npr--2020-09-02--Kenosha, Wis., Officials Lift Curfew, Citing 'Relatively Peaceful' Recent Protests

Kenosha County , Wis. , lifted its nightly emergency curfew on Wednesday , more than a week after it was first enacted in response to protests over the Aug. 23 police shooting of Jacob Blake .
Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian said in a statement that he had made the decision after consulting with law enforcement and community leaders .
`` The last several nights have been relatively peaceful in the community , and in the judgment of law enforcement , it is appropriate to remove the curfew , '' he said .
`` However , criminal activity will not be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ needed . ''
The police department had previously announced the curfew would continue from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. , ending early Labor Day .
The move also follows the filing of a lawsuit by protesters who allege that city officials enforced the curfew selectively by targeting those protesting police brutality in violation of their First Amendment rights .
Protesters took to the streets after a Kenosha police officer shot Blake seven times in the back , leaving him paralyzed and prompting several consecutive nights of unrest .
The Wisconsin National Guard was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to help local law enforcement respond to the protests .
Demonstrations defied the nightly curfew and grew chaotic , with cars and buildings set on fire and law enforcement using tear gas to disperse crowds .
NPR member station WUWM in Milwaukee reported that damage to city-owned property is estimated at nearly $ 2 million .
Violence peaked the night of Aug. 25 when a shooting left two protesters dead and another injured .
Illinois teenager Kyle Rittenhouse is facing homicide charges in connection with the shooting .
His legal team says he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ followed were largely peaceful .
On Tuesday , four people arrested during last week 's demonstrations sued the city and county in federal court , claiming the curfew was enforced in a discriminatory manner and violated their First Amendment rights .
The lawsuit stated that the Kenosha County Sheriff 's Department arrested more than 150 peaceful protesters but no pro-police demonstrators over the course of nine days , and alleged there are `` two sets of laws '' being applied , depending on protesters ' stance toward the police .
It cited videos @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enforcement allowing armed people to remain on the streets as authorities were actively clearing out protesters , and even thanking and giving them water , on the night of Aug. 25 .
A lawyer representing Kenosha County and the sheriff 's department told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the county would seek the dismissal of the lawsuit , which he called `` entirely without merit . ''
Antaramian , Kenosha 's mayor , did not mention the lawsuit in his statement lifting the curfew Wednesday .
He said he is hopeful there will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the near future .
President Trump visited Kenosha on Tuesday , and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has announced plans to go there on Thursday .

Kenosha, Wis., Officials Lift Curfew, Citing 'Relatively Peaceful' Recent Protests
Enlarge this image toggle caption Morry Gash/AP Morry Gash/AP
Kenosha County, Wis., lifted its nightly emergency curfew on Wednesday, more than a week after it was first enacted in response to protests over the Aug. 23 police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian said in a statement that he had made the decision after consulting with law enforcement and community leaders.
"The last several nights have been relatively peaceful in the community, and in the judgment of law enforcement, it is appropriate to remove the curfew," he said. "However, criminal activity will not be tolerated and arrests will be made if needed."
The police department had previously announced the curfew would continue from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., ending early Labor Day.
The move also follows the filing of a lawsuit by protesters who allege that city officials enforced the curfew selectively by targeting those protesting police brutality in violation of their First Amendment rights.
Protesters took to the streets after a Kenosha police officer shot Blake seven times in the back, leaving him paralyzed and prompting several consecutive nights of unrest. The Wisconsin National Guard was deployed to the city on Aug. 24 to help local law enforcement respond to the protests.
Demonstrations defied the nightly curfew and grew chaotic, with cars and buildings set on fire and law enforcement using tear gas to disperse crowds. NPR member station WUWM in Milwaukee reported that damage to city-owned property is estimated at nearly $2 million.
Violence peaked the night of Aug. 25 when a shooting left two protesters dead and another injured. Illinois teenager Kyle Rittenhouse is facing homicide charges in connection with the shooting. His legal team says he acted in self-defense.
The demonstrations that followed were largely peaceful.
On Tuesday, four people arrested during last week's demonstrations sued the city and county in federal court, claiming the curfew was enforced in a discriminatory manner and violated their First Amendment rights.
The lawsuit stated that the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department arrested more than 150 peaceful protesters but no pro-police demonstrators over the course of nine days, and alleged there are "two sets of laws" being applied, depending on protesters' stance toward the police.
It cited videos that circulated on social media showing law enforcement allowing armed people to remain on the streets as authorities were actively clearing out protesters, and even thanking and giving them water, on the night of Aug. 25.
A lawyer representing Kenosha County and the sheriff's department told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the county would seek the dismissal of the lawsuit, which he called "entirely without merit."
Antaramian, Kenosha's mayor, did not mention the lawsuit in his statement lifting the curfew Wednesday. He said he is hopeful there will be no need to reinstate the curfew in the near future.
President Trump visited Kenosha on Tuesday, and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has announced plans to go there on Thursday.


npr--2020-09-02--Trump Administration Sanctions ICC Prosecutor Investigating Alleged U.S. War Crimes

The Trump Administration has leveled sanctions against the International Criminal Court 's chief prosecutor , who is investigating allegations that U.S. troops committed war crimes in Afghanistan .
Human rights groups swiftly decried the sanctions as an attack on international justice .
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the sanctions at a news conference on Wednesday .
The U.S. has never been a part of the ICC , which Pompeo called `` a thoroughly broken and corrupt institution '' and said `` We will not tolerate its illegitimate attempts to subject Americans to its jurisdiction . ''
The sanctions are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ court 's head of jurisdiction Phakiso Mochochoko who were both added on Wednesday to the Treasury Department 's `` Specially Designated Nationals '' list .
The designation freezes any assets they might have in the U.S. or subject to U.S. law .
The move builds on an executive order issued by President Trump against court officials in June .
In March , the ICC moved forward with its investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan , including those allegedly committed by U.S. forces and the CIA , as NPR @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of States Parties is the court 's oversight and legislative body .
Assembly president , O-Gon Kwon , denounced the sanctions .
`` I strongly reject such unprecedented and unacceptable measures against a treaty-based international organization .
They only serve to weaken our common endeavor to fight impunity for mass atrocities , '' Kwon said in a statement .
He said the assembly 's Bureau would be meeting soon `` to consider the measures imposed by the United States and ways to give effect to our unstinting support for the Court . ''
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ have a serious impact on Bensouda and Mochochoko , `` who not only lose access to their assets in the US but are also cut off from commercial and financial dealings with 'US persons , ' including banks and other companies .
US sanctions also have a chilling effect on non-US banks and other companies outside of US jurisdiction who fear losing access themselves to the US banking system if they do not help the US to effectively export the sanctions measures . ''
`` The Trump administration 's perverse use of sanctions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kingpins , against prosecutors seeking justice for grave international crimes , magnifies the failure of the US to prosecute torture , '' Richard Dicker , international justice director at Human Right Watch , said in a statement .

Trump Administration Sanctions ICC Prosecutor Investigating Alleged U.S. War Crimes
Enlarge this image toggle caption Bas Czerwinski/AP Bas Czerwinski/AP
The Trump Administration has leveled sanctions against the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, who is investigating allegations that U.S. troops committed war crimes in Afghanistan. Human rights groups swiftly decried the sanctions as an attack on international justice.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the sanctions at a news conference on Wednesday.
The U.S. has never been a part of the ICC, which Pompeo called "a thoroughly broken and corrupt institution" and said "We will not tolerate its illegitimate attempts to subject Americans to its jurisdiction."
The sanctions are directed at Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and the court's head of jurisdiction Phakiso Mochochoko who were both added on Wednesday to the Treasury Department's "Specially Designated Nationals" list. The designation freezes any assets they might have in the U.S. or subject to U.S. law.
The move builds on an executive order issued by President Trump against court officials in June.
In March, the ICC moved forward with its investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan, including those allegedly committed by U.S. forces and the CIA, as NPR's Merrit Kennedy reported:
"According to court documents, [Bensouda] plans to investigate alleged Taliban attacks against civilians, including murders and abductions. "Bensouda also wants to look into methods that the U.S. military and CIA used to interrogate detainees. The prosecution has said, 'There is reasonable basis to believe that, since May 2003, members of the US armed forces and the CIA have committed the war crimes of torture and cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, and rape and other forms of sexual violence pursuant to a policy approved by US authorities.'"
The Assembly of States Parties is the court's oversight and legislative body. Assembly president, O-Gon Kwon, denounced the sanctions.
"I strongly reject such unprecedented and unacceptable measures against a treaty-based international organization. They only serve to weaken our common endeavor to fight impunity for mass atrocities," Kwon said in a statement.
He said the assembly's Bureau would be meeting soon "to consider the measures imposed by the United States and ways to give effect to our unstinting support for the Court."
Human Rights Watch says the sanctions will have a serious impact on Bensouda and Mochochoko, "who not only lose access to their assets in the US but are also cut off from commercial and financial dealings with 'US persons,' including banks and other companies. US sanctions also have a chilling effect on non-US banks and other companies outside of US jurisdiction who fear losing access themselves to the US banking system if they do not help the US to effectively export the sanctions measures."
"The Trump administration's perverse use of sanctions, devised for alleged terrorists and drug kingpins, against prosecutors seeking justice for grave international crimes, magnifies the failure of the US to prosecute torture," Richard Dicker, international justice director at Human Right Watch, said in a statement.


