motherjones--2020-03-20--ICE Is Ignoring Recommendations to Release Immigrant Detainees to Slow the Spread of Coronavirus

On Wednesday , as experts warned that hospitals could soon be overwhelmed , a Cuban doctor was stuck inside a for-profit detention center .
Like many people in immigration jails , she was afraid of what would happen if the new coronavirus entered the facility .
For the past three weeks , she and nearly 50 women have been quarantined because of recurring bouts of the flu at GEO Group ’ s Basile , Louisiana , detention center .
On Wednesday night , Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it would scale back arrests in response to the pandemic .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who are already in ICE custody , one of experts ’ top recommendations for preventing the virus from spreading within immigration jails and other detention facilities .
In response to questions about whether ICE plans to let anyone out—particularly those who are vulnerable to the effects of the virus—an agency official said , “ There has been no announcement related to releasing individuals that are currently detained.
” Data released by ICE on Wednesday night shows that the agency is keeping detention numbers high .
As of Saturday , ICE had 37,311 people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 37,888 the week before .
More than 60 percent of those detainees—22,936 people—do not have criminal convictions .
Among the 38 percent of detainees who do have criminal convictions , many have only committed minor offenses like crossing the border without authorization .
Nearly 6,000 of the people in ICE ’ s custody have established a significant possibility of being persecuted or tortured in their home countries .
Instead of letting them live with relatives or others who are willing to house them , ICE is holding them in places that are often @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attention .
As Eunice Cho , a senior staff attorney and detention expert at the American Civil Liberties Union , told me last week , ICE has broad authority to release people in its custody .
“ The question , ” she said , “ is whether the government will actually exercise this and mitigate what continues to be a very foreseeable disaster.
” So far , attorneys in Louisiana say ICE appears set on keeping people in detention .
In a letter published on Thursday , Carlos Franco-Paredes , a professor in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s infectious diseases division , painted a grim picture of how the coronavirus could affect people in detention : The new detention data , which ICE updates on its website each week , also shows that the agency did not significantly reduce arrests between the first and second weeks of March .
It ’ s unclear how much will change after Wednesday ’ s announcement that ICE “ will focus enforcement on public safety risks and individuals subject to mandatory detention based on criminal grounds.
” Ken Cuccinelli , the Department of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , posted tweets on Thursday that downplayed the significance of the shift .
The data also shows that ICE detainees continue to spend far longer in detention than they once did .
People without criminal records who are stopped at the border now end up detained for an average of two months .
That ’ s up from as few as 17 days last spring , when a dramatic increase in border crossings limited the agency ’ s ability to subject people to indefinite mandatory detention .
The Cuban doctor , who requested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been detained for eight months .
Despite that , she ’ s still awaiting an initial decision in her asylum case .
ICE has denied her request to be released on parole multiple times .
ICE considers her a flight risk because she lacks immediate family in the United States , she said .
Before coming to the US , she spent nine years in Cuba studying to become a doctor of general medicine and hopes to keep doing that work in the United States .
“ I love my career , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ keep being a doctor for my whole life.
” For now , she and other women who ’ ve called me from Basile say that even basic hygiene can be a luxury , explaining that they don ’ t have access to hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes .
The doctor said they ’ re provided 12 ounces of liquid soap one week , then four the next .
She said it isn ’ t enough .
They have to use the soap while shaving , showering , and , most important these days @ @ @ @ @ @ @ run out , bars of soap at the commissary cost about $ 2 .
Most of the women can ’ t afford that , the doctor said .
Thanks to the money her family sends , she could .
( Christopher Ferreira , a GEO Group corporate relations manager , said soap and other hygiene products are free and readily available at the company ’ s ICE detention centers ; he didn ’ t reply when asked if the company sells those products in its commissaries . )
From inside detention , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Telemundo and Univision .
They see President Trump declare the pandemic a national emergency , and listen to calls for social distancing while stuck in a large room with about 45 other people .
Relatives and volunteers can not console them in person : ICE has banned social visits for the time being .
The husband of one of the women quarantined at Basile—Elio Almaguer-Guerra—called me with concerns about his wife , Katherine Ramírez-Escalona .
He is an agricultural engineer , and she was studying medicine before the two of them left Cuba @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the US-Mexico border in May , where they had to wait about six months to be allowed to request asylum in the United States .
From there , he was sent to New Mexico , while she went to Louisiana .
In January , Almaguer-Guerra was released on parole to live with his wife ’ s cousin in Miami .
But ICE ’ s New Orleans office , known for being one of the harshest in the nation , has refused to let Ramírez-Escalona join her husband and live with her cousin .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ know how much more either of them can bare .
He contemplates dramatic measures—a protest in front of the White House or a hunger strike mounted on her behalf .
When the doctor and I spoke again on Thursday , she passed the phone to Leidy Vazquez-Moreno , a Cuban accountant who ’ s been practicing English while working in the detention center ’ s library .
“ We are very scared about this situation , ” she said in English .
“ I know the situation of the country , and I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we are humans asking [ for ] help.
” The US government , Vazquez-Moreno continued , didn ’ t have to be paying to keep them in detention when they had family members who ’ ve offered to take care of them .
The money being used to detain them , she noted , would be better spent responding to the pandemic .

On Wednesday, as experts warned that hospitals could soon be overwhelmed, a Cuban doctor was stuck inside a for-profit detention center. Like many people in immigration jails, she was afraid of what would happen if the new coronavirus entered the facility. For the past three weeks, she and nearly 50 women have been quarantined because of recurring bouts of the flu at GEO Group’s Basile, Louisiana, detention center.
On Wednesday night, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it would scale back arrests in response to the pandemic. But the agency said nothing about releasing people who are already in ICE custody, one of experts’ top recommendations for preventing the virus from spreading within immigration jails and other detention facilities. In response to questions about whether ICE plans to let anyone out—particularly those who are vulnerable to the effects of the virus—an agency official said, “There has been no announcement related to releasing individuals that are currently detained.”
Data released by ICE on Wednesday night shows that the agency is keeping detention numbers high. As of Saturday, ICE had 37,311 people in custody, down only slightly from 37,888 the week before. More than 60 percent of those detainees—22,936 people—do not have criminal convictions. Among the 38 percent of detainees who do have criminal convictions, many have only committed minor offenses like crossing the border without authorization.
Nearly 6,000 of the people in ICE’s custody have established a significant possibility of being persecuted or tortured in their home countries. Instead of letting them live with relatives or others who are willing to house them, ICE is holding them in places that are often notorious for unsanitary conditions and inadequate medical attention.
As Eunice Cho, a senior staff attorney and detention expert at the American Civil Liberties Union, told me last week, ICE has broad authority to release people in its custody. “The question,” she said, “is whether the government will actually exercise this and mitigate what continues to be a very foreseeable disaster.” So far, attorneys in Louisiana say ICE appears set on keeping people in detention.
In a letter published on Thursday, Carlos Franco-Paredes, a professor in the University of Colorado School of Medicine’s infectious diseases division, painted a grim picture of how the coronavirus could affect people in detention:
For an immigration detention center that holds 1500 detainees, we can estimate that 500-650 may acquire the infection. Of these, 100 to 150 individuals may develop severe disease potentially requiring admission to an intensive care unit. Of these, 10-15 individuals may die from respiratory failure.
The new detention data, which ICE updates on its website each week, also shows that the agency did not significantly reduce arrests between the first and second weeks of March. It’s unclear how much will change after Wednesday’s announcement that ICE “will focus enforcement on public safety risks and individuals subject to mandatory detention based on criminal grounds.” Ken Cuccinelli, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting deputy director, posted tweets on Thursday that downplayed the significance of the shift.
The data also shows that ICE detainees continue to spend far longer in detention than they once did. People without criminal records who are stopped at the border now end up detained for an average of two months. That’s up from as few as 17 days last spring, when a dramatic increase in border crossings limited the agency’s ability to subject people to indefinite mandatory detention.
The Cuban doctor, who requested anonymity because she fears retaliation, has been detained for eight months. Despite that, she’s still awaiting an initial decision in her asylum case. ICE has denied her request to be released on parole multiple times. ICE considers her a flight risk because she lacks immediate family in the United States, she said.
Before coming to the US, she spent nine years in Cuba studying to become a doctor of general medicine and hopes to keep doing that work in the United States. “I love my career,” she said. “I want to keep being a doctor for my whole life.”
For now, she and other women who’ve called me from Basile say that even basic hygiene can be a luxury, explaining that they don’t have access to hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes. The doctor said they’re provided 12 ounces of liquid soap one week, then four the next. She said it isn’t enough. They have to use the soap while shaving, showering, and, most important these days, washing their hands. If they run out, bars of soap at the commissary cost about $2. Most of the women can’t afford that, the doctor said. Thanks to the money her family sends, she could. (Christopher Ferreira, a GEO Group corporate relations manager, said soap and other hygiene products are free and readily available at the company’s ICE detention centers; he didn’t reply when asked if the company sells those products in its commissaries.)
From inside detention, the women have been watching the news on Telemundo and Univision. They see President Trump declare the pandemic a national emergency, and listen to calls for social distancing while stuck in a large room with about 45 other people. Relatives and volunteers cannot console them in person: ICE has banned social visits for the time being.
The husband of one of the women quarantined at Basile—Elio Almaguer-Guerra—called me with concerns about his wife, Katherine Ramírez-Escalona. He is an agricultural engineer, and she was studying medicine before the two of them left Cuba together last year. They arrived at the US-Mexico border in May, where they had to wait about six months to be allowed to request asylum in the United States. From there, he was sent to New Mexico, while she went to Louisiana. In January, Almaguer-Guerra was released on parole to live with his wife’s cousin in Miami.
But ICE’s New Orleans office, known for being one of the harshest in the nation, has refused to let Ramírez-Escalona join her husband and live with her cousin. Almaguer-Guerra feels hopeless and doesn’t know how much more either of them can bare. He contemplates dramatic measures—a protest in front of the White House or a hunger strike mounted on her behalf.
When the doctor and I spoke again on Thursday, she passed the phone to Leidy Vazquez-Moreno, a Cuban accountant who’s been practicing English while working in the detention center’s library. “We are very scared about this situation,” she said in English. “I know the situation of the country, and I know we are only immigrants, but we are humans asking [for] help.”
The US government, Vazquez-Moreno continued, didn’t have to be paying to keep them in detention when they had family members who’ve offered to take care of them. The money being used to detain them, she noted, would be better spent responding to the pandemic.


