huffpost--2020-04-01--Rural Americans Fear Virus After Losing Hospitals At Alarming Rate

CARROLLTON , Ala. ( AP ) — As the coronavirus spread across the United States , workers at the lone hospital in one Alabama county turned off beeping monitors for good and padlocked the doors , making it one of the latest in a string of nearly 200 rural hospitals to close nationwide .
Now Joe Cunningham is more worried than ever about getting care for his wife , Polly , a dialysis patient whose health is fragile .
The nearest hospital is about 30 miles away , he said , and that ’ s too far since COVID-19 already @ @ @ @ @ @ @ County , on the Mississippi state line .
The pandemic erupted at an awful time for communities trying to fill health care gaps following the closure of 170 rural hospitals across the nation in the last 15 years .
2019 was the worst year yet , with 19 closures , and eight more have shut down since Jan. 1 , according to the Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina .
While the nation ’ s coronavirus hot spots so far have been big cities like New York @ @ @ @ @ @ @ testing and the lack of medical resources linked to hospital failures will catch up with smaller population centers .
The reasons for the closures vary , but experts and administrators cite factors including declining rural populations , rising medical costs , insufficient Medicare reimbursements , large numbers of uninsured patients , state decisions against Medicaid expansion and mismanagement .
About 60 % of the counties and towns that have lost hospitals are in the South , an analysis by the Sheps Center showed .
“ It ’ s a scary time to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ve got a pandemic going on , ” said Scott Graham , chief executive officer of Three Rivers and North Valley Hospitals in central Washington .
The hospitals serve about 26,000 people in a wide-open area that Graham describes as so remote it ’ s more frontier than rural .
In North Conway , New Hampshire , a physician at the 25-bed Memorial Hospital already is among the county ’ s seven confirmed cases of coronavirus , said CEO Art Mathisen .
The hospital is preparing for the worst as it tries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spends upward of $ 100,000 on rooms with air flow aimed at limiting the spread of contagions , he said .
About 15 % of the U.S. population , or more than 46 million people , lives in rural areas , according to the Census Bureau .
They are more likely than urban dwellers to die from chronic respiratory illnesses , heart disease and other problems that put people more at risk for COVID-19 , the illness caused by the virus , according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or moderate symptoms , such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks .
For some , especially older adults and people with existing health problems , it can cause more severe illness , including pneumonia , and death .
In West Virginia , where no city has a population of more than 50,000 and 20 % of residents are senior citizens , frustration has mounted over two recent hospital closings that forced patients to seek help farther away , and a third hospital that filed for bankruptcy in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in April .
There has been talk but no immediate action to open new facilities to deal with coronavirus cases in one of the unhealthiest states .
“ We certainly need our local hospital .
We need the beds .
We need the equipment , and we need it locally , ” said Michael Angelucci , a state lawmaker who operates an ambulance service in rural Fairmont , West Virginia , where a hospital closed this month .
In northern Missouri , Sullivan County Memorial Hospital ’ s chief executive , Tony Keene @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recent drop in revenue linked to reduced services , he has been pumping money into preparation for a possible outbreak in the rural area by the Iowa border where the hospital is .
“ We need an infusion of cash , like now , ” Keene said .
“ If we go a couple more weeks , we are going to have to make very serious decisions on whether we pay our vendors or pay our people .
”

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CARROLLTON, Ala. (AP) — As the coronavirus spread across the United States, workers at the lone hospital in one Alabama county turned off beeping monitors for good and padlocked the doors, making it one of the latest in a string of nearly 200 rural hospitals to close nationwide.
Now Joe Cunningham is more worried than ever about getting care for his wife, Polly, a dialysis patient whose health is fragile. The nearest hospital is about 30 miles away, he said, and that’s too far since COVID-19 already has been confirmed in sparsely populated Pickens County, on the Mississippi state line.
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Cunningham is trusting God, but he’s also worried the virus will worsen in his community, endangering his wife without a hospital nearby.
“It can still find its way here,” said Cunningham, 73.
