Global health crisis pits economic against health concerns

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A mother and her child are reflected as they pass a mural by artist FAKE, titled "Super Nurse", paying tribute to all healthcare and medical professionals in times of the coronavirus, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Sunday, April 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

By WILL WEISSERT, JILL COLVIN and FRANK JORDANS APRIL 19, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — The global health crisis is taking a nasty political turn with tensions worsening between governments locked down to keep the coronavirus at bay and people yearning to restart stalled economies and forestall fears of a depression.

Protesters worrying about their livelihoods and bucking infringements on their freedom took to the streets in some places. A few countries were acting to ease restrictions, but most of the world remains unified in insisting it’s much too early to take more aggressive steps.

In the United States, there was clear evidence of the mounting pressure. The Trump administration says parts of the country are ready to begin a gradual return to normalcy. Yet some state leaders say their response to the pandemic is hindered by a woefully inadequate federal response.

Washington state’s Democratic governor, Jay Inslee, even accused President Donald Trump of encouraging insubordination and “illegal activity” by goading on protesters who flouted shelter-in-place rules.

“To have an American president to encourage people to violate the law, I can’t remember any time during my time in America where we have seen such a thing,” Inslee told ABC’s “This Week.″ He said it was ”dangerous because it can inspire people to ignore things that actually can save their lives.”

Doctor Meenal Viz holds a banner as she protests outside Downing Street in London, as the country is in lockdown to help curb the spread of the coronavirus, Sunday, April 19, 2020. The doctor who is pregnant protested about the lack of PPE and protection for NHS health workers. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Trump supporters in several states ignored social distancing and stay-at-home orders, gathering to demand that governors lift controls on public activity. The largest protest drew thousands to Lansing, Mich., on Wednesday, and others have featured hundreds each in several states. The president has invoked their rallying cry, calling on several states with Democratic governors to “LIBERATE.”

Vice President Mike Pence sidestepped questions Sunday about why Trump seemed to be encouraging efforts to undermine preventive measures his own government has promoted. Inslee nonetheless likened Trump’s response to “schizophrenia.” Larry Hogan, the Republican governor of Maryland, said it “just doesn’t make any sense.”

“We’re sending completely conflicting messages out to the governors and to the people, as if we should ignore federal policy and federal recommendations,” Hogan said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”


FILE - In this April 2, 2020, file photo, a sign advising people to stay home due to COVID-19 concerns is displayed at a MUNI bus stop in San Francisco. On the morning of March 15, as Italy became the epicenter of the global coronavirus pandemic, a half dozen high-ranking California health officials held an emergency conference call to discuss a united effort to contain the spread of the virus in the San Francisco Bay Area. That call and the bold decisions that came in the hours afterward have helped California avoid the kind of devastation from the virus in parts of Europe and New York City. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)


Shutdowns that began in China in late January and spread globally have disrupted economic, social, cultural and religious life and plunged the world into a deep economic slump unseen since the Great Depression. Tens of millions of workers have lost their jobs and millions more fear they’ll be next.

With the arc of infection different in every nation and across U.S. states, proposals have differed for coping with the virus that has killed more than 165,000.

Restrictions have begun to ease in some places, including Germany, which is still enforcing social distancing rules but on Monday intended to begin allowing some small stores, like those selling furniture and baby goods, to reopen.

Authorities in Spain, which had some of Europe’s strictest restrictions and a virus death toll only exceeded by the U.S. and Italy, said children will be allowed to leave their homes beginning April 27. Albania planned to let its mining and oil industries reopen Monday, along with hundreds of businesses including small retailers, food and fish factories, farmers and fishing boats.

The death toll in the U.S. climbed past 41,000 with more than 746,000 confirmed infections, while the global case count has passed 2.38 million, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University of national health reports. The European Center for Disease Control said the continent now has more than 1 million confirmed cases and almost 100,000 deaths from the coronavirus.

A woman wearing a face mask passes by a screen showing precautions against the coronavirus at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, April 19, 2020. South Korea's prime minister says the country will maintain much of its social distancing guidelines until May 5 but will relax some limits. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

The actual extent of the pandemic is likely to be significantly higher due to mild infections that are missed, limited testing, problems counting the dead and some nations’ desires to underplay the extent of their outbreaks.

The International Monetary Fund expects the global economy to contract 3% this year. That’s a far bigger loss than 2009′s 0.1% after the global financial crisis. Still, many governments are resisting pressures to abruptly relax lockdowns.

“We must not let down our guard until the last confirmed patient is recovered,” South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said Sunday.

In Britain, which reported 596 more coronavirus-related hospital deaths on Sunday, officials also said they’re not ready to ease efforts to curb the virus’s spread. U.K. minister Michael Gove told the BBC that pubs and restaurants “will be among the last” to leave the lockdown, which is now in place until May 7.

France’s health agency urged the public to stick to social distancing measures that have been extended until at least May 11 and Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said people could be required to wear masks on public transportation, and suggested no one plan faraway summer vacations even after that.

Trump is pushing to begin easing the U.S. lockdown in some states even before his own May 1 deadline, a plan that health experts and governors from both parties say will require a dramatic increase in testing capacity nationwide. But Pence insisted in television interviews Sunday that the country has “sufficient testing today” for states to begin reopening their economies as part of the initial phases of guidelines that the White House released last week.

The Trump administration has repeatedly blamed state leaders for delays, but governors from both parties have been begging the federal government for help securing in-demand testing supplies such as swabs and chemicals known as reagents. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio made a direct appeal to Washington: “We really need help ... to take our capacity up,” he said on NBC’s ”Meet the Press.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said his state can’t begin lifting restrictions until it is able to test more people daily. “Right now, we’re not even close as a nation, let alone as a state, to where we should be on testing,” he said.

