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A new model suggests the warming climate will boost transmission of the West Nile virus and other mosquito-borne viruses in parts of the United States where temperatures are currently below the insects’ optimum range.
Share on PinterestNew research looks at global warming’s potential impact on the transmission of mosquito-borne viruses.
West Nile virus, which mosquitoes — as principal vectors — transmit to humans, first arrived in North America in 1999. Since then, it has become the most common mosquito-borne infection in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
Scientific models at Stanford University, CA, now predict the virus will spread more easily in cooler parts of the country as average summer temperatures rise due to climate change.
Rising temperatures will also likely mean seasonal transmission of the virus starts earlier in spring and ends later in fall.
However, at the same time, the virus may spread less easily in hotter areas.
The model suggests that the optimum temperature for transmission is 24–25°C (75.2–77°F). Around 70% of the U.S. population live in regions where summer temperatures are currently below this range, whereas 30% live in areas above the range.
The authors write in the journal eLife, “we might expect a net increase in transmission of West Nile virus in response to the warming climate, even as hot temperatures suppress transmission in some places.”
“As the climate warms, it is critical to understand how temperature changes will affect the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases,” says lead author Marta Shocket, who was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford when the models were developed and is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Apart from temperature, many factors may contribute to the transmission rates of mosquito-borne viruses, including land use, control measures, and the evolution of the viruses and their insect vectors.
“Climate change is poised to increase the transmission of West Nile and other mosquito-borne viruses in much of the U.S.,” says senior author Erin Mordecai, Assistant Professor of Biology at Stanford.
“But these diseases also depend on human contact with mosquitoes that also contact wildlife. So factors like human land use, mosquito control, mosquito and virus adaptations, and the emergence of new viruses make predicting the future of mosquito-borne disease a challenge.”
The main hosts of all the viruses they studied are wild birds — which act as “reservoirs” of infection — so their shifting geographical range will also contribute to changes in transmission rates, say the researchers.
Each mosquito species is a vector for several viruses, and each virus can be carried by several different species.
Therefore, for simplicity, the scientists focused on six viruses transmitted by a limited number of extensively studied vectors. In total, they modeled 10 vector-virus pairs.
The viruses were:
West Nile
St. Louis Encephalitis
Eastern and Western Equine Encephalitis
Sindbis
Rift Valley fever
Their vectors are mosquito species from the genera Culex, Aedes, Coquillettidia, and Culiseta.
To develop their models, the scientists used data from previous research that measured how temperature affected these insects in the lab. The temperature-dependent factors driving transmission by the insects were:
survival
biting rate
number of offspring
development rate
ease of acquiring and transmitting the virus
virus incubation rate
The models predict that transmission of the viruses will peak at intermediate temperatures and decline in extremes of cold and heat.
The scientists validated their West Nile virus model by comparing its predictions with actual transmission patterns by county in the U.S. This confirmed that the virus spreads most rapidly at moderate temperatures, but is checked when temperatures are higher or lower than its insect vectors’ optimal range.
They write that their models are “the most comprehensive synthesis to date” of how temperature affects the transmission of these diseases.
However, they note that some gaps remain in the data used to build the models. Filling these holes will improve the accuracy and precision of their predictions.
They conclude:
“As carbon emissions continue to increase and severe climate change becomes increasingly inevitable, it is critical that we understand how temperature change will affect the transmission of mosquito-borne diseases in a warmer future world.”
Image caption
The letter was intercepted by law enforcement before it reached the White House, officials said
A package containing ricin poison that was addressed to US President Donald Trump has been intercepted before it reached the White House, officials told US media.
The letter was discovered at a screening facility for White House mail earlier this week, the officials said.
They said a substance found inside the envelope was identified as ricin, a poison found naturally in castor beans.
The Trump administration is yet to comment on the reports.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Secret Service are investigating where the package came from and whether others have been sent through the US postal system.
One official told the New York Times that investigators believe the package was sent from Canada. Reports say the presence of ricin was confirmed after tests by the FBI.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said on Saturday it was working with the FBI to investigate the “suspicious letter sent to the White House”.
Ricin is produced by processing castor beans. It is a lethal substance that, if swallowed, inhaled or injected, can cause nausea, vomiting, internal bleeding and ultimately organ failure.
Image caption
Castor seeds, which are used to make the deadly ricin poison
The CDC said the poison – which has been used in terror plots – can be manufactured into a weapon in the form of a powder, mist or pellet.
The White House and other federal buildings have been the target of ricin packages in the past.
In 2014, a Mississippi man was sentenced to 25 years in prison for sending letters dusted with ricin to former President Barack Obama and other officials.
Four years later, in 2018, a former Navy veteran was charged with sending toxic letters to the Pentagon and White House.
At least one protester was arrested Saturday after a group of about 100 people gathered outside the Kentucky home of Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell.