motherjones--2020-03-20--“Without These Workers, Everything Ceases to Exist”: How Coronavirus Is Coming for Your Produce

Every year in mid-March , thousands of men from all over Mexico show up in downtown Monterrey , the country ’ s third-biggest city , with big , rolling suitcases and folders full of documents .
They huddle in groups outside of cheap hotels , waiting on their appointments at the US consulate so they can get the stamp on their passport that allows them to head north to work on farms across the United States .
In a typical year , more than 200,000 foreigners will get temporary permits , known as H-2A visas , to work in agriculture @ @ @ @ @ @ @ between .
But after fears of the coronavirus pandemic soared in recent weeks , the United States government decided on Monday to close consulates like the one in Monterrey—leaving American farmers scrambling and Mexican workers stranded at one of the busiest times of the season .
“ Without these workers , everything ceases to exist , ” says Diane Kurrle , senior vice president of the US Apple Association .
The agriculture sector , she notes , “ has become increasingly dependent ” on the H2-A program—so much so that it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The indefinite closure of US consulates could have massive consequences for American growers and cause a shortage of fruits and vegetables for consumers .
For decades , farms in the United States—from family-run operations to massive , industrial-scale growers—have contracted with Mexican laborers for months at a time to plant and harvest much of the produce we eat every day .
In fiscal year 2019 , the Department of Labor certified more than 257,000 H2-A requests from American farms .
Once the Labor Department certifies those positions , farms are then allowed to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ application process in US consulates .
State Department data shows that last year it issued 204,801 H-2A visas to workers from around the world .
More than 180,000 were from Mexico , and most of those visas were issued in the spring months : 32,159 in April , 24,268 in May .
The US consulate in Monterrey issued 65 percent of those .
At least until the coronavirus hit .
In response to this week ’ s consulate closures , the Agriculture Workforce Coalition—an industry group that includes the US Apple Association—wrote a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on Wednesday , expressing its “ deep concern ” with the suspension of visa processing at the US embassy in Mexico City and other consulates across the country because of the pandemic .
While many crops , like apples , won ’ t be in peak harvest season for months , farms are already planting , pruning , and more , with workers arriving this month and staying through the harvest season .
Farmers already have applications pending for hundreds or thousands of temporary workers .
“ An interruption to the processing of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ significant disruption to the US food supply , ” the Agriculture Workforce Coalition wrote in its letter to Pompeo .
“ The American people need a stable food supply to maintain healthy diets and strong immune systems , especially now during this national health crisis .
The failure to take necessary action to protect our food supply will result in bare shelves in grocery store produce aisles , not from panic buying , but as the result of the federal government directly causing a shortage of critical labor.
” On Thursday morning , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they are suspending routine visa services in most countries worldwide , “ they were reviewing all possible options ” to prioritize H-2A applications , “ given the significant economic importance of these workers for farmers and small businesses.
” The agency said that it ’ s not issuing new H-2A visas , but workers who are eligible for an interview waiver ( meaning they have received the visa in the past and showed up to in-person interviews in the last year ) would be issued renewals without having to go to a visa @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from all over Mexico have started turning up in Monterrey with the expectation of working in the United States for much of 2020 .
For many of them , any delays or visa reductions could mean the difference between keeping their families afloat or plunging further into debt , something that worries advocates like Evy Peña with Centro de Derechos del Migrante ( CDM ) , a nonprofit advocating the rights of migrant seasonal workers .
“ We tend to think about the food we ’ re eating and not the people growing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that , she is concerned that misinformation about the coronavirus and about the temporary cancellation of visa appointments will spread in Monterrey—and among workers who could fall victims to fraud .
Peña and CDM have pushed for reforming the H2-A program to give workers more protections and to mandate more oversight for labor recruiters in Mexico and employers in the United States .
She fears that the current situation could “ exacerbate what already exists : fraud , illegal recruitment , unpaid reimbursement , and overcrowded living quarters.
” According to the State @ @ @ @ @ @ @ capacity to process visa applications during this pandemic , hoping to exercise social distancing and renew workers ’ visas .
But even when they resume visa processing for some workers , even the slightest interruption in the supply of workers has the potential to disrupt food production in the United States .
Beyond that , the US Apple Association ’ s Kurrle says , rural communities whose economies rely on seasonal workers will also get squeezed .
“ It affects the folks who deliver the apples , the truck drivers , the sales @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people who produces the boxes and crates—they don ’ t have jobs either .
”

Every year in mid-March, thousands of men from all over Mexico show up in downtown Monterrey, the country’s third-biggest city, with big, rolling suitcases and folders full of documents. They huddle in groups outside of cheap hotels, waiting on their appointments at the US consulate so they can get the stamp on their passport that allows them to head north to work on farms across the United States.
In a typical year, more than 200,000 foreigners will get temporary permits, known as H-2A visas, to work in agriculture from Florida to Washington and everywhere in between. But after fears of the coronavirus pandemic soared in recent weeks, the United States government decided on Monday to close consulates like the one in Monterrey—leaving American farmers scrambling and Mexican workers stranded at one of the busiest times of the season.
“Without these workers, everything ceases to exist,” says Diane Kurrle, senior vice president of the US Apple Association. The agriculture sector, she notes, “has become increasingly dependent” on the H2-A program—so much so that it’s doubled in the last five years.
The indefinite closure of US consulates could have massive consequences for American growers and cause a shortage of fruits and vegetables for consumers. For decades, farms in the United States—from family-run operations to massive, industrial-scale growers—have contracted with Mexican laborers for months at a time to plant and harvest much of the produce we eat every day. In fiscal year 2019, the Department of Labor certified more than 257,000 H2-A requests from American farms. Once the Labor Department certifies those positions, farms are then allowed to recruit workers who go through the visa application process in US consulates. State Department data shows that last year it issued 204,801 H-2A visas to workers from around the world. More than 180,000 were from Mexico, and most of those visas were issued in the spring months: 32,159 in April, 24,268 in May. The US consulate in Monterrey issued 65 percent of those.
At least until the coronavirus hit. In response to this week’s consulate closures, the Agriculture Workforce Coalition—an industry group that includes the US Apple Association—wrote a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday, expressing its “deep concern” with the suspension of visa processing at the US embassy in Mexico City and other consulates across the country because of the pandemic. While many crops, like apples, won’t be in peak harvest season for months, farms are already planting, pruning, and more, with workers arriving this month and staying through the harvest season. Farmers already have applications pending for hundreds or thousands of temporary workers.
“An interruption to the processing of agricultural worker visas will undoubtedly cause a significant disruption to the US food supply,” the Agriculture Workforce Coalition wrote in its letter to Pompeo. “The American people need a stable food supply to maintain healthy diets and strong immune systems, especially now during this national health crisis. The failure to take necessary action to protect our food supply will result in bare shelves in grocery store produce aisles, not from panic buying, but as the result of the federal government directly causing a shortage of critical labor.”
“The failure to take necessary action to protect our food supply will result in bare shelves in grocery store produce aisles, not from panic buying, but as the result of the federal government directly causing a shortage of critical labor.”
On Thursday morning, State Department officials told me that while they are suspending routine visa services in most countries worldwide, “they were reviewing all possible options” to prioritize H-2A applications, “given the significant economic importance of these workers for farmers and small businesses.” The agency said that it’s not issuing new H-2A visas, but workers who are eligible for an interview waiver (meaning they have received the visa in the past and showed up to in-person interviews in the last year) would be issued renewals without having to go to a visa appointment.
Meanwhile, thousands of workers from all over Mexico have started turning up in Monterrey with the expectation of working in the United States for much of 2020. For many of them, any delays or visa reductions could mean the difference between keeping their families afloat or plunging further into debt, something that worries advocates like Evy Peña with Centro de Derechos del Migrante (CDM), a nonprofit advocating the rights of migrant seasonal workers.
“We tend to think about the food we’re eating and not the people growing it,” Peña says. Beyond that, she is concerned that misinformation about the coronavirus and about the temporary cancellation of visa appointments will spread in Monterrey—and among workers who could fall victims to fraud. Peña and CDM have pushed for reforming the H2-A program to give workers more protections and to mandate more oversight for labor recruiters in Mexico and employers in the United States. She fears that the current situation could “exacerbate what already exists: fraud, illegal recruitment, unpaid reimbursement, and overcrowded living quarters.”
According to the State Department, consular offices are reviewing their capacity to process visa applications during this pandemic, hoping to exercise social distancing and renew workers’ visas. But even when they resume visa processing for some workers, even the slightest interruption in the supply of workers has the potential to disrupt food production in the United States.
Beyond that, the US Apple Association’s Kurrle says, rural communities whose economies rely on seasonal workers will also get squeezed. “It affects the folks who deliver the apples, the truck drivers, the sales marketing jobs for those companies, the people who produces the boxes and crates—they don’t have jobs either.”
Camille Squires contributed to this story.


