UPDATED
Despite risks, Trump says he’s taking hydroxychloroquine
https://apnews.com/6c49ebd33c591eb365b8c451058a0931

Trump says he’s taking malaria drug to protect against virus
https://apnews.com/0fbe485717c9a74e6d6c48aee7d208ae

By ZEKE MILLER, MARILYNN MARCHIONE and DARLENE SUPERVILLE

MAY 19,2020

President Donald Trump tells reporters that he is taking zinc and hydroxychloroquine during a meeting with restaurant industry s about the coronavirus response, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Monday, May 18, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)WASHINGTON

 (AP) — The White House hurried Tuesday to defend President Donald Trump’s decision to take a malaria drug to protect against the coronavirus, despite warnings from his own government that it should only be administered for COVID-19 in a hospital or research setting due to potentially fatal side effects.

Trump told reporters a day earlier that he has been taking the drug, hydroxychloroquine, and a zinc supplement daily “for about a week and a half now,” after two White House staffers tested positive for the coronavirus. Trump has spent months pushing hydroxychloroquine as a potential cure or preventive drug for COVID-19 against the cautionary advice of many of his administration’s top medical professionals. The drug has the potential to cause significant side effects in some patients and has not been shown to combat the new coronavirus.

Amid concerns from some public health experts that Trump’s example could send more people to misuse the drug, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Tuesday that “tens of millions of people around the world have used this drug for other purposes,” including malaria prophylaxis. She emphasized that “any use of hydroxychloroquine has to be in consultation with your doctor. You have to have a prescription. That’s the way it must be done.”

CNN’s Berman exposes the real reason Trump claimed to take unproven COVID-19 drugs


President Donald Trump’s claims about taking anti-malarial drug hyroxychloroquine to ward off contracting the novel coronavirus drew a mixture of skepticism and scorn on a CNN panel Tuesday morning.

Co-host John Berman seemed visibly annoyed after watching a clip of Trump boasting about taking the drug, which has been linked to heart failure in some patients.

“This is not a game,” Berman said. “90,000 Americans have died, and this is just dumb. He just wasted another day where he could have been doing something to help the American people to keep that number down, and instead, he’s preening and bragging about taking a drug that science so far has shown shows no benefits.”

Dr. Carlos Del Rio, an epidemiologist at the Emory University School of Medicine, tried to speculate about why Trump would want to take this drug but nonetheless came away baffled.

“The president must have had pretty significant exposure to COVID and that’s made him decide to do this,” he said. “But I don’t know why he’s decided to take hydroxychloroquine, which we know doesn’t work, versus wearing a mask.”

“It’s about owning the libs,” Berman replied. “He’s taking a drug and preening about it just to own the liberals in his mind, and I don’t think it’s doing a single thing to save a single life.”

Watch the video below

Trump’s use of malaria drug likely to be welcomed in India

By EMILY SCHMALL and ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL

today

A chemist displays hydroxychloroquine tablets in Mumbai, India, Tuesday, May 19, 2020. President Donald Trump’s declaration that he was taking the antimalarial drug of dubious effectiveness to help fend off the coronavirus will be welcomed in India. Trump's previous endorsement of hydroxychloroquine catalyzed a tremendous shift in the South Asian country, spurring the world’s largest producer of the drug to make much more of it, prescribe it for front-line health workers treating cases of the coronavirus and deploy it as a diplomatic tool, despite mounting evidence against using the drug for COVID-19. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
NEW DELHI (AP) — President Donald Trump’s declaration that he was taking a malaria drug of dubious effectiveness to help fend off the coronavirus will likely be welcomed in India.

Trump’s previous endorsement of hydroxychloroquine catalyzed a tremendous shift in the South Asian country, spurring the world’s largest producer of the drug to make much more of it, prescribe it for front-line health workers treating the virus and deploy it as a diplomatic tool, despite mounting evidence against using the drug for COVID-19.

Trump said Monday that he was taking hydroxychloroquine as a measure of protection against the virus. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, however, has cautioned against using it outside of hospitals because of the risk of serious heart problems.

Suhhil Gupta, a pharmacist in New Delhi, said Tuesday that Trump’s announcement shouldn’t carry any weight in India.

“He’s not a pharmacist. His statements are not relevant to the field,” Gupta said.

Still, India’s policy on the decades-old drug, used to prevent malaria and treat lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, drastically changed after Trump tweeted in March that the drug, used together with an antibiotic, could be “game changers” in the fight against the pandemic. India’s health ministry quickly approved it as a prophylactic for health care workers and others at high risk of infection, and as a treatment for critically ill patients.

Officials in Mumbai even drew up a plan to administer hydroxychloroquine to thousands of slum dwellers as a preventive measure against the virus.

Indian health officials have declined repeated requests for comment, limiting communications to daily health briefings, the last of which occurred May 11.

The rules say that drugs such as hydroxychloroquine be used only after a rigorous scientific and ethical review, continued oversight by an ethics committee and ensuring informed consent — none of which happened with hydroxychloroquine, according to Dr. Amar Jesani, a medical ethics expert.

The Mumbai proposal was ultimately shelved amid questions of the ethics of administering the malaria drug without first subjecting it to clinical trials. Still, the Indian government has recommended more and more people use it, contravening 2017 rules for emergency use of untested drugs, Jesani said.

India initially banned hydroxychloroquine exports, but lifted the ban after Trump threatened “retaliation.” At the same time, India’s government ordered manufacturers to ramp up production from 1.2 million to 3 million pills a month — causing company shares to skyrocket. From the U.S. to Australia, sales jumped.
Full Coverage: Virus Outbreak

Officials have even said that Indian plantations could increase the growing capacity of cinchona trees, whose bark contains the compound quinine, which has been used to treat malaria since the 1860s. Quinine can also be made synthetically.

