Why Black wealth has stayed 'relatively flat' since Tulsa massacre

Kristin Myers Yahoo Finance June 19, 2020

In the roughly 100 years since the Greenwood massacre and more than 150 years since the official end of slavery on “Juneteenth,” studies show little progress has been made to reduce the racial wealth gap between black and white households. While many economic, legislative, and social proposals have been made to eliminate the gap between white and Black Americans, some say that reparations is the only hope.

By 1921, the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Okla., was a thriving black community. Dubbed the “Black Wall Street,” the district featured restaurants, hotels, movie theaters, grocery stores, two newspapers, and more.

“It was quite extraordinary,” says folklorist and reparations scholar and author Kirsten Mullen. “There were probably few places like it in the southwest. It was held up at the time as a star.”

Though the name lends itself to a comparison with the street and financial center in New York, Mullen says it does not compare to “the volume and capitalization” of New York’s Wall Street.

What’s more, Greenwood wasn’t the only “Black Wall Street” in the United States. Black wealth was being created in neighborhoods around the country, in places like Durham, N.C., and Richmond, Va.

But it wasn’t long before these thriving black neighborhoods were noticed, and eventually destroyed.
The Greenwood Massacre

Just under 100 years ago, the Greenwood district was destroyed in an event that has been called the Greenwood massacre.

After accusations of a sexual assault on a white woman, Greenwood was attacked. Stores and homes were looted, and hundreds died. The neighborhood was set on fire: from the ground, and from planes dropping incendiary devices from overhead.

“In the wake of the violence, 35 city blocks lay in charred ruins, over 800 people were treated for injuries and contemporary reports of deaths began at 36. Historians now believe as many as 300 people may have died,” states the Tulsa Historical Society and Museum.

A memorial to Tulsa's Black Wall Street sits outside the Greenwood Cultural Center on the outskirts of downtown Tulsa, Okla. A once-prosperous section of Tulsa that became the site of one of the worst race riots in American history is attempting to remake itself again after decades of neglect. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

Mullen’s research partner, economist William Darity said there has been a “long American history of denying and destroying” Black wealth.

“There was a wave of these massacres from late 1800 until the 1940’s,” he explained. “Prosperous Black communities were essentially destroyed.”

“In the year 1919 alone, there were upwards of 35 or 36 of these massacres,” he said.
No progress made

But, Darity and Mullen said, the racial wealth gap was already wide prior to the Tulsa massacre, and Black wealth has stayed “relatively flat” since.

“The black curve looks relatively flat, and the white curve skyrockets upwards,” Darity said.

“Historical data reveal that no progress has been made in reducing income and wealth inequalities between black and white households over the past 70 years,” according to a study from Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Examining data from 1949, the Minneapolis Fed found that “income has grown at a comparable rate for black and white households.”

But, they noted, “this means that pre-civil rights era disparities have largely persisted.” Over time, the “typical” black household is “poorer than 80% of white households,” the authors wrote.

This is the result of “the cumulative effect of government policy in terms of action and inaction. The federal government never intervened to address these white massacres,” said Darity.

Simply put, the flatness of black wealth over time “is the result of American public policy,” he said.

Darity noted that reliable data on black wealth only extends as far back as 70 years, but points to the Homestead Act of 1862 as the beginning of economic disparity between Blacks and whites in the country.

At the end of the Civil War, while freed slaves were denied their promised 40 acres and a mule, he said, whites were given hundreds of acres of free land.


Destruction of black wealth

Over the course of the next century and a half, black communities were systematically destroyed through massacres or through the policy of urban renewal, that razed communities to make way for highways or luxury buildings and shops.

In some instances, Mullen said, these public works projects were never even started.

In the late 19th century, “land was a major source of wealth,” Darity said. “Particularly for folks with middle-income status.” By the 20th century that source of wealth changed — to homeownership.

Denied access to land before the turn of the century, Black households were then subject to racist policies of redlining, contract buying, and land devaluation.

While not the sole predatory policies that plagued the black community, these real estate-based discriminatory practices robbed and denied Blacks in the country of billions.

Redlining ensured that Blacks couldn’t purchase homes in white neighborhoods, systematically denying families mortgages, home insurance, or loans. The practice derived its name from the red line drawn on maps demarcating areas where African Americans lived. Banks would then justify the practice, deeming neighborhoods that had redlined at a “higher risk” for default.

Division of opinions in Chicago. White children play ball in street just west of Ashland as an African American family passes. White homeowners to west of Ashland have formed block clubs, designed to keep the neighborhood white. (AP Photo/JLP)

And when black families went to purchase a home, many fell prey to the practice of contract buying. The scam allowed a home seller to deny a buyer ownership of a home until the home was purchased in full. The buyer would first put down a large down payment, and then make high interest monthly payments. But until the home was purchased in full, the seller held the deed and could evict the buyer at any time. The buyer never accumulated equity in their homes, and no laws protected them.

Once a home was purchased, many African Americans have found their assets to be routinely undervalued, despite structural characteristics and neighborhood amenities that are comparable to white-owned homes nearby.

These practices were deemed illegal and discriminatory over 50 years ago with the Fair Housing Act, but the impact remains today.

According to the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), “much less than half (42%) of Black families own their homes, compared to almost three-quarters (73%) of White families.”
Reparations

In total, these policies over the last century and a half since the Civil War’s end have had the cumulative effect of the depletion of Black wealth.

The JEC has noted in their 2020 study that African Americans experience poverty and unemployment rates that are twice that of their white counterparts, lower life expectancies, and have less than one-tenth the median wealth of whites.

But how to undo centuries of racist policies designed to prevent African Americans from accumulating wealth?

Both Darity and Mullen, authors of the book “From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century,” say that reparations is the only way.

Without it, Darity paints a fairly bleak picture on the ability of African Americans to achieve equality. “Black Americans cannot eliminate the racial wealth gap with their autonomous actions, and with their existing resources,” he said.