motherjones--2020-03-20--Treating Coronavirus Symptoms With Ibuprofen Is Probably Okay, Doctors Say

Despite early warnings from France ’ s health minister and the World Health Organization , ibuprofen is still considered a safe treatment for symptoms of COVID-19 , the disease caused by the coronavirus , such as fever and headache .
In a tweet on Saturday , French health minister Olivier Véran advised against the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ( NSAIDs ) such as ibuprofen for treating COVID-19 , suggesting that they could aggravate symptoms .
The warning could stem from a recent study published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine suggesting that anti-inflammatory medication could increase an individual ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
After initially endorsing this recommendation and advising the use of acetaminophen instead , the WHO has reversed course , assuring the public that there is no clinical evidence to suggest that ibuprofen , sold under brand names including Motrin and Advil , worsens the symptoms of COVID-19 .
As Dr. Angela Rogers , the chair of the intensive care unit ’ s COVID-19 task force at Stanford University Medical Center , tells NPR , acetaminophen , sold under the brand name Tylenol , is recommended for patients who are sick enough to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ less likely to damage the kidneys than ibuprofen when taken long-term .
But at high doses , acetaminophen can cause damage to the liver .
For now , doctors are indicating that any fever-reducer is an acceptable first-line treatment to symptoms of COVID-19 .

Despite early warnings from France’s health minister and the World Health Organization, ibuprofen is still considered a safe treatment for symptoms of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, such as fever and headache.
In a tweet on Saturday, French health minister Olivier Véran advised against the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen for treating COVID-19, suggesting that they could aggravate symptoms. The warning could stem from a recent study published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine suggesting that anti-inflammatory medication could increase an individual’s susceptibility to infection, according to NPR.
After initially endorsing this recommendation and advising the use of acetaminophen instead, the WHO has reversed course, assuring the public that there is no clinical evidence to suggest that ibuprofen, sold under brand names including Motrin and Advil, worsens the symptoms of COVID-19.
Q: Could #ibuprofen worsen disease for people with #COVID19? A: Based on currently available information, WHO does not recommend against the use of of ibuprofen. pic.twitter.com/n39DFt2amF — World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) March 18, 2020
As Dr. Angela Rogers, the chair of the intensive care unit’s COVID-19 task force at Stanford University Medical Center, tells NPR, acetaminophen, sold under the brand name Tylenol, is recommended for patients who are sick enough to go to the hospital because it is less likely to damage the kidneys than ibuprofen when taken long-term. But at high doses, acetaminophen can cause damage to the liver.
For now, doctors are indicating that any fever-reducer is an acceptable first-line treatment to symptoms of COVID-19.


motherjones--2020-03-20--Trump’s Coronavirus Denials Sound like the First Act of Every Disaster Movie

If you were writing the next Hollywood disaster movie , you could construct a first act more or less by scanning the headlines from the past few weeks .
We ’ ve got it all : workaday scientists racing to sound the alarm about a looming existential threat .
Science-denying government officials ignoring those alarms .
Heroes and helpers amidst the uncertainty .
Gal Gadot singing for some reason .
And of course , the president .
Trump ’ s performance here has been a real tour de force .
He seems to have modeled himself on those villainous politicians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s ignored experts , shifted the blame , repeatedly downplayed the threat , stoked racism , and spread misinformation .
Watch our video above to see how eerily similar Trump ’ s approach has been to climate-denying officials in The Day After Tomorrow , the captain of the Titanic , and the spineless apparatchiks in charge of the response to Chernobyl .
Thankfully we ’ ve begun to see a shift in some of the most visible skeptics .
But remember : That ’ s only the start of Act Two .
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

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motherjones--2020-03-20--Richard Burr Denies Insider Trading and Asks for an Investigation

Sen. Richard Burr ( R-N.C. ) denied he had done anything wrong by dumping stocks days before the market crashed due to the coronavirus pandemic .
On Thursday , Burr and two other Republican senators were revealed to have sold millions of dollars in stock in late January and early February , around the time members of Congress began receiving in-depth briefings on the potentially cataclysmic effects of the outbreak .
Burr , who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee , sold between $ 628,000 and $ 1.7 million in publicly traded stocks—and didn ’ t buy any new ones—starting on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Act , members of Congress are held to the same insider-trading standards as corporate executives—they are prohibited from making any trades based on their information that isn ’ t publicly available—and this could potentially apply to Burr , whose committee received classified briefings on the spread of the coronavirus starting in early February .
On Thursday night , after Open Secrets and ProPublica reported on Burr ’ s stock sales , Fox News host Tucker Carlson called for the senator to resign and face prosecution .
“ There is no greater moral crime @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of crisis , and that appears to be what happened , ” Carlson told his viewers .
Burr ’ s Senate office initially appeared to blow off the accusations .
It did not respond to requests for comment from Mother Jones on Thursday evening , and Burr ’ s spokesperson simply emailed “ lol ” in reply to questions from NPR .
But by Friday morning , Burr changed his tone , defending his sales as proper—he says he made the decision to sell the shares based on what he was seeing on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ himself for an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee in the spirit of “ full transparency.
” Burr ’ s suggested course of action is a far cry from what Carlson and others are suggesting .
Senate Ethics Committee investigations are conducted in secret and can be concluded at any time if the target of the investigation steps down .
They are also notoriously slow , taking months or even years to meander to completion .
On Thursday , the Daily Beast also reported that Sen. Kelly Loeffler ( R-Ga. ) and her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the New York Stock Exchange—may have made improper trades .
Starting on January 24 , the day the committee she chairs received a briefing on the coronavirus , Loeffler and Sprecher reported they made 24 stock sales , worth millions .
The couple also made only two purchases , including buying shares in Citrix , a company that specializes in telework software .
Loeffler denied she had done anything wrong , saying her investment decisions are made by “ third-party advisers.
” Essentially , the sales and purchases are a coincidence , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Inhofe was also cited by the New York Times on Thursday for his sale of as much as $ 400,000 in stock on January 27 .
On Friday , he denied having attended the January 24 briefing on the coronavirus and said he had previously instructed his financial advisor to sell off all of his stocks .
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and her husband also reported a large stock sale in late January , shedding between $ 500,000 and $ 1 million of shares in a cancer therapy research company .
Feinstein said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which gives her no control over their sale , and that she did not attend the January 24 briefing .
Feinstein ’ s stock sale occurred on the day the company had hit what was then its lowest share price of the year .

Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) denied he had done anything wrong by dumping stocks days before the market crashed due to the coronavirus pandemic. On Thursday, Burr and two other Republican senators were revealed to have sold millions of dollars in stock in late January and early February, around the time members of Congress began receiving in-depth briefings on the potentially cataclysmic effects of the outbreak. Burr, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, sold between $628,000 and $1.7 million in publicly traded stocks—and didn’t buy any new ones—starting on February 13.
Under the 2012 STOCK Act, members of Congress are held to the same insider-trading standards as corporate executives—they are prohibited from making any trades based on their information that isn’t publicly available—and this could potentially apply to Burr, whose committee received classified briefings on the spread of the coronavirus starting in early February. On Thursday night, after Open Secrets and ProPublica reported on Burr’s stock sales, Fox News host Tucker Carlson called for the senator to resign and face prosecution.
“There is no greater moral crime than betraying your country in a time of crisis, and that appears to be what happened,” Carlson told his viewers.
Tucker Carlson calls for Senator Burr to resign and await prosecution for insider trading if he cannot provide a reasonable explanation for his actions. He goes on to say it appears that Senator Burr betrayed his country in a time of crisis pic.twitter.com/q7yJa5wjuA — Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) March 20, 2020
Burr’s Senate office initially appeared to blow off the accusations. It did not respond to requests for comment from Mother Jones on Thursday evening, and Burr’s spokesperson simply emailed “lol” in reply to questions from NPR. But by Friday morning, Burr changed his tone, defending his sales as proper—he says he made the decision to sell the shares based on what he was seeing on CNBC, not any inside information—and called himself for an investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee in the spirit of “full transparency.”
My statement in response to reports about recent financial disclosures: pic.twitter.com/J4kye5a4ok — Richard Burr (@SenatorBurr) March 20, 2020
Burr’s suggested course of action is a far cry from what Carlson and others are suggesting. Senate Ethics Committee investigations are conducted in secret and can be concluded at any time if the target of the investigation steps down. They are also notoriously slow, taking months or even years to meander to completion.
On Thursday, the Daily Beast also reported that Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) and her husband—Jeffrey C. Sprecher, who is chair of the New York Stock Exchange—may have made improper trades. Starting on January 24, the day the committee she chairs received a briefing on the coronavirus, Loeffler and Sprecher reported they made 24 stock sales, worth millions. The couple also made only two purchases, including buying shares in Citrix, a company that specializes in telework software. Loeffler denied she had done anything wrong, saying her investment decisions are made by “third-party advisers.”
This is a ridiculous and baseless attack. I do not make investment decisions for my portfolio. Investment decisions are made by multiple third-party advisors without my or my husband's knowledge or involvement. — Senator Kelly Loeffler (@SenatorLoeffler) March 20, 2020
Essentially, the sales and purchases are a coincidence, Loeffler is arguing.
Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe was also cited by the New York Times on Thursday for his sale of as much as $400,000 in stock on January 27. On Friday, he denied having attended the January 24 briefing on the coronavirus and said he had previously instructed his financial advisor to sell off all of his stocks.
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein and her husband also reported a large stock sale in late January, shedding between $500,000 and $1 million of shares in a cancer therapy research company. Feinstein said her assets are in a blind trust, which gives her no control over their sale, and that she did not attend the January 24 briefing. Feinstein’s stock sale occurred on the day the company had hit what was then its lowest share price of the year.


motherjones--2020-03-21--A Report From the Coronavirus Frontline: “They Are Essentially Drowning in Their Own Blood.”

