug he has championed as a game-changing treatment for the coronavirus, as protection against the virus because he’s “morbidly obese.”
The president has said Pelosi and other Democrats are exaggerating the scale of the pandemic to score political points.
The Times’s front page on Sunday pays tribute to 1,000 people who died of the disease caused by the coronavirus, as the country’s toll nears 100,000. Other Democratic politicians also shared the front page, including governors of hard-hit states such as California and New Jersey.
“While there are no words we can offer equal to the magnitude of this loss, let us come together to honor their lives by ensuring no one else needlessly dies from this virus,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy tweeted.
While Pelosi named Trump explicitly, other Democrats were less direct, suggesting only that the deaths were a consequence of a lack of leadership.
By Meryl Kornfield
May 24, 2020 at 11:55 AM EDT
White House may decide today to restrict Brazil travel, national security adviser says
The United States could move as soon as today to restrict entry from Brazil, a country with a rapidly rising number of coronavirus cases and deaths, White House national security adviser Robert O’Brien said Sunday.
“I think that we’ll have a 212(f) decision today with respect to Brazil and just like we did with the U.K. and — and Europe and China,” O’Brien said on CBS News’s “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan. “And we hope that’ll be temporary. But because of the situation in Brazil, we’re going to take every step necessary to protect the American people.”
212(f) refers to a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act that President Trump used in March to temporarily suspend travel from some countries in Europe because of the coronavirus pandemic
By Chris Mooney
May 24, 2020 at 11:45 AM EDT
Top Trump adviser says White House may support aid for state and local governments
Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett said the White House may support some aid for state and local governments in an additional coronavirus relief bill being considered in Congress. But he accused House Democrats of pushing for aid that far outstrips the money that state and local governments actually need.
“I don’t think there’s ever going to be an analysis that supports the massive figures coming out of the House,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Hassert also warned the United States might still be looking at double-digit unemployment in November. But, he said, “I think that all the signs of economic recovery are going to be raging everywhere. And the only thing we’re going to really be debating, as economists, is, are we going to get back to where we were, or is it going to be kind of a long haul to get there?”
In the interview, Hassett also said he has consulted his doctor about taking hydroxychloroquine but was told the drug would interact badly with other medicines he takes. President Trump has said he’s taking the drug to protect against the coronavirus despite studies showing it may be unsafe.
“I think there’s a lot of evidence in the lab this could work,” Hassett said.
By Joseph Marks
May 24, 2020 at 11:38 AM EDT
Lawmakers spar over president’s call for churches to reopen
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) defended the president’s call for churches and other houses of worship to open during the Memorial Day holiday, saying he believes people will attend safely.
“I trust the American public. I think they’re going to make the right decision,” he said Sunday morning on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Scott declined to say whether President Trump could or should override governors who keep churches closed, saying he believes the Bill of Rights guarantees people the right to attend services.
“Do I believe the government can tell us not to worship? I don’t believe they can,” he said.
But New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) pushed back against the president’s urging to open houses of worship during the Memorial Day weekend, saying it’s not yet safe in his state for more than 25 people to gather indoors.
“We’ll get there on houses of worship,” he said.
Murphy also urged more federal aid for state and local governments. New Jersey may have to lay off state employees, including teachers, firefighters and health-care workers, if the state doesn’t get significant aid, he said, the result of billions of dollars in lost income due to the coronavirus pandemic.
By Joseph Marks
May 24, 2020 at 10:49 AM EDT
Video shows crowds at venues in Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks ignoring social distancing
Large crowds of vacationers flocked to the Lake of the Ozarks over the holiday weekend, flouting social distancing guidelines as they packed into yacht clubs, outdoor bars and resort pools in the Missouri tourist hot spot.
Images of the revelry rippled across social media, showing people eating, drinking and swimming in close quarters. In one picture shared by the news station KSDK, dozens of people could be seen crammed on an outdoor patio underneath a sign reading, “Please practice social distancing.”
The scenes underscored how some have interpreted the loosening of coronavirus restrictions ahead of the Memorial Day holiday as an invitation to return to a pre-pandemic version of normal. Amid varied and sometimes conflicting orders from state and local officials, people across the country have been left to decide on their own how strictly to follow the rules.
The images elicited a barrage of criticism from people angered by the open disregard for the guidelines that public health experts have spent months promoting.
“I don’t even know what to say anymore,” tweeted “The View” co-host Meghan McCain.
Like most of the country, Missouri has allowed some businesses to reopen and rolled back pandemic-related bans on nonessential activities, even as researchers warn that the virus is still spreading at epidemic rates in Missouri and 23 other states.
After Missouri’s stay-at-home order expired May 3, Gov. Mike Parson (R) said all businesses, including large venues, can open as long as seating is spaced out to enforce social distancing, meaning people must be able to remain six feet apart.
Many businesses around the Lake of the Ozarks closed in the spring when the pandemic hit. But as the state moved to reopen, they allowed guests to rebook rooms. Several hotels and resorts told local media last week that they were fully booked.
In videos shared widely on social media, people could be seen lined up outside the Backwater Jack’s bar and grill, waiting to enter the already packed venue.
“Corona-free,” one man in line shouted in as the camera panned to him.
The business did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.
By Derek Hawkins and Meryl Kornfield
May 24, 2020 at 10:23 AM EDT
Evictions loom for many renters as state bans end
Tenants nationwide are facing the possibility of getting kicked out of their homes as officials lift bans on evictions intended to protect renters amid the mounting economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Even with tens of millions of people out of work and the United States recording job losses not seen since the Great Depression, major metropolitan areas are allowing eviction restrictions to expire, threatening tenants who have been unable to pay rent because of reduced income or job loss on account of the public health emergency.