And as President Trump plans to hold his political rally in Tulsa on June 20, the threads of the Greenwood Massacre carry through today.

After Tulsa, “whatever momentum Black Americans were building that might have contributed to some closure of the wealth gap was immediately demolished,” Darity said.

Kristin Myers is a reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter.

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President Donald Trump slammed for using offensive, 'racist' remarks at Tulsa rally

John Fritze, Courtney Subramanian, Nicholas Wu and David Jackson, 

USA TODAY•June 21, 2020

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump drew fire from critics Saturday for sprinkling racially divisive stereotypes throughout his remarks at a high-profile campaign rally in Tulsa as the nation is grappling with racism and police misconduct.

Speaking after protests and unrest broke out in cities across the nation following the death of George Floyd last month, Trump described violent protesters he claimed had forced the cancellation of a separate outdoor campaign event in Tulsa as "thugs." He used the term "kung flu" to describe the coronavirus. And he blasted the removal of Confederate statues, arguing that a "left wing mob" wanted to "vandalize our history."

At one point during his remarks, as he sought to brush aside calls from some on the left to defund police departments, Trump painted a scene of a "tough hombre" who he described as "breaking into the window of a young woman whose husband is away."

"And you call 911 and they say, 'I'm sorry, this number is no longer working,'" Trump said.

President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, June 20, 2020.

The president's remarks came as demonstrators continued to gather in many cities to protest the death of Floyd, a Black man whose neck was pinned under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer for nearly nine minutes. Violence erupted in many cities after Floyd's death, but protests were largely peaceful nationwide.

"Trump just completed the racism trifecta in a three-minute span," a Democratic National Committee social media account posted during the rally, the president's first return to the campaign trail since the coronavirus struck the nation in force this spring.

"121,000 Americans are dead," Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., tweeted after the rally.

"Donald Trump’s response is to make racist jokes."

The rally ran into trouble on racial issues before it even began. The campaign had to reschedule after it initially set the event for Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the end of slavery in the United States. Trump has also faced a backlash for holding the rally in a city that was home to one of the worst racial attacks in U.S. history.

He then claimed in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that "nobody had ever heard" of the Juneteenth holiday before the controversy erupted.

Trump never mentioned Floyd's name during his remarks Saturday night. Nor did he mention the Juneteenth holiday on Friday that prompted his campaign to reschedule its initial date for the rally. He also did not mention the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, in which a white mob killed an estimated 300 Black Americans while destroying homes and businesses in a once-thriving district known as the Black Wall Street.

Trump has drawn fire for many past comments on race, including when he said there were "fine people on both sides" at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, when he described members of the violent MS-13 gang as "animals" or reportedly called Haiti, El Salvador and African nations "shithole countries."

But Trump's remarks on Saturday fell at a particularly sensitive moment in the USA, when the Floyd killing has forced a reexamination not only of police use of force practices but also charges of underlying racism in the nation's criminal justice system.

Polls suggest the perception of police has fallen in recent weeks. Among white Americans – a group from which Trump enjoyed broad support in 2016 – those who had a very favorable or somewhat favorable view of police dropped to 61% from 72% the previous week in a survey from the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project.

People wait for the arrival of President Donald Trump during a rally at the BOK in Tulsa, Okla., Saturday, June 20, 2020.

On the one hand, Trump argued Saturday that he is better positioned than presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden to pick up support from Black voters – opening up a new line of attack he is almost certain to repeat on the campaign trail. Trump said Americans should "not take lectures of racial justice" from Biden, adding that the former vice president "praised and partnered with segregationists," a reference to a controversy centered on other lawmakers with whom Biden worked with in Congress.

On the other hand, Trump offered little in the way of concrete policies he would pursue in a second term to benefit Black voters. And he repeatedly embraced language and themes that groups advocating for racial justice have decried.

"The unhinged left wing mob is trying to vandalize our history, desecrating our monuments, our beautiful monuments, tear down our statues and punish, cancel and persecute anyone who does not conform to their demands for absolute and total control, we're not conforming," Trump said Saturday about protesters forcibly removing statues and other symbols of the Confederacy.
Democrats and other critics on social media also blasted Trump for using the term "kung flu" to describe coronaviurs. White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway disputed reports this year that the term was used inside the West Wing. A CBS News reporter said an unnamed official used the phrase in her presence.

At the time, Conway described the term as "highly offensive," said "of course it's wrong" and asked reporters to identify who the official was. "I'd like to know who they are," Conway told reporters outside the White House in March. "You can't just say that and not name them. Tell us who it was."

Public health officials have discouraged terms that associate a pandemic with a place. Trump had frequently called the coronavirus the "Chinese virus" in the early weeks of the pandemic as a way to blame Beijing for its handling of the crisis there.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democrats, critics slam Trump for 'racist' remarks at Tulsa rally

The REPUBLICAN head of an Oklahoma public health committee invited anti-vax doctors

 to talk with lawmakers about the coronavirus

LIKE SEN RAND PAUL ANOTHER QNON OPTHAMOGIST 

(EYE DOCTOR)

By Brianna Bailey | The Frontier

State Rep. Sean Roberts, R-Hominy, chairs the House of Representatives’ public health committee.

An ophthalmologist paraded a series of internet conspiracy theories and unproven health claims before state lawmakers at a hearing at the Oklahoma Capitol this week — including that masks are ineffective at slowing the spread of the virus and that people of color need more vitamin D in their diets to prevent them from contracting COVID-19.

Instead of an epidemiologist or virologist, State Rep. Sean Roberts, R-Hominy, who chairs the House of Representatives’ public health committee, invited two doctors who are vocal supporters of the anti-vaccine movement to speak at an informational hearing on Oklahoma’s response to the coronavirus pandemic on Tuesday.

Roberts did not return phone calls to his office on Thursday.

“Medical masks won’t work— there’s no sense in using them,” Tulsa ophthalmologist and blogger Dr. Jim Meehan told state lawmakers at the hearing.