This story was published in partnership with ProPublica , a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power .
Sign up for ProPublica ’ s Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published .
As of Friday , Louisiana was reporting 479 confirmed cases of COVID-19 , one of the highest numbers in the country .
Ten people had died .
The majority of cases are in New Orleans , which now has one confirmed case for every 1,000 residents .
New Orleans had held Mardi Gras celebrations just two weeks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than a million revelers on its streets .
I spoke to a respiratory therapist there , whose job is to ensure that patients are breathing well .
He works in a medium-sized city hospital ’ s intensive care unit .
( We are withholding his name and employer , as he fears retaliation . )
Before the virus came to New Orleans , his days were pretty relaxed , nebulizing patients with asthma , adjusting oxygen tubes that run through the nose or , in the most severe cases , setting up and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ older , with chronic health conditions and bad lungs .
Since last week , he ’ s been running ventilators for the sickest COVID-19 patients .
Many are relatively young , in their 40s and 50s , and have minimal , if any , preexisting conditions in their charts .
He is overwhelmed , stunned by the manifestation of the infection , both its speed and intensity .
The ICU where he works has essentially become a coronavirus unit .
He estimates that his hospital has admitted dozens of confirmed or presumptive coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up on ventilators .
His hospital had not prepared for this volume before the virus first appeared .
One physician had tried to raise alarms , asking about negative pressure rooms and ventilators .
Most staff concluded that he was overreacting .
“ They thought the media was overhyping it , ” the respiratory therapist told me .
“ In retrospect , he was right to be concerned.
” He spoke to me by phone on Thursday about why , exactly , he has been so alarmed .
His account has been condensed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about it in the news , I knew it was going to be bad , but we deal with the flu every year so I was thinking : Well , it ’ s probably not that much worse than the flu .
But seeing patients with COVID-19 completely changed my perspective , and it ’ s a lot more frightening.
” “ I have patients in their early 40s and , yeah , I was kind of shocked .
I ’ m seeing people who look relatively healthy with a minimal health history @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , like they ’ ve been hit by a truck .
This is knocking out what should be perfectly fit , healthy people .
Patients will be on minimal support , on a little bit of oxygen , and then all of a sudden , they go into complete respiratory arrest , shut down and can ’ t breathe at all.
” “ We have an observation unit in the hospital , and we have been admitting patients that had tested positive or are presumptive positive — these are patients that had been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
We go and check vitals on patients every four hours , and some are on a continuous cardiac monitor , so we see that their heart rate has a sudden increase or decrease , or someone goes in and sees that the patient is struggling to breathe or is unresponsive .
That seems to be what happens to a lot of these patients : They suddenly become unresponsive or go into respiratory failure.
” “ It ’ s called acute respiratory distress syndrome , ARDS .
That means the lungs are filled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ notable for the way the X-ray looks : The entire lung is basically whited out from fluid .
Patients with ARDS are extremely difficult to oxygenate .
It has a really high mortality rate , about 40 % .
The way to manage it is to put a patient on a ventilator .
The additional pressure helps the oxygen go into the bloodstream .
“ Normally , ARDS is something that happens over time as the lungs get more and more inflamed .
But with this virus , it seems like it happens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , your lung is made up of little balloons .
Like a tree is made out of a bunch of little leaves , the lung is made of little air sacs that are called the alveoli .
When you breathe in , all of those little air sacs inflate , and they have capillaries in the walls , little blood vessels .
The oxygen gets from the air in the lung into the blood so it can be carried around the body .
“ Typically with ARDS , the lungs become inflamed .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ If you have a burn on your arm , the skin around it turns red from additional blood flow .
The body is sending it additional nutrients to heal .
The problem is , when that happens in your lungs , fluid and extra blood starts going to the lungs .
Viruses can injure cells in the walls of the alveoli , so the fluid leaks into the alveoli .
A telltale sign of ARDS in an X-ray is what ’ s called ‘ ground glass opacity , ’ like an old-fashioned ground @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And lungs look that way because fluid is white on an X-ray , so the lung looks like white ground glass , or sometimes pure white , because the lung is filled with so much fluid , displacing where the air would normally be.
” “ With our coronavirus patients , once they ’ re on ventilators , most need about the highest settings that we can do .
About 90 % oxygen , and 16 of PEEP , positive end-expiratory pressure , which keeps the lung inflated .
This is nearly as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The level we ’ re at means we are running out of options .
“ In my experience , this severity of ARDS is usually more typical of someone who has a near drowning experience—they have a bunch of dirty water in their lungs—or people who inhale caustic gas .
Especially for it to have such an acute onset like that .
I ’ ve never seen a microorganism or an infectious process cause such acute damage to the lungs so rapidly .
That was what really shocked me.
” “ It @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when I saw my first coronavirus patient go bad .
I was like , ‘ Holy shit , this is not the flu.
’ Watching this relatively young guy , gasping for air , pink frothy secretions coming out of his tube and out of his mouth .
The ventilator should have been doing the work of breathing but he was still gasping for air , moving his mouth , moving his body , struggling .
We had to restrain him .
With all the coronavirus patients , we ’ ve had to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ really struggle to breathe .
When you ’ re in that mindstate of struggling to breathe and delirious with fever , you don ’ t know when someone is trying to help you , so you ’ ll try to rip the breathing tube out because you feel it is choking you , but you are drowning .
“ When someone has an infection , I ’ m used to seeing the normal colors you ’ d associate with it : greens and yellows .
The coronavirus patients with ARDS have been having @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pink because they ’ re filled with blood cells that are leaking into their airways .
They are essentially drowning in their own blood and fluids because their lungs are so full .
So we ’ re constantly having to suction out the secretions every time we go into their rooms.
” “ Before this , we were all joking .
It ’ s grim humor .
If you are exposed to the virus and test positive and go on quarantine , you get paid .
We were all joking : I want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ get a paid vacation from work .
And once I saw these patients with it , I was like , ‘ Holy shit , I do not want to catch this and I don ’ t want anyone I know to catch this.
’ “ I worked a long stretch of days last week , and I watched it go from this novelty to a serious issue .
We had one or two patients at our hospital , and then five to 10 patients , and then 20 patients .
Every day , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ patients , and the patients themselves are starting to get sicker and sicker .
When it first started , we all had tons of equipment , tons of supplies , and as we started getting more patients , we started to run out .
They had to ration supplies .
At first we were trying to use one mask per patient .
Then it was just : You get one mask for positive patients , another mask for everyone else .
And now it ’ s just : You get one mask .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ now , we are running about four times the number of ventilators than we normally have going .
We have such a large volume of patients , but it ’ s really hard to find enough people to fill all the shifts .
The caregiver-to-patient ratio has gone down , and you can ’ t spend as much time with each patient , you can ’ t adjust the vent settings as aggressively because you ’ re not going into the room as often .
And we ’ re also trying to avoid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ possible to reduce infection risk of staff and to conserve personal protective equipment.
” “ But we are trying to wean down the settings on the ventilator as much as possible , because you don ’ t want someone to be on the ventilator longer than they need to be .
Your risk of mortality increases every day that you spend on a ventilator .
The high pressures from high vent settings is pushing air into the lung and can overinflate those little balloons .
They can pop .
It can destroy the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , although some damage can heal , it can also do long-lasting damage to the lungs .
They can get filled up with scar tissue .
ARDS can lead to cognitive decline .
Some people ’ s muscles waste away , and it takes them a long time to recover once they come off the ventilator .
“ There is a very real possibility that we might run out of ICU beds and at that point I don ’ t know what happens if patients get sick and need to be intubated and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ person going to die because we don ’ t have the equipment to keep them alive ?
What if it goes on for months and dozens of people die because we don ’ t have the ventilators ?
“ Hopefully we don ’ t get there , but if you only have one ventilator , and you have two patients , you ’ re going to have to go with the one who has a higher likelihood of surviving .
And I ’ m afraid we ’ ll get to that point .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ happening in Italy .
”