npr--2020-09-02--U.S. To Owe More Than The Size Of Its Economy For The 1st Time In 75 Years

U.S. To Owe More Than The Size Of Its Economy For The 1st Time In 75 Years The pandemic is taking a big toll on the government 's bottom line .
The federal government 's accumulated debt burden is projected to be larger than the overall economy next year for the first time since 1946 .
Debt is expected to reach an all-time high of 107 % of gross domestic product in 2023 .
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office expects the deficit to reach $ 3.3 trillion in the fiscal year ending this month .
That 's about 16 % @ @ @ @ @ @ @ since the end of World War II in 1945 .
Federal spending has soared to 32 % of GDP this fiscal year as the government tries to address both the economic and public health costs of the pandemic .
The coronavirus has infected more than 6 million people in the United States and claimed more than 180,000 lives here .
With tens of millions of people out of work and countless businesses struggling or shuttered , tax revenues are falling .
Revenues are projected to be 16 % of GDP this fiscal year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and 18 % in 2015 .
The Congressional Budget Office projects that both revenues and spending will decline in the upcoming fiscal year , which begins Oct. 1 .
Next year 's deficit is expected to be 8.6 % of GDP .
Despite the historically high debt levels , the government 's borrowing costs are expected to remain low for the next several years .
The Congressional Budget Office projects interest costs will decline through 2024 before turning upward in the latter half of the decade .

U.S. To Owe More Than The Size Of Its Economy For The 1st Time In 75 Years
Enlarge this image toggle caption Mark Wilson/Getty Images Mark Wilson/Getty Images
The pandemic is taking a big toll on the government's bottom line.
The federal government's accumulated debt burden is projected to be larger than the overall economy next year for the first time since 1946. Debt is expected to reach an all-time high of 107% of gross domestic product in 2023.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office expects the deficit to reach $3.3 trillion in the fiscal year ending this month. That's about 16% of GDP — a level not seen since the end of World War II in 1945.
Federal spending has soared to 32% of GDP this fiscal year as the government tries to address both the economic and public health costs of the pandemic. The coronavirus has infected more than 6 million people in the United States and claimed more than 180,000 lives here.
With tens of millions of people out of work and countless businesses struggling or shuttered, tax revenues are falling. Revenues are projected to be 16% of GDP this fiscal year — down from 16.3% last year and 18% in 2015.
The Congressional Budget Office projects that both revenues and spending will decline in the upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. Next year's deficit is expected to be 8.6% of GDP.
Despite the historically high debt levels, the government's borrowing costs are expected to remain low for the next several years. The Congressional Budget Office projects interest costs will decline through 2024 before turning upward in the latter half of the decade.


npr--2020-09-02--Inexpensive Steroids Can Save Lives Of Seriously Ill COVID-19 Patients

Inexpensive Steroids Can Save Lives Of Seriously Ill COVID-19 Patients Three new studies strongly support using inexpensive and widely available drugs to treat people who are seriously ill with COVID-19 .
The drugs are steroids , and the research published Wednesday confirms they are proving to be the most effective treatment found to date .
Initially , the use of these drugs in COVID-19 was controversial .
Some doctors have long used steroids to treat conditions related to COVID-19 , namely sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome .
Steroids help tamp down the immune system 's potentially deadly overreaction to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that steroids could also prevent the body from fighting off the coronavirus effectively .
`` Giving steroids to COVID-19 could have been quite scary , '' says Dr. Derek Angus , a critical care specialist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center .
In June , a major study from the U.K. found that the steroid dexamethasone was a big help .
It reduced deaths significantly among the most serious cases of COVID-19 — notably people who needed ventilators or supplemental oxygen .
That advance was great news , but those findings created @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who were running their own studies of steroids in COVID-19 patients .
It no longer felt appropriate to be giving some people steroids and others a placebo .
`` Essentially overnight , because these findings were so striking , there was this sense among clinicians participating in other clinical trials [ that ] ... we have to stop our trials . ''
So those studies all ended prematurely .
Researchers from three research groups have now published the findings they had gathered in the journal JAMA .
One group is from France , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ third is an international team that includes the University of Pittsburgh 's Angus .
Taken together , the publication of these studies `` represents an important step forward in the treatment of patients with COVID-19 , '' Drs .
Hallie Prescott and Todd Rice wrote in a JAMA editorial .
The results not only provide further support for the use of dexamethasone , they also back the use of another widely used steroid , hydrocortisone .
`` I think it 's good news to have a strong , clear signal on what is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ therapies , '' Angus says .
He also contrasts these studies with a lot of other research on COVID-19 .
Many other studies , such as those involving much-hyped anti-malaria drugs , did not randomize their participants or include a comparison group .
Such measures — randomized controlled trials — are the gold standard for medical research .
`` It is reassuring that we can get randomized trials executed successfully and rapidly in the face of a pandemic , '' Angus says , `` and it definitely puts us on a surer footing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and related analysis , the World Health Organization on Wednesday updated its guidelines for steroids .
It now recommends them for severely or critically ill COVID-19 patients , such as those on a ventilator , but not for patients with milder disease .
You can contact NPR science correspondent Richard Harris at rharris @ npr.org .

Inexpensive Steroids Can Save Lives Of Seriously Ill COVID-19 Patients
Enlarge this image toggle caption Photo Illustration by Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto via Getty Images Photo Illustration by Soumyabrata Roy/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Three new studies strongly support using inexpensive and widely available drugs to treat people who are seriously ill with COVID-19. The drugs are steroids, and the research published Wednesday confirms they are proving to be the most effective treatment found to date.
Initially, the use of these drugs in COVID-19 was controversial. Some doctors have long used steroids to treat conditions related to COVID-19, namely sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome.
Steroids help tamp down the immune system's potentially deadly overreaction to an infection. But some doctors worried that steroids could also prevent the body from fighting off the coronavirus effectively.
"Giving steroids to COVID-19 could have been quite scary," says Dr. Derek Angus, a critical care specialist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
In June, a major study from the U.K. found that the steroid dexamethasone was a big help. It reduced deaths significantly among the most serious cases of COVID-19 — notably people who needed ventilators or supplemental oxygen.
That advance was great news, but those findings created a conundrum for Angus and other researchers who were running their own studies of steroids in COVID-19 patients. It no longer felt appropriate to be giving some people steroids and others a placebo.
"Essentially overnight, because these findings were so striking, there was this sense among clinicians participating in other clinical trials [that] ... we have to stop our trials."
So those studies all ended prematurely. Researchers from three research groups have now published the findings they had gathered in the journal JAMA. One group is from France, one is from Brazil, and the third is an international team that includes the University of Pittsburgh's Angus.
Taken together, the publication of these studies "represents an important step forward in the treatment of patients with COVID-19," Drs. Hallie Prescott and Todd Rice wrote in a JAMA editorial. The results not only provide further support for the use of dexamethasone, they also back the use of another widely used steroid, hydrocortisone.
"I think it's good news to have a strong, clear signal on what is a widely available, inexpensive class of therapies," Angus says. He also contrasts these studies with a lot of other research on COVID-19. Many other studies, such as those involving much-hyped anti-malaria drugs, did not randomize their participants or include a comparison group. Such measures — randomized controlled trials — are the gold standard for medical research.
"It is reassuring that we can get randomized trials executed successfully and rapidly in the face of a pandemic," Angus says, "and it definitely puts us on a surer footing."
Based on these new results and related analysis, the World Health Organization on Wednesday updated its guidelines for steroids. It now recommends them for severely or critically ill COVID-19 patients, such as those on a ventilator, but not for patients with milder disease.
You can contact NPR science correspondent Richard Harris at rharris@npr.org.


npr--2020-09-02--The Warsaw Ghetto Can Teach The World How To Beat Back An Outbreak