The Senate majority leader is a key figure in determining whether a nominee appointed by President Trump will succeed the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court before Election Day.
“Ruth Sent Us,” and “No Ethics No Shame,” read some of the signs carried by crowd members in Louisville, local FOX station WDRB-TV reported.
“Hey-hey, ho-ho, Mitch McConnell has got to go,” others chanted.
Reports were unclear on whether McConnell was at home in Kentucky or in Washington on Saturday.
In addition to the impending battle over the court vacancy, McConnell, 78 – a member of the Senate since 1985 — also faces a reelection fight on Kentucky’s November ballot.
One protester was arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and improper parking, after police determined she used a pharmacy parking lot without planning to patronize the store, the Courier Journal of Louisville reported.
After facing the towing of her vehicle, the woman went inside the store and bought a six-pack of beer but police arrested her anyway, the report said.
The arrest prompted other protesters to start chanting, and one member of the crowd kicked a glass door and damaged it, the newspaper reported.
Other protesters agreed to move vehicles that were blocking traffic on a nearby street, following a police request.
Any Supreme Court nominee selected by Trump must win confirmation from the GOP-led Senate before joining the court on a lifetime appointment. The process includes confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., speaks after meeting with Senate Republicans, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Associated Press)
As Senate leader, McConnell would determine when or if a vote on a nomination would be held. Democrats and some Republicans have argued that any vote on a Trump court pick should be delayed until after the Nov. 3 presidential election.
But McConnell has faced criticism for his 2016 decision to deny former President Barack Obama a Senate vote on his high-court choice, Merrick Garland, with the 2016 election between Trump and Hillary Clinton just months away.
In his Senate race, McConnell is seeking a seventh term. He is facing Democrat Amy McGrath, a former U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot.
A new Quinnipiac University poll released last week showed McConnell with a double-digit lead over McGrath, the Courier Journal reported.
Australia reported 14 new cases on Sunday – the lowest daily increase in new coronavirus cases in three months as strict lockdown in Melbourne reduces infections sharply.
Brazil and Argentina have announced that they are joining a global alliance seeking to pool the purchase and distribution of future COVID-19 vaccines.
Despite threats of heavy fines up to almost $1,300, more than a thousand people gathered in central London to protest, defying lockdown measures aimed at slowing the resurgence of COVID-19.
More than 30.6 million people around the world have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus and almost 95,400 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. Some 20.8 million people have recovered.
Here are the latest updates:
Sunday, September 20
08:40 GMT – UK health minister: Second national lockdown possible
British Health Minister Matt Hancock said a second national lockdown was one possible step to curb the spread of the coronavirus, but it was not what he wanted to happened.
“If everybody follows the rules then we can avoid further national lockdowns, but we, of course, have to be prepared to take action if that’s what’s necessary,” Hancock told the BBC.
“I don’t rule it out, I don’t want to see it.”
08:30 GMT – Indonesia reports 3,989 new infections, 105 deaths
Indonesia reported 3,989 new coronavirus cases, taking the total to 244,676, data from the country’s health ministry showed.
The data added 105 new deaths, taking the total to 9,553, the biggest death toll in Southeast Asia.
Indonesian medical workers at work during a drive through COVID-19 testing operation in front of a hospital in Jakarta [Ed Wray/Getty Images]
08:25 GMT – S.Korea keeps social distancing curbs ahead of major national holiday
South Korea extended level 2 social distancing for a week until September 27, which limits indoor gatherings to below 50 and outdoor to less than 100, and may tighten limits for the Chuseok holiday when people traditionally reunite with families.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said the level 2 restrictions need to be kept ahead of Chuseok as “cases with untraceable origins are steadily increasing and fewer tests being carried out on weekends means we should be on high alert”.
Social distancing policies for the September 30-October 2 holiday will be announced in the coming days.
South Korea reported 82 new cases as of midnight Saturday, the lowest daily infections since mid August, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
07:22 GMT – Czech republic’s daily count of new cases drops to 2,046
The Czech Republic’s daily count of new coronavirus cases dropped to 2,046 on Saturday, still a record number for a weekend day when fewer tests are done, data from the Health Ministry showed.
The overall count of confirmed cases rose to 48,306 in the country of 10.7 million people.
The Czechs have been reporting new cases of the infection at one of Europe’s fastest paces in recent weeks and the authorities have returned to some of the measures used in spring when the pandemic first reached the country.
07:19 GMT – Indonesia halts exports from seafood producer after virus tests
Indonesia has suspended exports from an Indonesian seafood company PT Putri Indah into China after its frozen fish products tested positive for the coronavirus, the country’s fisheries ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said that an investigation was underway and that the suspension would only apply to PT Putri Indah “whereas the others can still do export activities as usual.”
The virus was detected on the outermost side of the package, not on the fish, the ministry said.
The seven-day suspension began on Friday, it said.
