- PoliticsYahoo News
Trump sees 'hard days' ahead in coronavirus fight, with as many as 240,000 Americans dead
Nearly a quarter million people in the United States could die as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, Trump administration officials said Tuesday. In what was presented as a best case scenario in which millions of citizens across the country adhered to intensive social distancing guidelines promoted by the Trump administration, between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans are still expected to be killed by COVID-19. “We're going to do everything we can to get [the U.S. death toll] significantly below that,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose forthright manner has made him a star of the coronavirus briefings.
- HealthYahoo News
First he had brain cancer. Then the coronavirus struck his city. One patient’s perilous journey.
When Ronnie Kresel went in for his most recent checkup following chemotherapy on March 21, it wasn't anything like the ones he'd had before. Upon his arrival at the Southhampton Stony Brook Hospital in Long Island, N.Y., a doctor met Kresel in a hazmat suit in a large tent outside the facility, where he was asked “a series of rapid-fire questions” and then sent to a negative-pressure room, which prevents cross-contamination, for his visit. In mid-December, Kresel, 53, was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer.
- WorldBusiness Insider
The US intelligence community has reportedly concluded that China intentionally misrepresented its coronavirus numbers
Thomas Peter/Getty The US intelligence community has determined that the Chinese government concealed the extent of its coronavirus outbreak and gave false statistics to other countries, Bloomberg News reported, citing three US officials. Officials transmitted a classified report of their findings to the White House last week. Bloomberg described its sources as saying that the report's main conclusion was that China's public reporting of coronavirus cases was "intentionally incomplete" and that its numbers were fake.
- BusinessUSA TODAY
'We are the verge of a massive collapse': Ex-Energy Secretary Perry says COVID-19 will ravage oil industry
Former Energy Secretary Rick Perry believes that the oil industry could collapse because of the dramatic decrease in demand worldwide caused by the coronavirus outbreak and a steep decline in prices. "I'm telling you, we are on the verge of a massive collapse of an industry that we worked awfully hard, over the course of the last three or four years, to build up to the number one oil and gas producing country in the world, giving Americans some affordable energy resources." Coupled with a dispute between Saudi Arabia and Russia that has resulted in an oil surplus, the price for crude as well as gasoline has plunged.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Kellyanne Conway Keeps Attacking Joe Biden for Staying Inside
While leaders across the country are urging Americans to stay in their homes to stop the spread of the coronavirus, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway is openly mocking former Vice President Joe Biden for setting that example. During a press gaggle outside the White House, Conway called it “completely unhelpful” to have the former vice president “in his bunker in Wilmington just lobbing criticisms” at the current president.
- 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.Associated Press
Defense lawyer in death of 7 motorcyclists: Biker at fault
One of the motorcyclists in a crash that killed him and six fellow bikers on a north woods highway was drunk and actually was the one who hit a pickup and caused the accident, the lawyer for the truck driver charged with homicide said in a document made public Tuesday. A New Hampshire State Police account of the June 21 crash in the community of Randolph “was deeply flawed," the lawyer for truck driver Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, 24, of West Springfield, Massachusetts, said in a motion filed Friday that seeks a hearing to set him free on bail. State police initially determined that the flatbed trailer he was hauling was 1 1/2 feet over the center line at the time of impact, the motion said.
- WorldUSA TODAY Opinion
Great Recession showed countries can’t fight the coronavirus economic crisis alone
As the world economy enters an unprecedented crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and policymakers in Washington and other global capitals prepare record fiscal stimulus plans, stakeholders should heed an important lesson from the last financial downturn in 2008: Recovery is only possible through coordinated global action. A little more than 10 years ago, as the world was entering the Great Recession, stakeholders had to look far back in the rearview mirror to the Great Depression for policy guidance. While the actions of the 1930s did offer important lessons for 2008 — most notably the need to expand the money supply — the economy of the 1930s was fundamentally different than the global economy of the early part of this century.
- 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.
- WorldBloomberg
Spain Suffers Deadliest Day as Europe Considers Longer Lockdowns
Spain suffered its deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic, as European governments doubled down on efforts to maintain rigid lockdowns amid tentative signs that the infection rate is slowing. Italy and the Netherlands are discussing prolonging measures to limit personal contact, and German officials warned that it's too soon to ease restrictions as things could still get worse. Concerns are growing about European unity as the financial cost of the shutdown risks deepening divisions between member nations.
- 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.
WorldYahoo News VideoIran warns U.S. over Iraq deployment amid virus
On Wednesday Iran warned the U.S. it was “warmongering during the coronavirus outbreak,” after it deployed Patriot air defense missiles to Iraq.
