buzzfeednews--2020-03-17--The Coronavirus Hit My Home Just Behind The Tornado

Even though my husband , Greg , is an ICU doctor , until a few days ago the coronavirus was only peripherally on our radar .
In our defense , we had a decent excuse : We ’ d just been hit by a tornado .
We live in Nashville , and our apartment building sat directly in the path of the ( at least ) EF3 twister that devastated parts of the city ’ s downtown corridor and nearby Putnam County at about 1:15 a.m. on Tuesday , March 3 .
It started like a bad thunderstorm , with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ transformed into something more sinister : continuous lightning illuminated the living room ; a roaring noise rent the air ; the sky broke apart .
I walked to the window ( the last thing you are supposed to do in a tornado , but we didn ’ t yet realize that ’ s what it was ) and opened the blinds to see patio furniture whirling in a furious tunnel like a sight out of Dorothy ’ s Kansas .
I blinked and rubbed my eyes , trying to accommodate the film-quality surreality @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out , and it would remain so for more than a week .
We were temporarily evacuated , then allowed back in , only to toss restively in bed for a few hours .
As the sun rose , we surveyed the damage to our building , street , and neighborhood .
Windows were blown out , chunks scraped from ceilings and walls .
We walked down the hall to the nearest staircase , passing our neighbor ’ s ominously blood-spattered door .
They had a small baby ; we exchanged worried glances @ @ @ @ @ @ @ units torn from the roof lay facedown in the courtyard pool .
People stood gaping in the roads , which shattered glass and assorted debris had rendered impassable to cars .
A pile of rubble housed the former brick facade of the bar around the corner , now a gutted wreck .
Later that morning , the management company let all residents know we needed to hastily pack a bag and move out , at least for the time being .
We threw clothes , toiletries , essential drugs , a few perishable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pet food into backpacks and frantically called local hotels in search of one that accepted both dogs and cats ( hotels that accept both are hard to find ) .
After an hour or so , we found one out by the airport .
We threw these scant belongings and two anxious animals into the car and drove out of the darkened garage to the cramped room that would become our home for the next week .
A couple days later , our old building management informed us that all residents would have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ words , gather all our things and find alternative long-term housing .
Greg and I arrived at the building to pack and found a community united in solidarity .
Local volunteer organizations had provided boxes , tape , flashlights , and — critically — snacks .
As we set to the ordeal of placing all our worldly possessions in boxes , a mere eight months after we had moved to Nashville , a woman who looked to be in her mid-to-late twenties appeared at our front door .
“ Hi , ” she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any help ?
” My husband and I looked at each other .
We needed help like we needed oxygen .
“ Oh , I ’ m not , ” she replied .
“ I just knew everyone here had to move out , so some friends and I thought we ’ d come by and help y ’ all .
I ’ ll go get them.
” Soon , five cheery souls walked in , introduced themselves , and asked where to start .
I held back tears .
As we unrolled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ around bags of Doritos , I felt the kind of joy fueled by the flame of collective spirit amid darkness .
Four hours later , when we finished the job that would have taken Greg and me a week , we hugged and high-fived , bucking the wave of noncontact precautions sweeping distant parts of the world .
Covered in a veneer of dust and sweat , we convened at a nearby pub for lunch and beers .
We sampled each other ’ s fries , ales .
We huddled close for a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ realized it would be our last real social contact before the wall of the coronavirus came crashing down .
Greg and I moved to Nashville in July 2019 for a fellowship .
It would be the final year of his medical training .
We knew hardly anyone in the area , and we ’ ve been slow to make friends , partly because our time here carries an expiration date and partly because that is the nature of connection in adulthood : sluggish in the presence of middle-aged rigidity and in the absence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like school and drunken bar nights .
Because of our shallow social roots , our neighborhood and building became touchstones : the couple down the hall with the tiny puffball , a mere suggestion of a dog ; the engineering staff who promptly and professionally fixed the smoke detector , the oven , a door hinge , and sundry others ; the guy on the same gym schedule as me , whom I jokingly “ raced ” on an adjacent treadmill .
Before a pandemic made us double down on isolation , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ social distancing simply by compelling these everyday beacons to scatter across the city and beyond .
Even if we weren ’ t close friends with most of the folks we lived among , their faces and routines had come to form the texture of our days .
As we all moved out , nodding grimly to each other in the halls , I felt this fabric unravel , my standing in the world grow less sturdy .
These sights and sounds , having only recently lost their strangeness , were to become strange @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the trauma of a natural disaster and girding to unpack and settle into our new apartment , in an unfamiliar neighborhood , removed from what little regularity I had achieved — all I wanted , I must confess , was my mother .
She lives in Seattle , the epicenter of the US coronavirus outbreak , and therefore could not visit us .
Even if she had lived elsewhere , it would have been unwise to fly .
Fortunately , we live in the age of multimedia chat , but the sickly blue @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t measure up to a hug .
Following the lead of risk-averse millennial children everywhere , we encouraged my in-laws , too , to cancel a five-day stay that would have coincided with Greg ’ s birthday , though they ’ d intended to drive .
And Greg and I let various airlines know we wouldn ’ t be making it to Seattle for a special long weekend at the end of March , which would have entailed a food and wine tasting at our wedding venue .
Ah , yes .
Have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) holding a formal wedding in Washington state , where we lived for a decade , at the end of August ?
We legally married at the county clerk in Nashville but held off on the grand bash until Greg finishes his fellowship and we ’ re a bit richer in time and , well , money .
A wedding , that great symbol of unity over fragmentation , now a question mark on a calendar .
These plans , like every other at this strange moment in history , hang over an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that makes planning itself feel cursed , like inviting trouble .
Not that we could meet with our florist or photographer or DJ in any case .
Arranging a wedding is also an act of community , of collective will and commitment , one that seems temporarily out of reach .
Distancing .
Isolation .
The joke in Seattle is : Those are the city ’ s core values .
But in Nashville , these words are anathema .
Anyone who knows the American South knows the cultural primacy of community , church @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Opry to gospel to grunge , the call-and-response of performance forms either the backbone or background of every social gathering the city offers or entertains .
Now , the country music halls are silent .
The balms that could have soothed the worry and disconnection of Nashvillians have dissolved , taking with them the profound sense of civic bond and mutual aid that defined the immediate aftermath of the tornado .
Our adopted home is hurting , and that hurts us , too , no matter how briefly we may be passing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if it is possible to live someplace long enough and not grow to love it , in the same way we still love our childhood friends even though we aren ’ t sure we like them .
Familiarity can not fail to breed affection .
There is , by way of palliation , the internet .
The internet has helped .
In the wake of the upheaval , I have followed on social media , variously : our vet , our plant nursery , our coffee shop , some local restaurants , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and an Instagram account solely featuring dog photos from our old neighborhood .
If we can ’ t visit , second best is liking , commenting , donating , and watching the gradual reversal of damage and displacement that must now occur remotely .
Ironically , the digital ether — that placeless place — helps remind me I live somewhere in particular , where all around families and small businesses and single friends and their cats go on making meaning in more limited circumstances .
Still , the inexorable reality is that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emotional , of which we might have availed ourselves have ceased to exist , for how long remains to be seen .
We might have attended a show , joined a pickup league , or simply found a wine bar tucked up in an alley somewhere with one of our few but treasured local chums .
Despite the clamor of news and activity , the ceaseless distraction of tornado recovery , a hum has taken up residence in my brain that says , simply , “ …Huh ?
” A semblance of normalcy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I can easily say has been the least normal episode of my life .
Instead , the world tasks us with innovations in resilience .
It ’ s not exactly a radical tech disruption , but I have been talking on the phone a lot .
The sounds of voices ring dear to me , no matter how long it ’ s been since we ’ ve spoken , especially when I remember those few hours after the storm when the cell system became overwhelmed and we couldn ’ t even make calls @ @ @ @ @ @ @ laughter invariably creeps in .
I get to admire the quotidian heroism of my best friend , who works at a cancer hospital in New York City , or that of my brother , a Seattle public defender trying his cases from afar .
For now , my husband and I remain afloat on our little island , unmoored from the known and the comfortable , but safe , or as safe as anyone can count themselves these days .
Before dawn , Greg wakes and drives to the place where the people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ only from the coronavirus but from the gamut of ailments , ordinary and rare , that plague our frail bodies .
By night , we watch movies from a blanketed pile of man and beast on the ugly red couch that took four separate trips to Ikea to obtain , a few short years and a lifetime ago .
Daily we summon gratitude for the fact of being alive and together , for family support , for the means to buy groceries , for the two little fast-beating hearts that warm our home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and for the part we will play in whatever comes next .
●

