First coronavirus case detected in Ecuador Amazon tribe

AFP AFP•May 17, 2020

Waorani organizations have warned COVID-19's spread could be "catastrophic and highly lethal" for their community, which is vulnerable to diseases
Waorani organizations have warned COVID-19's spread could be "catastrophic and highly lethal" for their community, which is vulnerable to diseases (AFP Photo/Rodrigo BUENDIA)

Quito (AFP) - The first case of the novel coronavirus has been detected in one of Ecuador's indigenous Amazon tribes, the health ministry said Sunday.

Waorani organizations -- speaking through the GO Alliance for Human Rights in Ecuador (DDHH) -- warned COVID-19's spread could be "catastrophic and highly lethal" for their community, which is vulnerable to diseases.

The first case reported in the Waorani tribe is a "pregnant woman, 17 years old, who began to show symptoms on May 4," the ministry said in a statement.

She was taken to a hospital in the capital Quito and placed in isolation, the statement said, without giving further details.

The federal government -- in coordination with indigenous leaders -- checked on 40 people that the woman had come into contact within the Miwaguno community, which has 140 inhabitants.

"Seventeen citizens with a history of respiratory systems were found. To date, six of them have symptoms, so 20 rapid tests and a total of seven nasopharyngeal swabs were performed," the health ministry said, without releasing the test results.

Ecuador, one of the hardest-hit countries in Latin America, is now in its second month of lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

It has reported some 33,000 cases and more than 2,700 deaths.

ON THIS DAY BRAM STOKER PUBLISHED 'DRACULA'

https://archive.org/details/BramStokerDracula/mode/2up


https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.184866/page/n1/mode/2up

ON THIS DAY MAY 18

In 1969, Apollo 10 blasted off into space to perform a test run of what would become the Apollo 11 moon landing, coming to within 51,200 feet of the moon's surface. The mission also sent back the first televised color images of earth.

US Immigration agency asks for emergency funds, will raise feesAssociated Press•May 17, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government agency that processes citizenship applications and work visas is running out of money because of the COVID-19 pandemic and says it needs to raise its fees and receive emergency funding from Congress to stay afloat.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is typically funded through the fees it charges people seeking to live or work in the country. But the agency said Sunday that it has seen a dramatic decrease in applications as a result of the pandemic.

Much of the U.S. immigration system has ground to a halt. Nearly all visa processing by the State Department is suspended and travel to the U.S. has been restricted. In April, President Donald Trump announced a 60-day pause on the issuance of green cards to limit competition for jobs in a U.S. economy wrecked by the coronavirus.

USCIS said in a statement that it expects its revenue will drop by about 61% through the end of the year.

It sent a request to Congress on Friday for $1.2 billion in emergency funding. It said it would reimburse taxpayers by adding a 10% surcharge to application fees.

The agency did not say whether it would seek to reduce its workforce or impose furloughs, but said it has cut expenses and would “have to take drastic actions to keep the agency afloat” without the emergency funding from Congress.

PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY
India to ease restrictions on foreign ownership in defence ventures

PRIVATIZATION OF WEAPONS PRODUCTION

Reuters•May 16, 2020


India to ease restrictions on foreign ownership in defence ventures
FILE PHOTO: India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attends a joint news conference with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in New Delhi

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India will ease restrictions on the level of foreign ownership in defence manufacturing, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Saturday, in a move aimed at cutting down on imports.

Under the plan, foreign investors would be able to own a stake of up to 74% in defence manufacturing ventures, up from the 49% limit now, Sitharaman told a news conference.

The increase in foreign investments would help reduce a "huge defence import bill" and make India self-reliant in defence production, she said, adding India would also expand the list of weapons that could not be imported.

The move would give a major "incentive to foreign defence manufacturers who want to retain control" in the joint ventures, said Atul Pandey, a partner at India law firm Khaitan & Co, that advises defence firms.

He said major defence manufacturers, such as Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing, MBDA, Raytheon and Dassault, which all have joint ventures in India, could expand their investments, he said.

The government, facing a big drop in revenue collections amid the coronavirus crisis, has faced calls from policymakers to cuts in spending, including defence imports.

In February, the finance minister allocated 4.71 trillion rupees ($62.1 billion) for defence in the annual budget for 2020/21, including about 1 trillion rupees for capital spending.