Trump pushed back in a tweet before his scheduled Sunday evening briefing at the White House. “I am right on testing. Governors must be able to step up and get the job done. We will be with you ALL THE WAY!” he wrote.

A man looks on during the Utah Business Revival rally, calling for Utah's economy to be reopened, in Salt Lake City on Saturday, April 18, 2020. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert said Friday the state is aiming to reopen restaurants and gyms and resume elective surgeries in early May under a plan to gradually reopen the economy that has been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Economic concerns that have increasingly collided with measures to protect public health are now popping up throughout the U.S.

Business leaders in Louisiana have slammed New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell for imposing restrictions that they say have unfairly shuttered economic activity outside the city. A full-page ad in Baton Rouge’s “The Advocate” newspaper on Sunday urged an easing of lockdowns, even as the New Orleans Times-Picayune featured nearly nine pages of obituaries in a city hard-hit by the virus.

States including Texas and Indiana have announced plans to allow some retail and other activity to resume and some restrictions were either lifted or set to be on beaches in Florida and South Carolina. But in New York, where the daily coronavirus death toll hit its lowest point in more than two weeks on Sunday, officials warn that New York City and the rest of the hard-hit state aren’t ready to ease shutdowns of schools, businesses and gatherings.

Geopolitical and religious tensions stretching back centuries have further complicated the global response to the virus. But Jordan’s King Abdullah II said the outbreak has made “partners” out of “our enemies of yesterday, or those that were not friendly countries yesterday — whether we like it or not.”

“I think the quicker we as leaders and politicians figure that out, the quicker we can bring this under control,” he told CBS’ “Face the Nation.″

___

Jordans reported from Berlin. Associated Press writers worldwide contributed to this report.

APRIL 22 EARTH DAY 50

     GLOBAL EARTH DAY 2020

     (C)RON COBB

EARTH DAY 2020 FAQ

When is Earth Day 2020?

What is the theme for Earth Day 2020?

What is the history of Earth Day?

What was the result of the first Earth Day?

What can I do for Earth Day 2020?

EARTH DAY LIVE

FIND A DIGITAL EARTH DAY EVENTUse the options on your left to filter by your interests

Please email technical issues to action@earthday.org .

REGISTER A DIGITAL EVENT


EARTH DAY 2020 THEME: CLIMATE ACTION

The enormous challenges — but also the vast opportunities — of acting on climate change have distinguished the issue as the most pressing topic for the 50th anniversary. Climate change represents the biggest challenge to the future of humanity and the life-support systems that make our world habitable.

At the end of 2020, nations will be expected to increase their national commitments to the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. The time is now for citizens to call for greater global ambition to tackle our climate crisis. Unless every country in the world steps up – and steps up with urgency and ambition — we are consigning current and future generations to a dangerous future.

Earth Day 2020 will be far more than a day. It must be a historic moment when citizens of the world rise up in a united call for the creativity, innovation, ambition, and bravery that we need to meet our climate crisis and seize the enormous opportunities of a zero-carbon future.







BUILDING ON THE EARTH DAY LEGACY

The first Earth Day in 1970 mobilized millions of Americans for the protection of the planet. On April 22, 1970, 20 million Americans — 10% of the U.S. population at the time — took to the streets, college campuses and hundreds of cities to protest environmental ignorance and demand a new way forward for our planet. The first Earth Day is credited with launching the modern environmental movement and is now recognized as the planet’s largest civic event.

Earth Day led to passage of landmark environmental laws in the United States, including the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species Acts. Many countries soon adopted similar laws, and in 2016, the United Nations chose Earth Day as the day to sign the Paris Climate Agreement into force.

Photo Credit: University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability via Flickr

New York City’s Fifth Avenue is filled with thousands of people when the street was closed to motor traffic for the First Earth Day on April 22, 1970
Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS | Photo Credit: Tommy Japan via Flickr

Climate strikers take to the streets of New York City in September 2019 for global strikes coordinated by the Fridays for Future youth climate movement | Photo Credit: Inma Galvez-Shorts

“Despite that amazing success and decades of environmental progress, we find ourselves facing an even more dire, almost existential, set of global environmental challenges, from loss of biodiversity to climate change to plastic pollution, that call for action at all levels of government,” said Denis Hayes, the organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970 and Earth Day Network’s Board Chair Emeritus.

“Progress has slowed, climate change impacts grow, and our adversaries have become better financed,” said Earth Day Network president Kathleen Rogers. “We find ourselves today in a world facing global threats that demand a unified global response. For Earth Day 2020, we will build a new generation of environmentalist activists, engaging millions of people worldwide.”

EARTH DAY 50

What Is Earth Day Live? The Largest Online Mass Mobilization in History

Union of Concerned Scientists 

By Ken Kimmell

The COVID-19 crisis has upended the world, threatening the health and lives of millions, shattering the global economy, and imposing an unprecedented physical isolation upon us. It has changed so much almost overnight, including how we advocate for action on an even bigger long-term threat — climate change.

For this upcoming 50th anniversary of Earth Day, youth and other climate activists had planned on holding a massive worldwide strike and thousands of public demonstrations to demand that leaders in the public and private spheres take action on climate change. Of course, in-person gatherings are not possible right now. But in a remarkable showing of agility and creativity, the US Youth Climate Strike Coalition has transformed the event into the largest online mass mobilization in history — Earth Day Live, which will take place April 22–24.