Before a pandemic made us double down on isolation, the tornado already enforced its own kind of social distancing simply by compelling these everyday beacons to scatter across the city and beyond. Even if we weren’t close friends with most of the folks we lived among, their faces and routines had come to form the texture of our days. As we all moved out, nodding grimly to each other in the halls, I felt this fabric unravel, my standing in the world grow less sturdy. These sights and sounds, having only recently lost their strangeness, were to become strange once more.
As I began processing the trauma of a natural disaster and girding to unpack and settle into our new apartment, in an unfamiliar neighborhood, removed from what little regularity I had achieved — all I wanted, I must confess, was my mother. She lives in Seattle, the epicenter of the US coronavirus outbreak, and therefore could not visit us. Even if she had lived elsewhere, it would have been unwise to fly. Fortunately, we live in the age of multimedia chat, but the sickly blue light of a Skype window doesn’t measure up to a hug. Following the lead of risk-averse millennial children everywhere, we encouraged my in-laws, too, to cancel a five-day stay that would have coincided with Greg’s birthday, though they’d intended to drive. And Greg and I let various airlines know we wouldn’t be making it to Seattle for a special long weekend at the end of March, which would have entailed a food and wine tasting at our wedding venue.
Ah, yes. Have I not mentioned we are (probably) holding a formal wedding in Washington state, where we lived for a decade, at the end of August? We legally married at the county clerk in Nashville but held off on the grand bash until Greg finishes his fellowship and we’re a bit richer in time and, well, money. A wedding, that great symbol of unity over fragmentation, now a question mark on a calendar. These plans, like every other at this strange moment in history, hang over an abyss of uncertainty, an impossible-to-know unease that makes planning itself feel cursed, like inviting trouble. Not that we could meet with our florist or photographer or DJ in any case. Arranging a wedding is also an act of community, of collective will and commitment, one that seems temporarily out of reach.
Distancing. Isolation. The joke in Seattle is: Those are the city’s core values. But in Nashville, these words are anathema. Anyone who knows the American South knows the cultural primacy of community, church, harmonies figurative and literal. From the Opry to gospel to grunge, the call-and-response of performance forms either the backbone or background of every social gathering the city offers or entertains. Now, the country music halls are silent. The balms that could have soothed the worry and disconnection of Nashvillians have dissolved, taking with them the profound sense of civic bond and mutual aid that defined the immediate aftermath of the tornado. Our adopted home is hurting, and that hurts us, too, no matter how briefly we may be passing through. I don’t know if it is possible to live someplace long enough and not grow to love it, in the same way we still love our childhood friends even though we aren’t sure we like them. Familiarity cannot fail to breed affection.
There is, by way of palliation, the internet. The internet has helped. In the wake of the upheaval, I have followed on social media, variously: our vet, our plant nursery, our coffee shop, some local restaurants, the Department of Transportation, Nashville Electric Service, and an Instagram account solely featuring dog photos from our old neighborhood. If we can’t visit, second best is liking, commenting, donating, and watching the gradual reversal of damage and displacement that must now occur remotely. Ironically, the digital ether — that placeless place — helps remind me I live somewhere in particular, where all around families and small businesses and single friends and their cats go on making meaning in more limited circumstances.
Still, the inexorable reality is that many of the resources, material and emotional, of which we might have availed ourselves have ceased to exist, for how long remains to be seen. We might have attended a show, joined a pickup league, or simply found a wine bar tucked up in an alley somewhere with one of our few but treasured local chums. Despite the clamor of news and activity, the ceaseless distraction of tornado recovery, a hum has taken up residence in my brain that says, simply, “…Huh?” A semblance of normalcy would have aided in recovery from what I can easily say has been the least normal episode of my life.
Instead, the world tasks us with innovations in resilience. It’s not exactly a radical tech disruption, but I have been talking on the phone a lot. The sounds of voices ring dear to me, no matter how long it’s been since we’ve spoken, especially when I remember those few hours after the storm when the cell system became overwhelmed and we couldn’t even make calls. Conversation passes the time, and laughter invariably creeps in. I get to admire the quotidian heroism of my best friend, who works at a cancer hospital in New York City, or that of my brother, a Seattle public defender trying his cases from afar.
For now, my husband and I remain afloat on our little island, unmoored from the known and the comfortable, but safe, or as safe as anyone can count themselves these days. Before dawn, Greg wakes and drives to the place where the people seek treatment and solace, sick not only from the coronavirus but from the gamut of ailments, ordinary and rare, that plague our frail bodies. By night, we watch movies from a blanketed pile of man and beast on the ugly red couch that took four separate trips to Ikea to obtain, a few short years and a lifetime ago. Daily we summon gratitude for the fact of being alive and together, for family support, for the means to buy groceries, for the two little fast-beating hearts that warm our home, for art and beautiful things, and for the part we will play in whatever comes next. ●


buzzfeednews--2020-06-10--Health Experts Are Sounding The Alarm About A Coronavirus Surge In Arizona

Arizona Gov .
Doug Ducey lifted the state 's stay-at-home order on May 15 .
New cases and hospitalizations began to rise just over a week later .
Arizona is one of more than a dozen states — many in the West — that have experienced a sharp rise in new infections .
The state has seen an average of 1,021 coronavirus cases a day over the last week , according to a BuzzFeed News analysis , up more than 200 % compared to Memorial Day .
Over the past two weeks , the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ % — currently at more than 1,200 , according to data from the COVID Tracking Project .
“ Every indicator is pointing in the wrong direction , ” Will Humble , executive director for the Arizona Public Health Association and a former state health director , told BuzzFeed News .
He described the situation as akin to when the “ check engine ” light is on in a car .
“ Something bad is going to happen if you don ’ t do something different , ” Humble said .
A recent surge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has health experts alarmed that a crisis is just around the corner .
Numbers plotted for any day reflect the average for the preceding seven days .
Dotted lines mark the lifting of the statewide stay-at-home order .
More than half of the new cases in the state are in Maricopa County , where Phoenix is located .
Looking ahead to potential cases in the future , the state ’ s capital has also been the site of continuing protests against police brutality sweeping the nation .
And on Wednesday , President Donald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the planned locations for his restarted campaign rallies , which went on hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic .
Although Arizona has also seen a dramatic expansion in testing capacity , experts say that doesn ’ t fully explain the state ’ s case spike or its steady increase in hospitalizations .
“ It ’ s not from increased testing , it ’ s more from community spread , ” Humble said about the surge .
Arizona Gov .
Doug Ducey lifted the state ’ s stay-at-home order on May 15 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
State officials also did not put in place a tiered reopening plan , nor did they require widespread mask use or set up a system that would fine or punish businesses that did not obey social distancing measures .
Gyms , pools , sports leagues , and restaurants have all been open for the last month .
Politicians and public health experts have condemned Ducey 's decision to lift the restrictions .
“ When Governor Ducey lifted Arizona ’ s stay-at-home order on May 15th , many worried it was too soon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ranking member of the Arizona House of Representatives ’ Health and Human Services Committee , by email .
“ Now , three weeks later , with cases and deaths spiking and hospitals sounding the alarm , it ’ s obvious we were not ready.
” New cases and hospitalizations began to rise just over a week after the stay-at-home order was lifted .
Arizona has seen a resurgence in transmissions that “ appears to be picking up steam , ” said Joe Gerald , an associate professor and health services researcher at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s pretty clear that opening as early as we did contributed to the problem today.
” The governor is standing by his decisions .
On Wednesday , Daniel Scarpinato , Ducey 's chief of staff , claimed on Twitter that the state has sufficient hospital capacity , personal protective equipment , ventilators , and increased testing .
`` We are not in a crisis situation , '' he wrote .
But Cara Christ , the state ’ s health director , last week directed hospitals to “ fully activate your facility emergency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ elective surgeries in response to the coronavirus outbreak , according to a June 6 letter obtained by the Arizona Republic .
Banner Health , the state ’ s largest hospital system , tweeted on Monday that its intensive care units were filling up with patients sick with COVID-19 and that the system had “ recently reached capacity for patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation ( ECMO ) treatment.
” The number of patients on ventilators in Banner Health hospitals had quadrupled since May 15 , the hospital said .
Dignity Health hospitals are “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” according to a cardiologist in Phoenix who asked to remain anonymous .
“ It ’ s always an uneasy feeling that we have to come in without the proper protective equipment , ” the cardiologist said .
He added that the equipment , such as N95 respirator masks , is kept under lock and key at multiple Phoenix hospitals and sparingly handed out , so he ’ s resorted to reaching out to companies like Honeywell to try to secure masks for himself and his colleagues .
“ Healthcare providers and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Butler said .
“ I sure hope Governor Ducey is listening .
”