- HealthBusiness Insider
More than 70% of Americans hospitalized with COVID-19 had at least 1 underlying health condition, the CDC says — here's the breakdown
Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images In the US, 73% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 have had at least one underlying condition, according to a new CDC report. People with preexisting health conditions "appear to be at a higher risk for severe disease from COVID-19" than those without, the report said. Diabetes, chronic lung disease, and heart disease were the most commonly reported conditions among US coronavirus patients.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Trump: There Would Be ‘Death All Over’ If We’d Decided to Just ‘Ride It Out’
After spending weeks downplaying the threat of the novel coronavirus, President Trump on Tuesday admitted that at least 100,000 Americans will likely die but said it would have been worse if he had listened to some people he claimed had great “common sense” who wanted to “just ride it out. It was not immediately clear who he was referring to, but the president himself had been pushing to loosen restrictions over the virus until just days ago, having suggested as recently as last week that, despite fatalities from the coronavirus health crisis growing, Americans could start to get back to normal by Easter since “we never turn the country off” for the flu.
- 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
- U.S.National Review
IG Horowitz Found ‘Apparent Errors or Inadequately Supported Facts’ in Every Single FBI FISA Application He Reviewed
The Justice Department inspector general said it does “not have confidence” in the FBI's FISA application process following an audit that found the Bureau was not sufficiently transparent with the court in 29 applications from 2014 to 2019, all of which included “apparent errors or inadequately supported facts.” Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report in December which found that the FBI included “at least 17 significant errors or omissions in the Carter Page FISA applications and many errors in the Woods Procedures” during its Crossfire Hurricane investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign.
- BusinessCBS News
California governor warns of social distancing "fatigue"
California Governor Gavin Newsom fears "fatigue" with current social distancing guidelines and state precautions could unravel efforts to slow the coronavirus pandemic's spread. The state was one of the first to enact strict measures, and Newsom credits early action on the part of his government for keeping the number of confirmed cases lower than some other states on the East Coast. Newsom compared people succumbing to fatigue over the state's guidelines to "being in a parachute, and cutting the cord before you land."
- U.S.Reuters
COVID-19 cases and deaths rising, debt relief needed for poorest nations: WHO
The head of the World Health Organization voiced deep concern on Wednesday about the rapid escalation and global spread of COVID-19 cases from the new coronavirus, which has now reached 205 countries and territories. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that his agency, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund backed debt relief to help developing countries cope with the pandemic's social and economic consequences. "In the past five weeks there has been a near-exponential growth in the number of new cases and the number of deaths has more than doubled in the past week," Tedros told a virtual news conference at the organisation's Geneva headquarters.
- WorldAssociated Press
Iran general visits Baghdad, tries to forge political unity
A top Iranian general arrived in Baghdad this week to try and unify Iraq's fractured political leaders, Iraqi officials said Wednesday, as stiff opposition by one major bloc thwarts chances the country's latest prime minister-designate can form a government. Meanwhile, revenues from oil exports were slashed by nearly half due to plummeting oil prices in March, according to figures released Wednesday by the Oil Ministry, pushing Iraq into deeper economic uncertainty amid political dysfunction and the coronavirus pandemic. Esmail Ghaani, head of Iran's expeditionary Quds Force, arrived in Baghdad late Monday, Iraqi officials said, in his first public visit to Iraq since succeeding slain Iranian general Qassim Soleimani.
- BusinessThe Week
China under-reported coronavirus cases and deaths, U.S. intelligence reportedly concludes
There has been some skepticism about China's reporting on the novel COVID-19 coronavirus for some time, especially as smaller countries like Italy surged past the world's most populous nation in both overall cases and deaths. On Wednesday, U.S. intelligence officials told Bloomberg on condition of anonymity that the skepticism is valid. Per Bloomberg, the U.S. intelligence community reportedly concluded in a classified document that China, where the pandemic originated, has under-reported its totals.
- U.S.Politico
Coronavirus will be ‘imprinted on the personality of our nation for a very long time,’ Fauci warns
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, predicted on Wednesday that the effects of the coronavirus pandemic will be “imprinted on the personality of our nation” for years to come. The stark comments represented a new kind of diagnosis from the country's top infectious disease expert, who has emerged as a steadying fixture in the national consciousness as one of the leading administration officials working to both combat and better understand the public health crisis. In a podcast interview with CNN's Sanjay Gupta, the 79-year-old physician and immunologist elaborated on the “profound” mental and emotional burdens wrought by the novel coronavirus, made evident during conversations with his three daughters.
- BusinessPopular Mechanics
Woodworking Can Bring Solace in Times of Uncertainty
When things get stressful, it's worth slowing down and appreciating the simpler things. From Popular Mechanics
- 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.
- 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.
- BusinessNBC News
Dow closes with decline of 950 points as coronavirus continues to shake markets
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down by around 975 points on Wednesday, as markets continued to reel from President Donald Trump's stark warning that the U.S. could be facing "hell." White House officials warned that the U.S. could see up to 240,000 deaths from the outbreak. The first quarter, which ended on Tuesday, was one of the worst quarters in stock market history, with the Dow recording its worst-ever first-quarter performance.