Hello, this is Farah Najjar taking over from my colleague Ted Regencia.
05:45 GMT – WHO endorses protocol for virus herbal medicine trials
The World Health Organization has endorsed a protocol for testing African herbal medicines as potential treatments for the coronavirus and other epidemics.
WHO experts and colleagues from two other organisations “endorsed a protocol for phase III clinical trials of herbal medicine for Covid-19 as well as a charter and terms of reference for the establishment of a data and safety monitoring board for herbal medicine clinical trials,” a statement said, according to an AFP new agency report.
“Phase III clinical trials are pivotal in fully assessing the safety and efficacy of a new medical product,” it noted.
05:14 GMT – India’s coronavirus infections surge to 5.4 million
India reported on Sunday at least 1,113 new deaths, taking the country’s death toll to 86,752 [Harish Tyagi/EPA]
India’s federal health ministry reported 92,605 new infections in the last 24 hours, raising the total number of cases to 5.4 million – second only to the US.
India also reported 1,113 new deaths, taking the death toll to 86,752 – or about 1.6 percent of all cases.
04:34 GMT – Italy reports 1,638 COVID-19 cases
The Italian health ministry reported another 1,638 new cases of coronavirus, bringing the number of cases to more 297,000.
The government also added 24 deaths with the total toll rising to 35,692 – the second highest in Europe next to the UK.
Greek authorities have announced 240 coronavirus cases, bringing the total number of cases to 14,978.
Greece also reported four deaths, raising the death toll to 331.
03:38 GMT – Australia reports lowest COVID-19 cases in three months
Australia looked set to record its lowest daily increase in new coronavirus cases in three months on Sunday as a hard lockdown in the city of Melbourne brought the country’s virus epicentre down sharply.
The second-most populous state Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital, reported 14 new infections in the 24 hours to Sunday morning, down from 21 new cases the day prior and its lowest since June 19, according to Reuters news agency.
That put Victoria, which has spent months under lockdown to slow a second wave of infections, on track to meet a target of keeping average daily increases below 50 by September 28 when the authorities have said they may lift restrictions.
03:20 GMT – Germany’s reports 1,345 new coronavirus cases
Germany’s agency for infectious diseases has reported at least 1,345 new coronavirus cases, raising the country’s total to 271,415.
The Robert Koch Institute also reported two new deaths, with a total death toll of 9,386.
02:29 GMT – Brazil reports 33,057 new COVID-19 cases, 739 deaths
Brazil’s health ministry has recorded 33,057 additional confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of cases to more than 4.5 million.
Brazil also reported 739 additional deaths for a total death toll of more than 136,000 – the second highest in the world next only to the US.
02:18 GMT – China reports 10 new COVID-19 cases
China’s National Health Commission has reported 10 new coronavirus cases, brining the total number of cases to almost 85,300.
All new cases were imported. At least 21 cases were also reported as “asymptomatic”.
No new deaths were reported keeping the death toll at 4,634.
All new cases reported in China on Sunday were imported, although the origin of the other 21 asymptomatic cases was unclear [Alex Plavevski/EPA]
01:40 GMT – Mexico reports 5,167 new coronavirus cases, 455 new deaths
Mexico’s health ministry has reported at least 5,167 additional coronavirus cases, bringing the total to 694,121 cases.
At least 455 new deaths were also reported pushing the death toll to 73,258. Earlier, the government has reported an estimated 120,000 “excess deaths”.
01:10 GMT – South Korea reports lowest daily infections in almost 40 days
South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported 82 new coronavirus cases – the lowest daily infections since mid August.
Of the new cases reported, at least 72 were local transmission. The country has a total of 22,975 infections with 383 deaths.
00:35 GMT – Brazil, Argentina join COVID-19 vaccine alliance
Brazil and Argentina have announced that they are joining a global alliance seeking to pool COVID-19 vaccines, after missing an earlier deadline.
Peru said it signed a deal giving the country access to 12 million doses of coronavirus vaccine through the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility (COVAX), a scheme for pooled purchase and distribution of future vaccines.
Argentina asked for more time to prepare the required paperwork, but it expects on Wednesday to sign its commitment to the vaccine mechanism led by the World Health Organization (WHO), a health ministry official told Reuters news agency.
The Brazilian government said in a statement late on Friday that it will sign up for COVAX after negotiations with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which is the COVAX secretariat.
00:05 GMT – Italy to allow fans at football games from Sunday
Beginning on Sunday, Italian football arenas will open their doors to a limited number of spectators, as the country managed to avoid a resurgence in coronavirus cases.
Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora announced that up to a thousand supporters will be able to attend Serie A soccer matches nationwide, after the regional governments, the sports departments and football clubs reached an agreement.
00:01 GMT – France’s economy minister tests positive of COVID-19
French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire has announced that he has contracted the coronavirus – this as the country’s number of infections is surging anew with nearly 13,500 new infections in 24 hours.