More than half of the new cases in the state are in Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located. Looking ahead to potential cases in the future, the state’s capital has also been the site of continuing protests against police brutality sweeping the nation. And on Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced that Arizona would be one of the planned locations for his restarted campaign rallies, which went on hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Although Arizona has also seen a dramatic expansion in testing capacity, experts say that doesn’t fully explain the state’s case spike or its steady increase in hospitalizations. “It’s not from increased testing, it’s more from community spread,” Humble said about the surge.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey lifted the state’s stay-at-home order on May 15, earlier than many health experts had recommended. State officials also did not put in place a tiered reopening plan, nor did they require widespread mask use or set up a system that would fine or punish businesses that did not obey social distancing measures. Gyms, pools, sports leagues, and restaurants have all been open for the last month.
Politicians and public health experts have condemned Ducey's decision to lift the restrictions.
“When Governor Ducey lifted Arizona’s stay-at-home order on May 15th, many worried it was too soon,” said Rep. Kelli Butler, the ranking member of the Arizona House of Representatives’ Health and Human Services Committee, by email. “Now, three weeks later, with cases and deaths spiking and hospitals sounding the alarm, it’s obvious we were not ready.”
New cases and hospitalizations began to rise just over a week after the stay-at-home order was lifted.
Arizona has seen a resurgence in transmissions that “appears to be picking up steam,” said Joe Gerald, an associate professor and health services researcher at the University of Arizona. “It’s pretty clear that opening as early as we did contributed to the problem today.”
The governor is standing by his decisions. On Wednesday, Daniel Scarpinato, Ducey's chief of staff, claimed on Twitter that the state has sufficient hospital capacity, personal protective equipment, ventilators, and increased testing. "We are not in a crisis situation," he wrote.
But Cara Christ, the state’s health director, last week directed hospitals to “fully activate your facility emergency plan” and consider reducing or suspending elective surgeries in response to the coronavirus outbreak, according to a June 6 letter obtained by the Arizona Republic.
Banner Health, the state’s largest hospital system, tweeted on Monday that its intensive care units were filling up with patients sick with COVID-19 and that the system had “recently reached capacity for patients receiving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) treatment.” The number of patients on ventilators in Banner Health hospitals had quadrupled since May 15, the hospital said.
Dignity Health hospitals are “a week or two away from that,” according to a cardiologist in Phoenix who asked to remain anonymous.
“It’s always an uneasy feeling that we have to come in without the proper protective equipment,” the cardiologist said. He added that the equipment, such as N95 respirator masks, is kept under lock and key at multiple Phoenix hospitals and sparingly handed out, so he’s resorted to reaching out to companies like Honeywell to try to secure masks for himself and his colleagues.
“Healthcare providers and hospitals in Arizona are issuing dire warnings,” Butler said. “I sure hope Governor Ducey is listening.”


buzzfeednews--2020-06-05--Protests Have Also Broken Out In Latin America Against Police Brutality

MEXICO CITY — Several prominent killings by police officers and thousands of arrests over violations of measures intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus have roiled Latin America .
It ’ s a region familiar with police brutality , but many people feel the pandemic has become a new excuse for security forces to crack down violently .
Last month , Mexican police detained Giovanni López , a 30-year-old bricklayer , for not wearing a face mask as bystanders pleaded for his release .
His body was later discovered in the hospital , and an autopsy revealed that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the head .
In Argentina , officers beat up and detained Luis Espinoza , a 31-year-old day laborer , during an operation in May to ensure quarantine measures were being followed .
His body was found in a ditch after a weeklong search .
Nine cops have been detained in connection to the ongoing investigation .
“ The police feel that there is another good pretext for them to be rash , to do some social control and enforce aggressively in the name of a pandemic , ” said José Miguel Vivanco , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Human Rights Watch .
As protests spread across the US and other major cities around the world following the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis , anger over cases of police brutality has reignited in Latin America .
On Thursday , a demonstration erupted over the killing of López in Guadalajara , Mexico ’ s second-largest city .
Police fired tear gas at protesters , who smashed and burned vehicles outside the government palace .
One demonstrator poured flammable liquid onto an officer ’ s uniform , which caught @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil , called for an end to police brutality after João Pedro Matos Pinto , 14 , was killed during a police raid .
Like 75 % of those killed by cops in Brazil , Pinto was Black .
Demonstrators carried Black Lives Matter signs in an echo of events in the US .

MEXICO CITY — Several prominent killings by police officers and thousands of arrests over violations of measures intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus have roiled Latin America. It’s a region familiar with police brutality, but many people feel the pandemic has become a new excuse for security forces to crack down violently.
Last month, Mexican police detained Giovanni López, a 30-year-old bricklayer, for not wearing a face mask as bystanders pleaded for his release. His body was later discovered in the hospital, and an autopsy revealed that the cause of death was blunt trauma to the head.
In Argentina, officers beat up and detained Luis Espinoza, a 31-year-old day laborer, during an operation in May to ensure quarantine measures were being followed. His body was found in a ditch after a weeklong search. Nine cops have been detained in connection to the ongoing investigation.
“The police feel that there is another good pretext for them to be rash, to do some social control and enforce aggressively in the name of a pandemic,” said José Miguel Vivanco, executive director of the Americas division at Human Rights Watch.
As protests spread across the US and other major cities around the world following the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, anger over cases of police brutality has reignited in Latin America.
On Thursday, a demonstration erupted over the killing of López in Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city. Police fired tear gas at protesters, who smashed and burned vehicles outside the government palace. One demonstrator poured flammable liquid onto an officer’s uniform, which caught on fire.
Last week, protesters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, called for an end to police brutality after João Pedro Matos Pinto, 14, was killed during a police raid. Like 75% of those killed by cops in Brazil, Pinto was Black. Demonstrators carried Black Lives Matter signs in an echo of events in the US.


buzzfeednews--2020-06-09--How The Antifa Fantasy Spread In Small Towns Across The US