Between 2013 and 2017, India was the world’s top arms importer, accounting for 12% of total imports globally, with Russia, Israel and the United States among the top suppliers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year set up a target to double defence exports in next five years, from about $2.4 billion a year now.
($1 = 75.8170 Indian rupees)

UPDATED
Canadian Air Force jet participating in flyover crashes in residential neighborhood, killing 1 and injuring 1
Rosie Perper

The Royal Canadian Air Force Snowbirds during a 2016 demonstration. AP Photo/Julie Jacobson


A Canadian Armed Forces member died and another was injured after a Canadian air force jet crashed into a residential neighborhood in Kamloops, British Columbia, during a flyover on Sunday at around 11:42 a.m. local time.

The flyover was dubbed "Operation Inspiration" and was "a cross-Canada tour to lift the spirits of Canadians and salute front-line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic." The operation has since been delayed "indefinitely." 

The Canadian air force flight safety team is investigating the circumstances of the accident.

A Canadian air force jet participating in a flyover dubbed "Operation Inspiration" crashed into a residential neighborhood in Kamloops, British Columbia, on Sunday, killing one team member and seriously injuring another.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it received reports that a Snowbird plane had crashed into a residence at 11:42 a.m. local time.

"It is with heavy hearts that we announce that one member of the CF Snowbirds team has died and one has sustained serious injuries," Canada's Department of National Defense and the Canadian Armed Forces said in an emailed statement.

Captain Jenn Casey, CF Snowbirds Public Affairs Officer. Supplied

The department said the service member who died was Captain Jennifer Casey, the team's Public Affairs Officer, originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Captain Richard MacDougall, one of the team's coordinators who was piloting the aircraft, is being treated for his injuries.

The department said the Snowbird aircraft were participating in "a cross-Canada tour to lift the spirits of Canadians and salute front-line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic." The aircraft were meant to fly in a nine-jet formation with trailing white smoke in cities across the country throughout the week, though the operation has since been delayed "indefinitely."

The crash occurred shortly after the jet took off from Kamloops Airport, the department said.

The Canadian air force flight safety team is investigating the circumstances of the accident.

"Operation INSPIRATION was intended to lift the spirit of Canadians at this difficult time and the Snowbirds accomplished their mission," said Canada's defense minister Harjit Sajjan. "I know that all Canadians grieve this tragic loss."

Video of the incident posted to Facebook by a user named Cory Pelton appears to show the aircraft flying alongside another jet before veering sharply and nosediving. Smoke can be seen coming out of the aircraft as it makes its descent.

Associated Press said local residents reported scattered debris and a house on fire.

Andrea Woo, a journalist at the Globe and Mail, tweeted video shared to Snapchat by people at the scene of the crash appearing to show debris from the plane in someone's yard.

"As we watch the Snowbirds fly over our homes, let's remember that we are all in this together," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said last month when announcing the flyover.

The flyover follows similar multi-city missions conducted by the US Navy Blue Angels and US Air Force Thunderbirds last month.

Canadian acrobatic jet crashes amid pandemic show; 1 dead
Associated Press•May 17, 2020



Canada Air Force Crash
This photo provided by Elwood Delaney shows the scene of a crash involving a Canadian Forces Snowbirds airplane in Kamloops, Canada, Sunday, May 17, 2020. A Canadian acrobatic jet has crashed into the British Columbia neighborhood during a flyover intended to boost morale during the pandemic, killing at least one crew member and setting the house on fire. (Elwood Delaney via AP)

Canada Air Force Crash
First responders carry an injured person on a stretcher across a fire truck ladder from a rooftop at the scene of a crash involving a Canadian Forces Snowbirds aircraft in Kamloops, British Columbia, Sunday, May 17, 2020. (Brendan Kergin/Castanet Kamloops/The Canadian Press via AP)


KAMLOOPS, British Columbia (AP) — A Canadian acrobatic jet crashed into a British Columbia neighborhood Sunday during a flyover intended to boost morale during the pandemic, killing one crew member, seriously injuring another and setting a house on fire. Video appeared to show the plane's crew ejecting.

The crash left debris scattered across the neighborhood near the airport in the city of Kamloops, 260 miles (418 kilometers) northeast of Vancouver. Canada’s defense department said emergency crews were responding. The Snowbirds are Canada’s equivalent of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds or U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels.

“It is with heavy hearts that we announce that one member of the CF Snowbirds team has died and one has sustained serious injuries,” The Royal Canadian Air Force said in a tweet. The air force said the surviving member does not have life-threatening injuries.