The coronavirus is a rapidly developing news story, so some of the content in this article might be out of date. Check out our most recent coverage of the coronavirus crisis , and subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.
This story was published in partnership with ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for ProPublica’s Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox as soon as they are published.
As of Friday, Louisiana was reporting 479 confirmed cases of COVID-19, one of the highest numbers in the country. Ten people had died. The majority of cases are in New Orleans, which now has one confirmed case for every 1,000 residents. New Orleans had held Mardi Gras celebrations just two weeks before its first patient, with more than a million revelers on its streets.
“It’s a lot more frightening.”
I spoke to a respiratory therapist there, whose job is to ensure that patients are breathing well. He works in a medium-sized city hospital’s intensive care unit. (We are withholding his name and employer, as he fears retaliation.) Before the virus came to New Orleans, his days were pretty relaxed, nebulizing patients with asthma, adjusting oxygen tubes that run through the nose or, in the most severe cases, setting up and managing ventilators. His patients were usually older, with chronic health conditions and bad lungs.
Since last week, he’s been running ventilators for the sickest COVID-19 patients. Many are relatively young, in their 40s and 50s, and have minimal, if any, preexisting conditions in their charts. He is overwhelmed, stunned by the manifestation of the infection, both its speed and intensity. The ICU where he works has essentially become a coronavirus unit. He estimates that his hospital has admitted dozens of confirmed or presumptive coronavirus patients. About a third have ended up on ventilators.
His hospital had not prepared for this volume before the virus first appeared. One physician had tried to raise alarms, asking about negative pressure rooms and ventilators. Most staff concluded that he was overreacting. “They thought the media was overhyping it,” the respiratory therapist told me. “In retrospect, he was right to be concerned.”
He spoke to me by phone on Thursday about why, exactly, he has been so alarmed. His account has been condensed and edited for clarity.
“Reading about it in the news, I knew it was going to be bad, but we deal with the flu every year so I was thinking: Well, it’s probably not that much worse than the flu. But seeing patients with COVID-19 completely changed my perspective, and it’s a lot more frightening.”
“I have patients in their early 40s and, yeah, I was kind of shocked. I’m seeing people who look relatively healthy with a minimal health history, and they are completely wiped out, like they’ve been hit by a truck. This is knocking out what should be perfectly fit, healthy people. Patients will be on minimal support, on a little bit of oxygen, and then all of a sudden, they go into complete respiratory arrest, shut down and can’t breathe at all.”
“We have an observation unit in the hospital, and we have been admitting patients that had tested positive or are presumptive positive — these are patients that had been in contact with people who were positive. We go and check vitals on patients every four hours, and some are on a continuous cardiac monitor, so we see that their heart rate has a sudden increase or decrease, or someone goes in and sees that the patient is struggling to breathe or is unresponsive. That seems to be what happens to a lot of these patients: They suddenly become unresponsive or go into respiratory failure.”
“It’s called acute respiratory distress syndrome, ARDS. That means the lungs are filled with fluid. And it’s notable for the way the X-ray looks: The entire lung is basically whited out from fluid. Patients with ARDS are extremely difficult to oxygenate. It has a really high mortality rate, about 40%. The way to manage it is to put a patient on a ventilator. The additional pressure helps the oxygen go into the bloodstream.
“With this virus, it seems like it happens overnight.”
“Normally, ARDS is something that happens over time as the lungs get more and more inflamed. But with this virus, it seems like it happens overnight. When you’re healthy, your lung is made up of little balloons. Like a tree is made out of a bunch of little leaves, the lung is made of little air sacs that are called the alveoli. When you breathe in, all of those little air sacs inflate, and they have capillaries in the walls, little blood vessels. The oxygen gets from the air in the lung into the blood so it can be carried around the body.
“Typically with ARDS, the lungs become inflamed. It’s like inflammation anywhere: If you have a burn on your arm, the skin around it turns red from additional blood flow. The body is sending it additional nutrients to heal. The problem is, when that happens in your lungs, fluid and extra blood starts going to the lungs. Viruses can injure cells in the walls of the alveoli, so the fluid leaks into the alveoli. A telltale sign of ARDS in an X-ray is what’s called ‘ground glass opacity,’ like an old-fashioned ground glass privacy window in a shower. And lungs look that way because fluid is white on an X-ray, so the lung looks like white ground glass, or sometimes pure white, because the lung is filled with so much fluid, displacing where the air would normally be.”
“With our coronavirus patients, once they’re on ventilators, most need about the highest settings that we can do. About 90% oxygen, and 16 of PEEP, positive end-expiratory pressure, which keeps the lung inflated. This is nearly as high as I’ve ever seen. The level we’re at means we are running out of options.
“In my experience, this severity of ARDS is usually more typical of someone who has a near drowning experience—they have a bunch of dirty water in their lungs—or people who inhale caustic gas. Especially for it to have such an acute onset like that. I’ve never seen a microorganism or an infectious process cause such acute damage to the lungs so rapidly. That was what really shocked me.”
“It first struck me how different it was when I saw my first coronavirus patient go bad. I was like, ‘Holy shit, this is not the flu.’ Watching this relatively young guy, gasping for air, pink frothy secretions coming out of his tube and out of his mouth. The ventilator should have been doing the work of breathing but he was still gasping for air, moving his mouth, moving his body, struggling. We had to restrain him. With all the coronavirus patients, we’ve had to restrain them. They really hyperventilate, really struggle to breathe. When you’re in that mindstate of struggling to breathe and delirious with fever, you don’t know when someone is trying to help you, so you’ll try to rip the breathing tube out because you feel it is choking you, but you are drowning.
“Holy shit, this is not the flu.”
“When someone has an infection, I’m used to seeing the normal colors you’d associate with it: greens and yellows. The coronavirus patients with ARDS have been having a lot of secretions that are actually pink because they’re filled with blood cells that are leaking into their airways. They are essentially drowning in their own blood and fluids because their lungs are so full. So we’re constantly having to suction out the secretions every time we go into their rooms.”
“Before this, we were all joking. It’s grim humor. If you are exposed to the virus and test positive and go on quarantine, you get paid. We were all joking: I want to get the coronavirus because then I get a paid vacation from work. And once I saw these patients with it, I was like, ‘Holy shit, I do not want to catch this and I don’t want anyone I know to catch this.’
“I worked a long stretch of days last week, and I watched it go from this novelty to a serious issue. We had one or two patients at our hospital, and then five to 10 patients, and then 20 patients. Every day, the intensity kept ratcheting up. More patients, and the patients themselves are starting to get sicker and sicker. When it first started, we all had tons of equipment, tons of supplies, and as we started getting more patients, we started to run out. They had to ration supplies. At first we were trying to use one mask per patient. Then it was just: You get one mask for positive patients, another mask for everyone else. And now it’s just: You get one mask.
“I work 12-hour shifts. Right now, we are running about four times the number of ventilators than we normally have going. We have such a large volume of patients, but it’s really hard to find enough people to fill all the shifts. The caregiver-to-patient ratio has gone down, and you can’t spend as much time with each patient, you can’t adjust the vent settings as aggressively because you’re not going into the room as often. And we’re also trying to avoid going into the room as much as possible to reduce infection risk of staff and to conserve personal protective equipment.”
“But we are trying to wean down the settings on the ventilator as much as possible, because you don’t want someone to be on the ventilator longer than they need to be. Your risk of mortality increases every day that you spend on a ventilator. The high pressures from high vent settings is pushing air into the lung and can overinflate those little balloons. They can pop. It can destroy the alveoli. Even if you survive ARDS, although some damage can heal, it can also do long-lasting damage to the lungs. They can get filled up with scar tissue. ARDS can lead to cognitive decline. Some people’s muscles waste away, and it takes them a long time to recover once they come off the ventilator.
“There is a very real possibility that we might run out of ICU beds and at that point I don’t know what happens if patients get sick and need to be intubated and put on a ventilator. Is that person going to die because we don’t have the equipment to keep them alive? What if it goes on for months and dozens of people die because we don’t have the ventilators?
“Hopefully we don’t get there, but if you only have one ventilator, and you have two patients, you’re going to have to go with the one who has a higher likelihood of surviving. And I’m afraid we’ll get to that point. I’ve heard that’s happening in Italy.”


motherjones--2020-03-21--One Man’s Struggle to Get a Veterans Administration Coronavirus Test

The symptoms started after Jim White arrived at his friend ’ s house near Corpus Christi , Texas .
First came the chills , followed by diarrhea and aches .
White , a Coast Guard veteran and former state biologist , had been following the news and knew enough about his health to expect the worst .
“ I ’ m almost 65 years old .
I ’ m a disabled veteran .
I have diabetes and high blood pressure , ” he told me .
“ I ’ m an easy target for something like that—coronavirus.
” White had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo , which shut down on March 11 after an attendee tested positive for COVID-19 .
When White began feeling his flu-like symptoms the following week , he decided to visit the Veterans Administration ’ s Corpus Christi clinic .
Just inside the building , he was screened by staff who asked about his symptoms and learned that he had been at the rodeo with a confirmed patient .
After a brief chat , he was instructed to put on a mask , take some hand sanitizer , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ took his temperature , and White was never tested for the virus .
“ It doesn ’ t surprise me a bit , ” he said .
“ It ’ s just been my experience with the VA. ” Like nearly every other health care system in the United States , the Veterans Administration has had to reorient itself to battle coronavirus .
The VA ’ s aging patient population—more than 45 percent of veterans are over 65 years old—infections at VA clinics and nursing homes carry a high risk , prompting severe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ facilities and screenings like the one White encountered .
But such screenings are not the same as a formal COVID-19 test , and despite having access to 3,000 tests as of Tuesday , the VA has been slow to use them .
By Wednesday , the VA had only tested 322 patients .
When asked that day how many veterans “ of those who need to be tested ” had gotten one , Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie sounded an optimistic tune .
“ We believe we ’ ve caught most of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the days since that remark , the pace of testing has increased .
By Friday , 1,192 veterans had been tested , according to the VA .
Meanwhile , the rate of infections has shot up : 137 veterans have now tested positive , only days after the VA acknowledged just five infected patients .
Despite the considerable increase in testing , veterans like White still face obstacles to acquiring a test , primarily because of the VA ’ s stringent criteria for administering them , based on early Centers for Disease Control @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recently relaxed these guidelines and now allows doctors to “ use their judgment ” to determine if a patient should be tested , White still didn ’ t receive one .
A spokesperson for the South Texas Veterans Health Care System directed me to a different VA spokesperson for comment about the availability of COVID-19 test in the region .
That second official did not respond .
Barriers to tests could be a growing problem for veterans , especially as local and regional governments have been slow to adopt the kind of widespread @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus has spread .
Corpus Christi , known to tourists as the “ shining city by the sea , ” has the current distinction of being the largest municipality in the United States without a confirmed COVID-19 test .
But that , rather than indicating an absence of the virus , may have more to do with a lack of tests .
A drive-thru site only launched this week and it ’ s not clear how many residents have been tested .
“ Ten people gave samples for testing at the drive-thru center @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be tested there Thursday , ” local officials told the Corpus Christi Caller Times .
On Friday , a spokesperson for the Nueces County Public Health District would not confirm how many people had been tested .
Only five days ago , the city ’ s Twitter account seemed to downplay the threat of the outbreak , by emphasizing , despite the slow pace of testing , that “ there are no confirmed Coronavirus cases ” in the surrounding county .
White says he called the county to inquire about getting tested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for 10 days .
When he asked about acquiring a thermometer , which local stores had run out of , he says he was instructed to drive to a nearby town for one .
“ I ’ m in a high risk group , ” he said , explaining why he didn ’ t want to make the trip : “ If I don ’ t currently have this , I don ’ t want to take that chance.
” On Friday , I texted White to see if he was any closer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he ’ d gotten more information from the clinic .
“ No .
No contact from the VA , ” he wrote back .
“ The VA gives the Veteran another chance to die for his country you know .
Lol .
”

