Tenants Rent Strike idea gaining steam during coronavirus crisis
By JIM SALTER 3/29/2020

In this Saturday, March 28, 2020 photo, Kyle Kofron poses for a photo outside his home in St. Louis. Kofron still has his job at an ice cream factory, but his three roommates are suddenly unemployed due the the coronavirus pandemic. Kofron is advocating for a rent strike during the outbreak saying it may be their only option. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)


ST. LOUIS (AP) — With millions of people suddenly out of work and rent due at the first of the month, some tenants are vowing to go on a rent strike until the coronavirus pandemic subsides.

New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and St. Louis are among many cities that have temporarily banned evictions, but advocates for the strike are demanding that rent payments be waived, not delayed, for those in need during the crisis. The rent strike idea has taken root in parts of North America and as far away as London.

White sheets are being hung in apartment windows to show solidarity with the movement that is gaining steam on Twitter, Instagram and other social media sites. Fliers urging people to participate are being posted in several cities, including bus stops in St. Louis, where 27-year-old Kyle Kofron still has his job at an ice cream factory, but his three roommates have suddenly found themselves unemployed. Their property manager so far hasn’t agreed to a payment plan, Kofron said.


“For me personally, with everyone losing their jobs and unable to pay, it’s really the only thing we can do,” Kofron said of the strike. “It’s just like we the people have to do something. We just can’t stand idly by while the system takes us for a ride.”

Stay-at-home orders and strict limits on gathering sizes have forced shops, restaurants and bars to shut down indefinitely. Many service industry workers thrust into unemployment are living paycheck-to-paycheck in the best of times. Now, many say they don’t have the money to pay rent.

Some politicians have expressed support, if not directly for a strike, then for a temporary rent moratorium, including Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

In New York, the state hit hardest so far by the pandemic, Democratic state Sen. Mike Gianaris of Queens introduced a bill that would forgive rent and mortgage payments for 90 days for people and small businesses struggling because of the coronavirus. It has 21 co-sponsors.

“Tenants can’t pay rent if they can’t earn a living. Let’s #CancelRent for 90 days to keep people in their homes during the #coronavirus crisis,” Gianaris said on Twitter.

Strike advocates aren’t waiting for legislative approval. Activist organizations in many places are leading the push for a strike. A group called Rent Strike 2020 is organizing on the national level.

“Our demands to every Governor, in every state, are extremely simple: freeze rent, mortgage, and utility bill collection for 2 months, or face a rent strike,” Rent Strike 2020′s website states.

Advocates in St. Louis are encouraging those who can afford rent to join the movement in solidarity with those who can’t. Without a large number of participants, landlords will simply evict strikers, said Chris Winston, of For the People STL.

Others say a rent strike could further worsen the economy if landlords and property managers themselves are forced to default on loans. Some strike advocates have urged banks to suspend requiring payments from landlords and property management companies so that those groups can better absorb their own financial losses from a rent strike or moratorium.

Matthew Chase, an eviction attorney in St. Louis County, said property management companies and landlords have employees to pay, utility bills and other costs. A widespread rent strike could force them to lay off their own workers, cut back on property maintenance or even close apartment complexes.
Full Coverage: Business

Chase cited one client who relies on income from renting a couple of homes.

“She’s the big, bad landlord to these rent strike folks,” Chase said.

Nick Kasoff, who lives in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, calls himself a “small-time landlord.” He had words of warning for anyone refusing to pay their rent.

“Courts are closed, but they won’t be closed forever,” Kasoff wrote on Facebook. “If you choose not to pay rent when you are able, your landlord will be down there filing an eviction the day they open back up. You will lose your home, ruin your credit, and make it difficult to get any sort of decent housing in the future. A ‘rent strike’ isn’t going to liquidate capitalism and make you a homeowner, it’s going to demolish your credit and make you homeless.”

____

AP Photojournalist Jeff Roberson in St. Louis contributed to this report.

Trump administration rules gun shops ‘essential’ amid virus

AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM; NO COMMON SENSE
YOU CANNOT DEFEAT COVID-19 WITH A GUN

FILE - In this March 15, 2020, file photo, people wait in a line to enter a gun store in Culver City, Calif. The coronavirus pandemic has much of the world contemplating an existential question amid a growing number of stay-at-home orders, with only "essential" service providers allowed to go to their jobs. As U.S. states enact sweeping stay-at-home orders, there is lots of agreement on what's essential, but some have their own notions. A few are eyebrow raisers. Among them are guns, golf and cannabis. Most lists, being compiled by governors and others, capture the basics of what's essential. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)


The Trump administration has ruled that gun shops are considered “essential” businesses that should remain open as other businesses are closed to try to stop the spread of coronavirus. Gun control groups are balking, calling it a policy that puts profits over public health after intense lobbying by the firearms industry.

