foxnews--2020-05-20--New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern suggests four-day workweek could help rebuild economy after coronavirus

New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern suggests four-day workweek could help rebuild economy after coronavirus pandemic

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New Zealand ’ s prime minister suggested a four-day workweek could help revitalize the country ’ s hard-hit economy after the coronavirus pandemic .
Jacinda Ardern , speaking in a Facebook Live video on Monday , said flexible working options and more public holidays are possibilities to stimulate the economy and encourage domestic tourism while the country ’ s borders remain closed to foreign visitors .
“ The question for me is , how do we encourage Kiwis to … get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the amazing places and tourism offerings that we have , ” she asked .
New Zealand imposed one of the world ’ s strictest lockdowns in an effort to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus – along the way earning praise for its success in doing just that .
The South Pacific island nation has recorded 1,503 positive coronavirus cases and 21 deaths .
More than 1,400 of the patients who tested positive have since recovered .
Last week , it slowly started reopening parts of its economy , allowing hair @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and restaurants to open their doors for the first time in two months .
However , the country ’ s success in mitigating the spread of the virus has been somewhat overshadowed by its now wilting economy .
NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER JACINDA ARDERN TURNED AWAY FROM CAFE AT CORONAVIRUS CAPACITY Ardern said last week that her nation faces the most challenging economic conditions since the Great Depression .
The government revealed its plans to borrow and spend vast amounts of money in an attempt to keep unemployment below 10 percent .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ very tough winter , ” she said .
“ But every winter eventually is followed by spring , and if we make the right choices we can get New Zealanders back to work and our economy working quickly again.
” Ardern said it will be up to employers and employees to figure out if a four-day workweek would be possible for their respective businesses .
“ But as I ’ ve said , there ’ s just so much we ’ ve learned about COVID and that flexibility of people working from home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of that , ” she said .
“ I ’ d really encourage people to think about that if you ’ re an employer and in a position to do so .
To think about if that ’ s something that would work for your workplace because it certainly would help tourism all around the country.
” NEW ZEALANDERS LINE UP FOR MIDNIGHT HAIRCUTS , CELEBRATE EASING OF CORONAVIRUS RESTRICTIONS One Kiwi businessman , who transitioned his company ’ s 200 employees to a four-day workweek in 2018 , said it could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , whose company Perpetual Guardian has gained worldwide attention , told local reporters that the shift made his employees happier , more productive , and improved mental and physical health .
“ New Zealand could definitely go to a four-day week in the aftermath of COVID , and in fact , it would be a strategy to rebuild the economy and particularly the hard-hit tourism market as it pivots to a domestic focus , ” he told Newshub on Monday .
“ We need to retain all the productivity benefits working from home @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a lack of gridlock , lost productivity from commuting while helping businesses stay afloat .
We have to be bold with our model .
This is an opportunity for a massive reset.
” CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP Successful implementation of four-day workweeks has been seen elsewhere around the world .
Microsoft ’ s Japan office switched to this model late last year and has reported a 40-percent increase in productivity .
Australian digital marketing agency Versa saw similar success after implementing a model that saw the office closed on Wednesdays @

Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.
New Zealand’s prime minister suggested a four-day workweek could help revitalize the country’s hard-hit economy after the coronavirus pandemic.
Jacinda Ardern, speaking in a Facebook Live video on Monday, said flexible working options and more public holidays are possibilities to stimulate the economy and encourage domestic tourism while the country’s borders remain closed to foreign visitors.
“The question for me is, how do we encourage Kiwis to … get out and about, and visit some of the amazing places and tourism offerings that we have,” she asked.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE
New Zealand imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns in an effort to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus – along the way earning praise for its success in doing just that.
The South Pacific island nation has recorded 1,503 positive coronavirus cases and 21 deaths. More than 1,400 of the patients who tested positive have since recovered.
Last week, it slowly started reopening parts of its economy, allowing hair salons, barbershops, some retail stores and restaurants to open their doors for the first time in two months.
However, the country’s success in mitigating the spread of the virus has been somewhat overshadowed by its now wilting economy.
NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER JACINDA ARDERN TURNED AWAY FROM CAFE AT CORONAVIRUS CAPACITY
Ardern said last week that her nation faces the most challenging economic conditions since the Great Depression. The government revealed its plans to borrow and spend vast amounts of money in an attempt to keep unemployment below 10 percent.
“New Zealand is about to enter a very tough winter,” she said. “But every winter eventually is followed by spring, and if we make the right choices we can get New Zealanders back to work and our economy working quickly again.”
Ardern said it will be up to employers and employees to figure out if a four-day workweek would be possible for their respective businesses.
“But as I’ve said, there’s just so much we’ve learned about COVID and that flexibility of people working from home, the productivity that can be driven out of that,” she said. “I’d really encourage people to think about that if you’re an employer and in a position to do so. To think about if that’s something that would work for your workplace because it certainly would help tourism all around the country.”
NEW ZEALANDERS LINE UP FOR MIDNIGHT HAIRCUTS, CELEBRATE EASING OF CORONAVIRUS RESTRICTIONS
One Kiwi businessman, who transitioned his company’s 200 employees to a four-day workweek in 2018, said it could be a solution post-pandemic.
Andrew Barnes, whose company Perpetual Guardian has gained worldwide attention, told local reporters that the shift made his employees happier, more productive, and improved mental and physical health.
“New Zealand could definitely go to a four-day week in the aftermath of COVID, and in fact, it would be a strategy to rebuild the economy and particularly the hard-hit tourism market as it pivots to a domestic focus,” he told Newshub on Monday.
“We need to retain all the productivity benefits working from home has brought, including cleaner air and a lack of gridlock, lost productivity from commuting while helping businesses stay afloat. We have to be bold with our model. This is an opportunity for a massive reset.”
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
Successful implementation of four-day workweeks has been seen elsewhere around the world. Microsoft’s Japan office switched to this model late last year and has reported a 40-percent increase in productivity.
Australian digital marketing agency Versa saw similar success after implementing a model that saw the office closed on Wednesdays.


foxnews--2020-05-20--Pence says upcoming SpaceX launch will show 'America still moves forward' during 'the most challengi

Pence says upcoming SpaceX launch will show 'America still moves forward' during 'the most challenging times'

EXCLUSIVE : When the last space shuttle launched in 2011 , few people at NASA believed it would be nearly a decade before American astronauts would launch into space again from U.S. soil .
Even fewer people would have guessed that next launch would take place in the middle of a pandemic on Earth .
Yet , Vice President Mike Pence believes the timing may actually be perfect .
`` When that rocket goes off next week , it 'll remind the American people that even in the midst of the most challenging times , America still moves forward , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ during an interview at NASA 's Headquarters .
`` America continues to lead with courage and with bravery .
Just like every American family has done , the NASA family did that throughout the coronavirus pandemic .
They stayed on mission . ''
NASA 'S HEAD OF HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT RESIGNS JUST DAYS BEFORE FIRST MANNED SPACEX LAUNCH The Demo-2 mission is scheduled to begin May 27 at the Kennedy Space Center , where NASA Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will launch on SpaceX 's Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be the first time that NASA astronauts will be flying a spacecraft that 's owned and operated by a private company .
It will also be only the fifth time in U.S. history that NASA astronauts will fly a new spacecraft for the first time .
`` We think about Mercury , Gemini , Apollo and then the space shuttle : Those are the only four times in history where we have put humans on brand new spacecraft , '' said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine during a preflight news conference .
The launch @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Trump administration 's goal of securing American dominance in space .
`` To think for the last 10 years we 've had to hitch a ride on Russian rockets to get to the International Space Station , I think every American knew it was just wrong , '' said Pence .
Yet , just last week , NASA agreed to pay the Russian space agency Roscosmos more than $ 90 million for one final seat on a Soyuz rocket .
The vice president says he understands the need to have contingencies in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ delayed , but that he will still be questioning NASA 's leadership about why such an expensive backup plan is necessary .
In recent years , countries like Russia and China have become increasingly aggressive actors in outer space , and the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated tensions on Earth .
It 's part of the reason Trump established the Space Force and NASA 's new Artemis program .
`` Not only are we returning to space from American soil , but we 're really beginning a new era of American leadership in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ next man and the first woman to the moon by 2024 , and it 'll put American astronauts on Mars , '' Pence said .
The pandemic has forced NASA to pause work on critical components of the Artemis program , and the launch of Artemis-1 has recently been delayed until late 2021 .
At a meeting last week of the NASA Advisory Council 's Human Exploration and Operations Committee , several members were skeptical about NASA 's ability to meet the timeline .
Tommy Holloway , a former NASA space shuttle program @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pipe dream , '' and Jim Voss , a former NASA Astronaut said , “ I don ’ t think they have any chance of making 2024 . ''
The vice president says that kind of criticism , `` sounds a lot like the way they talked about Apollo .
We had another president , who said that he was going to send a man to the moon before the end of the decade and return safely to the earth , and an awful lot of people said it could n't be done @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crowds , and hundreds of thousands of people converged on the Kennedy Space Center to watch the final space shuttle launch .
This time , due to social distancing restrictions , NASA is advising everyone to watch the Demo-2 launch from home .
But Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey says the Space Coast is open for business and he 's encouraging people to come watch the launch in person .
`` Now might not be the time to travel to Florida to see a launch , '' Pence said .
`` But I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ how to social distance and practice in a responsible way .
But to see a rocket go into the air , to know that it is carrying American astronauts , wherever you 're watching it from , it 's going to be a great , great source of inspiration for every American . ''

