npr--2020-05-22--As Pandemic Halts The Military Court At Guantánamo, Critics Call For Its Closure

As Pandemic Halts The Military Court At Guantánamo , Critics Call For Its Closure The coronavirus has not spared the U.S. military court and prison at Guantánamo Bay , Cuba , where legal proceedings have come to a virtual standstill due to the pandemic .
That has critics of Guantánamo , which has cost taxpayers more than $ 6 billion despite finalizing only one conviction in nearly two decades , saying this is a chance to shut it down for good .
Guantánamo has had at least two cases of COVID-19 : one in a sailor at the U.S. naval @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the guard force that oversees its prisoners , which include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed , alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 , 2001 , terror attacks .
The U.S. Department of Defense said that for security reasons it will not say if there have been additional positive diagnoses at Guantánamo , but because of the pandemic all court hearings have been canceled since mid-March and are not scheduled to restart until late July .
In addition , the facility is subject to health safety measures such as social distancing and the mandatory wearing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
There is also a 14-day quarantine for anyone arriving on the island , which has basically halted court travel because Guantánamo lawyers must also quarantine for 14 days upon returning to the U.S. , turning even a short trip into a month-long commitment .
Even before the pandemic , problem-plagued Guantánamo had been hit with more dysfunction than usual , including the departures of several key personnel .
Among them were the judge in the Sept. 11 case , Air Force Colonel W. Shane Cohen , who left in April after announcing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than a year on the job , and the head of the military court , Christian Reismeier , who moved to a different court role after being in his position for less than a year .
Two of the lead attorneys for the Sept. 11 defendants have also stepped aside in recent months .
All of that leaves the Sept. 11 case trial , scheduled to begin jury selection next January , in limbo .
`` It 's definitely not going to come off as a January 2021 trial — that 's perfectly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin who specializes in national security law and has followed Guantánamo closely since it opened in 2002 .
`` There 's just no telling when this might get underway , '' he added .
`` But we certainly know this — that as long as COVID-19 is raging and these detainees are located in Guantánamo , there are going to be basic practical difficulties getting a single thing done . ''
To Georgetown Law School professor Abbe Smith , who traveled to Guantánamo in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri , accused of orchestrating the USS Cole naval warship bombing , the recent upheaval calls for a radical reset at the court .
`` You have to try these men or release them .
Try them or release them , '' said Smith , who argues that indefinitely holding Guantánamo 's 40 remaining prisoners , most of whom have never been charged with a crime , is illegal and immoral .
`` And , yes , I understand the anger and I understand the grief of those who have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were terribly injured as a result of these acts of terrorism , '' added Smith , who after returning from her trip wrote a piece for the National Law Journal titled `` It 's Time to Rethink Guantánamo Bay Military Commissions . ''
`` But it 's unbelievable what we 're paying to maintain this system that has n't accomplished anything , '' she said .
`` I mean , especially post-COVID , imagine what we could do with that money , '' a reference to Guantánamo 's $ 6 billion cost since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kelly , whose brother died in the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11 , has made more than a dozen trips to Guantánamo to watch court proceedings .
She , too , said the shutdown caused by the pandemic and the recent personnel departures present an ideal moment to question business as usual at the military court .
`` My basic thought is that this is kind of the perfect time to change everything about Guantánamo , '' Kelly said .
`` The time for plowing ahead really is over .
This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shake things up ? ''
Kelly advocates removing the Guantánamo cases from military court and instead trying them in U.S. federal court , which has extensive experience handling terrorism cases , or negotiating guilty pleas with the prisoners .
However , the U.S. government has given no indication that it is inclined to change the status quo at Guantánamo .
In a statement emailed to NPR , a Defense Department spokeswoman said the military is trained to do rotations , so will continue rotating personnel in and out of Guantánamo .
She also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ timeline .
Still , said Kelly , `` I feel like the 9/11 trial is mired as deeply as the war in Afghanistan and the never-ending wars in the Middle East , so why not take a fresh look ? ''

As Pandemic Halts The Military Court At Guantánamo, Critics Call For Its Closure
Enlarge this image toggle caption Walter Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images Walter Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
The coronavirus has not spared the U.S. military court and prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where legal proceedings have come to a virtual standstill due to the pandemic. That has critics of Guantánamo, which has cost taxpayers more than $6 billion despite finalizing only one conviction in nearly two decades, saying this is a chance to shut it down for good.
Guantánamo has had at least two cases of COVID-19: one in a sailor at the U.S. naval base on the island and a second in the guard force that oversees its prisoners, which include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks.
The U.S. Department of Defense said that for security reasons it will not say whether there have been additional positive diagnoses at Guantánamo, but because of the pandemic all court hearings have been canceled since mid-March and are not scheduled to restart until late July.
In addition, the facility is subject to health safety measures such as social distancing and the mandatory wearing of masks and gloves when near prisoners. There is also a 14-day quarantine for anyone arriving on the island, which has basically halted court travel because Guantánamo lawyers must also quarantine for 14 days upon returning to the U.S., turning even a short trip into a monthlong commitment.
Even before the pandemic, problem-plagued Guantánamo had been hit with more dysfunction than usual, including the departures of several key personnel. Among them were the judge in the Sept. 11 case, Air Force Col. W. Shane Cohen, who left in April after announcing he was taking early retirement after less than a year on the job, and the head of the military court, Christian Reismeier, who moved to a different court role after being in his position for less than a year. Two of the lead attorneys for the Sept. 11 defendants have also stepped aside in recent months.
All of that leaves the Sept. 11 case trial, scheduled to begin jury selection next January, in limbo.
"It's definitely not going to come off as a January 2021 trial — that's perfectly clear," said Bobby Chesney, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin who specializes in national security law and has followed Guantánamo closely since it opened in 2002.
"There's just no telling when this might get underway," he added. "But we certainly know this — that as long as COVID-19 is raging and these detainees are located in Guantánamo, there are going to be basic practical difficulties getting a single thing done."
To Georgetown Law School professor Abbe Smith, who traveled to Guantánamo in January to watch hearings in the case against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, accused of orchestrating the USS Cole naval warship bombing, the recent upheaval calls for a radical reset at the court.
"You have to try these men or release them. Try them or release them," said Smith, who argues that indefinitely holding Guantánamo's 40 remaining prisoners, most of whom have never been charged with a crime, is illegal and immoral.
"And, yes, I understand the anger and I understand the grief of those who have lost people or who have people who were terribly injured as a result of these acts of terrorism," added Smith, who after returning from her trip wrote a piece for the National Law Journal titled "It's Time to Rethink Guantánamo Bay Military Commissions."
"But it's unbelievable what we're paying to maintain this system that hasn't accomplished anything," she said. "I mean, especially post-COVID, imagine what we could do with that money," a reference to Guantánamo's $6 billion cost since opening.
New York City resident Colleen Kelly, whose brother died in the World Trade Center attacks on Sept. 11, has made more than a dozen trips to Guantánamo to watch court proceedings. She, too, said the shutdown caused by the pandemic and the recent personnel departures present an ideal moment to question business as usual at the military court.
"My basic thought is that this is kind of the perfect time to change everything about Guantánamo," Kelly said. "The time for plowing ahead really is over. This is never-ending, so why not really shake things up?"
Kelly advocates removing the Guantánamo cases from military court and instead trying them in U.S. federal court, which has extensive experience handling terrorism cases, or negotiating guilty pleas with the prisoners.
However, the U.S. government has given no indication that it is inclined to change the status quo at Guantánamo.
In a statement emailed to NPR, a Defense Department spokeswoman said the military is trained to do rotations and will continue rotating personnel in and out of Guantánamo. She also said Guantánamo's cases have no fixed timeline.
Still, said Kelly, "I feel like the 9/11 trial is mired as deeply as the war in Afghanistan and the never-ending wars in the Middle East, so why not take a fresh look?"


npr--2020-05-22--For In-Person College, Coronavirus Testing Will Be Key. But Is That Feasible?