Get Ready

Earth Day Live is a three-day event focused on climate action and participation in our democracy. Its centerpiece is a non-stop 72-hour livestream that will include performances, training sessions, and a wide range of events designed to engage, inform, and inspire millions of people nationwide.

Thousands have already RSVP'd, hundreds of local livestreams across the country have registered, and the event will feature many high-profile celebrities and other public figures. If you haven't yet RSVP'd, definitely do so today!

For more information on the event, you can watch and share a short promo video on your social media channel of choice, whether it's Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Or you can download the video to make your own posts. Also check out the work of the Stop the Money Pipeline Coalition; their work will be central to activities on Day 2 of Earth Day Live and they have produced #PeopleNotPolluters art that you can use and share.

What else can you do to support Earth Day Live? Sign up and tell your friends to sign up. Add a Facebook frame or Twibbon frame. Use and follow these hashtags on social media: #EarthDayLive, #EarthDay, #StrikeWithUs, and #ClimateStrike. Or simply follow and amplify the Youth Climate Strike Coalition on Twitter.

United for Action

At UCS, we stand united with the youth-led movement that is organizing Earth Day Live and the next generation of science and climate advocates who are participating in it. We aim to support them as they help boost and elevate the need for climate action, and are active members of the youth climate strike's adult coalition.

We are also members of the Stop the Money Pipeline coalition and calling for the financial institutions that fuel climate change by funding and insuring fossil fuel companies to end their support of climate destruction. And we are working on increasing voter registration and turnout of pro-science voters in the 2020 election by building the Science Rising movement to help empower students, scientists, and science supporters with opportunities to participate in civic engagement and democratic activities in their communities.

The past weeks have taught us all some hard lessons: having the best available science is not just important — it is a matter of life and death. And there is no substitute for effective action by governments at the national and international level to address crises at the scale that is needed.

We are also learning — yet again — that when disaster strikes, it exerts the highest costs on the most vulnerable. These lessons from the COVID-19 crisis apply forcefully to climate change as well — and I am heartened by the powerful way that the youth-led movement will remind us of these vital truths over the next several days, and inspire all of us to act upon them.

Ken Kimmell is president of the Union of Concerned Scientists and has more than 30 years of experience in government, environmental policy, and advocacy.

3 Ways to Celebrate Earth Day All Through April (on Lockdown, of ... ›

Earth Day Live ›

https://blog.ucsusa.org/ken-kimmell/what-is-earth-day-live-the-largest-online-mass-mobilization-in-history

While other colleges struggle, for-profits hope for revival 

WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN BETSY DEVOS

(SUNG TO THE TUNE OF WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS)

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP APRIL 19, 2020

FILE - In this Nov 24, 2009 file photo, a University of Phoenix billboard is shown in Chandler, Ariz. Some of the nation’s largest for-profit colleges are ramping up advertising, hiring recruiters and offering discounts for online classes as they predict that the coronavirus will steer more Americans back to school, helping revive the industry. (AP Photo/Matt York, File)
Some of the nation’s largest for-profit colleges are ramping up advertising, hiring recruiters and offering discounts for online classes as they predict the coronavirus pandemic will push unemployed workers back to school, helping revive the industry.

New marketing campaigns target Americans who have been ordered to shelter at home. Capella University, an online college, is promising “flexible education for uncertain times.” The University of Phoenix is telling students that they’re “online, but never on your own.”

Some chains are offering scholarships for students whose finances have taken a hit or for those pursuing careers in nursing, teaching and other fields expected to be in high demand after COVID-19 cases subside.

To critics, it’s nothing more than a marketing ploy to capitalize on crisis. But leaders of some for-profit colleges say they’re preparing for what they believe will be a surge in demand for online education.

Millions of Americans are at home and out of work, and those college leaders believe more people will try online classes. Even after traditional campuses reopen, they think students will be reluctant to return to dorms and classrooms buzzing with students.

“Hundreds of thousands of students are either going to be concerned about their health, or they’re literally not going to be able to go back to their dorms,” said Karl McDonnell, CEO of Strategic Education, Inc., the owner of Capella and Strayer universities. “We expect that demand, broadly, is going to dramatically increase as a result of this.”

The industry’s opponents are raising alarms about the potential upturn, saying it could come at the expense of students. They warn that the sector has a history of using aggressive marketing tactics to lure students into programs with little academic value.

Even as critics call for greater scrutiny, the federal government is giving the industry a financial lift. Last month, the Trump administration and Congress allotted more than $1 billion to for-profit colleges as part of a $2.2 trillion rescue package.

During past recessions, colleges of all types have seen their enrollments rise. Workers who lose jobs often turn to colleges to update their skills or change careers. But this time, traditional colleges are bracing for losses. Schools are scrambling to move their classes online, but many fear that students will be unable to afford tuition next fall, and that others will want to stay closer to home.


For online colleges, a market dominated by for-profit schools, the conditions could be ripe for a resurgence, analysts say.

The American Public University System, a for-profit online college, is offering a 50% discount for up to two online classes this summer, a deal directed at students at schools with limited online courses. Students will be encouraged to the transfer credits back to their home schools, officials say, but the company believes some will want to stay at the online college.

“We don’t want to hurt institutions. But if fall enrollments at traditional face-to-face institutions are deferred, I think you’ll see students either take a year off or they’ll say, you know what, I’ll study somewhere online,” said Wallace Boston, the school’s president.

At Strayer and Capella, officials are telling students at historically black colleges that they can take free online classes this fall if their campuses don’t reopen on time. Capella is also offering a new “Front Line Heroes” discount for students in teaching or nursing.