The Indian government itself purchased 100 million hydroxychloroquine pills, according to government data, to distribute to states and donate to countries including Afghanistan, Myanmar and the Dominican Republic.
India is the world’s largest producer of generic drugs, a fast-growing industry that has brought down pharmaceutical prices globally. During the HIV/AIDs crisis, India played a similar role as in the coronavirus pandemic, boosting global supplies of life-saving drugs.

The problem this time, experts say, is that the hydroxychloroquine hype is based on a flimsy study, with little to no evidence that it prevents or treats COVID-19.

Still, a sharp rise in demand has reduced supplies for patients with lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

India’s hurried guidance has also impeded scientific trials that could determine whether the benefits of taking hydroxychloroquine outweigh the risks.

“We should do a trial. I think that is the right way to come to answer on this question. But the (government) made our job harder,” said Dr. Bharath Kumar, whose team has proposed a trial.

Meanwhile, evidence against using hydroxychloroquine for the coronavirus is growing.

A U.S. study of 368 patients in veterans’ hospitals, the largest study yet examining the malaria drug’s value as a coronavirus antidote, found no benefits and even more deaths among those given the drug.

The Indian government’s own assessment of 19 drugs found that hydroxychloroquine wasn’t the most promising. A task force noted that while HCQ was readily available, the strength of scientific evidence for the mechanism of action was fairly low.

With more than 101,000 cases and 3,163 deaths, the coronavirus hasn’t yet overwhelmed India’s limited health care system. But that’s starting to change in some hot spots as a stringent weeks-long nationwide lockdown begins to ease, allowing for greater mobility of the country’s 1.3 billion people.

Nowhere is this clearer than in Maharashtra, the coastal state in central India bearing a third of India’s virus caseload. The state’s medical education and research agency has been administering hydroxychloroquine to patients in public hospitals and clinics, according to court records.

Agency chief Dr. Tatyarao P. Lahane said protocols set by India’s government were being followed and declined to answer further questions.

Dr. Shriprakash Kalantri of the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences in Maharashtra said the government was recommending hydroxychloroquine for “off label,” or unapproved, use, meaning that patients must be told that “there is a small but significant risk that it might harm you.”

“If there is no evidence backed by solid clinical trials, then why are the scientific bodies pushing this drug and giving an impression to the public that this is a magic bullet and this is your last hope?” Kalantri said.

___

Associated Press writer Biswajeet Banerjee in Lucknow, India, contributed to this report.

No—Canada does not deserve UN Security Council seat----

Argue Noam Chomsky, Roger Waters, Monia Mazigh, and 100+ others—

May 19, 2020 By Common Dreams



“Despite its peaceful reputation, Canada is not acting as a benevolent player on the international stage,” warns open letter from activists, artists, and academics.

As Canada vies for a temporary seat on the United Nations Security Council an open letter published Tuesday argues the Ottawa government—despite a more rosy reputation compared to its powerful U.S. neighbor—should be seen for what it more accurately is: a powerful international force in its own right that continues to play a negative role on the world stage when it comes to militarism and endless war, human rights abuses, environmental degradation both at home and abroad, and its outsized role in exacerbating the climate crisis.

“The international community should not reward bad behaviour,” the signatories argue in the letter and an adjoining online petition.

.

NO NO NO to Canada

   

does NOT deserve a seat in UN Security Council https://t.co/Bg95FJ5Mom
— Kanahus Manuel (@KanahusFreedom) May 19, 2020


The signers of the letter—who include Harsha Walia, Noam Chomsky, Rogers Waters, Bianca Mugyenyi, Kanahus Manuel, Richard Falk, and over one hundred others—highlight Canada’s woeful silence and disregard when it comes to the abuse of the Palestinian people and the Israeli government’s most recent effort to annex the Occupied Territories of the West Bank.

As highlighted Tuesday by Michael Lynk, associate professor of law at Western University and special rapporteur for the United Nations Human Rights Council on the situation in the Palestinian territory, the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been noticeably absent even as countries like Ireland and Norway—which are also vying for the UNSC seat—have publicly spoken out against Israel’s efforts.

Where is Canada on such an issue of grave international importance? “I argue that Canada is missing in action,” wrote Lynk. “No public statements against Israel’s annexation proposal have been issued. No planned accountability measures have been floated. No criticism, however mild, has been offered.”

The open letter, also backed by 20 organizations, makes a similar critique. “In the Middle East, Canada has sided with Israel on almost every issue of importance,” the letter states. “Since coming to power the Trudeau government has voted against more than fifty U.N. resolutions upholding Palestinian rights backed by the overwhelming majority of member states. The Canadian government has refused to abide by 2016 U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334, calling on member states to ‘distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied in 1967.'”

Canada’s foreign policy record should disqualify it for seat on UN Security Council. Open letter endorsed by David Suzuki, @RogerWaters, Noam Chomsky @Pam_Palmater @AntoniaZ @MoniaMazigh & 100 artists, activists, academics. Join at:https://t.co/xvO0lYvHNR #NoUNSC4Canada #cdnpoli
— Bianca Mugyenyi (@Bianca_Kabibi) May 19, 2020

While Canada is competing against Norway and Ireland for the two-year temporary seat—and with a vote scheduled for June—Trudeau has argued the nation’s leadership will be vital in the years to come as the world continues to grapple with the Covid-19 fallout.

But instead of upholding standards of international law and human rights, the letter contends that Ottawa and Trudeau have showed the opposite of leadership and accuses Canada of frequently echoing “Trump’s foreign policy” in the Western Hemisphere by backing “reactionary forces” in Latin America and defending Canadian mining companies despite allegations and evidence of fueling rights abuses and ecological damage in countries across the globe. For its disregard for the rights of First Nations and other Indigenous groups worldwide, the signers argue that Canada has failed to live up its promises both at home and abroad.