In Houston, eviction hearings resumed last week after the Texas Supreme Court lifted the state’s moratorium, as Houston Public Media reported. Renters could start getting forced out of their homes and businesses as early as May 26.
Evictions are also looming over renters in Kansas City, Mo., where proceedings are set to resume at the beginning of June. Tenants are rallying to persuade officials to extend protections that were put in place along with the city’s stay-at-home order.
“After this pandemic hit, both of my main jobs ended. And to be honest, I’m quite scared,” Ashley Johnson of the organization KC Tenants told KMBC last week. “I’m scared for my children and I.”
In Florida, the Tampa Bay Times reported hundreds of eviction cases are awaiting action in Florida courts, having piled up during Gov. Ron DeSantis’s stay. It’s unclear what will happen to the pending cases when the order expires June 2.
Further complicating the process for renters and homeowners is the patchwork of policies that differ from county to county and state to state and include the eviction moratorium granted under the Cares Act, which prevents evictions of tenants in federal rental housing or those with federally backed mortgages for missing payments.
By Derek Hawkins and Katie Mettler
May 24, 2020 at 10:08 AM EDT
Director of Chinese lab calls virus leak theory ‘pure fabrication’
The director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a lab in the Chinese city where many of the first cases of the novel coronavirus were detected, said allegations that the virus leaked from her facility were “pure fabrication.”
In an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CGTN, Wang Yanyi said her laboratory did not have a sample of the virus, known technically as SARS-CoV-2, until Dec. 30 — after the outbreak had begun.
“We didn’t have any knowledge before that, nor had we ever encountered, researched or kept the virus,” Wang said. “In fact, like everyone else, we didn’t even know the virus existed. How could it have leaked from our lab when we never had it?”
The Wuhan Institute of Virology and another lab in the same city operated by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention have become the focal point of theories that a virus could have accidentally leaked out of a lab during scientific research.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last month there was “enormous evidence” the Chinese government had covered up a leak at a lab, but he did not offer any publicly. Key U.S. allies such as Australia have balked at the theory, and Pompeo subsequently amended his language.
In her interview with CGTN, Wang acknowledged a colleague named Shi Zhengli had been studying bat coronaviruses in an attempt to understand a separate SARs outbreak in 2003, but she said these viruses were not genetically similar to SARS-CoV-2.
“Professor Shi and her team have isolated and obtained some coronaviruses from bats. Now we have three strains of live viruses,” Wang said. “One of them has the highest similarity, 96 percent, to the SARS virus. But their highest similarity to SARS-CoV-2 reaches only 79.8 percent.”
Wang said scientists around the world agreed the virus most probably came from a wild animal but they do not know exactly how that happened and whether it could happen again. “This is why the cooperation between scientists all over the world is needed to find the answers,” she said.
By Adam Taylor
May 24, 2020 at 9:43 AM EDT
How a couple turned their front lawn into a pandemic warning
New York may have the Empire State Building, lit up in festive hues to mark holidays big and small, but in Washington’s Petworth neighborhood, residents look to the front lawn of a blue rowhouse to celebrate the passage of time.
Hardly a holiday goes uncelebrated. Even the small ones.
So when the District announced its stay-at-home order, meant to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, it was no surprise to neighbors that homeowners Curtis Gilbert and Chris Rowland transformed their Easter Bunny display into a flashy pandemic warning sign.
By Marissa Lang
May 24, 2020 at 9:33 AM EDT
French government pushes green goals in coronavirus relief efforts
BRUSSELS — The French government has asked Air France for a “drastic reduction” in its domestic flights in exchange for a bailout, Ecological Transition Minister Élisabeth Borne said Sunday, as European countries attempt to use the pandemic-fueled economic crisis to further ambitious climate goals.
French leaders asked Air France to stop servicing routes that France’s high-speed rail network can cover in less than 2½ hours, Borne told France Inter radio, part of a goal to cut the carrier’s carbon emissions from domestic flights in half by 2024.
Air France and KLM, which operate jointly, have received about $7.3 billion in loan guarantees from the state to mitigate the disruptions caused by the pandemic, which has brought air travel to a near standstill in Europe. Even before the coronavirus struck Europe, airlines were coming under pressure to reduce their emissions, a major contributor to global warming.
President Emmanuel Macron is expected on Tuesday to outline a plan to rescue French car manufacturers that would place a heavy emphasis on green goals, France’s Le Parisien newspaper reported Saturday. The state would offer buyers a rebate of up to 8,000 euros, or $8,720, for the purchase of fully electric cars and a bit less for hybrids.
The European Commission on Wednesday will announce recovery proposals for the 27-nation European Union, for which leaders are also expected to prioritize green goals as they reboot economic growth.
By Michael Birnbaum
May 24, 2020 at 9:05 AM EDT
Analysis: America (President Trump) is ready to get back to normal (playing golf)
Of all of the times that White House coronavirus task force member Deborah Birx has said things clearly intended for President Trump’s benefit, few were as transparent as her comments on Friday afternoon. She was walking through the improvements in the rate of spread of the coronavirus, drawing attention to regions still at risk.
“I’m going to call your attention to the top three states, the top three states with the largest percent,” she said — “and this is so you can all make your decisions about going outside, and social distancing, potentially playing golf if you’re very careful and you don’t touch the flags and all of those issues.”
Got that? You can play golf if you’d like. It’s okay to go play golf. Want to play golf? Go for it. All clear.