EXCLUSIVE: When the space shuttle fleet retired in 2011, few people at NASA believed it would take nearly a decade to resume launching American astronauts from U.S. soil. Even fewer people would have predicted that next launch would take place in the middle of a pandemic on Earth. Yet, Vice President Mike Pence believes the timing may actually be perfect.
"When that rocket goes off next week, it'll remind the American people that even in the midst of the most challenging times, America still moves forward," the vice president told Fox News during an interview at NASA's Headquarters. "America continues to lead with courage and with bravery. Just like every American family has done, the NASA family did that throughout the coronavirus pandemic. They stayed on mission."
NASA'S HEAD OF HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT RESIGNS JUST DAYS BEFORE FIRST MANNED SPACEX LAUNCH
The Demo-2 mission is scheduled to begin May 27 at the Kennedy Space Center, where NASA Astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will launch on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station. It will be the first time that NASA astronauts will be flying a spacecraft that's owned and operated by a private company. It will also be only the fifth time in U.S. history that NASA astronauts will fly a new spacecraft for the first time.
"We think about Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and then the space shuttle: Those are the only four times in history where we have put humans on brand new spacecraft," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine during a preflight news conference.
The launch will also signify one giant leap towards the Trump administration's goal of securing American dominance in space.
"To think for the last 10 years we've had to hitch a ride on Russian rockets to get to the International Space Station, I think every American knew it was just wrong," said Pence.
Yet, just last week, NASA agreed to pay the Russian space agency Roscosmos more than $90 million for one final seat on a Soyuz rocket. The vice president says he understands the need to have contingencies in place in case the Demo-2 mission is delayed, but that he will still be questioning NASA's leadership about why such an expensive backup plan is necessary.
In recent years, countries like Russia and China have become increasingly aggressive actors in outer space, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated tensions on Earth. It's part of the reason President Trump established the Space Force and NASA's new Artemis program.
"Not only are we returning to space from American soil, but we're really beginning a new era of American leadership in human space exploration that will carry the next man and the first woman to the moon by 2024, and it'll put American astronauts on Mars," Pence said.
PENCE SAYS HE'S NOT TAKING HYDROXYCHLOROQUINE
The pandemic has forced NASA to pause work on critical components of the Artemis program, and the launch of Artemis-1 has recently been delayed until late 2021. At a meeting last week of the NASA Advisory Council's Human Exploration and Operations Committee, several members were skeptical about NASA's ability to meet the timeline.
Tommy Holloway, a former NASA space shuttle program manager, called the goal "a pipe dream," and Jim Voss, a former NASA Astronaut said, "I don’t think they have any chance of making 2024."
The vice president says that kind of criticism, "sounds a lot like the way they talked about Apollo. We had another president who said that he was going to send a man to the moon before the end of the decade and return safely to the earth, and an awful lot of people said it couldn't be done."
The Apollo missions drew massive crowds, and hundreds of thousands of people converged on the Kennedy Space Center to watch the final space shuttle launch. This time, due to social distancing restrictions, NASA is advising everyone to watch the Demo-2 launch from home. But Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey says the Space Coast is open for business and he's encouraging people to come watch the launch in person.
"Now might not be the time to travel to Florida to see a launch," Pence said. "But I expect residents in the area will know how to social distance and practice in a responsible way. But to see a rocket go into the air, to know that it is carrying American astronauts, wherever you're watching it from, it's going to be a great, great source of inspiration for every American."


foxnews--2020-05-20--Michigan flood hits record level, dam breaches 'historic event' playing out in midst of coronavirus,

Michigan flood hits record level, dam breaches 'historic event' playing out in midst of coronavirus, Whitmer says

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Floodwaters in central Michigan broke records early Wednesday and threatened to rise even higher after catastrophic dam failures forced about 10,000 people to evacuate as the region faces an additional hardship during the coronavirus pandemic .
The National Weather Service ( NWS ) said the Tittabawassee River in the city of Midland reached its highest level ever Wednesday morning at 33.97 feet and is expected to rise up to 38 feet by midday .
“ This is unlike anything we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Michigan Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer said at a news conference on Tuesday .
” If you have a family member or loved one who lives in another part of the state , go there now . ''
WHITMER ISSUED A STATE OF EMERGENCY AFTER 2 DAMS WERE BREACHED IN MIDLAND COUNTY Whitmer , who declared a state of emergency for Midland County , said that downtown Midland could be under 9 feet of water by midday Wednesday as the water released from the dam failures reaches the city .
`` We are anticipating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the governor said .
The NWS on Tuesday evening urged anyone near the river to seek higher ground following “ catastrophic dam failures ” at the Edenville Dam , about 140 miles north of Detroit , and the Sanford Dam , about 7 miles downriver .
Midland , a city of 42,000 about 8 miles downstream from the Sanford Dam , faced an especially serious flooding threat .
Dow Chemical Co. 's main plant sits on the city 's riverbank .
The NWS said a flash flood emergency continued for the area until @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` This is a life threatening situation , '' a forecast advisory said .
`` Seek higher ground now ! ''
Significant flooding was reported in the city by daybreak .
Water that was several feet high covered some streets near the river in downtown Midland , including riverside parkland , and reaching a hotel and parking lots .
The Midland County Central Dispatch also warned residents of further evacuations , after a dike on Poseville `` broke loose '' early Tuesday .
As of early Wednesday , parts of the city of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Dow Chemical had been evacuated .
State officials also were working to help residents leave Tittabawassee Township , Thomas Township , and Saginaw Township .
There have been no reported injuries or fatalities due to the flooding , and no reports of anyone trapped by the high water , Midland County spokeswoman Selina Tisdale said Wednesday .
In response to the coming floodwaters , several shelters in high schools and family centers opened across the region , FOX2 reported .
Michael Sharrow , the superintendent of Midland Public Schools , said Tuesday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of elderly residents were at Midland High School .
`` Our community cares for each other .
We 're working hard to open our homes and shelters to our friends and neighbors , '' Midland County said on Twitter `` That 's no small task as we are displacing about 10,000 people tonight ! ''
The governor encouraged people to do their best to take precautions to prevent the spread of coronavirus , such as wearing a face covering and observing social distancing “ to the best of your ability.
” '' This @ @ @ @ @ @ @ playing out in the midst of another historic event , '' Whitmer said Tuesday night , referring to the coronavirus pandemic .
As of Wednesday , there were 52,350 cases of COVID-19 in Michigan with at least 5,017 deaths , according to Johns Hopkins University .
But while the state overall has a high overall number of infections , Midland County has had only a small number of those , with fewer than 80 cases and less than 10 deaths .
Still , some dealing with the flooding and evacuations remained aware of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cots at some area schools set up Tuesday as shelters were spaced apart to adhere to social distancing guidelines .
Catherine Sias , who lives about 1 mile from the Edenville Dam , told the Associated Press she first left home early Tuesday morning .
“ All of a sudden we heard the fire truck sirens going north toward the dam.
” Sias , 45 , said when she evacuated along M-30 , a state highway and the main road through Edenville crossing the river north of town , she saw the rushing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dramatic , very fast and full of debris , ” she said .
Flood warnings in Michigan were issued following widespread rainfall of 4 to 7 inches starting Sunday , according to the National Weather Service .
Heavy runoff pushed rivers higher .
The same storm system brought heavy rain and flooding to the Chicago area over the weekend before moving east .
CLICK HERE FOR MORE WEATHER COVERAGE FROM FOX NEWS Several first responders were activated to help provide assistance .
Among those responding to the flooding in central Michigan include the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Red Cross .
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP The 51st Civil Support Team also supported Dow Chemical .
Michigan State Police authorized air , land and marine vehicles to help , according to FOX2 .
In 2018 , the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission revoked the license of the company that operated the Edenville Dam due to non-compliance issues that included spillway capacity and the inability to pass the most severe flood reasonably possible in the area .
The Edenville Dam , which was built in 1924 , was rated in unsatisfactory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Sanford Dam , which was built in 1925 , received a fair condition rating .
Both dams are in the process of being sold .
The Associated Press contributed to this report .