The symptoms started after Jim White arrived at his friend’s house near Corpus Christi, Texas. First came the chills, followed by diarrhea and aches. White, a Coast Guard veteran and former state biologist, had been following the news and knew enough about his health to expect the worst.
“I’m almost 65 years old. I’m a disabled veteran. I have diabetes and high blood pressure,” he told me. “I’m an easy target for something like that—coronavirus.”
“I’m in a high risk group.”
White had recently spent nearly two weeks working the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which shut down on March 11 after an attendee tested positive for COVID-19. When White began feeling his flu-like symptoms the following week, he decided to visit the Veterans Administration’s Corpus Christi clinic. Just inside the building, he was screened by staff who asked about his symptoms and learned that he had been at the rodeo with a confirmed patient. After a brief chat, he was instructed to put on a mask, take some hand sanitizer, and self-quarantine for 14 days. No one took his temperature, and White was never tested for the virus. “It doesn’t surprise me a bit,” he said. “It’s just been my experience with the VA.”
Like nearly every other health care system in the United States, the Veterans Administration has had to reorient itself to battle coronavirus. The VA’s aging patient population—more than 45 percent of veterans are over 65 years old—infections at VA clinics and nursing homes carry a high risk, prompting severe restrictions on who can enter certain VA facilities and screenings like the one White encountered.
But such screenings are not the same as a formal COVID-19 test, and despite having access to 3,000 tests as of Tuesday, the VA has been slow to use them. By Wednesday, the VA had only tested 322 patients. When asked that day how many veterans “of those who need to be tested” had gotten one, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Robert Wilkie sounded an optimistic tune. “We believe we’ve caught most of them,” he said. In the days since that remark, the pace of testing has increased. By Friday, 1,192 veterans had been tested, according to the VA. Meanwhile, the rate of infections has shot up: 137 veterans have now tested positive, only days after the VA acknowledged just five infected patients.
Despite the considerable increase in testing, veterans like White still face obstacles to acquiring a test, primarily because of the VA’s stringent criteria for administering them, based on early Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. While the CDC recently relaxed these guidelines and now allows doctors to “use their judgment” to determine if a patient should be tested, White still didn’t receive one. A spokesperson for the South Texas Veterans Health Care System directed me to a different VA spokesperson for comment about the availability of COVID-19 test in the region. That second official did not respond.
Barriers to tests could be a growing problem for veterans, especially as local and regional governments have been slow to adopt the kind of widespread testing seen in other countries where the coronavirus has spread. Corpus Christi, known to tourists as the “shining city by the sea,” has the current distinction of being the largest municipality in the United States without a confirmed COVID-19 test. But that, rather than indicating an absence of the virus, may have more to do with a lack of tests. A drive-thru site only launched this week and it’s not clear how many residents have been tested. “Ten people gave samples for testing at the drive-thru center Sunday, and another 16 were scheduled to be tested there Thursday,” local officials told the Corpus Christi Caller Times. On Friday, a spokesperson for the Nueces County Public Health District would not confirm how many people had been tested. Only five days ago, the city’s Twitter account seemed to downplay the threat of the outbreak, by emphasizing, despite the slow pace of testing, that “there are no confirmed Coronavirus cases” in the surrounding county.
White says he called the county to inquire about getting tested, and was instead told to self-isolate for 10 days. When he asked about acquiring a thermometer, which local stores had run out of, he says he was instructed to drive to a nearby town for one. “I’m in a high risk group,” he said, explaining why he didn’t want to make the trip: “If I don’t currently have this, I don’t want to take that chance.”
On Friday, I texted White to see if he was any closer to obtaining a test, or if he’d gotten more information from the clinic. “No. No contact from the VA,” he wrote back. “The VA gives the Veteran another chance to die for his country you know. Lol.”


motherjones--2020-03-21--Democrats Promised a Door-Knocking Army in 2020. The Pandemic Has Changed Their Plans.

In 2020 , Democrats were going to knock on a lot of doors .
Since the summer of 2019 , the Democratic National Committee has trained more than 600 college students on the best methods for door-knocking , phone-banking , and party recruitment .
In particular , the party focused on “ relational organizing ” —face-to-face conversations that typically leverage one ’ s own social network to develop long-term , community-building relationships .
The initiative , called Organizing Corps , aimed to put 1,200 students—primarily from communities of color—on the ground in eight swing states well in advance of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ turn those students into trusted messengers , a strategy based on research from the Analyst Institute that found this kind organizing can make a big difference in campaigns .
Then came coronavirus .
Needless to say , there will be no face-to-face conversations for the foreseeable future .
Instead , the DNC is exploring whether to move the rest of the trainings—and perhaps even the entire organizing effort—online .
Michigan , a pivotal swing state , already had 45 Organizing Corps graduates going door-to-door in the Detroit area last summer .
Another 43 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ University in East Lansing during the first week of March .
Complementing those students ’ efforts are 27 full-time organizers and a director of African American outreach who have been laying the groundwork for 2020 .
Now , much of that operation is resting on the shoulders of the Michigan Democratic Party ’ s single full-time digital organizer , who is charged with designing an online plan to salvage the program and , hopefully , to help the field staff move full-steam ahead during the pandemic .
In Wisconsin—the poster child of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to start early in a state Trump won by just 22,000 votes .
Last summer , 30 Organizing Corps members knocked on 20,000 doors across every ward in Milwaukee .
The state party , too , had hired organizers and has 250 volunteer neighborhood teams that knocked on half a million doors before the 2018 midterms .
“ You ’ ll see organizers and a presence in every part of the state , ” David Bergstein , the DNC ’ s battleground states communications director , vowed in January .
Ben Wikler , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ already been building out a digital organizing strategy .
But late last week , he decided that this digital initiative—originally planned as a complement to the in-person ground game—would instead replace it .
Since the 2016 election , the Democratic Party and its allies have been on an apology tour of sorts , one premised on the theory that Hillary Clinton didn ’ t lose because people wanted to vote for Donald Trump , but because voters who might have supported Democrats stayed home .
And that , party leaders say , was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to young people , women , and people of color .
“ We lost elections in the run-up [ to 2016 ] because we stopped organizing , ” DNC chair Tom Perez said in July 2018 .
“ We stopped talking to people.
” So Democrats recommitted themselves to voter outreach , an effort that paid clear dividends in 2018 .
That organizing can continue , but there won ’ t be any doors knocked—not now , not soon , and , based on some predictions , not until sometime after November ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , by mail ) .
And that ’ s left the party and its allies scrambling to figure out how it ’ s going to defeat Donald Trump in the fall .
“ There ’ s been a transformative pivot to the very real possibility of running all-digital organizing programs , and as more states move to vote-by-mail elections , the reality is sinking in that we ’ ll have an election environment truly unlike any other , ” says Nick Chedli Carter , a Harvard Kennedy School fellow who served as the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ 2016 campaign .
To be clear , in-person organizing has long been just one slice of campaign field operations .
House parties , town halls , and canvassing have their place , but so do texting , phone-banking , direct mail , and paid media blitzes .
Face-to-face outreach is a time-intensive and expensive endeavor ; even before coronavirus , its prominence had been shrinking in an increasingly digital world .
But according to political scientists like Hahrie Han at Johns Hopkins University and Josh Kalla at Yale University , in-person conversations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than digital ones—partly because it ’ s becoming harder to connect with people over phone or email .
One concern for Wikler , the chair of the Wisconsin Democrats , is that those who are farthest from politics—the ones not in a voter file , for example—may remain politically impenetrable .
“ Democrats in Wisconsin have been knocking on the doors of people on nobody ’ s list and finding a mix of Trump supporters and undecided people , ” Wikler explains .
“ A friendly face outside your door is an easier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who doesn ’ t feel like they ’ re connected to politics in any substantive way.
” Still , experts say that the new reality of social distancing isn ’ t necessarily a doomsday scenario .
Kalla has found , for example , that phone conversations are the best way to reduce prejudice .
High quality phone calls—in particular , live ones from volunteer phone banks—can increase voter turnout .
What often makes face-to-face conversations more effective , Hahn says , isn ’ t the fact that they are done in person—it ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seen as the foundation of authentic , human connections .
If those connections can instead be forged digitally , door-knocking might not be necessary after all .
“ Traditionally , people are best at constructing those relationships face-to-face , but nowadays people have been finding ways to create that same kind of connection virtually , ” Hahn says .
“ To me , that is the challenge for organizers : How do organizers learn to draw power from relationships created online ?
” Wikler says he ’ s thinking about how to best @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ It ’ s difficult to build trust online , but trust that ’ s been built can be tapped online , ” he tells me .
And though strangers aren ’ t able to knock on doors right now , there are a lot of people whose daily schedules suddenly include a lot of free time—and who are desperate for human connection .
“ This is a recipe for a bigger virtual organizing effort than anyone ’ s been able to mount , ” Wikler says .
“ The hardest part @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reach out to their own contacts , but everyone ’ s in reach-out-to-your-loved-ones mode right now.
” Annie Weinberg , a veteran progressive strategist who advises on organizer trainings for groups like Our Revolution and Movement School—the organizing wing of the Justice Democrats—says that the earliest tests of this moment are , anecdotally , yielding results .
“ One of the volunteers came back crying from phone calls because she talked to a voter who had been isolated all weekend , and the phone call was the first interaction she ’ d had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ describing a get-out-the-vote phone bank she facilitated before this week ’ s Arizona primary .
“ It can be healing to have someone there to listen to you in these times.
” Running for office during the coronavirus crisis is certainly an unprecedented challenge , but Weinberg says that there are some analogous situations candidates can draw from .
Campaigns have had to plough ahead in the face of natural disasters , particularly around hurricane season , which often overlaps with the general election .
She also pointed to the experience of candidates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ difficult—for example , Gina Ortiz-Jones , a Texas Democrat running for Congress in a massive , low-density district that encompasses two national parks .
“ Plenty of folks have figured this out , ” Weinberg says .
The situation also shifts a new burden to the paid media side .
Priorities USA , the Democratic super PAC that has committed $ 150 million to ads before the Democratic National Convention—with much more to come in the general—is reevaluating where its content should run , says Danielle Butterfield , the group ’ s paid @ @ @ @ @ @ @ any sporting events on TV right now , for example , but people might be streaming a lot of material from digital platforms .
And she ’ ll be cognizant of the volume people are exposed to—now that they may be getting more screen time than ever .
“ We ’ ve always had a careful lens on how a paid media program layers on top of a field operation , and that ’ s not changing on our end , ” Butterfield says .
“ But there are small tweaks we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ And what should be the message of those ads ?
Butterfield noted that Priorities had spent much of the last year talking about the inherent instability of the economy under Trump , something she says the pandemic has underscored .
Melahat Rafiei , a DNC member and California-based strategist , says that the best way to engage folks might be to move away from politics for the time being .
“ Whether you ’ re mailing , emailing , or targeting through social media—instead of it being about a campaign , it should @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Rafiei says .
But even with the best online tactics , an unanswered question is who Democrats should be targeting .
COVID-19 has thus far proven it can be a serious health threat for every age group , but experts say the elderly—the most reliable voting bloc—are the most at risk .
“ One of the most important ingredients in an election plan is knowing what kind of voters need what kind of contact , ” Wikler says .
“ If voters who have voted every year since 1950 are now at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , that changes things.
” “ But the one counter to all this is that the urgency of voting is suddenly a life-or-death matter for millions of people , and that ’ s a very powerful countervailing force , ” Wikler adds .
“ We don ’ t know how it works , but we ’ re in a new world now .
”