And lo, a report from the White House press pool on Saturday morning: “President Trump is returning to the golf course on this pleasant, sunny Saturday,” it read.
By Philip Bump
May 24, 2020 at 8:59 AM EDT
Quebec, Canada’s hardest-hit province, is also the most aggressive about reopening
Infections spreading among health-care workers. Nursing home staffers fleeing outbreaks. Public health officials stationed at the airport to screen arriving visitors.
Quebec, which borders New York and three other U.S. states, is the Canadian province hit hardest by the coronavirus. Home to roughly 22 percent of the country’s population, it has suffered more than 60 percent of its deaths.
It’s also the province moving most aggressively to reopen.
By Amanda Coletta
May 24, 2020 at 8:50 AM EDT
Browns to auction off play-calling duties to benefit coronavirus relief
Legend has it that, during his presidency, Richard Nixon passed along an idea for a play to George Allen, then coach of the Washington Redskins.
Now you don’t have to be the leader of the free world, or even an elected official, to have a say in calling plays in an NFL game.
By Gene Wang
May 24, 2020 at 8:06 AM EDT
China tells U.S. to stop taking them ‘to the brink of a new Cold War’
The United States should abandon its “wishful thinking about changing China” and stop pushing the two countries “to the brink of a new Cold War,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Sunday, trying to position Beijing as the grown-up in an increasingly fractious bilateral relationship.
With tensions between the world’s two largest economies mounting by the day, Wang used the opportunity of a news conference during the annual piece of political theater known as the National People’s Congress to send a direct message to Washington.
This year, the conflict has taken on a new dimension, with the emergence of the novel coronavirus in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Reeling from more than 96,000 deaths in the United States, the Trump administration is trying to heap the blame for the pandemic entirely on China’s ruling Communist Party.
By Anna Fifield
May 24, 2020 at 7:55 AM EDT
Grieving families and veterans face an obstacle for observing Memorial Day — a pandemic
This was supposed to be the week Roman Baca finally brought his life’s work back home.
The former Marine Corps reservist trained as a ballet dancer before he shouldered a machine gun in the Iraqi city of Fallujah in 2005. He later merged his two worlds, creating a company that paints the experiences of war and trauma through dance. Memorial Day was going to be the moment he brought that vision to his hometown of Albuquerque.
But the coronavirus pandemic has transformed nearly every facet of daily life, including Memorial Day events, as social distancing, closures and restrictions disrupt the rituals of grief for those who have died in uniform.
By Alex Horton
May 24, 2020 at 7:20 AM EDT
Trump opts for a 2016 disruption strategy that Democrats say is ill-suited for a pandemic
Flush with record amounts of cash and a massive organization, President Trump and his allies had planned to spend the spring unleashing a torrent of withering attacks against Joe Biden in an attempt to define him in the eyes of voters before the former vice president could do so himself.
But the coronavirus pandemic upended those plans — delaying the campaign’s blitz of paid negative television ads until earlier this month, and forcing a reckoning over what kind of campaign can be effective during a time of historic unemployment and mass death.
Trump’s moves in recent days make clear the president has decided to revive the disruptive themes of his 2016 bid, aimed at branding his opponent as a corrupt member of the Washington establishment and himself as an insurgent problem-solver. It’s a message that often has seemed incongruent with the present reality.
By Toluse Olorunnipa and Ashley Parker
May 24, 2020 at 7:04 AM EDT
Earliest signs of vaccine effectiveness not until autumn, says head of global vaccine alliance
BRUSSELS — The first signs of the effectiveness of vaccines against the coronavirus will likely be seen only in the fall, and it could take a long time before a vaccine is broadly available, the head of a Geneva-based vaccine alliance said in an interview published Sunday, despite President Trump’s promises to have one ready by the end of the year.
“Unfortunately, we really don’t know which vaccine will work, and if there will be one at all. If we’re lucky, we’ll have a hint of effectiveness in the fall,” Seth Berkley, head of the Gavi vaccine alliance, told Zurich’s NZZ am Sonntag newspaper. “There is still a long way to go before an approved active ingredient is available in large quantities for the global population.”
In response to a question about the United States having sat out a European-led effort to pledge money toward developing a vaccine, Berkley urged as much global cooperation as possible in the race to produce a counter to the coronavirus, warning that individual countries’ efforts to prioritize their own citizens are likely to fail.
“If all politicians only look out for their country, then even countries with vaccines have a problem, because the virus will continue to rage in the rest of the world and no trade or exchange will be possible,” he said. He also said that it was possible that some countries’ efforts to develop a vaccine will fail and others will succeed, deepening the self-interested argument in favor of collaborating.
Trump has pushed an ambitious timeline to have a vaccine available — one that outstrips what his own scientific advisers say is likely or possible.
By Michael Birnbaum
May 24, 2020 at 6:58 AM EDT
California counties report new coronavirus clusters linked to churches amid debate over in-person worship
As California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) considers whether to ease restrictions on in-person religious gatherings, new clusters of coronavirus cases have emerged in northern California that appear connected to church services.
Health officials in Mendocino County confirmed over the weekend that the county’s six newest infections were linked to the Redwood Valley Assembly of God, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The county reported last week that the church’s pastor and two other people were infected after they participated in a live-streamed Mother’s Day service that featured singing.
“When we have an outbreak of such a large magnitude, it’s very concerning because we know that these individuals have had other contacts since contracting the disease,” County Health Officer Noemi Doohan said in a video update Friday. “We now have to do the very time consuming and difficult work of the case investigation contact tracing.”