With massive oil, gas, and mineral reserves—including the Alberta tar sands—those objecting to Canada’s seat say that refusing to “keep Canada’s dirty oil in the ground” while at the same time operating as one of the world’s largest per-capita emitters, should be disqualifying.

“Despite its peaceful reputation, Canada is not acting as a benevolent player on the international stage,” the letter states.

It concludes, “Please vote against Canada’s bid for a seat on the UN Security Council.”

Read the open letter in full, along with signatories and supporting organizations, below:

CANADA DOES NOT DESERVE A SEAT ON THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL

Despite its peaceful reputation, Canada is not acting as a benevolent player on the international stage.

Rather, Canada ranks among the twelve largest arms exporters and its weapons have fueled conflicts across the globe, including the devastating war in Yemen.

In a disappointing move, Canada refused to join 122 countries represented at the 2017 UN Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading Towards their Total Elimination.

Ottawa has also been an aggressive proponent of the nuclear-armed NATO alliance, and currently leads coalition missions in Latvia and Iraq.

Echoing Trump’s foreign policy, Canada has backed reactionary forces in the Americas. The Trudeau government has led efforts to unseat Venezuela’s UN-recognized government, while propping up repressive, corrupt and illegitimate governments in Haiti and Honduras. Canada also lent its support to the economic elites and Christian extremists who recently overthrew the democratically elected indigenous president of Bolivia.

In the Middle East, Canada has sided with Israel on almost every issue of importance. Since coming to power the Trudeau government has voted against more than fifty UN resolutions upholding Palestinian rights backed by the overwhelming majority of member states. The Canadian government has refused to abide by 2016 UN Security Council Resolution 2334, calling on member states to “distinguish, in their relevant dealings, between the territory of the State of Israel and the territories occupied in 1967.” On the contrary, Ottawa extends economic and trade assistance to Israel’s illegal settlement enterprise. Should it win a seat on the UNSC, Ottawa has stated that it will act as an “asset for Israel” on the Council.

Canadian mining companies are responsible for countless ecological and human rights abuses around the globe. Still, Ottawa defends the most controversial mining firms and refuses to restrict public support for companies responsible for abuses. The chair of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights criticized the Trudeau government for refusing to rein in mining abuses while the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and hazardous substances and wastes has decried the “double standard” applied to Canadian mining practices domestically versus internationally.

Falling short of its responsibilities as a global citizen, Canada continues to oppose the Basel Ban Amendment on the export of waste from rich to poor countries, which became binding in late 2019 after ratification by 97 countries. Ottawa also failed to ratify the United Nations’ Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Ottawa has refused to ratify more than 50 International Labour Organization conventions. In November 2019, Canada once again refused to back a widely supported UN resolution on “Combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fuelling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.”

Violating the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the Trudeau government sent militarized police into unceded Wet’suwet’en Nation territory to push through a pipeline. The UN Human Rights Committee recently documented various ways Canada is failing to live up to its obligations towards indigenous people under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Ignoring front-line victims, Ottawa refuses to keep Canada’s dirty oil in the ground. Canada is on pace to emit significantly more greenhouse gases than it agreed to in the 2015 Paris Agreement and previous climate accords. Already among the world’s highest per capita emitters, the Canadian government is subsidizing further growth of heavy emitting tar sands, at the expense of impoverished nations who’ve contributed little to the climate crisis but bear the brunt of its impacts.

The international community should not reward bad behaviour. Please vote against Canada’s bid for a seat on the UN Security Council.

