ezorigin--2020-02-03--Monday Sunrise Briefs: As Iowa votes, why Democrats call for unity

Calls for party unity came from Democratic candidates in Iowa this weekend .
The field is still crowded , but they don ’ t want to repeat the disunity that some say cost them the 2016 election .
Expect unity to be a continuing theme right through the Democratic Party national convention in July .
The four candidates now leading the polls - Joe Biden , Bernie Sanders , Elizabeth Warren , and Pete Buttigieg - represent both the progressive , liberal wing of the party and the more establishment , centrist wing .
Monday ’ s Iowa caucuses could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voters want a centrist candidate , who has “ a better chance ” of beating Trump , or a liberal candidate who truly represents the party ’ s core values .
2 .
Fear can slow the global economy .
Economists are now warning - and health officials agree - that some attempts to protect the public from the coronavirus in China may be ineffective and economically damaging .
The Shanghai stock index tumbled 8 percent Monday .
“ When you stop planes and ships , trains and motor vehicles from moving , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — and that can have a cascading effect throughout society , ” Dr. Eric Toner at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security , said Saturday .
“ Out of an abundance of caution , ” Apple Inc. announced Saturday that it was temporarily closing all of its 42 stores in China .
Google , Amazon , and Microsoft already have said they will temporarily shutter offices , and Starbucks and McDonald 's have closed some outlets .
Multiple airlines have announced that they would suspend flights to and from China , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ imposed travel restrictions .
But World Health Organization Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said such restrictions can “ cause more harm than good by hindering info-sharing , medical supply chains , and harming economies.
” 3 .
A true shift in leadership ?
Iraq ’ s ruling parties selected a new prime minister Saturday but it remains to be seen if street protesters will accept him .
Mohammed Allawi pledged to form a representative government , hold early parliamentary elections , and ensure justice for protest-related violence – all key demands of protesters .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ powerful Shiite cleric , Muqtada al-Sadr .
The cleric recently staged an anti-U.S. rally that brought tens of thousands to the street .
“ The groups we call pro-Iranian ... are taking a backseat now as al-Sadr emerges as more active in shaping the new government , ” Harith Hasan , a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center , told the Associated Press .
More than 480 people have died and nearly 30,000 have been wounded in violent protests since October .
Democracy waypoints : The Iowa caucuses should provide our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Democratic presidential primary race .
State of the Union : In his annual speech before the U.S. Congress , President Trump will highlight the strong economy , new trade agreements , tighter immigration rules .
and lower prescription drug costs , say White House officials .
Impeachment trial ends : Most analysts expect President Trump has the Senate votes to be acquitted of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress charges .
Last call before the N.H. primary : Seven Democratic candidates have qualified to square off in an ABC-TV debate at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the New Hampshire primary vote .
It 's the first of three TV debates between Democratic candidates in February .
Irish leadership vote : Parliamentary elections are scheduled with Prime Minister Leo Varadkar ’ s Fine Gael party and the center-right Fianna Fail closely matched in opinion polls .
Brexit ( i.e .
trade with Europe ) , the economy , health care , and affordable housing are key issues .
A Super Bowl party with a higher purpose .
Meir Kalmanson invited four homeless guys to a friend ’ s Super Bowl @ @ @ @ @ @ @ video of it .
That simple idea multiplied into 20 “ Super Soul Parties ” for the homeless yesterday ( Sunday ) in 20 U.S. cities .
A Orthodox Jew and vlogger known as “ Meir Kay , ” Kalmanson makes “ positivity ” videos , including one where he gave kids a dollar and asked them to choose between buying ice cream or giving it to someone who is homeless .
The New York Jewish Week describes Kalmanson as “ a YouTuber , social media influencer , storyteller and prankster extraordinaire .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ million views and have been translated into several foreign languages .
His fan base of over 1 million followers spans the globe , from Libya to the Philippines and Australia.
” On Super Bowl Sunday , his mission was to build connections and empathy for people without a roof .
It ’ s about giving a higher purpose for a national `` holiday '' that has become almost as iconic in America as Thanksgiving .
`` Ultimately , the mission of the Super Bowl party is less about the party , '' Kalmanson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the stage for human beings to come together , put ... aside our differences , our struggles or challenges , and connect on a human level to show love , compassion . ''
Start your week with a recent video story that inspired Monitor readers : Can diversity be ‘ too much of a good thing ’ ?
More Americans wonder .
In tonight ’ s Daily Edition , watch for our story about the Iowa county that went from Obama to Trump in 2016 .
Will they stay with Trump in 2020 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s five selected stories from Friday 's subscription-only Daily Edition : • Suspense-free impeachment may reverberate for years to come • Why the black mayor of this Iowa city endorsed Buttigieg • Why facts matter on both sides of the abortion debate • Behold the xenobots – part frog , part robot .
But are they alive ?
This is a beta test - an experiment with an early Monday morning news update .
Please give us your feedback via the link below and let us know what you think .
Thank @ @

Calls for party unity came from Democratic candidates in Iowa this weekend. The field is still crowded, but they don’t want to repeat the disunity that some say cost them the 2016 election. Expect unity to be a continuing theme right through the Democratic Party national convention in July. The four candidates now leading the polls - Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Pete Buttigieg - represent both the progressive, liberal wing of the party and the more establishment, centrist wing. Monday’s Iowa caucuses could offer the first test of whether Democratic voters want a centrist candidate, who has “a better chance” of beating Trump, or a liberal candidate who truly represents the party’s core values.
2. Fear can slow the global economy. Economists are now warning - and health officials agree - that some attempts to protect the public from the coronavirus in China may be ineffective and economically damaging. The Shanghai stock index tumbled 8 percent Monday. “When you stop planes and ships, trains and motor vehicles from moving, it starts to shut down the economy — and that can have a cascading effect throughout society,” Dr. Eric Toner at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said Saturday. “Out of an abundance of caution,” Apple Inc. announced Saturday that it was temporarily closing all of its 42 stores in China. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft already have said they will temporarily shutter offices, and Starbucks and McDonald's have closed some outlets. Multiple airlines have announced that they would suspend flights to and from China, and several countries, including the U.S., imposed travel restrictions.
But World Health Organization Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said such restrictions can “cause more harm than good by hindering info-sharing, medical supply chains, and harming economies.”
Why We Wrote This Good morning! Welcome to your Monday, Feb. 3, 2020, sunrise briefing. Here are three news events from this past weekend (while you may have been trying a new recipe, learning to salsa, and enjoying an offline life). Also, what to look for in the news this week.
3. A true shift in leadership? Iraq’s ruling parties selected a new prime minister Saturday but it remains to be seen if street protesters will accept him. Mohammed Allawi pledged to form a representative government, hold early parliamentary elections, and ensure justice for protest-related violence – all key demands of protesters. Mr. Allawi has the backing of the powerful Shiite cleric, Muqtada al-Sadr. The cleric recently staged an anti-U.S. rally that brought tens of thousands to the street. “The groups we call pro-Iranian ... are taking a backseat now as al-Sadr emerges as more active in shaping the new government,” Harith Hasan, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, told the Associated Press. More than 480 people have died and nearly 30,000 have been wounded in violent protests since October.
AP Photo/Mark Humphrey View caption Hide caption Kansas City Chiefs' Khalen Saunders gives thanks after the Chiefs won the NFL Super Bowl 31-20 against the San Francisco 49ers Sunday, Feb. 2, 2020, in Miami Gardens, Fla.
Look Ahead
Monday, Feb. 3.
Democracy waypoints: The Iowa caucuses should provide our first voter ballots and official feedback on the Democratic presidential primary race.
Tuesday, Feb. 4
State of the Union: In his annual speech before the U.S. Congress, President Trump will highlight the strong economy, new trade agreements, tighter immigration rules. and lower prescription drug costs, say White House officials.
Wednesday, Feb. 5
Impeachment trial ends: Most analysts expect President Trump has the Senate votes to be acquitted of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress charges.
Friday, Feb. 7
Last call before the N.H. primary: Seven Democratic candidates have qualified to square off in an ABC-TV debate at 8 p.m., just four days before the New Hampshire primary vote. It's the first of three TV debates between Democratic candidates in February.
Saturday, Feb. 8.
Irish leadership vote: Parliamentary elections are scheduled with Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s Fine Gael party and the center-right Fianna Fail closely matched in opinion polls. Brexit (i.e. trade with Europe), the economy, health care, and affordable housing are key issues.