“Now is not the time to make a quick buck on anyone,” said McDonnell, chief of the schools’ parent company. “We think we’ll be in a good position to continue to serve the country. But now our view is, let’s just do whatever we can to be helpful.”

Other companies are hiring more recruiters. As unemployment began to surge last month, Zovio, the parent company over the online for-profit Ashford University, announced it would add 200 enrollment advisers.

Any upswing would be an improvement for the industry, which reached its peak enrollment in 2010 before going on to lose half of its students by 2017. During that span, major chains, including Corinthian Colleges, collapsed as the Obama administration cracked down. Others have gone bankrupt even with allies under President Donald Trump.

Before the pandemic, education analysts saw little hope for a major turnaround. But the scale of unemployment has been so dramatic that it could outweigh other factors working against the industry, said Trace Urdan, managing director at Tyton Partners, a consulting firm and investment bank.

Urdan expects for-profit colleges to see a boost, although it could be curtailed by rising competition from nonprofit schools and other companies in the online market. Some competitors have also boosted marketing, including Western Governors University, an online school that’s offering $3,000 scholarships for those affected by the pandemic.

To critics, the flurry of activity brings echoes of the 2008 recession, when for-profit colleges enrolled record numbers of students but left many of them with heavy debt and few job prospects.

A new study by the advocacy group Veterans Education Success found that some chains have been spending more on Facebook ads during the pandemic. “This aggressive and deceptive targeting will once again harm veterans’ academic and economic prospects,” the group said.

In an open letter to state and federal politicians, two student advocacy groups are calling for sharper oversight as colleges are given flexibility to move programs online. The letter warns that for-profits will be tempted to create programs that boost revenue but do little to prepare students for jobs.

“A perfect storm is brewing for a rip-off revival to parallel the predatory for-profit college boom of the 2000s. And the most vulnerable students will inevitably pay the heaviest price,” said the letter, signed by leaders of the National Student Legal Defense Network and the Institute for College Access and Success.

The letter draws attention to the industry’s history of poor outcomes, noting that students at for-profit colleges default on their loans at nearly four times the rate of students at public community colleges.

But supporters say the industry has improved. The worst schools have closed, and those left are more concerned about graduation rates than enrollment levels, said Steve Gunderson, president and CEO of Career Education Colleges and Universities, an industry lobbying group.

Gunderson said he expects a modest boost but nothing like the surge a decade ago. While some institutions grow, he predicts some others will have to shut down.

“Our schools are suffering just like everybody else in the American economy,” Gunderson said. “The era of double digit growth in this sector is long gone. And it will not be coming back.”

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India’s Kerala State Shows Way in Coronavirus Fight

THE POOREST STATE IN INDIA IS THE MOST PROGRESSIVE

By Anjana Pasricha April 19, 2020 
Medical staff members of a government-run medical college collect swabs from people to test for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a newly installed Walk-In Sample Kiosk in Ernakulam in the southern state of Kerala, India, April 6, 2020.
NEW DELHI - Before many countries had fully grasped the devastation that COVID-19 would bring, health authorities in India’s southern state of Kerala were closely monitoring a 20-year-old student who returned from Wuhan, China on January 25.

Days later, as soon she reported some uneasiness in her throat, she was shifted to an isolation ward in a hospital and her family members were placed in quarantine. Tests showed she had COVID 19 — she became India’s first case of the dreaded infection.

The state moved fast because by mid-January it had already put in place a strategy to isolate people who showed symptoms in hospitals, trace their contacts and put them in home quarantine.

Three months on, Kerala is being hailed for not just flattening the curve of the deadly infection even as it spikes in many parts of the country but for having an extremely low mortality rate. Only three of 400 reported cases have died so far – less than one percent, significantly less than the rest of India or in many parts of the world. About two-thirds of the patients, including a 93-year-old man and his 88-year-old wife have been cured – the country’s best recovery rate.

Indians wearing surgical masks walk out of the government general hospital where a student who had been in Wuhan is kept in isolation in Thrissur, Kerala state, Jan. 30, 2020.

Health experts attribute the state’s success to two factors — what they call a “formidable” primary health care system and the experience it gleaned in the last two years when it handled another deadly virus outbreak.

Ruled by a coalition of communist and left-wing parties, Kerala spends the most in India on health and has the highest literacy rate in the country.

“We have doctors, nurses and paramedics in every village,” said K.N. Harilal, a member of the Kerala State Planning Board. "So, we have a strong army of health care workers to fight epidemics.”

The brain damaging Nipah virus, for which also there is no cure, surfaced in the state in 2018 and 2019 but was tamped down with the same strategy of tight surveillance and contact tracing. As a result, terms like quarantine and isolation became household words in Kerala even before the pandemic.

“You can’t imagine the terror we went through at that time, and fear is a very good trainer,” said Rajeev Sadanandan, the state’s former health secretary who was on the frontlines of tackling the Nipah virus. “So, when coronavirus came, the state was ready for it.”

However, tackling coronavirus was a more herculean task for the state of 34 million. It has a high population density. Hundreds of students enrolled in Chinese universities, including those in Wuhan, and tens of thousands working in Middle Eastern countries headed back amid the coronavirus scare, some bringing the virus with them. All had to be kept under surveillance.
 

Municipal workers in protective gear carry the body of a woman who died of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), to a crematorium in Ahmedabad, India, April 17, 2020.

In some cases, these migrant workers returned home after two or three years. “They had already been in quarantine from their families for so long. So, a lot of awareness building campaigns had to be done to educate people to resist the temptation of mingling closely with family members and spreading the infection,” said Harilal.