SIGNATURES

David Suzuki, Award winning geneticist/broadcaster
Roger Waters, co-founder Pink Floyd
Noam Chomsky, linguist, author & social critic
Ellen Gabriel, artist and activist
Roméo Saganash, former MP Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou
Sid Ryan, former president of Ontario Federation of Labour and CUPE Ontario
Rawi Hage, novelist
Amir Khadir, former Quebec National Assembly member
Pam Palmater, Chair in Indigenous Governance, Ryerson
Judy Rebick, activist and author
Jord Samolesky, Propagandhi
Steve Ashton, long-serving member of the Manitoba legislature and cabinet minister
George Elliott Clarke, poet and professor
Mairead Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize co-winner (1976)
Trevor Herriot, author and activist
John Clark, activist
Charles Demers, comedian & author
Alain Deneault, essayist and philosophy professor
Martin Duckworth, laureate of the 2015 Albert-Tessier Prix du Quebec for cinema
Cy Gonick, former Manitoba NDP MLA and founding editor of Canadian Dimension
John Greyson, film-maker & professor
Syed Hussan, Migrant Workers Alliance
El Jones, activist, educator, journalist and poet
Gordon Laxer, author/founding Director Parkland Institute
Monia Mazigh, PhD, author and activist
Jim Manly, Member of Parliament 1980-88
Kanahus Manuel, activist
Tim McCaskell, educator & activist
Sheelah Mclean, co-founder Idle No More organizer
Serge Mongeau, author & editor
Mike Palecek, former National President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Dimitri Roussopoulos, author, and long-time peace movement activist
Clayton Thomas-Müller – Director, Author, Senior Campaign Specialist – 350.org
Rinaldo Walcott, professor
Ingrid Waldron, author & professor
Harsha Walia, author & activist
Antonia Zerbisias, journalist & activist
Greg Albo, Professor of Politics, York University
August Arnold, journalist and author
Antonio Artuso, Front uni contre le fascisme et la guerre
Corey Balsam, National Coordinator, Independent Jewish Voices Canada
Nik Barry-Shaw, author
Corey Balsam, National Coordinator, Independent Jewish Voices Canada
Susan Bazilli, PhD – Director, International Women’s Rights Project
Ron Benner, artist
Karl Beveridge, artist
Raul Burbano, activist
Nancy Brown, teacher/librarian, peace/human rights activist
David Camfield, activist and academic
Stefan Christoff, artist & activist
Carole Condé, artist
Gerry Condon, Veterans for Peace (US), former president
Deborah Cowen, Professor, Department of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto
Raju J Das, York University
Judith Deutsch, academic
Gord Doctorow, educator
Martine Eloy, antiwar and human rights activist
Darren Ell, Photographer
Gary Engler, author
Yves Engler, author & activist
Joe Emersberger, author
Richard Falk, Professor of International Law emeritus, Princeton University
Kiran Fatima, co-chair Toronto Association for Peace & Solidarity
Richard Fidler, Author and Activist
Miguel Figueroa, President, Canadian Peace Congress
Don Foreman, Canadian Union of Postal Workers
Alan Freeman, author & economist
Gavin Fridell, Canada Research Chair and Associate Professor in International Development Studies Saint Mary’s University
Dr. Todd Gordon, Associate Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University
Peter Gose, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology Carleton University
Harry Glasbeek, Professor Emeritus and Senior Scholar, Osgoode Hall Law School
Tracy Glynn, activist and writer
Cory Greenlees, activist
Malcolm Guy, documentary film director/producer
Michael Harris, author
Jamelie Hassan, artist
David Heap, teacher-researcher; peace & human rights advocate
Evert Hoogers, CUPW (retired)
Pierre Jasmin, artiste pour la paix
Dru Jay, author & activist
David Kattenburg, University instructor & journalist
Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence (USA)
Gary Kinsman, activist and author
Harry Kopyto, legal activist
Jonathan Kuttab, International human rights lawyer
Dimitri Lascaris, lawyer/journalist/activist
Ed Lehman, Regina Peace Council
Raymond Legault, activist, Collectif Échec à la guerre
Tamara Lorincz, PhD candidate and member of the Canadian Voice of Women for Peace
Martin Lukacs, journalist
Eva Manly, retired filmmaker
Robin Mathews, author
Amy Miller, filmmaker
David Mivasair, retired rabbi
Bianca Mugyenyi, activist, former Co-ED The Leap
Elizabeth Murray, former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East, National Intelligence Council (ret.)
Dr. Susan O’Donnell, researcher, writer and activist
Nino Pagliccia, activist and freelance writer
Dr. Idrisa Pandit, academic
Brent Patterson, activist
Justin Podur, author and professor
Judi Rever, journalist and author
Karen Rodman, human rights activist
Richard Roman, retired professor, writer
Reuben Roth, Professor
Herman Rosenfeld, Socialist Project
Grahame Russell, Co-Director – Rights Action
Joan Russow, activist
Cory Greenlees
Sakura Saunders, activist
Harold Shuster, Independent Jewish Voices-Winnipeg
Ken Stone, President – Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War
Donald Swartz, Carleton University
Koozma J. Tarasoff, peace activist
Marianne Vardalos, PhD Department of Sociology
Jay Watts, co-chair Toronto Association for Peace & Solidarity
Paul Weinberg, author
Barry Weisleder, federal secretary, Socialist Action
Elizabeth Whitmore, activist
Ellen Woodsworth, writer, organizer and former Vancouver City councillor
Dwyer Sullivan, board member – Conscience Canada
Dr. Thom Workman, professor, University of New Brunswick
Ann Wright, retired US Army Colonel and former US diplomat.

ORGANISATIONS

Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) – Conseil central du Montréal métropolitain
Mining Watch
Independent Jewish Voices/ Voix juives indépendantes
Mouvement Québécois pour la Paix
Solidarité Québec-Haïti
Hamilton Coalition To Stop The War
Council of Canadians – London Chapter
Canada Palestine Association-Vancouver
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement pour une Paix Juste
Socialist Project
Canadian BDS Coalition
Socialist Action
Canadian Boat to Gaza,
Leap Montreal
CAIA Victoria
Freedom Flotilla Coalition
Gaza Freedom Flotilla Australia
Regina Peace Council
Al-Haadi Musalla

The petition will be delivered to UN member states prior to the vote for the security council seat in June.
*If your group or organization would like to endorse the open letter, please write to us at info@foreignpolicy.ca

Florida removes data scientist who refused to manipulate COVID-19 numbers to support reopening
Published May 19, 2020 Travis Gettys


The architect and manager of Florida’s coronavirus dashboard says she has been removed from her post because she refused to manipulate data.

The online dashboard has been a valuable resource for researchers, reporters and the public to access and review COVID-19 cases, testing and death data, and had won wide praise for its transparency and accessibility, reported Florida Today.

However, the site has crashed and gone offline in recent weeks, data has disappeared without explanation — and Rebekah Jones, who led a team of Florida Department of Health data scientists and public health officers to set up the site, announced her removal as of May 5.
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“I understand, appreciate, and even share your concern about all the dramatic changes that have occurred and those that are yet to come,” Jones wrote her colleagues in an email.

“As a word of caution, I would not expect the new team to continue the same level of accessibility and transparency that I made central to the process during the first two months,” she added. “After all, my commitment to both is largely (arguably entirely) the reason I am no longer managing it.”

Jones confirmed to WPEC-TV that she was removed because she was ordered to censor some data, but she refused to “manually change data to drum up support for the plan to reopen.”

The state’s Department of Health declined to comment, but researchers blasted the move as an example of government censorship.