For In-Person College , Coronavirus Testing Will Be Key .
But Is That Feasible ?
The coronavirus test was n't as bad as Celeste Torres imagined .
Standing outside a dorm at the University of California , San Diego , Torres stuck a swab up a nostril , scanned a QR code , and went on with the day .
`` The process itself was about five minutes , '' Torres says , `` I did cry a little bit just because it 's , I guess , a natural reaction . ''
Torres had n't been exhibiting symptoms , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Rather , they are a data point , part of a mass testing effort at UC San Diego to make sure an in-person fall semester is possible .
`` We 're not trying to test to see if we can detect an outbreak right now , '' explains Dr. Robert Schooley , a virologist and professor of medicine , who is helping lead the project .
`` We 're trying to make sure that we can scale to be able to do that in the fall . ''
Getting colleges and universities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ across the country — and it will remain so over the next several months .
The CDC released guidance on reopening higher ed institutions this week , and almost daily now , colleges are releasing their own plans for how they intend to open with students on-campus come fall .
For many schools , part of the plan includes testing for SARS-CoV-2 .
`` We 're at the stage when every college and university president is acutely aware that if they open in the fall , they will need a testing regime , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ American Council on Education , which represents 1,700 higher education groups , including colleges .
`` What they have n't figured out yet is where they 'll get the tests , what the regime will look like and what the protocols will be .
But those are things that they are thinking about every single day . ''
At UC San Diego , there are about 5,000 students currently living in dorms on campus ; many were unable to return home this spring .
Starting last week , Schooley and his collaborators are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they can see if their modeling and protocol for fall will work .
They 're hoping to scale up when the campus returns to full capacity — about 30,000 undergrad students — aiming to test about 70 to 75 % of the community every month .
Along the way they 're learning valuable lessons : Wi-Fi at testing spots needs to be strong in order to link students ' ID numbers to the code on the sample .
Posting up outside a dorm at 7 a.m. is n't a great tie to get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are really freaked out about that swab ; they 'd much prefer a saliva test .
Administrators are also learning about students ' motivations .
When the pilot launched last week , the initial messaging to students was , 'Are you curious ?
Come see if you 're shedding the virus ! '
They did n't get a lot of volunteers .
By day three , they had changed the pitch to , 'If you take this test it can help us have in-person classes in the fall . '
`` They really @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and get on with their education , '' says Schooley .
`` If we ca n't get the university going , it 's going to be very hard to get the rest of society going . ''
UC San Diego is in a unique position because it has a lab , a hospital and a designated procurement team , which helps source components of the test .
They 're not facing test shortages like other communities have .
Researchers there are working to develop new tests and components , to help diversify the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shortages .
`` If you 're a large university and you have a school of public health , obviously , that gives you a leg up , '' says Hartle .
Smaller schools , he says , may need to work with local and state health departments to figure out a testing plan .
But many schools are still in the early planning phases .
`` How do we get access to tests ?
I think that 's the biggest question , because right now , locally , the access is for folks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kirsten Brinlee , the executive director of the Baltimore Collegetown Network , which works with 13 schools in the Baltimore area .
`` We 've started to have some conversations about , you know , what could group ordering look like ? ''
Joining with other colleges to plan has proved useful for colleges across the country , and it could make it easier to purchase tests in bulk , says Todd Greene , who leads the Atlanta University Center Consortium , a group made up of four historically black colleges in Atlanta @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The largest school in the group has only 2,200 students , but together they serve 9,000 , so that gives them leverage , buying power and an opportunity to think about scale .
The medical school has `` led the force '' when it comes to testing , Greene says , but as a whole , the group has n't made any final decisions regarding how they 'll go about testing in the fall , though they 're actively working through different scenarios .
He says many testing companies and consultants have reached @ @ @ @ @ @ @ meetings some important questions have emerged : Do we test our students before they arrive on campus ?
Or immediately upon arrival ?
And then how often to test ?
Are the tests available actually reliable ?
He says they 're particularly concerned with issues of privacy and the disproportionate impact of the virus on communities of color .
Even if colleges can get their hands on tests , they cost a lot : anywhere from $ 50 a test to triple that .
Even with so much happening in-house , the project @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cost more than $ 2 million per month in the fall .
Timothy White , chancellor of the California State University system , which announced it is planning for a virtual fall semester , mentioned the cost of testing as a key factor in that decision .
He estimated that mass testing would cost about $ 25 million a week .
`` It 's just not practical at all for us to do that level '' of testing , he told NPR .
`` For the size of our university , it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ practical possibility . ''
Colleges are facing extreme financial pain right now , because of the pandemic .
And the uncertainty surrounding the tests , how to get them and what tests are effective has made education leaders less likely to make large purchases now .
`` My gosh , if we could say , let 's order these little saliva packs and we knew they 'd be effective , then I think every college , every campus health center director would be like , 'how do I get that into my budget @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ' But we 're not quite at that level yet , '' says Judy Smith , who runs the health center on campus at Mercyhurst University , a campus of about 4,000 students in Erie , Pa. Smith says she 's constantly following the news about testing and test developments , which are happening at `` warp speed , '' and she 's in communication with the local community about the coronavirus testing they 're doing and the labs they 're using to process those tests .
`` We know — well , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 're not going to purchase diagnostic COVID testing at this point in time , when the test has to be done in the laboratory , '' she says .
`` We 're not going to build a laboratory here on campus , I 'm pretty confident in saying that . ''
Regardless of the unbuilt lab , Smith says she 's focused on making sure students on campus will be good with masking , social distancing and cleaning , when they open in the fall .
While the cost may be prohibitive for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an essential investment for being in-person .
`` We pay for all kinds of insurances , '' says Michael Le Roy , the president of Calvin University , a small Christian college in Western Michigan .
`` In many ways this is a similar kind of cost . ''
He 's planning for the 3,500-person campus to be open this fall .
There are still lots of details to work out , with elements of social distancing , and reimagined dorms and in-person classes , but before the school solidified its plans , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to get his hands on some tests .
`` No matter how you think about it , a program of testing was going to be critical to everything else , '' says Le Roy .
`` If we could n't do that , almost everything else was going to be impossible or much harder . ''
Through connections in the school 's chemistry department , Le Roy made a deal with Helix Diagnostics , a commercial laboratory .
For an undisclosed amount of money , the company will provide 5,000 coronavirus tests for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ almost inappropriate , or wrong , to wait for the state or federal government to provide the tests , '' says Le Roy , `` I just felt like , we 're going to have to be tenacious . ''
Now that the deal is done , there 's a bit of relief .
`` I 'm not saying that it solves everyone 's problems , '' he says , `` but it might be a way forward for us to begin to solve many problems . ''
He says , there 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ You feel a little like you 're in the great beyond , so you get one thing in place and you 're like — OK , the next thing ! ''
Le Roy is the chair of Michigan Independent Colleges and Universities , and he 's working to open up opportunities for other small schools throughout the state to get access to testing .
He acknowledges that it may be harder , the more tests he needs to acquire .
That 's because there is n't an unlimited supply .
`` The reality @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a challenge for a lot of us , '' says Michael Rao , the president of Virginia Commonwealth University and the president of the school 's health system .
`` I do think that ultimately it 's unrealistic and it has been unrealistic and it probably will remain unrealistic for some time to assume that we can all be tested all the time . ''
He says in lieu of testing , screening and symptom tracking can be just as important for containing outbreaks .
But , ultimately , it 's going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even with testing , the moment a student swabs their nose , and goes on with their day , they 're making a million different decisions that impact the larger community .
For campuses to function safely , he says , they are going to need a strong social contract that honors certain behaviors , and puts the health of the community first .
`` It 's really less about just you and more about taking responsibility for everyone , '' he says , `` The bottom line is that once we 're @ @ @ @ @ @ @ agree that these will be the fundamental policies and procedures that we 're going to follow to respect each other and to protect each other and to help create a safe environment . ''