In Butte County, at least two people have fallen ill with covid-19 after attending a Mother’s Day service held by a local church in violation of the state’s prohibitions on large gatherings, as the Chico Enterprise-Record reported last week. County health officials have told the more than 180 people who attended the service to self-quarantine.
“At this time, organizations that hold in-person services or gatherings are putting the health and safety of their congregations, the general public and our local ability to open up at great risk,” County Health Director Danette York said in a statement.
Facing mounting pressure from religious groups to loosen restrictions on churches, Newsom said last week he would issue new guidance on in-person worship by Monday. President Trump has called on the nation’s governors to allow churches to open amid the pandemic, threatening to take unspecified action against them if they refuse.
By Derek Hawkins
May 24, 2020 at 6:40 AM EDT
Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre reopens to visitors
Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the holiest sites in Christianity, reopened on Sunday, months after it closed for the first time since the 14th century, allowing a trickle of pilgrims into its winding halls under strict rules of social distancing.
The church, its crowded spaces typically crammed with thousands visitors from around the world, will now allow in 50 people at a time. They will have to wear masks and keep six feet from each other, according to the leaders of the three religious communities who together are the custodians of the site.
“From this Holy Place, in this Easter time, we continue our prayers, asking for the end of this pandemic,” the leaders of the Greek Orthodox, Catholic and Armenian Orthodox churches in Jerusalem said in a statement on Saturday. The churches share custody of the site.
They will take measures to “avoid the risk of a new spread of the COVID-19 infection,” they said, including asking worshipers not to touch or kiss the icons and stones with religious significance inside the church.
The basilica — built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, and also incorporating what is said to be his tomb — had been closed since March 25, ahead of the Easter holidays, to reduce the spread of the coronavirus in Israel. The keeper of the keys to the church said it was the first time it had been closed at length since the Black Death plague in 1349.
More than 16,700 coronavirus cases have been reported in Israel, with 279 deaths. Palestinian authorities have reported 368 cases in the occupied West Bank and two deaths.
Other religious sites in Jerusalem are slowly reopening as Israel loosens its lockdown measures, including the Western Wall, which is allowing a limited number of Jewish worshipers. Palestinian authorities have sought to impose a lockdown during this weekend’s Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of Ramadan to try to limit the spread of the virus.
By Michael Birnbaum
May 24, 2020 at 6:14 AM EDT
The pandemic has already altered how tens of millions of Americans can cast their ballots this year
The coronavirus pandemic is rapidly transforming this year’s elections, changing the way tens of millions of people cast ballots and putting thousands of election officials at the center of a pitched political fight as they rush to adapt with limited time and funding.
In a watershed moment for American voting, nearly 30 states have changed rules or practices for this year’s primaries or the general election in response to the public health threat posed by covid-19, according to a tally by The Washington Post. The new policies affect roughly 86.6 million registered voters — including more than 40 million people who now have the temporary right to cast an absentee ballot because of the virus.
By Elise Viebeck
May 24, 2020 at 6:14 AM EDT
Washington county’s move to next reopening phase halted after food processing outbreak
An outbreak of covid-19 at a Vancouver food processing plant led Washington state to halt a county’s progression through the phases of reopening, underscoring the difficulties communities face in keeping infections down on their way back toward normalcy.
Clark County, in the southwest corner of the state, had put in a request to move to Phase 2 of the state’s reopening plan, which allows outdoor activities involving five or fewer people and lets restaurants, hair salons and nail salons operate at 50 percent capacity or less, among other changes.
Then Clark County Public Health reported that 38 employees of Firestone Pacific Foods in Vancouver tested positive for the coronavirus. At least two were Clark County residents, officials said, and one person was hospitalized.
Firestone was ordered to stop production on Tuesday in an effort to halt the virus’s spread. Testing of all employees began Friday, after 12 staffers had already tested positive, health officials said. Public Health is expected to update the infection numbers Tuesday.
Clark County will remain under Phase 1 restrictions until further notice. More than half of Washington state’s counties have now been approved to move to Phase 2, according to the Tacoma News Tribune.
“Public Health has gone above and beyond in its response to this outbreak,” said Clark County council chair Eileen Quiring in a statement on the county’s website. “As our community moves forward, whether next week or in the weeks that follow, we may unfortunately see more positive cases. Public Health’s efforts during this outbreak show they have the ability to effectively respond to outbreaks in order to keep our community healthy.”
A group of worst-case scenario planners — mostly Democrats, but also some anti-Trump Republicans — have been gaming out how to respond to various doomsday options for the 2020 presidential election.
President Trump has said he expects the election to be held on Nov. 3 as planned.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times
WASHINGTON — In October, President Trump declares a state of emergency in major cities in battleground states, like Milwaukee and Detroit, banning polling places from opening.
A week before the election, Attorney General William P. Barr announces a criminal investigation into the Democratic presidential nominee, Joseph R. Biden Jr.
After Mr. Biden wins a narrow Electoral College victory, Mr. Trump refuses to accept the results, won’t leave the White House and declines to allow the Biden transition team customary access to agencies before the Jan. 20 inauguration.
Far-fetched conspiracy theories? Not to a group of worst-case scenario planners — mostly Democrats, but some anti-Trump Republicans as well — who have been gaming out various doomsday options for the 2020 presidential election. Outraged by Mr. Trump and fearful that he might try to disrupt the campaign before, during and after Election Day, they are engaged in a process that began in the realm of science fiction but has nudged closer to reality as Mr. Trump and his administration abandon longstanding political norms.