Le Maire said that he has so far not shown any symptoms but is under quarantine due to the disease. He is the fourth French minister to test positive of COVID-19.
France has over 467,000 cases and more than 31,200 deaths.
Joe Biden is accused of hypocrisy after a 2016 op-ed emerged in which he slammed Republicans for holding up a Supreme Court appointment, stating that it is the ‘constitutional duty’ of a president to nominate if a vacancy becomes available.
He made the comments in a March 2016 op-ed with the New York Times, in which he added that he was ‘surprised and saddened’ to hear Republican senators say they would not longer accept a nomination because it was an election year.
His words resurfaced this week after he blasted President Donald Trump for moving to nominate a candidate to fill the vacancy left by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday.
Biden claimed that the nomination should wait until after the election in 44 days.
Trump hit back at Biden Saturday night, calling on the former Vice President to release his own list of potential Supreme Court picks and accusing him of being afraid to alienate voters by releasing the names ahead of November 3.
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Joe Biden slammed Republicans in 2016 for holding up a Supreme Court appointment stating that it is the ‘constitutional duty’ of a president to nominate if a vacancy becomes available
Biden said Friday the nomination should wait until after the election
Joe Biden in 2016: “I would go forward with a confirmation process as chairman, *even a few months before a presidential election,* if the nominee were chosen with the advice, and not merely the consent, of the Senate, just as the Constitution requires.pic.twitter.com/eAdrDigc8S
On Friday, shortly after Ginsburg’s death as the political battle about her replacement began, Biden tweeted his opposition to Trump attempting to push through a nominee in the next 40-plus days.
‘Let me be clear: The voters should pick a President, and that President should select a successor to Justice Ginsburg,’ he wrote.
Yet on numerous occasions in 2016, he hit out at Republicans for saying the same.
‘The president has the constitutional duty to nominate; the Senate has the constitutional obligation to provide advice and consent,’ he wrote in the Time op-ed on the subject.
‘It is written plainly in the Constitution that both presidents and senators swear an oath to uphold and defend.’
‘That’s why I was so surprised and saddened to see Republican leaders tell President Obama and me that they would not even consider a Supreme Court nominee this year,’ he added.
‘No meetings. No hearings. No votes. Nothing. It is an unprecedented act of obstruction. And it risks a stain on the legacy of all those complicit in carrying out this plan.’
At the time, Republican senators had refused to move forward with the vetting process for Obama’s nomination to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.
His death on February 13, 2016, opened up a vacancy to which Obama nominated Merrick Garland.
President Trump has called on Biden to release his own list of potential nominees
Merrick Garland was nominated by Obama but Republicans delayed his confirmation
Trump’s pick Neil Gorsuch was appointed to the court after Republicans held up the confirmation of Obama’s choice ahead of the election in 2016
Garland was never confirmed and Trump’s pick Neil Gorsuch was appointed to the court.
Biden has previously said that if a vacancy opens before summer in an election year, he believes the president has the green light to pick nominees.
In the last few weeks before voters head to the polls, however, he thinks they should be held off.
This has often been called the ‘Biden Rule’ after the then-Senator made a 1992 speech encouraging a Supreme Court vacancy to be pushed post-election.
After rumors surfaced in mid-June that a Justice was soon to retire, Biden claimed it ‘would create immense political acrimony’ to nominate too close to the election.
‘So I called on the president to wait until after the election to submit a nomination if a sitting justice were to create a vacancy by retiring before November,’ he wrote.
‘And if the president declined to do that, I recommended that the Judiciary Committee not hold hearings “until after the political campaign season is over.”
‘I know there is an argument that no nominee should be voted on in the last year of a presidency. But there is nothing in the Constitution — or our history — to support this view,’ Biden continued.
Biden has said he does not want to release his list of potential Supreme Court nominees yet until they are properly vetted but that he will nominate an African American woman
‘Justice Anthony M. Kennedy was confirmed in the last year of Ronald Reagan’s second term. I know. I was chairman of the Judiciary Committee at the time.
‘And we promptly gave him a hearing, a vote in committee and a full vote on the floor.’
In another 2016 speech broadcast by PBS, Biden made his position on moving forward with a nomination in an election year clear.
‘I would go forward with a confirmation process as chairman, even a few months before a presidential election, if the nominee were chosen with the advice, and not merely the consent, of the Senate, just as the Constitution requires,’ he said.
‘My consistent advice to president’s of both parties, including this president [Obama] has been that we should engage fully in the constitutional process of advice and consent.
‘And my consistent understanding of the constitution has been, the Senate must do so as well. Period. They have an obligation to do so.’
Despite Biden and Democrats arguments, Trump claimed at a rally in North Carolina on Saturday night that there was still enough time to effectively vet a nominee in the 44 days left before the election.
