Trump administration was alerted about COVID-19 concerns in ‘real time’ by Americans working at WHO: report

April 19, 2020 By Tom Boggioni


According to a report from the Washington Post, Donald Trump administration officials were receiving warnings about the coming coronavirus pandemic early on from Americans working at the World Health Organization.

While the president has tried to the blame on COVID-19 health crisis that has shut down the U.S. and cause d the economy top crash on the WHO, the report claims there was other information being delivered in “real-time” to U.S. authorities who were late in preparing the country for the coming pandemic.

More than a dozen U.S. researchers, physicians and public health experts, many of them from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were working full time at the Geneva headquarters of the World Health Organization as the novel coronavirus emerged late last year and transmitted real-time information about its discovery and spread in China to the Trump administration, according to U.S. and international officials,” the report states. “A number of CDC staffers are regularly detailed to work at WHO in Geneva as part of a rotation that has operated for years. Senior Trump-appointed health officials also consulted regularly at the highest levels with the WHO as the crisis unfolded, the officials said.”

As the Post notes, the new report contradicts complaints from the Trump administration that were misinformed and were caught unaware of the growing crisis.

"The presence of so many U.S. officials undercuts President Trump’s charge that the WHO’s failure to communicate the extent of the threat, born of a desire to protect China, is largely responsible for the rapid spread of the virus in the United States,” the Post reports.

You can read more here. BEHIND PAYWALL

Idaho GOPer says stay-at-home orders ‘no different’ than sending Jews to extermination camps
STEPHEN MOORE CLAIMED TO BE ROSA PARKS NOW THIS

April 19, 2020 By David Edwards


A Republican state lawmaker compared Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) to Adolf Hitler because she said that stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic are akin to Nazi extermination camps.

During an interview with a Texas podcaster last week, Idaho state Rep. Heather Scott called the economic shutdown “no different than Nazi Germany.”

“And when you have government telling you that your business is essential or non-essential, yours is non-essential and someone else’s is essential, we have a problem there,” Scott explained. “I mean, that’s no different than Nazi Germany where you had government telling people either you were an essential worker or a non-essential worker, and non-essential workers got put on a train.”

“You can’t take away people’s lives and property without compensation, and that’s exactly what he would be doing,” she later added. “I mean, they are already calling him Little Hitler — Gov. Little Hitler.”

And so I think people will start educating others, and people will be more and more vocal until they will say, ‘Enough of this,’ and put the pressure — hopefully political pressure — on him,” Scott added. “That’s what I would hope for.”

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/04/detroits-jewish-community-condemns.html

It's potatoes, again, for circus animals in Italy lockdown

AFP / MARCO BERTORELLO

Circus director Derek Coda Prin poses in the "Circo Millennium" which is stuck in Savona, northwestern Italy, during a lockdown to fight the novel coronavirus. The fairgrounds cannot perform their show and the animals need more food.

What do you call a hungry alligator during a coronavirus lockdown? An Italian circus stuck in a car park for two months has the answer: a problem.

The Millennium Circus was supposed to be performing along the Ligurian coast in northern Italy, but the virus and a national shutdown of the country stopped it in its tracks.

A kangaroo lies listlessly in its enclosure, while llamas, camels and ponies gather at the fences dividing their respective pens, keeping each other company.

Like the rest of the country, they can do little but kill time, while waiting for the potatoes to be handed out.

AFP /MARCO BERTORELLO

 Animals of the "Circo Millennium" stand in a pen at fairgrounds in Savona, northwestern Italy, during a strict lockdown in the country to fight the novel coronavirus.

The 40 animals -- parrots, geese, a huge-horned buffalo -- and 35 circus performers and staff were only supposed to be at the vast car park for a few days, before heading up the coast to seaside resorts.

But the troupe has been at a standstill since February 20 and has to rely on the help of local associations and animal lovers to feed its beasts.