Rose Miller lives directly across the street from where the plane hit. She’d watched the Snowbirds arrive on Saturday, and she went to her front window on Sunday when she heard the roar of jet engines.

Miller said she heard a loud bang and wondered whether it might be a sonic boom. Then she watched the plane smash onto the ground.

“It looked to me like it was mostly on the road, but it just exploded. It went everywhere,” she said. “In fact, I got a big, huge piece in my backyard. The cops said it was the ejection seat.”

Miller said a couple in their early 70s lives in the home. Both are OK, she said, noting that she’d spoken with them after they were evacuated to a nearby street. The woman had been in the basement while the man was behind the house.

Miller said section of roof on a home on a nearby street has been covered up.

Video posted to Twitter by 6:10 a.m. in Kamloops appears to show two Snowbirds taking off from what is believed to have been Kamloops Airport. One of the aircraft subsequently climbed into the sky before rolling over and plunging to the ground. The video appears to show at least one person ejecting from the plane before it disappears behind a stand of trees and an explosion is heard.

“This accident really shakes us to our core,” Kamloops Mayor Ken Christian said. About five houses had to be evacuated.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the cause of the crash is under investigation.

“Our number one priority at this time is determining the status of our personnel, the community and supporting emergency personnel. When appropriate, more information will be made available,” the Department of National Defense said in a statement.

Kenny Hinds, who lives in a house seven doors down from the crash site, said it looked like the living room of the house where the crash occurred was on fire.

“I just started running down the street. And I got there maybe a minute after it crashed and there was a couple of residents that had their hoses out and they were trying to put the flames out because it hit a house,” he said. “It looked like most of it landed in the front yard, but maybe a wing or something went through the roof perhaps.”

Hinds had been watching the aircraft after hearing them take off, and said he was able to see the crash and saw “the Snowbird going straight down.”

“I saw what looked like a parachute about, say, 20 feet over the house, and it disappeared from sight, and the parachute hadn’t fully deployed yet — it was still sort of straight up and down,” he said.

Operation Inspiration started in Nova Scotia earlier this month and features the team’s signature nine-jet formation. It was aimed at boosting morale amid the pandemic. 

I HEARD THEM AS THEY FLEW OVER EDMONTON WEDNESDAY 

Marni Capostinsky said she lives across the street from the crash site and was out on the deck when she heard the plane getting closer.

“We ran out under the cover to look and saw something black coming towards us, everyone hit the deck it was so loud,” she said.

Sunday’s crash follows the downing of another Snowbird in the U.S. state of Georgia last October, where the team was scheduled to perform in an air show. Capt. Kevin Domon-Grenier sustained minor injuries when he ejected from the plane, which crashed into a farmer’s field. No one else was hurt.

The Snowbirds have performed at airshows across Canada and the U.S. for decades and are considered a key tool for raising awareness about — and recruiting for — the air force. Eleven aircraft are used during shows, with nine flying and two kept as spares.

The air force obtained its Tutor jets in 1963 and has used them in air demonstrations since 1971. Prior to Sunday’s crash, seven pilots and one passenger had been killed and several aircraft had been lost over the course of the Snowbirds’ history.



Jet doing flyover to salute frontline workers crashes, killing 1

Caroline Linton,
CBS News•May 17, 2020


At least one person was killed and another seriously injured when a Canadian Snowbirds jet crashed into a house, causing a fire, on Sunday, the Royal Canadian Air Force said. The Snowbirds aerobatics team was doing a flyover of the region as part of Operation Inspiration, a salute to frontline workers of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

The city of Kamloops said the aircraft crashed at 11:40 a.m. PT, crashing shortly after takeoff at the Kamloops Airport, some 260miles northeast of Vancouver.

Witnesses told CBC the jet was following another jet when it appeared to veer upward and circle the tarmac before going into a nosedive. Wreckage was apparently seen scattered across the neighborhood.

"The one plane continued and the other one ... was a ball of fire," said witness Annette Schonewille. "No noise, it was strange, and then the plane just did a cartwheel and fell right out of the sky. Just boom, straight down, and then a burst of black, black smoke."

A Canadian jet crashed Sunday morning in the city of city of Kamloops in British Columbia, Canada. Facebook/Kerri Turatus

Rose Miller, who lives directly across the street from where the plane crashed, told The Associated Press that a couple in their early 70s lives in the home. They were uninjured as the woman was in the basement and the man was behind the house at the time of the incident.