In 2020, Democrats were going to knock on a lot of doors.
There won’t be any doors knocked—not now, not soon, and perhaps not until sometime after November’s ballots have been cast.
Since the summer of 2019, the Democratic National Committee has trained more than 600 college students on the best methods for door-knocking, phone-banking, and party recruitment. In particular, the party focused on “relational organizing”—face-to-face conversations that typically leverage one’s own social network to develop long-term, community-building relationships. The initiative, called Organizing Corps, aimed to put 1,200 students—primarily from communities of color—on the ground in eight swing states well in advance of the general election. The idea was to turn those students into trusted messengers, a strategy based on research from the Analyst Institute that found this kind organizing can make a big difference in campaigns.
Then came coronavirus. Needless to say, there will be no face-to-face conversations for the foreseeable future. Instead, the DNC is exploring whether to move the rest of the trainings—and perhaps even the entire organizing effort—online.
Michigan, a pivotal swing state, already had 45 Organizing Corps graduates going door-to-door in the Detroit area last summer. Another 43 students completed the bootcamp at Michigan State University in East Lansing during the first week of March. Complementing those students’ efforts are 27 full-time organizers and a director of African American outreach who have been laying the groundwork for 2020. Now, much of that operation is resting on the shoulders of the Michigan Democratic Party’s single full-time digital organizer, who is charged with designing an online plan to salvage the program and, hopefully, to help the field staff move full-steam ahead during the pandemic.
In Wisconsin—the poster child of the crumbled Blue Wall—herculean efforts had been made to start early in a state Trump won by just 22,000 votes. Last summer, 30 Organizing Corps members knocked on 20,000 doors across every ward in Milwaukee. The state party, too, had hired organizers and has 250 volunteer neighborhood teams that knocked on half a million doors before the 2018 midterms. “You’ll see organizers and a presence in every part of the state,” David Bergstein, the DNC’s battleground states communications director, vowed in January.
Ben Wikler, the chair of Wisconsin Democrats, had already been building out a digital organizing strategy. But late last week, he decided that this digital initiative—originally planned as a complement to the in-person ground game—would instead replace it.
Since the 2016 election, the Democratic Party and its allies have been on an apology tour of sorts, one premised on the theory that Hillary Clinton didn’t lose because people wanted to vote for Donald Trump, but because voters who might have supported Democrats stayed home. And that, party leaders say, was the result of a failure of outreach to young people, women, and people of color. “We lost elections in the run-up [to 2016] because we stopped organizing,” DNC chair Tom Perez said in July 2018. “We stopped talking to people.”
So Democrats recommitted themselves to voter outreach, an effort that paid clear dividends in 2018. That organizing can continue, but there won’t be any doors knocked—not now, not soon, and, based on some predictions, not until sometime after November’s ballots have been cast (hopefully, by mail). And that’s left the party and its allies scrambling to figure out how it’s going to defeat Donald Trump in the fall.
“There’s been a transformative pivot to the very real possibility of running all-digital organizing programs, and as more states move to vote-by-mail elections, the reality is sinking in that we’ll have an election environment truly unlike any other,” says Nick Chedli Carter, a Harvard Kennedy School fellow who served as the national political outreach director for Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign.
To be clear, in-person organizing has long been just one slice of campaign field operations. House parties, town halls, and canvassing have their place, but so do texting, phone-banking, direct mail, and paid media blitzes. Face-to-face outreach is a time-intensive and expensive endeavor; even before coronavirus, its prominence had been shrinking in an increasingly digital world. But according to political scientists like Hahrie Han at Johns Hopkins University and Josh Kalla at Yale University, in-person conversations are a more effective means of campaigning than digital ones—partly because it’s becoming harder to connect with people over phone or email.
One concern for Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin Democrats, is that those who are farthest from politics—the ones not in a voter file, for example—may remain politically impenetrable. “Democrats in Wisconsin have been knocking on the doors of people on nobody’s list and finding a mix of Trump supporters and undecided people,” Wikler explains. “A friendly face outside your door is an easier way to begin a conversation with someone who doesn’t feel like they’re connected to politics in any substantive way.”
“Everyone’s in reach-out-to-your-loved-ones mode right now.”
Still, experts say that the new reality of social distancing isn’t necessarily a doomsday scenario. Kalla has found, for example, that phone conversations are the best way to reduce prejudice. High quality phone calls—in particular, live ones from volunteer phone banks—can increase voter turnout. What often makes face-to-face conversations more effective, Hahn says, isn’t the fact that they are done in person—it’s that these interactions have traditionally been seen as the foundation of authentic, human connections. If those connections can instead be forged digitally, door-knocking might not be necessary after all.
“Traditionally, people are best at constructing those relationships face-to-face, but nowadays people have been finding ways to create that same kind of connection virtually,” Hahn says. “To me, that is the challenge for organizers: How do organizers learn to draw power from relationships created online?”
Wikler says he’s thinking about how to best leverage trusted offline relationships in online organizing. “It’s difficult to build trust online, but trust that’s been built can be tapped online,” he tells me. And though strangers aren’t able to knock on doors right now, there are a lot of people whose daily schedules suddenly include a lot of free time—and who are desperate for human connection. “This is a recipe for a bigger virtual organizing effort than anyone’s been able to mount,” Wikler says. “The hardest part of relational organizing is getting people to reach out to their own contacts, but everyone’s in reach-out-to-your-loved-ones mode right now.”
Annie Weinberg, a veteran progressive strategist who advises on organizer trainings for groups like Our Revolution and Movement School—the organizing wing of the Justice Democrats—says that the earliest tests of this moment are, anecdotally, yielding results. “One of the volunteers came back crying from phone calls because she talked to a voter who had been isolated all weekend, and the phone call was the first interaction she’d had in days,” Weinberg says, describing a get-out-the-vote phone bank she facilitated before this week’s Arizona primary. “It can be healing to have someone there to listen to you in these times.”
Running for office during the coronavirus crisis is certainly an unprecedented challenge, but Weinberg says that there are some analogous situations candidates can draw from. Campaigns have had to plough ahead in the face of natural disasters, particularly around hurricane season, which often overlaps with the general election. She also pointed to the experience of candidates in places where face-to-face organizing is always difficult—for example, Gina Ortiz Jones, a Texas Democrat running for Congress in a massive, low-density district that encompasses two national parks. “Plenty of folks have figured this out,” Weinberg says.
The situation also shifts a new burden to the paid media side. Priorities USA, the Democratic super PAC that has committed $150 million to ads before the Democratic National Convention—with much more to come in the general—is reevaluating where its content should run, says Danielle Butterfield, the group’s paid media director. There aren’t any sporting events on TV right now, for example, but people might be streaming a lot of material from digital platforms. And she’ll be cognizant of the volume people are exposed to—now that they may be getting more screen time than ever. “We’ve always had a careful lens on how a paid media program layers on top of a field operation, and that’s not changing on our end,” Butterfield says. “But there are small tweaks we’re going to have to make.”
And what should be the message of those ads? Butterfield noted that Priorities had spent much of the last year talking about the inherent instability of the economy under Trump, something she says the pandemic has underscored. Melahat Rafiei, a DNC member and California-based strategist, says that the best way to engage folks might be to move away from politics for the time being. “Whether you’re mailing, emailing, or targeting through social media—instead of it being about a campaign, it should be about services to the community,” Rafiei says.
But even with the best online tactics, an unanswered question is who Democrats should be targeting. COVID-19 has thus far proven it can be a serious health threat for every age group, but experts say the elderly—the most reliable voting bloc—are the most at risk. “One of the most important ingredients in an election plan is knowing what kind of voters need what kind of contact,” Wikler says. “If voters who have voted every year since 1950 are now at the biggest risk for getting the virus, that changes things.”
“But the one counter to all this is that the urgency of voting is suddenly a life-or-death matter for millions of people, and that’s a very powerful countervailing force,” Wikler adds. “We don’t know how it works, but we’re in a new world now.”