“We would not accept this lack of transparency for any other natural disaster, so why are we willing to accept it here?” said Jennifer Larsen, a researcher at the University of Central Florida’s LabX.

Data access has not worsened since Jones was removed, according to researchers, but they worry that the data will become less available.

“They are pretending that public health is what has damaged (the) economy,” said Asal Johnson, an assistant professor of Public Health at Stetson University. “They are getting it wrong; the economy is damaged because we ignored evidence to protect public health.

“They think they can save their own political interest by restricting information,” she added.

The situation was even more dangerous now that Florida has already reopened, researchers said.

“The virus doesn’t really give a damn if you hide its numbers,” said Jennifer Larsen, a researcher at the University of Central Florida’s LabX.

Thousands return to work at more than 50 reopened U.S. auto plants


After workers expressed concern about returning to assembly plants, the union has offered assurance it will keep close watch on conditions. File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI | License Photo

May 18 (UPI) -- U.S. automakers reopened dozens of plants across the United States Monday for the first time in nearly two months in a major test of how well the American economy can rebound from the coronavirus pandemic.

General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler each resumed production at plants in Detroit; Chicago; Toledo, Ohio; Louisville, Ky.; and Kansas City under an agreement reached with the United Auto Workers

Thousands of workers returned to factories outfitted with new health and safety protocols that have already been implemented at plants in China and Europe.

How well the new measures can prevent the spread of COVID-19 will be closely watched as an indicator of how other sectors of the economy may fare as pandemic restrictions are loosened nationwide.

RELATED Economic downturn expected to disrupt U.S. used car market

After workers expressed concern about returning to assembly plants too soon, the union offered assurance it will keep close watch on conditions.

"The UAW will continue to do everything we can to protect the health and safety of all members as plants reopen," union president Rory Gamble said. "And we will continue to advocate for as much testing as possible and full testing as it becomes available."

The automakers are anxious to restart production as U.S. production of vehicles and parts fell by more than 70 percent in April, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve. The industry has yet to ask Congress for emergency aid, and automakers say they have enough cash reserves and credit lines to avoid bankruptcy.


Automakers help restart US industry as globe reopens further

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United Auto Workers members leave the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Warren Truck Plant after the first work shift, Monday, May 18, 2020, in Warren, Mich. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV along with rivals Ford and General Motors Co., restarted the assembly lines on Monday after several week of inactivity due to the corona virus pandemic. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

WARREN, Mich. (AP) — More than 130,000 autoworkers returned to factories across the U.S. for the first time in nearly two months Monday in one of the biggest steps yet to restart American industry, while an experimental vaccine against the coronavirus yielded encouraging results in a small and extremely early test.

Stocks rallied on the vaccine news and signs that the worst of the crisis has passed in many countries. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared about 900 points, or nearly 4%.


In a surprise announcement, President Donald Trump said he’s been taking a malaria drug to protect against the virus even though his own administration has warned it should only be administered in a hospital or research setting because of potentially fatal side effects.

Automakers from Detroit’s Big Three — Fiat Chrysler, General Motors and Ford — to Honda and Toyota put screening procedures in place at the dozens of factories that reopened from the Great Lakes states south to Tennessee and Texas and out west to Tesla’s factory near the San Francisco Bay. Some Detroit automakers started cranking out vehicles Monday, but it will take longer to fully restart other plants. Workers appeared reassured by the precautions.

At a Fiat Chrysler pickup truck assembly plant in Warren, outside Detroit, workers entered a giant white tent with a sign reading, “Let’s restart and keep each other safe.” They had their temperatures checked and answered questions on whether they had COVID-19 symptoms.

“I feel safer than being anywhere at any stores, because they got the screening and everything,” said Ann’alazia Moore, a janitor at the factory. “I feel like that’s amazing. That’s smart. I like that. So, I feel more safe. I won’t get sick.”

Cole Stevenson, who installs steering wheels at a Ford pickup truck plant in Dearborn, Michigan, said, “The parts of the plant where people would be closer together, they’ve put up a lot of partitions. You can tell they’ve taken tape measures to just about any surface two people would need to be near each other.”

Meanwhile, an experimental vaccine by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Moderna Inc. triggered hoped-for immune responses in eight healthy, middle-aged volunteers. They were found to have antibodies similar to those seen in people who have recovered from COVID-19.

Further studies on the vaccine’s safety, effectiveness and optimal dosage still need to be done. But with people desperate for any sign of progress, the findings caused excitement on Wall Street.


Worldwide, about a dozen vaccine candidates are in the first stages of testing or nearing it. Health officials have said that if all goes well, studies might wrap up late this year or early 2021.

The malaria drug that Trump says he’s been taking daily “for about a week and a half now” has not been shown to combat the coronavirus.

“I started taking it, because I think it’s good,” Trump said. “I’ve heard a lot of good stories.”

Despite warnings from health experts that the virus could make a resurgence, many states have eased lockdowns under pressure from Trump to save businesses and livelihoods. U.S. unemployment surged in April to 14.7%, a level not seen since the Depression.

Health authorities will be watching for a second wave of infections and worry Americans will disregard social distancing over Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer. There were already large crowds last weekend: Connecticut had to close beaches when they reached capacity under new rules, and people packed the Virginia Beach oceanfront even before restrictions were relaxed.

Deputies north of Orlando, Florida, say they were hit with cups of alcohol, bottles and bar stools after making arrests at a weekend block party with an estimated 3,000 people. Walt Disney World posted a warning about COVID-19 as it prepares to allow some third-party shops and restaurants to reopen this week.

Bars, day cares and zoos were the latest parts of Texas’ economy to reopen with social distancing measures. By June, summer camps and youth sports will be allowed in the second-most-populated state.