The latest science endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control indicates that wearing face mask helps prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Meehan hosted a press conference in which a group of business owners announced a lawsuit against Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum, the Tulsa Department of Health, Tulsa Health Department Executive Director Bruce Dart and the entire Tulsa City Council over a mask mandate that was enacted this summer.

The lawsuit asked the court to vacate the city’s mask mandate, claiming that “face coverings cause an oxygen deficient atmosphere.”

“Forcing people to work, live, shop, eat and visit in an environment where the oxygen level falls below 19.5% has been proven to cause irreparable physiological damage to the body of humans,” the plaintiffs wrote in the lawsuit.

Health experts say that fears of oxygen deprivation or increased risk of hypoxia due carbon dioxide is a myth.

Meehan is a licensed medical doctor who operates in Tulsa. His Oklahoma Medical Board profile lists his specialties as general preventive medicine, nutrition and addiction medicine. He often preaches against vaccines on and wearing face masks on Twitter.

In his Twitter bio, Meehan lists hashtags for “Medical Freedom,” a popular tag for the anti-vaccine movement, and for QAnon, a far-right fringe conspiracy that believes a group of Satan-worshipping pedophiles runs a child sex-trafficking ring across the world that also schemes against President Donald Trump. Some members of QAnon believe Trump is secretly sending them coded messages on various websites to update them.

In 2019, the FBI described QAnon as a domestic terror threat.

At one point in the hearing, Meehan said that an overabundance of skin pigment prevents the sun from killing the coronavirus inside the bodies of people of color and they should take more vitamins to keep from getting sick. There is no scientific evidence for that claim.

Another opthamologist, Dr. Chad Chamberlain, who is an outspoken supporter of the anti-vaccine group Oklahomans for Health and Parental Rights, was more measured in his remarks to the committee, but still downplayed the public health threat of the virus.

Chamberlain told state lawmakers that the flu was a bigger health risk for young people than COVID-19. Oklahoma had 85 deaths attributed to the flu during the 2019-2020 season. As of Thursday, 930 Oklahomans have died of COVID-19 this year.

Chamberlain also spoke against closing schools to slow the spread of the virus, claiming that deaths stemming from the long-term effects of social isolation, child abuse and neglect for children kept out of school were bigger public health threats.

“We have to recognize we are killing the children by keeping them out,” he said.

Chamberlain told state lawmakers he supports a COVID-19 vaccine for older people with a higher risk of of dying of COVID-19, but at another public health committee at the state capitol last year, Chamberlain spoke out against mandatory vaccinations.

Oklahoma has the fifth highest rate of COVID-19 transmission in the nation, according to the most recent report from the White House Coronavirus Task Force. The report listed Oklahoma red zone for new cases of COVID-19, indicating more than 100 new cases per 100,000 population last week. The report also recommended Oklahoma institute a statewide mandate on wearing masks in public and review school learning options in areas with ongoing high levels of virus transmission.

On Thursday, Gov. Kevin Stitt criticized the use by reporters of the White House Coronavirus Task Force report hosted on the state’s COVID-19 website, instead urging the public to rely on the John’s Hopkins report. That report lists the state’s positivity rate as being 8.58 percent while the White House report lists Oklahoma’s positivity rate at a flat 10 percent.

The Frontier is a nonprofit corporation operated by The Frontier Media Group Inc.

Days before Trump rally in Tulsa, city’s Whirlpool plant closes for COVID-19 outbreak

Mike Stunson,Sacramento Bee•June 12, 2020

Days before Trump rally in Tulsa, city’s Whirlpool plant closes for COVID-19 outbreak
A Whirlpool plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has temporarily closed due to a coronavirus outbreak one week before President Donald Trump will visit the city for a rally.

The factory employs more than 1,600 workers, though it’s not clear how many have been infected with COVID-19, according to KOTV.

Whirlpool plans to re-open early next week and contact tracing will be done on the infected employees, the company said, according to KTUL.

“Any individuals who come in close contact with diagnosed employees have been notified and have been quarantined,” Whirlpool stated, KOKI reported. “The plant is regularly cleaned per CDC guidelines and will be cleaned again before re-opening.”

The factory had already been social distancing on its production lines and employees were required to wear masks and have their temperatures taken, according to KOTV.

There have been 1,372 confirmed coronavirus cases in Tulsa County, its health department reports, as of Thursday, June 11. The county reported just eight new COVID-19 cases Sunday, but the number jumped to 65 on Monday. There were 47 cases Tuesday and 64 on Wednesday, the health department reported.

Tulsa County now has its highest seven-day average of coronavirus cases since the outbreak began in March, according to the health department.

Trump will visit Tulsa on June 19 for his first rally in months. His re-election campaign will require supporters going to his rally to sign a coronavirus disclaimer in order to attend.

All attendees “assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19” and agree to not hold the campaign liable for any illness or injury.

US Supreme Court won’t block a ruling favoring a Native American man cited for speeding in Tulsa


The U.S. Supreme Court is seen on Thursday, July 13, 2023, in Washington. 

(AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)

August 4, 2023

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday left in place a lower court ruling that invalidated a speeding ticket against a Native American man in Tulsa, Oklahoma, because the city is located within the boundaries of an Indian reservation.

The justices rejected an emergency appeal by Tulsa to block the ruling while the legal case continues. The order is the latest consequence of the high court’s landmark 2020 decision that found that much of eastern Oklahoma, including Tulsa, remains an Indian reservation.

Justin Hooper, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, was cited for speeding in 2018 by Tulsa police in a part of the city within the historic boundaries of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. He paid a $150 fine for the ticket, but filed a lawsuit after the Supreme Court’s ruling in McGirt v. Oklahoma. He argued that the city did not have jurisdiction because his offense was committed by a Native American in Indian Country. A municipal court and a federal district court judge both sided with the city, but a three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the lower court’s decision.

