- U.S.Business Insider
28 Texas spring breakers who just returned from Cabo have tested positive for the coronavirus
Victor Ruiz Garcia/Reuters Twenty-eight Texas spring breakers who recently vacationed in Cabo have tested positive for the coronavirus, tweeted Tony Plohetski of local station KVUE-TV. They chartered a plane with 70 people to get to Cabo, he said. Spring breakers, who are Gen Z, have been called out for crowding beaches and partying on booze cruises and ignoring calls for social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic.
- U.S.Bloomberg
Two Big Pro-Biden Super PACs Join Forces: Campaign Update
Two of the largest Super PAC's supporting Joe Biden's candidacy announced Monday they would coordinate on a general election partnership with the goal of raising $175 million to support Biden in defeating President Donald Trump. Unite the Country, a political action committee that was formed to support Biden's bid in the primaries, and American Bridge, a nearly decade-old organization, said they would coordinate on polling, research, content creation and communications. To beat Donald Trump, it is going to take everyone working together to spend every dollar smartly and strategically,” Steve Schale, the chief executive officer of Unite the Country, said in a statement.
- WorldAssociated Press
Saudi official urges Muslims to delay hajj plans over virus
A senior Saudi official urged more than 1 million Muslims intending to perform the hajj to delay making plans this year — comments suggesting the pilgrimage could be cancelled due to the new coronavirus pandemic. In February, the kingdom took the extraordinary decision to close off the holy cities of Mecca and Medina to foreigners over the virus, a step which wasn't taken even during the 1918 flu epidemic that killed tens of millions worldwide. Restrictions have tightened in the kingdom as it grapples with over 1,500 confirmed cases of the new virus.
EntertainmentAOL.comMeet Candy Sterling, a fierce drag queen at night and a corporate professional by day
This is Candy Sterling – a fierce drag queen who lights up the New York City nightlife while maintaining a professional day job. Get to know her both in and out of drag on this week's episode of Behind the Drag.
- WorldReuters
India and Pakistan crack down on Muslim group emerging as COVID-19 cluster
India and Pakistan sealed off centers belonging to a Muslim missionary group on Tuesday and began investigating how many coronavirus cases were linked to its activities. Tablighi Jamaat is a Deobandi Sunni Muslim missionary movement that preaches worldwide. Every year, tens of thousands attend its congregations in the Pakistani city of Lahore and other parts of South Asia.
- SportsNBC News
One country is refusing to shut down to stop the coronavirus
While officials from Montreal to Moscow have placed populations under some form of lockdown designed to slow the spread of the coronavirus, one man continues to hold firm to the notion that the rest of the world has lost its mind: Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. “It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees!” Lukashenko told a Belarusian television reporter Saturday when asked whether the coronavirus could stop him from hitting the rink for a propaganda-filled hockey game. Lukashenko, one of the longest-serving leaders in the former Soviet Union, has been in power for over 25 years.
- U.S.The Guardian
'This is about survival': California tenants plan rent strikes as Covid-19 relief falls short
Tenants across California are organizing rent strikes for the month of April, arguing they will not be able to pay their landlords for the foreseeable future and that the minimal protections now in place fail to provide relief for vulnerable renters. As Covid-19 shelter-in-place orders have led to a surge in unemployment and slowed down the state's economy, the California governor, Gavin Newsom, has passed a two-month delay on imposing evictions for people who cannot pay rent due to the crisis. While several large municipalities have passed stronger protections, tenants' groups say the governor's order does not go far enough and could pave the way for an even more catastrophic housing crisis than the one plaguing California before coronavirus.
- U.S.INSIDER
Photos show crowds of New Yorkers breaking social distancing rules and gawking at the USNS Comfort docked in Manhattan
REUTERS/Carlo Allegri Crowds of people gathered in New York City to watch the USNS Comfort arrive, despite a state order requiring social distancing. The ship will be used as additional hospital space for non-coronavirus patients as New York hospitals become overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's communications team asked the NYPD to help disperse the crowd after a journalist tweeted about it.