One of California’s largest tribal casinos reopened with customers getting their temperatures taken and being ordered to cover their faces, while every other slot machine was turned off to keep people separated. A large turnout meant many were still playing less than 6 feet (2 meters) apart.

Ronda McLauchlan lined up at 7:30 a.m. before going to work as a painting contractor because “it’s all about freedom.”

Europe also has pushed ahead with reopening, allowing people into the Acropolis in Athens, high-fashion boutiques in Italy, museums in Belgium, golf courses in Ireland and beer gardens in Bavaria.

More than 4.7 million people worldwide have tested positive for the virus and over 318,000 deaths have been recorded, including about 90,000 in the U.S. and over 160,000 in Europe, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Those figures are believed to understate the true dimensions of the outbreak because of limited testing, differences in counting the dead and concealment by some governments.

In other developments, the World Health Organization bowed to calls to launch an independent investigation into how it responded to the coronavirus. Trump has repeatedly attacked both WHO and China, claiming the U.N. agency helped Beijing conceal the extent of the outbreak in its early stages.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the probe will take place “at the earliest appropriate moment.” The announcement at WHO’s annual meeting came after a watchdog body found possible shortcomings in the agency’s warning system.
Full Coverage: Virus Outbreak

Chinese President Xi Jinping defended China’s record, saying it provided all relevant outbreak data to WHO and other countries, including the virus’s genetic sequence, “in a most timely fashion.”

With new infections and deaths slowing considerably in Europe, many countries are preparing to reopen their borders and trying to draw up rules for a highly unusual summer tourist season.

“This vacation this year won’t be like the ones we know from the past,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told ZDF television. “The pandemic is still there, and we must at least have safety precautions for the worst case that the figures get worse again.”

Churches in Italy and at the Vatican resumed public Masses. Guards in hazmat suits took the temperatures of those entering St. Peter’s Basilica, where Pope Francis celebrated a Mass in a side chapel to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of St. John Paul II.

Turkey’s president announced a four-day curfew during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. The country has opted to impose short weekend and holiday curfews, instead of full lockdowns, fearing damage to the already troubled economy.

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Long reported from Washington, Krisher from Detroit. Associated Press writers around the world contributed.

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This story has been corrected to show that some Detroit automakers began producing vehicles Monday.

Hydroxychloroquine could cause Trump hallucinations — and ‘severe’ mental changes: report

May 18, 2020 By Bob Brigham
President Donald Trump could be experiencing unwanted side-effects from his use of hydroxychloroquine.

CNN’s Bob Ortega warned of the danger following Trump’s admission he has been taking the drug.

Worth noting, perhaps, that the Mayo Clinic lists possible side effects of hydroxychloroquine as including: "feeling, seeing, or hearing things that are not there… severe mood or mental changes… unusual behavior… unusual facial expressions… irritability"
— Bob Ortega (@Bob_Ortega) May 18, 2020

Indeed, the organization does warn of potential mental health impacts. 

“Feeling that others are watching you or controlling your behavior,” is one potential side effect.

ILLUSTRATION JIM CARRY

“Feeling that others can hear your thoughts,” is another.

“Feeling, seeing, or hearing things that are not there,” is also listed.

“Severe mood or mental changes,” is also listed.

Mayo also warns of “unusual behavior.”

Iowa farm group restoring habitat for bees, fish


The Iowa Soybean Association is restoring oxbows, like the one pictured, as habitat for endangered Topeka shiners. Photo courtesy of the Iowa Soybean Associatio

EVANSVILLE, Ind., May 18 (UPI) -- An Iowa farm group plans to convert several acres of unused agricultural land to habitat for endangered native bees and fish in coming years.

The project, led by the Iowa Soybean Association, involves painstakingly restoring small pieces of unusable agricultural land

"The goal is to improve non-working ground," said Corey McKinney, a conservationist with the association. "We're not taking land out of production. We're going to places like creek bottoms or fallow areas and restoring them."

The project, which began a couple of years ago, received a boost last week when Syngenta, a global seed and pesticide company, agreed to provide tens of thousands of dollars of upcoming work.
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Syngenta funds projects to restore pollinator and other endangered species habitats around the world.

"We work with organizations that are farmer-driven, innovative and connect farm productivity with conservation," Caydee Savinelli, Syngenta's stewardship team and pollinator lead, said in a statement.

"We each bring unique talents to the table. It takes a lot of partners and unique skill sets to make initiatives like this work."
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For this project, the groups are targeting habitats for two specific endangered species -- the rusty-patched bumble bee and the Topeka shiner, a freshwater fish.

Native to Midwest

The rusty-patched bumble bee is native to the Midwest. Over the last 20 years, its numbers have declined about 87 percent, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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"The species is likely to be present in only 0.1 percent of its historical range," according to the agency. "There are many potential reasons for the rusty patched bumble bee decline including habitat loss, intensive farming, disease, pesticide use and climate change."

In the last year, the Iowa Soybean Association has restored about 14 acres of habitat for those bees, and it plans to restore 5 more acres this year.

"It sounds small, but we are talking about extensive restoration work," McKinney said. "It takes time."

To survive, the bee requires multiple different types of flowering plants that bloom throughout the spring, summer and fall. The conservationists must carefully plan what kind of plants they will put on each acre, McKinney said.

Waterways aided

The association also plans to restore areas known as oxbows, which are U-shaped, off-channel waterways that flow from rivers, streams or creeks.

Those areas are ideal habitat for the endangered Topeka shiners and other freshwater fish.

Over time, oxbows tend to fill with sediment and disappear, McKinney said.

The association already has restored 23 oxbows across the state and plans to restore another 35 over the next three to five years, he said.