There were no noted dissents among the justices Friday, but Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a short separate opinion, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, in which he said that Tulsa’s appeal raised an important question about whether the city can enforce municipal laws against Native Americans.

Kavanaugh wrote that nothing in the appeals court decision “prohibits the City from continuing to enforce its municipal laws against all persons, including Indians, as the litigation progresses.”

Tulsa health official: Trump rally ‘likely’ source of virus surge

“In the past few days, we’ve seen almost 500 new cases,” Dr. Bruce Dart said.

COVID-TRUMP (MOVE OVER TYPHOID MARY)

CORONAVIR-USA

IT WAS A SUPER SPREADER EVENT BY THE SUPER SPREADER IN CHIEF

President Donald Trump at the June rally in Tulsa, Okla. | M. Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

07/08/2020 07

OKLAHOMA CITY — President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Tulsa in late June that drew thousands of participants and large protests “likely contributed” to a dramatic surge in new coronavirus cases, Tulsa City-County Health Department Director Dr. Bruce Dart said Wednesday.

Tulsa County reported 261 confirmed new cases on Monday, a one-day record high, and another 206 cases on Tuesday. By comparison, during the week before the June 20 Trump rally, there were 76 cases on Monday and 96 on Tuesday.

Although the health department’s policy is to not publicly identify individual settings where people may have contracted the virus, Dart said those large gatherings “more than likely” contributed to the spike.

“In the past few days, we’ve seen almost 500 new cases, and we had several large events just over two weeks ago, so I guess we just connect the dots,” Dart said.

Trump’s Tulsa rally, his first since the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S., attracted thousands of people from around the country. About 6,200 people gathered inside the 19,000-seat BOK Center arena — far fewer than was expected.

Dart had urged the campaign to consider pushing back the date of the rally, fearing a potential surge in the number of coronavirus cases.

Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said the campaign went to great lengths to ensure that those who attended the rally were protected.

“There were literally no health precautions to speak of as thousands looted, rioted, and protested in the streets and the media reported that it did not lead to a rise in coronavirus cases,” Murtaugh said in a statement. “Meanwhile, the President’s rally was 18 days ago, all attendees had their temperature checked, everyone was provided a mask, and there was plenty of hand sanitizer available for all.

“It’s obvious that the media’s concern about large gatherings begins and ends with Trump rallies,” he said.

Although masks were provided to rally goers, there was no requirement that participants wear them, and most didn’t.

TRUMP'S RACE WAR
Trump is poised to accept the GOP nomination in Jacksonville on August 27 — the same day and city where white men violently attacked Black people 60 years ago

Sarah Al-Arshani,Business Insider•June 12, 202

President Donald J. Trump spoke to several thousand supporters at the Monroe Civic Center in Monroe, Louisiana on November 6, 2019.
Michael S. Williamson/Getty Images

President Donald Trump will give his speech at the Republican National Committee convention, which was relocated to Jacksonville, Florida, on August 27, if the RNC sticks to its initial plans for the convention.

It's the same date as the 60th anniversary of Ax Handle Saturday, where a white mob attacked Black people participating in a sit-in with baseball bats and ax handles.

Trump on Friday announced that he was moving the date of an upcoming rally which was set to be on Juneteenth in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the site of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

President Donald Trump will give his Republican National Committee convention speech in Jacksonville, Florida, on August 27, The New York Times reported, if the RNC sticks to its initial schedule.

August 27 is also the 60th anniversary of Ax Handle Saturday in Jacksonville. In 1960, a group of 200 white men attacked African American protesters conducting a sit-in at Hemming Park with baseball bats and ax handles. The violence spread, and the mob started attacking all African Americans, according to The Florida Historical Society.

According to The Times, it's one of the grimmest days in the city's history. A marker to commemorate Ax Handle Saturday was added to the park in 2001.

It's not clear if Republican officials were aware of this historical event when they chose Jacksonville as the site for Trump's speech.

The venue was initially set for Charlotte, North Carolina, but after Trump clashed with the governor over social distancing guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic, only a portion of the convention will be in Charlotte, while Trump's speech will be a six-hour drive away in Jacksonville.

In a statement, Paris Dennard, an RNC adviser for Black media affairs said, "While we cannot erase some of the darkest moments of our nation's past, we can denounce them, learn from them, fight for justice and a more perfect union for every American."
Monica Alba (@albamonica) June 12, 2020

On Friday, Trump announced that he would be rescheduling a June 19 rally in Tulsa, after he was advised to change the date out of "respect for this Holiday, and in observance of this important occasion and all that it represents." The rally will now be held on June 20, rather than on Juneteenth, a day that celebrates emancipation.

Tulsa, Oklahoma, is also the site of another brutal race massacre. June 1 marked the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, where a white mob attacked Black Americans and destroyed part of the city.

The Trump campaign was widely criticized for initially scheduling the rally on an important holiday for Black Americans in Tulsa, the site of a massacre that historians estimate left 300 dead and "Black Wall Street" destroyed.

Read the original article on Business Insider

SUPER SPREADER EVENT 

HUMAN SACRIFICE BY TRUMP TO WIN RE-ELECTION 

Epidemiologist calls upcoming Trump rally 'perfect storm' for coronavirus spread

Big crowds and lines already forming in Tulsa. My campaign hasn’t started yet. It starts on Saturday night in Oklahoma!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2020

Trump supporters began lining up outside the BOK Center days in advance of the rally.

"Sacrificing a week of our lives is nothing for what Trump has done for us," Robin Stites, who arrived on Monday to secure the No. 2 place in line, told the The Oklahoman earlier this week. 

YOU WILL BE SACRIFICING MORE THAN THAT 

IF YOU GET COVID-19

MOLOCH

Attorneys in Tulsa filed a lawsuit earlier this week on behalf of two businesses and two residents to stop ASM Global, which manages the 19,000-seat arena, from hosting the rally "to protect against a substantial, imminent and deadly risk to the community."