The anxiety has intensified in recent weeks as the president continues to attack the integrity of mail voting and insinuate that the election system is rigged, while his Republican allies ramp up efforts to control who can vote and how. Just last week, Mr. Trump threatened to withhold funding from states that defy his wishes on expanding mail voting, while also amplifying unfounded claims of voter fraud in battleground states.
“In the eight to 10 months I’ve been yapping at people about this stuff, the reactions have gone from, ‘Don’t be silly, that won’t happen,’ to an increasing sense of, ‘You know, that could happen,’” said Rosa Brooks, a Georgetown University law professor. Earlier this year, Ms. Brooks convened an informal group of Democrats and never-Trump Republicans to brainstorm about ways the Trump administration could disrupt the election and to think about ways to prevent it.
But the anxiety is hardly limited to outside groups.
Marc Elias, a Washington lawyer who leads the Democratic National Committee’s legal efforts to fight voter suppression measures, said not a day goes by when he doesn’t field a question from senior Democratic officials about whether Mr. Trump could postpone or cancel the election. Prodded by allies to explain why not, Mr. Elias wrote a column on the subject in late March for his website — and it drew more traffic than anything he’d ever published.
But changing the date of the election is not what worries Mr. Elias. The bigger threat in his mind is the possibility that the Trump administration could act in October to make it harder for people to vote in urban centers in battleground states — possibilities, he said, that include declaring a state of emergency, deploying the National Guard or forbidding gatherings of more than 10 people.
Such events could serve to depress or discourage turnout in pockets of the country that reliably vote for Democrats.
“That to me is that frame from which all doomsday scenarios then go,” he said.
To ward off such a scenario, Mr. Elias is engaged in multiple lawsuits aimed at making it easier to cast absentee ballots by mail and making in-person voting more available, either on Election Day or in the preceding weeks.
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Wisconsin held its presidential primary and other state elections in the midst of the pandemic in April.Credit…Lauren Justice for The New York Times
“Since 2016, Donald Trump has shown that he is always ready to sacrifice our basic democratic norms for his personal and political interests,” said Bob Bauer, a Biden senior adviser who is the campaign’s chief lawyer. “We assume he may well resort to any kind of trick, ploy or scheme he can in order to hold onto his presidency. We have built a strong program to plan for and address every possibility to ensure that he does not succeed.”
Mr. Trump has said he expects the election to be held on Nov. 3 as scheduled, and under federal law he does not have the power to unilaterally postpone it. But a recent comment by the president’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner about whether the election would be held as scheduled — “I’m not sure I can commit one way or another,’’ he said — renewed fears that Mr. Trump would try to move the election, or discredit the balloting process, if he thought he was going to lose.
Mr. Trump’s campaign derided the anxiety over the election as irrational hand-wringing driven by Democrats’ inability to accept his victory four years ago.
“Hillary Clinton, Stacey Abrams and the entire Democratic Party refused to accept the results of their elections and pushed the Russia collusion conspiracy theory for years,” said Tim Murtaugh, the communications director for Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign. “Now Joe Biden’s allies have formed actual conspiracy committees where they’ll work up new hoaxes to further undermine our democracy. They are wasting their time. As President Trump has repeatedly said, the election will happen on Nov. 3.”
Some Democrats have been cautious about voicing their warnings about potential electoral calamities too loudly, for fear that even the suggestion of a tainted election would depress turnout.
“You don’t want to set up a perception based on the theory that elections don’t matter,” said Ari Rabin-Havt, who was a deputy campaign manager for Senator Bernie Sanders. “You don’t want to tell supporters that nothing you do matters because this guy is going to screw it up.”
Updated May 20, 2020
What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
How many people have lost their jobs due to coronavirus in the U.S.?
Over 38 million people have filed for unemployment since March. One in five who were working in February reported losing a job or being furloughed in March or the beginning of April, data from a Federal Reserve survey released on May 14 showed, and that pain was highly concentrated among low earners. Fully 39 percent of former workers living in a household earning $40,000 or less lost work, compared with 13 percent in those making more than $100,000, a Fed official said.
How can I protect myself while flying?
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
Is ‘Covid toe’ a symptom of the disease?
There is an uptick in people reporting symptoms of chilblains, which are painful red or purple lesions that typically appear in the winter on fingers or toes. The lesions are emerging as yet another symptom of infection with the new coronavirus. Chilblains are caused by inflammation in small blood vessels in reaction to cold or damp conditions, but they are usually common in the coldest winter months. Federal health officials do not include toe lesions in the list of coronavirus symptoms, but some dermatologists are pushing for a change, saying so-called Covid toe should be sufficient grounds for testing.
Taking one’s temperature to look for signs of fever is not as easy as it sounds, as “normal” temperature numbers can vary, but generally, keep an eye out for a temperature of 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. If you don’t have a thermometer (they can be pricey these days), there are other ways to figure out if you have a fever, or are at risk of Covid-19 complications.
Should I wear a mask?
The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’t replace hand washing and social distancing.
What should I do if I feel sick?
If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
Charity Navigator, which evaluates charities using a numbers-based system, has a running list of nonprofits working in communities affected by the outbreak. You can give blood through the American Red Cross, and World Central Kitchen has stepped in to distribute meals in major cities.
Ms. Brooks’s group at Georgetown is not the only one forecasting doomsday scenarios for the election. Ian Bassin, the executive director of Protect Democracy, a nonprofit group dedicated to resisting authoritarian government, last year convened the National Task Force on Election Crises, a bipartisan 51-member group that includes Republicans such as Michael Chertoff, the former homeland security secretary. The group is dedicated to envisioning and presenting plans for scenarios that could wreck the 2020 presidential election.
