thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-01--Experts Beg Americans To Take Coronavirus Seriously Or Face Further Disaster

President Donald Trump did not appear overly concerned Wednesday about the resurging coronavirus pandemic .
“ I think we ’ re going to be very good with the coronavirus .
I think that at some point that ’ s going to sort of just disappear , I hope , ” he said in an interview with Fox Business .
The White House claims the president is the “ most informed person on the planet , ” but Trump ’ s comments conflict with increasingly urgent warnings from health experts — including those in Trump ’ s administration — that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that , without immediate intervention , Americans will continue to get sick and die .
Earlier this week , a high-ranking official at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) issued a stunning warning that , in the emerging second spike of coronavirus infections , it was essentially too late to test and isolate cases .
“ We have way too much virus across the country for that right now , ” said Dr. Anne Schuchat , principal deputy director of the CDC , on Monday .
“ This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said of the recent U.S. surge .
“ I think there was a lot of wishful thinking around the country that , hey , it ’ s summer , everything ’ s going to be fine , we ’ re over this .
And we are not even beginning to be over this .
There are a lot of worrisome factors about the last week or so.
” In the last 24 hours , Arizona saw a spike of 4,878 cases of COVID-19 and 88 deaths — on the same day Vice President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intensive care units are currently shifting resources to address a patient overflow , and Louisiana saw its greatest spike in cases in over three months .
A taco shop in Los Angeles closed both of its locations on Sunday after overwhelming antagonism from customers who refused to wear masks .
On Sunday morning , several videos went viral after unhinged white women all across the country were filmed throwing tantrums at places like Trader Joe ’ s and Starbucks when asked to mask up .
In Denver , a 16-year-old ice cream shop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ similarly outraged anti-mask vigilante , and at a store in Charlotte , North Carolina , a woman refused a complimentary mask handed to her by an employee and instead spat her chewing gum into it .
“ The ones that don ’ t want to wear a mask should have every right not to wear one if they don ’ t feel like they want to wear one , ” Missouri Gov .
Mike Parson ( R ) said on Wednesday , and North Carolina Republicans are pulling out all the stops to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ More than 200 people in West Virginia have been asked to self-quarantine after one Planet Fitness gym-goer exposed them all to COVID-19 .
Experts have implored young people ― like the many in South Carolina who now make up more than half of the state ’ s cases ― to take the virus more seriously .
In the face of these outbreaks , the demand for COVID-19 tests has quickly outpaced the supply of testing kits and the ability to actually process them , resulting in a slower turnaround and an overall backlog @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was a lot of wishful thinking around the country that , hey , it ’ s summer , everything ’ s going to be fine , we ’ re over this .
And we are not even beginning to be over this .
Dr. Anne Schuchat , principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The new virus surge is essentially the worst of both worlds : The economic disaster that resulted from the shutdowns affected millions , but officials apparently didn ’ t use the time to sufficiently prepare @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Absent more financial assistance , economic indicators could continue to plummet .
Unless Congress passes Sen. Elizabeth Warren ’ s ( D-Mass ) proposed eviction moratorium , the number of unhoused people in America will reach unprecedented levels .
Newsom , as well as New York Gov .
Andrew Cuomo ( D ) and Michigan Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer ( D ) , said Wednesday that restaurants would not open for indoor seating .
New Mexico Gov .
Michelle Lujan Grisham ( D ) announced that the state would hold off on its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bars and movie theaters ― until at least July 15 .
While elected officials continue to tinker with reopening plans , public health experts like Fauci and Schuchat say that until there ’ s a vaccine ― which isn ’ t likely to happen in 2020 ― the best way to avoid contracting or passing along the virus remains simple : practice social distancing ( especially in congregate settings ) , wash your hands often and thoroughly , and wear a damn mask .

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President Donald Trump did not appear overly concerned Wednesday about the resurging coronavirus pandemic. “I think we’re going to be very good with the coronavirus. I think that at some point that’s going to sort of just disappear, I hope,” he said in an interview with Fox Business.
The White House claims the president is the “most informed person on the planet,” but Trump’s comments conflict with increasingly urgent warnings from health experts — including those in Trump’s administration — that the virus is spreading at alarming rates and that, without immediate intervention, Americans will continue to get sick and die.
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“I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 cases a day if this does not turn around,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said Tuesday.
Earlier this week, a high-ranking official at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a stunning warning that, in the emerging second spike of coronavirus infections, it was essentially too late to test and isolate cases. “We have way too much virus across the country for that right now,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC, on Monday.
“This is really the beginning,” Schuchat said of the recent U.S. surge. “I think there was a lot of wishful thinking around the country that, hey, it’s summer, everything’s going to be fine, we’re over this. And we are not even beginning to be over this. There are a lot of worrisome factors about the last week or so.”
Numbers across the country are skyrocketing, particularly in states that had begun to reopen businesses and activities.
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In the last 24 hours, Arizona saw a spike of 4,878 cases of COVID-19 and 88 deaths — on the same day Vice President Mike Pence visited the state. Houston intensive care units are currently shifting resources to address a patient overflow, and Louisiana saw its greatest spike in cases in over three months.
A handful of states ― Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Tennessee and Utah ― recorded their highest infection rates, and as of last Saturday, 32 states experienced a surge in cases the week prior.
A taco shop in Los Angeles closed both of its locations on Sunday after overwhelming antagonism from customers who refused to wear masks. On Sunday morning, several videos went viral after unhinged white women all across the country were filmed throwing tantrums at places like Trader Joe’s and Starbucks when asked to mask up. In Denver, a 16-year-old ice cream shop employee was reportedly spat on by a similarly outraged anti-mask vigilante, and at a store in Charlotte, North Carolina, a woman refused a complimentary mask handed to her by an employee and instead spat her chewing gum into it.
“The ones that don’t want to wear a mask should have every right not to wear one if they don’t feel like they want to wear one,” Missouri Gov. Mike Parson (R) said on Wednesday, and North Carolina Republicans are pulling out all the stops to actually make wearing a mask illegal.
More than 200 people in West Virginia have been asked to self-quarantine after one Planet Fitness gym-goer exposed them all to COVID-19. Experts have implored young people ― like the many in South Carolina who now make up more than half of the state’s cases ― to take the virus more seriously.
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A Washington, D.C., socialite hosted a catered dinner, tested positive shortly after the event and has now infected an unknown number of attendees, most of whom were unmasked.
The CDC called out American Airlines for returning to full capacity bookings, and as the European Union prepares to reopen its borders, it has banned Americans from visiting Europe as the virus rages.
If anything, the stark state numbers don’t illustrate the true nature of the problem. “The official tally of deaths due to COVID-19 represent a substantial undercount of the true burden,” Dan Weinberger, an epidemiologist at Yale School of Public Health and a lead author of a study published on Wednesday, told CNBC.
In the face of these outbreaks, the demand for COVID-19 tests has quickly outpaced the supply of testing kits and the ability to actually process them, resulting in a slower turnaround and an overall backlog of untested kits.
“I think there was a lot of wishful thinking around the country that, hey, it’s summer, everything’s going to be fine, we’re over this. And we are not even beginning to be over this.” - Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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This has led to some states reversing early reopening phases. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced Wednesday that 19 counties would need to shut down all indoor operations after cases rose 43% in two weeks.
The new virus surge is essentially the worst of both worlds: The economic disaster that resulted from the shutdowns affected millions, but officials apparently didn’t use the time to sufficiently prepare to keep the virus at bay. Absent more financial assistance, economic indicators could continue to plummet. Unless Congress passes Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s (D-Mass) proposed eviction moratorium, the number of unhoused people in America will reach unprecedented levels.
Many elected officials are reversing the course on their reopening phases, hoping it’s not too little and too late.
Newsom, as well as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), said Wednesday that restaurants would not open for indoor seating. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) announced that the state would hold off on its second phase of reopening ― which included bars and movie theaters ― until at least July 15.
While elected officials continue to tinker with reopening plans, public health experts like Fauci and Schuchat say that until there’s a vaccine ― which isn’t likely to happen in 2020 ― the best way to avoid contracting or passing along the virus remains simple: practice social distancing (especially in congregate settings), wash your hands often and thoroughly, and wear a damn mask.
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Health experts continue to warn that too many elected leaders across the country have naively allowed nonessential businesses to reopen — practically jumping up and down to warn of the growing disaster that, despite Trump’s wishful thinking, will not just go away.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-01--Trump Mocked For Claiming His Face Mask Makes Him Look Like 'Lone Ranger'