The pandemic erupted at an awful time for communities trying to fill health care gaps following the closure of 170 rural hospitals across the nation in the last 15 years. 2019 was the worst year yet, with 19 closures, and eight more have shut down since Jan. 1, according to the Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina.
While the nation’s coronavirus hot spots so far have been big cities like New York and New Orleans, officials fear inadequate testing and the lack of medical resources linked to hospital failures will catch up with smaller population centers.
The reasons for the closures vary, but experts and administrators cite factors including declining rural populations, rising medical costs, insufficient Medicare reimbursements, large numbers of uninsured patients, state decisions against Medicaid expansion and mismanagement. About 60% of the counties and towns that have lost hospitals are in the South, an analysis by the Sheps Center showed.
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Other communities are trying to keep hundreds of endangered hospitals afloat as resources are stretched thinner than ever and moneymaking services like elective surgeries are curtailed during the outbreak.
“It’s a scary time to be thinking about losing a hospital when you’ve got a pandemic going on,” said Scott Graham, chief executive officer of Three Rivers and North Valley Hospitals in central Washington. The hospitals serve about 26,000 people in a wide-open area that Graham describes as so remote it’s more frontier than rural.
In North Conway, New Hampshire, a physician at the 25-bed Memorial Hospital already is among the county’s seven confirmed cases of coronavirus, said CEO Art Mathisen. The hospital is preparing for the worst as it tries to triple the number of beds and spends upward of $100,000 on rooms with air flow aimed at limiting the spread of contagions, he said.
About 15% of the U.S. population, or more than 46 million people, lives in rural areas, according to the Census Bureau. They are more likely than urban dwellers to die from chronic respiratory illnesses, heart disease and other problems that put people more at risk for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.
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In West Virginia, where no city has a population of more than 50,000 and 20% of residents are senior citizens, frustration has mounted over two recent hospital closings that forced patients to seek help farther away, and a third hospital that filed for bankruptcy in October announced Monday it was shutting down in April. There has been talk but no immediate action to open new facilities to deal with coronavirus cases in one of the unhealthiest states.
“We certainly need our local hospital. We need the beds. We need the equipment, and we need it locally,” said Michael Angelucci, a state lawmaker who operates an ambulance service in rural Fairmont, West Virginia, where a hospital closed this month.
The pandemic could actually hasten more rural hospital closures, said Michael Topchik of the Maine-based Charter Center for Rural Health. He co-authored a study released in February that found about 450 rural hospitals were vulnerable to shutting down.
Most rural hospitals make money on emergency room care and elective procedures, which are on hold as health care workers try to ration masks and other protective gear in anticipation of COVID-19 infections, he said.
“Our study predicts the worse is yet to come if something’s not done to stabilize the safety net,” he said.
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In northern Missouri, Sullivan County Memorial Hospital’s chief executive, Tony Keene, said that on top of the recent drop in revenue linked to reduced services, he has been pumping money into preparation for a possible outbreak in the rural area by the Iowa border where the hospital is.
“We need an infusion of cash, like now,” Keene said. “If we go a couple more weeks, we are going to have to make very serious decisions on whether we pay our vendors or pay our people.”
The $2.2 trillion coronavirus package approved by Congress last week includes $100 billion for hospitals, but it’s unclear how much of that will go toward rural health care centers.
As Pickens County Medical Center prepared to close on March 6, Mayor Mickey Walker organized a protest outside the public hospital that drew around 70 people — a big crowd in a town of only 950 people. The facility shut down anyway.
A building beside the shuttered, tan-brick hospital houses medical offices, including the dialysis clinic that treats Joe Cunningham’s wife, but Walker said that’s not enough. The old folks Walker talks to through church are getting more worried by the day about the new virus.
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“Everybody’s just real panicky,” Walker said. “We have all this virus stuff going on, and we don’t have a hospital to go to.”


huffpost--2020-03-31--Trump’s Coronavirus Claim Is His Biggest Lie Yet – And It Could Be Working

Each of his claims is false .