The jets had arrived in Kamloops on Saturday after flyovers in Alberta, according to CBC. On Sunday morning, the Snowbirds tweeted some mountain passes had low cloud cover, which would be unsafe to fly through.

Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau tweeted his condolences to those affected in the crash and wrote, "My thoughts are with the brave members of the [RCAF]." The AP said the Snowbirds are Canada's equivalent of the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds or U.S. Navy's Blue Angels; they have also made flyovers across parts of the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic.




TIME TO PUT THE SNOWBIRDS OUT OF THEIR MISERY

THE PLANES ARE TOO OLD!ALL THREE FLYOVERS IN NORTH AMERICA ARE A WASTE OF JET FUEL
THE PLANES ARE TOO OLD!THEY CAUSE CLIMATE DISRUPTION WITH THEIR VERY REAL CONTRAILS
THE PLANES ARE TOO OLD!

CRASHES OVER CIVILIANS IS NOT LIKE A CRASH AT AN AIR SHOW 
NEITHER IS ACCEPTABLE BUT THE FORMER IS LESS EXPECTED THAN THE LATER 
AND INVOLVES FAR MORE PEOPLE AS POTENTIAL VICTIMS

THE PLANES ARE TOO OLD!!!!

FOR THE GOOD OF THE NATION AND THE GOOD OF THE PLANET
THE PLANES ARE TOO OLD!
TIME TO GROUND THEM AND PUT THEM IN STORAGE

THE PLANES ARE TOO OLD!


FINALLY I HAVE FRIENDS IN KAMLOOPS AND HERE IS WISHING THEM ALL WELL

Amid reports of White House clashes with CDC, experts raise alarms about lack of coronavirus screening at airports


Hunter Walker White House Correspondent, Yahoo News•May 16, 2020

VIDEO

https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-screening-airports-144105500.html
The future of flight: “recognize that there are going to be social distancing practices at the airport"


WASHINGTON — As the nation begins to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic, some people are looking to the skies — and experts don’t necessarily like what they see, arguing there are not enough safeguards in place to protect passengers and crew.

While air travel has fallen sharply due to the virus, the airports are open and planes are flying both domestically and internationally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued travel guidelines encouraging air passengers to wear face coverings, “keep 6 feet of physical distance from others” and only board planes for essential travel. However, these guidelines are merely suggestions.

There is no requirement for masks, and there have been multiple reports of crowded conditions in airports and on planes, which have left passengers alarmed. The Transportation Security Administration, which screens passengers and luggage at airports, has also experienced over 560 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and six deaths from the illness.

Despite these concerns, there are currently no coronavirus screening procedures for domestic air travelers, and a congressional investigation has also raised questions about the level of screening being conducted for international passengers. Speaking in the Oval Office on April 28, President Trump told reporters his administration is working on implementing a procedure for temperature checks and COVID-19 tests for air travelers.

“We’re also setting up a system where we do some testing, and we’re working with the airlines on that,” Trump said.

A TSA officer wears a protective mask while screening travelers at Orlando International Airport. (Paul Hennessy/Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media via Getty Images)

According to a May 6 government document reviewed by Yahoo News, the CDC was “developing a tool for predicting risk of importation of COVID-19 among international travelers” and meeting with the White House National Security Council “to discuss strategies for screening arriving international passengers from countries with substantial COVID-19 transmission.”

However, there have been reports of discord between the CDC and the White House. On May 9, USA Today reported CDC officials were overruled by the White House after they raised concerns about a potential plan to establish temperature checks at the airports. While some COVID-19 patients do have high fevers, many do not and others are entirely asymptomatic.

USA Today’s report included an email Dr. Martin Cetron, the CDC’s director of global mitigation and quarantine, sent to officials with the Department of Homeland Security criticizing the temperature checks as “a poorly designed control and detention strategy.”

Cetron, the CDC and DHS did not respond to requests for comment. The White House did not respond to questions about the reported disagreements from the CDC or whether the Trump administration believes temperature checks are an adequate screening measure for airports.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the chairman of the House oversight subcommittee on economic and consumer policy, has investigated coronavirus screening procedures at airports. Earlier this week, the Illinois Democrat told Yahoo News he was concerned by the report that the White House is pursuing a temperature screening plan over the objections of CDC officials.