Donald Trump now claims he doesn ’ t have anything against wearing masks to protect against the coronavirus .
Accordingly , Twitter users can ’ t disguise their contempt for the notoriously mask-averse president .
But while Trump has avoided wearing facial coverings throughout the coronavirus pandemic , he told Fox Business News on Monday that he was “ all for masks , ” adding “ I think masks are good.
” However , Trump has personally avoided wearing masks in public and was only publicly seen in one in late may .
He has said on at least one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mask because he “ didn ’ t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.
” Trump has questioned whether mask-wearing should be mandatory because “ you have many places in the country where people stay very long distance , ” but said he ’ d wear one if he were “ in a tight situation with people.
” Trump insisted his ambivalence toward wearing a mask had nothing to do with style concerns .
“ I sort of liked the way it looked , ” he said .
“ It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I thought it looked OK .
It looked like the Lone Ranger.
” Trump says he 's not sure a mandate is needed , but `` I 'm all for masks , '' and would wear one `` in a tight situation with people . ''
He says `` I sort of liked the way I looked '' one time he wore one , it was okay -- `` like the Lone Ranger . ''
— Daniel Dale ( @ ddale8 ) July 1 , 2020 The president ’ s comment inspired Twitter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ snark .
How long until Donald claims he always supported wearing masks and anyone who says otherwise is `` Fake News ? ''
— Janice Hough ( @ leftcoastbabe ) July 1 , 2020 11 days earlier to WSJ : `` Masks are a double-edge sword .
People touch them .
And they grab them and I see it all the time . ''
https : //t.co/k8D8BvaydD — Shannon Pettypiece ( @ spettypi ) July 1 , 2020 And if you do n't like `` masking up '' for public health reasons , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you look like the Lone Ranger apparently .
https : //t.co/MCyPavrB6P — Justin Hicks ( @ Hicks_JustinM ) July 1 , 2020 Oh my gosh !
Didn ’ t the Lone Ranger wear a mask around his eyes ?
If @ realDonaldTrump would wear a mask like that , how would he wear a condom ?
Over his nose ?
He liked the way he looked in a mask .
That ’ s an opinion of one and he ’ s likely to like to like the way he looks naked too https @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) July 1 , 2020

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Donald Trump now claims he doesn’t have anything against wearing masks to protect against the coronavirus.
Accordingly, Twitter users can’t disguise their contempt for the notoriously mask-averse president.
But while Trump has avoided wearing facial coverings throughout the coronavirus pandemic, he told Fox Business News on Monday that he was “all for masks,” adding “I think masks are good.”
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However, Trump has personally avoided wearing masks in public and was only publicly seen in one in late may.
He has said on at least one occasion he wasn’t wearing a mask because he “didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.”
Trump has questioned whether mask-wearing should be mandatory because “you have many places in the country where people stay very long distance,” but said he’d wear one if he were “in a tight situation with people.”
Trump insisted his ambivalence toward wearing a mask had nothing to do with style concerns.
“I sort of liked the way it looked,” he said. “It was a dark black mask, and I thought it looked OK. It looked like the Lone Ranger.”
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Trump says he's not sure a mandate is needed, but "I'm all for masks," and would wear one "in a tight situation with people." He says "I sort of liked the way I looked" one time he wore one, it was okay -- "like the Lone Ranger." — Daniel Dale (@ddale8) July 1, 2020
The president’s comment inspired Twitter users to hit him with their best snark.
The Lone Ranger's mask would be uniquely unhelpful to wear during a pandemic. https://t.co/iFiERIS1rU pic.twitter.com/pTIVnODnZg — Zack Stanton (@zackstanton) July 1, 2020
Right...just like the lone ranger @realDonaldTrump #DonChubby as the lone ranger... pic.twitter.com/3MiBCaLXeW — BgMac: Mask Up! trump OK w/ RU killing Soldiers (@bgmacneill) July 1, 2020
How long until Donald claims he always supported wearing masks and anyone who says otherwise is "Fake News?" — Janice Hough (@leftcoastbabe) July 1, 2020
The... The Lone Ranger's mask never covered his mouth. https://t.co/Ozk2bG87t1 — Aaron Pruner (@AaronFlux) July 1, 2020
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11 days earlier to WSJ: "Masks are a double-edge sword. People touch them. And they grab them and I see it all the time." https://t.co/k8D8BvaydD — Shannon Pettypiece (@spettypi) July 1, 2020
And if you don't like "masking up" for public health reasons, then just do it because it makes you look like the Lone Ranger apparently. https://t.co/MCyPavrB6P — Justin Hicks (@Hicks_JustinM) July 1, 2020


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-01--Our Public Health System Was Already Weak and Underfunded. Then, Coronavirus Hit.