Trump scrapped the pandemic response team that President Barack Obama created after the 2014 Ebola outbreak , part of an overall effort to undo everything that his predecessor had accomplished .
Trump ignored warnings from his own intelligence community that China was covering up the severity of the coronavirus epidemic in the city and province where it originated .
Trump even ignored a step-by-step pandemic “ playbook ” the Obama administration had written .
First is redefining success .
Trump early on promised Americans that he had “ stopped ” the virus from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on foreigners who had recently been in China from entering this country .
That morphed into claiming that those few cases here were rapidly shrinking to zero , and that the virus itself would disappear on its own with April ’ s warmer weather .
Trump countered endless media “ fact checks ” of his dishonesties by attacking the media instead ― a strategy he openly admitted to in an interview with Lesley Stahl of CBS News in 2016 .
“ You know why I do it ?
I do it to discredit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when you write negative stories about me , no one will believe you , ” he said .
That will not be the case with the pandemic .
In a span of just 30 days , 3,440 Americans had died by Tuesday afternoon , with 1,000 of those happening in the past two days .
Which means that even Trump ’ s most loyal supporters , who crave his professional wrestling-style attacks on Democrats and the news media regardless of their accuracy , are likely to wind up personally knowing someone who has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the disease caused by the coronavirus .
Newhouse , the Republican pollster , agreed that Trump ’ s improved numbers now do not guarantee anything .
“ As others have said , we are in the early stages of this fight against coronavirus , and the president ’ s approval score will continue to reflect his handling of this crisis , ” he said .
“ Unlike the recent impeachment inquiry , this crisis is likely to have a significant impact on the November election .
”

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WASHINGTON ― Having sold himself as a great business and military leader despite bankrupt casinos and bone spurs, President Donald Trump faces his greatest challenge yet: making Americans forget the two months he dismissed concerns about a deadly pandemic as a “hoax.”
If recent polling showing a significant bump in his approval ratings is any indicator, though, Trump may well be succeeding ― setting himself on a path to reelection.
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“No question that the president’s job approval has increased as a result of his handling of the coronavirus crisis,” said GOP pollster Neil Newhouse. “Already about topped out among Republicans, President Trump has made gains among both Independents and Democrats.”
To make this work, Trump has been pushing the biggest lie of his adult life ― a revisionist history in which he did everything correctly, that nobody could have anticipated such an outbreak, and his leadership alone is saving millions of lives.
“It’s hard not to be happy with the job we’re doing. That, I can tell you,” he said last week.
“Nobody could have predicted something like this,” he told Fox News Monday morning.
“I can’t tell you what the unfortunate final toll is going to be, but it’s going to be a very small fraction of that,” he said Tuesday afternoon of expert estimates of 2.2 million dead if the country had done nothing to stop the virus. “So we’re doing an awfully good job, I think, with what we’re doing.”
Each of his claims is false. Trump scrapped the pandemic response team that President Barack Obama created after the 2014 Ebola outbreak, part of an overall effort to undo everything that his predecessor had accomplished. Trump ignored warnings from his own intelligence community that China was covering up the severity of the coronavirus epidemic in the city and province where it originated. Trump even ignored a step-by-step pandemic “playbook” the Obama administration had written.
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Instead, Trump discounted the threat the virus posed from Jan. 22, when he told CNBC that “we have it totally under control,” straight through until March 15, when he called it “a very contagious virus” but again claimed it was one “that we have tremendous control over.”
Trump had based his re-election campaign on the strength of the economy, and feared that worries about a pandemic would hurt the stock market. “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA,” he wrote in a Feb. 24 tweet. “Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”
“History shows that it takes a personal experience of catastrophe to see that the leader has been telling lies.” - New York University history professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Nevertheless, thanks in part to his ability to command a nationwide audience in press briefings broadcast live each day, Trump has been able push his new message to replace the old one.
“History shows that it takes a personal experience of catastrophe to see that the leader has been telling lies,” said Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an authoritarianism expert and history professor at New York University. “In this case, Trump has artfully ‘dosed out’ reality, telling people everything is fine, then gradually telling them it’s not, with lackey medical professionals to back him up. So he may weather even this crisis.”