For In-Person College, Coronavirus Testing Will Be Key. But Is That Feasible?
Enlarge this image Janice Chang for NPR Janice Chang for NPR
The coronavirus test wasn't as bad as Celeste Torres imagined. Standing outside a dorm at the University of California, San Diego, Torres stuck a swab up a nostril, scanned a QR code, and went on with the day.
"The process itself was about five minutes," Torres says, "I did cry a little bit just because it's, I guess, a natural reaction."
Torres hadn't been exhibiting symptoms, and didn't end up testing positive. Rather, they are a data point, part of a mass testing effort at UC San Diego to make sure an in-person fall semester is possible. "We're not trying to test to see if we can detect an outbreak right now," explains Dr. Robert Schooley, a virologist and professor of medicine, who is helping lead the project. "We're trying to make sure that we can scale to be able to do that in the fall."
Getting colleges and universities going is the main goal for leaders across the country — and it will remain so over the next several months. The CDC released guidance on reopening higher ed institutions this week, and almost daily now, colleges are releasing their own plans for how they intend to open with students on-campus come fall. For many schools, part of the plan includes testing for SARS-CoV-2.
"We're at the stage when every college and university president is acutely aware that if they open in the fall, they will need a testing regime," says Terry Hartle, of the American Council on Education, which represents 1,700 higher education groups, including colleges. "What they haven't figured out yet is where they'll get the tests, what the regime will look like and what the protocols will be. But those are things that they are thinking about every single day."
At UC San Diego, there are about 5,000 students currently living in dorms on campus; many were unable to return home this spring. Starting last week, Schooley and his collaborators are asking students to voluntarily test, so they can see if their modeling and protocol for fall will work. They're hoping to scale up when the campus returns to full capacity — about 30,000 undergrad students — aiming to test about 70 to 75% of the community every month. Along the way they're learning valuable lessons: Wi-Fi at testing spots needs to be strong in order to link students' ID numbers to the code on the sample. Posting up outside a dorm at 7 a.m. isn't a great time to get a lot of students. And students are really freaked out about that swab; they'd much prefer a saliva test.
Administrators are also learning about students' motivations. When the pilot launched last week, the initial messaging to students was, 'Are you curious? Come see if you're shedding the virus!' They didn't get a lot of volunteers. By day three, they had changed the pitch to, 'If you take this test it can help us have in-person classes in the fall.'
Students came in droves.
"They really want to get on with their lives and get on with their education," says Schooley. "If we can't get the university going, it's going to be very hard to get the rest of society going."
UC San Diego is in a unique position because it has a lab, a hospital and a designated procurement team, which helps source components of the test. They're not facing test shortages like other communities have. Researchers there are working to develop new tests and components, to help diversify the materials used, so there are fewer shortages.
"If you're a large university and you have a school of public health, obviously, that gives you a leg up," says Hartle. Smaller schools, he says, may need to work with local and state health departments to figure out a testing plan. But many schools are still in the early planning phases.
"How do we get access to tests? I think that's the biggest question, because right now, locally, the access is for folks that are showing symptoms," says Kirsten Brinlee, the executive director of the Baltimore Collegetown Network, which works with 13 schools in the Baltimore area. "We've started to have some conversations about, you know, what could group ordering look like?"
Joining with other colleges to plan has proved useful for colleges across the country, and it could make it easier to purchase tests in bulk, says Todd Greene, who leads the Atlanta University Center Consortium, a group made up of four historically black colleges in Atlanta, including Morehouse School of Medicine. Together they serve about 9,000, so that gives them leverage, buying power and an opportunity to think about scale. The medical school has "led the force" when it comes to testing, Greene says, but as a whole, the group hasn't made any final decisions regarding how they'll go about testing in the fall, though they're actively working through different scenarios. He says many testing companies and consultants have reached out to help.
At their group meetings some important questions have emerged: Do we test our students before they arrive on campus? Or immediately upon arrival? And then how often to test? Are the tests available actually reliable? He says they're particularly concerned with issues of privacy and the disproportionate impact of the virus on communities of color.
High costs when budgets are tight
Even if colleges can get their hands on tests, they cost a lot: anywhere from $50 a test to triple that. Even with so much happening in-house, the project at UC San Diego is anticipated to cost more than $2 million per month in the fall.
Timothy White, chancellor of the California State University system, which announced it is planning for a virtual fall semester, mentioned the cost of testing as a key factor in that decision. He estimated that mass testing would cost about $25 million a week. "It's just not practical at all for us to do that level" of testing, he told NPR. "For the size of our university, it is beyond the realm of the financial or practical possibility."
Colleges are facing extreme financial pain right now, because of the pandemic. And the uncertainty surrounding the tests, how to get them and what tests are effective has made education leaders less likely to make large purchases now.
"My gosh, if we could say, let's order these little saliva packs and we knew they'd be effective, then I think every college, every campus health center director would be like, 'how do I get that into my budget? Let's go get it.' But we're not quite at that level yet," says Judy Smith, who runs the health center on campus at Mercyhurst University, a campus of about 4,000 students in Erie, Pa.
Smith says she's constantly following the news about testing and test developments, which are happening at "warp speed," and she's in communication with the local community about the coronavirus testing they're doing and the labs they're using to process those tests.
"We know — well, we think we know — that we're not going to purchase diagnostic COVID testing at this point in time, when the test has to be done in the laboratory," she says. "We're not going to build a laboratory here on campus, I'm pretty confident in saying that."
Regardless of the unbuilt lab, Smith says she's focused on making sure students on campus will be good with masking, social distancing and cleaning, when they open in the fall.
A kind of insurance
While the cost may be prohibitive for some colleges, others see it as an essential investment for being in-person. "We pay for all kinds of insurances," says Michael Le Roy, the president of Calvin University, a small Christian college in Western Michigan. "In many ways this is a similar kind of cost."
He's planning for the 3,500-person campus to be open this fall. There are still lots of details to work out, with elements of social distancing, and reimagined dorms and in-person classes, but before the school solidified its plans, Le Roy felt it was especially important to get his hands on some tests.
"No matter how you think about it, a program of testing was going to be critical to everything else," says Le Roy. "If we couldn't do that, almost everything else was going to be impossible or much harder."
Through connections in the school's chemistry department, Le Roy made a deal with Helix Diagnostics, a commercial laboratory. For an undisclosed amount of money, the company will provide 5,000 coronavirus tests for students at Calvin.
"It felt almost inappropriate, or wrong, to wait for the state or federal government to provide the tests," says Le Roy, "I just felt like, we're going to have to be tenacious."
Now that the deal is done, there's a bit of relief. "I'm not saying that it solves everyone's problems," he says, "but it might be a way forward for us to begin to solve many problems." He says, there's still a long road ahead. "You feel a little like you're in the great beyond, so you get one thing in place and you're like — OK, the next thing!"
Le Roy is the chair of Michigan Independent Colleges and Universities, and he's working to open up opportunities for other small schools throughout the state to get access to testing. He acknowledges that it may be harder, the more tests he needs to acquire.
That's because there isn't an unlimited supply. "The reality is that reagents and supplies are still a challenge for a lot of us," says Michael Rao, the president of Virginia Commonwealth University and the president of the school's health system. "I do think that ultimately it's unrealistic and it has been unrealistic and it probably will remain unrealistic for some time to assume that we can all be tested all the time."
He says in lieu of testing, screening and symptom tracking can be just as important for containing outbreaks. But, ultimately, it's going to come down to student behaviors. Because even with testing, the moment a student swabs their nose, and goes on with their day, they're making a million different decisions that impact the larger community.
For campuses to function safely, he says, they are going to need a strong social contract that honors certain behaviors, and puts the health of the community first.
"It's really less about just you and more about taking responsibility for everyone," he says, "The bottom line is that once we're together, we really do have to agree that these will be the fundamental policies and procedures that we're going to follow to respect each other and to protect each other and to help create a safe environment."