The restored oxbows and wildflower habitats become home to many native species other than rusty-patched bumble bees and Topeka shiners, McKinney added.

"There might not be as much habitat left for native species because of changes in the landscape, but we're trying to look at how to re-create some of the old landscapes," McKinney said.

Uber requires masks for riders and drivers, plans to lay off 3,000 more

"We are encouraging drivers to cancel trips without penalty if they don't feel safe," Uber said.

Uber said artificial intelligence built into its app will enforce the new rule that requires drivers to wear face coverings. 

May 18 (UPI) -- Beginning Monday, ride-sharing giant Uber will require all drivers and riders to wear face coverings as more governments start to lift coronavirus restrictions for businesses.

The company says drivers and riders will be asked to go through a checklist to confirm that they have taken safety measures that now include wearing a face covering as well as sanitizing their hands.

A leader in the ride-hailing business, Uber will use artificial intelligence built into its platform to verify drivers are complying with the new mandate.

Drivers are required to confirm they're wearing a face covering by submitting a selfie to the Uber app and a message will be sent to inform the rider. Riders will also be asked to sit in the back seat and open windows for ventil

"It's important to us that you know what to expect when you take that 'second first trip,'" Uber said in a statement. "Over the last two months, our tech and safety teams have been hard at work building a new product experience that will help protect everyone, every time they use Uber."

"Everyone must take proper precautions not only to protect yourself but also the driver and the next person getting in the car after," added Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshani. "It's about protecting not only yourself but everyone around you."

The new rules apply to all drivers and riders in the United States, Canada, India and most of Europe and Latin Americ

Sachin Kansal, Uber's senior director of product management, said both drivers and riders are asked to notify the company if there are violations, and repeat offenders may be have their accounts terminated.

"We are encouraging drivers to cancel trips without penalty if they don't feel safe, including if the rider isn't wearing a face cover," the company said.

Additionally, Uber said it's allocated $50 million to buy masks, disinfectant spray, wipes, hand sanitizer and gloves for both riders and drivers. The company said it had obtained more than 23 million masks by last week.


"We're also piloting new partnerships with world-class leaders in cleanliness," it added. "Working with Clorox in select cities in North America, we plan to distribute ride-sharing-specific disinfecting tips and work to make more supplies available to drivers and riders in the car."

Lyft, Uber's primary competitor, announced similar guidelines this month that mandates face coverings for its drivers and riders, sanitizing and an educational program.

Later Monday, Uber said in an SEC filing it plans to lay off 3,000 more employees and close 45 offices. That's in addition to the 3,700 jobs it said it would cut two weeks ago. As they're considered contractors, drivers were not counted in the planned layoffs.

Uber has laid off more than a quarter of its workforce since the start of the crisis while business has increased for UberEats delivery service. The company said it saw more than $4.6 billion in gross bookings between January and April, up more than 50 percent from a year ago.

Global trial to assess chloroquine against COVID-19 in health workers

May 18 (UPI) -- More than 50,000 healthcare workers worldwide will be enrolled in a clinical trial to assess chloroquine's potential in protecting against COVID-19, researchers at the Washington University of St. Louis School of Medicine announced Monday.

The U.S. arm of the study, which will begin enrolling participants later this month, is being led by the school. Results are expected in early 2021, researchers said.

"Because of their repeated close contacts with infected patients, frontline healthcare workers in all parts of the world have a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 than most members of the general public," principal investigator Michael S. Avidan, head of the Department of Anesthesiology at WUSTL, said in a press release.

"In some places, more than 10 percent of those who have become infected are healthcare workers. There is an urgent need to identify drugs that are effective at preventing infection or mitigating its severity," he added.


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Officials at Rising Pharmaceuticals said Monday the company will be donating supplies of chloroquine, which is currently used to treat malaria, for the U.S. arm of the study. The research is being funded through the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, a partnership that includes the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome and Mastercard.

Participants enrolled in the study will receive either 300 milligrams of chloroquine weekly, 300 mg. of the drug twice weekly, 150 mg. daily after being administered an "induction dose" of 1200 mg. chloroquine -- or placebo -- in four divided daily doses. New dosage arms may be added or removed as the trial progresses, according to the study design information filed with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The goal of the study will be to determine which, if any, of the chloroquine regimens is most effective at decreasing incidence of severe COVID-19 -- the disease caused by the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 -- without unacceptable side effects or safety events.


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The hope is that the drug can prevent infection, or reduce the severity of symptoms, researchers said.

"When people have to travel to parts of the world where malaria is a problem, they often take low doses of chloroquine to help prevent infection," said Avidan, who is also a professor of psychiatry and surgery. "We want to learn whether this drug might work in a similar fashion in the case of COVID-19, or at the very least, whether low-dose chloroquine might help prevent the severe and life-threatening complications associated with the illness."

In addition to the United States, the trial will enroll healthcare workers from Canada, Mexico and various countries in Europe, Africa and South America, with a particular focus on lower- and middle-income countries. Because of shortages of healthcare workers in many of these countries, protecting them from severe COVID-19 is particularly important, the researchers said.

Google searches for malaria drug spiked after Trump, Musk endo

Searches for two anti-malarial drugs touted by public officials as treatment for COVID-19 shot up nearly 500 percent and 1,400 percent, researchers report.

rsements

April 29 (UPI) -- Google searches for the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine increased by nearly 1,400 percent after high-profile endorsements of possible benefits in treating COVID-19, an analysis published Wednesday in JAMA Internal Medicine said.

Similar searches for chloroquine, another drug that treats malaria, jumped more than 440 percent, the researchers reported.

The analysis of search traffic from the beginning of February through the end of March covers the period from the start of the outbreak of the disease caused by the new coronavirus in the United States, which through Wednesday has infected more than 1 million Americans.