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Floodwaters in central Michigan broke records early Wednesday and threatened to rise even higher after catastrophic dam failures forced about 10,000 people to evacuate as the region faces an additional hardship during the coronavirus pandemic.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said the Tittabawassee River in the city of Midland reached its highest level ever Wednesday morning at 33.97 feet and is expected to rise up to 38 feet by midday.
“This is unlike anything we’ve seen in Midland County,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said at a news conference on Tuesday. ”If you have a family member or loved one who lives in another part of the state, go there now."
WHITMER ISSUED A STATE OF EMERGENCY AFTER 2 DAMS WERE BREACHED IN MIDLAND COUNTY
Whitmer, who declared a state of emergency for Midland County, said that downtown Midland could be under 9 feet of water by midday Wednesday as the water released from the dam failures reaches the city.
"We are anticipating an historic high water level," the governor said.
The NWS on Tuesday evening urged anyone near the river to seek higher ground following “catastrophic dam failures” at the Edenville Dam, about 140 miles north of Detroit, and the Sanford Dam, about 7 miles downriver.
Midland, a city of 42,000 about 8 miles downstream from the Sanford Dam, faced an especially serious flooding threat. Dow Chemical Co.'s main plant sits on the city's riverbank.
The NWS said a flash flood emergency continued for the area until at least 2:15 p.m. on Wednesday.
"This is a life threatening situation," a forecast advisory said. "Seek higher ground now!"
Significant flooding was reported in the city by daybreak.
Water that was several feet high covered some streets near the river in downtown Midland, including riverside parkland, and reaching a hotel and parking lots.
The Midland County Central Dispatch also warned residents of further evacuations, after a dike on Poseville "broke loose" early Tuesday.
As of early Wednesday, parts of the city of Midland, and the villages of Sanford and Dow Chemical had been evacuated. State officials also were working to help residents leave Tittabawassee Township, Thomas Township, and Saginaw Township.
There have been no reported injuries or fatalities due to the flooding, and no reports of anyone trapped by the high water, Midland County spokeswoman Selina Tisdale said Wednesday.
In response to the coming floodwaters, several shelters in high schools and family centers opened across the region, FOX2 reported.
Michael Sharrow, the superintendent of Midland Public Schools, said Tuesday night that a "large crowd" of elderly residents were at Midland High School.
MICHIGAN FLOODS BRING 'SUBSTANTIAL' CONCERN ABOUT DAMS, 'CUTOFF LOW' TO PACK DRENCHING RAIN
"Our community cares for each other. We're working hard to open our homes and shelters to our friends and neighbors," Midland County said on Twitter "That's no small task as we are displacing about 10,000 people tonight!"
The governor encouraged people to do their best to take precautions to prevent the spread of coronavirus, such as wearing a face covering and observing social distancing “to the best of your ability.”
"This truly is a historic event that is playing out in the midst of another historic event," Whitmer said Tuesday night, referring to the coronavirus pandemic.
As of Wednesday, there were 52,350 cases of COVID-19 in Michigan with at least 5,017 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
But while the state overall has a high overall number of infections, Midland County has had only a small number of those, with fewer than 80 cases and less than 10 deaths. Still, some dealing with the flooding and evacuations remained aware of the dangers posed by the virus.
Cots at some area schools set up Tuesday as shelters were spaced apart to adhere to social distancing guidelines.
Catherine Sias, who lives about 1 mile from the Edenville Dam, told the Associated Press she first left home early Tuesday morning. “All of a sudden we heard the fire truck sirens going north toward the dam.”
Sias, 45, said when she evacuated along M-30, a state highway and the main road through Edenville crossing the river north of town, she saw the rushing Tittabawassee River.
“It was very dramatic, very fast and full of debris,” she said.
Flood warnings in Michigan were issued following widespread rainfall of 4 to 7 inches starting Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. Heavy runoff pushed rivers higher.
The same storm system brought heavy rain and flooding to the Chicago area over the weekend before moving east.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE WEATHER COVERAGE FROM FOX NEWS
Several first responders were activated to help provide assistance.
Among those responding to the flooding in central Michigan include the National Guard, 125 Infantry and the Red Cross.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
The 51st Civil Support Team also supported Dow Chemical. Michigan State Police authorized air, land and marine vehicles to help, according to FOX2.
In 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission revoked the license of the company that operated the Edenville Dam due to non-compliance issues that included spillway capacity and the inability to pass the most severe flood reasonably possible in the area.
The Edenville Dam, which was built in 1924, was rated in unsatisfactory condition in 2018 by the state. The Sanford Dam, which was built in 1925, received a fair condition rating.
Both dams are in the process of being sold.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.


foxnews--2020-05-20--Wearing a surgical mask can reduce coronavirus transmission by up to 75 percent, study says

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Researchers have found that wearing surgical masks can significantly reduce the rate of airborne COVID-19 transmission , according to a study released on Sunday .
The study , conducted by a team of scientists in Hong Kong , found the rate of non-contact transmission through respiratory droplets or airborne particles dropped by as much as 75 percent when masks were used .
“ The findings implied to the world and the public is that the effectiveness of mask-wearing against the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yuen Kwok-yung , a leading microbiologist from Hong Kong University who helped discover the SARS virus back in 2003 .
CORONAVIRUS INFECTIONS WOULD PLUNGE IF 80 PERCENT OF PEOPLE WORE MASKS , STUDY SAYS It was released by the department of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong and comes as world leaders , including the World Health Organization ( WHO ) , have questioned the effectiveness of face coverings outside of medical settings .
The study , described as a first of its kind , placed hamsters in two cages , with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the other being healthy .
They placed the animals in three different scenarios to analyze the effectiveness of the face coverings .
In one scenario the mask barriers were placed only on cages with the infected subjects , another saw the masks covering the healthy subjects , and the third saw with no mask barriers at all .
For all of the scenarios , a fan was placed between the cages to allow for the transmission of respiratory droplets .
They found that when the mask was placed over the infected cage @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 15 percent .
That infection rate went up to 33 percent when the mask barrier was only used to cover the healthy hamsters ’ cage .
FORD TELLS WHITE HOUSE TRUMP SHOULD WEAR CORONAVIRUS MASK WHEN VISITING PLANT THIS WEEK With no mask barriers at all , roughly two-thirds of the healthy hamsters were infected with the virus within a week , the study found .
Researchers added that the hamsters who were infected even with the mask barrier had less of the virus in their bodies when compared to those infected without @ @ @ @ @ @ @ experiment , it shows very clearly that if infected hamsters or humans -- especially asymptomatic or symptomatic ones -- put on masks , they actually protect other people , '' Yuen said in a press conference on Sunday , according to Sky News .
`` That 's the strongest result we showed here .
Transmission can be reduced by 50 percent when surgical masks are used , especially when masks are worn by infected individuals . ''
He said up until we have a vaccine for the virus , what remains practical is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Last month , a separate study published by a group of international experts , created a model that shows cases of the virus could be cut significantly if `` ( near ) universal masking '' is adopted .
`` Universal masking at 80 [ percent ] adoption flattens the curve significantly more than maintaining a strict lockdown , '' researchers wrote in the study , which has not yet been peer-reviewed , as of last week .
CLICK HERE FOR MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE '' Masking at only 50 [ percent ] adoption @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' the researchers added .
`` Replacing the strict lockdown with social distancing on May 31 without masking results in unchecked spread . ''

Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.
Researchers have found that wearing surgical masks can significantly reduce the rate of airborne COVID-19 transmission, according to a study released on Sunday.
The study, conducted by a team of scientists in Hong Kong, found the rate of non-contact transmission through respiratory droplets or airborne particles dropped by as much as 75 percent when masks were used.
“The findings implied to the world and the public is that the effectiveness of mask-wearing against the coronavirus pandemic is huge,” said Dr. Yuen Kwok-yung, a leading microbiologist from Hong Kong University who helped discover the SARS virus back in 2003.
CORONAVIRUS INFECTIONS WOULD PLUNGE IF 80 PERCENT OF PEOPLE WORE MASKS, STUDY SAYS
It was released by the department of microbiology at the University of Hong Kong and comes as world leaders, including the World Health Organization (WHO), have questioned the effectiveness of face coverings outside of medical settings.
The study, described as a first of its kind, placed hamsters in two cages, with one of the groups infected with COVID-19 and the other being healthy. They placed the animals in three different scenarios to analyze the effectiveness of the face coverings.
In one scenario the mask barriers were placed only on cages with the infected subjects, another saw the masks covering the healthy subjects, and the third saw with no mask barriers at all. For all of the scenarios, a fan was placed between the cages to allow for the transmission of respiratory droplets.
They found that when the mask was placed over the infected cage the infection rate dropped to just over 15 percent.
That infection rate went up to 33 percent when the mask barrier was only used to cover the healthy hamsters’ cage.
FORD TELLS WHITE HOUSE TRUMP SHOULD WEAR CORONAVIRUS MASK WHEN VISITING PLANT THIS WEEK
With no mask barriers at all, roughly two-thirds of the healthy hamsters were infected with the virus within a week, the study found.
Researchers added that the hamsters who were infected even with the mask barrier had less of the virus in their bodies when compared to those infected without the masks.
"In our hamster experiment, it shows very clearly that if infected hamsters or humans -- especially asymptomatic or symptomatic ones -- put on masks, they actually protect other people," Yuen said in a press conference on Sunday, according to Sky News.
"That's the strongest result we showed here. Transmission can be reduced by 50 percent when surgical masks are used, especially when masks are worn by infected individuals."
He said up until we have a vaccine for the virus, what remains practical is either social distancing or wearing a mask.
Last month, a separate study published by a group of international experts, created a model that shows cases of the virus could be cut significantly if "(near) universal masking" is adopted.
"Universal masking at 80 [percent] adoption flattens the curve significantly more than maintaining a strict lockdown," researchers wrote in the study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, as of last week.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE
"Masking at only 50 [percent] adoption is not sufficient to prevent continued spread," the researchers added. "Replacing the strict lockdown with social distancing on May 31 without masking results in unchecked spread."
Fox News' Chris Ciaccia contributed to this report


foxnews--2020-05-20--Millions of hogs could be euthanized as coronavirus hurts supply chain, industry warns

