Post by t-bob on Jul 6, 2020 16:53:23 GMT -5
The latest
After 28 straight days of rising infection averages, with no solution in sight, President Trump's political strategists are betting that Americans will simply get used to an uncontrolled pandemic before he stands for reelection in November, our politics desk reported Monday.
“They’re of the belief that people will get over it or if we stop highlighting it, the base will move on and the public will learn to accept 50,000 to 100,000 new cases a day,” said a former administration official in touch with the campaign. The rolling average for daily new cases in the United States has already climbed past 49,000, driven by surges in California, Texas, Florida and Arizona, most of which have also reported record numbers of covid-19 hospitalizations in recent days.
Trump himself claimed over the weekend that 99 percent of covid-19 cases are “harmless” and a vaccine will be available this year. In reality, even people with no apparent symptoms can spread the disease to others or fall suddenly ill. And the leading effort to develop a vaccine in the U.S. relies on an elegant but unproven new genetic technology.
Fifty-seven former government scientists and public health officials have demanded the Trump administration stop politicizing the pandemic. “Sidelining science has already cost lives, imperiled the safety of our loved ones, compromised our ability to safely reopen our businesses, schools, and places of worship, and endangered the health of our democracy itself,” wrote the former officials, who served under presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Trump.
Millions of Americans are still suffering economically after the outbreak's first wave. Out-of-work renters are pleading with judges to stay in their homes — an eviction crisis expected to get much worse this month as emergency unemployment benefits expire.
Congress has adjourned for a two-week break without renewing the benefits or addressing the new wave of infections. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) plans to turn his attention to the coronavirus when members return July 20, but faces resistance from some within his party who don't want to spend more on the crisis than the $3 trillion already approved.
Other important news
More than 200 scientists from around the world urged the World Health Organization to consider evidence that the coronavirus may be airborne — capable of spreading through tiny particles that can float around indoors without detection.
The Small Business Administration disclosed the names of nearly 700,000 businesses that received money under the $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program, but is still withholding the names of most borrowers.
Finding government reopening guidelines too vague or tainted by politics, some U.S. companies are hiring their own epidemiologists.
Most U.S. states are keeping crucial details about their contact-tracing programs under wraps, making it hard to know how quickly or thoroughly they are isolating new outbreaks.
A Kansas state GOP chairman apologized after using his rural newspaper to publish a cartoon equating mask requirements with the Holocaust.
After 28 straight days of rising infection averages, with no solution in sight, President Trump's political strategists are betting that Americans will simply get used to an uncontrolled pandemic before he stands for reelection in November, our politics desk reported Monday.
“They’re of the belief that people will get over it or if we stop highlighting it, the base will move on and the public will learn to accept 50,000 to 100,000 new cases a day,” said a former administration official in touch with the campaign. The rolling average for daily new cases in the United States has already climbed past 49,000, driven by surges in California, Texas, Florida and Arizona, most of which have also reported record numbers of covid-19 hospitalizations in recent days.
Trump himself claimed over the weekend that 99 percent of covid-19 cases are “harmless” and a vaccine will be available this year. In reality, even people with no apparent symptoms can spread the disease to others or fall suddenly ill. And the leading effort to develop a vaccine in the U.S. relies on an elegant but unproven new genetic technology.
Fifty-seven former government scientists and public health officials have demanded the Trump administration stop politicizing the pandemic. “Sidelining science has already cost lives, imperiled the safety of our loved ones, compromised our ability to safely reopen our businesses, schools, and places of worship, and endangered the health of our democracy itself,” wrote the former officials, who served under presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Trump.
Millions of Americans are still suffering economically after the outbreak's first wave. Out-of-work renters are pleading with judges to stay in their homes — an eviction crisis expected to get much worse this month as emergency unemployment benefits expire.
Congress has adjourned for a two-week break without renewing the benefits or addressing the new wave of infections. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) plans to turn his attention to the coronavirus when members return July 20, but faces resistance from some within his party who don't want to spend more on the crisis than the $3 trillion already approved.
Other important news
More than 200 scientists from around the world urged the World Health Organization to consider evidence that the coronavirus may be airborne — capable of spreading through tiny particles that can float around indoors without detection.
The Small Business Administration disclosed the names of nearly 700,000 businesses that received money under the $660 billion Paycheck Protection Program, but is still withholding the names of most borrowers.
Finding government reopening guidelines too vague or tainted by politics, some U.S. companies are hiring their own epidemiologists.
Most U.S. states are keeping crucial details about their contact-tracing programs under wraps, making it hard to know how quickly or thoroughly they are isolating new outbreaks.
A Kansas state GOP chairman apologized after using his rural newspaper to publish a cartoon equating mask requirements with the Holocaust.