In the past several weeks, various states and municipalities have offered different interpretations of whether gun stores should be allowed to remain open as Americans stay at home to avoid spreading the virus. In Los Angeles, for example, County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has twice ordered gun shops in his territory to close, leading to legal challenges from gun rights advocates.

Andrea Schry, right, fills out the buyer part of legal forms to buy a handgun as shop worker Missy Morosky fills out the vendors parts after Dukes Sport Shop reopened, Wednesday, March 25, 2020, in New Castle, Pa. under the new conditions specified for gun stores. The store had closed last week when Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf ordered a shut down of non-essential businesses to slow the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)


After days of lobbying by the National Rifle Association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation and other gun groups, the Department of Homeland Security this past weekend issued an advisory declaring that firearms dealers should be considered essential services — just like grocery stores, pharmacies and hospitals — and allowed to remain open. The agency said its ruling was not a mandate but merely guidance for cities, towns and states as they weigh how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Still, gun control groups called it a move to put profits over public health. The Brady group on Monday filed a Freedom of Information request with DHS seeking emails and documents that explain how the agency reached its decision to issue the advisory and to determine if it consulted with any public health experts.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

“The gun lobby is not willing to stand for a few days or a few weeks of less profit in order to protect public health, and it’s outrageous and definitely not required by the Second Amendment,” said Jonathan Lowy, chief counsel for Brady. He added later: “It’s a public health issue, not a Second Amendment issue. The fact is that guns, the nature of guns, require that they be sold with a lot of close interaction. They can’t be sold from vending machines, can’t be sold with curbside pickup.”

The gun lobby has been pushing back vigorously against places where some authorities have deemed federally licensed gun dealers are not essential and should close as part of stay-at-home directives. The gun lobby has said it’s critical these shops remain open so Americans, who are buying firearms in record numbers, have the ability to exercise their constitutional rights.


Signs point out quantity limits on certain types of ammunition after Dukes Sport Shop reopened, Wednesday, March 25, 2020, in New Castle, Pa. under the new conditions specified for gun stores. The store had closed last week when Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf ordered a shut down of non-essential businesses to slow the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

In recent weeks, firearm sales have skyrocketed. Background checks — the key barometer of gun sales — already were at record numbers in January and February, likely fueled by a presidential election year. Since the coronavirus outbreak, gun shops have reported long lines and runs on firearms and ammunition.

Background checks were up 300% on March 16, compared with the same date a year ago, according to federal data shared with the NSSF, which represents gunmakers. Since Feb. 23, each day has seen roughly double the volume over 2019, according to Mark Oliva, spokesman for the group.

In Texas, the attorney general there issued a legal opinion saying that emergency orders shuttering gun shops are unconstitutional. That stands in contrast to some municipalities, such as New Orleans, where the mayor has issued an emergency proclamation that declares the authority to restrict sales of firearms and ammunition.

NSSF and other gun lobbying groups hailed the ruling as a victory for gun owners, especially first-time buyers of a firearm who are concerned that upheaval and turmoil over the virus could affect personal safety.

“We have seen over the past week hundreds of thousands, even millions, of Americans choosing to exercise their right to keep and bear arms to ensure their safety and the safety of loved ones during these uncertain times,” said Lawrence Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for NSSF. “Americans must not be denied the ability to exercise that right to lawfully purchase and acquire firearms during times of emergency.”

Brady’s Lowy said it shouldn’t be considered a violation of Second Amendment rights since it’s temporary and in the midst of a pandemic. He likened it to constitutional rights to peaceably assemble, a right that is being curtailed at the moment as Americans practice social distancing.

“If you have a gun in the home, you are exercising your Second Amendment rights. No court has held that you have a Second Amendment right to a stockpile of guns,” he said.

The vast majority of states are allowing gun shops to remain open. However, some states that have been the hardest hit by the coronavirus have ruled that gun shops are not essential and should close. In the absence of a mandate from federal authorities, gun groups have been filing lawsuits challenging state and local authorities who are ordering gun shops and ranges to close.

The NRA thanked President Donald Trump for the DHS ruling. The NRA has been an unflinching backer of Trump, pumping about $30 million toward his 2016 campaign.


AP

‘Strega Nona’ author Tomie dePaola is dead at age 85
3/30/2020

In this photo taken Sunday Dec. 1, 2013, Tomie dePaola poses with his artwork in his studio in New London, N.H. The beloved children's author and illustrator has died at the age of 85. DePaola delighted generations with tales of Strega Nona, the kindly and helpful old witch in Italy. His literary agent says dePaola died Monday from surgery complications after taking a bad fall last week. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)

CONCORD, New Hampshire (AP) — Tomie dePaola, the prolific children’s author and illustrator who delighted generations with tales of Strega Nona, the kindly and helpful old witch in Italy, died Monday at age 85.
DePaola died at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, according to his literary agent, Doug Whiteman. He was badly injured in a fall last week and died of complications following surgery.