A Salt Lake County Health Department public health nurse performs a COVID-19 test outside the department's offices in Salt Lake City. AP/Rick Bowmer
The U.S. public health system has been starved for decades and lacks the resources to confront the worst health crisis in a century.
Marshaled against a virus that has sickened at least 2.6 million in the U.S., killed more than 126,000 people and cost tens of millions of jobs and $3 trillion in federal rescue money, state and local government health workers on the ground are sometimes paid so little that they qualify for public aid.
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They track the coronavirus on paper records shared via fax. Working seven-day weeks for months on end, they fear pay freezes, public backlash and even losing their jobs.
Since 2010, spending for state public health departments has dropped by 16% per capita and spending for local health departments has fallen by 18%, according to a KHN and Associated Press analysis of government spending on public health. At least 38,000 state and local public health jobs have disappeared since the 2008 recession, leaving a skeletal workforce for what was once viewed as one of the world’s top public health systems.
KHN and AP interviewed more than 150 public health workers, policymakers and experts, analyzed spending records from hundreds of state and local health departments, and surveyed statehouses. On every level, the investigation found, the system is underfunded and under threat, unable to protect the nation’s health.
Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an interview in April that his “biggest regret” was “that our nation failed over decades to effectively invest in public health.”
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So when this outbreak arrived — and when, according to public health experts, the federal government bungled its response — hollowed-out state and local health departments were ill-equipped to step into the breach.
Over time, their work had received so little support that they found themselves without direction, disrespected, ignored, even vilified. The desperate struggle against COVID-19 became increasingly politicized and grew more difficult.
States, cities and counties in dire straits have begun laying off and furloughing members of already limited staffs, and even more devastation looms, as states reopen and cases surge. Historically, even when money pours in following crises such as Zika and H1N1, it disappears after the emergency subsides. Officials fear the same thing is happening now.
“We don’t say to the fire department, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. There were no fires last year, so we’re going to take 30% of your budget away.’ That would be crazy, right?” said Dr. Gianfranco Pezzino, the health officer in Shawnee County, Kansas. “But we do that with public health, day in and day out.”
Ohio’s Toledo-Lucas County Health Department spent $17 million, or $40 per person, in 2017.
Jennifer Gottschalk, 42, works for the county as an environmental health supervisor. When the coronavirus struck, the county’s department was so short-staffed that her duties included overseeing campground and pool inspections, rodent control and sewage programs, while also supervising outbreak preparedness for a community of more than 425,000 people.
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When Gottschalk and five colleagues fell ill with COVID-19, she found herself fielding calls about a COVID-19 case from her hospital bed, then working through her home isolation. She stopped only when her coughing was too severe to talk on calls.
“You have to do what you have to do to get the job done,” Gottschalk said.
Now, after months of working with hardly a day off, she said the job is wearing on her. So many lab reports on coronavirus cases came in, the office fax machine broke. She faces a backlash from the community over coronavirus restrictions and there are countless angry phone calls.
Things could get worse; possible county budget cuts loom.
But Toledo-Lucas is no outlier. Public health ranks low on the nation’s financial priority list. Nearly two-thirds of Americans live in counties that spend more than twice as much on policing as they spend on non-hospital health care, which includes public health.
Jennifer Gottschalk, environmental health supervisor of the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department, works in her office in Toledo, Ohio. “Being yelled at by residents for almost two hours straight last week on regulations I cannot control left me feeling completely burned out,” she said in mid-June. AP/Paul Sancya
More than three-quarters of Americans live in states that spend less than $100 per person annually on public health. Spending ranges from $32 in Louisiana to $263 in Delaware, according to data provided to KHN and AP by the State Health Expenditure Dataset project.
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That money represents less than 1.5% of most states’ total spending, with half of it passed down to local health departments.
The share of spending devoted to public health belies its multidimensional role. Agencies are legally bound to provide a broad range of services, from vaccinations and restaurant inspections to protection against infectious disease. Distinct from the medical care system geared toward individuals, the public health system focuses on the health of communities at large.
“Public health loves to say: When we do our job, nothing happens. But that’s not really a great badge,” said Scott Becker, chief executive officer of the Association of Public Health Laboratories. “We test 97% of America’s babies for metabolic or other disorders. We do the water testing. You like to swim in the lake and you don’t like poop in there? Think of us.”
But the public doesn’t see the disasters they thwart. And it’s easy to neglect the invisible.
A History of Deprivation
The local health department was a well-known place in the 1950s and 1960s, when Harris Pastides, president emeritus of the University of South Carolina, was growing up in New York City.
“My mom took me for my vaccines. We would get our injections there for free. We would get our polio sugar cubes there for free,” said Pastides, an epidemiologist. “In those days, the health departments had a highly visible role in disease prevention.”
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The United States’ decentralized public health system, which matches federal funding and expertise with local funding, knowledge and delivery, was long the envy of the world, said Saad Omer, director of the Yale Institute for Global Health.
“A lot of what we’re seeing right now could be traced back to the chronic funding shortages,” Omer said. “The way we starve our public health system, the way we have tried to do public health outcomes on the cheap in this country.”
In Scott County, Indiana, when preparedness coordinator Patti Hall began working at the health department 34 years ago, it ran a children’s clinic and a home health agency with several nurses and aides. But over time, the children’s clinic lost funding and closed. Medicare changes paved the way for private services to replace the home health agency. Department staff dwindled in the 1990s and early 2000s. The county was severely outgunned when rampant opioid use and needle sharing sparked an outbreak of HIV in 2015.
Besides just five full-time and one part-time county public health positions, there was only one doctor in the outbreak’s epicenter of Austin. Indiana’s then-Gov. Mike Pence, now leading the nation’s coronavirus response as vice president, waited 29 days after the outbreak was announced to sign an executive order allowing syringe exchanges. At the time, a state official said that only five people from agencies across Indiana were available to help with HIV testing in the county.
The HIV outbreak exploded into the worst ever to hit rural America, infecting more than 230 people.
At times, the federal government has promised to support local public health efforts, to help prevent similar calamities. But those promises were ephemeral.
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Two large sources of money established after Sept. 11, 2001 — the Public Health Emergency Preparedness program and the Hospital Preparedness Program — were gradually chipped away.
The Affordable Care Act established the Prevention and Public Health Fund, which was supposed to reach $2 billion annually by 2015. The Obama administration and Congress raided it to pay for other priorities, including a payroll tax cut. The Trump administration is pushing to repeal the ACA, which would eliminate the fund, said Carolyn Mullen, senior vice president of government affairs and public relations at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
Former Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin, a Democrat who championed the fund, said he was furious when the Obama White House took billions from it, breaking what he said was an agreement.
“I haven’t spoken to Barack Obama since,” Harkin said.
If the fund had remained untouched, an additional $12.4 billion would eventually have flowed to local and state health departments.
But local and state leaders also did not prioritize public health over the years.
In Florida, for example, 2% of state spending goes to public health. Spending by local health departments in the state fell 39%, from a high of $57 in inflation-adjusted dollars per person in the late 1990s to $35 per person last year.
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In North Carolina, Wake County’s public health workforce dropped from 882 in 2007 to 614 a decade later, even as the population grew by 30%.
In Detroit, the health department had 700 employees in 2009, then was effectively disbanded during the city’s bankruptcy proceedings. It’s been built back up, but today still has only 200 workers for 670,000 residents.
Many departments rely heavily on disease-specific grant funding, creating unstable and temporary positions. The CDC’s core budget, some of which goes to state and local health departments, has essentially remained flat for a decade. Federal money currently accounts for 27% of local public health spending.
Years of such financial pressure increasingly pushed workers in this predominantly female workforce toward retirement or the private sector and kept potential new hires away.
More than a fifth of public health workers in local or regional departments outside big cities earned $35,000 or less a year in 2017, as did 9% in big-city departments, according to research by the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and the de Beaumont Foundation.
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Maria Fernanda works on COVID contact tracing at the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County in Doral, Florida, in May. In state after state, local health departments charged with doing the detective work of running down the contacts of coronavirus patients are falling well short of the number of people needed to do the job. AP/LYNNE SLADKY
Even before the pandemic, nearly half of public health workers planned to retire or leave their organizations for other reasons in the next five years. Poor pay topped the list of reasons.
Armed with a freshly minted bachelor’s degree, Julia Crittendon took a job two years ago as a disease intervention specialist with Kentucky’s state health department. She spent her days gathering detailed information about people’s sexual partners to fight the spread of HIV and syphilis. She tracked down phone numbers and drove hours to pick up reluctant clients.
The mother of three loved the work but made so little money that she qualified for Medicaid, the federal-state insurance program for America’s poorest. Seeing no opportunity to advance, she left.
“We’re like the redheaded stepchildren, the forgotten ones,” said Crittendon, 46.
Such low pay is endemic, with some employees qualifying for the nutrition program for new moms and babies that they administer. People with the training for many public health jobs, which can include a bachelor’s or master’s degree, can make much more money in the private health care sector, robbing the public departments of promising recruits.
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Dr. Tom Frieden, a former CDC director, said the agency “intentionally underpaid people” in a training program that sent early-career professionals to state and local public health departments to build the workforce.
“If we paid them at the very lowest level at the federal scale,” he said in an interview, “they would have to take a 10-20% pay cut to continue on at the local health department.”
As low pay sapped the workforce, budget cuts sapped services.
In Alaska, the Division of Public Health’s spending dropped 9% from 2014 to 2018 and staffing fell by 82 positions in a decade to 426. Tim Struna, chief of public health nursing in Alaska, said declines in oil prices in the mid-2010s led the state to make cuts to public health nursing services. They eliminated well-child exams for children over 6, scaled back searches for the partners of people with certain sexually transmitted infections and limited reproductive health services to people 29 and younger.
Living through an endless stream of such cuts and their aftermath, those workers on the ground grew increasingly worried about mustering the “surge capacity” to expand beyond their daily responsibilities to handle inevitable emergencies.
When the fiercest of enemies showed up in the U.S. this year, the depleted public health army struggled to hold it back.
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A Decimated Surge Capacity
As the public health director for the Kentucky River District Health Department in rural Appalachia, Scott Lockard is battling the pandemic with 3G cell service, paper records and one-third of the employees the department had 20 years ago.
He redeployed his nurse administrator to work round-the-clock on contact tracing, alongside the department’s school nurse and the tuberculosis and breastfeeding coordinator. His home health nurse, who typically visits older patients, now works on preparedness plans. But residents aren’t making it easy on them.
“They’re not wearing masks, and they’re throwing social distancing to the wind,” Lockard said in mid-June, as cases surged. “We’re paying for it.”
Even with more staff since the HIV outbreak, Indiana’s Scott County Health Department employees worked evenings, weekends and holidays to deal with the pandemic, including outbreaks at a food packing company and a label manufacturer. Indiana spends $37 a person on public health.
“When you get home, the phone never stops, the emails and texts never stop,” said Hall, the preparedness coordinator.
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All the while, she and her colleagues worry about keeping HIV under control and preventing drug overdoses from rising. Other health problems don’t just disappear because there is a pandemic.
“We’ve been used to being able to ‘MacGyver’ everything on a normal day, and this is not a normal day,” said Amanda Mehl, the public health administrator for Boone County, Illinois, citing a TV show.
Pezzino, whose department in Kansas serves Topeka and Shawnee County, said he had been trying to hire an epidemiologist, who would study, track and analyze data on health issues, since he came to the department 14 years ago. Finally, less than three years ago, they hired one. She just left, and he thinks it will be nearly impossible to find another.
While epidemiologists are nearly universal in departments serving large populations, hardly any departments serving smaller populations have one. Only 28% of local health departments have an epidemiologist or statistician.
Strapped departments are now forced to spend money on contact tracers, masks and gloves to keep their workers safe and to do basic outreach.
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Melanie Hutton, administrator for the Cooper County Public Health Center in rural Missouri, pointed out the local ambulance department got $18,000, and the fire and police departments got masks to fight COVID-19.
“For us, not a nickel, not a face mask,” she said. “We got [5] gallons of homemade hand sanitizer made by the prisoners.”
Public health workers are leaving in droves. At least 34 state and local public health leaders have announced their resignations, retired or been fired in 17 states since April, a KHN-AP review found. Others face threats and armed demonstrators.
Ohio’s Gottschalk said the backlash has been overwhelming.
“Being yelled at by residents for almost two hours straight last week on regulations I cannot control left me feeling completely burned out,” she said in mid-June.
Many are putting their health at risk. In Prince George’s County, Maryland, public health worker Chantee Mack died after, family and co-workers believe, she and several colleagues contracted the disease in the office.
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A Difficult Road Ahead
Pence, in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on June 16, said the public health system was “far stronger” than it was when the coronavirus hit.
It’s true that the federal government this year has allocated billions for public health in response to the pandemic, according to the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. That includes more than $13 billion to state and local health departments, for activities including contact tracing, infection control and technology upgrades.
A KHN-AP review found that some state and local governments are also pledging more money for public health. Alabama’s budget for next year, for example, includes $35 million more for public health than it did this year.
But overall, spending is about to be slashed again as the boom-bust cycle continues.
In most states, the new budget year begins July 1, and furloughs, layoffs and pay freezes have already begun in some places. Tax revenues evaporated during lockdowns, all but ensuring there will be more. At least 14 states have already cut health department budgets or positions or were actively considering such cuts in June, according to a KHN-AP review.
Since the pandemic began, Michigan temporarily cut most of its state health workers’ hours by one-fifth. Pennsylvania required more than 65 of its 1,200 public health workers to go on temporary leave, and others lost their jobs. Knox County, Tennessee, furloughed 26 out of 260 workers for eight weeks.
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Frieden, formerly of the CDC, said it’s “stunning” that the U.S. is furloughing public health workers amid a pandemic. The country should demand the resources for public health, he said, just the way it does for the military.
“This is about protecting Americans,” Frieden said.
Cincinnati temporarily furloughed approximately 170 health department employees.
Robert Brown, chair of Cincinnati’s Primary Care Board, questions why police officers and firefighters didn’t face similar furloughs at the time or why residents were willing to pay hundreds of millions in taxes over decades for the Bengals’ football stadium.
“How about investing in something that’s going to save some lives?” he asked.
In 2018, Boston spent five times as much on its police department as its public health department. The city recently pledged to transfer $3 million from its approximately $60 million police overtime budget to its public health commission.
Looking ahead, more cuts are coming. Possible budget shortfalls in Brazos County, Texas, may force the health department to limit its mosquito-surveillance program and eliminate up to one-fifth of its staff and one-quarter of immunization clinics.
Months into the pandemic response, health departments are still trying to ramp up to fight COVID-19. Cases are surging in states including Texas, Arizona and Florida.
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Meanwhile, childhood vaccinations began plunging in the second half of March, according to a CDC study analyzing supply orders. Officials worry whether they will be able to get kids back up to date in the coming months. In Detroit, the childhood vaccination rate dipped below 40%, as clinics shuttered and people stayed home, creating the potential for a different outbreak.
Cutting or eliminating non-COVID activities is dangerous, said E. Oscar Alleyne, chief of programs and services at the National Association of County and City Health Officials. Cuts to programs such as diabetes control and senior nutrition make already vulnerable communities even more vulnerable, which makes them more likely to suffer serious complications from COVID. Everything is connected, he said.
It could be a year before there’s a widely available vaccine. Meanwhile, other illnesses, including mental health problems, are smoldering.
The people who spend their lives working in public health say the temporary coronavirus funds won’t fix the eroded foundation entrusted with protecting the nation’s health as thousands continue to die.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-01--Their Loved Ones Died From Coronavirus. Here's What They Want You To Know.