Generosity Watch
Meir Kalmanson/YouTube View caption Hide caption Meir Kalmanson (right) with four homeless men he invited to a Super Bowl Party in New York City in 2017.
A Super Bowl party with a higher purpose. Meir Kalmanson invited four homeless guys to a friend’s Super Bowl party in 2017 - and made a video of it. That simple idea multiplied into 20 “Super Soul Parties” for the homeless yesterday (Sunday) in 20 U.S. cities.
A Orthodox Jew and vlogger known as “Meir Kay,” Kalmanson makes “positivity” videos, including one where he gave kids a dollar and asked them to choose between buying ice cream or giving it to someone who is homeless. The New York Jewish Week describes Kalmanson as “a YouTuber, social media influencer, storyteller and prankster extraordinaire. His videos have received more than 350 million views and have been translated into several foreign languages. His fan base of over 1 million followers spans the globe, from Libya to the Philippines and Australia.”
On Super Bowl Sunday, his mission was to build connections and empathy for people without a roof. It’s about giving a higher purpose for a national "holiday" that has become almost as iconic in America as Thanksgiving. "Ultimately, the mission of the Super Bowl party is less about the party," Kalmanson told CNN. "It is just the stage for human beings to come together, put ... aside our differences, our struggles or challenges, and connect on a human level to show love, compassion."
Hidden gem
Start your week with a recent video story that inspired Monitor readers:
Can diversity be ‘too much of a good thing’? More Americans wonder.
Sneak preview
In tonight’s Daily Edition, watch for our story about the Iowa county that went from Obama to Trump in 2016. Will they stay with Trump in 2020?
Get stories that
empower and uplift daily. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads.
Finally, check out the Monitor’s five selected stories from Friday's subscription-only Daily Edition:
This is a beta test - an experiment with an early Monday morning news update. Please give us your feedback via the link below and let us know what you think. Thank you!


ezorigin--2020-04-06--‘The doctor won’t see you now.’ Rethinking health care delivery in a crisis.

“ If there is one positive aspect , this crisis is proving that reforming healthcare doesn ’ t necessarily take decades .
It ’ s just a matter of will , ” says Nicola Draoli , an Italian nurse .
Hospitals and clinics are also ramping up telemedicine , out of necessity , amid a pandemic that requires social distancing and has put huge strain on health care resources .
This pivot has drawn attention to telemedicine as a longer-term solution that could help overcome , at least in some aspects of medicine , the shortfalls in medical staff in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In Washington state , Gov .
Jay Inslee last week told recent medical retirees and qualified students , “ Like Uncle Sam , we want you !
” Long before COVID-19 hit the headlines , health care systems across Europe and the U.S. had been struggling to plug recruitment gaps , particularly in their nursing ranks .
Now that shortfall has become a crisis , leading to a call-up of recent retirees and new graduates to support front-line staff treating patients .
Veteran Seattle nurse Carolyn Grant had just finished kicking off @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when she got a text from her old boss : Would Ms. Grant come out of retirement to help the medical center ’ s COVID-19 testing program ?
That night , she said yes .
In Germany , where “ not a single hospital has enough staff , ” says a Berlin ICU nurse , the government is calling medical students to action , and dissolving bureaucratic hurdles so hospitals can mobilize more medical workers .
In Italy , which has seen the world ’ s highest coronavirus death toll , the government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back to work , and allocated funding to hire 20,000 more health professionals .
Editor ’ s note : As a public service , all our coronavirus coverage is free .
No paywall .
Chronic worker shortages can be patchworked during normal times , but as the COVID-19 pandemic slams medical systems around the globe , having the right personnel can mean the difference between life and death .
Administrators are rehiring retired professionals , tapping medical students before they even graduate , and turning to the military and volunteers to supplement a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crisis was coming up short .
“ It is like we have a blanket that is too short and everyone is trying to pull it to his side , ” says Nicola Draoli , an Italian nurse .
From Berlin to Seattle , hospitals and clinics are also ramping up telehealth options , which in a few weeks have been overcoming medical , bureaucratic , and consumer resistance that had stymied advocates for years .
As COVID-19 brings waves of patients through hospital and clinic doors , health care systems are turning to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forward .
“ If there is one positive aspect , this crisis is proving that reforming health care doesn ’ t necessarily take decades .
It ’ s just a matter of will , ” says Mr. Draoli , a member of the central committee of Italy ’ s national federation of nursing .
In Berlin , a nurse in an intensive care unit who prefers to be called Nico because he ’ s not authorized to speak to the news media loves working with patients , and the undersupply of nurses means @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I could work at any hospital or any ICU in Germany , ” he says .
But the shortage has downsides : The hospital had closed a quarter of its ICU beds over the last two years due to lack of staff .
Nico was constantly on call to pick up extra shifts , and also needed to clean patient rooms and tidy pharmacies due to a shortage of assistants .
Over the years , Nico has seen colleagues vote with their feet .
“ The workload is so heavy , ” he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hospital is prepping for the COVID-19 crisis by adding ICU beds and training non-ICU staff .
Administrators are also preparing to hire medical students , who now have government-mandated flexibility for education , training , and licensing requirements .
“ We ’ re waiting for the big wave of patients , expecting it to hit in late April , ” says Nico .
Germany is currently facing a shortage of 70,000 nurses in hospitals alone , according to Verdi , a German trade union .
“ We ’ ve lost 300,000 health care @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says Stefan Sell , a professor of economics and social policy at the University of Koblenz .
“ And the younger generation is very small , and young people go into other jobs.
” The situation is no better in other developed countries .
Italy is currently short about 53,000 nurses , estimates Mr. Draoli of the nursing federation .
The United Kingdom ’ s National Health Service is missing about 100,000 health care workers of all kinds , and the United States needs to recruit at least 200,000 more registered nurses each @ @ @ @ @ @ @ need more elder and long-term care .
The main reasons are high turnover and not enough new nursing graduates entering the workforce in wealthy countries .
Sociocultural factors also come into play ; most health care workers are women , who are more likely to take part-time shifts because of child care requirements , says Dr. Sell , meaning you need more hires to provide full-time coverage .
Put simply , the job isn ’ t attractive enough , as pay for nursing and medical assistant work hasn ’ t remained competitive .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ care salaries have declined from roughly 40 % of the country ’ s annual public health budget two decades ago , to less than a third today .
“ In the U.K. , we have a lot of vacancies that remain unfilled , ” says Dr. Rocco Friebel , a London School of Economics health policy professor .
“ Working conditions are poor .
It ’ s a very high-pressure job.
” Staffing projections worldwide are sobering .
By 2030 , countries in North , Central and South America are expected to face @ @ @ @ @ @ @ doctors , nurses , and other workers , with Europe ’ s shortfall at around 1.4 million , according to a 2017 study by medical researchers .
Governments in the U.S. and Europe have attempted to tackle shortages by shifting workloads , digitizing services , providing funding to create elder care positions , and looking at worker wage increases , among other initiatives .
“ In the U.K. , we ’ ve seen a push to employ clinical assistants , who can do bookkeeping and a lot of the day-to-day tasks , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ take care of the most severe cases , ” says Dr. Friebel .
But the main strategy in wealthy nations is to fill their ranks with foreign nurses and health care workers .
The German government is working with Kosovo , Mexico , and the Philippines to integrate workers into its health care system .
In the U.K. , the National Health Service has long tapped European Union nationals , especially those from Poland and other Eastern European countries , to fill jobs .
That ’ s only a partial solution , says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in part because of the competition .
“ A lot of other countries such as the Netherlands , France , and Switzerland are also trying to get people from Russia , Ukraine , and other countries , ” he says .
Also , he points out , many potential migrants don ’ t speak the adopted country ’ s language .
“ Ultimately , we have to get additional staff from our [ home ] labor force , ” says Dr. Sell .
“ That will require a multidimensional strategy such as improving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
A shortage that will take decades to solve feels acute in the face of a pandemic .
In the U.S. , top officials are crying out for medical volunteers of all stripes .
In New York , more than 50,000 health care workers have answered Gov .
Andrew Cuomo ’ s pleas .
In California , a newly created health corps to expand the workforce has garnered more than 70,000 registrations from “ underemployed ” medical professionals of all stripes .
In Washington state , Gov .
Jay Inslee last week told @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Like Uncle Sam , we want you !
” Another infusion of medical manpower is coming from the U.S. military .