He worked on over 270 books in more than half a century of publishing, and nearly 25 million copies have been sold worldwide and his books have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Author Lin Oliver mourned his loss, tweeting that “He was a creator of beauty and a beloved friend.” New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu issued a statement, praising dePaola as “a man who brought a smile to thousands of Granite State children who read his books, cherishing them for their brilliant illustrations.”

Strega Nona, his most endearing character, originated as a doodle at a dull faculty meeting at Colby Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire, where dePaola was a member of the theater department. The first tale was based on one of his favorite stories as a child, about a pot that keeps producing porridge. “Strega Nona: An Original Tale,” which came out in 1975, was a Caldecott finalist for best illustrated work. Other books in the series include “Strega Nona’s Magic Lessons” and “Strega Nona Meets Her Match.”

Reflecting on her popularity, dePaola told The Associated Press in 2013, “I think it’s because she’s like everybody’s grandmother. She’s cute, she’s not pretty, she’s kind of funny-looking, but she’s sweet, she’s understanding. And she’s a little saucy, she gets a little irritated every once in a while.”

DePaola said he put Strega Nona in Calabria, in southern Italy, because that’s where his grandparents came from.

He said over the years, the visualization of Strega Nona — who grew out of his drawing of Punch from the commedia dell’arte — became more refined. But his liberal use of color and folk art influences in her stories were a constant. After saving her village from being flooded with pasta from a magic pot by her assistant, Big Anthony, Strega Nona went on to star or play a supporting role in about a dozen more books.

“I remember laughing at the pictures of Big Anthony, the townspeople, and even cute little Strega Nona,” wrote one of his many fans in 2013, a woman who recalled her mother reading the book to her growing up. “She is ingrained in my childhood ... I hope to read Strega Nona to my kids one day.”

In 2011, dePaola received a lifetime achievement award from the American Library Association.

“Tomie dePaola is masterful at creating seemingly simple stories that have surprising depth and reflect tremendous emotional honesty,” the committee chair Megan Schliesman said at the time. “They have resonated with children for over 40 years.”


At age 4, dePaola knew he was going to be an artist and author — and he told people so. He received a lot of encouragement from his family. “They gave me half of the attic for my ‘studio.’ Now, how neat is that?” he said.

His family, in turn, became central characters in a number of his autobiographical books, such as “26 Fairmont Avenue,” about growing up in Connecticut during the Great Depression, and “The Art Lesson,” about reaching a compromise with his art teacher on drawing in class. The former received a Newbery Honor Award in 2000.

DePaola wrote about doodling on his bedsheets and on his math work in second grade, telling his teacher he wasn’t going to be an “arithmetic-er.”

Many of his books bring to life folktales, legends, and spirituality — he often incorporated images of a white dove among the pages. Christmas, his favorite holiday, was a popular subject of many of his works exploring traditions of the season, and offered some storylines for Strega Nona.

In 2013-2014, dePaola had two exhibitions at Colby-Sawyer College, “Then,” and “Now.” The first showed his early artistic efforts, his formative years at the Pratt Institute and his work, influenced by Fra Angelico and George Roualt, among others; the second came out shortly after dePaola turned 80 and it focused on his more recent artwork.

“Even though I love doing my books and I try to be as creative as possible, there’s always a restriction,” he said in 2013. “I have to please other people, I have to please my art director, my editor, and then there’s all the public to please. Some of the books I’ve considered my best artistic personal accomplishments aren’t necessarily the books that appeal to children. And that’s OK.”

DePaola spent much of time working in his 200-year-old barn in New London, which houses his studio and library. It includes wall niches displaying folk art and a corner with a chair facing a small altar, where he meditated. More Native American, Mexican and early American folk art decorated his nearby home.

DePaola received many letters through the years from children with questions about his life and books, and he often took the time to chat with them at book signings and other events. It was always important to him to keep that voice active.

“I just keep the inner critic,” he said in an interview. “Don’t let the little 4-year-old get jaded. I listen to him. He stands beside me and says, ‘No, I don’t like that.’”

---30---

New Trump mileage standards to gut Obama climate effort

THIS IMPACTS CANADA TOO AS THESE ARE NAFTA STANDARDS

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and TOM KRISHER 3/29/2020

FILE - This Dec. 12, 2018, file photo shows traffic on the Hollywood Freeway in Los Angeles. President Donald Trump's is expected to mark a win in his two-year fight to gut one of the United States' single-biggest efforts against climate change, relaxing ambitious Obama-era vehicle mileage standards and raising the ceiling on damaging fossil fuel emissions for years to come. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is poised to roll back ambitious Obama-era vehicle mileage standards and raise the ceiling on damaging fossil fuel emissions for years to come, gutting one of the United States’ biggest efforts against climate change.

The Trump administration is expected to release a final rule Tuesday on mileage standards through 2026. The change — making good on the rollback after two years of Trump threatening and fighting states and a faction of automakers that opposed the move — waters down a tough Obama mileage standard that would have encouraged automakers to ramp up production of electric vehicles and more fuel-efficient gas and diesel vehicles.