Courtesy of Nicole Trujillo Randy Narvaez on his birthday , July 30 , 2019 .
Narvaez died in May 2020 from the coronavirus .
“ He was super vocal about it , so pissed off that customers coming into the store he felt did not care enough to put on masks to help protect everyone , ” Narvaez ’ s sister Nicole Trujillo said .
She took him to the emergency room on May 4 after he developed a fever , a cough , body aches and difficulty breathing .
Narvaez , 51 , was placed on a ventilator May @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ This virus needs to be taken seriously .
Even if it was very far away , still one person catching it and having complications and passing away is too many , ” said Sanya Lawrence , 46 , whose husband , Charles Lawrence , died from COVID-19 complications on May 2 while incarcerated in Pendleton state prison in Indiana .
“ Why take that chance when you don ’ t have to ?
” Sanya Lawrence , who lives in Fort Wayne , got a call from her husband Wednesday , April @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feeling well and was going to the infirmary .
Two days later , a friend incarcerated with Charles Lawrence called saying he hadn ’ t eaten in two days and was weak with a low-grade fever .
He was sent to the hospital that Sunday , Sanya Lawrence said .
The following week , she got a call from the prison telling her he was dead .
As the virus began to spread in the U.S. in March , Trump repeatedly downplayed its threat .
In early May , the president began pushing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it from public health experts .
Most recently , Trump has repeatedly , and falsely , suggested that less testing for the virus would lead to fewer cases .
Thomas Dawson said he ’ s sure the people who worked in the nursing home , where his father received treatment for Alzheimer ’ s and other ailments , would not intentionally have brought coronavirus into the facility .
“ This virus is carried in a chain , ” he added , noting how people can be asymptomatic and spread the virus without knowing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around them — which is why everyone needs to “ take their mutual responsibility seriously.
” “ We don ’ t have people in our government at the top levels who are willing to act in our national interest and tell people to break that chain , to stop that transmission and to do things that are really low investment and high reward , like wearing a mask , or just behaving like you care about the lives of your fellow citizens , ” Dawson said .
“ And it ’ s absolutely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that person at the grocery store , or you ’ re walking around outdoors without your mask , is the person next to you a nurse ?
Is the person next to you living with somebody who ’ s immunocompromised ?
Where does that chain go ?
Do you care ?
When Sanya Lawrence went to pick up her husband ’ s belongings last week , she found a letter he ’ d written in mid-April .
“ Dear Christ ’ s prison ministry , ” he wrote in the letter , provided @ @ @ @ @ @ @ point in the way you broke down COVID-19 .
I received your letter right on time because the virus is in here and it ’ s getting worse by the day .
It ’ s only a matter of time before it claims a life.
” Across the country , Black and Latinx people have experienced disproportionately high rates of infection and death from coronavirus .
Nationwide data on the race and ethnicity of COVID-19 patients is still emerging , but a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study in April showed Black @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than whites .
And in New York City , which released its own preliminary data in April , COVID-19 was killing Black and Latinx people at twice the rate of white people .
Arielle Reavis ’ mother , Dina Bailey , who is Black , lives just across the river from New York , in Linden , New Jersey .
She is undergoing treatment for cancer and has been living with a chronic respiratory condition for years , according to Reavis , and was infected with coronavirus in May .
Bailey survived , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But while she had it , the illness was harrowing , leaving her feverish , struggling to breathe and hospitalized for days .
Since her mother ’ s illness , Reavis has seen people in her area walking around with their masks hanging around their necks instead of over their mouth and nose , and not adhering to social distancing .
Meanwhile , she hasn ’ t even gone to see her mom , out of fear of getting her sick again .
“ Even if they don ’ t think they ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the people around them , ” Reavis said , of what she wants others to keep in mind amid the pandemic .
“ Just wear a mask .
Wash your hands .
The longer people go out and pretend it doesn ’ t exist , the longer we ’ re gon na have to keep battling this over and over.
” All of the people HuffPost spoke to had the same message for those who have not , like them , lost a loved one or seen them get severely ill from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about your own odds of getting it , think about your odds of spreading it to someone more vulnerable than you .