They argued the rally should be prohibited because it would act as a "spreader" event for the transmission of the COVID-19 virus. Paul DeMuro, a lawyer who brought the case, said the goal was to enforce Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidlines.

The petition cited a rise in documented cases of COVID-19 in Tulsa County, which have spiked in recent days. Oklahoma set a new state record for case increases in a single day on Thursday, confirming 450 new cases. The state added 352 new cases on Friday, giving it 802 new cases in two days.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/epidemiologists-call-upcoming-trump-rally-perfect-storm-for-coronavirus-spread-135044218.html

Countless Americans have begun descending on the city of Tulsa, Okla., where President Trump plans to hold a rally on Saturday — and where an estimated 100,000 people are expected to gather. The event was initially scheduled for Friday, then moved back a day in recognition of Juneteenth (and, more specifically, a race massacre that occurred there in 1921).

Concerns about the safety of the event have been mounting, especially in the wake of news that cases of COVID-19 are spiking in Tulsa. But some local leaders have expressed gratitude that the event is being held there, including the city’s Republican mayor, G.T. Bynum, who dubbed it an “honor.”

With more than 8.5 million cases of the coronavirus worldwide, and clear messages from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the dangers of large indoor gatherings, epidemiologists aren’t quite as enthused. “Any large crowd has the ability to increase your transmission, but this is the perfect storm of people being packed in an arena in close proximity to one another,” Marya Ghazipura, an epidemiologist and biostatistician serving on New York City’s COVID-19 Scientific Advisory Council, tells Yahoo Life.

The Trump campaign has announced that it will be taking precautions. “The campaign takes the health and safety of rally-goers seriously and is taking precautions to make the rally safe,” Erin Perrine, deputy communications director for the Trump campaign, said in a statement to Axios. “Every single rally-goer will have their temperature checked, be provided a face mask and hand sanitizer.”

Epidemiologists are expressing concern about an upcoming Trump rally that's expected to attract hundreds of thousands. Here, a Trump supporter holds a sign in New York City on May 5. (Photo: Getty Images)

Still, given that the virus can spread even in the midst of these safety measures — how dangerous is an indoor rally, and how does that compare with the protests that have been happening nationwide?

Saskia Popescu, an infection prevention epidemiologist at George Mason University, has reservations. “There are several concerning factors for this — first, COVID-19 cases are on the rise in Oklahoma, and especially in Tulsa, which means the state and city are experiencing higher rates of COVID-19 than they’ve seen this entire pandemic. Second, an indoor event with lots of people in close quarters for a prolonged period of time, and likely shouting and yelling, is as high on the risk index as you can get,” Popescu tells Yahoo Life in an email. “Third, President Trump has repeatedly said he won’t wear masks in front of cameras, which might discourage people at the rally to also follow his lead, thus increasing risk.”

Ghazipura echoes her points, stressing the increased danger of being in an enclosed space. “The chances of transmitting the virus is nearly 19 times higher indoors compared to outdoors. The idea is that open spaces and outdoor airflow have the ability to dilute the effects of the virus,” says Ghazipura. “Even the sun can help reduce transmission. Indoor rallies certainly pose a significant risk because people are not able to be as mobile as they otherwise would be, people are in close to proximity to one another and they cannot escape one another very easily, and the airflow on ventilation is a huge issue when it comes to large gatherings, such as these rallies.”

On top of the lack of ability to move around, Ghazipura says being indoors for a long period of time allows the virus time to spread easily. “Just talking aloud can expel droplets that remain in the air for up to 14 minutes,” she says. “But that risk is much lower outdoors.” It’s for these reasons that she says the protests taking place nationwide in support of Black Lives Matter are lower-risk.

Popescu agrees. “Outdoor events provide an advantage in that they offer natural ventilation, but also often extra space to ensure social distancing. Indoor definitely carries more risk than outdoor,” says Popescu. “Moreover, I worry that while protesters appeared to be quite compliant with mask usage and there was a lot of attention to the risks and efforts to reduce them, President Trump’s messaging on the pandemic and masks might discourage attendees from being safe by wearing masks, staying home if they’re not feeling well or at increased risk, or in general it encourages people to attend large indoor events with a lot of people in a state and city experiencing a large surge in COVID-19 cases.” 

In terms of prevention, both Ghazipura and Popescu suggest following guidelines set out by the CDC. “If you are attending, masks are vital, and eye protection can be an added bonus,” says Popescu. “Try to stick to less-crowded areas and use hand hygiene. Moreover, it’s encouraged to quarantine at home for 14 days after the event.”

But even if precautions are followed, Ghazipura says there is a chance that an uptick could occur afterward. “From an epidemiological standpoint, we do fear that the numbers and hospitalizations will only get worse due to these large gatherings,” she says. “I implore you to take these universal precautions to help not only mitigate spread but also protect you and your loved ones. Know that regardless of where you are, whether it's indoors or outdoors, being in a large crowd comes with a risk.”

Coronavirus update: U.S. case tally climbs above 2.2 million as Tulsa prepares for Trump’s indoor rally


Published: June 19, 2020 By  Ciara Linnan

Supporters of President Donald Trump sleep while lined up to attend a campaign rally planned for Saturday. GETTY IMAGES
The number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus illness COVID-19 in the U.S. rose above 2.2 million on Friday, as Tulsa, Okla., geared up for President Donald Trump’s planned campaign rally on Saturday night.

A group of local business owners and residents, worried at the prospect of a fresh outbreak of infections at the 19,000-seat indoor arena if attendees do not observe the safety guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had sued the owner of the venue to block it, but a Tulsa County judge denied their request for an injunction. The group has appealed the decision with the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which is expected to make a ruling on Friday, as the Washington Post reported.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released guidelines for reopening safely last Friday, and identified the highest risk of spreading the virus as stemming from: “large in-person gatherings where it is difficult for individuals to remain spaced at least 6 feet apart and attendees travel from outside the local area.”