motherjones--2020-03-22--AOC: Trump Is “Going to Cost Lives” If He Doesn’t Use the Defense Production Act

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ( D-N.Y. ) sharply criticized President Trump on Sunday for not using his authority to force manufacturers to make medical supplies and other protective equipment that healthcare workers are using to fight the coronavirus .
“ We can not wait until people start really dying in large numbers to start production , especially of more complicated equipment like ventilators and hospital beds , ” Ocasio-Cortez said on CNN ’ s Jake Tapper on “ State of the Union.
” Ocasio-Cortez said that production was needed right now anticipation for the “ for the surge [ of cases @ @ @ @ @ @ @ three weeks.
” “ There are not enough face masks , gloves , ventilators , hospital beds to get us through this .
Many hospitals are already at capacity or are approaching capacity .
And there is kind of no real stream in sight from the federal government on where these materials are coming from , ” she said describing the situation in hospitals across the country right now.
” Medical workers are resorting to reusing disposable equipment due to mass shortages .
Ocasio-Cortez called on the President to take advantage of power @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Act .
The legislation was first passed in the 1950s in the lead-up to the Korean War .
It granted the President the authority to compel businesses to produce supplies it needs to weather a medical crisis .
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also hammered the President for not using his powers under the Defense Production Act .
“ The president of the United States is from New York City , and he will not lift a finger to help his hometown , and I don ’ t get it , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ increasing pressure from New York Democrats and others Trump has not opted to use the Defense Production Act , on Sunday morning , the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ) said that the act alone right now was leverage to get companies to produce more medical supplies .
“ You know , companies are donating what they can , ” Ocasio-Cortez said .
“ That is great .
It is not enough .
And the fact that the President has not really invoked the Defense Production Act for the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cost lives .
”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) sharply criticized President Trump on Sunday for not using his authority to force manufacturers to make medical supplies and other protective equipment that health care workers are using to fight the coronavirus.
“We cannot wait until people start really dying in large numbers to start production, especially of more complicated equipment like ventilators and hospital beds,” Ocasio-Cortez said on CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” Ocasio-Cortez said that production was needed right now anticipation for the “for the surge [of cases] that is coming in two to three weeks.”
“There are not enough face masks, gloves, ventilators, hospital beds to get us through this. Many hospitals are already at capacity or are approaching capacity. And there is kind of no real stream in sight from the federal government on where these materials are coming from,” she said describing the situation in hospitals across the country right now.”
Medical workers are resorting to reusing disposable equipment due to mass shortages.
Ocasio-Cortez called on the President to take advantage of power granted to him under the Defense Production Act. The legislation was first passed in the 1950s in the lead-up to the Korean War. It granted the President the authority to compel businesses to produce supplies it needs to weather a medical crisis.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also hammered the President for not using his powers under the Defense Production Act.
“The president of the United States is from New York City, and he will not lift a finger to help his hometown, and I don’t get it,” he said on Sunday.
Despite increasing pressure from New York Democrats and others Trump has not opted to use the Defense Production Act, on Sunday morning, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said that the act alone right now was leverage to get companies to produce more medical supplies.
“You know, companies are donating what they can,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “That is great. It is not enough. And the fact that the President has not really invoked the Defense Production Act for the purpose of emergency manufacture is going to cost lives.”


motherjones--2020-03-22--Rand Paul Was Seen at the Senate Pool Hours Before He Got His Positive Coronavirus Test Result

Sen. Rand Paul ( R-Ky. ) , who tested positive for the coronavirus Sunday , was reportedly at the Senate @ @ @ @ @ to CNN , Sen. Mitt Romney ( R-Utah ) says senators are seeking medical advice @ @ @ @ @ GOP senators need to self-quarantine.
” A Wall Street Journal reporter noted that Paul had @ @ @ @ @ the gym .
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that there is no @ @ @ @ @ be spread through pools or hot tubs that are treated with chlorine and bromine .
@ @ @ @ @ , that the virus can survive on some surfaces for days .
Paul ’ s @ @ @ @ @ Sunday morning via his Senate Twitter account .


motherjones--2020-03-22--NYC Mayor Hammers Trump’s Coronavirus Response: “People Will Die Who Could Have Lived Otherwise”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday blasted President Trump ’ s response to the coronavirus pandemic , saying that his administration has not sufficiently accelerated the production of medical supplies like masks and ventilators , which are essential to stop the spread of the virus .
“ The president of the United States is from New York City , and he will not lift a finger to help his hometown , and I don ’ t get it , ” de Blasio said Sunday on NBC ’ s “ Meet the Press.
” De Blasio called for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the “ Defense Production Act to be used to the fullest ” to get more ventilators “ so people can live who would die otherwise.
” Doctors and nurses across the country are on the verge of resorting of using handkerchiefs in lieu of N95 masks , which are likely substantially less effective in stopping the spread of disease .
Others have started to reuse disposable personal protective equipment , for lack of better options .
The New York Mayor also suggested that members of the military with medical training be deployed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Why are they at their bases ?
Why are they not being allowed to serve ?
I guarantee you they are ready to serve , but the president has to give the order , ” he said .
The Defense Production Act , first passed in the 1950s in the lead-up to the Korean War , gives the President broad authority to compel manufacturers to “ prioritize and accept government contracts ” and “ provide economic incentives ” to ensure that the United States has the necessary supply stockpiles for crises @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not opted to use the act .
On Sunday morning , the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ) said that Trump had not taken advantage of the act yet , but instead were using it as leverage to compel companies to step up their production .
“ It ’ s happening without using that lever , ” FEMA administrator Pete Gaynor said , “ If it comes to a point we have to pull the lever , we will .
”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday blasted President Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, saying that his administration has not sufficiently accelerated the production of medical supplies like masks and ventilators, which are essential to stop the spread of the virus.
“The president of the United States is from New York City, and he will not lift a finger to help his hometown, and I don’t get it.”
“The president of the United States is from New York City, and he will not lift a finger to help his hometown, and I don’t get it,” de Blasio said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
De Blasio called for the “military to be mobilized” and the “Defense Production Act to be used to the fullest” to get more ventilators “so people can live who would die otherwise.”
Doctors and nurses across the country are on the verge of resorting to using handkerchiefs in lieu of N95 masks, which are likely substantially less effective in stopping the spread of disease. Others have started to reuse disposable personal protective equipment, for lack of better options.
The New York mayor also suggested that members of the military with medical training be deployed to areas most affected by the virus.
“Why are they at their bases? Why are they not being allowed to serve? I guarantee you they are ready to serve, but the president has to give the order,” he said.
The Defense Production Act, first passed in the 1950s in the leadup to the Korean War, gives the President broad authority to compel manufacturers to “prioritize and accept government contracts” and “provide economic incentives” to ensure that the United States has the necessary supply stockpiles for crises.
Despite mounting pressure, Trump has not opted to use the act. On Sunday morning, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said that Trump had not taken advantage of the act yet, but instead were using it as leverage to compel companies to step up their production. “It’s happening without using that lever,” FEMA administrator Pete Gaynor said, “If it comes to a point we have to pull the lever, we will.”


motherjones--2020-03-22--Rand Paul Tests Positive for Coronavirus

Sen. Rand Paul ( R-Ky. ) tested positive for Coronavirus , according to his Twitter account on Sunday morning .
@ @ @ @ @ positive for COVID-19 .
He is feeling fine and is in quarantine .
He is @ @ @ @ @ of an abundance of caution due to his extensive travel and events .
He was @ @ @ @ @ contact with any infected person .