“When finalized, the rule will benefit our economy, will improve the U.S. fleet’s fuel economy, will make vehicles more affordable, and will save lives by increasing the safety of new vehicles,” EPA spokeswoman Corry Schiermeyer said Monday, ahead of the expected release.

Opponents contend the change — gutting his predecessor’s legacy effort against climate-changing fossil fuel emissions — appears driven by Trump’s push to undo regulatory initiatives of former President Barack Obama, and say even the administration has had difficulty pointing to the kind of specific, demonstrable benefits to drivers, public health and safety or the economy that normally accompany standards changes.

The Trump administration says the looser mileage standards will allow consumers to keep buying the less fuel-efficient SUVs that U.S. drivers have favored for years. Opponents say it will kill several hundred more Americans a year through dirtier air, compared to the Obama standards.

Even “given the catastrophe they’re in with the coronavirus, they’re pursuing a policy that’s going to hurt public health and kill people,” said Chet France, a former 39-year veteran of the Environmental Protection Agency, where he served as a senior official over emissions and mileage standards.

“This is first time that an administration has pursued a policy that will net negative benefit for society and reduce fuel savings,” France said.

Delaware Sen. Tom Carper, the senior Democrat on the Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee, called it “the height of irresponsibility for this administration to finalize a rollback that will lead to dirtier air while our country is working around the clock to respond to a respiratory pandemic whose effects may be exacerbated by air pollution.

“We should be enacting forward-looking environmental policy, not tying our country’s future to the dirty vehicles of the past,” Carper said.

In Phoenix, Arizona, meanwhile, resident Columba Sainz expressed disappointment at the prospect of losing the Obama-era rule, which she had hoped would allow her preschool age children to break away from TV indoors and play outside more. Sainz reluctantly limited her daughter to a half-hour at the park daily, after the girl developed asthma, at age 3, at their home a few minutes from a freeway.

“I cried so many times,” Sainz said. “How do you tell your daughter she can’t be outside because of air pollution?”

Trump’s Cabinet heads have continued a push to roll back public health and environment regulations despite the coronavirus outbreak riveting the world’s attention. The administration — like others before it — is facing procedural rules that will make changes adopted before the last six months of Trump’s current term tougher to throw out, even if the White House changes occupants.

MORE CLIMATE COVERAGE:

• – Colorado scientists adjust to new pace under the coronavirus
• – US climate activists to livestream Earth Day due to virus
• – Climate change bills failed in shortened Maryland session

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has been the main agency drawing up the new rules, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

The standards have split the auto industry with Ford, BMW, Honda and Volkswagen siding with California and agreeing to higher standards. Most other automakers contend the Obama-era standards were enacted hastily and will be impossible to meet because consumers have shifted dramatically away from efficient cars to SUVs and trucks.

Full Coverage: Climate change

California and about a dozen other states say they will continue resisting the Trump mileage standards in court.

Last year, 72% of the new vehicles purchased by U.S. consumers were trucks or SUVS. It was 51% when the current standards went into effect in 2012.

The Obama administration mandated 5% annual increases in fuel economy. Leaked versions of the Trump administration’s latest proposal show a 1.5% annual increase, backing off from its initial proposal simply to stop mandating increases in fuel efficiency after 2020.

The transportation sector is the nation’s largest source of climate-changing emissions.

John Bozzella, CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a trade group representing automakers, said the industry still wants middle ground between the two standards, and it supports year-over-year mileage increases. But he says the Obama-era standards are outdated due to the drastic shift to trucks and SUVs.

The Trump administration standards are likely to cause havoc in the auto industry because due to expected legal challenges, automakers won’t know which standards they will have to obey.

“It will be extraordinarily disruptive,” said Richard J. Pierce Jr., a law professor at the George Washington University who specializes in government regulations.

States and environmental groups will challenge the Trump rules, and a U.S. District Court likely will issue a temporary order shelving them until it decides whether they are legal. The temporary order likely will be challenged with the Supreme Court, which in recent cases has voted 5-4 that a District judge can’t issue such a nationwide order, Pierce said. But the nation’s highest court could also keep the order in effect if it determines the groups challenging the Trump standards are likely to win.

“We’re talking quite a long time, one to three years anyway, before we can expect to get a final decision on the merits,” Pierce said.

——

Krisher reported from Detroit.

Countries crack down on basic rights amid virus pandemic
By DUSAN STOJANOVIC 3/29/2020

In this March 26, 2020, photo, Serbian army soldiers patrol in Belgrade's main pedestrian street, in Serbia. Since declaring nationwide state of emergency Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has suspended parliament, giving him widespread powers such as closing borders and introducing a 12-hour curfew. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Soldiers patrol the streets with their fingers on machine gun triggers. The army guards an exhibition center-turned-makeshift-hospital crowded with rows of bunks for those infected with the coronavirus. And Serbia’s president warns residents that Belgrade graveyards won’t be big enough to bury the dead if people ignore his government’s lockdown orders.