From the CDC:Considerations for Daily Life and Considerations for Events and Gatherings

Trump’s rallies tend to involve attendees queuing outside for hours before going through security and into arenas, where they cheer, shout and chant, all risk factors for spreading the droplets that contain the virus. The Trump campaign has acknowledged that risk by insisting that those who attend sign legal waivers absolving Trump and his staff of any blame, if people get sick or are injured.

Read: What we do know — and don’t know — about the coronavirus at Day 100 of the pandemic

Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases, reiterated in an interview with the Washington Post his message that Americans should continue to observe social distancing, frequently was their hands and cover their faces in public.

“When you have a congregation of people, you increase the risk. It doesn’t matter why they’re congregating or where they’re congregating. When you have a congregation of people in a setting in which there’s active virus circulating in the community, you are at risk. You need to wear a mask.”

For more on Tulsa, read:Trump rally attendees dismiss heat and coronavirus concerns as they line up outside Tulsa arena

Face masks have been caught up in a culture skirmish that has seen many resist wearing them, including President Donald Trump, who has theorized this week that some Americans are wearing them not for stemming the spread of a deadly virus but to express displeasure with him. The White House has been criticized for failing to push the message that masks are an important means of containing the spread of COVID-19, although local officials have stepped into the vacuum.

Read:Despite concerning data, White House continues to play down coronavirus worries

California Gov. Gavin Newsom made them mandatory for Californians when they’re in public on Thursday.

Fauci said the virus is “one of the most highly transmissible viruses that we know of,” and urged Americans to pull together and work to get the outbreak under control. “It’s tough for everyone. But remember, we are in this all together. We’re not just separate individual components. We’re in it together.”

Don’t miss:100 days of the COVID-19 pandemic: 5 critical mistakes that created the biggest public health crisis in a generation
Latest tallies

There are now 8.5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, and at least 454,582 people have died, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University. At least 4.2 million people have recovered.

The pandemic is actually accelerating, according to the World Health Organization, which said it received reports of a record of more than 150,000 new cases on Thursday. WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu told reporters that about half of those new cases came from the Americas.

“The world is in a new and dangerous phase,” Tedros said. “We call on all countries and all people to exercise extreme vigilance.”

The U.S. has the highest case toll in the world at 2.19 million and the highest death toll at 118,467, with 20 states still seeing daily increases in infections, including Florida, Texas and Georgia.

Brazil has 978,142 cases and 47,748 fatalities, the data show, the second highest death toll in the world.

Russia has 568,292 cases and 7,831 fatalities. India has 380,532 cases and 12,573 deaths.

The U.K. has 301,935 cases and 42,546 deaths, the highest death toll in Europe and now third highest in the world.

Spain has 245,268 cases and 27,136 deaths, while Italy, another early hot spot in Europe, has 238,159 cases and 34,514 deaths.

Peru moved past Italy by case number, with 244,388 cases and 7,461 deaths.

Chile, Iran, France, Germany, Turkey, Pakistan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh and Canada are next and all ahead of China, where the illness was first reported late last year.

China has 84,494 cases and 4,638 deaths. China has shut down parts of Beijing after a fresh cluster of cases.




What are companies saying?
The IPO market continued to heat up with supermarket operator Albertsons Cos. ACI, +3.69% setting terms for its planned deal on Thursday. The company is planning to sell 65.8 million shares priced at $18 to $20 to share, to raise $1.3 billion at the top of the range.

Albertsons is profitable, earning $466 million in 2019 on sales of $62.5 billion. It has reported strong demand for delivery and pickup at its stores during the pandemic. The company has filed to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “ACI.”

Chinese oncology biotech Genetron Holdings Ltd. priced its IPO at $16 per American depositary share, above its $11.50-to-$13.50 price range. The company upsized the deal early Thursday, indicating strong demand for its paper. The shares, trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “GTH,” jumped 10% in their post-IPO debut.


‘We did not want to be drawn into a political controversy. We thought it might be counterproductive if we forced mask wearing on those people who believe strongly that it is not necessary.’— Adam Arom, CEO of cinema chain AMC

Elsewhere, companies continued to update investors on their reopening plans and post their latest earnings.

Here are the latest things companies have said about COVID-19:

• AMC Theatres, the biggest cinema chain in the U.S. that’s owned by AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. AMC, -1.95%, will require all guests to wear face masks when it reopens its cinemas across the U.S. on July 15. The Leawood, Kansas-based company made the decision after listening to its customers and to scientific advisers, who recommend face masks to stop the spread of the coronavirus illness COVID-19. The announcement comes after AMC Chief Executive Adam Aron told Variety on Thursday that the company would not force customers to wear face masks, as he did not want to become part of what is now a political hot potato. His comments “prompted an intense and immediate outcry from our customers, and it is clear from this response that we did not go far enough on the usage of masks,” the executive said on Friday. “At AMC Theatres, we think it is absolutely crucial that we listen to our guests. Accordingly, and with the full support of our scientific advisors, we are reversing course and are changing our guest mask policy.” AMC will continue to monitor the scientific community’s thinking on the efficacy of masks and will look at the varying case numbers around the country as it moves forward. It will make face masks available for a nominal price of $1.00 each.

What we do know — and don’t know — about the coronavirus at day 100 of the pandemicPublished: June 18, 2020 at 1:56 p.m. ET
By
Jaimy Lee


Does having antibodies provide immunity? When will herd immunity kick in? Will there be a viable vaccine?


IRF - Frederick 3/9/2020 10:05 110000 8.0 80 Imaging #2020-04-E SARS-COV-2 XpixCal=3.848812 YpixCal=3.848812 Unit=nm ##fv3 4096 3008 7.0.1.147 Blank1 Blank2 ##fv4 NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

Scientists and infectious-disease experts are pushing hard to understand more about the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 and how to treat patients suffering from the sometimes deadly illness and prevent transmission.