Inevitably there have been bumps. Like the rest of India, Kerala had a shortage of testing kits. And there were instances of people who evaded or broke the quarantine protocol after returning from overseas.

One three-member family that hit local headlines managed to slip through screening at airports when they failed to report that they had travelled to Italy and subsequently went on to visit crowded places like markets, a hotel and a bank. It set in motion frantic efforts to track their primary and secondary contacts. Twelve teams that included medical workers, police and volunteers worked for days to prepare the travel path of the family, using GPS data from their phones, eventually tracing more than 4,000 people who then had to be placed under observation and quarantine.

Indian workers walk with garbage after cleaning an isolation ward at a hospital for observing people suspected to have a new coronavirus infection in Kochi, Kerala state, Feb.4, 2020.

Officials give much of the credit to local level health workers. “Every health worker knows how to take charge of their population, how to trace the contacts, how to teach them about home quarantine. ‘I won’t slip up, this won’t get out on my watch,’ that pride is there in the system,” said Sadanandan.

He points to his own experience when he went into home quarantine on returning to Kerala from Delhi – the state was one of the few that asked not just overseas but also domestic travelers to stay at home. “I would get daily calls inquiring ‘are you getting a cough, do you have fever, are you feeling stressed?’ I was given numbers to contact in case I needed them,” he recalled. “I could make out that they were under tremendous pressure with so many people to contact, but the calls always came.”

In several cases, local communities pitched in by cooking food for those who were in quarantine or those stuck far away from their homes.

Policy makers admit that there are still many battles ahead. Most of all there is the risk of a fresh round of infections when an influx of residents from overseas and other states arrives after India’s stringent countrywide lockdown is lifted.

“Hundreds of thousands would have to be quarantined, tested and, if positive, treated, ensuring there is no secondary spread,” the state’s finance minister, Thomas Isaac wrote in the Indian Express newspaper. “We do not want to lower our guard and rest on the laurels.” He pointed out that a lockdown was not enough to tackle coronavirus — preparedness was the key.

But even if Kerala does finally overcome the challenge of coronavirus better than the rest of the country, many ordinary people share the same worries that are sweeping India — lost livelihoods that may not return anytime soon. The concerns are even higher for this tiny coastal state, whose picturesque backwaters and tea estates on rolling green hillsides make tourism a key sector and where many families depend on remittances sent by overseas workers.

Anoop Murali, who left his small family farm five years ago for the city to ferry tourists around in a rental car, has returned to his village. He does not know when or if visitors will come back. “I simply don’t know what to do. There is no work at all, maybe we have to go back to farming. That’s all we talk about these days,” he said bleakly.

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UH OH!
WHO: No Evidence Survivors of COVID-19 Are Immune from the Disease
By Lisa Schlein April 19, 2020 
A member of the medical personnel works as patients suffering from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are treated at the intensive care unit at CHIREC Delta Hospital in Brussels, Belgium, April 18, 2020.


GENEVA, SWITZERLAND - Senior World Health Organization officials say there is no evidence that people who have survived a bout of coronavirus become immune from the deadly disease and cannot pass the infection on to others.

The coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the world with breathtaking speed and no immediate end in sight.

Anxious governments increasingly are grabbing on to the hope that those who have become sickened by this infectious disease will become immune and not pass it on to others.

They are pinning their hopes on serologic tests that look for antibodies in a person’s immune system to clarify the number of people who have been exposed to the virus. Knowing this, they argue, would allow them to send these people back into the workforce without risk of their getting infected or of infecting others.

But head of WHOs emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, Maria Van Kerkove said these serologic tests may not be able to provide the information governments are seeking.

“Right now, we have no evidence that the use of a serologic test can show that an individual is immune or is protected from reinfection. What the use of these tests will do will measure the level of antibodies and it is a response that the body has a week or two later after they have been infected with this virus,” she said.

These tests will be able to measure the level of antibodies, but Van Kerkove said that does not mean that somebody with antibodies is immune to the disease.

Executive Director of WHO health emergencies, Michael Ryan, cautions countries to be prudent and not fix on these tests as a way of establishing the status of an individual. He said there is a lot of uncertainty about the effectiveness of the available tests.

“Nobody is sure whether someone with antibodies is fully protected against having the disease or being exposed again. Plus some of the tests have issues of sensitivity; they may give a false negative result and we may actually have someone who believes they are seropositive or they are protected actually in a situation where they may be exposed and in fact they are susceptible to the disease,” he said.

Ryan said a lot of work still lies ahead to standardize the tests and make sure they are validated. He said great care must be taken to ensure they are not misused but are used in ways that enhance public health.

Detroit’s Jewish community ‘condemns’ behavior, signage of ‘Operation Gridlock’ protestors
Nazi, swastika imagery used just days before Holocaust Remembrance Day

Dawn Perreca protests on the front steps of the Michigan State Capitol building in Lansing, Mich., Wednesday, April 15, 2020. Flag-waving, honking protesters drove past the Michigan Capitol on Wednesday to show their displeasure with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's orders to keep people at home and businesses locked during the new coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) (Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

DETROIT – The Jewish Community Relations Council of Detroit (AJC) has publicly condemned the behavior and signage of protestors that participated in “Operation Gridlock” on Wednesday.

Thousands of Michigan residents swarmed the Lansing capitol to protest Michigan Gov. Whitmer’s stay-at-home order -- which they called a “government overreach on steroids” -- amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Photos and videos from the protest show individuals holding posters with swastikas, comparing Whitmer to Adolf Hitler.