Since President Aleksandar Vucic announced an open-ended state of emergency on March 15, parliament has been sidelined, borders shut, a 12-hour police-enforced curfew imposed and people over 65 banned from leaving their homes — some of Europe’s strictest measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Serbian leader, who makes dramatic daily appearances issuing new decrees, has assumed full power, prompting an outcry from opponents who say he has seized control of the state in an unconstitutional manner.

Rodoljub Sabic, a lawyer and former state commissioner for personal data protection, says that by proclaiming a state of emergency, Vucic has assumed “full supremacy” over decision-making during the crisis, although his constitutional role is only ceremonial.

“He issues orders which are automatically accepted by the government,” Sabic said. “No checks and balances.”

In ex-communist Eastern Europe and elsewhere, populist leaders are introducing harsh measures including uncontrolled cellphone surveillance of their citizens and lengthy jail sentences for those who flout lockdown decrees or spread false information.

The human rights chief of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said that while he understands the need to act swiftly to protect populations from the COVID-19 pandemic, the newly declared states of emergency must include a time limit and parliamentary oversight.

“A state of emergency — wherever it is declared and for whatever reason — must be proportionate to its aim, and only remain in place for as long as absolutely necessary,” the OSCE rights chief, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, said in a statement.

In times of national emergency, countries often take steps that rights activists see as curtailing civil liberties, such as increased surveillance, curfews and restrictions on travel, or limiting freedom of expression. China locked down whole cities earlier this year to stop the spread of the virus as India did with the whole nation.

Amnesty International researcher Massimo Moratti said states of emergency are allowed under international human rights law, but warned that the restrictive measures should not become a “new normal.”

“Such states need to last only until the danger lasts,” he told The Associated Press.

In Hungary, parliament on Monday passed a law giving Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government the right to rule by decree for as long as a state of emergency declared March 11 is in effect.

The law also amends the criminal code to include two new crimes. It sets prison terms of up to five years for those convicted of spreading false information about the pandemic and up to eight years for those interfering with efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus, like a curfew or mandatory quarantine.

Rights groups say the law creates the possibility of an indefinite and uncontrolled state of emergency and gives Orbán and his government carte blanche to restrict human rights.

“This is not the way to address the very real crisis that has been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said David Vig, Amnesty International’s Hungary director,

Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga said criticism of Hungary’s bill were “political attacks based on the wrong interpretation or intentional distortion” of its contents.

Elsewhere, governments have also adopted extreme measures.

In Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu’s caretaker government passed a series of emergency executive measures to try to quell the spread of the new virus. These include authorizing unprecedented electronic surveillance of Israeli citizens and a slowdown of court activity that forced the postponement of Netanyahu’s own pending criminal trial on serious corruption charges.

In Russia, authorities have turned up the pressure on media outlets and social media users in an effort to control the narrative amid the growing coronavirus outbreak in that country, where the capital, Moscow, went on lockdown Monday and many other regions quickly followed suit.

Under the guise of weeding out coronavirus-related “fake news,” law enforcement has cracked down on people sharing opinions on social media, and on news outlets that criticize the government’s response to the outbreak.

In Poland, people are worried about a new government smart phone application introduced for people in home quarantine.

Panoptykon Foundation, a human rights group that opposes surveillance, says it has received a number of queries from users who support government efforts to fight the pandemic but worry that by using the app they could be giving too much private data to the government.

Panoptykon notes that people have been receiving home visits from police even though the app asks them to send photos of themselves at home. This double control is “disproportionate,” it says.

While nearly 800 coronavirus cases and 16 deaths have been recorded in Serbia, according to Johns Hopkins University, testing has been extremely limited and experts believe the figures greatly under represent the real number of victims. Most people suffer mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, but for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, more severe illness can occur, including pneumonia and death.

Images of the transformation of a huge communist-era exhibition hall in Belgrade into a makeshift hospital for coronavirus-infected patients has triggered widespread public fear of the detention camp-looking facility filled with row-upon-row of 3,000 metal beds.

The Serbian president said he was glad that people got scared, adding he would have chosen even a worse-looking spot for the makeshift hospital if that would stop Serbs from flouting his stay-at-home orders.

“Someone has to spend 14 to 28 days there,” Vucic said. “If it’s not comfortable, I don’t care. We are fighting for people’s lives. If someone thinks they will apply makeup or brush their teeth four times a day, well they won’t. They’ll do it once a day.“

“Do not Drown Belgrade,” a group of civic activists, has launched an online petition against what they call Vucic’s abuse of power and curtailing of basic human rights. It says his frequent public appearances create panic in an already worried society.