The Warsaw Ghetto Can Teach The World How To Beat Back An Outbreak He and his family were living in the Warsaw ghetto .
It was 1940 .
He was a little boy , about 6 years old .
A disease known as epidemic typhus was spreading among the close to half a million Jews confined in 1.3 square miles of Warsaw , Poland , in what became known as the Warsaw ghetto .
Records kept by ghetto leaders and unearthed after the World War II show six or more people lived in a single room in some apartments .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ and there were few public baths , according to records from the U.S .
Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington , D.C. , and Yad Vashem , the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem .
Typhus is a highly contagious bacterial disease carried by body lice , which thrive in cramped and unsanitary conditions .
It can cause fever , chills , body aches , coughs , nausea and confusion .
In outbreaks during World War I , the death rate was 10 % to 40 % .
And there was no antibiotic treatment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1967 .
But the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto beat back typhus .
And the comb was one of their weapons .
The comb has `` very fine teeth to comb out your hair '' — and catch any lice , says Hershaft , now 86 and living in Bethesda , Maryland .
The squelching of that outbreak of epidemic typhus in the Warsaw ghetto is the subject of a new study , which is especially relevant in a world battling the coronavirus pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , suggests that public health measures such as social distancing , hygiene and food supplies to supplement the meager rations provided by the Nazis could have been responsible for an unexpected drop in typhus cases in the winter of 1941 .
The Nazis established the ghetto within the city of Warsaw in November 1940 and began herding in both Polish and refugee Jews .
According to the study , `` there was a fanatical fear of typhus spreading to the German people and its army , given its previous impact as the cause @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This was the pretense given by the Germans for the relocation of Jewish victims en masse into isolated closed ghettos and camps in wartime Europe . ''
Even though that pretext was false , typhus did in fact sweep through the Warsaw ghetto , sparked by the living conditions and worsened by the lack of food .
By 1941 , official food rations for Jews were under 200 calories per day , according to a 1992 book , Courage Under Siege : Starvation , Disease , and Death in the Warsaw Ghetto , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and historian .
A lack of nutrition can make it harder for a person 's immune system to fight off disease .
Hershaft says he remembers people in the ghetto looking for food , and neighbors giving clothes and other possessions to his grandparents ' Russian housekeeper , who remained with his family during their time in the ghetto .
Unlike the Jewish residents of the ghetto , she could leave its confines and would exchange the goods for food she would bring back .
Two major waves of the typhus epidemic hit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ soon after the enclave was erected and another in early 1941 .
`` The official number of monthly reported new typhus cases for both epidemic waves sums to a total of 20,160 reported cases , '' write the authors of the study .
`` Yet , according to the scattered reports of leading epidemiologists of the ghetto , there is reasonable consensus that a total of 80,000 to 110,000 residents were infected . ''
But that number may have amounted to only 20 % to 25 % of actual cases , according to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Jews may not have reported having typhus for fear they 'd be killed by the Nazis or otherwise punished . ''
Lewi Stone , the study 's lead author and a professor of biomathematics at RMIT University in Melbourne , Australia , as well as at Tel Aviv University , says the discrepancy can be seen from referring to documents collected in the ghetto , particularly those from what is known as the Ringelblum Archive , a treasure trove of documents gathered and hidden during the ghetto years and named for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ historian who created and led the archive project .
Ringelblum 's archives were hidden in metal cases and milk cans beneath the streets of the ghetto ; two of the three troves were discovered after the war .
Stone says to learn more he `` spent many , many hours in libraries around the world seeking rare documents or publications to find details about the interventions employed . ''
Among the works he consulted were the records and memoirs of Ludwik Hirszfeld , a well-known bacteriologist who , with his family , was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where he was involved in medical care .
He escaped in 1943 and died in 1954 .
According to the study , an unexpected development occurred during the second typhus wave , and `` unusually , in late October 1941 , just at the onset of winter , the typhus epidemic rapidly began to curtail and collapse .
`` The epidemic 's 'turnaround ' was completely unexpected since typhus infection normally accelerates during winter , '' say the study authors .
Ringelblum was the source of that information .
They quote him as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diminished somewhat—just in the winter , when it generally gets worse .
The epidemic rate has fallen some 40 per cent .
I heard this from the apothecaries , and the same thing from doctors and the hospital . ''
The study authors used mathematical modeling techniques to investigate whether that drop came because the typhus outbreak `` burned itself out '' naturally or whether these external interventions assisted , says Stone .
`` We could see from this drop that something had to be blocking disease transmission pathways , '' says Stone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the telltale sign of behavioral interventions .
Indeed , we know that in other towns of the region , typhus continued on through the winter unabated . ''
The study 's conclusion , according to Stone : `` It was odd that just in the Warsaw ghetto the disease should die out before winter when it was expected to accelerate , '' said Stone .
`` Thus , we are fairly confident that the [ public health ] intervention succeeded . ''
What specific measures could account for the drop ?
The study @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Nazis began seeing some ghetto residents as potential workers and increased food aid in the ghetto and briefly allowed food smugglers to bring in rations .
In addition , community soup kitchens were set up and provided food for some 100,000 residents , funded with money smuggled into the ghetto by an American Jewish aid group , the Joint Distribution Committee , and coordinated by ghetto leaders , including Ringenblum .
Public health efforts .
The community 's network of social , self-help and medical organizations was intensely involved in fighting the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hygiene and infectious diseases often attended by more than 900 people at a time .
There were also home-cleaning programs by self-governing bodies in the ghetto with the goal of eradicating typhus .
In addition , an underground university was set up to train medical students , and scientific studies on the phenomenon of starvation and epidemics were conducted .
Personal responsibility : Building and apartment cleanliness was encouraged and often enforced through inspections by members of the Jewish council in the ghetto .
The impact of social intervention is plausible to Patricia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the senior historians at the U.S .
Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington , D.C. , who says that both the Warsaw and Lodz ghettos , also established by the Nazis , `` had strong social organizations , public health campaigns , lectures on hygiene and policing themselves for lice . ''
But at least two historians of the ghetto are not completely convinced of the study 's conclusions that hygiene , food and public health efforts could have been the key reason that typhus cases dropped in the Warsaw ghetto in 1941 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ measures could have played a major role , because of the extreme overcrowding of the ghetto streets , '' says Samuel Kassow , a professor of history at Trinity College and author of Who Will Write Our History ?
, about Ringelblum 's archive .
`` But a drive to improve sanitation in buildings may have played a role , '' says Kassow .
He quotes the leading epidemiologist in the ghetto , Ludwik Hirszfeld , who survived the war and wrote : `` We tried to ensure that outbreaks centered in specific @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did n't spread the epidemic by taking totally inappropriate measures .
I do n't think however that this was the only reason for the decline .
But public opinion ascribed the improvement to the new leadership and the new spirit in the Health department . ''
Professor Miriam Offer , a prominent researcher on medicine in the Warsaw ghetto and a lecturer at Western Galilee College and Tel Aviv University on medicine during the Holocaust , also questions whether the number of typhus cases could have just simply fallen so steeply .
In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ghetto , Offer says it is likely that there were reasons beyond the public health measures that the numbers of typhus cases dropped — including herd immunity .
So many people contracted typhus that its ability to spread diminished , she theorizes , drawing from the writings of Hirszfeld .
But the value of the study , especially as it may relate to the coronavirus , may not lie in whether the authors can prove irrefutably how typhus was brought under control .
`` For people living in the ghetto , despite so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will to live was very strong , so to take measures to try to prevent typhus , to keep the population as healthy as possible , is fabulous , '' says Heberer-Rice .
Aaron Glatt , chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital on Long Island , N.Y. , and a spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America , says he suspects `` that a combination of many factors , including both efforts to actively prevent spread coupled with many people being immune by the virtue of having had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ role in the sudden arrest of the spread of disease . ''
Glatt , the associate rabbi of a synagogue on Long Island , has a personal connection to the Warsaw ghetto and to typhus .
His paternal grandmother died in the Warsaw ghetto , he says , and `` my aunt died of typhus in my mother 's arms on the day Auschwitz was liberated . ''
Glatt believes that the Warsaw ghetto experience has much to teach the world as it struggles to deal with COVID-19 .
`` The level of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health issue is the most important characteristic as to whether you will be successful , '' says Glatt .
`` If you do n't take things seriously enough and do n't have the desire to beat it , people will die . ''
Alex Hershaft has a similar perspective .
His own family , he says , was `` somewhat fortunate '' because his maternal grandparents had a large home in the ghetto where his family moved and had money and goods of value to trade for food outside the ghetto .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ family contracted lice , '' said Hershaft , who says he sees parallels with the coronavirus now .
`` People who could afford to stay home and had enough to eat were OK , and people who had to mingle with others and did n't have enough to eat were the most likely victims . ''
And like Glatt , Hershaft speaks of the strong will to live in the ghetto : `` People were keenly aware of their mortality , which is what made them go to such lengths to try to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' says Hershaft , `` some people do n't take COVID seriously because the concept of contracting a deadly disease is so foreign to us , while in the ghetto , we were so conscious that the next day could be our last . ''
Fran Kritz is a health policy reporter based in Washington , D.C .
Her work has appeared in The Washington Post and Kaiser Health News .
Find her on Twitter : @ fkritz .