“The White House has been ignoring and sidelining America’s public health experts at the CDC, instead relying on nonexpert political appointees to make public health decisions,” Krishnamoorthi said. “I am troubled by reports that officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention could raise this public health concern and be essentially overruled by presidential aides. The desire to lure Americans back into traveling by making them feel like they are safe cannot outweigh the need to actually keep this country safe.”

(D) Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi on Capitol Hill last year. (Jacquelyn Martin/Getty Images)

Krishnamoorthi has previously raised concerns about what he described as “lax” screening procedures for international travelers coming into the United States from coronavirus hot spots in March as the pandemic exploded around the globe. Trump has repeatedly pointed to restrictions he imposed on travelers from China — where the virus originated — on Jan. 31 as evidence of his strong efforts to curb its spread in the United States.

However, the restrictions on China contained exemptions that allowed over 400,000 people to subsequently travel from that country to the United States. And on May 7, Krishnamoorthi’s subcommittee released the results of an investigation that focused on two other early coronavirus hot spots — Italy and South Korea. Krishnamoorthi said he believes Trump has focused on “rhetoric and bluster rather than actually effective screenings.”


“Just from what we found with Italy and South Korea, there was no border closing. There was no screening. Unfortunately, the lack of screening probably had some very serious consequences at a time when cases were exponentially rising in the United States.”

Krishnamoorthi’s investigation, which included extensive briefings from officials, found that the White House National Security Council’s Policy Coordination Committees decided in March to rely on South Korean and Italian officials to screen passengers in those countries who were headed to the United States. The probe further found the U.S. had “limited” oversight for those screenings in Italy and that only 69 passengers were prevented from coming to the U.S. from those two countries in March. Once they arrived, the investigation found passengers entering from the two countries did not receive additional health screenings.

“Potentially thousands and thousands of people came across without screenings” from what were two of the leading coronavirus hot spots at the time, Krishnamoorthi told Yahoo News. “It doesn’t take a lot to believe that folks came over and seeded further outbreaks here in this country.”
An Italian Red Cross volunteer measures the temperature of a colleague in Gavirate, Italy. (Mattia Ozbot/Soccrates Images/Getty Images)

Jonathan Ullyot, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, responded to questions about Krishnamoorthi’s investigation with a statement touting the government’s steps to screen international arrivals earlier this year.

“The reality is that the United States government took early and decisive action to mitigate the risk from global hot spots, including China, Iran, South Korea, and the Schengen area of Europe,” Ullyot wrote. “After restricting travel from China on January 31 … the security directive put forth by the administration required enhanced medical screenings for all passengers before they departed on flights to the United States from Northern Italy and South Korea.”

According to Ullyot, the screenings in Italy and South Korea “included checking the passenger’s temperature, visual observations to detect signs of illness, and questionnaires.” While Ullyot did not dispute Krishnamoorthi’s contention that the U.S. relied on officials in those countries to conduct the screenings and that few passengers were denied boarding, he said “U.S. mission staff visited airports” in both countries to “observe these screening procedures.”

A senior Trump administration official, who requested not to be named, said all international arrivals to the United States are subject to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) screenings that are following CDC guidelines. The official explained that those guidelines require CBP officers to refer travelers “to the CDC, DHS contract medical screeners, or local health authorities for health screening” if they are exhibiting symptoms or have traveled from countries that have experienced major outbreaks.

According to the official, the CBP has “established processes to identify travelers who have traveled to the United States directly or indirectly from areas that are experiencing COVID-19 outbreaks.”
Randy Babbitt, former administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty images)

Domestic air passengers, however, are treated differently.

“With regard to domestic travel, there’s not more screening beyond what TSA normally does,” Krishnamoorthi said.

He said that lack of screening for domestic travelers is particularly worrisome as areas of the country are beginning to lift lockdown restrictions. He suggested this could lead to a situation where business people “go back and start traveling” and then “transport these cases everywhere.”

“We have to look at the science of it more closely, and we have to develop a more precise way of screening,” Krishnamoorthi said.

Randy Babbitt, a former administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, said the lack of new screening procedures is not as much of a problem right now since “nobody’s flying.” However, he said it will become a pressing issue as the country reopens and airports become more crowded.

“People are going to start flying and as it ramps back up, that becomes a different question,” Babbitt told Yahoo News.

Babbitt further explained that one difficulty with establishing comprehensive procedures for airports is that so many different government agencies are involved in air travel. However, he pointed to proposals generated by Stonebriar Strategy Group Thought Leadership Initiative, a nonprofit consultancy, as a realistic potential road map.