“We do not need Vucic’s daily dramatization, but the truth: Concrete data and instructions from experts,” the petition says.

___

Associated Press writers Jovana Gec, Pablo Gorondi in Budapest, Hungary, and Vanessa Gera in Warsaw contributed to this report.

Privacy rights may become next victim of killer pandemic
WELCOME TO THE NEW SECURITY STATE 

AFP/File / Tiziana FABI

The coronavirus pandemic has led to the creation of apps and tracking systems using people's smartphone location as part of the effort to limit contagion

Digital surveillance and smartphone technology may prove helpful in containing the coronavirus pandemic -- but some activists fear this could mean lasting harm to privacy and digital rights.

From China to Singapore to Israel, governments have ordered electronic monitoring of their citizens' movements in an effort to limit contagion. In Europe and the United States, technology firms have begun sharing "anonymized" smartphone data to better track the outbreak.

These moves have prompted soul-searching by privacy activists who acknowledge the need for technology to save lives while fretting over the potential for abuse.

"Governments around the world are demanding extraordinary new surveillance powers intended to contain the virus' spread," the Electronic Frontier Foundation said in an online post.

"Many would invade our privacy, deter our free speech, and disparately burden vulnerable groups of people. Governments must show that such powers would actually be effective, science-based, necessary, and proportionate."

AFP/File / Wojtek RADWANSKI

The Icon of a special application for people under coronavirus

 quarantine is seen on a smartphone in Warsaw, Poland

The measures vary from place to place. Hong Kong ordered people arriving from overseas to wear tracking bracelets, and Singapore has a team of dedicated digital detectives monitoring those living under quarantine.

Israel's security agency Shin Bet has begun using advanced technology and telecom data to track civilians.

In perhaps the strictest move, China gave people smartphone codes displayed in green, yellow, and red, determining where citizens can and cannot go.

China is also among the countries enhancing censorship about the crisis, human rights watchdog Freedom House said, while others are blocking websites or shutting off internet access.

"We have observed a number of concerning signs that authoritarian regimes are using COVID-19 as a pretext to suppress independent speech, increase surveillance, and otherwise restrict fundamental rights, going beyond what is justified by public health needs," said Michael Abramowitz, president of the group.

- 'Normalized' surveillance -

AFP/File / ANTHONY WALLACE

Governments are using various kinds of tracking such as

 these electronic bracelets in Hong Kong connected to an 

app to monitor people and curb the spread of COVID-19

Some activists cite the precedent of the September 11, 2001 attacks, which opened up the door to more invasive surveillance in the name of national security.

"There is a risk these tools will become normalized and continue even after the pandemic slows," said Darrell West, who heads the Brookings Institution's Center for Technology Innovation.

But even some digital privacy defenders say it may be prudent to use some of the available data to help control the outbreak.

"I'm not against fighting this epidemic with data or tech," said Ryan Calo, a University of Washington researcher affiliated with Stanford's Center for Internet and Society.

"The problem with implementing surveillance in an emergency is that it might acclimate people to that."

Calo said it is a difficult trade-off, noting that even the awareness of being tracked or monitored has an impact on people's feelings of privacy and personal security.

- An app for that -

AFP/File / Catherine LAIA 

Government Technology Agency staffer demonstrates 

Singapore's app called TraceTogether, as a preventive

 measure against the COVID-19 outbreak

Much of the debate centers on smartphone location tracking, a sensitive issue which has been at the heart of numerous privacy disputes.

Since the pandemic began several apps have been developed which use the technology to track the outbreak.

One from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers determines if people have "crossed paths" with an infected person -- although it would only work if it -- for lack of a better term -- goes viral.

Cornell University researchers developed another app allowing users to anonymously share their locations and COVID-19 status to receive alerts about other nearby cases.

New York-based technology firm Unacast created a "social distancing scorecard" which uses smartphone locations to determine the extent of respect for recommendations for people to maintain safe distances.

"It can be helpful to know if people are practicing social distancing. That can provide actionable information," Calo said.

But he maintained that crowdsourced data on infections is likely to be "riddled with inaccuracies" and could give people a false sense of security.

A group of university researchers has developed a preliminary version of an app designed to allow people to share data on location and infections using smartphones' Bluetooth technology without compromising personal privacy.

"We designed it so that if a person comes down with COVID there's a way to send an alert (to those in proximity) without identifying who that person is," said Tina White, a Stanford graduate student and co-founder of the Covid-watch app.

White said she and other researchers came up with the notion as an alternative to "authoritarian" measures being adopted in some parts of the world.

She acknowledged the app would only be as useful as the number of people using it -- but said the technology is being made available freely, and suggested that "Android and Apple could use this an option in a system update" to ensure wide adoption.

---30---

 S.African police fire rubber bullets at shoppers during lockdown

SERIOUS ABOUT TOILET PAPER LIMITS

AFP / MARCO LONGARIPolice had to use force to get people to respect the social distancing rules

South African police fired rubber bullets towards hundreds of shoppers queueing outside a supermarket in Johannesburg as authorities battled to keep people at home in a bid to halt the spread of the coronavirus.