The Warsaw Ghetto Can Teach The World How To Beat Back An Outbreak
toggle caption Photo 12/Universal Images Group via Getty
Alex Hershaft remembers the special comb.
He and his family were living in the Warsaw ghetto. It was 1940. He was a little boy, about 6 years old.
A disease known as epidemic typhus was spreading among the close to half a million Jews confined in 1.3 square miles of Warsaw, Poland, in what became known as the Warsaw ghetto.
Records kept by ghetto leaders and unearthed after World War II show six or more people lived in a single room in some apartments. Many homes had no running water, and there were few public baths, according to records from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem.
Typhus is a highly contagious bacterial disease carried by body lice, which thrive in cramped and unsanitary conditions. It can cause fever, chills, body aches, coughs, nausea and confusion. In outbreaks during World War I, the death rate was 10% to 40%. And there was no antibiotic treatment until the drug doxycycline was approved for marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1967.
But the Jews of the Warsaw ghetto beat back typhus. And the comb was one of their weapons.
The comb has "very fine teeth to comb out your hair" — and catch any lice, says Hershaft, now 86 and living in Bethesda, Maryland.
The squelching of that outbreak of epidemic typhus in the Warsaw ghetto is the subject of a new study, which is especially relevant in a world battling the coronavirus pandemic.
The study, published in July, suggests that public health measures such as social distancing, hygiene and food supplies to supplement the meager rations provided by the Nazis could have been responsible for an unexpected drop in typhus cases in the winter of 1941.
The Nazis established the ghetto within the city of Warsaw in November 1940 and began herding in both Polish and refugee Jews.
toggle caption Wikimedia Commons image
According to the study, "there was a fanatical fear of typhus spreading to the German people and its army, given its previous impact as the cause of 5 million deaths after WWI. This was the pretense given by the Germans for the relocation of Jewish victims en masse into isolated closed ghettos and camps in wartime Europe."
Even though that pretext was false, typhus did in fact sweep through the Warsaw ghetto, sparked by the living conditions and worsened by the lack of food. By 1941, official food rations for Jews were under 200 calories per day, according to a 1992 book, Courage Under Siege: Starvation, Disease, and Death in the Warsaw Ghetto, by Charles G. Roland, a physician and historian. A lack of nutrition can make it harder for a person's immune system to fight off disease.
Hershaft says he remembers people in the ghetto looking for food and neighbors giving clothes and other possessions to his grandparents' Russian housekeeper, who remained with his family during their time in the ghetto. Unlike the Jewish residents of the ghetto, she could leave its confines and would exchange the goods for food she would bring back.
toggle caption Max Posner/NPR
Two major waves of the typhus epidemic hit the Warsaw ghetto: one in 1940 soon after the enclave was erected and another in early 1941. "The official number of monthly reported new typhus cases for both epidemic waves sums to a total of 20,160 reported cases," write the authors of the study. "Yet, according to the scattered reports of leading epidemiologists of the ghetto, there is reasonable consensus that a total of 80,000 to 110,000 residents were infected."
But that number may have amounted to only 20% to 25% of actual cases, "likely because many of the Jews may not have reported having typhus for fear they'd be killed by the Nazis or otherwise punished," says Lewi Stone, the study's lead author and a professor of biomathematics at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, as well as at Tel Aviv University.
Stone says the discrepancy can be seen from referring to documents collected in the ghetto, particularly those from what is known as the Ringelblum Archive, a treasure trove of documents gathered and hidden during the ghetto years and named for Emanuel Ringelblum, a social activist and historian who created and led the archive project. Ringelblum's archives were hidden in metal cases and milk cans beneath the streets of the ghetto; two of the three troves were discovered after the war.
Stone says to learn more he "spent many, many hours in libraries around the world seeking rare documents or publications to find details about the interventions employed." Among the works he consulted were the records and memoirs of Ludwik Hirszfeld, a well-known bacteriologist who, with his family, was sent to the ghetto in 1941, where he was involved in medical care. He escaped in 1943 and died in 1954.
According to the study, an unexpected development occurred during the second typhus wave, and "unusually, in late October 1941, just at the onset of winter, the typhus epidemic rapidly began to curtail and collapse.
"The epidemic's 'turnaround' was completely unexpected since typhus infection normally accelerates during winter," say the study authors. Ringelblum was the source of that information. They quote him as saying: "The typhus epidemic has diminished somewhat—just in the winter, when it generally gets worse. The epidemic rate has fallen some 40 per cent. I heard this from the apothecaries, and the same thing from doctors and the hospital."
The study authors used mathematical modeling techniques to investigate whether that drop came because the typhus outbreak "burned itself out" naturally or whether these external interventions assisted, says Stone.
"We could see from this drop that something had to be blocking disease transmission pathways," says Stone. "For modelers, this is the telltale sign of behavioral interventions. Indeed, we know that in other towns of the region, typhus continued on through the winter unabated."
The study's conclusion, according to Stone: "It was odd that just in the Warsaw ghetto the disease should die out before winter when it was expected to accelerate," said Stone. "Thus, we are fairly confident that the [public health] intervention succeeded."
What specific measures could account for the drop? The study ticks off several:
More food. The Nazis began seeing some ghetto residents as potential workers and increased food aid in the ghetto and briefly allowed food smugglers to bring in rations. In addition, community soup kitchens were set up and provided food for some 100,000 residents, funded with money smuggled into the ghetto by an American Jewish aid group, the Joint Distribution Committee, and coordinated by ghetto leaders, including Ringelblum.
Public health efforts. The community's network of social, self-help and medical organizations was intensely involved in fighting the epidemic, with public courses on public hygiene and infectious diseases often attended by more than 900 people at a time. There were also home-cleaning programs by self-governing bodies in the ghetto with the goal of eradicating typhus. In addition, an underground university was set up to train medical students, and scientific studies on the phenomenon of starvation and epidemics were conducted.
Personal responsibility: Building and apartment cleanliness was encouraged and often enforced through inspections by members of the Jewish council in the ghetto.
The impact of social interventions is plausible to Patricia Heberer-Rice, director of the division of the senior historians at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, who says that both the Warsaw and Lodz ghettos, also established by the Nazis, "had strong social organizations, public health campaigns, lectures on hygiene and policing themselves for lice."
But at least two historians of the ghetto are not completely convinced of the study's conclusions that hygiene, food and public health efforts could have been the key reasons that typhus cases dropped in the Warsaw ghetto in 1941. "I don't think social distancing measures could have played a major role, because of the extreme overcrowding of the ghetto streets," says Samuel Kassow, a professor of history at Trinity College and author of Who Will Write Our History?, about Ringelblum's archive.
toggle caption Wikimedia Commons image
"But a drive to improve sanitation in buildings may have played a role," says Kassow. He quotes the leading epidemiologist in the ghetto, Ludwik Hirszfeld, who survived the war and wrote: "We tried to ensure that outbreaks centered in specific buildings and apartments ebbed spontaneously. We didn't spread the epidemic by taking totally inappropriate measures. I don't think however that this was the only reason for the decline. But public opinion ascribed the improvement to the new leadership and the new spirit in the Health department."
Professor Miriam Offer, a prominent researcher on medicine in the Warsaw ghetto and a lecturer at Western Galilee College and Tel Aviv University on medicine during the Holocaust, also questions whether the number of typhus cases could have just simply fallen so steeply. In her book, White Coats in the Ghetto, Offer says it is likely that there were reasons beyond the public health measures that the number of typhus cases dropped — including herd immunity. So many people contracted typhus that its ability to spread diminished, she theorizes, drawing from the writings of Hirszfeld.
But the value of the study, especially as it may relate to the coronavirus, may not lie in whether the authors can prove irrefutably how typhus was brought under control. "For people living in the ghetto, despite so many odds stacked against them, the will to live was very strong, so to take measures to try to prevent typhus, to keep the population as healthy as possible, is fabulous," says Heberer-Rice.
Aaron Glatt, chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau hospital on Long Island, N.Y., and a spokesman for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, says he suspects "that a combination of many factors, including both efforts to actively prevent spread coupled with many people being immune by the virtue of having had disease and getting better both played a role in the sudden arrest of the spread of disease."
Glatt, the associate rabbi of a synagogue on Long Island, has a personal connection to the Warsaw ghetto and to typhus. His paternal grandmother died in the Warsaw ghetto, he says, and "my aunt died of typhus in my mother's arms on the day Auschwitz was liberated."
Glatt believes that the Warsaw ghetto experience has much to teach the world as it struggles to deal with COVID-19. "The level of desire and commitment to address a public health issue is the most important characteristic as to whether you will be successful," says Glatt. "If you don't take things seriously enough and don't have the desire to beat it, people will die."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Imagno/Getty Images Imagno/Getty Images
Alex Hershaft has a similar perspective. His own family, he says, was "somewhat fortunate" because his maternal grandparents had a large home in the ghetto where his family moved and had money and goods of value to trade for food outside the ghetto.
"I don't think anyone in my family contracted lice," said Hershaft, who says he sees parallels with the coronavirus now. "People who could afford to stay home and had enough to eat were OK, and people who had to mingle with others and didn't have enough to eat were the most likely victims."
And like Glatt, Hershaft speaks of the strong will to live in the ghetto: "People were keenly aware of their mortality, which is what made them go to such lengths to try to prevent typhus."
"Now," says Hershaft, "some people don't take COVID seriously because the concept of contracting a deadly disease is so foreign to us, while in the ghetto, we were so conscious that the next day could be our last."
Fran Kritz is a health policy reporter based in Washington, D.C. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post and Kaiser Health News. Find her on Twitter: @fkritz.