AJC released a statement Thursday condemning the usage of these symbols at the protest.

“Regardless of one’s political views, the use of such imagery and symbolism is inexcusable,” AJC said. “The Nazi imagery is particularly galling as it comes only days before Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day), which begins on Monday night.”

AJC is requesting the protest organizers to condemn the behavior, as well.

“The JCRC/AJC condemns these actions and asks the organizers of the protest, the Michigan Conservative Coalition, to immediately condemn the use of all hate speech and, specifically, the imagery used at yesterday’s rally,” AJC said.

Pro-Trump Protesters Push Back on Stay-At-Home Orders

By Associated Press April 17, 2020 

FILE - protests on the front steps of the Michigan State Capitol building in Lansing, Mich., April 15, 2020.

While many Americans are filled with fear, Melissa Ackison says the coronavirus pandemic has filled her with anger. The stay-at-home orders are government overreach, the conservative Ohio state Senate candidate says, and the labeling of some workers as "essential" arbitrary.

"It enrages something inside of you," said Ackison, who was among those who protested Republican Gov. Mike DeWine's orders at the statehouse in Columbus with her 10-year-old son. She has "no fear whatsoever" of contracting the virus, she said Thursday, dismissing it as hype.

The Ohio protest was among a growing number staged outside governors' mansions and state Capitols across the country. In places like Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia, small-government groups, supporters of President Donald Trump, anti-vaccine advocates, gun rights backers and supporters of right-wing causes have united behind a deep suspicion of efforts to shut down daily life to slow the spread of the coronavirus. As their frustration with life under lockdown grows, they've started to openly defy the social distancing rules in an effort to put pressure on governors to ease them.

Some of the protests have been small events, promoted via Facebook groups that have popped up in recent days and whose organizers are sometimes difficult to identify. Others are backed by groups funded by prominent Republican donors, some with ties to Trump. The largest so far, a rally of thousands that jammed the streets of Lansing, Michigan, on Wednesday, looked much like one of the president's rallies — complete with MAGA hats or Trump flags — or one of the tea party rallies from a decade ago.

FILE - Protesters rally against stay-at-home orders related to the coronavirus pandemic outside Capitol Square in Richmond, Virginia, April 16, 2020.

The signs of frustration come as Trump has pushed for easing stay-at-home orders and tried to look ahead to restarting the economy. He unveiled a framework for governors to follow on Thursday, but acknowledged the governors will have the final say on when their state is ready. Health experts have warned that lifting restrictions too quickly could result in a surge of new cases of the virus.

But the president and some of his supporters are impatient. Thousands of people in their cars packed the streets of Lansing to protest Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home order and other restrictions. Outside the Capitol, some chanted "Lock her up," a throwback to Trump's calls during the 2016 election about his rival Hillary Clinton. One woman held a sign reading "Heil Witmer."

Asked about the protesters, Trump on Thursday expressed sympathy with their frustration — "They're suffering ... they want to get back" — and dismissed concerns about the health risks of ignoring state orders and potentially exposing themselves to the virus.

"I think they're listening. I think they listen to me," he said. "They seem to be protesters that like me and respect this opinion, and my opinion's the same as just about all of the governors. Nobody wants to stay shut."

Polls show the protesters' views are not widely held. An AP-NORC survey earlier this month found large majorities of Americans support a long list of government restrictions, including closing schools, limiting gatherings, and shuttering bars and restaurants. Three-quarters of Americans backed requiring people to stay in their homes. And majorities of both Democrats and Republicans gave high marks for the state and city governments.

But the protests expose resilient partisan divisions, particularly in battleground Michigan. The protest there was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition, a group founded by a pro-Trump state representative and his wife, Meshawn Maddock, who is on the advisory board for an official Trump campaign group called "Women for Trump" and is also the co-founder of Michigan Trump Republicans. Their daughter is a field organizer for the Michigan Republican Party.

FILE - Vehicles sit in gridlock during a protest in Lansing, Mich., April 15, 2020.

Another group that promoted the event, the Michigan Freedom Fund, is run by Greg McNeilly, a longtime political adviser to the DeVos family, who are prolific Republican donors and have funded conservative causes across the state for decades. McNeilly was campaign manager for Dick DeVos, the husband of current U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, during his failed bid for governor in 2006. The group, which does not have to disclose its donors, raised over $4 million in 2018, according to its most recent tax statements.

Whitmer was among the governors who expressed concern about the gatherings, saying it put people at risk and could have prolonged the shutdown. Michigan had recorded over 2,000 deaths from COVID-19 as of Thursday, and close to 30,000 confirmed cases of people infected with the virus. Roughly one-quarter of the state's workforce has filed for unemployment.

But it's not just Democratic governors feeling the heat. A procession of cars swarmed around the Republican-dominated statehouse in Oklahoma City on Wednesday, with messages written on windows or signs that said "stop killing our economy," "we need our church" and "time 2 work."

Carol Hefner, who previously served as an Oklahoma co-chair of Trump's 2016 campaign, was a major organizer of the event. Hefner, whose husband is part of the Hefner Energy empire and currently operates a company that makes Argentinian meat sauce, differentiated it from many of the others, characterizing it as a "rally" rather than a protest.

"We're not New York. Their problems are not our problems," Hefner said. "We are rallying around our governor and our state to encourage the opening up of our businesses and the restoration of our state in a timely fashion."