He also slammed Biden for refusing to release his own list of potential nominees, claiming that the former Vice President did not want to run the risk of losing far-left voters if his list was too moderate and vice versa.
Trump claimed that if Biden released a list of names too moderate, he would lose ‘the entire East Coast’ and lose the election.
Earlier on Saturday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told Fox News that Biden needed to release his list to help voters to make up their minds.
‘The former vice president, in all due respect, instead of telling the current president what to do, he needs to tell voters where he stands,’ McEnany said.
‘We don’t know who is on his Supreme Court list. We don’t know what kind of justices he would nominate.
‘We know very squarely this president’s been very transparent putting forward two lists as to exactly not just what his justices would look like but what their names would be,’ McEnany said of Trump’s picks.
‘This is paramount importance to the American voters,’ she added.
The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Friday has sparked another Trump v Biden battle pre-election
‘This is now a lynchpin issue of this election and Joe Biden, you know, where do you stand? What do your justices look like? Do they believe in the Constitution and abide by the Constitution. Do they believe in the plain words a statute? He needs to answer those questions before telling President Trump exactly how to move forward.’
Biden has said he does not want to release any names until they’ve been properly vetted but he will chose an African American woman.
Ginsburg’s death seemed certain to stoke enthusiasm in both political parties as the election could now be viewed as referendum on the high court’s decisions, including the future of abortion rights.
Democrats raised more than $71 million in the hours after Ginsburg’s death, indicating her passing has already galvanized the party’s base.
Typically, it takes several months to vet and hold hearings on a Supreme Court nominee, and time is short before November.
Key senators may be reluctant to cast votes so close to the election, even if Trump nominates.
With a slim GOP majority, 53 seats in the 100-member chamber, Trump’s choice could afford to lose only a few.
Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, who sets the calendar in the Senate and has made judicial appointments his priority, declared unequivocally in a statement that Trump’s nominee would receive a confirmation vote.
In 2016, McConnell refused to consider President Barack Obama´s nominee months before the election, eventually preventing a vote on Judge Merrick Garland.
McConnell did not specify the timing if a Trump nomination is made next week.
But trying for confirmation in a lame-duck session after the November 3 election, if Trump had lost to Biden or Republicans had lost the Senate, would carry further political complications.
Democrats immediately denounced McConnell’s move as hypocritical, pointing out that he refused to call hearings for Garland 237 days before the 2016 election.
The 2020 election is 44 days away.
The average number of days to confirm a justice, according to the Congressional Research Service, is 69, which would be after the election.
But some Republicans quickly noted that Ginsburg was confirmed in just 42 days.
Obama waited more than a month to nominate Garland after Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016.
Four GOP defections could defeat a nomination, while a tie vote could be broken by Vice President Mike Pence.
The next pick could shape important decisions beyond abortion rights, including any legal challenges that may stem from the 2020 election.
In the interim, if the court were to take cases with eight justices, 4-4 ties would revert the decision to a lower court; for instance, the Affordable Care Act could then be struck down by a lower Texas court.
A new study finds that performing many low paid but essential jobs puts people at higher risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. It also finds that Black people in the United States are more likely to have these higher risk jobs. This could expose them disproportionately to a higher risk of infection.
Share on PinterestBlack people in the U.S. who perform essential work may have a higher risk of mortality from COVID-19.
The research, which took place at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, reveals that non-Hispanic Black people were more likely than non-Hispanic white people to hold occupations considered essential, meaning that they continued to work during state lockdowns.
The team collected data on COVID-19 deaths between April 9 and April 24, 2020. At that time, a total of 35 states and the District of Columbia published the number of deaths by racial group.
This analysis adds to existing evidence that suggests higher COVID-19 mortality rates among non-Hispanic Black people.
Stay informed with live updates on the current COVID-19 outbreak and visit our coronavirus hub for more advice on prevention and treatment.
In Wisconsin, for example, the new study suggests that non-Hispanic Black people accounted for 36% of all COVID-19 deaths, despite making up only 6% of the state’s population.
However, the analysis also demonstrates that non-Hispanic Black people were more likely to be working in most of the essential occupations. This likely put them at higher risk of infection and made it more likely that they would pass the virus to other members of their household.
The researchers used data from the Current Population Survey to determine the prevalence of 22 occupational categories within each racial group in the 35 states and the District of Columbia.
In descending order, the five occupations with the greatest overall preponderance of non-Hispanic Black workers compared with non-Hispanic white workers were:
transportation and material moving
healthcare support
food preparation and serving
building and grounds cleaning and maintenance
personal care and service
The study shows that 4 out of 5 of these were in the top third of positive correlations between employment and the percentage of COVID-19 deaths across all states and racial groups.
The fifth was “building and grounds cleaning and maintenance,” which still had a positive and statistically significant correlation but was not as strong as that of other jobs. Presumably, since much of this work is outdoors, the risk was slightly lower.