"They eat about 200 kilos of fodder a day, as well as apples and carrots. And they drink about 1,000 litres of water daily," Derek Coda Prin, the artistic director, told AFP.

Amid the lorries, trucks and caravans, an acrobat is rehearsing her vertical bar act.

AFP / MARCO BERTORELLO

Children and a performer of the "Circo Millennium" train in Savona, northwestern Italy, during a strict lockdown. The show cannot be performed and the animals depend on donated food.

Locals arrive with donated bags of fruit, vegetables, bread or meat.

"At this point, unfortunately, the animals have become a problem," said Coda Prin, whose family has worked in the circus for five generations.

"They are our life companions, our friends, and we try to look after them in the best possible way. But they're not like dogs or cats you can give your leftover lunchtime pasta to".

Paradoxically, among those helping the Millennium Circus is the ENPA, the national association for the protection of animals, which fights the exploitation of animals in circuses.

As well as the pressing issues of the current lockdown, the circus is also worried about the future.

AFP / MARCO BERTORELLO

A member of the "Circo Millennium" feeds the animals with the little food available in Savona, northwestern Italy, during a strict coronavirus lockdown. The troupe relies on local associations and animal lovers to feed its beasts.

Coda Prin said he was worried the virus -- believed to have originated in wild animals -- may put the paying public off circuses featuring feathered and fanged creatures.

"I think it will have created a bit of a dangerous psychosis for our line of work," Coda Prin said.

19APR2020

USDA terminates Chinese-owned Smithfield farm aid contract
WHICH ONLY HURTS ITS EXPLOITED WORKERS

Humeyra Pamuk

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Agriculture terminated a $240,000 purchase contract with Chinese-owned Smithfield Foods that had been awarded under the Trump administration’s agricultural trade bailout program, a move taken at the company’s request, a department spokesman told Reuters on Friday.
FILE PHOTO - Some of the products of Smithfield Foods are displayed in front of at a news conference on WH Group's IPO in Hong Kong April 14, 2014. REUTERS/Bobby Yip

The move comes weeks after Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, one of the country’s biggest farm states and the biggest hog-producing state, slammed Smithfield for receiving what he said was aid from the USDA that was meant to help American farmers hurt by China’s trade tariffs.

“Smithfield requested to terminate their contract awarded under the Food Purchase and Distribution Program. USDA has agreed to the termination,” Tim Murtaugh, a spokesman for the USDA, told Reuters.

Murtaugh said the transfer of funds for the food purchase contract had not yet taken place, and that Smithfield’s request to cancel the contract was received on Nov. 13.

Smithfield, owned by Chinese conglomerate WH Group (0288.HK), was not immediately available for comment. The company is the world’s largest pork processor and hog producer with $15 billion annual revenues, according to its website.
President Donald Trump in late May announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, prompting retaliation from top trading partners like China that has since spilled into agriculture markets.

To help offset damage to American farmers, a key constituency for Trump, the USDA rolled out a $12 billion aid package that included $1.2 billion in purchases of commodities. The program allocated around $558 million to pork purchases.

Grassley, who has represented Iowa in the U.S. Senate since 1981 and is one of the most senior Republicans in the chamber, complained in late October about Smithfield’s approval for what he said was federal aid.

“I don’t understand why Chinese owned Smithfield qualifies for USDA $$ meant to help our farmers,” he wrote on Twitter.

A spokeswoman for Smithfield at the time denied the company had applied for federal assistance, but confirmed it was a qualified vendor to take part in the food purchase program.

SEE  

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=SMITHFIELD

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=TYSON

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=MEAT+PACKING

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=COVID19

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=JBS

NOT JUST PASSOVER AND EASTER
In shadow of coronavirus, Muslims face a Ramadan like never before

Hamid Ould Ahmed, Ulf Laessing, Gayatri Suroyo
APRIL 19, 2020
ALGIERS/CAIRO/JAKARTA (Reuters) - Days before the holy fasting month of Ramadan begins, the Islamic world is grappling with an untimely paradox of the new coronavirus pandemic: enforced separation at a time when socialising is almost sacred.