The task force began with 65 possibilities before narrowing the list early this year to eight potential calamities, including natural disasters, a successful foreign hack of voting machines, a major candidate’s challenging the election and seeking to delegitimize the results, and a president who refuses to participate in a peaceful transfer of power.
Among the scenarios they eliminated when making final cuts in January, ironically, was a killer pandemic that ravaged the country and kept people homebound before Election Day. After the coronavirus struck, the group reconstituted to publish pandemic-related recommendations for state governments to follow.
The group also produced a 200-page document, which has not been made public. Several members said they had worked on specific scenarios but had not seen the complete draft. They said that while many of the possibilities envisioned an incumbent president’s using the forces of government to his advantage, the report’s authors had been careful not to make the document explicitly about Mr. Trump.
“We hope there are safeguards in place,” said Norman J. Ornstein, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute who participated in the task force. “Let’s face it, those safeguards ought to include the Senate of the United States and the Justice Department. There’s reason to be nervous.”
Edward B. Foley, a law professor at Ohio State University who participated in the task force, said the 2020 election could resemble the contest of 1876, which nearly split the country a decade after the Civil War.
That election was not decided until Gov. Samuel J. Tilden of New York conceded to Gov. Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio two days before the inauguration. The outgoing president, Ulysses S. Grant, had made contingency plans for martial law because he was concerned there would be simultaneous competing inaugurations.
“We’re setting ourselves up for an election where neither side can concede defeat,” Professor Foley said. “That suggests that the desire to dispute the outcome is going to be higher than ever.”
The New York Times has dedicated its entire Sunday front page to naming — and humanizing — U.S. coronavirus victims.
The unusual, chilling, text-only front page includes heartbreakingly sweet, one-line anecdotes of the lives lost to the virus — some of them young and just finding their footing in life, and others of advanced age whose biographies could have filled an entire Sunday edition.
There’s Denise Camille Buczek, 72, from Bristol, Conn., who “loved writing birthday and holiday cards, poems and lists.”
And Romi Cohn, 91, New York City, who “saved 56 Jewish families from the Gestapo.”
And then Leo Sreebny, 98, of Seattle, who “preferred bolo ties to neckties, suspenders to belts.”
The 1,000 miniature obituaries fill six full columns of the broadsheet and then continue inside, yet account for a fraction of the nearly 100,000 U.S. deaths due to the virus.
Simone Landon, an assistant editor of the Gray Lady’s graphics desk, explained the front page was a way to find a more personal commemoration of the approaching grim benchmark.
“We knew we were approaching this milestone,” she said. “We knew that there should be some way to try to reckon with that number.”
Tom Bodkin, the chief creative officer of The Times, said he did not remember a text-only front page in his 40 years at the paper. He believed it was the first such design in the paper’s “modern” era.
The paper said that its researcher, Alain Delaquérière, scoured “various sources online” for obituaries and death notices with COVID-19 written as the cause of death.
A team of editors and three graduate journalism students then worked to craft the personal phrases for each victim, according to The Times.
But one of the first names on the paper’s earlier editions of the front page, Jordan Driver Haynes, 27, didn’t actually die from the virus. He was murdered, according to local reports.
Haynes’ body was found in a vehicle left in a wooded area off a highway in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the local NBC affiliate reported.
A spokeswoman for the paper said the error was corrected for subsequent editions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Tel Aviv last September. Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, will go to court on Sunday charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
Oded Balilty/AP
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Oded Balilty/AP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a news conference in Tel Aviv last September. Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving prime minister, will go to court on Sunday charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
Oded Balilty/AP
He was his country’s most powerful man. Time magazine crowned him “king of Israel.” But he couldn’t win over Israel’s unforgiving free press. So he is accused of buyinghis way inside the newsroom of a leading news site, secretly dictating flattering coverage that helped him win reelection twice.
That allegation is at the center of an unprecedented courtroom drama that kicks off Sunday in Jerusalem: the State of Israel v. Benjamin Netanyahu.
The longest-serving prime minister in Israel’s history, after 11 uninterrupted years in office, will enter the courtroom charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust. If convicted, he could spend several years behind bars.
It’s the first time in Israel — and much of the world — that a sitting leader will go on trial.Usually, senior Israeli officials step down when they face corruption charges, as did Netanyahu’s predecessor, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
But Netanyahu is not required by law to step down after being indicted and has refused to resign. The conservative leader denies wrongdoing and alleges there isa left-wing witch hunt against him, a claim that has sparked an ugly culture war against Israel’s judiciary, law enforcement and media.
The saga plunged the country into political turmoil for more than 500 days. Israel held three national elections, each serving as a referendum on Netanyahu, but producing no clear winner. Finally this week, with Supreme Court approval, Netanyahu sealed a deal with his opposition rival and formed a new unity government.
“It’s terrible. It’s the first time that an acting prime minister is on trial, criminal trial, indicted by very, very serious offenses,” said Emanuel Gross, professor emeritus of law at Haifa University. “This is a crucial moment.”
What are the allegations against Netanyahu?
The most serious one carries the charge of bribery. Prosecutors accuse Netanyahu of offering regulatory favors worth hundreds of millions of dollars to a telecommunications executive, and in returngainingsecret editorial control over Walla! News, Israel’s second biggest news site. For nearly five years, including during his 2013 and 2015 reelection campaigns, Netanyahu and his wife Sara allegedly made hundreds of editorial demands of the executive and his wife, placed stories and photos, killed unflattering coverage and wielded influence over the hiring of editors and reporters.