“There are a lot of theories [as to why Black people] are dying at higher rates than [people of] other races during this pandemic,” says senior study author Fares Qeadan, Ph.D.
Black adults, he explains, are overall likely to be “working in jobs where they have a greater risk of coming [into] contact with the virus day in and day out.”
The study authors conclude:
“Existing structural injustices will continue to shape racial disparities in this pandemic if essential workers are treated as expendable, and unless companies and governmental leaders prioritize workplace safety and protection as a matter of public health.”
Tiffany Green, an assistant professor in the Departments of Population Health Sciences and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has pointed out that physical distancing is difficult to achieve in some essential occupations and while using public transport.
In addition, many employers do not provide adequate health insurance, if any.
Speaking about the issue to Medical News Today in May 2020, she said: “All of this is to say that we are asking low paid workers to take on an enormous amount of risk with little reward.”
“Yet, many are forced to continue working — often without proper personal protective equipment — because without these jobs, they cannot feed themselves or their families (who are also now at greater risk).”
A review of scientific evidence by Public Health England reached similar conclusions about the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on Black individuals in England.
The review suggests that Black people had the highest age-standardized diagnosis rates for COVID-19 of any racial group. It also concludes that working in essential occupations with a high risk of exposure and using public transport may be contributory factors.
However, the authors caution that the presence of preexisting medical conditions is also likely to play an important role in increased COVID-19 mortality.
“Other evidence has shown that when comorbidities are included, the difference in risk of death between ethnic groups among hospitalized patients is greatly reduced,” they write.
The authors of the new study concede that their analysis was purely descriptive. It establishes a correlation but not a causal association between employment in most essential occupations and increased COVID-19 mortality.
They also demonstrate that non-Hispanic Black people are more likely to be employed in these essential occupations.
They write that it was beyond the scope of the study to investigate the connections between race and other health conditions and how these connections might affect the impact of occupation on the risk of death from COVID-19.
Studies such as these highlight the importance of collecting health data by race. As Green said, this is an issue of civil rights law, which starts with collecting the right data.
In May, she told MNT: “As legal scholar Ruqaiijah Yearby brilliantly points out, the federal government must aggressively enforce existing civil rights laws by:
Collecting data on COVID-19 morbidity and mortality by race and ethnicity.
Investigating healthcare systems and providers suspected of racial bias in healthcare (whether unintentional or not).
Imposing fines where necessary for violations. Enforcing civil rights laws in education, housing, and employment is just as critical as addressing those in healthcare, as those factors arguably have an even greater impact on the health and well-being of [people of color].”
For live updates on the latest developments regarding the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, click here.
The resistance movement forged in the early days of Donald Trump’s presidency now faces perhaps its greatest challenge: keeping open a supreme court vacancy that, if filled, will cement a conservative majority for decades to come.
The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the court’s most senior and celebrated liberal, set the stage for a furious battle over her replacement weeks before the election. On Saturday, Trump said he would move “without delay” to fill the vacancy, while the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, vowed to hold a vote, and the judiciary committee chair, Lindsey Graham, made clear he would be part of the effort.
It was perhaps what Ginsburg feared. According to NPR, the 87-year-old justice dictated a final message to her granddaughter Clara Spera: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
With control of every branch of government now in the balance, liberal groups are redoubling their efforts, pressuring Senate Democrats to deploy every tactic possible to stop Trump seating a third justice.
Democratic fury has been building ever since the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, when McConnell made the unprecedented decision not to consider Barack Obama’s nominee, Merrick Garland, arguing it was too close to a presidential election.
“American people should have a voice in the selection of their next supreme court justice,” McConnell said.
Now, McConnell insists the circumstances are different, and that Trump’s nominee deserves a vote, even though Americans have already started to cast ballots in the presidential election.
“Let me be clear,” the minority leader, Chuck Schumer, told Senate Democrats in a conference call on Saturday, according to a source. “If Leader McConnell and Senate Republicans move forward with this, then nothing is off the table for next year.”
Ed Markey was perhaps the first member of the Senate to suggest retaliating by expanding the court.
“Mitch McConnell set the precedent,” the Massachusetts Democrat said on Twitter. “No supreme court vacancies filled in an election year. If he violates it, when Democrats control the Senate in the next Congress we must abolish the filibuster and expand the supreme court.”
In a statement following Ginsburg’s death, Obama warned that McConnell risked damaging the court.
“A basic principle of the law – and of everyday fairness – is that we apply rules with consistency, and not based on what’s convenient or advantageous in the moment,” Obama said. “The rule of law, the legitimacy of our courts, the fundamental workings of our democracy all depend on that basic principle.”
Brian Fallon, founder of the liberal judicial advocacy group Demand Justice, said: “Make no mistake, any supreme court with a Trump justice confirmed to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat at this point in the calendar would be fundamentally illegitimate, and Democrats must be prepared to act accordingly.”