In the roughly three months since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared regional COVID-19 outbreaks a worldwide pandemic and hundreds of millions of Americans began to observe stay-at-home orders, much has changed. As of June 18, more than two million people in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19, and at least 117,000 have died, according to data aggregated by Johns Hopkins University.

We have a standard of care for hospitalized patients, though that is sure to evolve. We know that masks and physical distancing prevent transmission of the virus, though both practices have become politicized and aren’t always observed in Western countries where mask-wearing hasn’t been part of the culture. We know that investors overreact to mildly positive clinical news about COVID-19 treatments and vaccines and tend to ignore the bad news.

“The most important thing we’ve learned is that in the absence of a vaccine or therapeutic, aggressive public health action and individual public health practices can reduce transmission,” Dr. Brian Castrucci, an epidemiologist and president and CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation, said in an email. “Mask-wearing, social distancing, and hand-washing are critical to mitigating the spread of the virus, reopening portions of the economy, and allowing us to return to some semblance of normalcy.”

Here’s what we know so far about COVID-19 treatments:

• Once-promising drugs have failed. Hydroxychloroquine, once lauded by President Donald Trump as a “very successful drug,” doesn’t reduce mortality in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, according to studies conducted by Veterans Health Administration and the University of Minnesota, among others. Many clinical trials including the WHO’s Solidarity trial have stopped enrolling participants in their hydroxychloroquine trials, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week revoked the emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine.

• Gilead Sciences Inc.’s GILD, +4.63% remdesivir works; however, it’s no silver bullet. While the experimental drug hasn’t been proven to reduce deaths among severely ill patients, research found it can reduce the amount of time patients spend in the hospital, which in turn can help reduce capacity at overcrowded intensive care units in regions with severe outbreaks and allow patients to go home sooner.

• At least one drug can reduce death in severely ill patients, a finding announced this week on the heels of the FDA’s hydroxychloroquine decision. University of Oxford researchers said a clinical trial found that dexamethasone, a commonly prescribed steroid, can reduce mortality among hospitalized patients on ventilators and oxygen support.

• The growing clinical evidence behind remdesivir and dexamethasone matters for two reasons: having a widening range of viable treatments can reduce the number of deaths from COVID-19, reducing capacity in emergency rooms and intensive care units and can also create a safer environment for economies to reopen, according to Dr. Roger Shapiro, associate professor of immunology and infectious diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “It’s a lot better to be a patient today than in March,” he said.

Here’s what we know so far about how the virus behaves:

• The virus is more likely to spread by the droplets or aerosols we release when we speak, yell, or sing than on the shared surfaces we touch. Transmitting the disease becomes even more of a concern in enclosed indoor spaces than outdoors, especially in the presence of a super spreader. (“Everything we do outside is a lot safer,” Shapiro said.)

• COVID-19 has disproportionately sickened and killed certain groups of people, including people of color, men, the elderly, and those living in contained, crowded environments, like nursing homes and prisons. It is less likely to make children ill. More than one-third of the people who have died in the U.S. from COVID-19 lived in long-term care facilities. “COVID-19 has exposed the weakness of infection control programs in many of our nation’s long-term care and assisted living facilities,” said Ann Marie Pettis, a registered nurse and president-elect of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

• The U.S. has primarily focused on providing diagnostic testing to people who present with common COVID-19 symptoms but there are concerns about asymptomatic and presymptomaticindividuals, who may be inadvertently continuing to spread the disease. Experts want to see more random testing of the population. “People without symptoms can transmit the virus, making containment very challenging,” Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University, wrote in an email.

• Wearing a mask or engaging in social distancing behaviors can prevent transmission of the virus. One reason why there may be fewer cases in China, Japan, and South Korea is that mask-wearing is more common in Asia. China, where the virus first emerged late last year, has about 84,000 cases, Japan has roughly 17,000 cases, and South Korea about 12,000 cases. “What we do know is that social distancing, hand washing and wearing a face mask in public are the ways people can help protect themselves and others,” Pettis said.

Here’s what we don’t know:

• Does having antibodies provide immunity for the people who have been exposed to or recovered from COVID-19? With other viruses, antibodies usually indicate a level of protection against re-infection with the same virus for a set period of time. People who had SARS, for example, had antibodies for about two years and weren’t thought to be susceptible to reinfection until three years after the first exposure to the severe acute respiratory syndrome. “How long does immunity last, and do you need a certain level of antibodies to be immune?” Wen asked.

• Will herd immunity kick in?And if it does, when? Some experts predict that about two-thirds of Americans would need to have antibodies to declare herd immunity in the U.S. But without practicing physical distancing, using masks, and developing a contract tracing system, “it’s impossible to flatten the curve,” said Dr. Bob Kocher, a partner at venture-capital firm Venrock and a member of California’s coronavirus testing task force. “The question is whether we have the desire and discipline to do that.”

• Will there be a viable vaccine? Vaccine development is moving at a record pace, with 13 vaccine candidates now in clinical trials worldwide. Moderna Inc. MRNA, +2.15% was the first company to release some clinical data from a Phase 1 study, finding that eight out of 45 participants in the first phase of its COVID-19 vaccine study developed neutralizing antibodies. However, vaccine development is notoriously difficult and time intensive — vaccines traditionally take up to seven years to be developed — and have to be both safe and efficacious.

"This was not a riot": Biden commemorates anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre

"[T]his was not a riot. This was a massacre — among the worst in our history, but not the only one. And for too long, forgotten by our history.

Shawna Chen  AXIOS JUNE 1,2021

•  

Tulsa Race Massacre survivors Viola Fletcher and Hughes Van Ellis watch as President Biden speaks during a commemoration of the massacre's 100th anniversary. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

The acts of hate in Tulsa 100 years ago bear a "through line that exists today," President Biden said Tuesday, as he commemorated the anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre.

Why it matters: The massacre, which killed an estimated 300 people and burned multiple blocks of the Black neighborhood Greenwood, is considered one of the worst terrorist attacks in U.S. history. Survivors and their descendants have pressed for reparations for decades.