Three hundred soldiers from an Army unit in Fort Carson , Colorado , arrived in Seattle last week to set up a 250-bed hospital inside the Seattle Seahawks ’ football stadium , and a Navy hospital ship has docked in New York City .
By caring for patients without COVID-19 , they can free up local hospital beds for those who have the virus .
Health care workers are also being @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re redeployed to other units , such as from transplant ICUs to respiratory care .
Italy ’ s worst-hit regions like Lombardy are also tapping another strategy : emphasizing primary-care monitoring and home care rather than hospital admissions .
“ Hospitals have always seen too many people that don ’ t belong in the hospital , ” says Dr. Friebel , the analyst .
As Italian doctors have discovered by necessity , initial screenings of suspected COVID-19 patients can be done without a physical visit .
“ It turns out that a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ [ COVID-19 ] patients – the mild cases – is about asking questions about symptoms , ” says Joseph Kvedar , a Harvard Medical School professor and incoming president of the American Telemedicine Association .
“ It ’ s a perfect setup for [ telehealth ] technology.
” Advocates of telemedicine say many health care needs can , in fact , be serviced without stepping foot into an office , clinic , or hospital .
Inquiries from U.S. clinicians about telehealth have skyrocketed , Dr. Kvedar says , at the same time that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ requirements for licensing across state borders and privacy issues around technology .
They ’ re also reexamining what ’ s defined as a “ visit ” for insurance purposes .
“ There ’ s been a staggering amount of creativity and collaboration , ” says Dr. Charlotte Wu , a physician and founder of Harness Health Partners , a Boston-based consultancy .
“ We ’ re seeing an increased acceptance of virtual medicine , leveraging the skills of diverse team members , and collaborating across institutions – who were traditionally competitors.
” At @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , counselors are now offering mental health care by phone and video apps such as Zoom and Doxy.me .
“ We can accept consent via telephone versus in writing ” in treating substance use disorders , says Michael Byun , who runs the nonprofit .
COVID-19 is spurring innovations that might eventually pave the way for routine remote-monitoring of chronic illnesses .
The possibilities are legion .
Seventy percent of U.S. health care costs go to treating health conditions like high blood pressure or high cholesterol that are attributed to or worsened by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ poor eating habits ; they can be followed by a virtual-care quick check-in , says Dr. Kvedar .
“ We don ’ t have enough people to deliver service one-to-one in a room at a time , ” says Dr. Kvedar .
“ There ’ s a lot of inefficiency in the way we deliver care .
When the dust settles , I hope we don ’ t go back to doing every single thing in the office.
” New technologies are also helping tackle staffing shortages .
Germany recently called on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and among the entries was a “ digital waiting room ” that vets a patient ’ s symptoms , and an app that rotates nurses more effectively .
Practitioners and researchers are also using artificial intelligence to help forecast disease spread , implement rapid-testing technologies , and develop new approaches to contact tracing .
Back in Seattle , the veteran nurse Ms. Grant has bid her short-lived retirement goodbye ; she ’ s now working 10- to 12-hour days , six days a week , managing COVID-19 testing sites .
Her day begins @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testers , as she leads a team of nurses at the University of Washington Medical Center – Northwest who were displaced from outpatient surgery centers and clinics .
Ms. Grant was part of a wave of nurses who entered the workforce during a severe nursing shortage in the U.S. during the 1980s .
“ Many people in that age bracket are exiting the workforce , ” she says , so it ’ s no surprise they ’ re being called back to fill the gaps they ’ ve left .
Ms. Grant feels @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to duty .
“ I am able to help this community at a difficult time.
” This story was reported by Monitor correspondent Lenora Chu in Berlin , staff writer Ann Scott Tyson in Seattle , contributor Daniela Sala in Rome , and contributor Austin Davis in Berlin .
Editor ’ s note : As a public service , all our coronavirus coverage is free .
No paywall .

“If there is one positive aspect, this crisis is proving that reforming healthcare doesn’t necessarily take decades. It’s just a matter of will,” says Nicola Draoli, an Italian nurse.
Hospitals and clinics are also ramping up telemedicine, out of necessity, amid a pandemic that requires social distancing and has put huge strain on health care resources. This pivot has drawn attention to telemedicine as a longer-term solution that could help overcome, at least in some aspects of medicine, the shortfalls in medical staff in rich aging societies like Italy and Germany.
Health care workers were already in short supply in many rich countries. But the coronavirus pandemic may yield new approaches to telemedicine and staff recruitment.
In Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee last week told recent medical retirees and qualified students, “Like Uncle Sam, we want you!”
Long before COVID-19 hit the headlines, health care systems across Europe and the U.S. had been struggling to plug recruitment gaps, particularly in their nursing ranks. Now that shortfall has become a crisis, leading to a call-up of recent retirees and new graduates to support front-line staff treating patients.
Veteran Seattle nurse Carolyn Grant had just finished kicking off her retirement with a trip to Hawaii when she got a text from her old boss: Would Ms. Grant come out of retirement to help the medical center’s COVID-19 testing program? That night, she said yes.
In Germany, where “not a single hospital has enough staff,” says a Berlin ICU nurse, the government is calling medical students to action, and dissolving bureaucratic hurdles so hospitals can mobilize more medical workers.
In Italy, which has seen the world’s highest coronavirus death toll, the government has asked recently retired doctors to come back to work, and allocated funding to hire 20,000 more health professionals.
Why We Wrote This Health care workers were already in short supply in many rich countries. But the coronavirus pandemic may yield new approaches to telemedicine and staff recruitment.
Editor’s note: As a public service, all our coronavirus coverage is free. No paywall.
Chronic worker shortages can be patchworked during normal times, but as the COVID-19 pandemic slams medical systems around the globe, having the right personnel can mean the difference between life and death. Administrators are rehiring retired professionals, tapping medical students before they even graduate, and turning to the military and volunteers to supplement a stretched workforce that even before the current crisis was coming up short.
“It is like we have a blanket that is too short and everyone is trying to pull it to his side,” says Nicola Draoli, an Italian nurse.
From Berlin to Seattle, hospitals and clinics are also ramping up telehealth options, which in a few weeks have been overcoming medical, bureaucratic, and consumer resistance that had stymied advocates for years. As COVID-19 brings waves of patients through hospital and clinic doors, health care systems are turning to solutions that might become increasingly attractive going forward.
“If there is one positive aspect, this crisis is proving that reforming health care doesn’t necessarily take decades. It’s just a matter of will,” says Mr. Draoli, a member of the central committee of Italy’s national federation of nursing.
In Berlin, a nurse in an intensive care unit who prefers to be called Nico because he’s not authorized to speak to the news media loves working with patients, and the undersupply of nurses means ironclad job stability. “I think I could work at any hospital or any ICU in Germany,” he says.
But the shortage has downsides: The hospital had closed a quarter of its ICU beds over the last two years due to lack of staff. Nico was constantly on call to pick up extra shifts, and also needed to clean patient rooms and tidy pharmacies due to a shortage of assistants. Over the years, Nico has seen colleagues vote with their feet. “The workload is so heavy,” he says.
Today, Nico’s hospital is prepping for the COVID-19 crisis by adding ICU beds and training non-ICU staff. Administrators are also preparing to hire medical students, who now have government-mandated flexibility for education, training, and licensing requirements.
“We’re waiting for the big wave of patients, expecting it to hit in late April,” says Nico.
A structural staff shortfall
Germany is currently facing a shortage of 70,000 nurses in hospitals alone, according to Verdi, a German trade union. “We’ve lost 300,000 health care workers each year to retirement,” says Stefan Sell, a professor of economics and social policy at the University of Koblenz. “And the younger generation is very small, and young people go into other jobs.”
The situation is no better in other developed countries. Italy is currently short about 53,000 nurses, estimates Mr. Draoli of the nursing federation. The United Kingdom’s National Health Service is missing about 100,000 health care workers of all kinds, and the United States needs to recruit at least 200,000 more registered nurses each year. All have aging populations that need more elder and long-term care.
The main reasons are high turnover and not enough new nursing graduates entering the workforce in wealthy countries. Sociocultural factors also come into play; most health care workers are women, who are more likely to take part-time shifts because of child care requirements, says Dr. Sell, meaning you need more hires to provide full-time coverage.
Put simply, the job isn’t attractive enough, as pay for nursing and medical assistant work hasn’t remained competitive. In Italy, for example, health care salaries have declined from roughly 40% of the country’s annual public health budget two decades ago, to less than a third today.