- WorldThe Week
The coronavirus is spreading quickly through Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities
In Israel, the coronavirus is spreading in ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities up to eight times faster than anywhere else in the country. Ultra-Orthodox Jews account for 12 percent of Israel's population, but they make up 40 to 60 percent of coronavirus patients at four of the country's largest hospitals, officials told Israeli media. Health experts said the virus is moving so quickly in these communities because the ultra-Orthodox have large families, don't trust the government, and pay little to no attention to secular media.
- U.S.Business Insider
The top infectious disease expert in the US says we're seeing 'glimmers' that social distancing is helping, but says a turnaround is yet to come
Associated Press Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Tuesday that the US is starting to see "glimmers" that social distancing is having a dampening effect on the spread of the coronavirus. There's a "reasonably good chance" that a second wave of the virus hits later this year, he said in an interview with CNN. Fauci said that while people who survive the virus are likely to be immune, there won't be enough of them to provide "herd immunity" to prevent community spread.
- PoliticsBloomberg
Conway Hits Biden Over Virus Criticism: Campaign Update
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway took a shot at Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden on Wednesday, calling his criticism of President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic “petty” and “small. Why doesn't Vice President Biden call the White House today and offer some support? He's in his bunker in Wilmington,” Conway said Wednesday on Fox News, referring to the makeshift studio in Biden's Delaware home where he has made television appearances.
- WorldAssociated Press
US outlines plan for Venezuela transition, sanctions relief
The Trump administration is prepared to lift crippling sanctions on Venezuela in support of a new proposal to form a transitional government requiring both Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaidó to step aside in favor of a five-person governing council, U.S. officials said. The one-page “Democratic Transition Framework for Venezuela” was presented Tuesday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It echoes a proposal made over the weekend by Guaidó that shows how growing concerns about the coronavirus, which threatens to overwhelm the South American country's already collapsed health system and economy, are reviving U.S. attempts to pull the military apart from Maduro.
- U.S.CBS News
U.S. is swiftly deporting migrant children at the border
Citing a public health order to curb the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump administration is swiftly deporting unaccompanied migrant minors apprehended near the U.S.-Mexico border, upending a long-standing practice required under a federal law designed to protect children from violence and exploitation. Despite initially maintaining that the new measures would not apply to unaccompanied minors, Customs and Border Protection on Monday said its officials could deny entry to children who cross the southern border alone under an order by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC. The agency said some minors could be excluded from the CDC directive if a border official "suspects trafficking or sees signs of illness."
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Stabbing of Asian-American 2-Year-Old and Her Family Was a Virus-Fueled Hate Crime: Feds
The vicious stabbing of an Asian-American family, including a 2-year-old girl, at a Sam's Club in Texas earlier this month has been deemed a hate crime by the feds, as authorities continue to raise alarm bells about a potential surge in racially motivated crimes amid the coronavirus outbreak. Jose L. Gomez, 19, confessed to authorities that he attempted to murder three Asian-American family members, including the toddler and a 6-year-old, on March 14 at the Midland, Texas store, according to the Midland Police Department.
- WorldReuters
Putin takes coronavirus precautions as Moscow unveils tracking app
President Vladimir Putin is taking precautions to protect himself against coronavirus, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, as Moscow authorities launched a smartphone app designed to track people who have been ordered to stay home because of the virus. Putin will hold a government meeting later on Wednesday by video conference, the Kremlin said, a day after a doctor who met him last week said he had been diagnosed with the highly infectious virus. Denis Protsenko last week gave Putin a tour of Moscow's main coronavirus hospital and shook hands with the Russian leader.
WorldAFPMasquerade or needed aid? China virus help proves contentious
As European and American healthcare systems creak under the strain, China has offered millions of face masks and teams of medical experts. As well as seeking to deflect criticism over initial Chinese missteps in handling the epidemic, analysts say, the campaign is a public relations opportunity in China's great power rivalry with the West and especially the United States. COVID-19 first emerged in a wild animal market last year in the Chinese city of Wuhan, but Beijing says the situation in China is now under control with domestic cases dwindling to zero.