With 1,187 confirmed infections and one death, the country has the highest numbers of confirmed infections on the continent.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered a 21-day lockdown for the country's 57 million inhabitants, deploying police and the military to enforce the restrictions.

But on day two of the nationwide lockdown, the government was struggling to get people to observe the restrictions.

Many in working-class neighbourhoods ventured out to buy food, standing close to each other in lines while waiting for turns to get into grocery stores.

Between 200 and 300 people gathered outside a popular grocery store, early Saturday in Yeoville, a crime-prone area in Johannesburg's gritty central business district.

Scrambling to secure their spots, many did not observe the recommended safe distance between each other.

Police arrived in 10 patrol vehicles and started firing rubber bullets towards the shoppers.

Startled shoppers trampled on each other and a woman with a baby on her back fell to the ground.

AFP / MARCO LONGARI

Later the police used whips to get the shoppers to observe social distancing rules.

In Johannesburg's Alexandra township, shopping trolleys helped keep the rules respected.

"So for today, what we have adopted is to do the 1.5 metre distance using the trolleys," said Lilly Bophela, Alexandra shopping mall manager.

"So as you can see now we are just making sure that people are one meter away using the trolleys".

While jogging and dog-walking are banned, shopping for food and other basics, but not alcohol, is permitted.

- Police whip shoppers -

South African billionaire businessman Patrice Motsepe on Saturday pledged one billion rand (US$57 million) to help fight the pandemic.

"Our number one concern is to save lives and ... to make sure that we slow down ... the spread of coronavirus pandemic," he told a new conference.

Africa's confirmed cases were Saturday creeping towards 4,000 cases with at least 117 deaths - and governments are scrambling to slow the spread.

Zimbabwe starts a three-week lockdown on Monday, while on the same day Lesotho will also go on a 25-day lockdown.

Elsewhere on the continent, Ghana has announced a two-week lockdown in the country's two main regions of Accra and Kumasi starting Monday.

AFP / Marco LONGARISouth imposed its lockdown on Friday, but many people have not respected it until forced to by police

The move came as the authorities reported 137 confirmed cases, including four deaths.

President Nana Akufo-Ado said residents would only be allowed to go out to buy food, water and medicines and to use public toilets.

On Saturday the Democratic Republic of Congo sprawling capital, Kinshasa, was meant to go into lockdown for four days, but local officials delayed the measure after the announcement caused a spike in the price of basic goods and worries about unrest.

And in neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville, President Denis Sassou Nguesso declared a health emergency and announced a lockdown in the country, combined with a night curfew, from Tuesday.

He set the length of the lockdown at 30 days, adding in a televised address that the security forces would be mobilised to enforce it.

In the Sahel, Burkina Faso, which last week recorded sub-Saharan Africa's first death, announced that eight towns, including the capital Ouagadougou, would be quarantined for two weeks from Friday.

In Mali, the government has imposed some anti-coronavirus measures, including a night-time curfew, but said a long-delayed parliamentary election would go ahead on Sunday.

29MAR2020

 

   

Scared New York medical workers decry lack of virus protection

AFP/File / Angela WeissMedical personnel outside New York's Elmhurst Hospital Center, where 13 COVID-19 patients died in 24 hours

Medical staff in America's coronavirus hotbed New York are struggling with long hours and a dire need for protective equipment -- and as infections surge, they increasingly fear for their own safety.

Doctors and nurses are working around the clock caring for patients hit by the fast-spreading infection, risking their lives on the front lines of the global crisis.

The same week the United States became the new epicenter of the pandemic -- with about 120,000 confirmed cases of infection and 2,000 deaths -- Kious Kelly, a nurse manager at a Manhattan hospital, succumbed to a fatal case of the COVID-19 illness.

The death of the 48-year-old crystallized fears of many medical workers who've lamented severe shortages of necessary supplies, including plastic protective gowns and hospital-grade masks.

"It's abysmal," said Andrew, a psychiatry resident in a New York hospital who spoke on condition his name be changed.

He is now quarantined at home with a likely case of the virus himself.

"There's not enough money, there aren't enough tests, there's not enough personal protective equipment (PPE) for people who are dealing with this -- not just the doctors, but nurses, ancillary staff, janitors -- everyone in the hospital who are getting huge exposure to the virus," he told AFP in an interview punctuated by coughs.

About 20 health care workers protested their working conditions on Saturday morning outside the city's Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.

"We risk our lives to save yours," one of their signs said, appealing for "#PPENow" -- masks, goggles, gloves and other protective gear.

- 'Hopelessness' -

Diana Torres, a former colleague of the late Kelly at New York's Mount Sinai hospital group, said hospital staff are "devastated" that he "paid the ultimate price."