“In the U.K., we have a lot of vacancies that remain unfilled,” says Dr. Rocco Friebel, a London School of Economics health policy professor. “Working conditions are poor. It’s a very high-pressure job.”
Staffing projections worldwide are sobering. By 2030, countries in North, Central and South America are expected to face a combined shortage of roughly 2.5 million doctors, nurses, and other workers, with Europe’s shortfall at around 1.4 million, according to a 2017 study by medical researchers.
Recruiting foreign nurses
Governments in the U.S. and Europe have attempted to tackle shortages by shifting workloads, digitizing services, providing funding to create elder care positions, and looking at worker wage increases, among other initiatives.
“In the U.K., we’ve seen a push to employ clinical assistants, who can do bookkeeping and a lot of the day-to-day tasks, which then frees up fully qualified nurses to take care of the most severe cases,” says Dr. Friebel.
But the main strategy in wealthy nations is to fill their ranks with foreign nurses and health care workers. The German government is working with Kosovo, Mexico, and the Philippines to integrate workers into its health care system. In the U.K., the National Health Service has long tapped European Union nationals, especially those from Poland and other Eastern European countries, to fill jobs.
That’s only a partial solution, says Dr. Sell, the German economist, in part because of the competition. “A lot of other countries such as the Netherlands, France, and Switzerland are also trying to get people from Russia, Ukraine, and other countries,” he says. Also, he points out, many potential migrants don’t speak the adopted country’s language.
Recommended Why Georgia indictment could pose unique peril for Trump
“Ultimately, we have to get additional staff from our [home] labor force,” says Dr. Sell. “That will require a multidimensional strategy such as improving working conditions and education” for workers.
A turn to volunteers, telemedicine
A shortage that will take decades to solve feels acute in the face of a pandemic.
In the U.S., top officials are crying out for medical volunteers of all stripes. In New York, more than 50,000 health care workers have answered Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s pleas. In California, a newly created health corps to expand the workforce has garnered more than 70,000 registrations from “underemployed” medical professionals of all stripes.
In Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee last week told recent medical retirees and qualified students, “Like Uncle Sam, we want you!”
Another infusion of medical manpower is coming from the U.S. military. Three hundred soldiers from an Army unit in Fort Carson, Colorado, arrived in Seattle last week to set up a 250-bed hospital inside the Seattle Seahawks’ football stadium, and a Navy hospital ship has docked in New York City. By caring for patients without COVID-19, they can free up local hospital beds for those who have the virus.
Health care workers are also being asked to shift gears, as they’re redeployed to other units, such as from transplant ICUs to respiratory care.
Italy’s worst-hit regions like Lombardy are also tapping another strategy: emphasizing primary-care monitoring and home care rather than hospital admissions. “Hospitals have always seen too many people that don’t belong in the hospital,” says Dr. Friebel, the analyst.
As Italian doctors have discovered by necessity, initial screenings of suspected COVID-19 patients can be done without a physical visit.
“It turns out that a lot of both screening and follow-up of [COVID-19] patients – the mild cases – is about asking questions about symptoms,” says Joseph Kvedar, a Harvard Medical School professor and incoming president of the American Telemedicine Association. “It’s a perfect setup for [telehealth] technology.”
Advocates of telemedicine say many health care needs can, in fact, be serviced without stepping foot into an office, clinic, or hospital.
Inquiries from U.S. clinicians about telehealth have skyrocketed, Dr. Kvedar says, at the same time that states and the federal government are loosening requirements for licensing across state borders and privacy issues around technology. They’re also reexamining what’s defined as a “visit” for insurance purposes.
“There’s been a staggering amount of creativity and collaboration,” says Dr. Charlotte Wu, a physician and founder of Harness Health Partners, a Boston-based consultancy. “We’re seeing an increased acceptance of virtual medicine, leveraging the skills of diverse team members, and collaborating across institutions – who were traditionally competitors.”
Virtual care, digital fixes
At Asian Counseling and Referral Service in Seattle, counselors are now offering mental health care by phone and video apps such as Zoom and Doxy.me. “We can accept consent via telephone versus in writing” in treating substance use disorders, says Michael Byun, who runs the nonprofit.
COVID-19 is spurring innovations that might eventually pave the way for routine remote-monitoring of chronic illnesses. The possibilities are legion. Seventy percent of U.S. health care costs go to treating health conditions like high blood pressure or high cholesterol that are attributed to or worsened by smoking, lack of exercise, or poor eating habits; they can be followed by a virtual-care quick check-in, says Dr. Kvedar.
“We don’t have enough people to deliver service one-to-one in a room at a time,” says Dr. Kvedar. “There’s a lot of inefficiency in the way we deliver care. When the dust settles, I hope we don’t go back to doing every single thing in the office.”
New technologies are also helping tackle staffing shortages. Germany recently called on the public to suggest COVID-19 related innovations, and among the entries was a “digital waiting room” that vets a patient’s symptoms, and an app that rotates nurses more effectively. Practitioners and researchers are also using artificial intelligence to help forecast disease spread, implement rapid-testing technologies, and develop new approaches to contact tracing.
Back in Seattle, the veteran nurse Ms. Grant has bid her short-lived retirement goodbye; she’s now working 10- to 12-hour days, six days a week, managing COVID-19 testing sites. Her day begins early to ensure adequate supplies for the testers, as she leads a team of nurses at the University of Washington Medical Center – Northwest who were displaced from outpatient surgery centers and clinics.
Ms. Grant was part of a wave of nurses who entered the workforce during a severe nursing shortage in the U.S. during the 1980s. “Many people in that age bracket are exiting the workforce,” she says, so it’s no surprise they’re being called back to fill the gaps they’ve left. Ms. Grant feels a “loyalty” and a call to duty. “I am able to help this community at a difficult time.”
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This story was reported by Monitor correspondent Lenora Chu in Berlin, staff writer Ann Scott Tyson in Seattle, contributor Daniela Sala in Rome, and contributor Austin Davis in Berlin.
Editor’s note: As a public service, all our coronavirus coverage is free. No paywall.


ezorigin--2020-06-22--In Italy, a case for music to return to concert halls

Conducting a joyful Mozart motet , Riccardo Muti sent a resounding message Sunday night , that live classical music has returned to the Italian stage after the coronavirus lockdown .
A full summer festival program is planned in his adopted home of Ravenna , even as the musical outlook remains grim in the United States , where he also conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra .
The renowned conductor said the coronavirus had “ destroyed music , ” with shuttered venues depriving the world of “ spiritual food ” as it faced a pandemic that still threatens uncalculated economic repercussions beyond @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world wars , Mr. Muti noted , theaters stayed open to provide cultural relief except during the worst of the bombings .
“ In that sense , this virus was even more devastating than bombs , ” Mr. Muti told The Associated Press before the inaugural concert for the Ravenna Festival ’ s 30th anniversary season , in which he conducted the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra that he founded in 2004 .
The festival , founded by Mr. Muti 's wife , salvaged its season by scheduling its nearly 50 events in outdoor @ @ @ @ @ @ @ musicians at least a meter apart – challenging what Mr. Muti noted was the literal symphonic order of “ playing together.
” “ In the message of solidarity that I send to the entire cultural world , I give a signal from Ravenna , that at a certain point you can restart , you must restart , with caution and with care , ” said Mr. Muti , who has been at the helm of some of the world ’ s most famous theaters , including Milan ’ s La Scala and London @ @ @ @ @ @ @ U.S. , he won accolades leading the Philadelphia Orchestra in the 1980s and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 2010 .
“ You pay a high price for the absence of culture , ” he said .
The Ravenna Festival program , which runs through July , is another signal of the gradual reawakening of European classical music after strict closures to slow the spread of coronavirus .
In a sign of its symbolic importance , Italy ’ s Senate president and culture minister attended , along with the head of the UNESCO world @ @ @ @ @ @ @ small city of Ravenna ’ s outsized role in world history as a three-time ancient capital with eight protected monuments , and the final resting place of poet Dante Alighieri .
In other signs of cultural life , Mr. Muti conducted Cimarosa , Mozart , and Schubert earlier this month with the Vienna Philharmonic , with a full orchestra at a normal distance thanks to regular virus testing , while theaters in Florence and Venice have staged concerts with small audiences .
Milan ’ s La Scala will signal its re-emergence with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its official reopening in September .
After leading the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on a European tour in January , Mr. Muti spent Italy ’ s lockdown in Ravenna , studying for what is supposed to be the CSO ’ s September season-opening of Beethoven ’ s “ Missa solemnis.