npr--2020-05-22--Food Banks Get The Love, But SNAP Does More To Fight Hunger

Food Banks Get The Love , But SNAP Does More To Fight Hunger Millions of newly impoverished people are turning to the charitable organizations known as food banks .
Mile-long lines of cars , waiting for bags of free food , have become one of the most striking images of the current economic crisis .
Donations are up , too , including from a new billion-dollar government effort called the Farmers to Families Food Box Program .
Yet many people who run food banks are ambivalent about all the attention , because they know the limitations of their own operations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ food aid that 's far more important than food banks : the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program , or SNAP .
Food banks actually have two separate functions .
They provide food to people who need it , but they also find new homes for food that might go to waste — often because farmers and food companies have n't been able to sell it .
This second job can be unwieldy and labor-intensive .
Take , for example , the U.S. Department of Agriculture 's new food bank donation program .
It was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to relieve distress among farmers and food companies who ca n't find places to sell their products — like Borden Dairy , a Dallas-based milk processor which saw demand plunge when restaurants and schools closed in mid-March .
The company could n't find buyers for all the milk its farmers were producing , and asked some of them to simply dump the surplus .
As part of the new USDA program , though , Borden Dairy won a $ 137 million contract to send 44 million gallons of milk to charitable organizations , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Borden Dairy 's CEO , says it `` gives a sense of purpose and meaning to this organization .
And it 's also important because we work with so many independent farmers .
It gives them stability . ''
More than a hundred companies got similar contracts from USDA , worth a total of $ 1.2 billion .
They include wholesale distributors of fresh produce and meat .
More contracts are coming , with the department expecting to spend about $ 3 billion on this new program .
It has become an emergency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ purchase price includes money to transport the food to food banks .
Sarsam and other companies who 've won USDA contracts now have to figure out how to give away these products .
It means setting up a new and mostly unfamiliar supply chain .
`` We have to get off to the races , and find connections in the charitable community that can take our products .
We 've been on the phones non-stop , '' he says .
It 's more complicated than one might imagine .
`` Cold storage is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enough cold storage for it , '' Sarsam says .
So far , he 's only found takers for about 10 % of the milk that the company needs to give away to earn that full paycheck from the USDA .
Robin Safley is on the receiving end of these donations .
She 's executive director of Feeding Florida , an association of twelve food banks .
Those organizations deliver food to a couple of thousand small non-profit groups that hand it out to people at temporary distribution points known as food pantries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 're grateful , right ? ''
Safley says .
`` Grateful in a lot of ways . ''
But the logistics of getting food to the right place at the right time is a challenge even in normal times .
Throw in social distancing , volunteers worried about their safety , and a wave to potential donations from USDA-funded companies , and it gets downright daunting .
`` That means we have new people to deal with .
How many trucks are they sending , and where are they sending them ? ''
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ want them to stack up on some of the other trucks that we have moving . ''
She compares it to solving a Rubik 's cube .
The USDA has a separate program that buys commodities and donates them to food banks , but it 's smaller than the new effort , amounting to roughly half a billion dollars worth of food donations each year .
There is , however , a whole different way to help people get the food : Simply distribute money that people can use to buy groceries .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ known as food stamps , so effective .
Last year , 35 million people received $ 55 billion in SNAP benefits , down from a peak of 47 million people and $ 76 billion in 2013 .
The program , which falls under the aegis of the USDA , delivers roughly nine times more food to people than the entire Feeding America network , which includes food banks .
Jess Powers , who 's worked with several food assistance programs , says that this method — transferring money , rather than bags of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of ways .
For one thing , she says , `` it 's just more efficient . ''
SNAP recipients simply pay for groceries using an electronic benefits card .
Also , people have more freedom to buy what they need , and the money they spend helps local businesses .
`` It has this multiplier effect in communities , and it 's actually a better economic value because it creates economic activity , '' Powers says .
Unlike the new USDA commodity purchases , though , SNAP does not solve the problems @ @ @ @ @ @ @ due to the pandemic .
Food banks themselves , in fact , are among SNAP 's biggest fans .
`` Those of us in the anti-hunger community , we truly believe that SNAP is far and away the most important component of our social safety net against hunger in our country , '' says Craig Gundersen , an economist at the University of Illinois who also works with Feeding America .
Yet SNAP does n't enjoy the same bipartisan applause as food banks .
Over the years , many politicians — mostly conservatives @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the program , citing relatively small scale abuses by recipients .
Before the current crisis , the Trump administration had moved to cut access to SNAP for hundreds of thousands of people .
It has since put those moves on hold , and it is allowing states to increase SNAP benefits to families that currently do n't get the maximum amount .
Some anti-hunger groups are calling on the USDA to go further , and boost the maximum amount of SNAP benefits that people can get .
Gundersen says food banks do have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they have some distinct advantages .
Unlike SNAP , anybody can show up and get food , with no proof of citizenship required and no complicated application procedure .
`` People may run out of money at some point over the course of the month , and they have their local food pantry where they can go get more food .
Wonderful ! ''
Gundersen says .
But food pantries are n't big enough to do what SNAP does .
Even with billions of dollars worth of extra food donations , they mainly @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Rico , however , is in a notably different situation than the rest of the country .
Instead of SNAP , Puerto Rico has a program called the Nutritional Assistance Program , which delivers significantly less aid to people on the island .
And unlike SNAP , which spends more money when more people qualify for benefits , Puerto Rico 's program has a fixed budget , which means that in tough times , like today , each deserving person has to make do with less assistance .
As a result , charitable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a bigger share of the burden , and a leading food distributor in Puerto Rico , the Caribbean Produce Exchange , will soon be delivering food to them under a new USDA contract worth $ 107 million .
Gualberto Rodriguez , the company 's president , says he 's gotten used to working with community organizations .
After Hurricane Maria , the company also delivered food to them under contracts with the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency .
`` We 're a much poorer community here .
So one thing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ webs of help that are embedded in our community , '' he says .
`` These are not strangers taking care of strangers .
These are our neighbors taking care of neighbors .
So it 's a very special thing that happens when we go through these situations in the Caribbean and in Puerto Rico , in particular . ''
But when asked whether it would be better to transfer money instead , so that people could buy food from local businesses , Rodriguez paused .
`` It 's a great question , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I believe the commercial system works really well , if you empower people with the money to buy from it .
It creates entrepreneurial activity where people figure out a way to address the needs of that person who has purchasing power .
So I think it would [ be better . ]
''

Food Banks Get The Love, But SNAP Does More To Fight Hunger
Enlarge this image toggle caption Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
Millions of newly impoverished people are turning to the charitable organizations known as food banks. Mile-long lines of cars, waiting for bags of free food, have become one of the most striking images of the current economic crisis. Donations are up, too, including from a new billion-dollar government effort called the Farmers to Families Food Box Program.
Yet many people who run food banks are ambivalent about all the attention, because they know the limitations of their own operations. They point to a stream of food aid that's far more important than food banks: the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
Food banks actually have two separate functions. They provide food to people who need it, but they also find new homes for food that might go to waste — often because farmers and food companies haven't been able to sell it. This second job can be unwieldy and labor-intensive.
Take, for example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's new food bank donation program. It was set up, in large part, to relieve distress among farmers and food companies who can't find places to sell their products — like Borden Dairy, a Dallas-based milk processor which saw demand plunge when restaurants and schools closed in mid-March. The company couldn't find buyers for all the milk its farmers were producing, and asked some of them to simply dump the surplus.
Too much milk
As part of the new USDA program, though, Borden Dairy won a $137 million contract to send 44 million gallons of milk to charitable organizations, mainly food banks.
Tony Sarsam, Borden Dairy's CEO, says it "gives a sense of purpose and meaning to this organization. And it's also important because we work with so many independent farmers. It gives them stability."
More than a hundred companies got similar contracts from USDA, worth a total of $1.2 billion. They include wholesale distributors of fresh produce and meat. More contracts are coming, with the department expecting to spend about $3 billion on this new program. It has become an emergency buyer of surplus food, and the purchase price includes money to transport the food to food banks.
Sarsam and other companies who've won USDA contracts now have to figure out how to give away these products. It means setting up a new and mostly unfamiliar supply chain. "We have to get off to the races, and find connections in the charitable community that can take our products. We've been on the phones non-stop," he says.
It's more complicated than one might imagine. "Cold storage is a big deal; not everybody has enough cold storage for it," Sarsam says.
So far, he's only found takers for about 10% of the milk that the company needs to give away to earn that full paycheck from the USDA.
Robin Safley is on the receiving end of these donations. She's executive director of Feeding Florida, an association of twelve food banks. Those organizations deliver food to a couple of thousand small non-profit groups that hand it out to people at temporary distribution points known as food pantries.
"First of all, we're grateful, right?" Safley says. "Grateful in a lot of ways."
But the logistics of getting food to the right place at the right time is a challenge even in normal times. Throw in social distancing, volunteers worried about their safety, and a wave to potential donations from USDA-funded companies, and it gets downright daunting.
"That means we have new people to deal with. How many trucks are they sending, and where are they sending them?" Safley says. "We don't want them to stack up on some of the other trucks that we have moving." She compares it to solving a Rubik's cube.
The USDA has a separate program that buys commodities and donates them to food banks, but it's smaller than the new effort, amounting to roughly half a billion dollars worth of food donations each year.
There is, however, a whole different way to help people get the food: Simply distribute money that people can use to buy groceries.
Money instead of food
This is what makes SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, so effective. Last year, 35 million people received $55 billion in SNAP benefits, down from a peak of 47 million people and $76 billion in 2013. The program, which falls under the aegis of the USDA, delivers roughly nine times more food to people than the entire Feeding America network, which includes food banks.
Jess Powers, who's worked with several food assistance programs, says that this method — transferring money, rather than bags of produce — is better in a lot of ways. For one thing, she says, "it's just more efficient." SNAP recipients simply pay for groceries using an electronic benefits card. Also, people have more freedom to buy what they need, and the money they spend helps local businesses.
"It has this multiplier effect in communities, and it's actually a better economic value because it creates economic activity," Powers says. Unlike the new USDA commodity purchases, though, SNAP does not solve the problems of farmers who've lost restaurant sales due to the pandemic.
Food banks themselves, in fact, are among SNAP's biggest fans. "Those of us in the anti-hunger community, we truly believe that SNAP is far and away the most important component of our social safety net against hunger in our country," says Craig Gundersen, an economist at the University of Illinois who also works with Feeding America.
Yet SNAP doesn't enjoy the same bipartisan applause as food banks. Over the years, many politicians — mostly conservatives — have tried to restrict access to the program, citing relatively small scale abuses by recipients.
Before the current crisis, the Trump administration had moved to cut access to SNAP for hundreds of thousands of people. It has since put those moves on hold, and it is allowing states to increase SNAP benefits to families that currently don't get the maximum amount. Some anti-hunger groups are calling on the USDA to go further, and boost the maximum amount of SNAP benefits that people can get.
Gundersen says food banks do have a big role to play, and they have some distinct advantages. Unlike SNAP, anybody can show up and get food, with no proof of citizenship required and no complicated application procedure. "People may run out of money at some point over the course of the month, and they have their local food pantry where they can go get more food. Wonderful!" Gundersen says.
But food pantries aren't big enough to do what SNAP does. Even with billions of dollars worth of extra food donations, they mainly just fill in the gaps.
Puerto Rico struggles with less
Puerto Rico, however, is in a notably different situation than the rest of the country. Instead of SNAP, Puerto Rico has a program called the Nutrition Assistance Program, which delivers significantly less aid to people on the island. And unlike SNAP, which spends more money when more people qualify for benefits, Puerto Rico's program has a fixed budget, which means that in tough times, like today, each deserving person has to make do with less assistance.
As a result, charitable organizations in the territory have been shouldering a bigger share of the burden, and a leading food distributor in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean Produce Exchange, will soon be delivering food to them under a new USDA contract worth $107 million.
Gualberto Rodriguez, the company's president, says he's gotten used to working with community organizations. After Hurricane Maria, the company also delivered food to them under contracts with the Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"We're a much poorer community here. So one thing we have is just a lot more webs of help that are embedded in our community," he says. "These are not strangers taking care of strangers. These are our neighbors taking care of neighbors. So it's a very special thing that happens when we go through these situations in the Caribbean and in Puerto Rico, in particular."
But when asked whether it would be better to transfer money instead, so that people could buy food from local businesses, Rodriguez paused.
"It's a great question," he said, finally. "I believe the commercial system works really well, if you empower people with the money to buy from it. It creates entrepreneurial activity where people figure out a way to address the needs of that person who has purchasing power. So I think it would [be better.]"