Randy Narvaez worked at King Soopers grocery store in Denver, Colorado, before he died in May from the coronavirus. Prior to his death, Narvaez posted on Facebook about how people needed to wear masks when out in public.
“He was super vocal about it, so pissed off that customers coming into the store he felt did not care enough to put on masks to help protect everyone,” Narvaez’s sister Nicole Trujillo said. She took him to the emergency room on May 4 after he developed a fever, a cough, body aches and difficulty breathing. Narvaez, 51, was placed on a ventilator May 6 and he died May 17.
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“These are the essential employees going into work every single day to help put food on people’s tables. The least people could do is put on a mask to prevent spreading it,” Trujillo said. Narvaez, who worked at the Kroger-owned grocery store for 30 years, leaves behind a 32-year-old daughter.
As coronavirus cases mount dramatically in the U.S., family members of COVID-19 victims are urging the federal government to respond more urgently to the virus and pleading for the public to also take their personal responsibility seriously.
“This virus needs to be taken seriously. Even if it was very far away, still one person catching it and having complications and passing away is too many,” said Sanya Lawrence, 46, whose husband, Charles Lawrence, died from COVID-19 complications on May 2 while incarcerated in Pendleton state prison in Indiana. “Why take that chance when you don’t have to?”
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Sanya Lawrence, who lives in Fort Wayne, got a call from her husband Wednesday, April 22, saying he wasn’t feeling well and was going to the infirmary. Two days later, a friend incarcerated with Charles Lawrence called saying he hadn’t eaten in two days and was weak with a low-grade fever. He was sent to the hospital that Sunday, Sanya Lawrence said. The following week, she got a call from the prison telling her he was dead.
“I see some people wearing masks, but I still see way more not wearing them,” Sanya Lawrence said. “This virus could be slowed or even stopped with proper hygiene, social distancing.”
“If possible, stay home,” she pleaded. “We have a responsibility to ourselves and the public, to help keep us all safe.”
Sanya Lawrence holds a photo of her husband, Charles Lawrence, who died from the coronavirus in May 2020. Courtesy of Sanya Lawrence
Several of the people HuffPost spoke to criticized President Donald Trump’s response to the virus. “Part of the reason it’s so bad is because it wasn’t taken seriously at the federal level at the very beginning of the outbreak,” Trujillo said.
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As the virus began to spread in the U.S. in March, Trump repeatedly downplayed its threat. In early May, the president began pushing states to reopen, despite warnings against it from public health experts. Most recently, Trump has repeatedly, and falsely, suggested that less testing for the virus would lead to fewer cases.
“I think the federal response has been really sad and kind of an abnegation of responsibility,” said Thomas Dawson, 62, whose father, Keith Dawson, died in May from COVID-19 complications while living in a nursing home in New Brighton, Minnesota, north of Minneapolis.
Thomas Dawson said he’s sure the people who worked in the nursing home, where his father received treatment for Alzheimer’s and other ailments, would not intentionally have brought coronavirus into the facility. “This virus is carried in a chain,” he added, noting how people can be asymptomatic and spread the virus without knowing it, passing it along to others around them — which is why everyone needs to “take their mutual responsibility seriously.”
“We don’t have people in our government at the top levels who are willing to act in our national interest and tell people to break that chain, to stop that transmission and to do things that are really low investment and high reward, like wearing a mask, or just behaving like you care about the lives of your fellow citizens,” Dawson said. “And it’s absolutely maddening.”
“When you’re behind that person at the grocery store, or you’re walking around outdoors without your mask, is the person next to you a nurse? Is the person next to you living with somebody who’s immunocompromised? Where does that chain go? Do you care?” - Thomas Dawson, whose father died from coronavirus
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Dawson, who lives in Berkeley, California, was not able to visit with his father in the days before he died due to the nursing home’s restrictions on visits during the pandemic.
At Pendleton state prison in Indiana, where Sanya Lawrence’s husband was incarcerated when he got the coronavirus, dozens of inmates have tested positive and at least four have died.
When Sanya Lawrence went to pick up her husband’s belongings last week, she found a letter he’d written in mid-April. “Dear Christ’s prison ministry,” he wrote in the letter, provided to HuffPost. “You were on point in the way you broke down COVID-19. I received your letter right on time because the virus is in here and it’s getting worse by the day. It’s only a matter of time before it claims a life.”
Just over two weeks later, Charles Lawrence died from the coronavirus. Now his wife is part of a campaign called Just Us, urging lawmakers to better protect incarcerated people from the virus.
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“Protect human beings behind bars,” Sanya Lawrence said. “Their lives matter, too.”
Arielle Reavis’s mother, Dina Bailey, in late June. Bailey was hospitalized with coronavirus in May, but tested negative in June. Arielle Reavis
Across the country, Black and Latinx people have experienced disproportionately high rates of infection and death from coronavirus. Nationwide data on the race and ethnicity of COVID-19 patients is still emerging, but a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study in April showed Black people being hospitalized at a higher rate than whites. And in New York City, which released its own preliminary data in April, COVID-19 was killing Black and Latinx people at twice the rate of white people.
Arielle Reavis’ mother, Dina Bailey, who is Black, lives just across the river from New York, in Linden, New Jersey. She is undergoing treatment for cancer and has been living with a chronic respiratory condition for years, according to Reavis, and was infected with coronavirus in May. Bailey survived, testing negative a few weeks ago. But while she had it, the illness was harrowing, leaving her feverish, struggling to breathe and hospitalized for days.
“She thought she was going to die,” Reavis said of her mother’s experience. “She was texting a lot, trying to get her affairs in order. She couldn’t breathe.”
Since her mother’s illness, Reavis has seen people in her area walking around with their masks hanging around their necks instead of over their mouth and nose, and not adhering to social distancing. Meanwhile, she hasn’t even gone to see her mom, out of fear of getting her sick again.
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“Even if they don’t think they’re at risk, consider the lives of the people around them,” Reavis said, of what she wants others to keep in mind amid the pandemic. “Just wear a mask. Wash your hands. The longer people go out and pretend it doesn’t exist, the longer we’re gonna have to keep battling this over and over.”
All of the people HuffPost spoke to had the same message for those who have not, like them, lost a loved one or seen them get severely ill from coronavirus: Don’t just think about your own odds of getting it, think about your odds of spreading it to someone more vulnerable than you.
“I just feel like people need to understand,” Dawson said. “When you’re behind that person at the grocery store, or you’re walking around outdoors without your mask, is the person next to you a nurse? Is the person next to you living with somebody who’s immunocompromised? Where does that chain go? Do you care?”
Thomas Dawson with his father, Keith Dawson, in Dececember 2018. Keith died from the coronavirus in May 2020. Courtesy of Thomas Dawson


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-01--Death Cafes Easing Grief, Loss In The Time Of Coronavirus

NEW YORK ( AP ) — Panic attacks , trouble breathing , relapses that have sent her to bed for 14 hours at a time : At 35 , Marissa Oliver has been forced to deal with the specter of death on COVID-19′s terms , yet conversations about her illness , fear and anxiety haven ’ t been easy .
The global virus toll and the social isolation it has extracted have opened old , unresolved wounds for some .
Others attending virtual Death Cafes are coping with fresh losses from COVID-19 , cancer and other illness .
Still more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The end of friendships , shattered romances or chronic illness , as Oliver has endured .
At one recent virtual Death Cafe , a 33-year-old man spoke of refusing to pack up his wife ’ s belongings six months after her death from cancer .
A woman who underwent a heart transplant 31 years ago described her peace with the decision not to have another , as her donated organ deteriorates .
For Jen Carl in Washington , D.C. , the pandemic has intensified memories of her 11 years of sexual abuse as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ drug and alcohol abuse , and his death about six years ago .
She said sharing and listening to the stories of others in Death Cafes have helped .
“ I feel just really so at peace and relieved when I ’ m in circles where folks are talking about real things in life and not trying to move away from the uncomfortable , ” Carl told a recent group .
“ I ’ ve been on a couple of Zoom calls with close friends who aren ’ t worried about talking about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then when COVID ’ S come up it ’ s like , ` Oh well , we ’ re partying right now .
Let ’ s not talk about that , ′ and that just triggers me so much.
” Inspired by Swiss sociologist and anthropologist Bernard Crettaz , who organized his first “ cafe mortel ” in 2004 , the late British web developer Jon Underwood honed the model and held the first Death Cafe in his London home in 2011 .
The idea spread quickly and the meetups in restaurants and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Europe and North America , reaching into Australia , the Caribbean and Japan .
One important difference between Death Cafes and traditional support and bereavement groups is the range of stories .
But the cafes also offer the freedom to approach the room with levity rather than stern seriousness , and extraordinary diversity : a mix of races , genders and ages , from people in the moment with terminal loved ones to those who have lost classmates or relatives to suicide .
Death Cafes aren ’ t intended to “ fix ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sharing as the road to support .
They ’ re generally kept to 30 or so , meet monthly and also include the “ death curious , ” people who aren ’ t dealing with loss but choose to take on the topic anyway .
“ Death Cafes are a place where strangers meet to talk about things regarding death and dying that they can ’ t bring anywhere else , that they can ’ t bring home or to co-workers or to best friends , ” she said .
“ I was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I very quickly recognized how many families I was sitting with whom this was their very first time talking about the end of life .
I just felt it was such an absolute shame , ” Heidbreder said .
“ One of the parallels between birth and death is that a little more than 100 years ago in our country , all of us would have been very well versed in what birth and death literally looked like , ” she said .
“ We would have seen our family and neighbors do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are giving birth or families who are losing someone .
And now we simply aren ’ t exposed to that.
” She now hosts people not just in the D.C. area , as she did before the pandemic , but across America , from California to North Carolina .
More health care workers have shown up , too .
“ COVID has certainly brought death to the forefront .
It has brought the death-positive movement to the forefront , but we ’ re still scared , ” Trent said .
“ What I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has awakened society to the possibility of death .
None of us is getting out of here alive .
”