FILE PHOTO: A municipality worker in a protective suit disinfects Kilic Ali Pasha Mosque due to coronavirus concerns in Istanbul, Turkey March 11, 2020. REUTERS/Kemal Aslan

The holiest month in the Islamic calendar is one of family and togetherness – community, reflection, charity and prayer.

But with shuttered mosques, coronavirus curfews and bans on mass prayers from Senegal to Southeast Asia, some 1.8 billion Muslims are facing a Ramadan like never before.

Across the Muslim world the pandemic has generated new levels of anxiety ahead of the holy fasting month, which begins on around Thursday.

In Algiers, Yamine Hermache, 67, usually receives relatives and neighbours at her home for tea and cold drinks during the month that Muslims fast from dusk till dawn. But this year she fears it will be different.


“We may not visit them, and they will not come,” she said, weeping. “The coronavirus has made everyone afraid, even of distinguished guests.”

In a country where mosques have been closed, her husband Mohamed Djemoudi, 73, worries about something else.

“I cannot imagine Ramadan without Tarawih,” he said, referring to additional prayers performed at mosques after iftar, the evening meal in which Muslims break their fast.

In Jordan the government, in coordination with neighbouring Arab countries, is expected to announce a fatwa outlining what Ramadan rituals will be permitted, but for millions of Muslims, it already feels so different.

From Africa to Asia, the coronavirus has cast a shadow of gloom and uncertainty.

‘WORST YEAR EVER’

Around the souks and streets of Cairo, a sprawling city of 23 million people that normally never sleeps, the coronavirus has been disastrous.

“People don’t want to visit shops, they are scared of the disease. It’s the worst year ever,” said Samir El-Khatib, who runs a stall by the historic al-Sayeda Zainab mosque, “Compared with last year, we haven’t even sold a quarter.”

During Ramadan, street traders in the Egyptian capital stack their tables with dates and apricots, sweet fruits to break the fast, and the city’s walls with towers of traditional lanterns known as “fawanees”.

But this year, authorities have imposed a night curfew and banned communal prayers and other activities, so not many people see much point in buying the lanterns.

Among the few who ventured out was Nasser Salah Abdelkader, 59, a manager in the Egyptian stock market.

“This year there’s no Ramadan mood at all,” he said. “I’d usually come to the market, and right from the start people were usually playing music, sitting around, almost living in the streets.”

Dampening the festivities before they begin, the coronavirus is also complicating another part of Ramadan, a time when both fasting and charity are seen as obligatory.

‘ALL KINDS OF TOGETHERNESS MISSED’

In Algeria, restaurant owners are wondering how to offer iftar to the needy when their premises are closed, while charities in Abu Dhabi that hold iftar for low-paid South Asian workers are unsure what to do with mosques now closed.

Mohamed Aslam, an engineer from India who lives in a three-bedroom apartment in downtown Abu Dhabi with 14 others is unemployed because of the coronavirus. With his apartment building under quarantine after a resident tested positive, he has been relying on charity for food.

In Senegal, the plan is to continue charity albeit in a limited way. In the beachside capital of Dakar, charities that characteristically hand out “Ndogou”, baguettes slathered with chocolate spread, cakes, dates, sugar and milk to those in need, will distribute them to Koranic schools rather than on the street.

Meanwhile in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, some people will be meeting loved ones remotely this year.

Prabowo, who goes by one name, said he will host Eid al-Fitr, the celebration at the end of the fasting month, via the online meeting site Zoom instead of flying home.

“I worry about the coronavirus,” he said. “But all kinds of togetherness will be missed. No iftar together, no praying together at the mosque, and not even gossiping with friends.”