Rumors of roving bands of Antifa have followed small protests all over the United States .
Why are people so ready to believe them ?
The rumor that shadowy leftists planned to start trouble in Great Falls , Montana , first appeared on the Facebook group of the Montana Liberty Coalition late last Wednesday afternoon .
“ Heads up , ” a man named Wayne Ebersole , who owns a local cover crop business , wrote .
“ Rumor has it that Antifa has scheduled a protest in Great Falls Friday evening at 5 p.m. in front of the Civic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anyone had any more information , or if anyone was available to “ protect businesses.
” “ It has been confirmed through the police department , ” one commenter replied .
“ They have a permit for tomorrow night and are in town now.
” They weren ’ t .
Police later said they had been “ working to quell the rumor.
” But that didn ’ t stop it from sweeping across various right-wing groups .
Within 24 hours , a screenshot of Ebersole ’ s post had been posted to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whose members have recently dedicated themselves to tracking the perceived threat of antifa all over the state , including coordinating armed responses to “ protect ” their towns .
( Ebersole did not respond to a request for comment . )
And by Friday at 5 p.m. , as about 500 protesters gathered to protest systemic racism and police brutality , a handful of armed men had massed at the edge of the demonstration.
“ We heard that a little group called Antifa wanted to show up and not in our town , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be named , told the Great Falls Tribune .
“ All it takes is a word and a whisper.
” As protests against police brutality and in support of Black Lives Matter continue to proliferate across the small towns and rural communities , so , too , have rumors of white vans of masked antifa driving from town to town , reportedly intent on destruction .
In Hood River , Oregon , antifa were , according to screenshot of a fake Instagram story , calling on followers to “ root loot do anything @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Tennessee , there was a “ busload ” staying at the Holiday Inn , prepping to loot Walgreens at noon .
In Wenatchee , Washington , bands of men dressed in black were surveilling potential targets .
In Payette , Idaho , a plane full of protesters was circling overhead .
In Honolulu , antifa had been flown in from the mainland .
In Billings , Montana , some claimed agitators had been spotted by the National Guard .
In Nebraska , they were creating Craigslist ads offering to pay people $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much chaos and destruction as possible.
” In Sisters , Oregon , they were planning to show up at the local Bi-Mart .
To be clear : All of these rumors were false .
They were all , as the Deschutes County Sheriff ’ s Office put it , “ fourth-hand information.
” To combat them , police departments in dozens of towns are holding press conferences , posting announcements on social media , and telling anyone who calls the station that there has been no indication of a planned presence from antifa @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ from Chicago ” ( code , in many parts of the Midwest , for black people ) or “ from Seattle ” ( code for liberals ) .
Yet these rumors continue to spread .
That spread is facilitated by Facebook — where they thrive in groups whose previous focus was protesting pandemic-related shutdowns and circulating conspiracy theories about COVID-19 — and fanned by President Donald Trump , who recently declared his intention to label antifa a terrorist group .
This morning , the president raised the antifa menace yet again , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ police in Buffalo , New York , “ could be an ANTIFA.
” ( He was not . )
But the persistence of these rumors suggests a deeper fear of outside incursion , and the necessity of an ever-alert , armed response .
As encapsulated in a Reddit thread out of Hood River , Oregon : “ I ’ ll say this much : The people out here are armed to the teeth .
If you want to bring mayhem to this area , the end result will likely have you begging for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ right ’ s face of violent leftist protest in the United States , sloppily aligned with , as the president put it on June 1 , “ professional anarchists , violent mobs , arsonists , looters , criminals , rioters.
” In a tweet , Trump claimed the national guard had “ shut down ” the “ ANTIFA led anarchists , among others.
” ( The DC field office of the FBI reported no antifa involvement in protests , according to the Nation . )
It ’ s difficult to talk about antifa @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s “ leftist ” insomuch as it ’ s against , well , fascism , authoritarianism , and white supremacists .
There are some local groups , but there ’ s no national leadership structure .
Many antifa dedicate themselves to finding white supremacists in their communities and outing them .
Most people within those groups are for violent protest only as a last resort , but a handful are for more forceful displays and destruction .
Here in Montana , I encountered a very small handful in January 2017 , when @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a planned march by the Daily Stormer , a neo-Nazi website .
The most important thing to understand about antifa is that there are very , very few of them : According to the Washington Post , when the group tried to gather nationally , they topped out at a few hundred .
Nevertheless , Trump has been building up the menace of antifa for years .
He first began evoking antifa following the Charlottesville “ Unite the Right ” rally , when he famously claimed that there were “ very good people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ then Trump has returned to the term often in speeches , ” Ben Zimmer writes in the Atlantic , always “ with an air of alien menace.
” Lifted by Trump ’ s rhetoric , that “ alien menace ” has accumulated around antifa in the public imagination , making it all the easier to believe posts in which fake antifa accounts promise to act in the exact ways Trump has described .
On Sunday , May 31 , a newly made Twitter account — since linked to the white nationalist group Identity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s the night , Comrades , ” with a brown raised-fist emoji and “ Tonight we say ' F -- - The City ' and we move into the residential areas ... the white hoods ... .
and we take what 's ours … ” The antifa threat has also been co-opted by QAnon , the nation ’ s most powerful and influential conspiracy theory and movement .
At Concordia University , Marc-André Argentino researches the way extremist groups use social media as a tool to recruit , spread propaganda , and incite @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he began tracking the uptick in mentions of antifa within QAnon social media forums , which began to rise when “ Q ” ( the anonymous poster who guides the site ) began mentioning it on May 30 .
At least for the moment , QAnon is celebrating the protests ( and antifa ’ s presence ) for their potential to spark the apocalyptic “ storm ” central to the QAnon theology .
“ Antifa is a nebulous enemy , one that serves as a rallying cry for keyboard warriors and on-the-ground militiamen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has been noticing something else , too : a growing cross-pollination between QAnon , which is often referred to simply as a conspiracy group , and more far-right extremist groups , from the so-called Boogaloo Bois and Proud Boys to more straightforward militias .
This intermingling was on display at the Reopen Michigan protests , where American flags waved alongside Confederate ones .
And you can see it now all over the West , where the groups that advocated for reopening — often attracting a motley mix of constitutionalists , “ patriots , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ anti-government advocates , and just straight up pissed off business people — have shifted their focus to “ protection.
” In the Tri-Cities area of Central Washington , the shift is so explicit that the Facebook group “ Reopen Tri-Cities ” has shifted , wholescale , to a second group called “ Protect the Tri.
” In Montana , most of the rumors of antifa presence in the state can be traced back to state Sen. Jennifer Fielder , who warned her followers on June 1 of “ multiple reports from credible witnesses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ antifa were on their way to Coeur d ’ Alene , Idaho , and would then proceed to Missoula , Montana .
Fielder , who lives in Northwest Montana , is known across the state for ultra-right , “ liberty-minded ” views on everything from public lands ( they should be sold ) to contact tracing ( a form of governmental overreach ) .
But Fielder didn ’ t start the antifa rumor .
She just brought it to Montana .
On Sunday , June 1 , over in Klamath Falls , Oregon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hundreds of armed people showed up to line the Main Street during a planned protest .
The next night , in downtown Coeur d ’ Alene , Idaho , a man with an AR-12 , an AR-15 , two 9 mm handguns , and a .38 special told reporter Bill Buley that he was there , along with hundreds of others , because he ’ d heard “ there were some people who shouldn ’ t be here.
” In some cases , the people with guns showing up at these rallies are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — at least in so far as they ’ re supportive of the right to freely assemble .
They don ’ t actually believe the protesters , in many cases local high school students , would turn to violence .
Instead , they believe antifa is plotting to infiltrate the otherwise peaceful protests and turn them violent — or , as was suspected in Lewiston , Idaho , use the protest as a decoy in order to ransack the business district .
Which is why , as over a thousand people gathered to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , dozens of others , many heavily armed , lined the streets downtown .
One wore a Hawaiian shirt ( the “ uniform ” of the Boogaloo Bois ) and held a sign with the name of a III % militia member who had been shot by the police .
Another wore a vest covered in Nazi paraphernalia .
Others were decked out in flak jackets , in camo , and Clinton Conspiracy shirts .
Similar scenes have played out this week in Bozeman , Kalispell , Billings , Sandpoint , and Coeur @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who ’ s tracked anti-government and hate groups for 15 years with the Montana Human Rights Network , calls it the “ Antifa Fantasy.
” A version of this fantasy has long existed , in some form , in militia circles : “ An outside , shadowy entity is going to come in , ” McAdam recounted , “ and whether it ’ s to disarm the community or attack it , these folks are going to mobilize and fight it off .
Antifa is just the bogeyman that they ’ ve stuck @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Militia members get to plan , anticipate , and enact the idea at the foundation of their existence .
And they get to do it in a way that positions them as “ the good guys , ” fighting a cowardly bogeyman easily vanquished by show of force alone .
As a popular meme circulating in North Idaho put it , “ Remember that time when Antifa said they were coming to Coeur d ’ Alene / And everyone grabbed their guns and they didn ’ t come ?
That was awesome !
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ antifa was never coming in the first place .
They didn ’ t come , and that ’ s evidence of victory .
And that victory can then be leveraged into further action — and a means to extend the fantasy .
On the Montana Militia page , a man named Tom Allen , whose home is listed on Facebook as Wibaux , Montana , posted that he ’ d spent the night in Dickenson , North Dakota , “ protecting ” the veterans monument during a planned protest .
A group of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mall , protecting “ all of Antifa ’ s usual targets.
” There was no incident .
( Allen did not respond to request for comment . )
Afterward , Allen wrote , a man who had helped coordinate the defense followed a group of perceived antifa to an Applebee ’ s , where he said he overheard them talking about “ the waitress and how they wanted to rape her , ” “ killing cops ” and “ other violence , ” and their future plans : “ They ’ re saying @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ‘ firestorm ’ in Billings this weekend.
” The post was shared more than 1,800 times .
Like Argentino , the online researcher , McAdam sees this current “ protect ” movement as an extension and consolidation of anti-government movements that have been percolating for years .
Back in 2008 , when tea party rallies began sprouting up all over the United States , many of them were attended and organized by people authentically upset about economic policies .
But those protests , like the reopen protests , also drew in anti-government agitators @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to influence and , in some cases , take over the leadership in the tea party groups .
“ That dynamic is very similar to what ’ s happening now , ” McAdam said .
“ A core group of people coming from the anti-government movement are always looking for a crisis , where you have a divisive issue in the community that they can tap into and exploit .
The COVID pandemic was one thing , and now we ’ ve got another avenue.
” And people who might not ever consider @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , who might have joined a reopen group in frustration , are now exposed , and perhaps more receptive , to rumors of roaming antifa in need of rebuke .
“ You can really see that in the Facebook groups , ” dozens of which McAdam monitors .
“ I would see people posting early on a Tuesday morning , saying , ‘ I don ’ t know if this Antifa rumor is real , ’ and then later in the day , they ’ d be like , ‘ Well , I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ m going to go drive around Missoula and look for these Antifa vans.
’ ” When someone in your Facebook feed posts a warning to be on the lookout for antifa in your small town , it might seem like low-stakes nonsense .
But beneath such a seemingly silly rumor lurks a larger ideological iceberg : the idea that radical leftists are out to defile and destroy , and the only recourse against them is an armed , unrestricted militia .
QAnon theory builds on this , suggesting that all of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reaction , the presence of antifa — has been preordained as part of a coming mass destruction And QAnon isn ’ t just a niche conspiracy theory .
Tweets from its proponents are regularly retweeted by the president .
At least 50 current or former candidates for Congress , plus the Republican nominee for the US Senate in Oregon , are public QAnon supporters .
And that doesn ’ t even include candidates running on the state or local level .
As Adrienne LaFrance argued in the Atlantic , QAnon has become a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ good and evil , hungry for converts .
The antifa fantasy functions similarly .
Whether you ’ re in Lewiston , Idaho , or Klamath Falls , Oregon , it ’ s so , so easy to believe .
And as QAnon continues to cross-pollinate ideas with violent , extremist groups , “ keyboard warriors ” may bring their conspiracies into the real world .
As Argentino put it , “ If you ’ re in QAnon , and you see your messianic leader , Trump , at risk of losing the election @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has promised is not coming , at some point people are going to question : If the Q team and Q can ’ t do this themselves , maybe they need the digital patriots to become offline patriots.
” On June 2 , Trump sent out a blast to his email list .
The subject line : ANTIFA .
“ Dangerous MOBS of far-left groups are running through our streets and causing absolute mayhem , ” the email said .
“ They are DESTROYING our cities and rioting — it ’ s absolute @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Washington , a multiracial family from across the state in Spokane pulled up to a local outdoors store .
They were in a decommissioned school bus and picking up supplies on their way to go camping .
In the parking lot , a group of people from seven to eight cars surrounded them and accused them of being antifa .
According to a statement from the sheriff ’ s office , the family then drove off to their camping site , trailed by a handful of cars .
In two of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As the family was setting up camp , they heard the sound of chainsaws and gunshots in the distance .
When they attempted to leave , they found that trees had been felled onto the road , trapping them on site .
“ For lots of folks , it ’ s much easier to accept the idea that the only people who could be protesting the local police would be from outside the area , ” McAdam explained .
“ It couldn ’ t possibly be that people of color in our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ law enforcement.
” Or , for that matter , with locals in general .
“ The ‘ outsiders ’ part of this narrative is just so important , ” McAdam said .
“ It allows people to say , and to believe : ‘ We don ’ t have problems in our community.
’ ” ●