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NEW YORK (AP) — Panic attacks, trouble breathing, relapses that have sent her to bed for 14 hours at a time: At 35, Marissa Oliver has been forced to deal with the specter of death on COVID-19′s terms, yet conversations about her illness, fear and anxiety haven’t been easy.
That’s why she headed onto Zoom to attend a Death Cafe, a gathering of strangers willing to explore mortality and its impact on the living, preferably while sipping tea and eating cake.
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“In the Death Cafe, no one winces,” said Oliver, who was diagnosed with the virus in March. “Now, I’m writing down everything in my life that I want to achieve.”
Death Cafes, part of a broader “death-positive” movement to encourage more open discussion about grief, trauma and loss, are held around the world, in nearly 100 countries. While many haven’t migrated online in the pandemic, others have.
The global virus toll and the social isolation it has extracted have opened old, unresolved wounds for some. Others attending virtual Death Cafes are coping with fresh losses from COVID-19, cancer and other illness. Still more bring metaphorical death to the circles: The end of friendships, shattered romances or chronic illness, as Oliver has endured.
At one recent virtual Death Cafe, a 33-year-old man spoke of refusing to pack up his wife’s belongings six months after her death from cancer. A woman who underwent a heart transplant 31 years ago described her peace with the decision not to have another, as her donated organ deteriorates.
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For Jen Carl in Washington, D.C., the pandemic has intensified memories of her 11 years of sexual abuse as a child, her father’s drug and alcohol abuse, and his death about six years ago. She said sharing and listening to the stories of others in Death Cafes have helped.
“I feel just really so at peace and relieved when I’m in circles where folks are talking about real things in life and not trying to move away from the uncomfortable,” Carl told a recent group.
“I’ve been on a couple of Zoom calls with close friends who aren’t worried about talking about difficult things most of the time but then when COVID’S come up it’s like, `Oh well, we’re partying right now. Let’s not talk about that,′ and that just triggers me so much.”
Inspired by Swiss sociologist and anthropologist Bernard Crettaz, who organized his first “cafe mortel” in 2004, the late British web developer Jon Underwood honed the model and held the first Death Cafe in his London home in 2011. The idea spread quickly and the meetups in restaurants and cafes, homes and parks now span Europe and North America, reaching into Australia, the Caribbean and Japan.
Underwood died suddenly as a result of undiagnosed leukemia in 2017, but his wife and other relatives have carried on. They maintain a website, Deathcafe.com, where hosts post their gatherings.
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One important difference between Death Cafes and traditional support and bereavement groups is the range of stories. But the cafes also offer the freedom to approach the room with levity rather than stern seriousness, and extraordinary diversity: a mix of races, genders and ages, from people in the moment with terminal loved ones to those who have lost classmates or relatives to suicide.
Death Cafes aren’t intended to “fix” problems and find solutions but to foster sharing as the road to support. They’re generally kept to 30 or so, meet monthly and also include the “death curious,” people who aren’t dealing with loss but choose to take on the topic anyway.
Psychotherapist Nancy Gershman, who specializes in grief and loss, has been hosting Death Cafes in New York since they made their way to the U.S. in 2013.
“Death Cafes are a place where strangers meet to talk about things regarding death and dying that they can’t bring anywhere else, that they can’t bring home or to co-workers or to best friends,” she said.
Registered nurse Nicole Heidbreder is a birth and end-of-life doula. She also trains others as doulas and has been hosting Death Cafes in Washington, D.C., for about five years.
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“I was working as a full-time hospice nurse and I very quickly recognized how many families I was sitting with whom this was their very first time talking about the end of life. I just felt it was such an absolute shame,” Heidbreder said.
“One of the parallels between birth and death is that a little more than 100 years ago in our country, all of us would have been very well versed in what birth and death literally looked like,” she said. “We would have seen our family and neighbors do the tasks of tending to people who are giving birth or families who are losing someone. And now we simply aren’t exposed to that.”
Heidbreder said the coronavirus has changed the conversation yet again. She said she shifted to offering the virtual cafes “on a weekly basis at the time of peak COVID in the country.”
She now hosts people not just in the D.C. area, as she did before the pandemic, but across America, from California to North Carolina. More health care workers have shown up, too.
J. Dana Trent is a professor of world religions at Wake Tech Community College in Raleigh, North Carolina. She served as a hospital chaplain in a death ward at age 25 after graduating from divinity school, assisting in 200 deaths in a year.
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The ordained Southern Baptist minister used her experiences in the hospital for a 2019 book, “Dessert First: Preparing for Death While Savoring Life,” which offers a view of how “positive death” can be achieved.
“COVID has certainly brought death to the forefront. It has brought the death-positive movement to the forefront, but we’re still scared,” Trent said. “What I’m grateful for is that COVID has awakened society to the possibility of death. None of us is getting out of here alive.”
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support from the Lilly Endowment through the Religion News Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
___


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-01--'An Abrupt End': How Shielders Feel About Restrictions Ending

‘ We need to live beyond the fear of the disease ’ ‘ Without a vaccine , it ’ s a risk I will have to live with ’ “ I may invite people to my garden from July 7 , ” he says .
“ That will really help , as being socially isolated is tough .
However , I have anxiety about being outside and can ’ t imagine after August 1 I ’ ll be happy to go shopping , or go to work .
It seems like an economic decision rather than a public health standpoint.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ shielding until I felt reassured by the government ’ ‘ There should have been a gap between lifting lockdown and lessening shielding advice ’ ‘ It only takes one exposure and I ’ m in serious trouble ’ ‘ I will decide when it ’ s safe for me ’ ‘ It ’ s come as a surprise ... things still seem so uncertain ’ Lauren is a health worker and assistant psychologist , but she hasn ’ t worked to ensure she doesn ’ t infect her household .
“ The news @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a surprise as things still seem so uncertain – other countries have had second waves and there ’ s still so much we don ’ t know about the virus .