Reporting by Sulaiman al-Khalidi in Amman, Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers, Ulf Laessing and Seham Eloraby in Cairo, Diadie Ba in Dakar, Gayatri Suroyo in Jakarta and Alexander Cornwall in Abu Dhabi; Writing by Kate Lamb; Editing by Matthew Tostevin, Robert Birsel

Wuhan lab denies virus link as online mega-concert raises spirits

AFP/File / JOHANNES EISELEThe P4 biosafety laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology is equipped to handle dangerous viruses

A laboratory in the Chinese city at ground zero of the global coronavirus outbreak has rejected as "impossible" US theories it is the cradle of the pandemic, as President Donald Trump warned Beijing of consequences if it was "knowingly responsible".

The denial came as the world's top musicians -- from the Rolling Stones to Taylor Swift, Stevie Wonder and teen superstar Billie Eilish -- joined forces for a virtual mega-concert, hoping to spread cheer to billions under lockdown.

The six-hour online event aimed to cultivate a sense of community during a pandemic that has ravaged the global economy and killed at least 157,000 people worldwide, with nearly 2.3 million confirmed infections.

AFP / Olivier DOULIERYA-listers entertained fans with a six-hour online extravaganza celebrating healthcare workers

"Was it a mistake that got out of control or was it done deliberately?" Trump said at a White House briefing Saturday, questioning the origins of the disease, which first emerged in the city of Wuhan in December.

"If they were knowingly responsible, yeah, then there should be consequences," he said when asked if China should face repercussions for the pandemic.

The highly contagious disease was likely first transmitted to humans at a market where exotic animals were slaughtered, according to Chinese scientists.

But conspiracy theories that the virus came from a maximum-security virology lab have been brought into the mainstream in recent days by US government officials.

AFP / Alberto PIZZOLIAt least 157,000 people have been killed by the disease with two-thirds of the deaths in Europe

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said an investigation was underway into how the virus "got out into the world".

"There's no way this virus came from us," Yuan Zhiming, the head of the P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which is equipped to handle dangerous viruses, said in an interview with state media.

"I know it's impossible," he added.

- Lockdown protests -

The US has the highest caseload of any country, with more than 735,000 confirmed infections, and by Sunday had lost 39,000 people to the virus, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.

Progress was marked in some places and New York state reported the lowest number of deaths in weeks, which Governor Andrew Cuomo attributed largely to social distancing.

AFP / Hector RETAMALThe highly contagious disease first emerged late last year in the city of Wuhan in central China

But as Americans and others around the world chafe after weeks under stay-at-home orders, resentment is rising.

Anti-lockdown protests on Saturday drew hundreds of people at the capitols of states including Texas, Maryland, New Hampshire and Ohio. Many demonstrators waved American flags and some carried arms.

The small but spreading movement drew encouragement from Trump, who tweeted that three states should be "liberated" from the stay-home orders.

He has called for a rapid return to normality to limit damage to the US economy -- while largely leaving the final decision on easing lockdowns to state officials.

With 22 million Americans out of work seemingly overnight as businesses closed under the lockdown, families are turning more and more to food banks to get by.

"We have gone for months without work," a woman who gave her name only as Alana said at a food distribution centre in Chelsea in suburban Boston.

- Orthodox Easter -

Mounting evidence suggests that social distancing has slowed the pandemic after more than half of humanity -- 4.5 billion people -- were confined to their homes.

AFP / ARIANA DREHSLERAnti-lockdown protests in several US states drew hundreds of people

Stay-at-home orders have been enforced in Italy and Spain, both still the hardest-hit countries in Europe, with death tolls over 20,000, followed by France, which has recorded more than 19,000 fatalities.

As governments around the world grapple with when and how to ease lockdowns, Spain on Saturday extended its nationwide shutdown to May 9.

Japan, Britain and Mexico have all expanded their movement restrictions.