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The United States pork industry is facing a crisis due to coronavirus-related closures -- with industry insiders warning that up to 10 million hogs face euthanasia .
Pork packing-plant capacities have dropped by over 40 percent during the outbreak , according to the National Pork Producers Council ( NPPC ) .
It referred to the crisis as the “ COVID-19 bottleneck , ” explaining the number of pigs ready for harvest has superseded the capacity to do so .
This has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supply has been down .
PORK PRODUCERS CONSIDER EUTHANIZING HOGS DUE TO FINANCIAL LOSSES SPARKED BY CORONAVIRUS “ The food supply chain is vulnerable , ” Tyson Foods warned in a statement late last month .
“ As pork , beef and chicken plants are being forced to close , even for short periods of time , millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the supply chain.
” But , meat shortages aren ’ t the only problem facing the meatpacking industry .
Financial stability and animal-welfare concerns also have arisen from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will eventually stay on farms too long and grow too large to be accepted by harvest facilities .
The situation is taking a severe emotional and financial toll on hog farmers , ” the NPPC told Fox News in a statement .
When pigs reach 270 pounds , they ’ re ready for harvest , which means they are sent either to processing plants for restaurant consumption or to grocery stores for purchase .
SENATE DEMOCRATS RAISE CONCERNS OVER SAFETY OF MEAT PLANTS AFTER TRUMP DPA ORDER According to the NPPC , “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be processed through the nation ’ s primary harvest facilities due to constraints in the equipment and concerns with worker safety.
” Therefore , “ U.S .
hog farmers now face the tragic reality : up to 10 million hogs ... with no place to go.
” Many farmers have been facing the reality of mass culling – the euthanasia of their farm animals .
The American Veterinary Medical Association ( AVMA ) has laid out “ preferred methods ” on how to depopulate swine “ humanely.
” PELOSI URGES SENATE TO TAKE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ VERY IMPORTANT' But , the AVMA recognized that depopulation of farm animals will not always be done entirely humanely and the guidelines noted , “ When the absence of pain and distress can not always be achieved , depopulation must still be guided by balancing the ideal and the ethical impulse of minimal pain.
” Animal-rights groups such as Mercy for Animals have fought back against some of the euthanasia methods , along with the funds allocated for “ depopulation ” in the HEROES Act passed by the House of Representatives last week @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , pigs and other animals killed for their flesh are being slaughtered in ways most people find abhorrent .
Hens are smothered with foam , pigs are shot in the head , while their young are slammed against the pavement , ” PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange told Fox News .
TRUMP INVOKES DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT TO KEEP MEAT-PROCESSING PLANTS OPEN AMID FEARS OF SUPPLY SHORTAGE The NPPC has requested over $ 1.6 billion in emergency funds from Congress , $ 1.17 going towards compensating farmers retroactively from April 19 .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be divided among “ depopulation expenses ” and facilitating “ environmentally responsible disposal.
” “ The last time we had plant capacity issues was in 1998 , ” Iowa State University economist Dr. Dermot Hayes said .
“ The [ U.S. Department of Agriculture ] acted too slowly and with too little money and we lost an entire generation of hog producers.
” But , the NPPC told Fox News that it was “ pleased with [ the ] livestock agriculture provisions included in the HEROES Act passed by the House last week.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ as meatpacking production remained slow due to COVID-19 regulations , animals will continue to be “ depopulated ” to make room for the new pigs coming into production .
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP “ The meat trade is an egregiously violent industry and now that we know that raising and killing animals for food is linked to SARS , swine flu , bird flu , and now a novel coronavirus , it 's as clear as the gloved hand in front of your masked face that it 's past time @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Neither Mercy For Animals nor the AVMA could be reached immediately for comment .

Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.
The United States pork industry is facing a crisis due to coronavirus-related closures -- with industry insiders warning that up to 10 million hogs face euthanasia.
Pork packing-plant capacities have dropped by over 40 percent during the outbreak, according to the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC). It referred to the crisis as the “COVID-19 bottleneck,” explaining the number of pigs ready for harvest has superseded the capacity to do so.
This has also meant that America’s meat supply has been down.
PORK PRODUCERS CONSIDER EUTHANIZING HOGS DUE TO FINANCIAL LOSSES SPARKED BY CORONAVIRUS
“The food supply chain is vulnerable,” Tyson Foods warned in a statement late last month. “As pork, beef and chicken plants are being forced to close, even for short periods of time, millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the supply chain.”
But, meat shortages aren’t the only problem facing the meatpacking industry. Financial stability and animal-welfare concerns also have arisen from the coronavirus pandemic.
“These hogs will eventually stay on farms too long and grow too large to be accepted by harvest facilities. The situation is taking a severe emotional and financial toll on hog farmers,” the NPPC told Fox News in a statement.
When pigs reach 270 pounds, they’re ready for harvest, which means they are sent either to processing plants for restaurant consumption or to grocery stores for purchase.
SENATE DEMOCRATS RAISE CONCERNS OVER SAFETY OF MEAT PLANTS AFTER TRUMP DPA ORDER
According to the NPPC, “Hogs that exceed weight specifications cannot be processed through the nation’s primary harvest facilities due to constraints in the equipment and concerns with worker safety.”
Therefore, “U.S. hog farmers now face the tragic reality: up to 10 million hogs... with no place to go.”
Many farmers have been facing the reality of mass culling – the euthanasia of their farm animals.
The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has laid out “preferred methods” on how to depopulate swine “humanely.”
PELOSI URGES SENATE TO TAKE UP HEROES ACT QUICKLY: 'TIME IS VERY IMPORTANT'
But, the AVMA recognized that depopulation of farm animals will not always be done entirely humanely and the guidelines noted, “When the absence of pain and distress cannot always be achieved, depopulation must still be guided by balancing the ideal and the ethical impulse of minimal pain.”
Animal-rights groups such as Mercy for Animals have fought back against some of the euthanasia methods, along with the funds allocated for “depopulation” in the HEROES Act passed by the House of Representatives last week.
“Because of COVID-19, chickens, pigs and other animals killed for their flesh are being slaughtered in ways most people find abhorrent. Hens are smothered with foam, pigs are shot in the head, while their young are slammed against the pavement,” PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange told Fox News.
TRUMP INVOKES DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT TO KEEP MEAT-PROCESSING PLANTS OPEN AMID FEARS OF SUPPLY SHORTAGE
The NPPC has requested over $1.6 billion in emergency funds from Congress, $1.17 going towards compensating farmers retroactively from April 19.
The other portion of $505 million would be divided among “depopulation expenses” and facilitating “environmentally responsible disposal.”
“The last time we had plant capacity issues was in 1998,” Iowa State University economist Dr. Dermot Hayes said. “The [U.S. Department of Agriculture] acted too slowly and with too little money and we lost an entire generation of hog producers.”
But, the NPPC told Fox News that it was “pleased with [the] livestock agriculture provisions included in the HEROES Act passed by the House last week.”
Meat suppliers argued that as long as meatpacking production remained slow due to COVID-19 regulations, animals will continue to be “depopulated” to make room for the new pigs coming into production.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
“The meat trade is an egregiously violent industry and now that we know that raising and killing animals for food is linked to SARS, swine flu, bird flu, and now a novel coronavirus, it's as clear as the gloved hand in front of your masked face that it's past time to go vegan,” Lange said.
Neither Mercy For Animals nor the AVMA could be reached immediately for comment.


foxnews--2020-05-20--NYC delivering methadone to addicts with coronavirus

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New York City health workers have begun delivering free methadone to opioid addicts amid the coronavirus crisis — sparking outrage from officials who called it “ disgusting ” and a “ recipe for disaster.
” The program was announced Tuesday by the city ’ s Health Department , which said it began with a “ soft launch ” last month and was expanding the initiative by lowering the age of eligibility from 65 to 50 .
“ Methadone is a life-saving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said in a prepared statement .
“ New Yorkers who take methadone and get sick from COVID-19 should not have to choose between getting their medication and protecting their health or the health of others.
” Federal regulations previously barred home delivery of methadone , but the COVID-19 pandemic led to an emergency loosening of the rules for addicts who ’ ve tested positive for the disease , show symptoms or are at high risk if they get infected , the Health Department said .
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP @ @ @ @ @ @ @ specially trained and will be outfitted with masks , hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes to safely make about 1,300 curbside deliveries a month to addicts ’ homes and taxpayer-funded hotels , the Health Department said .
Participants will receive at least seven days ’ worth of methadone , an oral pain reliever that ’ s used to prevent withdrawal symptoms in addicts who are enrolled in treatment programs .
Click here for more from the New York Post .

Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.
New York City health workers have begun delivering free methadone to opioid addicts amid the coronavirus crisis — sparking outrage from officials who called it “disgusting” and a “recipe for disaster.”
The program was announced Tuesday by the city’s Health Department, which said it began with a “soft launch” last month and was expanding the initiative by lowering the age of eligibility from 65 to 50.
“Methadone is a life-saving medication,” Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot said in a prepared statement.
“New Yorkers who take methadone and get sick from COVID-19 should not have to choose between getting their medication and protecting their health or the health of others.”
Federal regulations previously barred home delivery of methadone, but the COVID-19 pandemic led to an emergency loosening of the rules for addicts who’ve tested positive for the disease, show symptoms or are at high risk if they get infected, the Health Department said.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Teams of two workers each have been specially trained and will be outfitted with masks, hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes to safely make about 1,300 curbside deliveries a month to addicts’ homes and taxpayer-funded hotels, the Health Department said.
Participants will receive at least seven days’ worth of methadone, an oral pain reliever that’s used to prevent withdrawal symptoms in addicts who are enrolled in treatment programs.
Click here for more from the New York Post.


foxnews--2020-04-20--Wuhan lab says there's no way coronavirus originated there: Here's the science