In Montana, most of the rumors of antifa presence in the state can be traced back to state Sen. Jennifer Fielder, who warned her followers on June 1 of “multiple reports from credible witnesses” that five white panel vans of antifa were on their way to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and would then proceed to Missoula, Montana. Fielder, who lives in Northwest Montana, is known across the state for ultra-right, “liberty-minded” views on everything from public lands (they should be sold) to contact tracing (a form of governmental overreach).
But Fielder didn’t start the antifa rumor. She just brought it to Montana. On Sunday, June 1, over in Klamath Falls, Oregon, the rumors were so compelling that hundreds of armed people showed up to line the Main Street during a planned protest. The next night, in downtown Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a man with an AR-12, an AR-15, two 9 mm handguns, and a .38 special told reporter Bill Buley that he was there, along with hundreds of others, because he’d heard “there were some people who shouldn’t be here.”
In some cases, the people with guns showing up at these rallies are “supportive” of the groups protesting — at least in so far as they’re supportive of the right to freely assemble. They don’t actually believe the protesters, in many cases local high school students, would turn to violence. Instead, they believe antifa is plotting to infiltrate the otherwise peaceful protests and turn them violent — or, as was suspected in Lewiston, Idaho, use the protest as a decoy in order to ransack the business district.
Which is why, as over a thousand people gathered to march along the Snake River in Lewiston, dozens of others, many heavily armed, lined the streets downtown. One wore a Hawaiian shirt (the “uniform” of the Boogaloo Bois) and held a sign with the name of a III% militia member who had been shot by the police. Another wore a vest covered in Nazi paraphernalia. Others were decked out in flak jackets, in camo, and Clinton Conspiracy shirts. Similar scenes have played out this week in Bozeman, Kalispell, Billings, Sandpoint, and Coeur d’Alene.
Travis McAdam, who’s tracked anti-government and hate groups for 15 years with the Montana Human Rights Network, calls it the “Antifa Fantasy.” A version of this fantasy has long existed, in some form, in militia circles: “An outside, shadowy entity is going to come in,” McAdam recounted, “and whether it’s to disarm the community or attack it, these folks are going to mobilize and fight it off. Antifa is just the bogeyman that they’ve stuck in this narrative.”
Put differently: Militia members get to plan, anticipate, and enact the idea at the foundation of their existence. And they get to do it in a way that positions them as “the good guys,” fighting a cowardly bogeyman easily vanquished by show of force alone. As a popular meme circulating in North Idaho put it, “Remember that time when Antifa said they were coming to Coeur d’Alene / And everyone grabbed their guns and they didn’t come? That was awesome!” It doesn’t matter if antifa was never coming in the first place. They didn’t come, and that’s evidence of victory.
And that victory can then be leveraged into further action — and a means to extend the fantasy. On the Montana Militia page, a man named Tom Allen, whose home is listed on Facebook as Wibaux, Montana, posted that he’d spent the night in Dickenson, North Dakota, “protecting” the veterans monument during a planned protest. A group of bikers showed up to guard the nearby mall, protecting “all of Antifa’s usual targets.” There was no incident. (Allen did not respond to request for comment.)
Afterward, Allen wrote, a man who had helped coordinate the defense followed a group of perceived antifa to an Applebee’s, where he said he overheard them talking about “the waitress and how they wanted to rape her,” “killing cops” and “other violence,” and their future plans: “They’re saying there’s going to be a ‘firestorm’ in Billings this weekend.” The post was shared more than 1,800 times.
Like Argentino, the online researcher, McAdam sees this current “protect” movement as an extension and consolidation of anti-government movements that have been percolating for years. Back in 2008, when tea party rallies began sprouting up all over the United States, many of them were attended and organized by people authentically upset about economic policies. But those protests, like the reopen protests, also drew in anti-government agitators and militia members, who then began to influence and, in some cases, take over the leadership in the tea party groups.
“That dynamic is very similar to what’s happening now,” McAdam said. “A core group of people coming from the anti-government movement are always looking for a crisis, where you have a divisive issue in the community that they can tap into and exploit. The COVID pandemic was one thing, and now we’ve got another avenue.” And people who might not ever consider themselves “militia” or even anti-government, who might have joined a reopen group in frustration, are now exposed, and perhaps more receptive, to rumors of roaming antifa in need of rebuke.


buzzfeednews--2020-01-29--China Is Arresting People For "Spreading Rumors" Online About The Coronavirus

The Chinese government is fighting two viral outbreaks : one that has killed 132 people so far and another that has caused mass confusion online for millions more .
As reports of coronavirus cases spread across China , the country ’ s popular WeChat messaging app has been filled with rumors , hoaxes , and videos filled with unconfirmed information that have rattled ordinary people — and proven difficult for the Chinese government to stamp out .
Police in Wuhan have arrested at least eight people for `` spreading rumors ” about the coronavirus , according to state media , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 40 people have been investigated for similar charges around the country .
The initial eight who were detained in Wuhan were doctors , at least one of whom had contracted the virus while treating patients .
The government crackdown on online rumors is routinely used to censor information the party doesn ’ t like , even if it is in fact true and not misinformation at all .
WeChat , in a statement provided to BuzzFeed News , said that it is taking actions against bogus information including marking content as false , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that publish disinformation temporarily or permanently .
`` We have rolled out a variety of tools and features on the platform to help users stay safe and protect themselves against the ongoing Coronavirus epidemic , '' the statement read .
`` Importantly , this includes debunking false rumors . ''
In less than a month , the newly identified virus in Wuhan , China , has turned into an outbreak infecting more than 6,000 patients , with 132 deaths reported .
The government has quarantined 50 million people in central China , banning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of air travel–related cases , all nonfatal , which have spread to more than a dozen countries .
“ This outbreak is unrolling right in front of our eyes , ” CDC ’ s Nancy Messonnier , director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases , said in a Monday briefing .
In the US , there are now 5 confirmed cases of coronavirus , all occurring in travelers from Wuhan , and an additional 110 people under observation , according to Messonnier .
“ The general risk to the [ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time , ” she added .
Outside China , online confusion about the virus is rampant , with supporters of the pro-Trump QAnon movement and the anti-vax community fixating on the disease .
This has been exacerbated by the spread of false information by official Chinese sources .
State media and Lijian Zhao , deputy director general of the information department in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs , posted a video on Twitter of the construction of an apartment building hundreds of miles away to falsely claim a new hospital had been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a messaging service but has evolved into something closer to an operating system for daily life in Chinese society .
It has a newsfeed , a payment system , an Instagram stories–like “ Moments ” feed , has integrations with a third-party Uber-like ride-hailing service , and a search engine .
As a part of the Chinese Communist Party ’ s mass surveillance , WeChat has been censoring “ sensitive '' content for almost a decade .
Its importance to the Chinese state is so pronounced that the app added a coronavirus “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to send information to the government about how the outbreak is being handled by local officials .
Since the beginning of the epidemic , WeChat has been the country ’ s main hub for sharing information .
In one “ Americans in Wuhan ” WeChat group text seen by BuzzFeed News , hundreds of panicked expats crowdsourced information about trains and flights leaving the city and traded reports of infection rates .
`` They concealed the true danger for almost a full month , '' one user wrote , speculating that the infection @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reported .
Chris , an American photographer living in Guangdong , hundreds of miles away from the epicenter of the outbreak , who requested BuzzFeed News not publish his last name due to fears of arrest , said almost every WeChat group he ’ s in has been inundated with messages about the coronavirus .
“ I just have a bunch of friends who are trapped [ in Wuhan ] , ” he said .
“ They are feeding me and my group of friends whatever information they can get.
” Chris said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ island in the Hunan province , which he and his friends decided to visit for Lunar New Year .
He assumed the island is one of the safer places to be and planned to wait out the virus there as long as he could .
He said that as of Tuesday , the island has been largely deserted .
“ We can ’ t get any info from the hospitals ... only secretly from the doctors , ” he said .
“ What we have heard from the doctors and nurses is that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Chris ’ s friends in Guangdong province , a Chinese woman named Ivy , sent him panicked messages Tuesday saying small towns in the area were being evacuated .
“ [ T ] hey will close down the road , ” Ivy said to Chris over WeChat .
“ We can ’ t go anywhere now .
There is a person who came from Wuhan who has a high temperature .
It ’ s really close to my mom ’ s home.
” Ivy told Chris that her village was out of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public workers putting rocks and dirt on the road to block people from leaving , and warning residents that if they intended to do so , they had to leave immediately .
She said the most common unconfirmed rumor spreading across WeChat came from an audio clip of a woman claiming to be a nurse , reporting that 100,000 people had been infected with the coronavirus .
The rumor went viral enough on WeChat , Ivy said , that the Chinese government sent out a message saying it was false .
Ivy doesn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s official infection numbers — 4,631 confirmed cases .
“ I think of course it ’ s more than 4,631 , ” she said .
WeChat announced on Sunday it would shut down accounts spreading confusion about the coronavirus and hired a third-party agency to debunk rumors .
Meanwhile , the nurse audio has been translated into English and now going viral on TikTok .