Photographer, Basak Gurbuz Derman via Getty Images
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Around 2.2 million people in England are shielding from coronavirus, but the government has decided it will soon be time for them to resume regular life – or the so-called “new normal”.
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Those shielding in England will be allowed to gather in groups of up to six people outdoors from July 6, the government announced on Monday. From August 1, the guidance to shield – and the support provided – will be scrapped in England entirely.
Elsewhere in the UK, shielding restrictions are also being relaxed. In Wales, those deemed clinically vulnerable have been advised to shield until August 16. In Scotland, the advice is to keep shielding until “at least 31 July 2020”, but further updates are expected. And in Northern Ireland, “it is anticipated that shielding for extremely vulnerable people will be paused” from 31 July.
Following the latest announcement, HuffPost UK asked those who have been shielding how they feel about the easing restrictions.
‘We need to live beyond the fear of the disease’
Kreena Dhiman, 40, says up until recently, she and her family “barely left the house”. She was diagnosed with breast cancer at 33. The tumour damaged her ovaries and sent her into an early menopause – and three years after treatment, she found herself in ICU following acute heart failure.
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“Friends brought groceries over and we were extremely cautious in all that we did,” she says. “However I have a two-year-old and staying at home is challenging, so we started to take short walks every two days around our estate at quiet times of the day.”
Supplied HuffPost UK
For Kreena and her family, the new measures come with mixed feelings. “We will get out more, but will be very cautious of coming into contact with people,” she says.
“As a young family, you don’t have much choice, we need to live beyond the fear of the disease. However, my mum is shielding and suffers from chronic lung disease. I can’t see her leaving the house even once the restrictions are lifted.”
‘Without a vaccine, it’s a risk I will have to live with’
Asad Mushtaq, 38, from Lancashire, has a rare autoimmune disorder called sceleroderma, which includes a related lung disease. He “reluctantly” started to go for infrequent walks a couple of weeks ago, but has otherwise stayed indoors.
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“I may invite people to my garden from July 7,” he says. “That will really help, as being socially isolated is tough. However, I have anxiety about being outside and can’t imagine after August 1 I’ll be happy to go shopping, or go to work. It seems like an economic decision rather than a public health standpoint.”
Asad Mushtaq Asad Mushtaq
Mushtaq works in finance and says his employer has been great, giving him full support to work from home while he feels he needs to.
“They are putting in full protective measures at work,” he adds. “But even if the assessed risk in the country is low, my health condition leaves me vulnerable. Without a vaccine, it’s a risk I feel I will have to live with.”
‘I wouldn’t stop shielding until I felt reassured by the government’
Lucinda Mae Parfett, 20, from south Wales, has multiple underlying health conditions that require her to shield, including asthma and Classical Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, a genetic connective tissue disorder.
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She’s recently started going for walks outside, but was “very disheartened” by the latest briefing for shielders.
“We went over 30 days with no communication from the government about the shielded group at all,” she says, “to then be told statutory sick pay for shielders is going to stop, and there will be no gentle easing off of shielding – only an abrupt end.”
Lucinda Mae Parfett
“Living in Wales, the end to shielding is slightly longer on the 16th,” Lucinda adds. “But regardless, I wouldn’t stop shielding until I felt reassured by the government of what they were doing to help protect people in the high risk group.”
Life can’t return to normal until everyone in society follows the guidelines strictly, she says. “However, that’s difficult because the guidelines aren’t clear or well enforced.”
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‘There should have been a gap between lifting lockdown and lessening shielding advice’
Debbi Wood, 61, from Hampshire, has severe eosinophilic asthma and has been shielding since March 17, only going outside to sit in her own garden.
“After years of steroid treatment my immune system is very low,” she explains. “My lungs cannot fight infection and even getting a slight cold can end up in an emergency admission.”
She feels the announcement that pubs and cinemas will reopen “gives people the impression that the virus has gone”.
Debbi Wood
“There should have been a gap between lifting lockdown and lessening shielding advice, so it could be monitored carefully,” she says.
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“Many will be forced back to work in unsafe conditions. I will continue to shield until August 1 and monitor the data given by the scientists, as well as advice by my consultants – not the government.”
‘It only takes one exposure and I’m in serious trouble’
Aaron Foulds Keighley, 49, from West Yorkshire, has severe asthma, which means he’s in A&E three or four times a year. He hasn’t ventured outside since lockdown began, saying: “It only takes one exposure and I’m in serious trouble.”
Despite the official easing of restrictions, he’s hoping to continue shielding as much as possible. “I won’t be going shopping and I’ll be avoiding public places, I’m not convinced a blanket approach is appropriate,” he says.
Aaron Foulds Keighley
Aaron questions how the government can know the extent to which people with different conditions are impacted by coronavirus. “Have they really had the chance to accurately assess the virus on the shielded conditions?” he asks. “I think we are going to be the second wave.”
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He acknowledges millions of people “can’t shield forever” but says the latest announcement feels like “a political decision” and “a good news story”, rather than a convincing medical argument.
‘I will decide when it’s safe for me’
Jane, 63, from Hampshire, has a chronic lung condition, meaning Covid-19 “would likely be fatal”. She’s been going out for countryside and beach walks a couple of times a week.
“I wear a mask but it’s still not as relaxing as it should be,” says Jane, who chose not to share her surname. “They’ve been for our sanity – I needed to have a bit of normality. We’ve had one garden visit from a shielding neighbour, strict distancing and no going in the house. It helped us both to just sit and chat.”
Monday’s announcement gave her “no reason” to change her behaviour, she adds. “Covid is still out there... we are still at level three and I don’t trust government data,” she says. “I still can’t go to shops, supermarkets, public gatherings. I will decide when it’s safe for me, with personal medical advice.”
‘It’s come as a surprise... things still seem so uncertain’
Lauren Campbell-Thompson, 27, from London, is shielding as she lives and cares for her twin sister, who has cerebral palsy. Lauren also has asthma.
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“Shielding has been an experience of highs and lows,” she says. “For my sister, it hasn’t had too much of an impact as she dislikes being outside. However, I’ve had a lot of nightmares about catching corona and passing it onto my sister or my aunt who is currently having treatment for cancer.”
Supplied HuffPost UK
Lauren is a health worker and assistant psychologist, but she hasn’t worked to ensure she doesn’t infect her household. “The news about shielding ending has come as quite a surprise as things still seem so uncertain – other countries have had second waves and there’s still so much we don’t know about the virus.


thehuffingtonpost--2020-07-01--The Pandemic Presents The Chance To End Homelessness In Canada For Good