npr--2020-09-02--Drug Combination Slows Progression Of ALS And Could Mark 'New Era' In Treatment

Drug Combination Slows Progression Of ALS And Could Mark 'New Era ' In Treatment A combination of two experimental drugs appears to slow the decline of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , an illness often known as ALS or Lou Gehrig 's disease .
A six-month study of 137 patients with a fast-progressing form of the disease found that those who got daily doses of a two-drug combination called AMX0035 scored several points higher on a standard measure of function , a team reports in the Sept. 3 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine .
The difference was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dr. Sabrina Paganoni .
She 's the lead author and a researcher at the Sean Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Mass General and Harvard Medical School .
`` They want to be able to continue to use their hands so they can cut their own food and type emails , or they want to be able to walk and climb stairs , '' Paganoni said .
`` And this is exactly what we measured in the trial . ''
The results are far from a cure .
Even so , `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the beginning of a new era in ALS treatment discovery , '' Paganoni said .
`` There 's great hope for disease-modifying treatment , '' added Tania Gendron , who studies neurodegenerative diseases at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville and was not involved in the study .
`` In the next few years I think there are going to be some big discoveries . ''
ALS destroys the nerve cells that control muscle movement .
Patients typically become disabled and die within five years of their diagnosis .
For decades , the only @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Administration for ALS was riluzole , which has been on the market since 1995 and has been shown to extend the lives of patients .
Then in 2017 , the FDA approved edaravone , which helps some patients retain function longer .
AMX0035 works by protecting nerve cells from two types of damage that are hallmarks of ALS .
And in the study it produced a benefit , even though many of the patients were already taking riluzole and edaravone .
It appears that the new and old drugs all work in different @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Paganoni said .
`` We think ultimately we will need a combination of treatments to effectively fight ALS . ''
It 's not clear yet whether AMX0035 extends life or maintains muscle strength .
And ordinarily at least one larger study would be required before the FDA considered approving the drug .
But the ALS Association along with the advocacy group I AM ALS have joined forces to petition the FDA to make an exception .
`` In ALS , a trial like this would probably take about three years , '' said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ALS Association .
`` And so the question for the whole community is what do we gain for that three-year study ? ''
The ALS Association helped fund the research on AMX0035 and has a limited financial stake in its success .
The group 's main concern , though , is patients who wo n't live long enough to wait for another study , Thakur said .
`` That 's why we 're thinking the best thing to do for the community is to make this drug available sooner and let everyone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ soon as possible , '' he said .
AMX0035 has taken a highly unusual path toward approval .
It was developed by Amylyx , a tiny company founded by a couple of college students , Josh Cohen and Justin Klee , who are still in their 20s .
The pair were working late one night in the company 's Cambridge , Mass.
, office when they learned the results of the ALS study .
`` When the statisticians called , you could hear their whole firm cheering in the background , '' Cohen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they said the numbers that something good had happened . ''
But their elation was mixed with a sense of responsibility , Klee said .
`` While these results are great , it 's not a cure , and so we and others in the whole community need to keep pushing forward until we get cures , '' he said .
That 's beginning to look more likely than it did even a few years ago , the Mayo Clinic 's Gendron said .
One reason is that scientists are discovering new biological @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spinal fluid of ALS patients .
These markers will allow earlier diagnosis when treatments are more likely to work , Gendron said .
They will also help select which patients to give a particular drug and allow researchers to know whether the drug is reaching its intended target .
Another reason for optimism is the sheer amount of research going on .
`` What makes this time so exciting is there are over 50 different clinical trials that are enrolling and recruiting ALS patients right now , '' said Kuldip Dave , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` And they 're all going after different targets . ''

Drug Combination Slows Progression Of ALS And Could Mark 'New Era' In Treatment
A combination of two experimental drugs appears to slow the decline of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, an illness often known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.
A six-month study of 137 patients with a fast-progressing form of the disease found that those who got daily doses of a two-drug combination called AMX0035 scored several points higher on a standard measure of function, a team reports in the Sept. 3 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
The difference was modest but meaningful to patients, said Dr. Sabrina Paganoni. She's the lead author and a researcher at the Sean Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Mass General and Harvard Medical School.
"They want to be able to continue to use their hands so they can cut their own food and type emails, or they want to be able to walk and climb stairs," Paganoni said. "And this is exactly what we measured in the trial."
The results are far from a cure. Even so, "I am convinced that we are at the beginning of a new era in ALS treatment discovery," Paganoni said.
"There's great hope for disease-modifying treatment," added Tania Gendron, who studies neurodegenerative diseases at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville and was not involved in the study. "In the next few years I think there are going to be some big discoveries."
ALS destroys the nerve cells that control muscle movement. Patients typically become disabled and die within five years of their diagnosis.
For decades, the only drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration for ALS was riluzole, which has been on the market since 1995 and has been shown to extend the lives of patients. Then in 2017, the FDA approved edaravone, which helps some patients retain function longer.
AMX0035 works by protecting nerve cells from two types of damage that are hallmarks of ALS. And in the study it produced a benefit, even though many of the patients were already taking riluzole and edaravone.
It appears that the new and old drugs all work in different ways to slow down the disease, Paganoni said. "We think ultimately we will need a combination of treatments to effectively fight ALS."
It's not clear yet whether AMX0035 extends life or maintains muscle strength. And ordinarily at least one larger study would be required before the FDA considered approving the drug.
But the ALS Association along with the advocacy group I AM ALS have joined forces to petition the FDA to make an exception.
"In ALS, a trial like this would probably take about three years," said Neil Thakur, chief mission officer of the ALS Association. "And so the question for the whole community is what do we gain for that three-year study?"
The ALS Association helped fund the research on AMX0035 and has a limited financial stake in its success. The group's main concern, though, is patients who won't live long enough to wait for another study, Thakur said.
"That's why we're thinking the best thing to do for the community is to make this drug available sooner and let everyone have it as a treatment option as soon as possible," he said.
AMX0035 has taken a highly unusual path toward approval.
It was developed by Amylyx, a tiny company founded by a couple of college students, Josh Cohen and Justin Klee, who are still in their 20s. The pair were working late one night in the company's Cambridge, Mass., office when they learned the results of the ALS study.
"When the statisticians called, you could hear their whole firm cheering in the background," Cohen said. "So we knew before they said the numbers that something good had happened."
But their elation was mixed with a sense of responsibility, Klee said.
"While these results are great, it's not a cure, and so we and others in the whole community need to keep pushing forward until we get cures," he said.
That's beginning to look more likely than it did even a few years ago, the Mayo Clinic's Gendron said.
One reason is that scientists are discovering new biological markers that appear in the blood or spinal fluid of ALS patients. These markers will allow earlier diagnosis when treatments are more likely to work, Gendron said. They will also help select which patients to give a particular drug and allow researchers to know whether the drug is reaching its intended target.
Another reason for optimism is the sheer amount of research going on.
"What makes this time so exciting is there are over 50 different clinical trials that are enrolling and recruiting ALS patients right now," said Kuldip Dave, the ALS Association's vice president of research. "And they're all going after different targets."