As reports of coronavirus cases spread across China, the country’s popular WeChat messaging app has been filled with rumors, hoaxes, and videos filled with unconfirmed information that have rattled ordinary people — and proven difficult for the Chinese government to stamp out.
Police in Wuhan have arrested at least eight people for "spreading rumors” about the coronavirus, according to state media, and there are reports that up to 40 people have been investigated for similar charges around the country. The initial eight who were detained in Wuhan were doctors, at least one of whom had contracted the virus while treating patients. The government crackdown on online rumors is routinely used to censor information the party doesn’t like, even if it is in fact true and not misinformation at all.
WeChat, in a statement provided to BuzzFeed News, said that it is taking actions against bogus information including marking content as false, taking down posts, or blocking accounts that publish disinformation temporarily or permanently.
"We have rolled out a variety of tools and features on the platform to help users stay safe and protect themselves against the ongoing Coronavirus epidemic," the statement read. "Importantly, this includes debunking false rumors."
In less than a month, the newly identified virus in Wuhan, China, has turned into an outbreak infecting more than 6,000 patients, with 132 deaths reported. The government has quarantined 50 million people in central China, banning travel in response to a small number of air travel–related cases, all nonfatal, which have spread to more than a dozen countries.
“This outbreak is unrolling right in front of our eyes,” CDC’s Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a Monday briefing.
In the US, there are now 5 confirmed cases of coronavirus, all occurring in travelers from Wuhan, and an additional 110 people under observation, according to Messonnier. “The general risk to the [US] public is low at this time,” she added.


buzzfeednews--2020-04-22--Two Pet Cats In New York Have Tested Positive For The Coronavirus

The journalists at BuzzFeed News are proud to bring you trustworthy and relevant reporting about the coronavirus .
To help keep this news free , become a member and sign up for our newsletter , Outbreak Today .
Two cats in New York City have tested positive for the novel coronavirus — the first cases of the disease confirmed in pets in the United States , officials announced Wednesday .
The CDC and the Department of Agriculture ’ s National Veterinary Services Laboratories said in a joint statement that both cats had a mild respiratory illness and were expected to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the cats live in separate households in different parts of the state and that in one case the pet 's owner had tested positive for COVID-19 before their cat started showing symptoms .
A second cat who lives in that household has not shown symptoms .
While the other cat 's owners were not confirmed to be ill with COVID-19 , the agencies noted that the virus may have been transmitted to the animal by a mildly ill or asymptomatic person or an infected person outside of their household .
`` SARS-CoV-2 infections @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worldwide , mostly in those that had close contact with a person with COVID-19 , '' the statement said .
Both cats were tested by a vet after showing COVID-19 symptoms , and the results were confirmed by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories .
The animal tests do not reduce the number of tests available to humans , the statement noted .
A recent study published in Science magazine found that the virus tends to replicate poorly in dogs , pigs , chickens , and ducks , but cats and ferrets are `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virus that causes COVID-19 .
The study said younger cats tend to be more vulnerable to the disease and that the virus can be transmitted between cats via respiratory droplets .

Two cats in New York City have tested positive for the novel coronavirus — the first cases of the disease confirmed in pets in the United States, officials announced Wednesday.
The CDC and the Department of Agriculture’s National Veterinary Services Laboratories said in a joint statement that both cats had a mild respiratory illness and were expected to make a full recovery.
Officials said the cats live in separate households in different parts of the state and that in one case the pet's owner had tested positive for COVID-19 before their cat started showing symptoms. A second cat who lives in that household has not shown symptoms.
While the other cat's owners were not confirmed to be ill with COVID-19, the agencies noted that the virus may have been transmitted to the animal by a mildly ill or asymptomatic person or an infected person outside of their household.
"SARS-CoV-2 infections have been reported in very few animals worldwide, mostly in those that had close contact with a person with COVID-19," the statement said.
Both cats were tested by a vet after showing COVID-19 symptoms, and the results were confirmed by the National Veterinary Services Laboratories. The animal tests do not reduce the number of tests available to humans, the statement noted.
A recent study published in Science magazine found that the virus tends to replicate poorly in dogs, pigs, chickens, and ducks, but cats and ferrets are "highly susceptible" to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
The study said younger cats tend to be more vulnerable to the disease and that the virus can be transmitted between cats via respiratory droplets.


buzzfeednews--2020-04-23--Trying To Buy A Coronavirus Mask? Beware These Fraudsters, Hoarders, And Price Gougers.