” But the start of the season remains in question , as U.S. cultural landmarks like Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York and Philadelphia ’ s Kimmel Theater have announced their closure through the end of the year due to the virus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ easy to say : ‘ Close.
’ But ... there are thousands of people who no longer provide culture and spiritual food to the public , and who , at a certain point , won ’ t have even a salary to live on , ” Mr. Muti said .
Mr. Muti suggested that concerts could be held in Chicago ’ s Memorial Park , with 2,000 guests instead of the 30,000 capacity , and by first testing musicians for the virus and possibly sticking to a repertoire that limits the number of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the CSO 's season that was canceled , Mr. Muti was to have conducted in April a symphony by African American composer Florence Price , which the program said “ gives powerful voice to the African American experience.
” Mr. Muti , who has been watching the Black Lives Matters protests from afar , said classical music must do more to integrate people of color .
In Chicago , he works with the orchestra ’ s African American network to bring the local Black community to concerts and rehearsals , which has grown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he also recalls a 1991 concert he conducted in Philadelphia in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. , where for the “ first and only time I saw the Academy of Music filled 90 % with African Americans.
” “ My dream would be to have many more African Americans in orchestras , choruses , and in audiences , ” Mr. Muti said .
“ But this was also our own fault , by giving the sensation that our musical culture is a culture of an elite , a culture of superior people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is not true .
We must open our arms , as we have done and will continue to do in Chicago.
” This story was reported by The Associated Press .
Editor ’ s note : As a public service , the Monitor has removed the paywall for all our coronavirus coverage .
It ’ s free .

Conducting a joyful Mozart motet, Riccardo Muti sent a resounding message Sunday night, that live classical music has returned to the Italian stage after the coronavirus lockdown.
A full summer festival program is planned in his adopted home of Ravenna, even as the musical outlook remains grim in the United States, where he also conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
The renowned conductor said the coronavirus had “destroyed music,” with shuttered venues depriving the world of “spiritual food” as it faced a pandemic that still threatens uncalculated economic repercussions beyond the lives lost.
Even during two world wars, Mr. Muti noted, theaters stayed open to provide cultural relief except during the worst of the bombings.
“In that sense, this virus was even more devastating than bombs,” Mr. Muti told The Associated Press before the inaugural concert for the Ravenna Festival’s 30th anniversary season, in which he conducted the Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra that he founded in 2004.
The festival, founded by Mr. Muti's wife, salvaged its season by scheduling its nearly 50 events in outdoor venues with limited audiences, and spacing musicians at least a meter apart – challenging what Mr. Muti noted was the literal symphonic order of “playing together.”
“In the message of solidarity that I send to the entire cultural world, I give a signal from Ravenna, that at a certain point you can restart, you must restart, with caution and with care,” said Mr. Muti, who has been at the helm of some of the world’s most famous theaters, including Milan’s La Scala and London’s Philharmonia Orchestra. In the U.S., he won accolades leading the Philadelphia Orchestra in the 1980s and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 2010.
“You pay a high price for the absence of culture,” he said.
The Ravenna Festival program, which runs through July, is another signal of the gradual reawakening of European classical music after strict closures to slow the spread of coronavirus. In a sign of its symbolic importance, Italy’s Senate president and culture minister attended, along with the head of the UNESCO world heritage center, in recognition of the small city of Ravenna’s outsized role in world history as a three-time ancient capital with eight protected monuments, and the final resting place of poet Dante Alighieri.
In other signs of cultural life, Mr. Muti conducted Cimarosa, Mozart, and Schubert earlier this month with the Vienna Philharmonic, with a full orchestra at a normal distance thanks to regular virus testing, while theaters in Florence and Venice have staged concerts with small audiences. Milan’s La Scala will signal its re-emergence with a few musical evenings in July ahead of its official reopening in September.
After leading the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on a European tour in January, Mr. Muti spent Italy’s lockdown in Ravenna, studying for what is supposed to be the CSO’s September season-opening of Beethoven’s “Missa solemnis.” But the start of the season remains in question, as U.S. cultural landmarks like Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York and Philadelphia’s Kimmel Theater have announced their closure through the end of the year due to the virus’ threat.
“It is too easy to say: ‘Close.’ But ... there are thousands of people who no longer provide culture and spiritual food to the public, and who, at a certain point, won’t have even a salary to live on,” Mr. Muti said.
Mr. Muti suggested that concerts could be held in Chicago’s Memorial Park, with 2,000 guests instead of the 30,000 capacity, and by first testing musicians for the virus and possibly sticking to a repertoire that limits the number of musicians on stage.
During part of the CSO's season that was canceled, Mr. Muti was to have conducted in April a symphony by African American composer Florence Price, which the program said “gives powerful voice to the African American experience.” Mr. Muti, who has been watching the Black Lives Matters protests from afar, said classical music must do more to integrate people of color.
In Chicago, he works with the orchestra’s African American network to bring the local Black community to concerts and rehearsals, which has grown to 3,000 members since 2016. But he also recalls a 1991 concert he conducted in Philadelphia in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., where for the “first and only time I saw the Academy of Music filled 90% with African Americans.”
“My dream would be to have many more African Americans in orchestras, choruses, and in audiences,” Mr. Muti said.
“But this was also our own fault, by giving the sensation that our musical culture is a culture of an elite, a culture of superior people, of very refined people. It is not true. We must open our arms, as we have done and will continue to do in Chicago.”
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This story was reported by The Associated Press.
Editor’s note: As a public service, the Monitor has removed the paywall for all our coronavirus coverage. It’s free.


ezorigin--2020-06-22--How teens used TikTok to troll Donald Trump's Tulsa rally

Did teens , TikTok users , and fans of Korean pop music influence turnout expectations at President Donald Trump 's rally in Tulsa , Oklahoma ?
For more than a week before President Trump 's first campaign rally in three months on Saturday in Tulsa , these tech-savvy groups opposing the president mobilized to reserve tickets for an event they had no intention of attending .
While it 's unlikely they were responsible for the low turnout , their antics may have inflated the campaign 's expectations for attendance numbers that led to Saturday 's disappointing show .
`` My @ @ @ @ @ @ @ City Utah have hundreds of tickets .
You have been rolled by America 's teens , '' veteran Republican campaign strategist Steve Schmidt tweeted on Saturday .
The tweet garnered more than 100,000 likes and many responses from people who say they or their kids did the same .
Reached by telephone Sunday , Mr. Schmidt called the rally an `` unmitigated disaster '' – days after Trump campaign chairman Brad Parscale tweeted that more than a million people requested tickets for the rally through Mr. Trump 's campaign website .
Andrew Bates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democratic opponent , Joe Biden , said the turnout was a sign of weakening voter support .
`` Donald Trump has abdicated leadership and it is no surprise that his supporters have responded by abandoning him , '' he said .
In a statement , the Trump campaign blamed the `` fake news media '' for `` warning people away from the rally '' over COVID-19 and protests against racial injustice around the country .
`` Leftists and online trolls doing a victory lap , thinking they somehow impacted rally attendance , do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or how our rallies work , '' Mr. Parscale wrote .
`` Reporters who wrote gleefully about TikTok and K-Pop fans – without contacting the campaign for comment – behaved unprofessionally and were willing dupes to the charade . ''
On midday Sunday , it was possible to sign up to stream a recap of the Tulsa event later in the day through Mr. Trump 's website .
It requested a name , email address , and phone number .
There was no age verification in the signup process , though the site @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Inside the 19,000-seat BOK Center in Tulsa , where Mr. Trump thundered that `` the silent majority is stronger than ever before , '' numerous seats were empty .
Tulsa Fire Department spokesperson Andy Little said the city fire marshal 's office reported a crowd of just less than 6,200 in the arena .
City officials had expected a crowd of 100,000 people or more in downtown Tulsa , but that never materialized .
That said , the rally , which was broadcast on cable , also targeted voters in battleground states @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Florida .
Social media users who have followed recent events might not be surprised by the way young people ( and some older folks ) mobilized to troll the president .
They did it not just on TikTok but also on Twitter , Instagram , and even Facebook .
K-Pop fans – who have a massive , coordinated online community and a cutting sense of humor – have become an unexpected ally to American Black Lives Matter protesters .
In recent weeks , they 've been repurposing their usual platforms and hashtags @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Black Lives Matter movement .
They flooded right-wing hashtags such as `` white lives matter '' and police apps with short video clips and memes of their K-pop stars .