npr--2020-09-02--United Plans 16,000 Furloughs As Airlines Cut Jobs During Pandemic Downturn

United Airlines will be putting 16,370 workers on involuntary , indefinite furlough at the start of October unless more aid materializes from the federal government , the company announced Wednesday .
Together with some 7,400 voluntary departures , the airline is cutting its workforce by more than 25 % .
It 's hardly alone .
American Airlines recently announced 19,000 furloughs and layoffs , while Delta cut its workforce by 20 % through buyouts .
The airline industry has been clobbered by the coronavirus pandemic .
While air traffic has risen from its lowest point this spring , it remains @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are intentionally keeping many seats empty — a move that promotes safety but hurts their bottom line .
In a recent earnings call , United reported that revenues were down more than 87 % compared with last year .
`` The pandemic has drawn us in deeper and lasted longer than almost any expert predicted , and in an environment where travel demand is so depressed , United can not continue with staffing levels that significantly exceed the schedule we fly , '' the company wrote .
`` Sadly , we do n't @ @ @ @ @ @ @ normal until there is a widely available treatment or vaccine . ''
Airlines received a lifeline from the federal government this spring in the form of $ 25 billion in aid authorized through the CARES Act .
The companies frantically sought cost savings — through voluntary furloughs and retirements , buyouts , schedule-sharing and other measures — but , as a condition of that aid money , were prohibited from laying off staff .
The aid money and the job protections expire Sept. 30 .
The House passed a bill that would extend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ helping the airlines .
But the Senate has not .
In its announcement of furloughs , United urged employees to write to their representatives to support the extension , calling it `` the one thing that would prevent involuntary furloughs on October 1 and hopefully delay any potential impact on employees until early 2021 . ''

United Plans 16,000 Furloughs As Airlines Cut Jobs During Pandemic Downturn
Enlarge this image toggle caption Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images
United Airlines will be putting 16,370 workers on involuntary, indefinite furlough at the start of October unless more aid materializes from the federal government, the company announced Wednesday.
Together with some 7,400 voluntary departures, the airline is cutting its workforce by more than 25%. It's hardly alone. American Airlines recently announced 19,000 furloughs and layoffs, while Delta cut its workforce by 20% through buyouts.
The airline industry has been clobbered by the coronavirus pandemic. While air traffic has risen from its lowest point this spring, it remains far below pre-pandemic levels. And airlines are intentionally keeping many seats empty — a move that promotes safety but hurts their bottom line.
In a recent earnings call, United reported that revenues were down more than 87% compared with last year.
"The pandemic has drawn us in deeper and lasted longer than almost any expert predicted, and in an environment where travel demand is so depressed, United cannot continue with staffing levels that significantly exceed the schedule we fly," the company wrote. "Sadly, we don't expect demand to return to anything resembling normal until there is a widely available treatment or vaccine."
Business Airlines Are Bracing For Potential Layoffs As Federal Payroll Aid To Expire Soon Airlines Are Bracing For Potential Layoffs As Federal Payroll Aid To Expire Soon Listen · 2:32 2:32
Airlines received a lifeline from the federal government this spring in the form of $25 billion in aid authorized through the CARES Act. The companies frantically sought cost savings — through voluntary furloughs and retirements, buyouts, schedule-sharing and other measures — but, as a condition of that aid money, were prohibited from laying off staff.
The aid money and the job protections expire Sept. 30.
The House passed a bill that would extend the payroll support program that has been helping the airlines. But the Senate has not.
In its announcement of furloughs, United urged employees to write to their representatives to support the extension, calling it "the one thing that would prevent involuntary furloughs on October 1 and hopefully delay any potential impact on employees until early 2021."


npr--2020-09-02--Former Italian Premier Berlusconi Tests Positive For Coronavirus

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has tested positive for coronavirus , according to a spokeswoman .
Berlusconi , 83 , will continue working in isolation at his home in Arcore , near Milan , his staff said in a statement , according to Reuters .
The news agency reports that Berlusconi 's personal physician , Alberto Zangrillo , said the leader of the Forza Italia party was showing no COVID-19 symptoms but had decided to take a coronavirus test because he had recently returned from holiday in Sardinia .
Italy experienced one of Europe 's worst coronavirus outbreaks , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ new cases each day .
Although daily cases have subsided dramatically since then , they began creeping back up in recent days .
Last week , The Guardian reported that more than 60 cases had been linked to a nightclub on Sardinia 's Emerald Coast owned by billionaire businessman and former Formula One team racing boss Flavio Briatore .
Briatore himself has tested positive for the virus and was admitted to a hospital in Milan , according to the newspaper , which said he had `` hosted thousands of guests in August , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . ''
Berlusconi 's staff said despite the diagnosis , he still plans to help the electoral campaigns of his party 's candidates at local elections scheduled for later this month .

Former Italian Premier Berlusconi Tests Positive For Coronavirus
Enlarge this image toggle caption Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has tested positive for coronavirus, according to a spokeswoman.
Berlusconi, 83, will continue working in isolation at his home in Arcore, near Milan, his staff said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The news agency reports that Berlusconi's personal physician, Alberto Zangrillo, said the leader of the Forza Italia party was showing no COVID-19 symptoms but had decided to take a coronavirus test because he had recently returned from holiday in Sardinia.
Italy experienced one of Europe's worst coronavirus outbreaks, peaking in late March with thousands of new cases each day. Although daily cases have subsided dramatically since then, they began creeping back up in recent days.
Last week, The Guardian reported that more than 60 cases had been linked to a nightclub on Sardinia's Emerald Coast owned by billionaire businessman and former Formula One team racing boss Flavio Briatore.
Briatore himself has tested positive for the virus and was admitted to a hospital in Milan, according to the newspaper, which said he had "hosted thousands of guests in August, including hundreds of Italian and international VIPs."
Berlusconi's staff said despite the diagnosis, he still plans to help the electoral campaigns of his party's candidates at local elections scheduled for later this month.


npr--2020-09-02--States Report Coronavirus Cases Linked To Sturgis, S.D., Motorcycle Rally

Public health officials across the U.S. reported dozens of cases in their states associated with people who attended the annual @ @ @ @ @ rally in August .

States Report Coronavirus Cases Linked To Sturgis, S.D., Motorcycle Rally
Enlarge this image toggle caption Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images
More than two weeks after nearly half a million bikers flocked to South Dakota, the tally of coronavirus infections traced back to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally has surpassed 260, an estimate that is growing steadily as more states report cases and at least one death.
At least 12 states have turned up cases linked to the 10-day event.
The greatest share of cases so far have emerged in the rally's home state, South Dakota, which has registered more than 100 cases so far.
A Minnesota man in his 60s who went to the rally was later hospitalized for COVID-19 and died earlier this week, said Kris Ehresmann, head of infectious disease for the Minnesota Department of Health.
Minnesota has counted more than 45 cases tied to the rally, and that only includes people who got tested and then notified state health departments about their possible exposure at Sturgis.
"It's definitely frustrating because we certainly aren't surprised to see cases," said Ehresmann.
Public health experts say the number of cases linked to the event will probably never be clear.
During the event, wearing masks was not the norm among rallygoers and some events were crowded, with little social distancing, according to some reports.
"I think it's still a little early to really know how this is going to play out," says Dr. Marcus Plescia, chief medical officer for the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.
Plescia said many health departments are already struggling with contact tracing within their own state.
"Then you bring in somebody who may have had contacts in one state and then potentially on their way back to their state of residence," he said. "It's very, very challenging, this intrastate travel issue."
Attendees had visited 61% of all counties in the U.S., according to one analysis.
The event attracted national media attention and became a flashpoint in pandemic politics.
South Dakota's Republican governor, Kristi Noem – a strong ally of President Trump — encouraged people to attend the rally, despite warnings it could seed outbreaks in her state and across the country.
Noem has resisted pandemic precautions like requiring people to wear masks while in public or limiting large gatherings. In the last few weeks, South and North Dakota have emerged as coronavirus hot spots with the highest rates of new cases per capita in the country.
But so far residents of Sturgis — a city with a population of about 7,000 — appear to have weathered the rally without any major outbreaks. The city held free testing after the rally and of the 650 people who participated, only 26 cases turned up positive.
Sturgis City Manager Daniel Ainslie said that a 4% positivity rate falls within the range that state health officials would expect to find when testing asymptomatic individuals – even before the rally.
"I think it shows that a lot of the mitigation efforts that we did proved to be very successful," said Ainslie.
Many Sturgis residents left town during the rally and those who stayed were encouraged not to have much contact with visitors and to take precautions when they did, but Ainslie also believes that visitors did a better job socially distancing than some of the pictures and stories coming out of the event suggested.
"When people were in the city, the vast majority of the visitors were very respectful," said Ainslie who makes a distinction between how people behaved within the city and outside city limits at large venues and campgrounds.
"A lot of times, there were pictures and images from those venues that were being shown and ... I would agree that a lot of that was not really being respectful of CDC guidelines."