npr--2020-05-22--White House Looks At 'Opportunity Zone' Extension In Wake Of COVID-19

White House Looks At 'Opportunity Zone ' Extension In Wake Of COVID-19 The White House is looking at extending a tax break for investments in certain low-income neighborhoods as it tries to find ways to address the devastating impact of the coronavirus on communities of color in America .
A provision in the 2017 tax cut law allows investors to defer and lower their capital gains taxes through 2026 if they invest their profits into designated `` opportunity zones '' –- areas struggling with high unemployment and low wages .
White House adviser Ja'Ron Smith told NPR that the administration @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can extend the legislation . ''
`` We 're having conversations with leaders to figure out how to best approach that , '' Smith said .
`` It 's a tool and there 's a number of other tools we want to leverage , but we want to holistically figure out how we can be a good federal partner . ''
Smith declined to offer details on what an extension might entail .
Opportunity Zones have been a centerpiece of Trump 's reelection pitch to African American and Latino communities .
But the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economy that fueled these projects to a halt .
Lawmakers are now asking the administration to make adjustments .
Supporters of the tax breaks argue that the more than 8,700 zones have driven transformative investment in areas that otherwise would have been left behind .
`` One of the things we 're very proud of is Opportunity Zones , '' President Trump said at a cabinet meeting this week .
The program has not been without controversy , though .
Critics say the tax incentives have benefited wealthy and connected investors more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not include reporting requirements that would enable the government to measure and track the effects of these investments .
Once the pandemic hit , Republican Senator Tim Scott — a leading advocate for the tax breaks — called for the Treasury Department to immediately relax some of the deadlines for investing profits in the zones .
One Republican-sponsored bill in the House of Representatives would also push the overall program out to 2030 to allow more time for investments .
The additional leeway could make a difference , said Mark Elliott , managing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Funds like Elliott 's are the vehicle that investors use to get money behind projects in the zones and receive the tax benefits .
`` It 's not going to hurt , and it may help a lot , '' Elliott said .
`` Extending it and loosening and making it a little broader , maybe that encourages more people to want to start businesses and to come back in these areas . ''
Elliott 's fund has $ 250 million invested in projects in zones right now .
He said that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pandemic , but other avenues have also opened up , including the potential for developing a face mask manufacturing plant in South Carolina .
The pandemic has had a devastating and disproportionate impact on black Americans , Latinos and other people of color in the United States .
The White House has been looking for ways to address these disparities through an interagency council that previously had solely been focused on boosting opportunity zones .
White House aide Smith said the council , led by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organizations and advocates about legislation or administrative actions that could help .
`` The overall goal is prosperity everywhere , '' Smith said .
`` The COVID pandemic may have set us back in historic ways .
However , that goal is still for everyone to realize the American dream and have access to opportunity . ''
Opportunity zones offer a way to help poor neighborhoods now dealing with the repercussions of a pandemic , said Shay Hawkins , who runs a trade group representing opportunity funds .
`` In previous recessions , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be left behind , '' Hawkins said .
`` Now we have something that at least shines a light and points ... investors towards these areas . ''
Hawkins says his group supports immediate deadline extensions and the longer term extension of the program , as well as legislation that would expand reporting requirements , so the government and public will have a better picture of where investments are going .
He says his members are seeing the pandemic increase demand to invest in businesses in these areas .
But , there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a senior researcher at the Urban Institute , who has been studying opportunity zones .
While a multi-year extension may make the program more attractive for investors , he said it 's not going to `` restart an economy that 's on ice . ''
Theodos said that based on current available data , the vast majority of investments so far have been in real estate and not in operating businesses .
He also said , while there have been successes , it 's not clear whether money is actually flowing to all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the program has been more flash than substance , '' he said .
`` It 's not to say that there has been no investment .
There clearly has .
( But ) there 's been a lot more talk and attention on the program than actual material change or investment into communities . ''

White House Looks At 'Opportunity Zone' Extension In Wake Of COVID-19
Enlarge this image toggle caption Alex Brandon/AP Alex Brandon/AP
The White House is looking at extending a tax break for investments in certain low-income neighborhoods as it tries to find ways to address the devastating impact of the coronavirus on communities of color in America.
A provision in the 2017 tax cut law allows investors to defer and lower their capital gains taxes through 2026 if they invest their profits into designated "opportunity zones" –- areas struggling with high unemployment and low wages.
White House adviser Ja'Ron Smith told NPR that the administration is looking "at ways that we can extend the legislation."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Andrew Harnik/AP Andrew Harnik/AP
"We're having conversations with leaders to figure out how to best approach that," Smith said. "It's a tool and there's a number of other tools we want to leverage, but we want to holistically figure out how we can be a good federal partner."
Smith declined to offer details on what an extension might entail.
Opportunity Zones have been a centerpiece of Trump's reelection pitch to African American and Latino communities. But the coronavirus pandemic has brought the once booming economy that fueled these projects to a halt. Lawmakers are now asking the administration to make adjustments.
Supporters of the tax breaks argue that the more than 8,700 zones have driven transformative investment in areas that otherwise would have been left behind.
"One of the things we're very proud of is Opportunity Zones," President Trump said at a cabinet meeting this week.
The program has not been without controversy, though. Critics say the tax incentives have benefited wealthy and connected investors more than local residents. The law also does not include reporting requirements that would enable the government to measure and track the effects of these investments.
Once the pandemic hit, Republican Senator Tim Scott — a leading advocate for the tax breaks — called for the Treasury Department to immediately relax some of the deadlines for investing profits in the zones.
One Republican-sponsored bill in the House of Representatives would also push the overall program out to 2030 to allow more time for investments.
The additional leeway could make a difference, said Mark Elliott, managing partner for the South Carolina Opportunity Fund. Funds like Elliott's are the vehicle that investors use to get money behind projects in the zones and receive the tax benefits.
"It's not going to hurt, and it may help a lot," Elliott said. "Extending it and loosening and making it a little broader, maybe that encourages more people to want to start businesses and to come back in these areas."
Elliott's fund has $250 million invested in projects in zones right now. He said that some deals have slowed down due to the pandemic, but other avenues have also opened up, including the potential for developing a face mask manufacturing plant in South Carolina.
Expanding Focus
The pandemic has had a devastating and disproportionate impact on black Americans, Latinos and other people of color in the United States.
The White House has been looking for ways to address these disparities through an interagency council that previously had solely been focused on boosting opportunity zones. White House aide Smith said the council, led by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, has been talking with minority business organizations and advocates about legislation or administrative actions that could help.
"The overall goal is prosperity everywhere," Smith said. "The COVID pandemic may have set us back in historic ways. However, that goal is still for everyone to realize the American dream and have access to opportunity."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Alex Brandon/AP Alex Brandon/AP
Opportunity zones offer a way to help poor neighborhoods now dealing with the repercussions of a pandemic, said Shay Hawkins, who runs a trade group representing opportunity funds.
"In previous recessions, these places were just going to continue to be left behind," Hawkins said. "Now we have something that at least shines a light and points ... investors towards these areas."
Hawkins says his group supports immediate deadline extensions and the longer term extension of the program, as well as legislation that would expand reporting requirements, so the government and public will have a better picture of where investments are going.
He says his members are seeing the pandemic increase demand to invest in businesses in these areas.
But, there is some skepticism.
Brett Theodos is a senior researcher at the Urban Institute, who has been studying opportunity zones. While a multi-year extension may make the program more attractive for investors, he said it's not going to "restart an economy that's on ice."
Theodos said that based on current available data, the vast majority of investments so far have been in real estate and not in operating businesses. He also said, while there have been successes, it's not clear whether money is actually flowing to all of the zones.
"To date, the program has been more flash than substance," he said. "It's not to say that there has been no investment. There clearly has. (But) there's been a lot more talk and attention on the program than actual material change or investment into communities."