Many of the early social media messages urging people to sign up for tickets brought up the fact that the rally had originally been scheduled for Friday , June 19 , which is Juneteenth , commemorating the end of slavery in the United States .
Tulsa , the location for the rally , was the scene in 1921 of one of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Mr. Schmidt said he was not surprised .
Today 's teens , after all , grew up with phones and have `` absolutely '' mastered them , he said .
They are also the first generation to have remote Zoom classes and have a `` subversive sense of humor , '' having come of age in a world of online trolls and memes , Mr. Schmidt said .
Most of all , he said , `` they are aware of what is happening around them . ''
`` Like salmon in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ methods and means of their lives , '' Mr. Schmidt added .
That said , the original idea for the mass ticket troll may have come not from a teen but from an Iowa woman .
The politics site Iowa Starting Line found that a TikTok video posted on June 11 by Mary Jo Laupp , a 51-year-old grandmother from Fort Dodge , Iowa , suggesting that people book free tickets to `` make sure there are empty seats . ''
Ms. Laupp 's video , which also tells viewers how to stop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they provide their phone number ( simply text `` STOP '' ) , has had more than 700,000 likes .
It was also possible to sign up for the rally using a fake or temporary phone number from Google Voice , for instance .
As Mr. Parscale himself pointed out in a June 14 tweet , though , the ticket signups were not simply about getting bodies to the rally .
He called it the `` Biggest data haul and rally signup of all time by 10x '' – meaning the hundreds of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaign now has in its possession to use for microtargeting advertisements and to reach potential voters .
Sure , it 's possible that many of the emails are fake and that the ticket holders have no intention of voting for Mr. Trump in November .
But while it 's possible that this `` bad data '' might prove useless – or even hurt the Trump campaign in some way – experts say there is one clear beneficiary in the end , and that is Facebook .
That 's due to the complex , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ political advertising machine is tied up with the social media giant .
Facebook wants data on people , and whether that is `` good '' or `` bad , '' it will be used to train its systems .
`` No matter who signs up or if they go to a rally , Trump gets data to train retargeting on Facebook .
FB 's system will use that data in ways that have nothing to do with Trump , '' tweeted Georgia Tech communications professor Ian Bogost .
`` Might these 'fake ' @ @ @ @ @ @ @ targeting data ?
Maybe it could , to some extent .
But the entire system is so vast and incomprehensible , we 'll never really know . ''
This story was reported by The Associated Press .
AP writer Ali Swenson contributed to this story from Seattle .
Editor ’ s note : As a public service , the Monitor has removed the paywall for all our coronavirus coverage .
It ’ s free .

Did teens, TikTok users, and fans of Korean pop music influence turnout expectations at President Donald Trump's rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma?
For more than a week before President Trump's first campaign rally in three months on Saturday in Tulsa, these tech-savvy groups opposing the president mobilized to reserve tickets for an event they had no intention of attending. While it's unlikely they were responsible for the low turnout, their antics may have inflated the campaign's expectations for attendance numbers that led to Saturday's disappointing show.
"My 16-year-old daughter and her friends in Park City Utah have hundreds of tickets. You have been rolled by America's teens," veteran Republican campaign strategist Steve Schmidt tweeted on Saturday. The tweet garnered more than 100,000 likes and many responses from people who say they or their kids did the same.
Reached by telephone Sunday, Mr. Schmidt called the rally an "unmitigated disaster" – days after Trump campaign chairman Brad Parscale tweeted that more than a million people requested tickets for the rally through Mr. Trump's campaign website.
Andrew Bates, a spokesperson for Mr. Trump's Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, said the turnout was a sign of weakening voter support. "Donald Trump has abdicated leadership and it is no surprise that his supporters have responded by abandoning him," he said.
In a statement, the Trump campaign blamed the "fake news media" for "warning people away from the rally" over COVID-19 and protests against racial injustice around the country.
"Leftists and online trolls doing a victory lap, thinking they somehow impacted rally attendance, don't know what they're talking about or how our rallies work," Mr. Parscale wrote. "Reporters who wrote gleefully about TikTok and K-Pop fans – without contacting the campaign for comment – behaved unprofessionally and were willing dupes to the charade."
On midday Sunday, it was possible to sign up to stream a recap of the Tulsa event later in the day through Mr. Trump's website. It requested a name, email address, and phone number. There was no age verification in the signup process, though the site required a PIN to verify phone numbers.
Inside the 19,000-seat BOK Center in Tulsa, where Mr. Trump thundered that "the silent majority is stronger than ever before," numerous seats were empty. Tulsa Fire Department spokesperson Andy Little said the city fire marshal's office reported a crowd of just less than 6,200 in the arena.
City officials had expected a crowd of 100,000 people or more in downtown Tulsa, but that never materialized. That said, the rally, which was broadcast on cable, also targeted voters in battleground states such as Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Florida.
Social media users who have followed recent events might not be surprised by the way young people (and some older folks) mobilized to troll the president. They did it not just on TikTok but also on Twitter, Instagram, and even Facebook. K-Pop fans – who have a massive, coordinated online community and a cutting sense of humor – have become an unexpected ally to American Black Lives Matter protesters.
In recent weeks, they've been repurposing their usual platforms and hashtags from boosting their favorite stars to backing the Black Lives Matter movement. They flooded right-wing hashtags such as "white lives matter" and police apps with short video clips and memes of their K-pop stars. Many of the early social media messages urging people to sign up for tickets brought up the fact that the rally had originally been scheduled for Friday, June 19, which is Juneteenth, commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. Tulsa, the location for the rally, was the scene in 1921 of one of the most severe white-on-Black attacks in American history.
Mr. Schmidt said he was not surprised. Today's teens, after all, grew up with phones and have "absolutely" mastered them, he said. They are also the first generation to have remote Zoom classes and have a "subversive sense of humor," having come of age in a world of online trolls and memes, Mr. Schmidt said. Most of all, he said, "they are aware of what is happening around them."
"Like salmon in the river, they participate politically through the methods and means of their lives," Mr. Schmidt added.
That said, the original idea for the mass ticket troll may have come not from a teen but from an Iowa woman. The politics site Iowa Starting Line found that a TikTok video posted on June 11 by Mary Jo Laupp, a 51-year-old grandmother from Fort Dodge, Iowa, suggesting that people book free tickets to "make sure there are empty seats." Ms. Laupp's video, which also tells viewers how to stop receiving texts from the Trump campaign after they provide their phone number (simply text "STOP"), has had more than 700,000 likes. It was also possible to sign up for the rally using a fake or temporary phone number from Google Voice, for instance.
As Mr. Parscale himself pointed out in a June 14 tweet, though, the ticket signups were not simply about getting bodies to the rally. He called it the "Biggest data haul and rally signup of all time by 10x" – meaning the hundreds of thousands of emails and phone numbers the campaign now has in its possession to use for microtargeting advertisements and to reach potential voters.
Sure, it's possible that many of the emails are fake and that the ticket holders have no intention of voting for Mr. Trump in November. But while it's possible that this "bad data" might prove useless – or even hurt the Trump campaign in some way – experts say there is one clear beneficiary in the end, and that is Facebook. That's due to the complex, murky ways in which Mr. Trump's political advertising machine is tied up with the social media giant. Facebook wants data on people, and whether that is "good" or "bad," it will be used to train its systems.
"No matter who signs up or if they go to a rally, Trump gets data to train retargeting on Facebook. FB's system will use that data in ways that have nothing to do with Trump," tweeted Georgia Tech communications professor Ian Bogost. "Might these 'fake' signups mess up the Trump team's targeting data? Maybe it could, to some extent. But the entire system is so vast and incomprehensible, we'll never really know."
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This story was reported by The Associated Press. AP writer Ali Swenson contributed to this story from Seattle.
Editor’s note: As a public service, the Monitor has removed the paywall for all our coronavirus coverage. It’s free.


ezorigin--2020-06-10--Could the coronavirus change the way we look for love? (audio)

The coronavirus pandemic has turned lives upside down , with stay-at-home orders shifting relationships with family and friends in major ways .
But what has this meant for individuals looking for love ?
Many men and women across the world are continuing to date during COVID-19 – even if that means coming up with creative solutions to meeting new people , like going on Zoom dates or watching movies at the same time in two separate apartments .
Editor ’ s note : As a public service , all our coronavirus coverage is free .
No paywall .
The shift @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out has been frustrating , but those in the thick of it are finding things they like about this new approach to dating .