Howard Thrall, the president and senior partner of the group, said the organization is comprised of multiple retired consultants and executives who have worked in the industry. According to Thrall, a veteran executive who has worked for multiple aviation and aerospace companies, the group came together because they were “totally amazed” a coronavirus airport screening system has not yet been established.

“This is really a pro bono exercise for a bunch of old graybeards,” Thrall said.
Terminal 1 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The Stonebriar Strategy Group’s proposal calls for screening perimeters to be established outside airports, where rapid COVID-19 tests, questionnaires and temperature checks could be administered to travelers and workers. Setting up a screening perimeter would mean that even if passengers ended up in close proximity during boarding or on planes, they could have a higher degree of confidence those around them were not contagious.

Along with addressing safety concerns, Thrall said implementing these screenings could help the economy since aviation is a substantial part of the nation’s gross domestic product and boosting consumer confidence is crucial to returning the industry to normal levels. He pointed to the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, when the TSA was formed and security screening procedures were transformed, as evidence that airport procedures can quickly be revamped.

The Stonebriar Strategy Group’s detailed proposal estimated it would cost approximately $6.8 million per airport, per year, to establish coronavirus screening perimeters. With approximately 5,000 public airports in the country, that would mean a total cost of about $34 billion.

However, Thrall argued that cost is realistic relative to the urgent need and the trillions of dollars the government is spending to address the coronavirus.

“That’s why we wrote it up. It wasn’t happening and it could happen. This is not a big deal,” Thrall said. “I mean, it’s not going to be free by any means, but this is very, very manageable.”

'Everybody Was Sick': Inside an ICE Detention Center
Tammy La Gorce,
The New York Times•May 17, 2020
  

A drive-by protest supporting the release of ICE detainees at a detention center in Elizabeth, N.J., May 1, 2020. (Andrew White/The New York Times)

Last month, Makalay Tarawally propped her 2-month-old in front of her phone so that his father could meet him for the first time, virtually. As a blood technician for a COVID-19 hospital unit, Tarawally knew how careful she needed to be.

From her aunt’s house in Edison, New Jersey, she called a room at the Red Roof Inn. The father of her two children, Abdul Massaquoi, was isolating there because of possible exposure to the coronavirus. He waved through the phone screen.

Massaquoi, 44, was stuck at the hotel because he had been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement last fall while on his way to work as a truck driver for Macy’s. Accused of forging his green card in 2018, Massaquoi was arrested after missing a court date in 2019. According to his lawyer, a summons had been sent to his old address and not forwarded to his new home.

Massaquoi had just been released from the Elizabeth Detention Center in New Jersey, where 18 people had tested positive for the virus; a nonprofit was paying for his stay at the Red Roof so he could make sure he had not been infected.

The environment at the detention center, said Massaquoi, a native of Sierra Leone, was stressful. “Everybody was sick,” he said, “and we were all right next to each other.”

ICE detention facilities are hotbeds for the virus, with 85 cases already discovered in New York and New Jersey. As of May 11, 36 people tested positive in New Jersey. Four staff members at the Hudson County Correctional Facility in Kearny, one of the state’s four detention centers, have died from COVID-19.

The American Civil Liberties Union has referred to the country’s detainee population as “sitting ducks.” The nonprofit Government Accountability Project recently estimated that almost all of those held in ICE facilities could be infected by the 90th day of a COVID outbreak.

Like jails, detention centers are faced with tough decisions as to how to keep their dense populations safe. Since the coronavirus outbreak in March, ICE has suspended social visits and staggered meals and recreation times, and is monitoring detainees for COVID-19 regularly at all of its facilities, a spokesman said. One of the agency’s “highest priorities is the health and safety of those in our custody,” he continued.

To that end, ICE has also released about 900 people since March. Detention bookings are down by 60% compared to last year’s data. About 30,000 people are currently being held nationwide, the lowest number since the beginning of the Trump administration.

But that number is still too high, according to the more than 4,000 physicians who sent a letter to ICE demanding the release of even more people “to avoid preventable deaths.” As of May 11, ICE reported that of the almost 1,700 detainees who had been tested, roughly half had received positive results for the virus.

The pandemic has become a new front in the debate over immigration, pitting opponents of President Donald Trump’s policies against an administration trying to curtail migration, both illegal and legal, and more aggressively enforce immigration laws.