npr--2020-05-21--Answering Your Coronavirus Questions: Fashion, Education And Health Disparities

On this broadcast of The National Conversation , we 'll hear from educators on how the coronavirus has changed their @ @ @ @ @ answer your questions about the economy and health disparities , and we 'll take a @ @ @ @ @

Answering Your Coronavirus Questions: Fashion, Education And Health Disparities
Enlarge this image toggle caption Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images
On this broadcast of The National Conversation, we'll hear from educators on how the coronavirus has changed their work. We'll also answer your questions about the economy and health disparities, and we'll take a look at pandemic fashion.


npr--2020-05-21--Face Masks Provide A New Frontier For Retailers During Coronavirus Crisis

Face Masks Provide A New Frontier For Retailers During Coronavirus Crisis Retailers across the apparel world are turning to the newest essential garment to further their brand recognition and boost sales : the nonmedical face mask .
Nordstrom announced Tuesday it would begin selling face masks for $ 4 each in packs of six .
The move comes just weeks after the Seattle-based retailer announced it would permanently shutter 16 stores after the coronavirus pandemic forced all of its locations to close .
The company is the latest in a string of apparel brands to add face masks to its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Retail giants like The Gap and its subsidiaries , Banana Republic , Athleta and Old Navy , also began selling masks earlier this month .
Despite the recent flood of new brands offering masks , the product is selling out across the market .
Nordstrom 's packs of masks are sold out just two days after coming on the scene , and many of Gap 's masks are on back order until mid-June .
Kim Kardashian West 's brand SKIMS began selling face masks May 16 and sold out hours later .
However @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a function of demand as it is a reflection of the uncertainty looming over the retail industry in general , retail analyst Sucharita Kodali of Forrester told NPR .
Retailers have no precedent to base the volume of their supply on , and no idea how long the demand will last .
`` There 's just not data , '' says Kodali .
`` Nobody knew what to expect for what products because they 'd never faced this dilemma before . ''
Retailers also face a gummed-up supply chain , as many of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are overseas , she says .
The supply chain backups also allowed smaller companies to jump on the trend more quickly .
`` The smaller companies are more nimble , they 're able to respond to changes more quickly .
They see trends and they jump , '' she says .
`` Whereas for a lot of other companies , they 're just hoping this passes .
...
They 're candidly just not as nimble . ''
One of the nimble is e-commerce website Etsy .
The site saw a giant spike of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ results in the first week of April , shortly after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 's recommendation that face coverings be worn at all times in public , according to a company investor presentation .
In April alone , the site grossed more than $ 130 million in face mask sales , according to the presentation .
`` We sold over 12 million face masks in the month of April alone , '' CEO Josh Silverman said in a call with investors .
`` In fact , if face masks were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been the second biggest category on Etsy in the month of April . ''
Etsy also saw a 79 % increase from April of last year among other products , according to the presentation .
`` I would argue they were just in the right place at the right time , '' says Kodali .
`` When you think of who is able to consolidate the power of a million sewers in the country , the only answer is Etsy . ''
Many brands are also using the worldwide demand for face masks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by making charitable donations of their face mask sales .
Both Disney and the NBA have begun to sell masks with the commitment that proceeds will go to various charities .
Disney , for one , took major losses in the first three months of 2020 , with net income down 91 % compared to the year before .
Nordstrom and Gap have both donated masks to health care workers and other charitable causes .
Still , for most of the companies now selling masks , and especially for those as large as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will not affect the bottom line .
Selling the masks is more a demonstration of how flexible a company can be in the face of the unexpected .
`` If you 're a retailer and you do n't have masks , that probably means you have bigger issues with your supply chain . ''

Face Masks Provide A New Frontier For Retailers During Coronavirus Crisis
Enlarge this image toggle caption MB Internal Studio/Old Navy MB Internal Studio/Old Navy
Retailers across the apparel world are turning to the newest essential garment to further their brand recognition and boost sales: the nonmedical face mask.
Nordstrom announced Tuesday it would begin selling face masks for $4 each in packs of six. The move comes just weeks after the Seattle-based retailer announced it would permanently shutter 16 stores after the coronavirus pandemic forced all of its locations to close.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Nordstrom Nordstrom
The company is the latest in a string of apparel brands to add face masks to its repertoire as demand continues to grow. Retail giants like The Gap and its subsidiaries, Banana Republic, Athleta and Old Navy, also began selling masks earlier this month.
Despite the recent flood of new brands offering masks, the product is selling out across the market. Nordstrom's packs of masks are sold out just two days after coming on the scene, and many of Gap's masks are on back order until mid-June. Kim Kardashian West's brand SKIMS began selling face masks May 16 and sold out hours later.
However, selling out is not so much a function of demand as it is a reflection of the uncertainty looming over the retail industry in general, retail analyst Sucharita Kodali of Forrester told NPR. Retailers have no precedent to base the volume of their supply on, and no idea how long the demand will last.
"There's just not data," says Kodali. "Nobody knew what to expect for what products because they'd never faced this dilemma before."
Retailers also face a gummed-up supply chain, as many of the factories where these masks are manufactured are overseas, she says. The supply chain backups also allowed smaller companies to jump on the trend more quickly.
"The smaller companies are more nimble, they're able to respond to changes more quickly. They see trends and they jump," she says. "Whereas for a lot of other companies, they're just hoping this passes. ... They're candidly just not as nimble."
One of the nimble is e-commerce website Etsy. The site saw a giant spike of "face mask" in its search results in the first week of April, shortly after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommendation that face coverings be worn at all times in public, according to a company investor presentation. In April alone, the site grossed more than $130 million in face mask sales, according to the presentation.
"We sold over 12 million face masks in the month of April alone," CEO Josh Silverman said in a call with investors. "In fact, if face masks were a stand-alone category, it would have been the second biggest category on Etsy in the month of April."
Etsy also saw a 79% increase from April of last year among other products, according to the presentation.
"I would argue they were just in the right place at the right time," says Kodali. "When you think of who is able to consolidate the power of a million sewers in the country, the only answer is Etsy."
Many brands are also using the worldwide demand for face masks as an opportunity to build positive engagement by making charitable donations of their face mask sales. Both Disney and the NBA have begun to sell masks with the commitment that proceeds will go to various charities. Disney, for one, took major losses in the first three months of 2020, with net income down 91% compared to the year before. Nordstrom and Gap have both donated masks to health care workers and other charitable causes.
Still, for most of the companies now selling masks, and especially for those as large as Gap and Nordstrom, Kodali says sales will not affect the bottom line. Selling the masks is more a demonstration of how flexible a company can be in the face of the unexpected.
"If you're a retailer and you don't have masks, that probably means you have bigger issues with your supply chain."


npr--2020-05-22--Michigan AG Says She 'Will Not Remain Silent' As Trump Risks Public Health

Michigan AG Says She 'Will Not Remain Silent ' As Trump Risks Public Health Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Friday said President Trump had directly threatened the health and safety of her state 's residents through his coronavirus response , including his recent refusals wear a mask in public and defense of those protesting stay-at-home orders .
`` He has risked the health , safety and welfare of everyone who lives in this state , and I will not remain silent and just twiddle my thumbs as I see him do that , '' Nessel told NPR 's All @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wear a mask , she said , `` sends the worst possible message at the worst possible time . ''
Nessel 's remarks are the latest escalation in a feud between the president and Michigan 's state leadership amid the coronavirus pandemic .
Trump , who traveled to Michigan Thursday , called Nessel `` The Wacky Do Nothing Attorney General of Michigan , '' in a tweet after she , on CNN , compared the president to a `` petulant child '' for not wearing a mask during most of his visit this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` I do n't know how else to communicate with this man , '' Nessel told NPR .
`` He does n't respond to respectful requests , apparently these ridiculous tweets is the only kind of communication he knows or understands . ''
Trump has also previously fanned controversies within Michigan between Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer and a faction of far-right protestors , many armed , who stormed the state capitol demanding a suspension of the state 's stay-at-home order .
Tweeting in support of the protesters , Trump wrote : `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ little , and put out the fire .
These are very good people , but they are angry .
They want their lives back again , safely !
See them , talk to them , make a deal . ''
This was after the armed demonstrators occupied the statehouse demanding to speak with the governor .
Some comments in a private Facebook group organizing the event went so far as to threaten violence against Whitmer and other lawmakers , according to the Detroit Metro Times .
`` This is an individual who has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a manner that jeopardizes the health of all our state residents .
And then when we have armed gunmen storming the capitol holding swastikas and confederate flags , he calls them very good people who our governor ought to negotiate with , '' Nessel said on Friday .
Nessel suggested that at least a degree of Trump 's ire against Michigan 's leadership stemmed from the fact three of its top leaders — the governor , secretary of state and attorney general — are women .
`` I guess if any one of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mike ] Pompeo 's dishes , he might be fine with us .
But since we 're not and we 're actually running the state of Michigan , he seems to have a real issue . ''