There ’ s more time spent chatting on the phone , and less opportunity to “ peacock ” and show off .
For some , it ’ s as if romance is getting a throwback to the style of Jane Austen novels , with heartfelt correspondence and a slower pace .
Although there ’ s a sense of anticipation and hope for the day dinner and a movie – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the table once again , dating is getting a reboot .
Note : This audio story was designed to be heard .
We strongly encourage you to experience it with your ears , but we understand that is not an option for everybody .
For those who are unable to listen , we have provided a transcript of the story .
( If you ’ re reading this off our website and don ’ t see an audio player , click here to access the audio player . )
Whitney Eulich : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a spectacle over the past 20 years .
From reality TV show classics like “ The Bachelor ” [ clip from “ The Bachelor ” ] to the spread of online dating sites and the so-called “ swipe culture.
” And of course , more recently there ’ s the now seemingly prophetic Netflix series “ Love is Blind ” [ clip from “ Love is Blind ” trailer ] .
Jessica Mendoza : But thanks to coronavirus , dating is moving even further online and onto our screens .
Whitney : Because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out , essentially stripping human contact from our day-to-day lives transforms how we connect with each other .
Jess : My name is Jessica Mendoza , and I ’ m the multimedia reporter for The Christian Science Monitor .
Whitney : And I ’ m Whitney Eulich , the Monitor ’ s Latin America correspondent .
We wanted to know : How are people navigating this uncharted territory ?
Jess : So we asked a bunch of single men and women , and here ’ s a bit of what they had to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of relationships are changing right now , you know it ’ s not just the romantic variety .
I am here with a toddler who is missing her best friend who happens to live across the hall .
Writing love letters and yelling to each other from the windows .
And , it ’ s just breaking my heart that they cant be together right now .
It ’ s been two months .
Jess : Whitney , that ’ s one of the saddest things I ’ ve ever heard .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but I do have lots of single friends .
And I feel like on my end , everyone seems to be asking : Is this a good time to embrace being single ?
Or do they keep trying to date ?
And if so , I mean , how ?
It ’ s this kind of relationship that we ’ re exploring today .
How has COVID-19 complicated the picture for folks who are looking for love ?
Whitney : So , we talked to about half a dozen men and women @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s going about this moment in their own way , there are these shared threads of experiences .
This willingness people seem to be demonstrating to embrace the unfamiliar and a new appreciation for connecting – even if it ’ s in ways that are a little out of the box .
Jess : Two of the women we spoke to really drove that home for us .
One of them is Leah Hughes .
She lives in San Francisco .
She had been active on the online dating scene for about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she realized pretty quickly that social distancing was going to have a pretty big impact on her dating life .
Whitney : The other woman we spoke to was just super busy with her career : She has an online business , just your regular social media influencer .
Her name is Beige Ojai , she lives in Maryland .
Dating was not even on her radar .
But social isolation made her realize just how , well , isolated she was .
Jess : Where the public gets to vote for couples @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other on video chat ( which sounds like my personal nightmare ) .
Each episode airs footage from the dates of the chosen couples .
Beige happened to be in Episode 2 .
They ’ ve got a host who interviews them about their experience dating each other .
And of course there ’ s a live chat feature so viewers can comment .
Whitney : It turns out that it was interesting .
Both women have already pinpointed some dos and don ’ ts when dating from a distance .
And , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ things they enjoy and they hope endure once their relationships move back into the offline world .
Jess : We started by asking the two women about what it was like when this all started .
How did they handle that first switch to social distance dating ?
Here ’ s Leah first , then Beige : Leah : The inherent safety of my living room definitely makes me feel a little more relaxed .
I don ’ t have to dodge bad kisses , which is good .
I also unfortunately don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kisses .
So that is definitely a detractor .
Whitney : As this situation dragged on , some of the newness started to wear off .
There are still quirks that they ’ re both grappling with , but they ’ ve both pinpointed benefits of this new format , as well .
Jess : Clearly they ’ re both finding ways to make this crazy situation work .
But they also learned that there are aspects of dating in person that you really can ’ t replace .
Whitney : Beige is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to test that chemistry – from a safe distance , of course .
Jess : Watch out , we ’ re getting to Whitney ’ s favorite part .
Jess : I know you do .
What do you like so much about it ?
Whitney : I just think that it ’ s very on brand for coronavirus .
And it really just seems to get to this idea that humans can be so creative and adaptable in times like these .
Jess : Right .
And that actually leads us straight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Beige .
Whitney : I have to say , I think Leah ’ s upper-right hand corner advice is actually quite applicable far beyond online dating !
Jess : That ’ s what you took away from all of that ?
Whitney : I ’ m starting to notice more – well , it ’ s not a flirt face , but my very serious reporter face and – I also would like to unsee that !
But in all seriousness , both these women show humanity has such an amazing capacity for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Jess : Yeah , it takes courage to put yourself out there no matter what the situation is .
And it just shows that the desire to connect is such a part of who we are that not even a global pandemic is going to stop people from trying to find and maintain relationships and build them and maintain them .
That feels good to remember these days .
Thanks for listening !
If you enjoyed this story , help us make more .
Subscribe to the Monitor at csmonitor.com/subscribe .
Whitney @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have any stories about love and relationships you want to share with us .
You can find us on Facebook , Instagram , and Twitter .
Jess : This story was produced and hosted by me , Jessica Mendoza .
Jess : It was edited by Samantha Laine Perfas and Kim Campbell , with sound design by Tim Malone .
Produced by The Christian Science Monitor , copyright 2020 .

Could the coronavirus change the way we look for love? Loading the player...
The coronavirus pandemic has turned lives upside down, with stay-at-home orders shifting relationships with family and friends in major ways. But what has this meant for individuals looking for love?
Many men and women across the world are continuing to date during COVID-19 – even if that means coming up with creative solutions to meeting new people, like going on Zoom dates or watching movies at the same time in two separate apartments.
Why We Wrote This As it turns out, stripping human contact from our day-to-day lives transforms how we connect with each other. Is it even possible to comfortably date in the current climate? For many, the answer is yes. It just takes a bit of creativity.
Editor’s note: As a public service, all our coronavirus coverage is free. No paywall.
The shift away from dining in restaurants or going out has been frustrating, but those in the thick of it are finding things they like about this new approach to dating. There’s more time spent chatting on the phone, and less opportunity to “peacock” and show off. For some, it’s as if romance is getting a throwback to the style of Jane Austen novels, with heartfelt correspondence and a slower pace.
Although there’s a sense of anticipation and hope for the day dinner and a movie – in person and in public – is on the table once again, dating is getting a reboot.
Note: This audio story was designed to be heard. We strongly encourage you to experience it with your ears, but we understand that is not an option for everybody. For those who are unable to listen, we have provided a transcript of the story. (If you’re reading this off our website and don’t see an audio player, click here to access the audio player.)
Audio Transcript:
[Saxophone music]
Whitney Eulich: Dating has turned into a bit of a spectacle over the past 20 years. From reality TV show classics like “The Bachelor” [clip from “The Bachelor”] to the spread of online dating sites and the so-called “swipe culture.” And of course, more recently there’s the now seemingly prophetic Netflix series “Love is Blind” [clip from “Love is Blind” trailer].
Jessica Mendoza: But thanks to coronavirus, dating is moving even further online and onto our screens.
Whitney: Because, you know, as it turns out, essentially stripping human contact from our day-to-day lives transforms how we connect with each other.
Jess: My name is Jessica Mendoza, and I’m the multimedia reporter for The Christian Science Monitor.
Whitney: And I’m Whitney Eulich, the Monitor’s Latin America correspondent. We wanted to know: How are people navigating this uncharted territory?
Jess: So we asked a bunch of single men and women, and here’s a bit of what they had to say.
[Music transition into interview montage]
Tony Maddox: So, what went from three kind of magical dates turned into very limited contact. Shola Olabode-Dada: And then the other person we were supposed to have a virtual date. But he didn’t show up – he stood me up! Chloe Hollett: Now, I’m gonna be honest. I’m having difficulty. Because I’m running out of guys! Andrea Milla: Este situación nos ha obligado a cambiar la dinámica de la relación, de repente apresurar muchos procesos. [Voiceover translation: “This situation has forced us to change the dynamic of our relationship, and suddenly rush lots of these processes.”] Tracy Smith: I feel like this has been a reset for like the entire country. A reset for how we look at dating. Chloe Hollett: These guys that I see online, OMG, they’re like Grizzly Adams. It’s like society quiets for a moment and suddenly they all fall apart.
