10 things you need to know today: May 15, 2020
1.
Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) announced Thursday that he was temporarily stepping down as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee while the FBI investigates his sale of stocks just before the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S., sending shares plummeting. Burr, who had received classified briefings before he sold up to $1.7 million in stocks, said he wanted to prevent his situation from becoming "a distraction to a committee that's extremely important to the safety and security of the American people." The decision came a day after the FBI raided Burr's Washington, D.C., area home and seized his cellphone. The FBI declined to comment, but Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he and Burr had agreed that it "would be in the best interest of the committee" for him to step aside starting Friday. [The Charlotte Observer]
2.
Federal whistleblower Rick Bright told Congress on Thursday that U.S. officials ignored his warning in January that the nation needed to ramp up production of N95 masks to prepare for a coronavirus outbreak, and "lives were lost" as a result. "I knew that we were going to have a crisis for our health-care workers because we were not taking action. We were already behind the ball," said Bright, who was demoted from his job overseeing federal efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine after opposing an unproven COVID-19 treatment being pushed by President Trump. Bright said the Trump administration still lacked an adequate plan for confronting the pandemic, which has killed more than 85,000 people in the U.S. Trump dismissed Bright as a "disgruntled employee." [CNBC, The Associated Press]
3.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) announced Thursday that the Senate Judiciary Committee he chairs will launch hearings in June to look into the origins of the FBI's investigation into Russian election meddling and contacts with President Trump's 2016 campaign. Graham said hearings would cover the FBI's investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying about his contacts with Russia's ambassador. Flynn later tried to withdraw the plea, and the Justice Department has moved to drop the charges. The committee also will examine the applications for surveillance warrants targeting former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, and the decision to appoint former Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Trump tweeted that senators should call former President Barack Obama to testify, but Graham dismissed that idea. [The Hill, The Washington Post]
4.
The CDC on Thursday released guidance documents on reopening schools, restaurants, and businesses after withholding the recommendations until it completed revisions demanded by the White House, which called an earlier draft "too prescriptive." The new guidelines include checklists for businesses to follow as they reopen, to make sure they do so safely. The documents also cover safety precautions and guidelines for schools, camps, childcare programs, mass transit systems, and restaurants. The CDC's new guidance came out as dozens of governors are easing restrictions on businesses and large gatherings to varying degrees. Some states, including Michigan and New Jersey, are maintaining stay-at-home orders, while others, such as Georgia, are letting some nonessential businesses reopen. [Politico]
5.
Michigan authorities closed the state Capitol on Thursday as protesters gathered outside calling for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) to ease her stay-at-home order. Protesters, some of them armed and many not wearing masks, crowded into the Capitol two weeks ago before the Republican-led House declined to endorse Whitmer's proposal to extend the lockdown. The state Senate and House were not in session during the latest protest. Police said the Thursday protest, organized by the group Michigan United for Liberty, attracted about 200 demonstrators "at the high point," state police said. The Republican-led legislature is suing Whitmer over her order, and some local law enforcement agencies are refusing to enforce it. [CNN, Detroit Free Press]
6.
New York City on Thursday reported 100 cases of a rare inflammatory disease in children apparently tied to COVID-19. New York recently began reporting rising cases of pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome, an illness that officials say is similar to toxic shock or Kawasaki disease. Symptoms including a fever and abdominal pain appear to be linked to an immune response to COVID-19. Among the 100 new cases, 55 children have tested positive for COVID-19 or the antibodies, and one child has died. Two other children have also died from the illness in New York State. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio reported 82 cases of the syndrome in the city on Wednesday. It was previously thought that "children seemed to have very little effect from this disease," de Blasio said. [The New York Times]
7.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) acknowledged to Fox News on Thursday that he was wrong when he claimed that the Obama administration did not leave behind a plan for handling a coronavirus pandemic. McConnell had said Monday that the Obama administration had not provided "any kind of game plan for something like this," but former officials who worked for former President Barack Obama pointed out that his National Security Council had produced a document called the "Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents." It specifically identified a coronavirus pandemic as a threat to prepare for. "I was wrong," McConnell told Fox News' Bret Baier. He said he couldn't comment on whether the plan was followed because he didn't know enough about it. [CNN, Fox News]
8.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that 2.98 million Americans filed initial jobless claims last week, bringing the eight-week total to about 36.5 million. The latest weekly figure exceeded the 2.7 million applications for unemployment benefits that economists were expecting. The peak for weekly jobless claims during the Great Recession was 665,000. The April jobs report released last week showed the unemployment rate soared to 14.7 percent, the worst since the Great Depression, with 20.5 million jobs lost. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell also revealed Wednesday that among Americans who were working in February, almost 40 percent in households making less than $40,000 a year lost a job in March. [The Washington Post, CNBC]
9.
Health insurers are returning to Affordable Care Act markets they fled in the early years of the law now that millions of Americans are losing their jobs and workplace health coverage, Politico reported Thursday. Just this week, No. 1 U.S. insurer United Healthcare said it would re-enter Maryland's ACA or ObamaCare market, adding that it planned to expand in other states after leaving 34 state exchanges since 2016. Anthem and Cigna also were making gradual pushes into some ACA markets before the coronavirus crisis, which has killed about 85,000 people in the U.S. and resulted in tens of millions of job losses. "This business is as vital and viable as it's ever been," Centene CEO Michael Neidorff said of the health insurance market. [Politico]
10.
United Nations public-health experts warned Thursday that the world was at risk of a mental illness crisis caused by the broad impact of the coronavirus pandemic. "The isolation, the fear, the uncertainty, the economic turmoil — they all cause or could cause psychological distress," said Devora Kestel, director of the World Health Organization mental health department. Kestel presented a U.N. report and policy guidance on the mental health implications of the pandemic and said that governments should make "mental health and wellbeing of whole societies" a priority as they develop their responses to the crisis. Among those at high risk are children isolated from school and friends, health-care workers overwhelmed by the deaths of COVID-19 patients, and people who have lost their jobs. [Reuters]
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