npr--2020-09-02--Leak Reveals Warnings Inside Census That Shortened Schedule Risks 'Serious Errors'

A Census Bureau analysis has concluded that its curtailed schedule for the 2020 census increases the risk of `` serious errors '' in the results for the national head count , according to an internal bureau document obtained by the House Oversight and Reform Committee .
The document — a slide deck dated Aug. 3 and marked `` Not for Public Distribution '' — warns that `` serious errors discovered in the data may not be fixed — due to lack of time to research and understand the root cause or to re-run and re-review one or multiple state files @ @ @ @ @ @ @ substantial disclosure of concern from within the bureau about the potential impact of its shortened timetable for completing the national head count .
It comes almost a month after the bureau confirmed that last-minute changes directed by the Trump administration had forced it to speed up its timeline to finish counting and prepare the latest state population totals to be delivered to President Trump by the end of this year as currently required by federal law .
Those changes have not only cut counting efforts a month short but also truncated the time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ check all of the data it has collected this year for the once-a-decade , constitutionally mandated head count .
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross , who oversees the bureau , has emphasized in recent weeks that the bureau is `` on its way to delivering a successful count '' by incentivizing its door knockers to work more hours in trying to get unresponsive households counted `` without sacrificing quality . ''
But with about three months to process the count 's results after counting is set to end on Sept. 30 , many former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have been sounding the alarm about the potential threat to the accuracy of numbers used for reapportioning seats in Congress , redrawing political maps and distributing an estimated $ 1.5 trillion a year in federal funding for public services .
The Census Bureau has declined to comment on the document , the bureau 's chief spokesperson Michael Cook tells NPR .
In a press release on Wednesday , Rep. Carolyn Maloney , a Democrat from New York who chairs the House Oversight and Reform Committee , noted that the bureau 's leaders did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which the congresswoman said was obtained from `` another source . ''
Under the time pressure , the bureau 's plan has deprioritized the other legally required set of census results — detailed demographic data that state and local officials need for redistricting next year .
`` Delivery of redistricting data products will be negatively impacted under this revised plan and we are determining full impacts , '' the document warns .
The slide deck also notes that the cancellation of a key part of the bureau 's count review operation that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is likely to lead to `` virtually certain vocal objections '' from state demographers involved in the program and from state governors .
The operation has already helped the Census Bureau gather input from local officials to identify more than 240,000 housing units and 6,500 group living quarters , including nursing homes and prisons , that were missing from the bureau 's records .
A growing number of mostly Democratic lawmakers in Congress have been urging leaders in both the House and Senate to include legislation in the next coronavirus relief package that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ results , which could give the bureau more time to finish the count and process the results .
In a letter to congressional leaders released Wednesday , Maloney cited the slide deck as additional evidence that `` makes clear that Congress must act now to fulfill our responsibility under the Constitution to help ensure an accurate and complete count for the 2020 Census . ''
`` If we do not , our constituents — both Democrats and Republicans — could be directly harmed , '' Maloney wrote .

Leak Reveals Warnings Inside Census That Shortened Schedule Risks 'Serious Errors'
Enlarge this image toggle caption John Raoux/AP John Raoux/AP
Updated at 6:09 p.m. ET
A Census Bureau analysis has concluded that its curtailed schedule for the 2020 census increases the risk of "serious errors" in the results for the national head count, according to an internal bureau document obtained by the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
The document — a slide deck dated Aug. 3 and marked "Not for Public Distribution" — warns that "serious errors discovered in the data may not be fixed — due to lack of time to research and understand the root cause or to re-run and re-review one or multiple state files."
The revelation marks the first substantial disclosure of concern from within the bureau about the potential impact of its shortened timetable for completing the national head count.
It comes almost a month after the bureau confirmed that last-minute changes directed by the Trump administration had forced it to speed up its timeline to finish counting and prepare the latest state population totals to be delivered to President Trump by the end of this year as currently required by federal law.
Those changes have not only cut counting efforts a month short but also truncated the time left for the bureau to review and check all of the data it has collected this year for the once-a-decade, constitutionally mandated head count.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the bureau, has emphasized in recent weeks that the bureau is "on its way to delivering a successful count" by incentivizing its door knockers to work more hours in trying to get unresponsive households counted "without sacrificing quality."
But with about three months to process the count's results after counting is set to end on Sept. 30, many former Census Bureau officials and other census advocates have been sounding the alarm about the potential threat to the accuracy of numbers used for reapportioning seats in Congress, redrawing political maps and distributing an estimated $1.5 trillion a year in federal funding for public services.
The Census Bureau has declined to comment on the document, the bureau's chief spokesperson Michael Cook tells NPR.
In a press release on Wednesday, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York who chairs the House Oversight and Reform Committee, noted that the bureau's leaders did not provide the committee with the document, which the congresswoman said was obtained from "another source."
Under the time pressure, the bureau's plan has deprioritized the other legally required set of census results — detailed demographic data that state and local officials need for redistricting next year.
"Delivery of redistricting data products will be negatively impacted under this revised plan and we are determining full impacts," the document warns.
The slide deck also notes that the cancellation of a key part of the bureau's count review operation that was scheduled to take place this month is likely to lead to "virtually certain vocal objections" from state demographers involved in the program and from state governors. The operation has already helped the Census Bureau gather input from local officials to identify more than 240,000 housing units and 6,500 group living quarters, including nursing homes and prisons, that were missing from the bureau's records.
A growing number of mostly Democratic lawmakers in Congress have been urging leaders in both the House and Senate to include legislation in the next coronavirus relief package that would extend legal deadlines for reporting census results, which could give the bureau more time to finish the count and process the results.
In a letter to congressional leaders released Wednesday, Maloney cited the slide deck as additional evidence that "makes clear that Congress must act now to fulfill our responsibility under the Constitution to help ensure an accurate and complete count for the 2020 Census."
"If we do not, our constituents — both Democrats and Republicans — could be directly harmed," Maloney wrote.


npr--2020-09-02--After Beirut Explosion, Lebanon Sees A Spike In Coronavirus Infections

Lebanon is seeing a dramatic increase in the spread of the coronavirus since last month 's massive explosion at Beirut 's port , which damaged much of the capital city .
Since the Aug. 4 blast , the number of COVID-19 cases has increased by some 220 % , according to an assessment by the International Rescue Committee .
`` This is on top of everything else that people have to contend with , '' Matias Meier , the country director for the aid group , said in a statement .
After the blast , many people `` lost both @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in an instant . ''
In the early months of the pandemic , Lebanon managed to keep the infection rate low by quickly imposing stay-at-home orders that were well enforced and included a strict curfew .
Those orders were lifted and then reimposed several times .
The number of people infected per day remained in the dozens .
But the country has been registering between 500 and 600 cases almost every day since mid-August .
Lebanon 's Ministry of Public Health has registered 18,375 cases since the start of the pandemic and puts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ There are multiple clusters which is making it even harder to slow the spread , '' Meier said .
This comes as Lebanon 's health care system has also been treating some 6,000 people wounded in the blast , while also coping with the blast 's damage to medical facilities .
Three of Beirut 's major hospitals were forced to close following the explosion , and three others were partially damaged , according to the World Health Organization .
In all , the WHO found , approximately 500 hospital beds were lost .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Hamad Hasan , told local media last month that Lebanon 's health system was `` on the brink '' of being overwhelmed , with both public and private hospitals being close to full because of the needs of blast victims and COVID-19 patients .
Lebanese authorities responded by trying to impose a new lockdown in the second half of August .
But for the 300,000 or so city residents who officials say were made homeless in the explosion , as well as for thousands of others whose homes have shattered windows and doors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hard to follow .
Government officials then loosened the restrictions after owners of restaurants , cafes and nightclubs refused to abide by them .
They shortened the curfew , allowing people to leave their homes after 6 p.m. , and ruled that most businesses , including restaurants , could reopen at 50 % capacity .
Even before the explosion , these sectors were hard hit by the country 's economic crisis , which sent poverty rates soaring .
The crisis is widely blamed on political corruption and mismanagement .
Popular anger compounded as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate at the city 's port was likely the result of years of government negligence .
`` For us , the state vanished with the blast , '' Tony Ramy , head of the syndicate of owners of restaurants , cafes , nightclubs and pastry shops , told crowds at a rally protesting the stay-at-home orders .
International donors have sought to help ease the crisis .
The World Health Organization has sent almost 25 tons of personal protective equipment , and French President Emmanuel Macron , who visited @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 8 million in assistance for Rafik Hariri University Hospital , the main public health institution caring for COVID-19 patients .
Firass Abiad , the head of that hospital , took to Twitter this week to warn of the dangers of the current coronavirus response .
`` Lockdown helps contain the virus , but puts the pressure on businesses , '' he wrote .
`` A strategy with clear tradeoffs , based on science and collective before personal interests , endorsed by all , is needed .
Then all have to comply , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be a harsh winter . ''