Whitney: Obviously all kinds of relationships are changing right now, you know it’s not just the romantic variety. I am here with a toddler who is missing her best friend who happens to live across the hall. Writing love letters and yelling to each other from the windows. And, it’s just breaking my heart that they cant be together right now. It’s been two months.
Jess: Whitney, that’s one of the saddest things I’ve ever heard. And I don’t have any kids, but I do have lots of single friends. And I feel like on my end, everyone seems to be asking: Is this a good time to embrace being single? Or do they keep trying to date? And if so, I mean, how?
It’s this kind of relationship that we’re exploring today. How has COVID-19 complicated the picture for folks who are looking for love?
Whitney: So, we talked to about half a dozen men and women. And we found that while everyone’s going about this moment in their own way, there are these shared threads of experiences. This willingness people seem to be demonstrating to embrace the unfamiliar and a new appreciation for connecting – even if it’s in ways that are a little out of the box.
Jess: Two of the women we spoke to really drove that home for us. One of them is Leah Hughes. She lives in San Francisco. She had been active on the online dating scene for about five years before Coronavirus hit. And she realized pretty quickly that social distancing was going to have a pretty big impact on her dating life.
Leah Hughes: My last human interaction, for better or for worse, was actually a bad date, right before the shelter in place was announced. A guy leaned in for the kiss and then I got too nervous and ran away. But I think every date is something new, and I need to figure out what my pacing is.
Whitney: The other woman we spoke to was just super busy with her career: She has an online business, just your regular social media influencer. Her name is Beige Ojai, she lives in Maryland. Dating was not even on her radar. But social isolation made her realize just how, well, isolated she was.
Jess: So, naturally, she joined a web-only dating show ...
Whitney: It’s called LoveCast ...
Jess: Where the public gets to vote for couples to go on blind dates with each other on video chat (which sounds like my personal nightmare). Each episode airs footage from the dates of the chosen couples. Beige happened to be in Episode 2. They’ve got a host who interviews them about their experience dating each other. And of course there’s a live chat feature so viewers can comment.
Beige Ojai: And I was like, oh, this is interesting. I liked the fact that your friends and family are voting for your potential match. I mean I don’t know if it was the quarantine that made me just feel like I need to talk to somebody. It was just a feeling of cabin fever. So after I kind of got over the uneasy feelings of it all it kind of made sense for me to do something like this.
Whitney: It turns out that it was interesting. Both women have already pinpointed some dos and don’ts when dating from a distance. And, believe it or not, there are things they enjoy and they hope endure once their relationships move back into the offline world.
Jess: We started by asking the two women about what it was like when this all started. How did they handle that first switch to social distance dating? Here’s Leah first, then Beige:
Leah: I think first dates are relatively the same. I mean a first date, 90% of them is basically an interview. But everything else is basically different. The way that I get ready. So I think about makeup for the screen versus in person or in a dimly lit bar.
Beige: I was conscious, yes. So I was filtering what I was saying. I wanted to seem professional and happy and perky. And it was awkward, because we didn’t really know each other. So it was a little bit different.
Leah: The inherent safety of my living room definitely makes me feel a little more relaxed. I don’t have to dodge bad kisses, which is good. I also unfortunately don’t get real kisses or good kisses. So that is definitely a detractor.
Beige: And we were supposed to only be on the phone for 15 minutes max, but our date was two and a half hours.
Whitney: As this situation dragged on, some of the newness started to wear off. There are still quirks that they’re both grappling with, but they’ve both pinpointed benefits of this new format, as well.
Leah: The way that you interact with the person on the screen, there’s definitely the challenge of seeing your face in the upper-right hand corner. My business persona, and the person who I am at work, I’m used to that. But the face that I put on and the attitude that I put on when I’m on a date is just very different.
Beige: To be honest with you, we went on our second date yesterday and that was a five hour [laughter]... a five hour date.
Leah: I think it’s one of those things where seeing my ‘flirt face’ is kind of like when you’re lying in bed at night and you’re trying to sleep and then you remember a deeply embarrassing moment. And it just stays with you for 10 minutes while you relive how awkward you are.
Beige: He made it so that we were able to FaceTime and watch the poetry night at the same time. And then after that we just FaceTimed. And it was really nice. It was really nice.
Leah: The bragging or the peacocking element of first dates isn’t there. The guy isn’t talking about what trips he has planned because you can’t go on a trip right now. So through the week, I’ll definitely try and gather up anecdotes. I try to get those interesting stories of saying, ‘Oh I saw ducklings on my walk.’ Which, now as I say it out loud, it’s not that interesting. But it’s interesting in terms of, my entire life is within one square mile.
Beige: To be honest with you I’ve never gone to a poetry night before. It was definitely something new. But if that’s what he’s into, I’m definitely willing to try different things.
Jess: Clearly they’re both finding ways to make this crazy situation work. But they also learned that there are aspects of dating in person that you really can’t replace.
Leah: Chemistry is hard. Chemistry is one of the things I’m really struggling with. What if I have built up this relationship in my head and then there’s just no chemistry? It’s almost like a Jane Austen letter, you know, where one of the characters will read this sweeping love letter and it’s almost like an online date. And then they meet the person in real life and they realize: Oh, this is actually a dud. Because I’m a little bitter that my last human interaction was a bad date, I am a little skittish about risking it all to go meet up with a guy. I would prioritize seeing my loved ones, my friends first. But, yes, once things start coming back, I would love to go on a walk. I would love to see what the chemistry is and see that person in real life and figure out if it’s something I would like to move forward with.
Whitney: Beige is trying to come up with creative ways to test that chemistry – from a safe distance, of course.
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Jess: Watch out, we’re getting to Whitney’s favorite part.
Whitney: It is!
Beige: He thought of the perfect date for us to do virtually. And I’m looking forward to our next date. We’re trying to figure out how we’re going to do it. I mean there are no places to go, really. You know, we can’t go to the movies or anything that people typically would. The only place that’s open is the grocery store. And maybe we’ll meet in the grocery store parking lot. And eat popcorn and look at the stars. But he’s in his car and I’m in my car. We could actually – yes, now that I’m thinking about it, he could be in his car, I could be in my car and we could eat popcorn and watch a movie. But we’re watching the same movie on each other’s phones at the same time. And talking about it with our windows down. Can you see the vision? [laughter]
Whitney: I love the idea of a grocery store parking lot date.
Jess: I know you do. What do you like so much about it?
Whitney: I just think that it’s very on brand for coronavirus. And it really just seems to get to this idea that humans can be so creative and adaptable in times like these.
Jess: Right. And that actually leads us straight to our big question for Leah and Beige.
Beige: How to date during this period… be creative.
Leah: Don’t look at yourself in the upper-right-hand corner if you can avoid it.
Beige: Because if you think about how we’ve been dating regularly before all of this, a typical date may be dinner and a movie, and these cliché type of dates. But now if you want to practice social distancing, and going on dating, there’s no other way around it. You have to be creative.
Leah: It’s all about embracing the newness right now. I think every day brings an experience that I truly never expected to think about a year ago or six months ago, and now it’s just a part of daily life. And that’s one of the nice things about the human spirit, is this adaptability. I get to see that and meet people who are also willing to dip their toes in and be pioneers, maybe – I don’t know if pioneers is the right thing – in this online, online dating during the time of COVID.
[Music]
Whitney: I have to say, I think Leah’s upper-right hand corner advice is actually quite applicable far beyond online dating!
Jess: That’s what you took away from all of that?
Whitney: I’m starting to notice more – well, it’s not a flirt face, but my very serious reporter face and – I also would like to unsee that! But in all seriousness, both these women show humanity has such an amazing capacity for adapting and being open to new experiences.
Jess: Yeah, it takes courage to put yourself out there no matter what the situation is. And it just shows that the desire to connect is such a part of who we are that not even a global pandemic is going to stop people from trying to find and maintain relationships and build them and maintain them. That feels good to remember these days.
Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this story, help us make more. Subscribe to the Monitor at csmonitor.com/subscribe.
Whitney: And let us know if you have any stories about love and relationships you want to share with us. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Jess: This story was produced and hosted by me, Jessica Mendoza.
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Whitney: And me, Whitney Eulich.
Jess: It was edited by Samantha Laine Perfas and Kim Campbell, with sound design by Tim Malone. Produced by The Christian Science Monitor, copyright 2020.