“Generally, in criminal charges of bribery, it’s hard to have good evidence between the quid and the pro,” said Amir Fuchs of the nonpartisan Israel Democracy Institute. “In the indictment, you see a lot of evidence of the link.”
But it’s not a classic bribery case where the interest is money or sex. Never before has an Israeli official been indicted of bribery for securing positive press.
Netanyahu also faces lesser charges of fraud and breach of trust in two other cases. He’s accused of discussing a secret proposal with the owner of Israel’s biggest news site, YNet, and its related paper Yediot Ahronot, to promote legislation undercutting the owner’s biggest competitor in exchange for the owner reversing his critical editorial line against Netanyahu.
The prime minister is also accused of pulling strings with U.S. and Israeli officials to benefit a Hollywood producer who provided the Netanyahus with a constant supply of expensive jewelry, cigars and champagne. Netanyahu also accepted a regular supply of cigars and champagne from an Australian businessman.
What will the trial look like?
Considering the significance of the moment, the opening hearing could be anticlimactic.
At 3 p.m. local time (8 a.m. ET) Sunday, Netanyahu will appear before a three-judge panel at the district court in East Jerusalem for a hearing expected to last about half an hour. Netanyahu will only be asked to say a few words — whether he understands the charges. He will not yet need to enter a plea.
The telecom executive and his wife and the newspaper owner also face bribery charges.
Each defendant is permitted one defense attorney in the courtroom, due to coronavirus rules limiting attendance, and all must wear face masks. The state prosecutor has been assigned bodyguards to protect her from threats. Reporters will fill overflow rooms to watch the hearing on screens, but the trial will not be televised to the public as is customary.
The opening session was scheduled for March but the government’s coronavirus stay-at-home orders led the judges to postpone it — an extension that gave the leader more time to build a coalition government and secure his new term in office. Now he comes to the trial from a position of power.
Netanyahu asked the court to exempt him from attending the opening hearing, arguing that he is already aware of the allegations and that his bodyguards wouldexceed coronavirus limits on courtroom attendance. But the court rejected his request, saying there is room for his bodyguards and he needs to be present for the reading of his allegations. As the trial progresses, Netanyahu could be asked to appear in court three or four times a week, while still serving as prime minister.
It could take months to a year to process preliminary arguments before witnesses are called to the stand. The prosecution’s star witnesses are three of Netanyahu’sformer close aides who agreed to testify against their ex-boss and escape prosecution. The court is likely to grant Netanyahu an exemption from personally attending every hearing. It could be several years before a verdict is handed down.
If the judges find Netanyahu guilty, he can appeal the verdict at the Supreme Court. If he lost that appeal he would be required to leave office.
Dr. Deborah Birx speaks about the nation’s continuous decrease in mortality as well as a decrease in new hospitalizations due to Covid-19 at the White House coronavirus task force briefing. #CNN#News
Officers also fired a water cannon at protesters who defied social distancing rules to demonstrate against Beijing’s plan to impose security legislation on the territory.
Protesters took to the streets in Hong Kong again on Sunday.Credit…Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times
HONG KONG — Thousands of protesters swarmed some of Hong Kong’s busiest neighborhoods on Sunday, singing, chanting and erecting roadblocks of torn-up bricks and debris, as the police repeatedly fired tear gas, pepper spray and a water cannon during the city’s largest street mobilization in months.
The protest, the first since China announced plans to tighten its control over Hong Kong through security legislation, was planned as a march between the city’s bustling Causeway Bay and Wan Chai neighborhoods. But when the police blocked the route, firing multiple rounds of tear gas in quick succession, the protesters quickly splintered into smaller groups, setting off more than seven hours of scattershot confrontations.
While the protesters were largely peaceful, periodic clashes left the area choked with haze and littered with broken glass, furniture and police tape. The police patrolled the district’s main thoroughfare with a water cannon, escorted by an armored truck with two officers seated on top, pointing guns loaded with rubber bullets.
The police said they had arrested at least 180 people, mostly for unlawful assembly, and at least four officers were injured. The city’s hospital authority said that six people had been hospitalized, including one woman in critical condition.
The protest on Sunday — the city’s first large-scale demonstration since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic — underscored the depth of many residents’ outrage and fear about Beijing’s national security push. The protesters flouted social distancing rules and police warnings against illegal assemblies to show their solidarity against the security laws, which many fear would strangle the civil liberties that distinguish the city from the mainland.
But the demonstration also made clear the challenges before the pro-democracy movement. Attendance was far lower than for the massive rallies last year against a bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China. Some protesters have expressed hopelessness or a new fear of participating in public opposition. The police also showed that they planned to continue a new pattern of assertiveness toward the protests, trying to stop mass gatherings before they occur.
“I keep coming out to protest,” said one attendee, Hanna Ng, 16. “Bad things keep happening, but I don’t know what else to do.”
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Police officers fired tear gas to disperse protesters in Hong Kong on Sunday.Credit…Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times
Crowds began forming around 1 p.m., as hundreds of people milled beneath the gleaming facades of Causeway Bay, Hong Kong’s shopping district. Ignoring police warnings about the city’s social distancing regulations, which prohibit public gatherings of more than eight people, the protesters taunted police officers, hoisted signs denouncing the Chinese Communist Party and sang “Glory to Hong Kong,” the unofficial anthem of the pro-democracy movement.
Several protesters waved flags calling for Hong Kong independence — a call that, though still considered fringe, has gained some traction in recent months as anger at Beijing has grown.
As the crowd thickened, trams sat immobilized on the rails, with passengers poking their phones out to film the activity. One protester jammed traffic cones under the tires of a minibus to prevent it from moving.