Other gatherings have links to fringe groups. A protest Thursday in the Texas capital of Austin, where protesters chanted "Free Texas" and "Make America Free Again," was broadcast live by InfoWars TV, part of a company owned by conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones.
FILE - Protesters from a grassroots organization called “REOPEN NC” demonstrate against the North Carolina coronavirus lockdown at a parking lot adjacent to the North Carolina State Legislature in Raleigh, North Carolina, April 14, 2020.

The Ohio event earlier this week brought together a collection of anti-vaccine advocates, Second Amendment supporters, tea party activists and other anti-government activists. A Columbus Dispatch photo of Ackison and other protesters yelling through glass doors of the statehouse rocketed around the internet.

Ackison said that while she views DeWine's efforts as constitutional overreach, she would be fine if Trump were to act with similar authority to force governors to bring the states back on line.

"As patriots, we put President Trump in office for a reason," she said. "If he's not able to give a convincing enough argument to these governors that they need to open up, then he needs to do something to take action."

The protests were advertised on Facebook by groups such as Reopen Virginia and End the Lockdown PA. A protest in Richmond, Virginia, on Thursday grew out of a conversation in the Facebook group Virginians for Medical Freedom, organizer Gary Golden said. The group often turns out at the Capitol in Richmond to oppose vaccine-related measures.

Kelly Mullin, who stood near a "don't tread on me" flag spread on the grass near the governor's mansion, said she brought her sons to the event to teach them a lesson about liberty.

Mullin said that she thought the risk posed by the coronavirus depends on an individual's health and that people can take basic steps to protect themselves, including getting enough sleep, eating organic produce and getting outside.

"I mean, that's where our tax dollars should be going. Eat broccoli," she said.

Infectious-disease specialists say there is no evidence that eating specific foods can prevent or kill the virus. Most people with the coronavirus experience mild or moderate symptoms, and people with health issues such as asthma and older people are at greater risk of death from COVID-19.

While many Americans are filled with fear, Melissa Ackison says the coronavirus pandemic has filled her with anger. The stay-at-home orders are government overreach, the conservative Ohio state Senate candidate says, and the labeling of some workers as "essential" arbitrary.

"It enrages something inside of you," said Ackison, who was among those who protested Republican Gov. Mike DeWine's orders at the statehouse in Columbus with her 10-year-old son. She has "no fear whatsoever" of contracting the virus.

Hundreds protest against US virus rules

AFP / Joseph PreziosoHundreds of New Hampshire residents rallied outside the statehouse in Concord on April 18 to urge a quick end to the northeastern state's virus-related stay-at-home rule

Hundreds protested Saturday in cities across America against coronavirus-related lockdowns -- with encouragement from President Donald Trump -- as resentment grows against the crippling economic cost of confinement.

An estimated 400 people gathered under a cold rain in Concord, New Hampshire -- many on foot while others remained in their cars -- to send a message that extended quarantines were not necessary in a state with relatively few confirmed cases of COVID-19.

The crowd included several armed men wearing military-style uniforms, with their faces covered.

AFP / Mark FelixFar-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones addresses a "Reopen America" rally at the State Capitol in Austin, Texas

In Texas, more than 250 people rallied outside the State Capitol in Austin, including far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, founder of the Infowars site, who rolled up in a tank-like truck.

"It's time to reopen Texas, it's time to let people work, it's time for them to let voluntary interaction and good sense rule the day, not government force," said Justin Greiss, an activist with Young Americans for Liberty.

Stay-at-home mother Amira Abuzeid added: "I'm not a doctor but I'm an intelligent person who can do math and it looks like at the end of the day, these numbers are not that worrisome."

Few if any observed social distancing recommendations.

Demonstrators outside Maryland's colonial-era statehouse in Annapolis stayed in their cars but waved signs with messages like "Poverty kills too."

AFP / SAUL LOEBDemonstrators protest from their cars in Annapolis, Maryland

Dolores, a hairdresser, told AFP she is not eligible for unemployment because she is a business owner, not an employee.

"I need to save my business. I need to work to live. Otherwise I will die," she said.

Other demonstrations took place across the country in cities such as Columbus, Ohio and San Diego, California, as well as the states of Indiana, Nevada and Wisconsin.

Few practiced social distancing but many of the protesters waved American flags.

- 'Live Free or Die' -

Protesters have drawn encouragement in certain Democratic-led states from tweets by Trump, who has said he favors a quick return to normal, though protests have also taken place in Republican-led states like New Hampshire and Texas.

AFP / Mark FelixA protester holds up a sign during the "Reopen America" rally in Austin, Texas

The US has seen more coronavirus cases and deaths than any other country in the world -- with more than 734,000 confirmed infections and 38,800 fatalities as of Saturday evening.

The vast majority of Americans are under lockdown orders restricting public movement and keeping all but essential businesses closed.

In Concord, demonstrators carried signs with slogans like "The numbers lie" and "Reopen New Hampshire."

Their common demand was that the stay-at-home order for the state of 1.3 million people be called off before its scheduled May 4 end date.

AFP / Megan JELINGERProtesters rally at the Ohio State House in Columbus

Others, amid a sea of American flags, chanted the state's Revolutionary War-era slogan, "Live Free or Die."

"People are very happy on a voluntary basis to do what's necessary," one demonstrator, 63-year-old Skip Murphy, told AFP by phone.

He added, however, that "the data does not support the egregious lockdown we are having in New Hampshire."

As of early Friday, New Hampshire had reported 1,287 confirmed coronavirus cases and 37 deaths.

- 'Free country' -

"All over the country, a lot of people are saying, 'We will do our part, but at the same time, this is supposed to be a free country,'" Murphy said.