In New York and New Jersey, activists are working to protect and, ideally, release all ICE detainees. Some are writing letters to Gov. Phil Murphy, demanding that he issue an emergency order to vacate all facilities. Others are participating in regular drive-by protests all over New Jersey, honking their horns in front of the jails from cars plastered with homemade #FreeThemAll posters.

“It’s always been a crisis, but I would say now it’s much worse,” said Rosa Santana, program director of First Friends of New Jersey and New York, a nonprofit.

Two of New Jersey’s detention centers, the Bergen County Jail in Hackensack and the Hudson County Correctional Facility, house ICE detainees mostly found in New York. The other two, the Elizabeth Detention Center in Elizabeth and the Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, mainly hold immigrants detained in New Jersey. All four jails receive people apprehended at the United States/Mexico border or at points of entrance like airports. Some are transferred in from other states.

Before the virus hit, about 2,200 detainees were held in New Jersey’s four facilities, sleeping in bunk beds and sharing bathrooms, Santana said. Now, following new recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and several lawsuits, about 1,100 remain. They stay in cells up to 23 hours a day to reduce time spent in communal areas, with sick detainees sent to separate units to be quarantined.

Edwin Tineo, who spent 13 months in the Hudson County Correctional Facility, witnessed a hunger strike before he was released in March. The protest was in response to a lack of supplies like hand soap and toilet paper, but also a lack of information.

“Nobody was telling us nothing” when the pandemic started, said Tineo, 30, a husband and father of two who lives in Fresh Meadows, Queens, and worked as an HVAC installer before ICE detained him in 2019. “Being there was the most stressful thing I’ve ever experienced in my life,” he said. “It was like being blindfolded.”

In March, ICE started to evaluate its detained population for those who might be at “higher risk for severe illness as a result of COVID-19,” a spokesman said, “to determine whether continued detention was appropriate.” This resulted in the release of hundreds of detainees.

Until recently, Massaquoi, the Macy’s truck driver, had somehow slipped through the cracks, despite exhibiting a number of underlying health conditions, according to his lawyer, John P. Leschak, who was hired to take on Massaquoi’s case by the same nonprofit that paid for his quarantine at the hotel.

“The man suffers from hypertension, which is the leading comorbidity in COVID cases in New York and New Jersey, and he also has asthma and is prediabetic,” Leschak said. “And other than a minor offense from 20 years ago, he had nothing on his criminal record.”

But Massaquoi was one of the lucky ones. He tested negative for the virus, and after an uneventful quarantine at the Red Roof Inn, was finally reunited with his family, in the flesh, this month. He was especially moved by his newborn.

“I had been thinking I wasn’t ever going to be able to see him; I cried when I saw him,” he said. “And my other son, he was so happy to have his Daddy back. I’m praying that everything is OK. I don’t know what’s going to come up. But I worry every day.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

© 2020 The New York Times Company

1. 
   

FORBES WORLDS 50 BILLIONAIRES AND A MILLIONAIRE

The richest people on Earth are not immune to the coronavirus. As the pandemic tightened its grip on Europe and America, global equity markets imploded, tanking many fortunes. When we finalized this list, Forbes counted 2,095 billionaires, 58 fewer than a year ago and 226 fewer than just 12 days earlier, when we initially calculated these net worths. Of the billionaires who remain, 51% are poorer than they were last year. In raw terms, the world’s billionaires are worth $8 trillion, down $700 billion from 2019.

THE 1% OF THE 1% ARE NOT POORER THEY JUST ARE A BIT SHORT OF CASH RIGHT NOW

PS ONE OF THOSE ON THE COVER IS A MILLIONAIRE NOT A BILLIONAIRE 

  

Opinion: Dud stock picks, bad industry bets, vast underperformance — it’s the end of the Warren Buffett era TIME TO CONSUME NOT SAVE

Howard Gold's No-Nonsense Investing

Published: May 16, 2020
By Howard Gold

The chairman of Berkshire Hathaway seems to prefer the S&P 500 to his own company’s stock

Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway. Bloomberg News/Landov

Who is the Greatest of All Time? Michael or LeBron? Willie or the Babe? Aretha or Ol’ Blue Eyes?

When it comes to investing, Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway BRK.B, -0.98%, is unquestionably the greatest who ever lived, posting an extraordinary record over more than five decades. From 1965 through 2018, Berkshire racked up a 20.5% compound annual return, more than double that of the S&P 500 SPX, +0.39%, including dividends.