After Beirut Explosion, Lebanon Sees A Spike In Coronavirus Infections
Enlarge this image toggle caption Felipe Dana/AP Felipe Dana/AP
Lebanon is seeing a dramatic increase in the spread of the coronavirus since last month's massive explosion at Beirut's port, which damaged much of the capital city. Since the Aug. 4 blast, the number of COVID-19 cases has increased by some 220%, according to an assessment by the International Rescue Committee.
"This is on top of everything else that people have to contend with," Matias Meier, the country director for the aid group, said in a statement. After the blast, many people "lost both their home and their source of income in an instant."
In the early months of the pandemic, Lebanon managed to keep the infection rate low by quickly imposing stay-at-home orders that were well enforced and included a strict curfew. Those orders were lifted and then reimposed several times.
The number of people infected per day remained in the dozens. But the country has been registering between 500 and 600 cases almost every day since mid-August. Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health has registered 18,375 cases since the start of the pandemic and puts the death toll at 172.
"There are multiple clusters which is making it even harder to slow the spread," Meier said.
This comes as Lebanon's health care system has also been treating some 6,000 people wounded in the blast, while also coping with the blast's damage to medical facilities.
Three of Beirut's major hospitals were forced to close following the explosion, and three others were partially damaged, according to the World Health Organization. In all, the WHO found, approximately 500 hospital beds were lost.
The country's interim health minister, Hamad Hasan, told local media last month that Lebanon's health system was "on the brink" of being overwhelmed, with both public and private hospitals being close to full because of the needs of blast victims and COVID-19 patients.
Lebanese authorities responded by trying to impose a new lockdown in the second half of August. But for the 300,000 or so city residents who officials say were made homeless in the explosion, as well as for thousands of others whose homes have shattered windows and doors blown off hinges, such orders are hard to follow.
Government officials then loosened the restrictions after owners of restaurants, cafes and nightclubs refused to abide by them. They shortened the curfew, allowing people to leave their homes after 6 p.m., and ruled that most businesses, including restaurants, could reopen at 50% capacity.
Even before the explosion, these sectors were hard hit by the country's economic crisis, which sent poverty rates soaring. The crisis is widely blamed on political corruption and mismanagement.
Popular anger compounded as it emerged that the explosion of some 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate at the city's port was likely the result of years of government negligence.
"For us, the state vanished with the blast," Tony Ramy, head of the syndicate of owners of restaurants, cafes, nightclubs and pastry shops, told crowds at a rally protesting the stay-at-home orders.
International donors have sought to help ease the crisis. The World Health Organization has sent almost 25 tons of personal protective equipment, and French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited Lebanon this week, announced more than $8 million in assistance for Rafik Hariri University Hospital, the main public health institution caring for COVID-19 patients.
Firass Abiad, the head of that hospital, took to Twitter this week to warn of the dangers of the current coronavirus response.
"Lockdown helps contain the virus, but puts the pressure on businesses," he wrote. "A strategy with clear tradeoffs, based on science and collective before personal interests, endorsed by all, is needed. Then all have to comply, or else. Otherwise, it will be a harsh winter."


npr--2020-09-02--'Comrade Duch,' Infamous Commander Of Khmer Rouge Prison, Dies In Cambodia

The commander of a notorious Khmer Rouge prison where thousands of people were executed and tortured during the communist regime 's brutal rule over Cambodia in the 1970s , has died at age 77 .
Kaing Guek Eav , better known as Comrade Duch , was serving life in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity when he died early Wednesday , according to a spokesman for the tribunal that found him guilty in 2010 .
He had been ill for years , and the spokesman provided no details on the cause of death .
Duch led the regime @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He was one of the few Khmer Rouge officials to admit any responsibility for the 1975-79 genocide that ultimately left 1.7 million Cambodians dead from execution , overwork or starvation .
Only a handful of inmates survived their time in Tuol Sleng , a fact that he himself acknowledged during his war crimes trial .
An estimated 14,000 people died there during the Khmer Rouge rule , some of them regime officials accused of disloyalty .
In sometimes chilling testimony before a United Nations-backed tribunal in 2009 , Duch , a former @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Khmer Rouge official to face trial , tearfully apologized to the families of victims and testified that those who arrived at Tuol Sleng had little hope of ever leaving .
`` Everyone who was arrested and sent to S-21 was presumed dead already , '' he said .
The tribunal heard graphic testimony of torture at the prison that included the use of electric shocks , burning with hot metal and ripping out of toenails to extract forced confessions of often fabricated crimes .
But Duch faced justice only after trying to hide @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1979 toppling of the Khmer Rouge after an invasion by neighboring Vietnam .
In 1999 , he was found by a journalist who tracked him down in a remote region of Cambodia .
In the years between the fall of the Khmer Rouge government and his discovery , Duch had converted to Christianity .
After his capture , he publicly asked for forgiveness .
Even so , he and his legal team mounted an aggressive defense at the tribunal , sometimes quibbling over technicalities that might weigh in his favor and ultimately asking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did not come .
Duch 's death follows the death of Nuon Chea nearly a year ago .
Nuon Chea , who died at 93 , had served as Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot 's chief lieutenant .
Known as `` Brother No .
2 , '' he was considered a chief architect of the regime 's genocide .

'Comrade Duch,' Infamous Commander Of Khmer Rouge Prison, Dies In Cambodia
Enlarge this image toggle caption Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP via Getty Images Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP via Getty Images
The commander of a notorious Khmer Rouge prison where thousands of people were executed and tortured during the communist regime's brutal rule over Cambodia in the 1970s, has died at age 77.
Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Comrade Duch, was serving life in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity when he died early Wednesday, according to a spokesman for the tribunal that found him guilty in 2010.
He had been ill for years, and the spokesman provided no details on the cause of death.
Duch led the regime's Tuol Sleng prison, code-named S-21. He was one of the few Khmer Rouge officials to admit any responsibility for the 1975-79 genocide that ultimately left 1.7 million Cambodians dead from execution, overwork or starvation.
Only a handful of inmates survived their time in Tuol Sleng, a fact that he himself acknowledged during his war crimes trial. An estimated 14,000 people died there during the Khmer Rouge rule, some of them regime officials accused of disloyalty.
In sometimes chilling testimony before a United Nations-backed tribunal in 2009, Duch, a former school teacher who was the first senior Khmer Rouge official to face trial, tearfully apologized to the families of victims and testified that those who arrived at Tuol Sleng had little hope of ever leaving.
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"Everyone who was arrested and sent to S-21 was presumed dead already," he said.
The tribunal heard graphic testimony of torture at the prison that included the use of electric shocks, burning with hot metal and ripping out of toenails to extract forced confessions of often fabricated crimes.
Enlarge this image toggle caption The Washington Post/The Washington Post via Getty Im The Washington Post/The Washington Post via Getty Im
But Duch faced justice only after trying to hide from it for two decades following the 1979 toppling of the Khmer Rouge after an invasion by neighboring Vietnam. In 1999, he was found by a journalist who tracked him down in a remote region of Cambodia.
In the years between the fall of the Khmer Rouge government and his discovery, Duch had converted to Christianity. After his capture, he publicly asked for forgiveness.
Even so, he and his legal team mounted an aggressive defense at the tribunal, sometimes quibbling over technicalities that might weigh in his favor and ultimately asking the court for an acquittal, which did not come.
Duch's death follows the death of Nuon Chea nearly a year ago. Nuon Chea, who died at 93, had served as Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's chief lieutenant. Known as "Brother No. 2," he was considered a chief architect of the regime's genocide.