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from The Atlantic Magazine
Take the Shutdown Skeptics Seriously
Should states ease pandemic restrictions or extend lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders into the summer? That question confronts leaders across the United States. President Trump says that “we have to get our country open.” And many governors are moving quickly in that direction. Critics are dismayed. Citing forecasts that COVID-19 deaths could rise to 3,000 per day in June, they say that reopening without better defenses against infections is reckless. That assessment may well be correct. Many insist it is immoral, too. The columnist Amy Z. Quinn says the Trump administration is “choosing money over lives.” In a CNN news analysis, Daniel Burke offers this characterization of America’s choice: “Should we reopen the economy to help the majority or protect the lives of the vulnerable?”
from BBC News (UK)
Coronavirus: How they tried to curb Spanish flu pandemic in 1918
It is dangerous to draw too many parallels between coronavirus and the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, that killed at least 50 million people around the world. Covid-19 is an entirely new disease, which disproportionately affects older people. The deadly strain of influenza that swept the globe in 1918 tended to strike those aged between 20 and 30, with strong immune systems. But the actions taken by governments and individuals to prevent the spread of infection have a familiar ring to them. Public Health England studied the Spanish flu outbreak to draw up its initial contingency plan for coronavirus, the key lesson being that the second wave of the disease, in the autumn of 1918, proved to be far more deadly than the first.
Anna Jarvis: The woman who regretted creating Mother's Day
The woman responsible for the creation of Mother's Day, marked in many countries on the second Sunday in May, would have approved of the modest celebrations likely to take place this year. The commercialisation of the day horrified her - to the extent that she even campaigned to have it rescinded.
Coronavirus: Churches may not be back to normal by end of year
Social distancing will be impossible in some places of worship if government ministers allow them to reopen, religious leaders have warned. The Anglican Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Sarah Mullally, said churches might not return to normal services before the end of the year. Mosques, churches and temples in the UK have been closed for almost two months.
Coronavirus: Germany infection rate rises as lockdown eases
Coronavirus infections are rising in Germany, official data shows, just days after the country eased its lockdown restrictions. According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the reproduction rate - the estimated number of people a confirmed patient infects - is now above 1. This means the number of infections is now rising in the country. The report came as thousands of Germans gathered on Saturday calling for a total end to the lockdown. Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a broad relaxation of national restrictions on Wednesday after talks with the leaders of Germany's 16 states. All shops are allowed to reopen, pupils will gradually return to class and the Bundesliga - Germany's top football league - will restart as soon as next weekend. But there were protests across the country on Saturday, as some called for measures to be lifted even faster. Germany has the seventh-highest number of confirmed cases in the world, with latest RKI data on Sunday showing the reported infected tally at 169,218 and a reported death toll of 7,395.
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from The Guardian (UK)
LEFT-CENTER, HIGH, British daily newspaper published in London UK
Hebridean island divided after memoir explores darker fringe of Highland life
Neighbours of Tamsin Calidas, who moved to Scotland from London, are keen to put their side as her book I am an Island looks set for success. Tamsin Calidas’s memoir about swapping Notting Hill for a croft on a small Hebridean island luxuriates in its landscape. The heather and the Munros, the raw skies and the wild tides of the Atlantic are lavishly described. The islanders, by contrast, are largely anonymous, thoughtless and cruel. The author of I am an Island insists she was careful not to identify the island, which has fewer than 200 inhabitants, and Calidas is not the name by which she is known by her neighbours, but the islanders and many others worked out her identity well before the book was published last week. One islander, Neil Carmichael, said: “I got sent a link to a review of it and read some of it – then I showed my dad.” The crofters both recognised the author immediately. “It has gone down badly with a lot of people.”
Hebridean island divided after memoir explores darker fringe of Highland life
Neighbours of Tamsin Calidas, who moved to Scotland from London, are keen to put their side as her book I am an Island looks set for success. Tamsin Calidas’s memoir about swapping Notting Hill for a croft on a small Hebridean island luxuriates in its landscape. The heather and the Munros, the raw skies and the wild tides of the Atlantic are lavishly described. The islanders, by contrast, are largely anonymous, thoughtless and cruel. The author of I am an Island insists she was careful not to identify the island, which has fewer than 200 inhabitants, and Calidas is not the name by which she is known by her neighbours, but the islanders and many others worked out her identity well before the book was published last week. One islander, Neil Carmichael, said: “I got sent a link to a review of it and read some of it – then I showed my dad.” The crofters both recognised the author immediately. “It has gone down badly with a lot of people.”
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from Reason Magazine
Magazine in Los Angeles, California
After Losing Nearly $4 Billion Last Year, Postal Service on Track to Lose $7 Billion This Year
Revenue and mail volume is basically flat, but the USPS' operating expenses are out of control.
After Losing Nearly $4 Billion Last Year, Postal Service on Track to Lose $7 Billion This Year
Revenue and mail volume is basically flat, but the USPS' operating expenses are out of control.
from The Spokesman-Review
Newspaper in Spokane, Washington
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Doctors keep discovering new ways the coronavirus attacks the body
“At the beginning, we didn’t know what we were dealing with,” said Valentin Fuster, physician-in-chief at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. “We were seeing patients dying in front of us. It was all of a sudden, you’re in a different ballgame, and you don’t know why.” Today, there is widespread recognition the novel coronavirus is far more unpredictable than a simple respiratory virus. Often it attacks the lungs, but it can also strike anywhere from the brain to the toes. Many doctors are focused on treating the inflammatory reactions it triggers and its capacity to cause blood clots, even as they struggle to help patients breathe.
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from UPI News Agency (United Press International)
Media/News Company
Pence distances self; 3 other coronavirus task force members to self-quarantine
Vice President Mike Pence stayed away from the White House this weekend as three other members of the coronavirus task force remained in self-quarantine because of possible exposure to an aide who tested positive for COVID-19, officials said. On Saturday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said they will quarantine for 14 days. The day before, Food and Drug Administration commissioner Stephen Hahn, said he already had gone into quarantine.
Pence distances self; 3 other coronavirus task force members to self-quarantine
Vice President Mike Pence stayed away from the White House this weekend as three other members of the coronavirus task force remained in self-quarantine because of possible exposure to an aide who tested positive for COVID-19, officials said. On Saturday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said they will quarantine for 14 days. The day before, Food and Drug Administration commissioner Stephen Hahn, said he already had gone into quarantine.
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from The Washington Post
Newspaper in Washington, D.C.
“At the beginning, we didn’t know what we were dealing with,” said Valentin Fuster, physician-in-chief at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. “We were seeing patients dying in front of us. It was all of a sudden, you’re in a different ballgame, and you don’t know why.” Today, there is widespread recognition the novel coronavirus is far more unpredictable than a simple respiratory virus. Often it attacks the lungs, but it can also strike anywhere from the brain to the toes. Many doctors are focused on treating the inflammatory reactions it triggers and its capacity to cause blood clots, even as they struggle to help patients breathe.
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