An unprecedented amount of research has been focused solely on understanding the novel coronavirus that has taken nearly 150,000 lives across the globe .
And while scientists have gotten to know some of the most intimate details of the virus called SARS-CoV-2 , one question has evaded any definitive answers — Where did the virus come from ?
Live Science contacted several experts , and the reality , they said , is that we may never know where this deadly coronavirus originated .
Among the theories circulating : That SARS-CoV-2 arose naturally , after passing from bats to a secondary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it was deliberately engineered and then accidentally released by humans ; or that researchers were studying a naturally-occurring virus that subsequently escaped from a high-security biolab , the Wuhan Institute of Virology ( WIV ) in China .
The head of the lab at WIV , for her part , has emphatically denied any link to the institute .
Just today ( April 18 ) , the vice director of WIV Zhiming Yuan CGTN , the Chinese state broadcaster , said `` there is no way this virus came from us , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a strict regulatory regime and code of conduct of research , so we are confident . ''
Furthermore , the notion that SARS-CoV-2 was genetically engineered is pure conspiracy , experts told Live Science , but it 's still impossible to rule out the notion that Chinese scientists were studying a naturally-occurring coronavirus that subsequently `` escaped '' from the lab .
To prove any of these theories takes transparent data and information , which is reportedly not happening in China , scientists say .
Several experts have said to Live Science and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ likeliest scenario is that SARS-CoV-2 is naturally occurring .
`` Based on no data , but simply [ a ] likely scenario is that the virus went from bats to some mammalian species , currently unknown despite speculation , [ and ] spilled over to humans , '' said Gerald Keusch , associate director of the Boston University National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories .
This spillover event may have happened before the virus found its way into a live animal market , `` which then acted as an amplifying setting with many more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is history , '' Keusch said .
`` The timeline is fuzzy and I do n't think we have real data to say when these things began , in large part because the data are being held back from inspection , '' Keusch told Live Science .
The SARS-CoV-2 virus is most closely related to coronaviruses found in certain populations of horseshoe bats that live about 1,000 miles ( 1,600 kilometers ) away in Yunnan province , China .
The first known outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in humans occurred in Wuhan and initially was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which sold live fish and other animals ) , though some of the earliest cases have no link to that market , according to research published Feb. 15 in the journal The Lancet .
Related : 11 ( sometimes ) deadly diseases that hopped across species What 's more , despite several proposed candidates , from snakes to pangolins to dogs , researchers have failed to find a clear `` intermediate host '' — an animal that would have served as a springboard for SARS-CoV-2 to jump from bats to humans .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , how did the bat virus hop from its natural reservoir in a subtropical region to the bustling city of Wuhan hundreds of miles away ?
The lab at the center of pandemic controversy These questions have led some people to look elsewhere in the hunt for the virus 's origin , and some have focused on the Wuhan Institute of Virology ( WIV ) .
In 2015 , WIV became China 's first lab to reach the highest level of bioresearch safety , or BSL-4 , meaning the lab could host research @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , such as Ebola and Marburg viruses .
( SARS-CoV-2 would require a BSL-3 or higher , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . )
Labs like these must follow strict safety guidelines that include filtering air , treating water and waste before they exit , and requiring lab personnel to shower and change their clothes before and after entering the facility , Nature News reported in 2017 .
These types of labs do spur concerns among some scientists who worry about the risks involved and the potential impact on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wrong , Nature News reported .
WIV was not immune to those concerns .
In 2018 , after scientist diplomats from the U.S. embassy in Beijing visited the WIV , they were so concerned by the lack of safety and management at the lab that the diplomats sent two official warnings back to the U.S. One of the official cables , obtained by The Washington Post , suggested that the lab 's work on bat coronaviruses with the potential for human transmission could risk causing a new SARS-like pandemic , Post columnist Josh @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scientists at the WIV laboratory , they noted the new lab has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory , '' the officials said in their cable dated to Jan. 19 , 2018 .
When reports of the coronavirus first popped up in China , the U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger reportedly suspected a potential link to China labs .
In mid-January , according to a New York Times report , Pottinger asked intelligence agencies like the C.I.A.
, particularly individuals with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ destruction , to investigate this idea .
They came up empty-handed , the Times reported .
Meanwhile , the lab at the center of these speculations had long been sounding the alarm about the risk of the SARS-like coronaviruses they studied to spawn a pandemic .
The head of the lab 's bat-coronavirus research , Shi Zhengli , published research on Nov. 30 , 2017 in the journal PLOS Pathogens that traced the SARS coronavirus pandemic in 2003 to a single population of horseshoe bats in a remote cave in Yunnan province .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronaviruses discovered in that cave used the ACE2 receptor to infect cells and could `` replicate efficiently in primary human airway cells , '' they wrote .
( Both SARS and SARS-CoV-2 use the ACE2 receptor as the entry point into cells . )
Zhengli and her colleagues stressed the importance of monitoring and studying the SARS coronaviruses to help prevent another pandemic .
`` Thus , we propose that monitoring of SARS-CoV evolution at this and other sites should continue , as well as examination of human behavioral risk for infection and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ if spillover is already occurring at these sites and to design intervention strategies to avoid future disease emergence , '' they wrote .
Related : 20 of the worst epidemics and pandemics in history The WIV lab , along with researchers in the U.S. and Switzerland , showed in 2015 the scary-good capability of bat coronaviruses to thrive in human cells .
In that paper , which was published in 2015 in the journal Nature Medicine , they described how they had created a chimeric SARS-like virus out of the surface spike protein @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , called SHC014 , and the backbone of a SARS virus that could be grown in mice .
The idea was to look at the potential of coronaviruses circulating in bat populations to infect humans .
In a lab dish , the chimeric coronavirus could infect and replicate in primary human airway cells ; the virus also was able to infect lung cells in mice .
That study was met with some pushback from researchers who considered the risk of that kind of research to outweigh the benefits .
Simon Wain-Hobson , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , was one of those scientists .
Wain-Hobson emphasized the fact that this chimeric virus `` grows remarkably well '' in human cells , adding that `` If the virus escaped , nobody could predict the trajectory , '' Nature News reported .
None of this can show the provenance of SARS-CoV-2 .
But scientists can start to rule out an idea that the pandemic-causing coronavirus was engineered in that lab or further created as a bioweapon .
Researchers say the overwhelming evidence indicates this is a natural-borne virus that emerged from an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and was not engineered by humans .
`` This origin story is not currently supported at all by the available data , '' said Adam Lauring , an associate professor of microbiology , immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Michigan Medical School .
Lauring pointed to a study published March 17 in the journal Nature Medicine , which provided evidence against the idea that the virus was engineered in a lab .
In that Nature medicine study — one of the strongest rebukes of this idea — Kristian Andersen , an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Scripps Research , and his colleagues analyzed the genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 and coronaviruses in animals .
They found that a key part of SARS-CoV-2 , the spike protein that the virus uses to attach to ACE2 receptors on the outsides of human cells , would almost certainly have emerged in nature and not as a lab creation .
`` This analysis of coronavirus genome sequences from patients and from various animals suggests that the virus likely arose in an animal host and then may have undergone further changes once it transmitted and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Live Science .
That may rule out deliberate genetic engineering , but what about other scenarios that point to bats as the natural hosts , but WIV as the source of the outbreak ?
Although researchers will likely continue to sample and sequence coronaviruses in bats to determine the origin of SARS-CoV-2 , `` you ca n't answer this question through genomics alone , '' said Dr. Alex Greninger , an assistant professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and an assistant director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at the University of Washington @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's impossible to definitively tell whether SARS-CoV-2 emerged from a lab or from nature based on genetics alone .
For this reason , it 's really important to know which coronaviruses were being studied at WIV .
`` It really comes down to what was in the lab , '' Greninger told Live Science .
However , Lauring said that based on the Nature Medicine paper , `` the SARS-CoV-2 virus has some key differences in specific genes relative to previously identified coronaviruses — the ones a laboratory would be working with .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that it is the result of a laboratory 'escape , ' '' he said .
As for what viruses were being studied at WIV , Zhengli says she did a thorough investigation .
When she first was alerted to the viral outbreak in Wuhan on the night of Dec. 30 , 2019 , Zhengli immediately put her lab to work sequencing the genomes of SARS-CoV-2 from infected patients and comparing the results with records of coronavirus experiments in her lab .
She also looked for any mishandling of viral material used in any @ @ @ @ @ @ @ did n't find any match between the viruses her team was working with from bat caves and those found in infected patients .
`` That really took a load off my mind , '' she told Scientific American .
`` I had not slept a wink for days . ''
At the beginning of February , Zhengli sent a note over WeChat to reassure her friends that there was no link , saying `` I swear with my life , [ the virus ] has nothing to do with the lab , '' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 6 .
Zhengli and another colleague , Peng Zhou , did not reply to a Live Science email requesting comment .
The Wuhan lab does work with the closest known relative of SARS-CoV-2 , which is a bat coronavirus called RaTG13 , evolutionary virologist Edward Holmes , of the Charles Perkins Center and the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity at the University of Sydney , said in a statement from the Australian Media Center .
But , he added , `` the level of genome sequence divergence between SARS-CoV-2 and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 50 years ( and at least 20 years ) of evolutionary change . ''
( That means that in the wild , it would take about 50 years for these viruses to evolve to be as different as they are . )
Though no scientists have come forth with even a speck of evidence that humans knowingly manipulated a virus using some sort of genetic engineering , a researcher at Flinders University in South Australia lays out another scenario that involves human intervention .
Bat coronaviruses can be cultured in lab dishes with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; over time , the virus will gain adaptations that let it efficiently bind to those receptors .
Along the way , that virus would pick up random genetic mutations that pop up but do n't do anything noticeable , said Nikolai Petrovsky , in the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders .
`` The result of these experiments is a virus that is highly virulent in humans but is sufficiently different that it no longer resembles the original bat virus , '' Petrovsky said in a statement from the Australian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are acquired randomly by selection , there is no signature of a human gene jockey , but this is clearly a virus still created by human intervention . ''
If that virus infected a staff member and that person then traveled to the nearby seafood market , the virus could have spread from there , he said .
Or , he added , an `` inappropriate disposal of waste from the facility '' could have infected humans directly or from a susceptible intermediary , such as a stray cat .
Though we may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ least in the near-term , some say it does n't matter .
`` No matter the origin , evolution in nature and spillover to humans , accidental release from a lab , or deliberate release or genetic manipulation of a pathogen in the lab the way you develop countermeasures is the same , '' Keusch told Live Science .
`` Since one can never say 100 % for anything , I think we always need to be aware of all possibilities in order to contravene .
But the response to develop what is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the outbreak remains the same . ''