• "I still see Black men being shot, Black bodies lying in the street. I still smell smoke and see fire," Viola Fletcher, one of the last living survivors, testified before a House committee in May. "I have lived through the massacre every day. Our country may forget this history, but I cannot."

What he's saying: "For much too long, the history of what took place here was told in silence, cloaked in darkness," Biden said. "Just because history is silent, it doesn't mean that it did not take place, and while darkness can hide much, it erases nothing."

• That night, "'Mother' Fletcher says they fell asleep rich in terms of wealth, not real wealth but a different wealth, a wealth in community and heritage," Biden said. "One night changed everything."
• "[T]his was not a riot. This was a massacre — among the worst in our history, but not the only one. And for too long, forgotten by our history. As soon as it happened, there was a clear effort to erase it from our memory, our collective memory," Biden noted. "Tulsa didn't even teach the massacre" for years.
• Oklahoma governor to name stretch of state highway for Trump
• "We can't choose to just learn what we want to know and not what we should know."

In his speech, Biden unveiled a set of policies aimed at closing the wealth gap between white and Black people.

Worth noting: Some of Biden's proposals have drawn backlash from the NAACP, whose leader criticized the plan's failure to cancel student debt, the Washington Post reports.

The big picture: Biden met with survivors earlier on Tuesday after touring the Greenwood Cultural Center.

Rather than jump-start reelection campaign, Tulsa rally highlights Trump’s vulnerabilities

Trump making no effort at national unity; low turnout reportedly leaves president fuming


President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, early Sunday after stepping off Marine One as he returned from a campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla. 

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — President Donald Trump’s return to the campaign trail was designed to show strength and enthusiasm heading into the critical final months before an election that will decide whether he remains in the White House.

Instead, his weekend rally in Oklahoma highlighted growing vulnerabilities and crystallized a divisive reelection message that largely ignores broad swaths of voters — independents, suburban women and people of color — who could play a crucial role in choosing Trump or Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

The lower-than-expected turnout at the comeback rally, in particular, left Trump fuming.

“There’s really only one strategy left for him, and that is to propel that rage and anger and try to split the society and see if he can have a tribal leadership win here,” former Trump adviser-turned-critic Anthony Scaramucci said on CNN’s “Reliable Sources.”

The president did not offer even a token reference to national unity in remarks that spanned more than an hour and 40 minutes at his self-described campaign relaunch as the nation grappled with surging coronavirus infections, the worst unemployment since the Great Depression and sweeping civil unrest.

Nor did Trump mention George Floyd, the African American man whose death at the hands of Minnesota police late last month sparked a national uprising over police brutality. But he did add new fuel to the nation’s culture wars, defending Confederate statues while making racist references to the coronavirus, which originated in China and which he called “kung flu.” He also said Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who came to the U.S. as a refugee as a child, whom he said “would like to make the government of our country just like the country from where she came, Somalia.”

Trump won the presidency in 2016 with a similar red-meat message aimed largely at energizing conservatives and white working-class men. But less than four months before early voting begins in some states, there are signs that independents and educated voters — particularly suburban women — have turned against him. Republican strategists increasingly believe that only a dramatic turnaround in the economy can revive his reelection aspirations.

“It’s bad,” said Republican operative Rick Tyler, a frequent Trump critic. “There’s literally nothing to run on. The only thing he can say is that Biden is worse.”

But the day after Trump’s Tulsa rally, the president’s message was almost an afterthought as aides tried to explain away a smaller-than-expected crowd that left the president outraged.

The campaign had been betting big on Tulsa.

Trump’s political team spent days proclaiming that more than 1 million people had requested tickets. They also ignored health warnings from the White House coronavirus task force and Oklahoma officials, eager to host an event that would help him move past the civil rights protests and the coronavirus itself.

His first rally in 110 days was meant to be a defiant display of political force to help energize Trump’s spirits, try out some attacks on Biden and serve as a powerful symbol of American’s re-opening.

Instead, the city fire marshal’s office reported a crowd of just less than 6,200 in the 19,000-seat BOK Center, and at least six staff members who helped set up the event tested positive for the coronavirus. The vast majority of the attendees, including Trump, did not wear face masks as recommended by the Trump administration’s health experts.

After the rally, the president berated aides over the turnout. He fumed that he had been led to believe he would see huge crowds in deep-red Oklahoma, according to two White House and campaign officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about private conversations.

There was no sign of an imminent staff shakeup, but members of Trump’s inner circle angrily questioned how campaign manager Brad Parscale and other senior aides could so wildly overpromise and underdeliver, according to the officials.

Publicly, Trump’s team scrambled to blame the crowd size on media coverage and protesters outside the venue, but the small crowds of pre-rally demonstrators were largely peaceful. Tulsa police reported just one arrest Saturday afternoon.

It’s unclear when Trump will hold his next rally.

Before Oklahoma, the campaign had planned to finalize and announce its next rally this week. Trump is already scheduled to make appearances Tuesday in Arizona and Thursday in Wisconsin. Both are major general election battlegrounds.

At least one swing state governor, meanwhile, says Trump would not be welcome to host a rally in her state amid the pandemic.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said she “would think very seriously about” trying to block Trump from hosting a rally there if he wanted to.

“We know that congregating without masks, especially at an indoor facility, is the worst thing to do in the midst of a global pandemic,” Whitmer said in an interview before the Oklahoma event, conceding that she wasn’t aware of the specific legal tools she had available to block a prospective Trump rally. “I just know we have limitations on the number of people that can gather and that we’re taking this seriously.”

Biden’s campaign, meanwhile, seized on a fresh opportunity to poke at the incumbent president, suggesting that Trump “was already in a tailspin” because of his mismanagement of the pandemic and civil rights protests.

“Donald Trump has abdicated leadership and it is no surprise that his supporters have responded by abandoning him,” Biden spokesperson Andrew Bates said.