During the coronavirus crisis , the market for masks and other medical equipment is competitive , confusing , and often corrupt .
Bethenny Frankel seemed poised , earlier this month , to do the impossible : The former Real Housewives of New York star had a line on 10 million 3M N95 respirator masks for her hometown — enough to protect thousands of health care workers in what had become the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic .
Leveraging her connections to celebrities and politicians , Frankel , who has long been involved in disaster relief , had been hustling for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and gowns for hospitals , public health departments , and law enforcement agencies .
But none were even close in magnitude to this coup .
Then everything went sideways .
The supplier , a private company that claimed it had the masks stored in a warehouse near the city , suddenly refused to permit an inspection or even provide serial numbers to help authenticate the respirators .
The company ’ s owner , once accessible , grew elusive and vague , and its lawyer stopped responding to calls and emails altogether .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they real ?
Weren ’ t they ?
Who knows ?
” said Frankel .
“ It ’ s an absolute jungle out there .
Nobody knows what the hell is going on.
” Until recently , the idea that America ’ s health care workers would be depending on a former reality television star to find them critical equipment would have been tough to swallow .
But so , too , would the idea that two months into the greatest health care crisis in a century , doctors and nurses would still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as surgical masks and disposable gowns and instead would be forced to fight COVID-19 without sufficient protection .
Instead of an orderly , centralized process to procure much-needed personal protective equipment ( PPE ) , hospitals , nursing homes , the federal government , states , and municipalities have all been forced to wade into a competitive , confusing , and often corrupt marketplace fueled by speculation , paranoia , and unlikely personal connections .
The upshot : Essential equipment now costs 10 times or more what it used to — and all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ term ‘ shitshow ’ is absolutely apt for what 's happening right now , ” said Rob Handfield , professor of operations and supply chain management at North Carolina State University .
“ Nobody knows who to cut purchase orders to .
Nobody knows where to even find the stuff .
It 's every man , hospital , and country for itself.
” The federal government has tried to open up the market by authorizing the use of industrial , foreign-certified , and even expired respirator masks ; by creating a Justice Department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and price gouging ; and by funding an airlift operation to bring in loads of supplies from abroad on UPS and FedEx jets .
But at the same time , Washington has also contributed to the chaos , driving up prices by signing huge contracts for protective equipment with unproven vendors and terrifying well-intentioned importers by seizing shipments as they arrive at US ports .
Last weekend , a top executive at a Massachusetts hospital chain reported being stopped by the FBI when he attempted to pick up a shipment of a million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ month .
Because the vast majority of personal protective equipment is made in China — where exports of such goods have been sharply limited as the country deals with its own COVID-19 crisis — traditional supply chains have been almost completely disrupted .
To keep costs low , hospitals have also moved in the past decade to just-in-time delivery systems that kept internal stockpiles far too slim to handle a prolonged surge .
Further constrained by cumbersome purchasing rules and the lack of a centralized national distribution system , American hospitals and government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their own suppliers , locking them all in what amounts to ruthless competition with each other .
A review of state , local , and federal contracts as well as interviews with procurement officials , brokers , vendors , academics , international trade attorneys , and well-intentioned philanthropists reveals the depths of the day-to-day pandemonium that has overtaken this market , one that continues to show little signs of stability some three months after the first COVID-19 diagnosis in the US .
As director of contracts and procurement for the Colorado Department of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t have surgical masks and face shields at the front of his mind .
The agency runs everything from the state ’ s food stamps program to its child welfare system to an innovative brain injury network .
But CDHS also runs four veterans nursing homes , two large psychiatric hospitals , multiple group homes for people with disabilities , and 10 juvenile justice facilities — all potential nodes of viral outbreak .
In late February , Frenz began a PPE review to prepare for the coronavirus .
What he found wasn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and distributors had been postponing or even canceling long-standing contracts for gowns , gloves , face shields , and masks .
Like nearly all government procurement shops around the country , CDHS operated under strict rules that prevented payment until a set number of days after taking delivery .
That made it virtually impossible for Frenz to cut deals directly with Chinese suppliers , which started demanding 50 % deposits if not full payment up front in the face of soaring demand .
“ We issue a purchase order , it gets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” said Frenz .
“ Otherwise it 's a huge risk.
” Then , as if a tap had suddenly been opened , unsolicited offers from brokers offering to sell that PPE and willing to front the cost started coming in ; what started as a drip quickly became a flood with a new email or call coming to Frenz ’ s department every half hour .
Most seemed like obvious scams , coming from shady salespeople providing no documentation and demanding cash up front .
But wary of overlooking a legitimate offer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , assigning between eight and ten staffers to deal with solicitations full-time .
The prices were all absurdly high by prepandemic standards , but the procurement team learned to get over sticker shock and move fast ; more than once they saw numbers double overnight when they hesitated ; sometimes they lost deals altogether .
Of the hundreds of solicitations that came in , only a few dozen seemed legitimate , and among those , fewer than five have turned into actual signed contracts .
One of those was with a vendor based @ @ @ @ @ @ @ survival gear , he didn ’ t have experience in medical distribution , but pledged to deliver 50,000 N95 masks for $ 3.50 apiece — about triple the pre-COVID-19 price — and to throw in 1,000 donated masks to boot .
The shipment was due in the first days of April .
By April 10 , the masks still hadn ’ t arrived .
In fact , the broker said , it appeared the factories had dumped the contracts altogether , and now he was scrambling to secure masks elsewhere .
CDHS was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ definitely feels like a race sometimes , ” said Frenz .
“ It does n't feel great when everybody needs the same thing.
” Nowhere in the country — and indeed the world — has the coronavirus pandemic been more acute than New York , which as of Wednesday had logged more than 251,690 COVID-19 cases and 14,828 deaths .
And few places have put as much effort into digging up masks , gowns , and other protective equipment .
On April 4 , an employee from New York City ’ s Department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of the blue to ask him whether he could get masks , gloves , and gowns .
“ I thought it was a scam at first , ” said Everett , who works as a sales executive at Success Promotions , a promotional sports merchandise company founded by his mother and based in the western suburbs of St. Louis .
“ I wondered what they were really up to.
” But the contact was in earnest .
Less than a week earlier , a Queens-based apron maker had called Everett seeking stretchy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ makeshift mouth coverings .
On that call , Everett had mentioned that some of his sportswear suppliers in China had lately been trying to sell him PPE ; when the apron maker inked a $ 112,500 deal to sell cotton masks to the city on April 2 , he brought up Everett to the contract specialist , who wasted no time in sending an email .
In just five days , Everett had signed two purchase agreements for 250,000 KN95 masks and 5.2 million gowns , and he suddenly found himself immersed in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he tried to nail down the quantity and work out the logistics of getting it halfway around the world .
But for Success Promotions , which depends heavily on selling giveaways to professional baseball teams , the $ 17.5 million contract was a lifesaver and has helped it stave off layoffs .
“ It was sheer luck , honestly , ” said Everett , who said the first shipment of masks has cleared Chinese customs and is set to arrive this weekend .
Between March 6 and April 19 , New York City @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in personal protective equipment , according to a BuzzFeed News review of contracts .
That includes 29.4 million N95 masks , 94 million surgical masks , and 14 million isolation gowns , according to DCAS spokesperson Nick Benson .
Following an early April decision by the Food and Drug Administration to authorize emergency use of Chinese-certified respirator masks as substitutes for N95s , New York City also signed deals to purchase 23.4 million KN95 masks as well .
But most of those supplies still haven ’ t come in .
Of 214 million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ city , only 17 million have been delivered to date , according to Benson .
Fewer than 3 % of the N95 masks have been received , and KN95 masks aren ’ t arriving much faster .
At least two large contracts for ventilators , including one for $ 162 million , have been canceled ” because the vendors could n't secure the inventory to fulfill the orders , ” Benson said in a statement .
Unfilled orders are hardly limited to New York .
A batch of 500,000 N95 masks ordered by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ responders late last month was unceremoniously canceled despite the city agreeing to pay a whopping $ 5.60 apiece .
And a massive trove of 39 million masks allegedly unearthed by the Service Employees International Union late last month never materialized , provoking a federal fraud investigation .
After the owner of a New York uniform supply company claimed on Twitter last month that he could supply 2 million surgical masks a day , the tweet promptly went viral .
A few days later , Jeffrey Zhang said he heard from a purchasing agent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Albany asked for 2 million masks to start , Zhang recalled , so he sent off an invoice .
While he awaited a formal purchase order , Zhang busied himself verifying that the factory he used would pass Chinese and American certification standards , ultimately hiring a lawyer to help speed up the process and ensure New York would get the masks it needed .
Days passed , and then weeks .
Zhang said he never heard back from the state , despite reaching out repeatedly .
Other brokers have reported similar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for supplies , they are also disorganized and overwhelmed .
And , knowing how crazy the market is , some officials are reaching out to more vendors than they could ever need .
Scared he ’ d lose out on the chance to get any masks at all , Zhang decided to stop waiting and began selling masks directly to hospitals , nursing homes , and small businesses .
“ The factories were losing patience with us , ” he said .
He knew that in this market even signed deals can crumble @ @ @ @ @ @ @ China have no compunctions about walking away from a contract with one customer for a more lucrative offer from another , particularly if they don ’ t have to wait to get paid .
Some distributors on the ground in China describe buyers arriving at factories carrying bags of cash , which gets them to the front of the line .
Many of those buyers have no contacts with hospitals or government agencies and instead are simply trying to unload the supplies to another broker for a quick profit , which only serves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ according to Lily Liu , a San Francisco entrepreneur with a background in cryptocurrency who last month joined with several friends to found Operation Masks , a nonprofit that tracks down PPE for hospitals in the US .
“ When there 's a huge breakdown in the supply chain , middlemen rush in , ” said Liu .
“ They are buying for $ 1 to flip for $ 2.
” Operation Masks hopes to cut through the complex web of speculators by building direct relationships with suppliers in China .
To do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ground in China and covers those costs by charging US hospitals a 5 % margin on the PPE it delivers , which Liu said makes the operation more sustainable than other charitable efforts .
To date , the group has booked large government orders from New York , Hawaii , and Iowa .
Profiteers aren ’ t the only obstacle .
In recent weeks , many delays have come from the Chinese government itself , which began imposing new inspection and quality requirements on factories before permitting their PPE to be exported @ @ @ @ @ @ @ governments complain that FEMA has been using its powers under the Defense Production Act to effectively “ seize ” their orders and allocate them elsewhere .
After importing a total of 400,000 N95 masks this month , for example , a Delaware medical distributor said FEMA took the entire shipment , and only after he complained did it send a written document explaining he would be paid for the goods .
Johnny Beig was pleased after he managed to negotiate a deal to sell nearly a million KN95 masks for $ 2.30 apiece @ @ @ @ @ @ @ several weeks ago .
The Los Angeles–based athletic goods importer agreed on a margin of under 15 % on the respirators , about half his normal cut , which made him feel he was doing a good deed while also keeping his business going .
Then he took a look at shipping quotes .
In normal times , low-cost PPE is shipped by container , but amid a pandemic it has to be sent by air in order to get to health care workers quickly .
A dramatic decline in flights in and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ demand for space on the remaining planes had more than tripled the cost of air freight , Beig found , from $ 3.50 a kilogram to nearly $ 13 .
To help cover that difference , Beig ordered even more PPE and started selling it on social media and the web , only with far more generous margins .
The same KN95 masks he sold to Kaiser are currently available to the general public for $ 3.50 each , which represents a 50 % markup ; Beig has completely sold out of 100-milliliter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a pop — about triple normal retail .
“ It ’ s a lot of pharmacies , doctors , and medical centers making orders of 300–400 pieces at a time , ” said Beig .
“ These are customers who can ’ t access this stuff on their own.
” Some would-be suppliers believe the federal government has played a role in pushing up air freight prices .
Last week , the owner of an apparel company holding two purchase orders from New York City for a total of $ 4 million worth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from UPS jump from $ 100,000 to $ 250,000 overnight .
Shocked , he reached out to UPS demanding an explanation and was told that the preferential rates were going only to a handful of large distributors participating in the Trump administration ’ s “ air bridge ” program .
Other companies not only had to pay more , he learned , but would have to wait days just to get their goods onto planes .
“ The feds are essentially screwing the states and cities over , ” said the supplier , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Trump administration .
“ They want to control the supply of PPE by giving priority to companies they like.
” Bill Lambros , a UPS director of major accounts , said the original price quote was “ sent in error ” and based on pre-coronavirus pricing .
The market , he said , is “ out of sync , and when were chartering flights , the rates are going to vary.
” Increasingly , even established suppliers are struggling to bring in big hauls of protective equipment .
On April 6 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a $ 1.26 million contract with the Bureau of Prisons to deliver 300,000 N95 masks .
The charity had long operated a number of office supply stores on military bases , and had years of experience supplying tools and other goods to the military .
But the charity insisted on using traditional distributors and post-delivery payment protocols , and soon discovered that getting those masks was tougher than expected .
Struggling to save the deal , the charity tried to get the Board of Prisons to renegotiate before canceling altogether just two weeks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deal for 10 million masks to New York City , Bethenny Frankel said , at least three other million-plus mask deals have blown up in recent weeks , including an order of 1.5 million N95 masks that ended up going to a dentist who she presumes was looking to resell them for a profit .
Frustrated with deals that fall through , the charity Bethenny Frankel works with , Global Empowerment Mission , developed new PPE ground rules : It would only consider supplies that were already in the US and focus only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
That might lead to higher costs , said GEM executive director Michael Capponi , but it also helps reduce heartache .
“ We do n't pay for anything until it gets in our hands and we inspect it , ” said Capponi , a former nightclub promoter and real estate developer who has been involved in disaster relief since 2004 .
He first linked up with Frankel to aid Haiti earthquake victims a decade ago , and together they ’ ve shipped supplies to victims of natural disasters in Guatemala , Puerto @ @ @ @ @ @ @ both describe the coronavirus as the biggest challenge to date .
Their combined effort , which calls itself BStrong GEM , has to date delivered more than $ 17 million in PPE in batches of as little as 2,000 masks ; donations have come from a variety of sources , including Billy Joel , Matthew McConaughey , and Amy Schumer .
It maintains a spreadsheet of more than 1,000 organizations seeking PPE and twice as many suppliers looking to sell it .
The charity has a 60,000-square-foot warehouse in Miami , teams of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a moment ’ s notice , a lawyer to write contracts , and an emergency room doctor on call to check for counterfeits .
“ When you 're dealing with government or groups of hospitals , you have to have credibility , ” said Frankel .
“ I 'm not walking in with an MBA in mask shopping ; they 're trusting you because you can deliver.
” For even the best-intentioned , the turbulent PPE market can feel unsettling and , at times , borderline illicit .
After the collapse of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lana Li , who ’ s based in New York City , abandoned her plans for launching a swimwear line and instead turned to trusted contacts in China who manufactured PPE .
Confident about her ability to navigate the supply chain , she focused full-time on importing several kinds of masks and storing them in a warehouse in Ohio .
Li had no contract to fulfill and no connections to hospitals or government agencies ; she just figured it would be a snap to unload the merchandise amid so much demand .
Through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with a broker who said he had a contract with a state that he declined to name .
He wanted to buy out her entire stock of 33,000 surgical masks and N95 respirators .
But before he would finalize the deal , he demanded Li send several videos of the boxes containing the masks to prove they were real .
The request made her think of kidnappers sending proof of life , but she complied .
The broker flaked anyway , and without any details of the contract , Li was stuck with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wonder whether “ any of the people we ’ re talking to are actually serious or real , ” said Li .
Offloading a shipment of masks , she said , “ felt like we were trying to sell cocaine .
”