Municipal , provincial and the federal governments have acted swiftly to address the increased risk posed to people experiencing homelessness , injecting funding into the non-profit sector and temporarily moving people into hotels and hockey arenas .
In Montreal , masks are being distributed to the homeless population , the B.C , government gave out 3,500 smartphones to low-income people to help them access services closed by the pandemic , and Winnipeg has set up a testing site specifically for the homeless population .
Homelessness advocates even launched a lawsuit against the City of Toronto to ensure proper social distancing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ settled in mid-May .
“ But now , people are noticing that it ’ s unsafe for people to be in overcrowded shelters where there aren ’ t medical staff on hand to support the outbreak of a pandemic , ” Canham said .
“ It isn ’ t appropriate for people to be living on the street when businesses that they use on a daily basis for washing their hands on a regular basis or using the toilet facilities are no longer open.
” But other provincial and federal actions are more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a hotel outside of Victoria to be converted into social housing and ease the congestion at a local encampment long-term .
It will be operated by Our Place Society , a local organization that already offers support to the homeless , in partnership with B.C .
Housing to provide shelter , meals and harm-reduction services related to drug use .
The hotel ’ s pub is being converted into a safe consumption site , and residents will have access to regular wellness checks — and even the chance to bring their dogs and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ accommodations .
“ The pandemic is just the latest disaster to affect people experiencing homelessness right now , ” he said .
“ You know , we ’ re dealing with a housing crisis and on top of the housing crisis we ’ re dealing with an opioid crisis and on top of that now there is the pandemic and these people are already significantly elevated risk , not only from catching COVID but from having severe health impacts from it .
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This story is part of After The Curve, an ongoing HuffPost Canada series that makes sense of how the COVID-19 crisis could change our country in the months and years ahead, and what opportunities exist to make Canada better.
Canada’s public health messaging during the COVID-19 pandemic has been clear and consistent: stay home, stay safe.
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But Canadians experiencing homelessness don’t have that option, whether they’re camped out in streets or parks, or packed into crowded shelter spaces. At least 35,000 people experience homelessness every night in Canada. The pandemic has thrown that number into sharp relief, as the disease has threatened a population already at higher risk of mental and physical health complications.
Municipal, provincial and the federal governments have acted swiftly to address the increased risk posed to people experiencing homelessness, injecting funding into the non-profit sector and temporarily moving people into hotels and hockey arenas. In Montreal, masks are being distributed to the homeless population, the B.C, government gave out 3,500 smartphones to low-income people to help them access services closed by the pandemic, and Winnipeg has set up a testing site specifically for the homeless population. Homelessness advocates even launched a lawsuit against the City of Toronto to ensure proper social distancing in shelter spaces. The suit was settled in mid-May.
Doug Johnson Hatlem, a worker at The Sanctuary, a respite centre in Toronto, carries tents to be distributed to members of the homeless community on April 19 2020. Chris Young/THE CANADIAN PRESS
Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness president and CEO Tim Richter says these measures are all proof that governments are capable of acting on homelessness long-term.
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“We can choose to move more aggressively and fix this problem, and that’s one of the things that these emergency measures have proven — that we can act rapidly and move people into housing if we choose,” he told HuffPost Canada.
Many experts argue that the policies put in place to abet homelessness during the pandemic could pave the way for a bigger institutional change, and even propel the push to end homelessness altogether.
They’ve been calling for it for years, but it might take a global pandemic to actually end homelessness in Canada.
“That’s one of the things that these emergency measures have proven — that we can act rapidly and move people into housing if we choose.” - CAEH president and CEO Tim Richter
Vancouver’s Oppenheimer Park encampment — which at one point was occupied by upwards of 300 people and was one of the country’s largest encampments — was ordered cleared early in the pandemic to prevent spread of the disease. At least 265 people were moved into temporary shelter in empty hotels or other spaces by early May. Similar moves were made for long-standing encampments in Victoria as well.
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“This is only the first step; there’s more work to be done to get housing, and there’s more work to be done in the community, and we’re doing that work,” B.C. Minister of Social Development Shane Simpson told reporters at the time.
Sarah Canham is an adjunct professor in gerontology at Simon Fraser University. She says prior to the pandemic, homelessness was largely talked about by the government and media in relation to social housing or general housing policy.
“Pre-COVID-19, when we heard about people experiencing homelessness, it was really at times when there would be new housing developments and there would be a sense of NIMBY-ism in our communities,” she said.
Condos and apartment buildings are seen in downtown Vancouver, B.C. on February 2, 2017. Darryl Dyck/THE CANADIAN PRESS
In our new world of physical distancing and personal protective equipment, jam-packed shelters and encampments are suddenly not just a housing issue, but also a public health crisis. And that means a lot more average Canadians, who otherwise might not think about homelessness issues, are suddenly keenly aware of the dangers posed by a pandemic in the current system.
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“But now, people are noticing that it’s unsafe for people to be in overcrowded shelters where there aren’t medical staff on hand to support the outbreak of a pandemic,” Canham said. “It isn’t appropriate for people to be living on the street when businesses that they use on a daily basis for washing their hands on a regular basis or using the toilet facilities are no longer open.”
In April, several cases of COVID-19 were confirmed in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, where hundreds of people live in close proximity on the street, in camps like Oppenheimer or in crowded shelters. Early in the pandemic, officials were testing at three times the rate as the rest of Vancouver to catch any cases that arose.
Canham said that the “humanizing factor” of the pandemic’s effect on homeless people spurred fast action at various levels of government to address homelessness — actions academics and activists like her have been calling for for years.
Police officers are seen at a homeless camp at Oppenheimer Park in the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver, on April 26, 2020. Darryl Dyck/THE CANADIAN PRESS
“It’s shining a bit more of a light on the humanizing factor of some of the daily struggles that people have been encountering for decades here in Canada,” she said.
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Some of these actions — such as housing people in empty hockey arenas or convention spaces — are temporary. When hotels saw business crash as borders closed and tourism dried up, an opportunity presented itself to temporarily house many of B.C.’s homeless population. Around 1,000 people between Vancouver and Victoria were offered the chance to relocate from encampments to these hotels.
But other provincial and federal actions are more permanent. The B.C. government purchased a hotel outside of Victoria to be converted into social housing and ease the congestion at a local encampment long-term. It will be operated by Our Place Society, a local organization that already offers support to the homeless, in partnership with B.C. Housing to provide shelter, meals and harm-reduction services related to drug use. The hotel’s pub is being converted into a safe consumption site, and residents will have access to regular wellness checks — and even the chance to bring their dogs and other personal items into their new living accommodations.
“We intend to serve this vulnerable population with dignity,” Grant McKenzie, Our Place spokesperson, said in a statement.
In early April, Trudeau’s government also announced $157 million in funding to shelters and other homeless relief efforts, with specific money going to women’s and Indigenous-focused services.
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“It’s not just an issue of giving a safe place for people to escape violence or to give them shelter when they don’t have a home,” Trudeau said at the time. “It’s really an issue of protecting everyone in our society against COVID-19. That includes the most vulnerable.”
Prompted by these early moves to address COVID-19 and homelessness, advocates have come forward with calls to action at the municipal, provincial and federal levels to address homelessness long-term, arguing that this isn’t something that can be fixed by “band-aid” solutions.
WATCH: ‘Compassionate’ landlord offers indefinite rent relief to tenants during COVID-19 crisis. Story continues below.
One such call was released April 27 by a collective of 40 housing advocates and researchers in association with the University of British Columbia’s Housing Research Collective, chaired by professor Penny Gurstein.
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The document’s authors outline eight key areas the federal government can continue to address homelessness as part of the post-COVID-19 economic stimulus package.
“We are in crisis mode as individuals and organizations, but we also are looking to a better future. We write to suggest ways to get the economy moving again, through investing in infrastructure that can help reduce inequalities, improve the social determinants of health, and uphold human rights,” they note in the introduction.
The call includes a specific federal Indigenous housing strategy, emergency rent assistance and bans on evictions for all Canadians, building up existing social housing stock and reforming housing and tax policy to disincentivize rising home prices.
WATCH: Federal fiscal update coming July 8: Trudeau. Story continues below.
Gurstein told HuffPost that governments must start planning to maintain these supports after the crisis is over.
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“It would be unconscionable for people, once the pandemic’s worst effects are over, to just say ‘well, you’re on your own again,’” she said.
Gurstein said housing has been a significant part of economic recovery plans dating back to the second World War. And it can’t just be affordable housing for home-owners, but renters and the homeless too.
“You have to be really thinking of how do you actually do a stimulus package that addresses housing for people that are not in the market. That would be non-market housing,” she said.
Alongside the UBC call to action, the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH) has also launched a campaign called “Recovery For All,” advocating for housing as part of any coronavirus recovery plan.
Richter says that the quick response to institute temporary measures like the arena or hotel housing proves governments can act on homelessness if they have the motivation.
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He says the immediacy of the pandemic is a danger to people experiencing homelessness, but there have been other dangers before.
“It would be unconscionable for people, once the pandemic’s worst effects are over, to just say ‘well, you’re on your own again.'” - UBC professor Penny Gurstein
“The pandemic is just the latest disaster to affect people experiencing homelessness right now,” he said. “You know, we’re dealing with a housing crisis and on top of the housing crisis we’re dealing with an opioid crisis and on top of that now there is the pandemic and these people are already significantly elevated risk, not only from catching COVID but from having severe health impacts from it.”
Like Canham and Gurstein, he says the pandemic has put a spotlight on the need for longer term solutions to homelessness.
Workers deliver fencing to a homeless camp at Oppenheimer Park in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, on Wednesday, May 6, 2020. Darryl Dyck/THE CANADIAN PRESS
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“When people started saying ‘we’ve got to get back to normal’ — well, you know, normal was a place where 235,000 different people are experiencing homelessness in a year and people are life-threatening risk even before the pandemic for no other reason and they’re poor or they don’t have a home,” he said.
Richter and CAEH released a six-point plan calling for federal investment in new affordable housing units, guaranteed minimum income and increased federal investment in community organizations. Richter points out that most of the government’s economic recovery actions have nothing directly to do with long-term housing solutions, and it must be addressed if we actually want the economy to recover.
“Canadians don’t want to go back to ‘normal,’” he said. “That normal wasn’t good enough. And we have to act.”
Gurstein says that one thing the COVID-19 crisis has exposed are the “serious inequities” in our society.
“That normal wasn’t good enough. And we have to act.” - CAEH CEO and president Tim Richter
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“And that’s on racial lines, it’s on income lines – all of these things,” she said. “So what I’m hoping will come from this is a greater awareness of how housing is essential to the social infrastructure of our country.”
Canham says that ending homelessness in Canada is not a quick fix. It’s going to take a community effort rallying together across different governmental policies that serve the population they’re trying to serve.
But she says the COVID-19 crisis has proven the country is capable of that.
“It’s a really long-term, deep-rooted social justice issue that is going to take a lot of people at the table to rally behind the same way that we rally behind COVID,” she said. “I am hopeful though, and I know there are a lot of hopeful people out there.”