The two drugs were touted as possible treatments for COVID-19 by President Donald Trump and billionaire businessman Elon Musk in mid-March, despite a lack of evidence to support the claims.

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"We hear a lot of talk about misinformation all the time, but it's very nebulous," study co-author Dr. John W. Ayers, a behavioral scientist at San Diego State University, told UPI on Tuesday night. Researchers at the University of California, Harvard, Johns Hopkins and the University of Oxford worked on the study.

"It's like pornography in the Supreme Court in the 1970s: We don't know it until we see it, and even then you don't agree on it," Ayers said. "But with misinformation during the pandemic, there is an acute danger. The stakes are high. We need to address it before it adds to the public health problem we're already facing."

For the study, researchers reviewed daily Google search data from Feb. 1 to March 29 of this year, comparing it to historic trends. Search terms such as "buy," "order," "Amazon," "eBay" and"Walmart," combined with the names of the drugs, were checked.

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Musk endorsed chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine -- drugs used historically to treat autoimmune disorders and malaria -- on Twitter on March 16 and Trump first mentioned them in a press briefing three days later.

The researchers found that the "first and largest" spike in searches for purchasing the drugs corresponded directly with Musk's tweet, with 100,000 additional searches the next day. On March 20, the day after Trump's comments, more than 250,000 additional searches were conducted.

Overall, Google search activity for purchasing chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine increased 442 percent and 1,389 percent, respectively, researchers found. They also noted that even after news reports of a fatal poisoning in Arizona, searches to buy chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine remained 212 percent and 1,167 percent, respectively, above expected levels.

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Consumers turning to the internet for health information is not a new phenomenon. Research has shown that people frequently research their symptoms online before visiting a healthcare provider for diagnosis and treatment.

A study published last month in PLOS Computational Biology found that, during the Zika pandemic in 2016, Wikipedia page-views increased as much as 10 times, and that the rise corresponded directly with media mentions of the mosquito-borne virus.

"Wikipedia represents an important source of information during the current pandemic and its editors are doing their best to provide the most up-to-date information regarding COVID-19," Michele Tizzoni, lead author on the Zika study and research leader at the ISI Foundation in Torino, Italy, told UPI on Wednesday.

"However, as is stated by Wikipedia itself, Wikipedia or other Web sites cannot substitute for the advice of a medical professional," Tizzoni said.

Tizzoni and her colleagues focused on the role of media, especially television, in shaping public opinion.

She noted that during a pandemic, "the diffusion of accurate and reliable information on TV becomes even more important," as public attention -- and fear -- can be "explained by exposure to online and TV coverage, rather than the magnitude or extent of the epidemic itself."

The researchers behind the JAMA Internal Medicine study suggested that regulatory agencies and companies like Google and Bing need to "actively mitigate the negative consequences" of misinformation.

They specifically pointed to Google's integration of educational information into search results related to the outbreak -- an approach they would like to see expanded to and embraced by other platforms.

They also advised retailers to draft warnings or even withhold products that might be linked to use for COVID-19 treatment, as online retailer eBay did when it removed chloroquine products from its site.

The FDA last Friday also imposed restrictions on prescriptions for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine for the new coronavirus, after research indicated potential dangers associated with their use.

"We thought if we could identify the outbreak of the misinformation and learn how widespread it was, we could start to learn about ways we can correct it and stop it from spreading," Ayers, co-author of the JAMA Internal Medicine study, said.

Reports: Pompeo under scrutiny over Saudi deal, staffer's errands
May 18 (UPI) -- The Trump administration is under new scrutiny over the firing last week of the State Department's inspector general, as critics say it may have been a move to shield Secretary of State Mike Pompeo from potential political harm.

Trump fired the watchdog, Steven Linick, on Friday and two top congressional Democrats told the White House Monday it's investigating the matter.

CNN, NBC News and USA Today report the issues involving Pompeo include efforts to fast-track a Saudi arms deal and using a staffer for personal business.

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., chairman of the House foreign affairs committee, and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., ranking member of the Senate foreign relations committee, said in a letter to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows Linick's firing was politically motivate

"Reports indicate that Secretary Pompeo personally made the recommendation to fire Mr. Linick and it is our understanding that he did so because the inspector general had opened an investigation into wrongdoing by Secretary Pompeo himself," the letter states.

"Such an action, transparently designed to protect Secretary Pompeo from personal accountability, would undermine the foundation of our democratic institutions and may be an illegal act of retaliation."

Reports said Linick started investigating claims that Pompeo used a staffer for personal matters, such as walking his dog, picking up dry cleaning and making dinner reservations. Linick had also nearly finished an inquiry into the decision on the Saudi arms deal.

"We don't have the full picture yet, but it's troubling that Secretary Pompeo wanted Mr. Linick pushed out before this work could be completed," Engel told CNN.

"Someone obviously has something to hide that they don't want the [inspector general] to find out about," a senior department official told USA Today.

Stephen J. Akard, a former aide to Vice President Mike Pence while he was governor of Indiana, replaced Linick as State inspector general.

From Quebec to New Orleans; the story of the French in America ... Fort de Chartres
by Schlarman, Joseph H., Bp., 1879-

https://archive.org/details/fromquebectonewo00schl/mode/2up

Publication date 1929

Topics French, Indians of North America, Français, Indiens d'Amérique
Publisher Belleville, Ill., Buechler Pub. Co.
Collection university_of_illinois_urbana-champaign; americana
Digitizing sponsor University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Language English

Frontispiece accompanied by guard sheet with descriptive letter press

Maps on lining-papers

Includes bibliographical references and index

End papers hold news articles about Rt. Rev. Msgr. J. H. Schlarman