An unprecedented amount of research has been focused solely on understanding the novel coronavirus that has taken nearly 150,000 lives across the globe. And while scientists have gotten to know some of the most intimate details of the virus called SARS-CoV-2, one question has evaded any definitive answers — Where did the virus come from?
Live Science contacted several experts, and the reality, they said, is that we may never know where this deadly coronavirus originated. Among the theories circulating: That SARS-CoV-2 arose naturally , after passing from bats to a secondary animal and then to humans; that it was deliberately engineered and then accidentally released by humans; or that researchers were studying a naturally-occurring virus that subsequently escaped from a high-security biolab, the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China. The head of the lab at WIV, for her part, has emphatically denied any link to the institute.
Just today (April 18), the vice director of WIV Zhiming Yuan CGTN, the Chinese state broadcaster, said "there is no way this virus came from us," NBC News reported. "We have a strict regulatory regime and code of conduct of research, so we are confident."
Furthermore, the notion that SARS-CoV-2 was genetically engineered is pure conspiracy, experts told Live Science, but it's still impossible to rule out the notion that Chinese scientists were studying a naturally-occurring coronavirus that subsequently "escaped" from the lab. To prove any of these theories takes transparent data and information, which is reportedly not happening in China, scientists say. Several experts have said to Live Science and other media outlets have reported that the likeliest scenario is that SARS-CoV-2 is naturally occurring.
Related: 13 coronavirus myths busted by science
"Based on no data, but simply [a] likely scenario is that the virus went from bats to some mammalian species , currently unknown despite speculation, [and] spilled over to humans," said Gerald Keusch, associate director of the Boston University National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories. This spillover event may have happened before the virus found its way into a live animal market, "which then acted as an amplifying setting with many more infections that subsequently spread and the rest is history," Keusch said. "The timeline is fuzzy and I don't think we have real data to say when these things began, in large part because the data are being held back from inspection," Keusch told Live Science.
Murky origins
The SARS-CoV-2 virus is most closely related to coronaviruses found in certain populations of horseshoe bats that live about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) away in Yunnan province, China. The first known outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in humans occurred in Wuhan and initially was traced to a wet seafood market (which sold live fish and other animals), though some of the earliest cases have no link to that market, according to research published Feb. 15 in the journal The Lancet .
Related: 11 (sometimes) deadly diseases that hopped across species
What's more, despite several proposed candidates, from snakes to pangolins to dogs, researchers have failed to find a clear "intermediate host" — an animal that would have served as a springboard for SARS-CoV-2 to jump from bats to humans. And if horseshoe bats were the primary host, how did the bat virus hop from its natural reservoir in a subtropical region to the bustling city of Wuhan hundreds of miles away?
The lab at the center of pandemic controversy
This lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology is among just a handful of labs across the globe cleared to handle level 4 pathogens, which are the most dangerous viruses that pose a high risk of person-to-person transmission. (Image credit: HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)
These questions have led some people to look elsewhere in the hunt for the virus's origin, and some have focused on the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).
In 2015, WIV became China's first lab to reach the highest level of bioresearch safety, or BSL-4, meaning the lab could host research on the world's most dangerous pathogens, such as Ebola and Marburg viruses. (SARS-CoV-2 would require a BSL-3 or higher, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.) Labs like these must follow strict safety guidelines that include filtering air, treating water and waste before they exit, and requiring lab personnel to shower and change their clothes before and after entering the facility, Nature News reported in 2017 .
These types of labs do spur concerns among some scientists who worry about the risks involved and the potential impact on public health if anything were to go wrong, Nature News reported.
Related: The 12 deadliest viruses on Earth
WIV was not immune to those concerns. In 2018, after scientist diplomats from the U.S. embassy in Beijing visited the WIV, they were so concerned by the lack of safety and management at the lab that the diplomats sent two official warnings back to the U.S. One of the official cables, obtained by The Washington Post , suggested that the lab's work on bat coronaviruses with the potential for human transmission could risk causing a new SARS-like pandemic, Post columnist Josh Rogin wrote.
"During interactions with scientists at the WIV laboratory, they noted the new lab has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory," the officials said in their cable dated to Jan. 19, 2018.
When reports of the coronavirus first popped up in China, the U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor Matthew Pottinger reportedly suspected a potential link to China labs. In mid-January, according to a New York Times report, Pottinger asked intelligence agencies like the C.I.A., particularly individuals with expertise on Asia and weapons of mass destruction, to investigate this idea. They came up empty-handed, the Times reported.
Studying dangerous pathogens
Meanwhile, the lab at the center of these speculations had long been sounding the alarm about the risk of the SARS-like coronaviruses they studied to spawn a pandemic.
The head of the lab's bat-coronavirus research, Shi Zhengli, published research on Nov. 30, 2017 in the journal PLOS Pathogens that traced the SARS coronavirus pandemic in 2003 to a single population of horseshoe bats in a remote cave in Yunnan province. The researchers also noted that other SARS-like coronaviruses discovered in that cave used the ACE2 receptor to infect cells and could "replicate efficiently in primary human airway cells," they wrote. (Both SARS and SARS-CoV-2 use the ACE2 receptor as the entry point into cells.)
Zhengli and her colleagues stressed the importance of monitoring and studying the SARS coronaviruses to help prevent another pandemic.
"Thus, we propose that monitoring of SARS-CoV evolution at this and other sites should continue, as well as examination of human behavioral risk for infection and serological surveys of people, to determine if spillover is already occurring at these sites and to design intervention strategies to avoid future disease emergence," they wrote.
Related: 20 of the worst epidemics and pandemics in history
The WIV lab, along with researchers in the U.S. and Switzerland, showed in 2015 the scary-good capability of bat coronaviruses to thrive in human cells. In that paper, which was published in 2015 in the journal Nature Medicine , they described how they had created a chimeric SARS-like virus out of the surface spike protein of a coronavirus found in horseshoe bats, called SHC014, and the backbone of a SARS virus that could be grown in mice. The idea was to look at the potential of coronaviruses circulating in bat populations to infect humans. In a lab dish, the chimeric coronavirus could infect and replicate in primary human airway cells; the virus also was able to infect lung cells in mice.
That study was met with some pushback from researchers who considered the risk of that kind of research to outweigh the benefits. Simon Wain-Hobson, a virologist at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, was one of those scientists. Wain-Hobson emphasized the fact that this chimeric virus "grows remarkably well" in human cells, adding that "If the virus escaped, nobody could predict the trajectory," Nature News reported .
Finding 'patient zero'
None of this can show the provenance of SARS-CoV-2.
But scientists can start to rule out an idea that the pandemic-causing coronavirus was engineered in that lab or further created as a bioweapon. Researchers say the overwhelming evidence indicates this is a natural-borne virus that emerged from an animal host, likely a bat, and was not engineered by humans.
Related: 28 devastating infectious diseases
"This origin story is not currently supported at all by the available data," said Adam Lauring, an associate professor of microbiology, immunology and infectious diseases at the University of Michigan Medical School. Lauring pointed to a study published March 17 in the journal Nature Medicine , which provided evidence against the idea that the virus was engineered in a lab.
In that Nature medicine study — one of the strongest rebukes of this idea — Kristian Andersen, an associate professor of immunology and microbiology at Scripps Research, and his colleagues analyzed the genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 and coronaviruses in animals. They found that a key part of SARS-CoV-2, the spike protein that the virus uses to attach to ACE2 receptors on the outsides of human cells, would almost certainly have emerged in nature and not as a lab creation.
"This analysis of coronavirus genome sequences from patients and from various animals suggests that the virus likely arose in an animal host and then may have undergone further changes once it transmitted and circulated in people," Lauring told Live Science.
That may rule out deliberate genetic engineering, but what about other scenarios that point to bats as the natural hosts, but WIV as the source of the outbreak?
Although researchers will likely continue to sample and sequence coronaviruses in bats to determine the origin of SARS-CoV-2, "you can't answer this question through genomics alone," said Dr. Alex Greninger, an assistant professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and an assistant director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at the University of Washington Medical Center. That's because it's impossible to definitively tell whether SARS-CoV-2 emerged from a lab or from nature based on genetics alone. For this reason, it's really important to know which coronaviruses were being studied at WIV. "It really comes down to what was in the lab," Greninger told Live Science.
However, Lauring said that based on the Nature Medicine paper, "the SARS-CoV-2 virus has some key differences in specific genes relative to previously identified coronaviruses — the ones a laboratory would be working with. This constellation of changes makes it unlikely that it is the result of a laboratory 'escape,'" he said.
As for what viruses were being studied at WIV, Zhengli says she did a thorough investigation. When she first was alerted to the viral outbreak in Wuhan on the night of Dec. 30, 2019, Zhengli immediately put her lab to work sequencing the genomes of SARS-CoV-2 from infected patients and comparing the results with records of coronavirus experiments in her lab. She also looked for any mishandling of viral material used in any experiments, Scientific American reported . She didn't find any match between the viruses her team was working with from bat caves and those found in infected patients. "That really took a load off my mind," she told Scientific American. "I had not slept a wink for days."
At the beginning of February, Zhengli sent a note over WeChat to reassure her friends that there was no link, saying "I swear with my life, [the virus] has nothing to do with the lab," the South China Morning Post reported Feb. 6 . Zhengli and another colleague, Peng Zhou, did not reply to a Live Science email requesting comment.
The Wuhan lab does work with the closest known relative of SARS-CoV-2, which is a bat coronavirus called RaTG13, evolutionary virologist Edward Holmes, of the Charles Perkins Center and the Marie Bashir Institute for Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity at the University of Sydney, said in a statement from the Australian Media Center. But, he added, "the level of genome sequence divergence between SARS-CoV-2 and RaTG13 is equivalent to an average of 50 years (and at least 20 years) of evolutionary change." (That means that in the wild, it would take about 50 years for these viruses to evolve to be as different as they are.)
Though no scientists have come forth with even a speck of evidence that humans knowingly manipulated a virus using some sort of genetic engineering, a researcher at Flinders University in South Australia lays out another scenario that involves human intervention. Bat coronaviruses can be cultured in lab dishes with cells that have the human ACE2 receptor; over time, the virus will gain adaptations that let it efficiently bind to those receptors. Along the way, that virus would pick up random genetic mutations that pop up but don't do anything noticeable, said Nikolai Petrovsky, in the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders.
"The result of these experiments is a virus that is highly virulent in humans but is sufficiently different that it no longer resembles the original bat virus," Petrovsky said in a statement from the Australian Media Center. "Because the mutations are acquired randomly by selection, there is no signature of a human gene jockey, but this is clearly a virus still created by human intervention."
If that virus infected a staff member and that person then traveled to the nearby seafood market, the virus could have spread from there, he said. Or, he added, an "inappropriate disposal of waste from the facility" could have infected humans directly or from a susceptible intermediary, such as a stray cat.
Though we may never get a definitive answer, at least in the near-term, some say it doesn't matter.
"No matter the origin, evolution in nature and spillover to humans, accidental release from a lab, or deliberate release or genetic manipulation of a pathogen in the lab the way you develop countermeasures is the same," Keusch told Live Science. "Since one can never say 100% for anything, I think we always need to be aware of all possibilities in order to contravene. But the response to develop what is needed to respond, control and eliminate the outbreak remains the same."
Live Science senior writer Rachael Rettner contributed to this report.


