Teachers' coronavirus confessions and hope for the flu season

Rachel Elbaum
Updated ·5 min read

President Donald Trump is pushing for a political lift from his executive actions, teachers confess their fears ahead of the first day, and coronavirus efforts may mean a milder flu season.

Here's what we're watching this today.

Trump pushes for boost from weekend's executive orders

President Donald Trump and his campaign have been racing to score a political boost from a series of weekend executive actions addressing the economic fallout from the coronavirus before the limited impact of the measures comes into focus.

Some GOP strategists warned that any gains from the push, which began within minutes of Trump's moves on Saturday, were likely to be short-lived. What's more, the benefits that affected workers eventually see will depend on what states, landlords and employers choose to do.

Trump is calling on states to provide 25 percent of the expanded unemployment benefit one of the executive orders calls for. But some governors are saying they can't afford it.

Another of the actions included a promise of tax relief for workers, but policy experts say the White House has left several critical questions unanswered and companies fear being caught in the middle.

Meanwhile, on Monday Trump was abruptly escorted out of a press conference after shots were fired outside of the White House. The suspect was taken to the hospital and no one else was injured, Trump said.

Internal Facebook investigation reveals widespread scale of QAnon conspiracy

An internal investigation by Facebook has uncovered thousands of groups and pages, with millions of members and followers, that support the QAnon conspiracy theory, according to internal company documents reviewed by NBC News.

QAnon is a right-wing conspiracy theory that originally formed around the idea that President Donald Trump is leading a secret war against the “deep state,” a group of political, business and Hollywood elites who, according to the theory, worship Satan and abuse and murder children.

The investigation’s preliminary results, which were provided to NBC News by a Facebook employee, shed new light on the scope of activity and content from the QAnon community on Facebook, a scale previously undisclosed by Facebook and unreported by the news media, because most of the groups are private.

The investigation will likely inform what, if any, action Facebook decides to take against its QAnon community, according to the documents and two current Facebook employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

'Time to leave teaching': Coronavirus confessions from teachers across the U.S.

Teachers around the country are feeling uneasy about going back into the classroom amid the coronavirus pandemic.

After asking for anonymous coronavirus confessions from teachers, NBC News received hundreds of replies in days.

"I want to live to see my children grow up. It is time to leave teaching," wrote one.

"I’m a principal. My district is pretending to be ready but it’s not," wrote another.

Read the responses, from those who are scared or fear for their family members to those feeling optimistic.

Parents are also gearing up for a virtual start to the school year. Hear what they're doing on our podcast Into America.

COVID-curbing efforts may mean milder flu season

Global efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus may mean the U.S. is in for a milder flu season. It appears efforts to curtail the coronavirus have led to significantly fewer cases of influenza in the Southern Hemisphere, currently in the midst of its winter months, which is typically a precursor to the U.S.'s flu season.

If infection control measures — including travel restrictions, hand-washing, physical distancing and mask wearing — work for COVID-19, they're "going to work for flu, too," according to Dr. Christopher Ohl, a professor of infectious diseases at Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Experts have been raising the alarm about the coming flu season, warning that the combination of the seasonal virus plus COVID-19 could overwhelm the nation's health care system.

Here are other coronavirus developments:

  • Track U.S. hot spots where COVID-19 infection rates are rising

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Plus

THINK about it

Pope Francis gave six women jobs at the Vatican and was praised for it. But this latest move is just another fig leaf that serves to make him look progressive and the church more inclusive of women, writes Celia Wexler, the author of “Catholic Women Confront Their Church," in an opinion piece.

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One fun thing

Two beluga whales have been released into an Icelandic bay after spending nine years in a Chinese aquarium.

Little Grey and Little White, as they’re known, were flown 6,000 miles to freedom after spending months getting acclimatized to cooler water and natural surroundings.

The bay has been reserved as the first ever open water sanctuary for beluga whales.

"Little White and Little Grey are the first but certainly not the last belugas that we hope to have here," said Audrey Padgett, manager at the Sea Life Trust Beluga Whale Sanctuary.

Thanks for reading the Morning Rundown.

I’m filling in for Petra Cahill while she’s taking a break. If you have any comments — likes, dislikes — send me an email at: rachel.elbaum@nbcuni.com

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Thanks, Rachel