Buffett also is a beloved multibillionaire in an age when the superrich are vilified. His homespun wisdom and Midwestern humility have made him the most sacred of all cows to a business media hungry for wit and personality. His paeans to free-market capitalism, along with his Democratic politics, haven’t hurt him with that group, either.

Read:Warren Buffett’s ‘outdated view’: One longtime fan is considering dumping his entire Berkshire stake


But now, after profoundly underperforming the S&P 500 throughout the entire 11-year bull market, it’s fair to ask whether Buffett is still, well, Buffett. Even at the company’s virtual annual meeting, held in Omaha on May 2, some questions by shareholders, curated by CNBC’s Becky Quick, struck this listener as unusually sharp.

At times, Buffett seemed uncomfortable amid PowerPoint slides and the absence of his longtime friend and business partner, Charlie Munger, who didn’t make the trip. His bullish comments about America seemed oddly discordant while a pandemic ravages our economy.


Meanwhile, intimations of mortality hung over the proceedings. Munger is 96 and Buffett turns 90 in August. The two, Buffett said, “are not going any place voluntarily, but we probably will go someplace involuntarily before that long.” Then he quickly added, “Charlie’s in good health, incidentally. I’m in good health.”
Questions put to Buffett

No wonder shareholders asked about how Berkshire will fare without Buffett and Munger at the helm.

The right question, however, is how Berkshire is doing with them. Consider:

• From March 9, 2009, the last bear market low, through Feb. 19, 2020, the recent bull market peak, Berkshire‘s Class B shares surged 396%. Sounds impressive, but Berkshire trailed the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, +0.46% and Vanguard Total Stock Market Index ETF VTI, +0.60% by more than 100 percentage points, after dividends were reinvested. (So far in 2020, Berkshire stock has lost nearly 25%, lagging those index ETFs by more than 10 percentage points.)


• As of March 31, Berkshire had more than $130 billion in cash, earning almost nothing. Yet even amid the coronavirus crash, Buffett and Munger haven’t spent any of it on the big deals that made them famous. Buffett attributed that to the Federal Reserve’s multitrillion-dollar intervention, which dwarfed whatever Berkshire could do.

• Berkshire won’t spend any cash to pay a dividend, while it’s happy to collect dividends from the companies it owns. Even a modest dividend yield would have helped Berkshire shareholders narrow the gap with the S&P 500 over the past 11 years.

• Berkshire’s operating businesses are doing well and throw off tons of cash. But this mishmash of insurance, consumer products, energy, utilities and railroads just doesn’t have the growth that forward-looking investors now demand. As oil prices are likely to stay depressed for some time, the energy business’ prospects are particularly grim.

• Several recent investments, like Kraft Heinz KHC, +1.38%, Occidental Petroleum OXY, +0.43% and airline stocks (which Berkshire sold in April) have been duds, and it’s hard to imagine what would propel those stocks higher. Apple AAPL, -0.59%, the largest of Berkshire’s equity investments, is among the few technology stocks in an investment portfolio so full of blue-chip banking names it could almost be a financial sector ETF.

I emailed those questions to Berkshire but got no response by deadline.
Index fund versus Berkshire stock

Buffett himself acknowledged how tough it will be for Berkshire to beat the S&P 500 from here on. “Berkshire is about as sound as any single investment can be,” he told the annual meeting, “but I would not want to bet my life on whether we beat the S&P 500 over the next 10 years.”

“In my view, for most people, the best thing to do is to own the S&P 500 index fund,” he said, echoing past statements.

“I would make no promise to anybody that we will do better than the S&P 500. But what I will promise them is that I’ve got 99% of my money in Berkshire.”

But not apparently his heirs’ money. “I haven’t changed my will and it directs that my widow would have 90% of the funds in index funds,” he said.

Follow the money — the future money. Warren Buffett is saying, almost in so many words, that an S&P 500 index fund is a better investment now than Berkshire Hathaway’s stock. There simply aren’t many new tricks this 90-year-old can learn, especially when growth investing, indexing and trillions of dollars of Fed buying power have stolen much of Berkshire’s thunder.

More than anyone else, he must know he’s had a marvelous run but that the curtain is coming down on the Buffett era. These days, even on Broadway, the show won’t go on.

Howard R. Gold is a MarketWatch columnist. He owns no shares in Berkshire Hathaway. Follow him on Twitter @howardrgold.