Shortly before 1:30 p.m., the police fired several rounds of tear gas, sending the crowds that had been trying to march westward fleeing into stores and side streets. But the protesters, many of whom had been trained by last year’s street battles to bring gas masks, reassembled as quickly as they had dispersed.
The result was several hours of start-and-stop encounters, with long stretches of tense quiet interrupted by sudden bouts of police officers sprinting down a street, firing pepper balls or tear gas to clear the way. At times, they fired pepper spray in close range of protesters and journalists, according to videos on social media.
The police said in a statement that they had deployed tear gas to disperse protesters who blocked traffic and threw umbrellas, water bottles and other objects at officers.
“Some rioters have set fire to debris and hurled glass bottles from rooftops, causing danger to residents and business owners nearby,” the police said, adding that protesters had charged into roads, removed street barriers and damaged traffic lights.
Protesters also reportedly beat a lawyer who had expressed pro-establishment views; they also smashed the glass of at least one storefront. Some protesters piled umbrellas, wooden boards and overturned trash cans to barricade streets, and a few threw objects at police vehicles.
Groups of police officers pinned protesters to the ground and conducted random searches on passers-by.
Still, the clashes were relatively restrained, compared to violent clashes that marked the later months of protests last year.
The march on Sunday was planned before Beijing announced its national security plans on Thursday. It was originally intended to oppose a separate bill, in Hong Kong’s Legislature, to criminalize disrespect of the Chinese national anthem. Antigovernment groups see that proposal as yet another indication of the mainland’s encroachment on Hong Kong.
But after the security push was announced, the event took on added urgency for protesters eager to show they would not be cowed.
“I came out today to protest against the evil law China will impose on Hong Kong,” Billy Lai, a 34-year-old social worker, said. “If everyone of us can do a little bit more, I hope we can bring changes to the society.”
Updated May 20, 2020
What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
How many people have lost their jobs due to coronavirus in the U.S.?
Over 38 million people have filed for unemployment since March. One in five who were working in February reported losing a job or being furloughed in March or the beginning of April, data from a Federal Reserve survey released on May 14 showed, and that pain was highly concentrated among low earners. Fully 39 percent of former workers living in a household earning $40,000 or less lost work, compared with 13 percent in those making more than $100,000, a Fed official said.
How can I protect myself while flying?
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
Is ‘Covid toe’ a symptom of the disease?
There is an uptick in people reporting symptoms of chilblains, which are painful red or purple lesions that typically appear in the winter on fingers or toes. The lesions are emerging as yet another symptom of infection with the new coronavirus. Chilblains are caused by inflammation in small blood vessels in reaction to cold or damp conditions, but they are usually common in the coldest winter months. Federal health officials do not include toe lesions in the list of coronavirus symptoms, but some dermatologists are pushing for a change, saying so-called Covid toe should be sufficient grounds for testing.
Taking one’s temperature to look for signs of fever is not as easy as it sounds, as “normal” temperature numbers can vary, but generally, keep an eye out for a temperature of 100.5 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. If you don’t have a thermometer (they can be pricey these days), there are other ways to figure out if you have a fever, or are at risk of Covid-19 complications.
Should I wear a mask?
The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks don’t replace hand washing and social distancing.
What should I do if I feel sick?
If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
Charity Navigator, which evaluates charities using a numbers-based system, has a running list of nonprofits working in communities affected by the outbreak. You can give blood through the American Red Cross, and World Central Kitchen has stepped in to distribute meals in major cities.
Ricky Chun, a retiree, said he had not planned to attend Sunday’s march when it was first announced. But after the national security push, he knew he had to attend.
“This is the only way we can express ourselves,” he said. “We cannot just keep ourselves quiet and take whatever they give to us.”
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China’s leader, Xi Jinping, center, at the opening session of the country’s National People’s Congress on Friday.Credit…Ju Peng/Xinhua, via Associated Press
In Beijing, China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, said that the protests that roiled Hong Kong for much of last year had posed a grave threat to national security, demonstrating that such legislation was long overdue.
“We must get it done without the slightest delay,” he said at a news briefing.
He sought to assuage concerns that the rules would be used as cover for squelching antigovernment dissent in the city, saying that the move targeted a “very narrow category” of acts.
“Instead of becoming unnecessarily worried, people should have more confidence in Hong Kong’s future,” he said.
In a statement on Sunday evening, an unnamed spokesperson for the Hong Kong government called the protesters “thugs” and the clashes “atrocities.” The day’s events confirmed ”the necessity and urgency of national security legislation,” the statement said.
The Hong Kong government previously tried to introduce security laws in 2003 but backpedaled after mass protests. The city’s government has since avoided reintroducing such legislation, and Beijing’s move signaled its impatience with its local proxies.
It remains unclear how the protest movement will move forward, and whether it will able to replicate last year’s victories. Though the protesters in 2019 forced the Hong Kong government to withdraw the extradition bill, many said the aggressiveness of the Communist Party’s actions had dimmed their faith in the power of protest.
In addition, even as the coronavirus pandemic has waned in Hong Kong, some in the pro-democracy camp have said they prefer to express their discontent in potentially safer ways, such as boycotting businesses seen as sympathetic to Beijing.
Still, those who attended the march said protesting remained one of the most viable options.
“I wouldn’t use optimistic,” Michelle Chung, 45, a theater artist, said of her outlook on the protests. “But I would say that if we do not insist, we will not see hope. It’s because we insist, that hope will remain out there.”
Ezra Cheung, Elaine Yu and Katherine Li contributed reporting.