AFP / Joseph PreziosoA protester in Concord, New Hampshire waves a flag during a rally urging a quick end to virus-related confinement rules

"When that gets transgressed, people start to say, 'Wait a minute, this is wrong.'"

Most Americans -- by a two-to-one margin -- actually worry about virus restrictions being lifted too soon, not too late, a recent Pew survey found.

But demonstrators found encouragement Friday from the president, who in a series of tweets called to "LIBERATE" Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia -- all states with Democratic governors -- from stay-at-home orders.

Trump has repeatedly called for the earliest possible return to normality as virus-related closings have had a crushing impact on American workers and businesses.

AFP / Joseph PreziosoSome at the Concord, New Hampshire rally against home confinement rules wore masks or face coverings

"I really think some of the governors have gotten carried away," Trump said at a White House news conference on Saturday.

He welcomed the reopening of some businesses in Texas and Vermont on Monday "while still requiring appropriate social distancing precautions."

The largest protest against stay-at-home rules so far took place Wednesday in the Michigan capital of Lansing, which drew some 3,000 people.

Murphy said he had voted for Trump, but insisted his motives were not partisan. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu is a Republican, he noted.

"This has nothing to do with Trump or the Democratic and Republican governors," Murphy said.

"It is a case of one size not fitting all -- the lockdown should cease where it does not make sense."

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The coronavirus crisis makes crystal clear that capitalism is failing the vast majority of the world's population.

Homeless people sleep in a temporary parking lot shelter at Cashman Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on March 30, 2020. Steve Marcus

COMPASSIONATE CAPITALISM;
ON THE ROAD TO SOCIALISM

As the 1% eyes their stocks, the rest face financial uncertainty or ruin.
The world's richest people must intervene, using their own wealth to put human lives above profit.

Frank Giustra is a Canadian businessman, global philanthropist and co-chair of the International Crisis Group.

Who wants to be a billionaire? Not me.I'm lucky to be well off, and I believe in free enterprise. But I have come to the conclusion that capitalism has run amok.

In 2017, the US households in the top 1% of income-earners made more than 25 times what families in the other 99% did, according to a paper from the Economic Policy Institute. This glaring inequality confirmed my determination to devote the rest of my life and greatest part of my wealth to philanthropy.

If further urgency was needed, the novel coronavirus pandemic makes my decision even clearer. This moment underscores the pointlessness of accumulating extreme wealth.

Instead, this is a time for bold generosity. Now is not the time to worry about your stocks, when others with much less, from health workers to supermarket employees are putting themselves at risk on the frontline.

Indeed, the consequences of this global pandemic, are likely to be devastating for the most vulnerable.

Even beyond the immediate healthcare needs in some of the hardest hit countries, the coronavirus outbreak is adding another complication for people in precarious positions around the world.

Think of people caught in the midst of conflict. The refugees or internally displaced – the number of which are now higher than at any time since World War II – gathered in overcrowded, under-resourced camps. Think of those relying on humanitarian workers whose access to conflict zones will be dramatically curtailed. And those who count on peacekeeping missions to keep warring sides apart and now will also see their ability to operate affected.

And, of course, think of all those conflict victims whose fate is known to us only because the media and various NGOs shine a spotlight on them and who will now be ignored or forgotten.

Overall, the coronavirus threatens to diminish global attention to conflict situations at the time they most need it. It could fuel skepticism about the urgency of helping others far from home and further deplete faith, already in short supply, in the very possibility of preventing or ending war.

That's why, in addition to my contributions to efforts to reduce inequality, counter suffering and alleviate poverty through my foundation I am also determined to help those trying to prevent and resolve deadly conflict. I have come to believe it's the biggest possible return on investment: in many parts of the world, often unseen because it's not glamorous or sensational, early, upstream action can be taken to stop fighting and end wars, without which none of the other steps will really matter.

With this urgency in mind, I recently stepped down from the chairman's role at the gold mining company I co-founded to become co-chair of the International Crisis Group, an organization dedicated to ending wars and stopping new ones before they start.

I have tremendous respect for ICG's work, having spent 15 years as a board member. The nuclear deal between Iran and world powers; the 2016 peace accord with FARC rebels in Colombia; the successful prevention of a Saudi-led coalition offensive on the port of Hodeida, vital for UN humanitarian supplies in Yemen – Crisis Group played an important role in all of these.

Important as it is, helping war's victims still puts the cart before the horse. We can think bigger: pressure and help decision-makers prevent wars from starting, end wars before they spread and, when all else fails, mitigate the severity of war, saving as many lives as possible. A political settlement, however imperfect, can head off the need for humanitarian aid in the first place.

It's hard work and at times, it feels thankless, but I believe practical solutions to resolve or mitigate deadly conflicts do exist. Even if they are not always visible to the stakeholders. We have proven it time and time again.

Don't get me wrong. I live a very comfortable life, and I will continue to invest in business opportunities alongside my charitable giving. But enough is enough. I don't want to be a billionaire. It feels much more important to use what I have to help build a better and more peaceful world.

The world is in a moment of crisis. How we all conduct ourselves will make the world of difference to the level of suffering to many around us and even the quality of our own lives. I hope other millionaire and billionaire friends will agree and rise to the moment.

Social Capital founder says coronavirus relief should focus on workers, not corporations

Social Capital founder Chamath Palihapitiya told Hill.TV on Friday that Congress should pass legislation that distributes wealth back to employees and individuals rather than large corporations.

"We have now printed more than $12 trillion into the economy. ... That means we could have given every single person in the U.S. their entire 2019 wages and paid off everybody's student debt and still have $5 trillion leftover for companies." 

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