Democrats vowed to honor Ginsburg’s legacy by ensuring her replacement was not chosen by Trump. Fulfilling such a promise could require them to win not only the White House but the Senate, too. Even then, Republicans could try to push a nominee through in the lame-duck session.
As panic gave way to planning, activist groups stepped up efforts to help Democrats take the Senate. Across the country, the progressive organization Indivisible flooded Republican senators’ phone lines, demanding the seat remain unfilled until the inauguration.
Democrats were also shattering online donation records, according to ActBlue, a progressive online platform. In a 12-hour span after Ginsburg’s death was announced, it said, a stunning $31m came in.
Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, told reporters she had never seen liberals so energized over an issue that typically animates conservatives.
“I think people understand like never before just how huge the stakes are, not just for the court but for healthcare, civil rights, abortion,” she said. “Three and a half years of Trump judges has certainly educated progressives, [and] I think the country, just how critically important the judiciary is and how long after Donald Trump leaves office these judges will be there, signing our rights and freedoms.”
For decades, conservatives have organized around the supreme court, advocating for justices who might overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 ruling that established the legal right to abortion. In 2016, Trump helped mollify conservatives wary of his unorthodox candidacy by committing to nominating anti-abortion judges. He repeated the exercise this month.
But there are signs the court is now an equally energizing issue for Democrats. According to a Pew Research Center poll last month, 66% of supporters of Joe Biden said the supreme court was a “very important” factor in their vote, compared with 61% of Trump supporters.
Simple math will guide how McConnell proceeds. Senate Republicans are defending a 53-seat majority. A handful of vulnerable incumbents and moderates have expressed concern about moving forward with a nomination so close to the election.
Assuming they win no Democratic votes, Republicans can only afford to lose three if they are to confirm a justice, with Vice-President Mike Pence the tie-breaking vote. Another wrinkle may be the race in Arizona to fill the vacancy left by John McCain. Should the Democrat Mark Kelly defeat the Republican Martha McSally, who was appointed to the seat, some experts believe he could be seated as early as the end of November, making the math of the supreme court fight even more precarious.
Ginsburg’s death also sparked finger-pointing, as some Democrats blamed the situation on the former Senate majority leader Harry Reid, for abolishing the 60-vote threshold for most presidential appointees in 2013, after Republicans refused to approve Obama’s picks for lower courts. In 2017, Republicans, under McConnell, abolished the 60-vote threshold for supreme court nominees.
“Thank you Harry,” Trump tweeted.
The New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Ginsburg’s death should “radicalize” progressive voters and motivate them to vote for Biden.
“Let this moment really put everything into stark focus, because this election has always been about the fight of and for our lives,” she said, in a video posted to Instagram.
Mass activism that began with the Women’s March in January 2017 helped deliver Democratic control of the House the following year. Now such activists hope the movement will not only help them remove Trump, but secure Ginsburg’s legacy.
On Saturday night, hundreds were expected at a vigil for Ginsburg on the steps of the supreme court. Though Democrats have not established a record of success in such fights – the effort to bring down Brett Kavanaugh failing most recently, in 2018 – progressive leaders were expected to pledge a campaign of unmitigated offense.
That sentiment is shared by Hillary Clinton, the 2016 presidential nominee who many believed would nominate Ginsburg’s replacement.
Speaking on MSNBC, Clinton urged Senate Democrats “to use every single possible maneuver that is available” to stop McConnell filling the vacancy. She called the Senate majority leader’s commitment to confirming Trump’s nominee a “monument of hypocrisy” that would result in “the greatest travesty”.
“Let’s go down fighting,” she said. “Let’s not give an inch.”
Orange County reported 227 new cases of COVID-19 and four more deaths Saturday, bringing the county’s totals to 51,873 cases and 1,127 fatalities.
Hospitalizations in the county inched up from 201 Friday to 202, with the number of intensive care unit patients rising from 64 to 65, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.
None of the four fatalities reported Saturday was a resident of a skilled-nursing or assisted-living facility. Since the pandemic began, 423 skilled-nursing facility residents and 77 assisted-living facility residents have succumbed to the coronavirus.
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The OCHCA reported that 786,298 COVID-19 tests have been conducted, including 8,844 reported Saturday. There have been 46,598 documented recoveries.
The county’s daily case count per 100,000 people fell from 5.2 last week to 4.7, and the seven-day rate of residents testing positive for the coronavirus dropped from 4.2% last week to 3.9%.
To move up from the second-most restrictive red tier to the orange tier in the state’s four-tier monitoring system, the county must have a daily new case rate per 100,000 of 1 to 3.9 and a positivity rate of 2 to 4.9%.
Orange County was upgraded from the most restrictive purple tier to the red tier last week. The move allowed for churches, theaters and other businesses to resume indoor operations, but with strict limits on capacity and other health measures in place.