Yet elsewhere, signs that the outbreak could be easing prompted Switzerland, Denmark and Finland to begin reopening shops and schools this week. Germany is set to follow suit with some shops back in action on Monday.

Iran also allowed some Tehran businesses to reopen Saturday despite the country being home to the Middle East's deadliest outbreak.

AFP / VALERY HACHEFrance has recorded more than 19,000 virus fatalities

"How can I keep staying home? My family is hungry," said Hamdollah Mahmoudi, 45, a shopworker in Tehran's Grand Bazaar.

Israel has also approved some easing to its tight restrictions -- while pointedly avoiding announcing the first stage of an exit from lockdown.

Many of the world's 260 million Orthodox Christians marked Easter on Sunday without attending church services.

However Easter celebrations were allowed to go ahead in Georgia despite a nationwide curfew, with hundreds attending.

In Zimbabwe, mass rallies and military parades to mark the country's 40th anniversary of independence from British colonial rule were cancelled.

And Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth II will not mark her birthday on Tuesday with a traditional gun salute.

Australia has called for an independent investigation into the global response to the pandemic, including the World Health Organization's handling of the crisis.

Its foreign minister said the country would "insist" on a review that would probe, in part, China's response to the outbreak.

Back in Wuhan there was an emotional return to the city for the Chinese Super League football team after more than three months stranded on the road while the area was on lockdown.

Wearing masks, the players had bouquets of flowers thrust into their hands as supporters clad in the team's orange colours held banners and sang to welcome them home.

burs-kaf/axn

Director of Wuhan lab denies virus link

AFP / Hector RETAMALThe existence of the lab has fuelled conspiracy theories that the germ spread from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, specifically its P4 laboratory

The director of a maximum-security laboratory in China's coronavirus ground-zero city of Wuhan has rejected claims that it could be the source of the outbreak, calling it "impossible".

Beijing has come under increasing pressure over transparency in its handling of the pandemic, with the US probing whether the virus actually originated in a virology institute with a high-security biosafety laboratory.

Chinese scientists have said the virus likely jumped from an animal to humans in a market that sold wildlife.

But the existence of the facility has fuelled conspiracy theories that the germ spread from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, specifically its P4 laboratory which is equipped to handle dangerous viruses.

In an interview with state media published Saturday Yuan Zhiming, director of the laboratory, said that "there's no way this virus came from us".

None of his staff had been infected, he told the English-language state broadcaster CGTN, adding the "whole institute is carrying out research in different areas related to the coronavirus".

The institute had already dismissed the theory in February, saying it had shared information about the pathogen with the World Health Organization in early January.

But this week the United States has brought the rumours into the mainstream, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying US officials are doing a "full investigation" into how the virus "got out into the world".

When asked if the research suggested the virus could have come from the institute, Yuan said: "I know it's impossible."

"As people who carry out viral studies we clearly know what kind of research is going on at the institute and how the institute manages viruses and samples," he said.

He said that because the P4 laboratory is in Wuhan "people can't help but make associations", but that some media outlets are "deliberately trying to mislead people".

Reports in the Washington Post and Fox News have both quoted anonymous sources who voiced concern that the virus may have come -- accidentally -- from the facility.

Yuan said the reports were "entirely based on speculation" without "evidence or knowledge".

Authorities in Wuhan initially tried to cover up the outbreak and there have been questions about the official tally of infections with the government repeatedly changing its counting criteria at the peak of the outbreak.

This week authorities in the city admitted mistakes in counting its death toll and abruptly raised the figure by 50 percent.

ME TOO REACTIONARY RIGHT WING AUSTRALIAN GOVT FOLLOWS TRUMP

Australia calls for independent probe into global virus response

AFP/File / Saeed KHANIn recent weeks, Australia has seen the rate of new coronavirus cases slow dramatically

Australia on Sunday called for an independent investigation into the global response to the coronavirus pandemic, including the World Health Organization's handling of the crisis.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said the country would "insist" on a review that would probe, in part, China's early response to the outbreak in Wuhan, the city where COVID-19 emerged late last year.