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White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham did not respond to a query about Trump’s new messaging. Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh cited China travel restrictions that Trump imposed at the very end of January as showing he took“decisive action” from the start.
“Throughout this crisis, the president has always sought to keep the public calm, but has listened to his medical and scientific advisors in making firm decisions about keeping the country safe,” Murtaugh said.
Revising History From Two Months Ago
Key to turning Trump’s actual performance in those critical early weeks into electoral success likely hinges on two efforts underway.
First is redefining success. Trump early on promised Americans that he had “stopped” the virus from spreading in the U.S. through his ban on foreigners who had recently been in China from entering this country. That morphed into claiming that those few cases here were rapidly shrinking to zero, and that the virus itself would disappear on its own with April’s warmer weather.
Those goalposts have now been moved clear across the planet. From the Feb. 26 boasts of having only 15 cases and zero deaths, Trump this week said success would mean hundreds of thousands of dead Americans.
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“If we can hold that down, as we’re saying, to 100,000 — that’s a horrible number — maybe even less, but to 100,000; so we have between 100- and 200,000 — we all, together, have done a very good job,” he said Monday at a press briefing in the White House Rose Garden.
And if Trump’s past is a guide ― he has claimed that running his casinos into bankruptcy starting in the early 1990s somehow represented a business success ― he will keep claiming he handled the crisis well, regardless of how many Americans wind up dying.
“I think he can move the numbers as high as he needs to with his base because he has primed them to accept whatever he tells them and to disbelieve everyone else,” Ben-Ghiat said.
The other piece of Trump’s strategy is relentlessly attacking those who point out his previous statements. Trump has done this repeatedly in his daily briefings, attacking reporters when they read his earlier remarks back to him verbatim.
“Instead of asking a nasty, snarky question like that, you should ask a real question,” he said to a journalist Monday.
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His campaign, meanwhile, had set upon the mission of trying to block Trump’s most egregious downplaying of the pandemic: His Feb. 28 description of the coronavirus fears as “a hoax” ― the most recent in a line of Democratic attempts to hurt his presidency.
Campaign officials, realizing the seriousness of Trump’s riff at a rally in South Carolina that evening, soon afterward began attacking journalists who described Trump’s use of “hoax” as misrepresenting what he said.
“Will she apologize for lying?” wrote a Trump campaign staffer on March 23 after Washington Post reporter Ashley Parker accurately described Trump’s use of the word in an NBC News report.
The campaign has even threatened to sue TV stations that were running an ad by the Democratic super PAC Priorities USA that used the audio clip of Trump saying “hoax” in a montage of his statements downplaying the virus.
“We will not stand idly by and allow you to broadcast false, deceptive, and misleading information concerning President’s Trump’s healthcare positions without consequence,” the campaign said in a letter.
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Of course, the response to that letter may foreshadow the steep hill Trump faces more broadly in re-writing the history of his coronavirus response. According to Priorities USA, not a single TV station complied with the campaign request to pull the ad, and the super PAC recently released a revised one, using the much higher number of coronavirus cases.
When The Big Lie Fails
Indeed, while Trump may be enjoying a bump right now in the public support, that newfound popularity could fade as his repeated lies about his performance come up against the reality of the coronavirus’ lethality.
Trump confounded the political class in both parties in 2016, seeming to suffer little consequence for repeated and readily disproven lies about himself, his opponents and the world at large.
Trump falsely claimed he had built “a massive empire,” a “phenomenal company,” starting with just a “very small loan” from his father. He boasted that he knew more about war than “the generals.”
In fact, Trump lost millions of dollars running an airline, vastly overpaid for a midtown hotel he wound up losing and bankrupted his casinos ― a near impossibility, given their business model ― nearly squandering the fortune his father had left him of nearly $1 billion in today’s dollars.
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And when the prospect of serving in the Vietnam War presented itself, Trump claimed the ailment of “bone spurs” to avoid the military ― even though he later could not recall which heel had suffered the malady.