- HealthNational Review
Border Patrol Stopped a Chinese Biologist Carrying Viable SARS, MERS Viruses at Detroit Airport in 2018
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at Detroit Metro Airport stopped a Chinese scientist carrying vials believed to contain the MERS and SARS viruses in November 2018 — just over a year before the first reported Wuhan coronavirus case, according to an FBI tactical intelligence report obtained by Yahoo News. “Inspection of the writing on the vials and the stated recipient led inspection personnel to believe the materials contained within the vials may be viable Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) materials,” the report reads. The report also lays out a pattern of Chinese interference, detailing two other cases from May 2018 and September 2019, in which different Chinese nationals tried to enter the U.S. with undeclared flu strains and suspected E. coli, respectively.
- StyleArchitectural Digest
12 Buildings That Show the Beauty of Deconstructed Architecture
From Zaha Hadid's majestic MAXII in Italy to the stunning beauty of Frank Gehry's Vitra Design Museum, these structures elevate the environment they were built in Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- WorldNBC News
Sweden's 'free will' coronavirus strategy alarms some scientists
As the temperature passed 50 degrees in Stockholm last week, people congregated in parks unable to resist socializing during the first signs of spring in the Swedish capital. The Swedish government has left it up to individuals to act responsibly and decide whether to stay home or not. Public gatherings of more than 50 people are prohibited but there are no restrictions on private meetings, meaning parties and corporate events can still go ahead.
- StyleArchitectural Digest
29 Best Closet Organization Ideas to Maximize Space and Style
How to organize your closet like a pro Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- WorldBloomberg
U.S. Base Workers Set for Furlough in Blow to South Korea Alliance
The U.S. military is set to put almost half of its 8,500 South Korean civilian workers on furlough, as the two sides bicker over the Trump administration's demands for a massive increase in troop funding. About 4,000 workers have been told not to report to American military bases in South Korea as of Wednesday, if the two countries can't find some way to extend a cost-sharing deal that expired Dec. 31. A breakthrough seems unlikely with President Donald Trump asking for as much as a five-fold increase and South Korea showing no signs of paying anywhere near that much.
- WorldAssociated Press
Virus slump expected to rival big recessions in history
The coronavirus-related recessions around the world are going to be bad — and for some of the world's major industrial nations the worst that anyone alive has experienced, according to analysts at Deutsche Bank. In a wide-ranging report using data that in parts goes back 800 years, Jim Reid and Henry Allen found that the downturns are in many cases set to be deeper than those endured in the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis 12 years ago — and then some. The bank expects France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. to shrink by between 4% and 9% in 2020, figures that in most cases have only been eclipsed in recent decades by war and the Great Depression of the 1930s.
- HealthBusiness Insider
3 mild symptoms could predict which coronavirus patients develop severe lung disease, research suggests — including body aches
Getty Images Related Video: What COVID-19 Symptoms Look Like, Day by Day The coronavirus pandemic has forced doctors to make difficult decisions about which patients get immediate medical care. In New York City, where more than 38,000 cases have been reported, hospitals are reserving tests for patients with severe illness, while patients with mild cases — which can still be painful and long-lasting — have been told to stay home. But doctors still know very little about the symptoms that serve as warning signs in the lead-up to a severe case of COVID-19.
- WorldThe Daily Beast
A Doctor Who Met Putin Just Tested Positive, and Russia’s COVID-19 Crackdowns Could Get Real Ugly.
MOSCOW—Amid a growing uproar in newly locked-down Russia, news broke on Tuesday that a doctor President Vladimir Putin met with just a week ago during a highly publicized visit to a coronavirus treatment facility has now tested positive for the infection himself. Widely disseminated photos of the visit showed Putin donning an orange hazmat suit, but he had also talked to Dr. Denis Protsenko extensively without protection and photographs show them together with very little "social distancing." Putin's spokesman says the Russian president is tested frequently for coronavirus infection and is just fine.
- PoliticsReuters
Doctor recommended no action for U.S.' Pelosi after coronavirus contact
The U.S. Congress' attending physician recommended U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi take no particular action after she was in contact with Representative Nydia Velazquez, who has been diagnosed with coronavirus infection, Pelosi's spokesman Drew Hammill said on Monday. The physician found Pelosi's contact with Velazquez to have been of "low risk," Hammill said. Velazquez, a Democrat from New York, announced in a statement earlier on Monday that she had been diagnosed with a presumed case of coronavirus, although she had not been tested, after developing symptoms of the ailment on Sunday.