"We need to know the sorts of details that an independent review would identify for us about the genesis of the virus, about the approaches to dealing with it (and) addressing the openness with which information was shared," she told public broadcaster ABC.

Payne said Australia shared similar concerns to the United States, whose President Donald Trump has accused the WHO of "mismanaging" the crisis and covering up the seriousness of China's outbreak before it spread.

Trump has also announced that Washington will halt payments to the UN body that amounted to $400 million last year.

"I'm not sure that you can have the health organisation which has been responsible for disseminating much of the international communications material, and doing much of the early engagement and investigative work, also as the review mechanism," Payne said.

"That strikes me as a bit poacher-and-gamekeeper."

Payne added she believed the fallout from the pandemic was set to change the relationship between Australia and China "in some ways", with her concern around Beijing's transparency now "at a very high point".

Health Minister Greg Hunt backed the call for an independent review, saying Australia had achieved success in limiting the spread of the virus in part by going against WHO advice.

Australia -- which has recorded 6,600 coronavirus cases and 70 deaths linked to COVID-19 -- was one of the first countries to impose a ban on travel from China.

"Australia has been able to have, by global standards, just a profoundly important and successful human outcome, but we have done that by following the course that our medical experts here in Australia set out," Hunt said.

"We do know there was very considerable criticism when we imposed on the 1 February the China ban from some of the officials and the WHO in Geneva."

Hunt said although the WHO had "done well" in fighting diseases like polio, measles and malaria, its coronavirus response "didn't help the world".

"We have done well because we made our own decisions as a country," he added.

In recent weeks, Australia has seen the rate of new cases slow dramatically, leading health authorities to declare the country has "flattened the curve".

Tough restrictions on movement and gatherings are set to remain in place for at least the next month as officials attempt to keep the virus spread under control.

You are here

 THIRD WORLD COUNTRY

Hungry, jobless Americans turning to food banks to survive pandemic

AFP / Joseph PreziosoFood and packages of donated goods are distributed to people at a food bank in Chelsea, Massachusetts

American families slammed by the coronavirus pandemic are turning more and more to food banks to get by, waiting hours for donations in lines of cars stretching as far as the eye can see.

And with 22 million people out of work seemingly overnight as business after business closes under the Great Lockdown, these charities feeding hungry and scared people fear the day will come when they cannot cope with the tsunami of demand.

On Tuesday, for instance, some 1,000 cars lined up at a distribution center set up in Pennsylvania by the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Demand for its bags of food soared nearly 40 percent in March.

At eight centers like that one, some 227 tonnes of food were placed in the trunks of cars of families suddenly unable to put meals on the table, said the organization's vice president Brian Gulish.

"A lot of people are utilizing our service for the first time. They've never turned to a food bank before," said Gulish. So they do not know there is a network of 350 distribution points in southwest Pennsylvania.

"That's why those lines are so long. Because they don't know that network that we have," Gulish added.

All over America, from New Orleans to Detroit, people abruptly stripped of a paycheck are flocking to food banks -- sad scenes of desperation among people waiting for their small share of stimulus money included in the $2.2 trillion emergency relief package approved by Congress last month.

AFP / Mark FelixA worker prepares to hand out food in Houston, Texas

Perhaps the most dramatic picture of some Americans' new food insecurity unfolded April 9 in San Antonio, Texas, where a staggering 10,000 cars showed up at one food bank, with some families arriving the night before to just sit and wait.

"We have gone for months without work," a woman who gave her name only as Alana said at a food distribution center in Chelsea in suburban Boston.

"I find a lady yesterday with a 15-day-old baby, a newborn. The husband is not working, she has two more kids. She was having no food in her house," said Alana.

Everywhere, food bank officials say their needs in the pandemic era have skyrocketed all of a sudden -- by 30 percent, for example, at a network in Akron, Ohio.