Theaters, restaurants and churches are restricted to 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is less. Museums, zoos and aquariums also were allowed to reopen indoor activities at 25% capacity. Shopping centers were given the green light to expand from 25% capacity to half-capacity under the red tier, while gyms were allowed to reopen at 10% capacity.
All schools will be allowed to reopen for in-class instruction by Tuesday, OCHCA Director Dr. Clayton Chau said. So far, the county has approved 140 elementary schools for reopening through the state’s waiver process, he said.
The return to in-person instruction will happen in phases, Chau told reporters Thursday. Some school districts will remain on distance learning, and some will stagger reopenings, he said.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, all districts started the school year with students learning completely online.
On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved a plan to set up drive-thru flu vaccine clinics in each of the county’s five districts to help stave off a potential “twindemic” of the flu and COVID-19 this fall, along with a plan to expand testing to reach residents who are of Asian-Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern and North African heritage.
“The Latino community remains the highest hot spot in the county, but the next highest is the API community as well as Middle Eastern and North African,” Supervisor Andrew Do said. “This shows the board is very proactive in trying to address potential hot spots.”
Officials in Orange County cities that are home to large venues such as theme parks appealed to the state this week for guidance on reopenings so they can better prepare. The state shutdown order of March 14 affected Disneyland, the Anaheim Convention Center, the Honda Center and Angel Stadium in Anaheim and Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that the state plans to make announcements “soon” relating to reopening guidelines for theme parks.
When he nominated her in 1993, Bill Clinton called her “the Thurgood Marshall of gender-equality law”, comparing her advocacy and lower-court rulings in pursuit of equal rights for women to the work of the great jurist who advanced the cause of equal rights for Black people. Ginsburg persuaded the supreme court that the 14th amendment’s guarantee of equal protection applied not only to racial discrimination but to sex discrimination as well.
For Ginsburg, principle was everything – not only equal rights, but also the integrity of democracy. Always concerned about the consequences of her actions for the system as a whole, she advised young people “to fight for the things you care about but do it in a way that will lead others to join you”.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, exemplifies the second category. He couldn’t care less about principle. He is motivated entirely by the pursuit of power.
McConnell refused to allow the Senate to vote on Barack Obama’s nominee to the supreme court, Merrick Garland, in February 2016 – almost a year before the end of Obama’s second term – on the dubious grounds that the “vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president”.
McConnell’s move was a pure power grab. No Senate leader had ever before asserted the right to block a vote on a president’s nominee to the supreme court.
McConnell’s “principle” of waiting for a new president disappeared on Friday evening, after Ginsburg’s death was announced.
Just weeks before one of the most consequential presidential elections in American history, when absentee voting has already begun in many states (and will start in McConnell’s own state of Kentucky in 25 days), McConnell announced: “President Trump’s nominee will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate.”
This is, after all, the same Mitch McConnell who, soon after Trump was elected, ended the age-old requirement that supreme court nominees receive 60 votes to end debate and allow for a confirmation vote, and then, days later, pushed through Trump’s first nominee, Neil Gorsuch.
Ginsburg and McConnell represent the opposite poles of public service today. The distinction doesn’t depend on whether someone is a jurist or legislator – I’ve known many lawmakers who cared more about principle than power, such as the late congressman John Lewis. It depends on values.
Ginsburg refused to play power politics. As she passed her 80th birthday, near the start of Obama’s second term, she dismissed calls for her to retire in order to give Obama plenty of time to name her replacement, saying she planned to stay “as long as I can do the job full steam”, adding: “There will be a president after this one, and I’m hopeful that that president will be a fine president.”
She hoped others would also live by principle, including McConnell and Trump. Just days before her death she said: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
Her wish will not be honored.
If McConnell cannot muster the Senate votes needed to confirm Trump’s nominee before the election, he’ll probably try to fill the vacancy in the lame-duck session after the election. He’s that shameless.
Not even with Joe Biden president and control over both the House and Senate can Democrats do anything about this – except, perhaps, by playing power politics themselves: expanding the size of the court or restructuring it so justices on any given case are drawn from a pool of appellate judges.
The deeper question is which will prevail in public life: McConnell’s power politics or Ginsburg’s dedication to principle?
The problem for America, as for many other democracies at this point in history, is this is not an even match. Those who fight for power will bend or break rules to give themselves every advantage. Those who fight for principle are at an inherent disadvantage because bending or breaking rules undermines the very ideals they seek to uphold.
Over time, the unbridled pursuit of power wears down democratic institutions, erodes public trust and breeds the sort of cynicism that invites despotism.
The only bulwark is a public that holds power accountable – demanding stronger guardrails against its abuses, and voting power-mongers out of office.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg often referred to Justice Louis Brandeis’s famous quote, that “the greatest menace to freedom is an inert people”. Indeed.