Nowhere in the country — and indeed the world — has the coronavirus pandemic been more acute than New York, which as of Wednesday had logged more than 251,690 COVID-19 cases and 14,828 deaths. And few places have put as much effort into digging up masks, gowns, and other protective equipment.
On April 4, an employee from New York City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services contacted Alex Everett out of the blue to ask him whether he could get masks, gloves, and gowns.
“I thought it was a scam at first,” said Everett, who works as a sales executive at Success Promotions, a promotional sports merchandise company founded by his mother and based in the western suburbs of St. Louis. “I wondered what they were really up to.”
But the contact was in earnest. Less than a week earlier, a Queens-based apron maker had called Everett seeking stretchy bandanas he could sell to restaurants as makeshift mouth coverings. On that call, Everett had mentioned that some of his sportswear suppliers in China had lately been trying to sell him PPE; when the apron maker inked a $112,500 deal to sell cotton masks to the city on April 2, he brought up Everett to the contract specialist, who wasted no time in sending an email.
In just five days, Everett had signed two purchase agreements for 250,000 KN95 masks and 5.2 million gowns, and he suddenly found himself immersed in a deeply competitive, fast-moving market as he tried to nail down the quantity and work out the logistics of getting it halfway around the world. But for Success Promotions, which depends heavily on selling giveaways to professional baseball teams, the $17.5 million contract was a lifesaver and has helped it stave off layoffs.
“It was sheer luck, honestly,” said Everett, who said the first shipment of masks has cleared Chinese customs and is set to arrive this weekend.
Between March 6 and April 19, New York City issued purchase orders for $361 million in personal protective equipment, according to a BuzzFeed News review of contracts. That includes 29.4 million N95 masks, 94 million surgical masks, and 14 million isolation gowns, according to DCAS spokesperson Nick Benson. Following an early April decision by the Food and Drug Administration to authorize emergency use of Chinese-certified respirator masks as substitutes for N95s, New York City also signed deals to purchase 23.4 million KN95 masks as well.
But most of those supplies still haven’t come in. Of 214 million total pieces of PPE ordered by the city, only 17 million have been delivered to date, according to Benson. Fewer than 3% of the N95 masks have been received, and KN95 masks aren’t arriving much faster. At least two large contracts for ventilators, including one for $162 million, have been canceled ”because the vendors couldn't secure the inventory to fulfill the orders,” Benson said in a statement.
Unfilled orders are hardly limited to New York. A batch of 500,000 N95 masks ordered by the city of Philadelphia for its first responders late last month was unceremoniously canceled despite the city agreeing to pay a whopping $5.60 apiece. And a massive trove of 39 million masks allegedly unearthed by the Service Employees International Union late last month never materialized, provoking a federal fraud investigation.
After the owner of a New York uniform supply company claimed on Twitter last month that he could supply 2 million surgical masks a day, the tweet promptly went viral. A few days later, Jeffrey Zhang said he heard from a purchasing agent for New York state.
The official in Albany asked for 2 million masks to start, Zhang recalled, so he sent off an invoice. While he awaited a formal purchase order, Zhang busied himself verifying that the factory he used would pass Chinese and American certification standards, ultimately hiring a lawyer to help speed up the process and ensure New York would get the masks it needed.
Days passed, and then weeks. Zhang said he never heard back from the state, despite reaching out repeatedly. Other brokers have reported similar issues: Although state officials are desperate for supplies, they are also disorganized and overwhelmed. And, knowing how crazy the market is, some officials are reaching out to more vendors than they could ever need.
Scared he’d lose out on the chance to get any masks at all, Zhang decided to stop waiting and began selling masks directly to hospitals, nursing homes, and small businesses. “The factories were losing patience with us,” he said.
He knew that in this market even signed deals can crumble without notice because manufacturers and suppliers in China have no compunctions about walking away from a contract with one customer for a more lucrative offer from another, particularly if they don’t have to wait to get paid.
Some distributors on the ground in China describe buyers arriving at factories carrying bags of cash, which gets them to the front of the line. Many of those buyers have no contacts with hospitals or government agencies and instead are simply trying to unload the supplies to another broker for a quick profit, which only serves to further inflate the final price, according to Lily Liu, a San Francisco entrepreneur with a background in cryptocurrency who last month joined with several friends to found Operation Masks, a nonprofit that tracks down PPE for hospitals in the US.
“When there's a huge breakdown in the supply chain, middlemen rush in,” said Liu. “They are buying for $1 to flip for $2.”
Operation Masks hopes to cut through the complex web of speculators by building direct relationships with suppliers in China. To do that, it employs nine people on the ground in China and covers those costs by charging US hospitals a 5% margin on the PPE it delivers, which Liu said makes the operation more sustainable than other charitable efforts. To date, the group has booked large government orders from New York, Hawaii, and Iowa.
Profiteers aren’t the only obstacle. In recent weeks, many delays have come from the Chinese government itself, which began imposing new inspection and quality requirements on factories before permitting their PPE to be exported. And increasingly, hospitals and local governments complain that FEMA has been using its powers under the Defense Production Act to effectively “seize” their orders and allocate them elsewhere. After importing a total of 400,000 N95 masks this month, for example, a Delaware medical distributor said FEMA took the entire shipment, and only after he complained did it send a written document explaining he would be paid for the goods.
Johnny Beig was pleased after he managed to negotiate a deal to sell nearly a million KN95 masks for $2.30 apiece to Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Southern California several weeks ago. The Los Angeles–based athletic goods importer agreed on a margin of under 15% on the respirators, about half his normal cut, which made him feel he was doing a good deed while also keeping his business going.
Then he took a look at shipping quotes. In normal times, low-cost PPE is shipped by container, but amid a pandemic it has to be sent by air in order to get to health care workers quickly. A dramatic decline in flights in and out of China, coupled with soaring demand for space on the remaining planes had more than tripled the cost of air freight, Beig found, from $3.50 a kilogram to nearly $13.
To help cover that difference, Beig ordered even more PPE and started selling it on social media and the web, only with far more generous margins. The same KN95 masks he sold to Kaiser are currently available to the general public for $3.50 each, which represents a 50% markup; Beig has completely sold out of 100-milliliter bottles of hand sanitizer at $6 a pop — about triple normal retail.
“It’s a lot of pharmacies, doctors, and medical centers making orders of 300–400 pieces at a time,” said Beig. “These are customers who can’t access this stuff on their own.”
Some would-be suppliers believe the federal government has played a role in pushing up air freight prices. Last week, the owner of an apparel company holding two purchase orders from New York City for a total of $4 million worth of KN95 masks saw his shipping quote from UPS jump from $100,000 to $250,000 overnight.
Shocked, he reached out to UPS demanding an explanation and was told that the preferential rates were going only to a handful of large distributors participating in the Trump administration’s “air bridge” program. Other companies not only had to pay more, he learned, but would have to wait days just to get their goods onto planes.
“The feds are essentially screwing the states and cities over,” said the supplier, who requested anonymity for fear of angering the Trump administration. “They want to control the supply of PPE by giving priority to companies they like.”
Bill Lambros, a UPS director of major accounts, said the original price quote was “sent in error” and based on pre-coronavirus pricing. The market, he said, is “out of sync, and when were chartering flights, the rates are going to vary.”
Increasingly, even established suppliers are struggling to bring in big hauls of protective equipment.
On April 6, the Seattle-based Lighthouse for the Blind signed a $1.26 million contract with the Bureau of Prisons to deliver 300,000 N95 masks. The charity had long operated a number of office supply stores on military bases, and had years of experience supplying tools and other goods to the military.
But the charity insisted on using traditional distributors and post-delivery payment protocols, and soon discovered that getting those masks was tougher than expected. Struggling to save the deal, the charity tried to get the Board of Prisons to renegotiate before canceling altogether just two weeks later.
In addition to the collapsed deal for 10 million masks to New York City, Bethenny Frankel said, at least three other million-plus mask deals have blown up in recent weeks, including an order of 1.5 million N95 masks that ended up going to a dentist who she presumes was looking to resell them for a profit.