foxnews--2020-06-01--Rep. Michael Waltz calls for mayors, local lawmakers to get tough on looters and Antifa

Rep. Michael Waltz , R-Fla. , told “ America ’ s Newsroom ” on Monday that state and local elected officials must “ start taking a tougher stance ” against the riots erupting in the midst of protests over the death of George Floyd .
“ These mayors and these local elected leaders need to start getting tough and drawing the distinction between peaceful protests , '' Walz said , `` and looting and rioting and punks like what we ’ re seeing with Antifa and , I think , that is what the country is calling for and we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mayor of D.C. didn ’ t put a curfew in until 11 p.m. '' Walz , a Green Beret and veteran of the Afghanistan War , added that the area around the White House `` looks like a war zone ...
I fought all over the world .
It looks like some of the war zones I have been in . ''
TRUMP SIGNS SOCIAL MEDIA EXECUTIVE ORDER THAT CALLS FOR REMOVAL OF LIABILITY PROTECTIONS OVER 'CENSORING' Walz spoke shortly before President Trump unloaded on governors in a phone call over their response @ @ @ @ @ @ @ following the May 25 death of Floyd , calling the state leaders “ weak ” and urging them to `` dominate '' the demonstrators .
“ Most of you are weak , ” Trump said .
“ You have to arrest people.
” “ You have to dominate , if you do n't dominate you 're wasting your time , ” he said , according to a senior staffer in a governor ’ s office who was listening to the call .
“ They 're going to run over you , you 're @ @ @ @ @ @ @ jerks .
You have to dominate.
” The president also promised to “ clamp down ” on protests that have ravaged parts of D.C. over the past three nights .
“ You ’ ve got to arrest people , you have to track people , you have to put them in jail for 10 years and you ’ ll never see this stuff again , ” said Trump .
“ We ’ re doing it in Washington , D.C. We ’ re going to do something that people haven ’ t seen before.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Philadelphia and Los Angeles to take similar measures .
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP Waltz suggested that local elected leaders are `` telling the police to let the rioters vent their rage . ''
`` The National Guard is there in support of that and following that guidance , '' he said .
`` I do n't think that 's what America wants to see anymore : burning police cars , burning churches , destroying businesses that have already suffered from COVID .
That is not what this country is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ protest . ''
The lawmaker added that the federal government and the FBI should be focused on `` taking down Antifa . ''
The National Guard has activated an estimated 16,000 troops to help quell the riots that have broken out in major cities over the death of Floyd .
An addition 46,000 troops had already been mobilized to aid the coronavirus fight .

Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., told “America’s Newsroom” on Monday that state and local elected officials must “start taking a tougher stance” against the riots erupting in the midst of protests over the death of George Floyd.
“These mayors and these local elected leaders need to start getting tough and drawing the distinction between peaceful protests," Walz said, "and looting and rioting and punks like what we’re seeing with Antifa and, I think, that is what the country is calling for and we had a situation last night when the mayor of D.C. didn’t put a curfew in until 11 p.m."
Walz, a Green Beret and veteran of the Afghanistan War, added that the area around the White House "looks like a war zone ... I fought all over the world. It looks like some of the war zones I have been in."
TRUMP SIGNS SOCIAL MEDIA EXECUTIVE ORDER THAT CALLS FOR REMOVAL OF LIABILITY PROTECTIONS OVER 'CENSORING'
Walz spoke shortly before President Trump unloaded on governors in a phone call over their response to protests and riots across the country following the May 25 death of Floyd, calling the state leaders “weak” and urging them to "dominate" the demonstrators.
“Most of you are weak,” Trump said. “You have to arrest people.”
“You have to dominate, if you don't dominate you're wasting your time,” he said, according to a senior staffer in a governor’s office who was listening to the call. “They're going to run over you, you're going to look like a bunch of jerks. You have to dominate.”
The president also promised to “clamp down” on protests that have ravaged parts of D.C. over the past three nights.
“You’ve got to arrest people, you have to track people, you have to put them in jail for 10 years and you’ll never see this stuff again,” said Trump. “We’re doing it in Washington, D.C. We’re going to do something that people haven’t seen before.”
He urged cities like New York, Philadelphia and Los Angeles to take similar measures.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP
Waltz suggested that local elected leaders are "telling the police to let the rioters vent their rage."
"The National Guard is there in support of that and following that guidance," he said. "I don't think that's what America wants to see anymore: burning police cars, burning churches, destroying businesses that have already suffered from COVID. That is not what this country is all about, that is not peaceful protest."
The lawmaker added that the federal government and the FBI should be focused on "taking down Antifa."
The National Guard has activated an estimated 16,000 troops to help quell the riots that have broken out in major cities over the death of Floyd. An addition 46,000 troops had already been mobilized to aid the coronavirus fight.


foxnews--2020-06-01--MLB players offer 114-game season, no more $ cuts

Major League Baseball players ignored claims by clubs that they need to take additional pay cuts , instead proposing they receive a far higher percentage of salaries and a commit to a longer schedule as part of a counteroffer to start the coronavirus-delayed season .
Players proposed a 114-game regular season Sunday , up from 82 in management ’ s offer , a person familiar with the plan told The Associated Press .
Done that way , the World Series could extend past Thanksgiving .
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM The person spoke on condition of anonymity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day would be June 30 and the regular season would end Oct. 31 , nearly five weeks after the Sept. 27 conclusion that MLB ’ s proposal stuck to from the season ’ s original schedule .
The union offered scheduling flexibility to include more doubleheaders as baseball crams the games into 123 days , leaving little room for days off .
MLB ’ s proposal Tuesday would lower 2020 salaries from about $ 4 billion to approximately $ 1.2 billion .
The union ’ s offer would have salaries total about $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to MLB during an 80-minute digital meeting among Commissioner Rob Manfred , deputy commissioner Dan Halem , union head Tony Clark and union chief negotiator Bruce Meyer .
The meeting was contentious , a person familiar with it said .
Like MLB , the union would increase postseason teams from 10 to 14 .
But unlike MLB , the players ’ proposal would extend the postseason about a month past its usual end .
MLB has said it is worried about a second wave of the coronavirus in the autumn .
While management @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the union offered it for this year and next .
Players proposed new events that could increase revenue , such as a postseason or offseason All-Star Game and/or Home Run Derby , to wear broadcast microphones on the field and participate in television programming away from ballparks .
They also asked for $ 100 million more in salary to be advanced during the resumption of spring training .
A player would receive about 70 % of his salary , or 114/162nds , under the union plan .
The union and MLB agreed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shares of salaries , part of the deal in which if the season is scrapped each player was guaranteed service time for 2020 matching what the player earned in 2019 .
The union also was guaranteed $ 170 million in salary advances .
While the union says salaries were dealt with then , that agreement covered only games in regular-season ballparks and with fans .
The deal called for “ good faith ” negotiations for games without fans or at neutral sites .
MLB told the union that players would get 89 % @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prorated salaries and clubs would combine to lose $ 640,000 for each additional game .
The union has questioned the accounting .
MLB ’ s offer called for spring training to resume in mid-June and for the season to start around the Fourth of July .
The club proposal would take the prorated salaries and reduce them again in a sliding scale .
Those at the $ 563,500 minimum would get about 47 % and those at the top -- led by Mike Trout and Gerrit Cole at $ 36 million -- would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proposed $ 200 million of salaries would be contingent on the postseason ’ s completion .
All players would have the right to opt out of the season under the union plan .
Those who meet qualifications for high risk or reside with a person who qualifies as high risk would receive salary and major league service .
Others who opt out would receive major league service time but no salary .
If the postseason is not held because of a second wave , the union plan calls for $ 100 million in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ payable in November 2021 and November 2022 .
Only players whose original 2020 salaries were $ 10 million or more would be subject to having money deferred .
The union estimates high-payroll teams would have up to $ 7 million in payroll relief , the person said .