"We built a supply chain over the years that would serve a certain anticipated need for food. Ramping that up 30 percent overnight is nearly impossible," said Dan Flowers, CEO of the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.

In part this is because the food banks are caught up in the maelstrom that has hit the US food industry.

US Air National Guard/AFP / Justin ANDRASNational Guard soldiers prepare packages of food in Indiana

With restaurants closed because of the lockdown, Americans are stocking up on everything in grocery stores, which no longer can make as many product donations as they usually do. Ditto for restaurants that often donate surplus food to homeless shelters.

Fortunately, the US food industry is in fact making donations.

Food banks including 200 local branches of an organization called Feeding America are even getting special kinds of loads to hand out.

US food giant JM Smucker, maker of many well-known products such as Folgers coffee, is a regular donor and has sent extra pallets of food to banks in Ohio. And a distillery called Ugly Dog in Michigan dispatched a truckload of hand sanitizing gel made from residual alcohol and packed in pint bottles that normally hold booze, said Flowers.

- ' Worn out ' -

Cash donations are also coming in, ranging from anonymous people to the likes of Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person, who donated $100 million to Feeding America.

AFP / Frederic J. BROWNPeople line up at a food bank in Los Angeles

"If it wasn't for that, these food banks would not be able to meet this demand," said Flowers.

The Food Bank For New York City, a major one in the Big Apple, is ordering higher volume than it normally does, said Zanita Tisdale, its director of member engagement.

"We know if we're going to go back in a week the cost may have increased significantly or the turnaround time for getting that product to our warehouse may have extended exponentially," she said.

As supply chains get more complex and the legions of desperate families grow, there is the issue of those manning the food banks, who are simply exhausted after weeks of toil.

"Our staff is worn out. They've been working so hard. We're all ready for this to end," said Flowers.

GETTY IMAGES/AFP / Gregory ShamusCars line up at a food bank in Oak Park, Michigan

After a month of all this frenetic work, the food banks are holding up, at least for now. But the future -- like for so much of the new world created by the pandemic -- is uncertain.

"The supply is still good, but a month from now we don't know," said Gulish.

The relief plan passed by Congress includes $850 million for food banks and Flowers says he expects that cash to start flowing in June.

"I think we'll get back on track then. I'm mostly concerned about the next six to eight weeks," said Flowers.

TRUMP MINI ME 

Brazil's Bolsonaro attacks coronavirus lockdowns as supporters take to streets


Maria Carolina Marcello, Leonardo Benassatto
APRIL 19, 2020
BRASILIA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday again attended a public rally and attacked lockdown measures meant to fight the coronavirus, as supporters of the right-wing leader joined political motorcades around the country.

Brazil has more cases of the new coronavirus than any other country in Latin America. On Sunday, confirmed cases rose to 38,654 with 2,462 deaths.

Bolsonaro, who was not wearing a face mask, addressed a crowd of a few hundred in Brasilia, many of them wearing Brazil’s yellow-and-green soccer jersey.

His brief address, which was punctuated by the president coughing, touched on talking points that have become his usual rallying cry.

He called those in attendance “patriots” and said they were helping defend individual freedoms that he said are under threat by lockdowns imposed by authorities at the state level.

“Everyone in Brazil needs to understand that they are subject to the will of the people,” Bolsonaro said.

Protesters in Brasilia chanted slogans against the country’s Supreme Court, which has upheld state-organized lockdowns, and against Congress, whose opposition lawmakers have also defended quarantines.

Some of the protesters also called for a return to authoritarian measures used during Brazil’s last military regime, known as AI-5.

In Sao Paulo, Brazil’s richest and most populous state, Bolsonaro supporters have been demanding that governor Joao Doria resign because he has been a staunch supporter of shelter-in-place measures.

“The people cannot die of hunger,” one protester told Reuters.