Michigan AG Says She 'Will Not Remain Silent' As Trump Risks Public Health
Enlarge this image toggle caption Detroit Free Press/Tribune News Service via Getty I Detroit Free Press/Tribune News Service via Getty I
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Friday said President Trump had directly threatened the health and safety of her state's residents through his coronavirus response, including his recent refusals wear a mask in public and defense of those protesting stay-at-home orders.
"He has risked the health, safety and welfare of everyone who lives in this state, and I will not remain silent and just twiddle my thumbs as I see him do that," Nessel told NPR's All Things Considered. His choice not to wear a mask, she said, "sends the worst possible message at the worst possible time."
Nessel's remarks are the latest escalation in a feud between the president and Michigan's state leadership amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump, who traveled to Michigan Thursday, called Nessel "The Wacky Do Nothing Attorney General of Michigan," in a tweet after she, on CNN, compared the president to a "petulant child" for not wearing a mask during most of his visit this week to a Ford Motor Co. plant.
"I don't know how else to communicate with this man," Nessel told NPR. "He doesn't respond to respectful requests, apparently these ridiculous tweets is the only kind of communication he knows or understands."
Trump has also previously fanned controversies within Michigan between Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and a faction of far-right protestors, many armed, who stormed the state capitol demanding a suspension of the state's stay-at-home order.
Tweeting in support of the protesters, Trump wrote: "The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire. These are very good people, but they are angry. They want their lives back again, safely! See them, talk to them, make a deal."
This was after the armed demonstrators occupied the statehouse demanding to speak with the governor. Some comments in a private Facebook group organizing the event went so far as to threaten violence against Whitmer and other lawmakers, according to the Detroit Metro Times.
"This is an individual who has encouraged people to break the law in a manner that jeopardizes the health of all our state residents. And then when we have armed gunmen storming the capitol holding swastikas and Confederate flags, he calls them very good people who our governor ought to negotiate with," Nessel said on Friday.
Nessel suggested that at least a degree of Trump's ire against Michigan's leadership stemmed from the fact three of its top leaders — the governor, secretary of state and attorney general — are women.
"I guess if any one of us were doing Secretary [of State Mike] Pompeo's dishes, he might be fine with us. But since we're not and we're actually running the state of Michigan, he seems to have a real issue."


npr--2020-05-22--Harvard Researchers Find 'Inequality On Top Of Inequality' In COVID-19 Deaths

Harvard Researchers Find 'Inequality On Top Of Inequality ' In COVID-19 Deaths Much is still unknown about the coronavirus , including a full picture of perhaps its most important impact : who it has killed .
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that `` current data suggest a disproportionate burden of illness and death among racial and ethnic minority groups . ''
The death toll is also incomplete , because not everyone who dies of COVID-19 is counted under that cause of death , among other reasons .
Racial , ethnic and socioeconomic data about people who have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ available either .
So researchers at Harvard instead looked at the cities , towns and ZIP codes of people who have died of all causes .
They compared the number of people who have died against what would be expected in a normal year , or `` excess deaths . ''
What they found is `` inequality on top of inequality , '' says Jarvis Chen , a social epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H .
Chan School of Public Health .
The team of researchers looked specifically at Massachusetts .
Areas with `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ poverty , people of color , and crowded housing '' had higher mortality rates compared with everywhere else from the beginning of the year through April 15 , they found .
`` These are communities in which people may be working 'essential jobs , ' where they 're unable to practice physical distancing , '' Chen tells NPR 's Mary Louise Kelly .
`` These are communities where people are living in crowded conditions so that if one person in a household gets infected , it 's very difficult for them to isolate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ households , '' he explains .
`` These are also communities in which people may not be getting access to testing or to care .
And so that increases their risk of dying if they do get infected . ''
Chen and his colleagues say the findings help governments and support groups target their efforts to stem the virus 's spread over the next year .
`` We 're probably going to see more waves as we go through this next year .
And so knowing what we did and what we did @ @ @ @ @ @ @ us understand better how to direct the resources , '' Chen says .
`` So , for example , creating resources for people in communities to be able to isolate .
So housing or temporary housing for people who test positive so that they can protect their families is really important , '' he says .
`` Knowing where to direct PPE as it becomes more available so that not just the essential workers in hospitals , but also essential workers in things like public transportation or grocery store workers , those populations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
And also directing testing to communities who need it the most .
Those things could be really important . ''
Listen to the full interview at the audio link above .

Harvard Researchers Find 'Inequality On Top Of Inequality' In COVID-19 Deaths
Enlarge this image toggle caption Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images
Much is still unknown about the coronavirus, including a full picture of perhaps its most important impact: who it has killed.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that "current data suggest a disproportionate burden of illness and death among racial and ethnic minority groups." The death toll is also incomplete, because not everyone who dies of COVID-19 is counted under that cause of death, among other reasons.
Racial, ethnic and socioeconomic data about people who have died of COVID-19 are not all readily available either. So researchers at Harvard instead looked at the cities, towns and ZIP codes of people who have died of all causes. They compared the number of people who have died against what would be expected in a normal year, or "excess deaths."
What they found is "inequality on top of inequality," says Jarvis Chen, a social epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
The team of researchers looked specifically at Massachusetts. Areas with "widespread economic segregation and heavy concentrations of poverty, people of color, and crowded housing" had higher mortality rates compared with everywhere else from the beginning of the year through April 15, they found.
"These are communities in which people may be working 'essential jobs,' where they're unable to practice physical distancing," Chen tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly.
"These are communities where people are living in crowded conditions so that if one person in a household gets infected, it's very difficult for them to isolate and protect the other people in their households," he explains. "These are also communities in which people may not be getting access to testing or to care. And so that increases their risk of dying if they do get infected."
Chen and his colleagues say the findings help governments and support groups target their efforts to stem the virus's spread over the next year.
"We're probably going to see more waves as we go through this next year. And so knowing what we did and what we did wrong the first time around will help us understand better how to direct the resources," Chen says.
"So, for example, creating resources for people in communities to be able to isolate. So housing or temporary housing for people who test positive so that they can protect their families is really important," he says. "Knowing where to direct PPE as it becomes more available so that not just the essential workers in hospitals, but also essential workers in things like public transportation or grocery store workers, those populations can get the PPE that they need. And also directing testing to communities who need it the most. Those things could be really important."
Listen to the full interview at the audio link above.


npr--2020-05-22--Coronavirus FAQs: Can I Catch It Through The Eyes? Will Goggles Help?