Major League Baseball players ignored claims by clubs that they need to take additional pay cuts, instead proposing they receive a far higher percentage of salaries and a commit to a longer schedule as part of a counteroffer to start the coronavirus-delayed season.
Players proposed a 114-game regular season Sunday, up from 82 in management’s offer, a person familiar with the plan told The Associated Press. Done that way, the World Series could extend past Thanksgiving.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no details were announced.
Opening day would be June 30 and the regular season would end Oct. 31, nearly five weeks after the Sept. 27 conclusion that MLB’s proposal stuck to from the season’s original schedule. The union offered scheduling flexibility to include more doubleheaders as baseball crams the games into 123 days, leaving little room for days off.
MLB’s proposal Tuesday would lower 2020 salaries from about $4 billion to approximately $1.2 billion. The union’s offer would have salaries total about $2.8 billion.
The plan was given to MLB during an 80-minute digital meeting among Commissioner Rob Manfred, deputy commissioner Dan Halem, union head Tony Clark and union chief negotiator Bruce Meyer. The meeting was contentious, a person familiar with it said.
Like MLB, the union would increase postseason teams from 10 to 14. But unlike MLB, the players’ proposal would extend the postseason about a month past its usual end. MLB has said it is worried about a second wave of the coronavirus in the autumn.
While management proposed an expanded postseason for 2020 only, the union offered it for this year and next.
Players proposed new events that could increase revenue, such as a postseason or offseason All-Star Game and/or Home Run Derby, to wear broadcast microphones on the field and participate in television programming away from ballparks.
They also asked for $100 million more in salary to be advanced during the resumption of spring training.
A player would receive about 70% of his salary, or 114/162nds, under the union plan.
The union and MLB agreed March 26 that players would receive prorated shares of salaries, part of the deal in which if the season is scrapped each player was guaranteed service time for 2020 matching what the player earned in 2019. The union also was guaranteed $170 million in salary advances.
While the union says salaries were dealt with then, that agreement covered only games in regular-season ballparks and with fans. The deal called for “good faith” negotiations for games without fans or at neutral sites.
MLB told the union that players would get 89% of revenue in an 82-game schedule with prorated salaries and clubs would combine to lose $640,000 for each additional game. The union has questioned the accounting.
MLB’s offer called for spring training to resume in mid-June and for the season to start around the Fourth of July. The club proposal would take the prorated salaries and reduce them again in a sliding scale. Those at the $563,500 minimum would get about 47% and those at the top -- led by Mike Trout and Gerrit Cole at $36 million -- would receive less than 23%. Management proposed $200 million of salaries would be contingent on the postseason’s completion.
All players would have the right to opt out of the season under the union plan. Those who meet qualifications for high risk or reside with a person who qualifies as high risk would receive salary and major league service. Others who opt out would receive major league service time but no salary.
If the postseason is not held because of a second wave, the union plan calls for $100 million in salary to be deferred with interest, payable in November 2021 and November 2022. Only players whose original 2020 salaries were $10 million or more would be subject to having money deferred.
The union estimates high-payroll teams would have up to $7 million in payroll relief, the person said.


foxnews--2020-06-01--Historic Minneapolis restaurant burned down by rioters just days before reopening: 'It's really emot

Historic Minneapolis restaurant burned down by rioters just days before reopening: 'It's really emotional'

The owners of a historic restaurant in Minneapolis that was burned down by rioters told “ Fox & Friends ” on Monday that seeing the damage was “ really emotional.
” Charles Stotts and Kacey White , the owners of Town Talk Diner & Gastropub , said their restaurant was burned down three days before it was set to reopen for outdoor service after months of being closed due to coronavirus .
“ We first got a call on Thursday morning that one of our employees had biked down to see if everything was OK and she called us to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ broken out and the fire suppression system was on and it was a mess , ” Stotts explained .
CONCERNS ABOUT NEW WAVE OF CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAKS AFTER PROTESTS “ So we went down and we saw it and called the emergency restoration company to come and try to clean up what we could .
Later on that day , they put some lumber over the windows because they were blown out.
” He went on to say that around 4:30 in the morning he and his wife Kacey “ got a phone call @ @ @ @ @ @ @ real quick , so we tuned into the TV and you could see that it was our building that was set on fire.
” As she held back tears , White said once the area was secure and safe she and her husband went to the restaurant to see the damage .
“ To actually see the historic sign in the rubble , it ’ s really emotional , ” she said .
Chaos broke out in many cities across the nation over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin held his knee on the man ’ s neck .
Floyd screamed for help and later died in a hospital .
Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter , authorities said Friday .
White said insurance will cover part of the cost to rebuild , adding that “ that ’ s just a drop in the bucket for everything that ’ s lost.
” “ We ’ ve been shut down now for months because of COVID and now how much longer are we out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ White went on to say that insurance “ doesn ’ t cover the bond , the spot that the neighbors keep going to day after day.
” “ We have a team that was looking and excited to be back at work … today now that we could have opened for patio service , ” she continued .
“ That team doesn ’ t have jobs anymore and that location will never get back , so insurance doesn ’ t cover all of that.
” CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disconnect between a peaceful , meaningful protest that keeps George Floyd ’ s name in everybody ’ s mind and the reason that we ’ re all talking about this , destruction of a community , its brick and mortars , its businesses , that will be the disconnect that will have me confused for days .
”

The owners of a historic restaurant in Minneapolis that was burned down by rioters told “Fox & Friends” on Monday that seeing the damage was “really emotional.”
Charles Stotts and Kacey White, the owners of Town Talk Diner & Gastropub, said their restaurant was burned down three days before it was set to reopen for outdoor service after months of being closed due to coronavirus.
“We first got a call on Thursday morning that one of our employees had biked down to see if everything was OK and she called us to let us know that the windows were broken out and the fire suppression system was on and it was a mess,” Stotts explained.
CONCERNS ABOUT NEW WAVE OF CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAKS AFTER PROTESTS
“So we went down and we saw it and called the emergency restoration company to come and try to clean up what we could. Later on that day, they put some lumber over the windows because they were blown out.”
He went on to say that around 4:30 in the morning he and his wife Kacey “got a phone call telling us to tune into the TV real quick, so we tuned into the TV and you could see that it was our building that was set on fire.”
As she held back tears, White said once the area was secure and safe she and her husband went to the restaurant to see the damage.
“To actually see the historic sign in the rubble, it’s really emotional,” she said.
Chaos broke out in many cities across the nation over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. Video showed Floyd was in custody when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin held his knee on the man’s neck. Floyd screamed for help and later died in a hospital. Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, authorities said Friday.
White said insurance will cover part of the cost to rebuild, adding that “that’s just a drop in the bucket for everything that’s lost.”
“We’ve been shut down now for months because of COVID and now how much longer are we out of work,” she said.
White went on to say that insurance “doesn’t cover the bond, the spot that the neighbors keep going to day after day.”
“We have a team that was looking and excited to be back at work … today now that we could have opened for patio service,” she continued. “That team doesn’t have jobs anymore and that location will never get back, so insurance doesn’t cover all of that.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Stotts noted that there is a “disconnect between a peaceful, meaningful protest that keeps George Floyd’s name in everybody’s mind and the reason that we’re all talking about this, destruction of a community, its brick and mortars, its businesses, that will be the disconnect that will have me confused for days.”


foxnews--2020-06-01--Nationals change course, pay minor leaguers full stipend

The Nationals changed course and told their minor leaguers on Monday they will receive their full weekly stipends of $ 400 at least through June after Washington reliever Sean Doolittle tweeted that the team ’ s major league players would cover a planned cut in those payments .
Doolittle wrote on Twitter that Nationals major leaguers held a video conference call after The Athletic reported Sunday the club would be releasing more than two dozen minor league players and reducing stipends for players in the minors from $ 400 to $ 300 per week .
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by the Nationals to players in the minors and forwarded Monday to The Associated Press reads : “ Upon further internal discussion , you will receive your full stipend of $ 400 per week through the month of June .
We will consider future payments on a month to month basis .
Thank you !
” It ’ s not unusual for big league teams to release minor leaguers at this time of year , although not normally this many .
More than 400 young players have been cut with the minor league @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Minor league players not on 40-man rosters were promised $ 400 per week through Sunday by a policy drafted by MLB .
Including Washington 's switch , now at least 16 teams have promised to extend those allowances through the end of this month .
After the report about Washington ’ s reduction in that stipend , Doolittle wrote Sunday night that Nationals major leaguers decided unanimously that they “ will be coming together and committing funds to make whole the lost wages.
” “ All of us were minor leaguers at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know how important the weekly stipends are for them and their families during these uncertain times , ” Doolittle wrote .
“ Minor leaguers are an essential part of our organization and they are bearing the heaviest burden of this situation as their season is likely to be cancelled .
”

The Nationals changed course and told their minor leaguers on Monday they will receive their full weekly stipends of $400 at least through June after Washington reliever Sean Doolittle tweeted that the team’s major league players would cover a planned cut in those payments.
Doolittle wrote on Twitter that Nationals major leaguers held a video conference call after The Athletic reported Sunday the club would be releasing more than two dozen minor league players and reducing stipends for players in the minors from $400 to $300 per week.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
A text message sent by the Nationals to players in the minors and forwarded Monday to The Associated Press reads: “Upon further internal discussion, you will receive your full stipend of $400 per week through the month of June. We will consider future payments on a month to month basis. Thank you!”
It’s not unusual for big league teams to release minor leaguers at this time of year, although not normally this many. More than 400 young players have been cut with the minor league season in doubt amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
Minor league players not on 40-man rosters were promised $400 per week through Sunday by a policy drafted by MLB. Including Washington's switch, now at least 16 teams have promised to extend those allowances through the end of this month.
After the report about Washington’s reduction in that stipend, Doolittle wrote Sunday night that Nationals major leaguers decided unanimously that they “will be coming together and committing funds to make whole the lost wages.”
“All of us were minor leaguers at one point in our careers and we know how important the weekly stipends are for them and their families during these uncertain times,” Doolittle wrote. “Minor leaguers are an essential part of our organization and they are bearing the heaviest burden of this situation as their season is likely to be cancelled.”