The mother of three told AFP there are units of the hospital filled to the brim with coronavirus patients.

She works in a rehabilitation section of the facility and personally has handled at least three patients known to have the virus -- perhaps more, as a lack of testing makes it impossible to be sure.

AFP/File / Angela WeissA medical worker walks out of a COVID-19 testing tent at Brooklyn Hospital Center -- health care workers throughout New York are alarmed at the dearth of protective equipment to keep staff safe

Kelly's death triggered an outpouring of angry posts on social media over inadequate protections, including one viral photo showing staff wearing garbage bags over their scrubs.

Mount Sinai said in a statement it was "grieving deeply" over Kelly's death, while also emphasizing that "we always provide our staff with critically important PPE."

But Torres said it took significant pushing to acquire one face shield, just one N-95 respirator mask and one gown -- which she said she must reuse.

"I have nothing for my head, nothing for my shoes," she said. "There is this sense of hopelessness."

"Everybody is scared."

- 'Lambs to slaughter' -

New York state has counted more than 50,000 positive cases, with around 6,500 people hospitalized.

Andrew is among the many New Yorkers who have fallen ill but has been unable to get tested because tests are reserved for the most critical cases.

A week ago he came down with a scratchy throat that evolved into the virus's customary symptoms: dry cough, body aches, headache, chest pressure and elevated temperature.

AFP / Bryan R. SmithA temporary hospital is set up at Manhattan's Javits Center, as medical facilities in New York struggle to handle the influx of coronavirus patients

Andrew also experienced an abrupt inability to taste or smell -- believed to be a sign of infection -- and has yet to regain his olfactory senses.

His case is mild, but he worries others in hospitals could develop more severe infections because of constant exposure to sick patients without proper safety measures.

"People on the front lines aren't getting protected. They're lambs to slaughter," he said. "It's criminal."

Andrew said federal action has been "wholly inadequate" and "more people are going to die."

- Dwindling staff -

Torres fears potentially spreading the infection to her children and husband. "Unless we get tested, we cannot contain the virus within the facility," she said.

"We are all walking around paranoid, trying to keep our distance from each other because we can't get tested -- unless you are symptomatic and the symptoms are serious enough."

She says hours are extended and staffing "shorter than ever, because our own staff is getting sick."

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said Saturday that "right now" there is enough protective equipment, although "nobody has enough long term" and efforts are being made to obtain more.

AFP / Angela WeissParamedics carry a stretcher with a patient at Brooklyn Hospital Center -- New York state has about half of the novel coronavirus cases in the United States

He acknowledged concern among health care workers that guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for how often gowns, masks and so on are changed during a crisis do not adequately protect them.

Cuomo said the issue is being looked at.

"If we believe the CDC guidelines don't protect health care professionals then we will put our own guidelines in place," he said.

Authorities estimate the virus's peak in New York might not come for three weeks.

For the time being health care workers "don't really have the luxury of stopping to digest any of this," said Andrew.

"We just have to do it."

US could take equity shares in coronavirus-hit airlines: officials
ONLY STATE CAPITALISM CAN DEFEAT CORONAVIRUS

AFP/File / JIM WATSONUS Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin

The US government could take equity shares in airlines and other troubled but vital American corporations as it moves to stabilize an economy amid the new coronavirus pandemic, top US officials said Sunday.

White House economics adviser Larry Kudlow said the government should get a stake in companies that receive direct cash grants from the federal government.

"I think in return for direct cash grants, which is what the airlines have asked for, I see no reason why the American taxpayer shouldn't get a piece," he said on "Fox News Sunday."

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, speaking on CBS's "Face the Nation" talk show, also said the government could take equity positions in return for infusions of taxpayer money.

"As the president said, we'll look at each one of these situations," he said.

"Some of them are very good companies that just need liquidity and will get loans. Some of these companies may need more significant help and we may be taking warrants or equity as well as that.

"The president wants to make sure the American taxpayers are compensated. This is not a bailout."

Mnuchin said any such transactions would take the form of warrants, a type of security that gives its holder the right to buy or sell an asset at a certain price up to a certain date determined when it is emitted. Warrants can thus be converted into shares.

The massive financial rescue plan passed by the US Congress designates $50 billion for the airline industry.

Half that sum would take the form of loan guarantees, and the rest direct cash payments.

Invoking their importance to the economy and the social risks if they fail, Boeing and the US airlines have demanded an unprecedented government bailout.

Air transportation has been one of the hardest hit sectors by the COVID-19 epidemic. Most transatlantic flights by US airlines have been suspended, as have 40 to 70 percent of domestic flights.

Bailouts using taxpayer money in the form of direct financial infusions or loans guaranteed by the federal government would follow a decade of growth in which the airlines made billions of dollars.

A number of voices have been raised, particularly among Democrats, insisting that certain conditions be met in extending public support to corporations, including equity participation in those companies.