Coronavirus FAQs : Can I Catch It Through The Eyes ?
Will Goggles Help ?
Each week we answer pressing coronavirus questions .
We 'd like to hear what you 're curious about .
Email us at goatsandsoda @ npr.org with the subject line : `` Weekly Coronavirus Questions . ''
How big a risk is it to catch the virus through your eyes ?
Should people be wearing eye protection ?
Virologist and epidemiologist Dr. Joseph Fair recently became ill , and he believes he got COVID-19 through his eyes .
Fair told NBC 's Today from his hospital @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on a crowded flight two weeks earlier , and though he wore a mask and gloves and wiped down his seat , he did n't have any protection over his eyes .
`` You can still get this virus through your eyes , and epidemiologically , it 's the best guess I have of probably how I got it , '' Fair said .
He said his symptoms started three or four days later , though his four tests for the virus were negative .
The notion that you can get the virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but it has been little discussed compared with the risk of infection through the nose and mouth .
The CDC says that while the nose and mouth are the main avenues by which someone catches the coronavirus , `` it may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth , nose , or possibly their eyes . ''
`` Based upon what we know , I would say that the possibility of acquiring it on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
It 's certainly plausible , '' says Dr. Thomas Steinemann , a spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology and professor of ophthalmology at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland .
`` Any sort of open mucosa [ mucous membrane ] is a chance for a droplet to land there and get into your body , '' says Dr. Abraar Karan , a physician at Harvard Medical School .
But while it 's known that the virus can be transmitted through the eyes , `` it 's hard to quantify exactly what the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through the eye specifically . ''
For most cases , it 's impossible to determine with certainty the initial avenue of someone 's infection – that is , whether a person was infected via their mouth , nose or eyes .
And the evidence so far suggests that eyes are not a primary mode of transmission .
If a lot of people were being infected through their eyes , there would be more COVID-19 patients with conjunctivitis – inflammation of the eyes , also known as pink eye .
If the virus invades @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tissue covering the white part of your eye and the inside of your eyelids – likely `` there 's going to be inflammation or redness in your eyes , '' Steinemann says .
Of course there are many other causes for conjunctivitis , though , so getting pink eye does n't necessarily mean you have COVID-19 .
So far , studies have found that among hospitalized COVID-19 patients , only a small percentage of those who had the fluid in their eyes swabbed for the virus did in fact test positive for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be noted , though , that eye swabbing is not standard practice for COVID-19 patients – in part because most people do n't have much eye fluid , so swabbing it is uncomfortable .
And there 's another reason why eyes are not a likely way to be infected with the coronavirus : The pathway from your eyes into your respiratory system is less direct than via your nose and mouth .
If an infectious person coughs or sneezes in your face , and you breathe in through your mouth or nose , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a sizable viral dose , `` you 're going to get a fairly direct hit into your airways , '' Steinemann says .
But to infect you via your eyes , the virus would have to penetrate your eyes ' mucous membrane , be washed by tears behind your cheeks into your nasal cavity , and then flow from the nose into your throat .
`` It 's a more circuitous route , '' says Steinemann .
Our eyes have a number of defense mechanisms that help protect against infection , like eyelids @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tears that contain immunoglobulins that fight invaders .
`` You blink really easily any time even a puff of air goes near your eye , '' says Dr. Emily Landon , hospital epidemiologist and infectious diseases specialist at University of Chicago Medicine .
`` So if somebody coughs or sneezes near you , you 're really likely to close off your eyes .
That 's good .
Whereas your mouth and nose do n't do that . ''
What precautions should you take to protect your eyes ?
The basic precautions against the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ your eyes , says Steinemann : Wash your hands , practice social distancing – and `` do n't touch your face '' also means do n't rub your eyes .
With some airlines now asking flight attendants to wear safety goggles – Qatar Airlines is the latest to announce this plan — the general public might wonder : Should others do the same ?
Abaar says that in health care settings , eye coverings are immensely important .
`` We definitely do n't go into [ coronavirus patients ' ] rooms without eye @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that require people to work face-to-face , like a barber , might also choose to wear a full-face clear plastic shield .
Steinemann also says whether you need eye protection depends on your job .
If you work in an office where you do n't have to be in close proximity to people to others , you should be fine without eye protection .
On the other hand , he says , `` if you are in close proximity to somebody screaming at you or talking to you or coughing in your face @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hospital , suctioning people who are in an intensive care unit — those types of situations are extremely high risk , not only to your nose and your mouth , but also to your eyes .
In a high-risk situation , I would definitely recommend the use of a full-face shield and goggles . ''
You do n't need to be wearing a face shield on your walk around the neighborhood or your visit to the grocery store , he notes .
For those situations , he recommends wearing a mask and practicing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what about the case of the virologist on the packed airplane ?
Steinemann says if he was on a crowded airplane and unable to keep distance from other passengers , `` Yeah , I think I might wear a face shield and a goggle in that setting . ''
Landon says that she has face shields at her home but has not yet found an activity where it felt necessary for her family to wear them .
`` But I am going to ask my mom to wear one when she takes a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ let her take the plane home from Florida . ''

Coronavirus FAQs: Can I Catch It Through My Eyes? Will Goggles Help?
Enlarge this image toggle caption Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images
Each week we answer pressing coronavirus questions. We'd like to hear what you're curious about. Email us at goatsandsoda@npr.org with the subject line: "Weekly Coronavirus Questions."
How big a risk is it to catch the virus through your eyes? Should people be wearing eye protection?
Virologist and epidemiologist Dr. Joseph Fair recently became ill, and he believes he got COVID-19 through his eyes. Fair told NBC's Today from his hospital bed last week that he had been on a crowded flight two weeks earlier, and though he wore a mask and gloves and wiped down his seat, he didn't have any protection over his eyes. "You can still get this virus through your eyes, and epidemiologically, it's the best guess I have of probably how I got it," Fair said. He said his symptoms started three or four days later, though his four tests for the virus were negative.
The notion that you can get the virus through your eyes isn't new, but it has been little discussed compared with the risk of infection through the nose and mouth.
The CDC says that while the nose and mouth are the main avenues by which someone catches the coronavirus, "it may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes."
"Based upon what we know, I would say that the possibility of acquiring it on the surface of your eye is possible. It's certainly plausible," says Dr. Thomas Steinemann, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology and professor of ophthalmology at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.
"Any sort of open mucosa [mucous membrane] is a chance for a droplet to land there and get into your body," says Dr. Abraar Karan, a physician at Harvard Medical School. But while it's known that the virus can be transmitted through the eyes, "it's hard to quantify exactly what the risk is in terms [of] through the eye specifically."
For most cases, it's impossible to determine with certainty the initial avenue of someone's infection – that is, whether a person was infected via their mouth, nose or eyes. And the evidence so far suggests that eyes are not a primary mode of transmission.
If a lot of people were being infected through their eyes, there would be more COVID-19 patients with conjunctivitis – inflammation of the eyes, also known as pink eye.
If the virus invades and infiltrates your conjunctiva – the clear tissue covering the white part of your eye and the inside of your eyelids – likely "there's going to be inflammation or redness in your eyes," Steinemann says. Of course there are many other causes for conjunctivitis, though, so getting pink eye doesn't necessarily mean you have COVID-19.
So far, studies have found that among hospitalized COVID-19 patients, only a small percentage of those who had the fluid in their eyes swabbed for the virus did in fact test positive for the virus in their eyes.
It should be noted, though, that eye swabbing is not standard practice for COVID-19 patients – in part because most people don't have much eye fluid, so swabbing it is uncomfortable.
And there's another reason why eyes are not a likely way to be infected with the coronavirus: The pathway from your eyes into your respiratory system is less direct than via your nose and mouth.
If an infectious person coughs or sneezes in your face, and you breathe in through your mouth or nose, not only are you going to receive a sizable viral dose, "you're going to get a fairly direct hit into your airways," Steinemann says.
But to infect you via your eyes, the virus would have to penetrate your eyes' mucous membrane, be washed by tears behind your cheeks into your nasal cavity, and then flow from the nose into your throat. "It's a more circuitous route," says Steinemann.
Our eyes have a number of defense mechanisms that help protect against infection, like eyelids that blink to cover the eye and tears that contain immunoglobulins that fight invaders.
"You blink really easily any time even a puff of air goes near your eye," says Dr. Emily Landon, hospital epidemiologist and infectious diseases specialist at University of Chicago Medicine. "So if somebody coughs or sneezes near you, you're really likely to close off your eyes. That's good. Whereas your mouth and nose don't do that."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images
What precautions should you take to protect your eyes?
The basic precautions against the coronavirus still hold when it comes to your eyes, says Steinemann: Wash your hands, practice social distancing – and "don't touch your face" also means don't rub your eyes.
With some airlines now asking flight attendants to wear safety goggles – Qatar Airlines is the latest to announce this plan — the general public might wonder: Should others do the same?
Karan says that in health care settings, eye coverings are immensely important. "We definitely don't go into [coronavirus patients'] rooms without eye coverings." He says other jobs that require people to work face-to-face, like a barber, might also choose to wear a full-face clear plastic shield.
Steinemann also says whether you need eye protection depends on your job. If you work in an office where you don't have to be in close proximity to people to others, you should be fine without eye protection.
On the other hand, he says, "if you are in close proximity to somebody screaming at you or talking to you or coughing in your face, or if you work in a hospital, suctioning people who are in an intensive care unit — those types of situations are extremely high risk, not only to your nose and your mouth, but also to your eyes. In a high-risk situation, I would definitely recommend the use of a full-face shield and goggles."
You don't need to be wearing a face shield on your walk around the neighborhood or your visit to the grocery store, he notes. For those situations, he recommends wearing a mask and practicing good hygiene and social distancing.
And what about the case of the virologist on the packed airplane?
Steinemann says if he was on a crowded airplane and unable to keep distance from other passengers, "Yeah, I think I might wear a face shield and a goggle in that setting."
Landon says that she has face shields at her home but has not yet found an activity where it felt necessary for her family to wear them. "But I am going to ask my mom to wear one when she takes a plane home from Florida – if I let her take the plane home from Florida."