“At some point, reality intrudes on the ‘Big Lie.’ But at this point we don’t know when.” - Norman Ornstein, of the
Trump countered endless media “fact checks” of his dishonesties by attacking the media instead ― a strategy he openly admitted to in an interview with Lesley Stahl of CBS News in 2016. “You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so when you write negative stories about me, no one will believe you,” he said.
Yet Trump was able to get away with all those lies, as well as a torrent of fresh lies since becoming president, because they did not directly affect the lives of most Americans, NYU’s Ben-Ghiat said.
That will not be the case with the pandemic. In a span of just 30 days, 3,440 Americans had died by Tuesday afternoon, with 1,000 of those happening in the past two days. Which means that even Trump’s most loyal supporters, who crave his professional wrestling-style attacks on Democrats and the news media regardless of their accuracy, are likely to wind up personally knowing someone who has become gravely ill or died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
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“The ‘Big Lie’ is not applicable in this case,” Ben-Ghiat said, referring to the maxim that people are more prone to believe a massive falsehood than a smaller one, because they do not want to accept that their leaders are capable of telling consequential lies. “For example, saying the virus was a hoax, because people will personally get sick and communities will be devastated.”
She said she believes Trump can continue to hold his base supporters by gradually increasing his assessment of the pain and loss it will cause ― but she and others doubt that his message will fly with anyone beyond that group.
“At some point, reality intrudes on the ‘Big Lie.’ But at this point we don’t know when,” said Norman Ornstein, a scholar with the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute think tank. “One interesting part of this is that the people who bought into the hoax idea, who are still resisting social distancing, are in the red states and in red areas in other states. They may be the ones who will really catch a wave that overwhelms them, especially in rural areas, with the virus a little bit later on.”
If that happens, Trump could quickly lose the “rally around the president” lift he has seen in recent polling. That boost has helped other presidents ― from Jimmy Carter in the immediate aftermath of the 1979 taking of American hostages in Iran, through Obama in 2012 with the landfall of Superstorm Sandy in the northeast. But it can fade away if the president is seen as failing to rise to the challenge.
“Read these polls with a most careful, cautious eye. They reflect the present in a time of crisis,” said Democratic pollster Peter Hart about Trump’s higher numbers, pointing out that Carter wound up losing in his reelection bid in a landslide. “The election is far ahead of us, but the challenges facing Donald Trump are as formidable as those that faced Jimmy Carter in 1980.”
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huffpost--2020-04-02--White House To Advise Americans To Wear Face Masks Due To Coronavirus

MANDEL NGAN via Getty Images US President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks , flanked by Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci ( L ) and Response coordinator for White House Coronavirus Task Force Deborah Birx ( R ) , during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus , COVID-19 , in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House on April 1 , 2020 , in Washington , DC .
( Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP ) ( Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images ) WASHINGTON ( AP ) — The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recommend that many , if not almost all , Americans wear face coverings when leaving home , in an effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus .
The recommendations , still being finalized Thursday , would apply at least to those who live in areas hard-hit by community transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19 .
A person familiar with the White House coronavirus task force ’ s discussion said officials would suggest that non-medical masks , T-shirts or bandannas be used to cover the nose and mouth when outside the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grocery store or pharmacy .
Medical-grade masks , particularly short-in-supply N95 masks , would be reserved for those dealing directly with the sick .
Trump , who was tested again for COVID-19 on Thursday using a new rapid test , indicated Tuesday he would support such a recommendation , potentially even for all Americans regardless of where they live .
“ I would say do it , but use a scarf if you want , you know , rather than going out and getting a mask or whatever.
” A Centers for Disease @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would make the covering recommendation apply to nearly all Americans , all over the country , according to a federal official who has seen the draft but was not authorized to discuss it .
Under the previous guidance , only the sick or those at high risk of complications from the respiratory illness were advised to wear masks .
The new proposal was driven by research showing that some infections are being spread by people who seem to be healthy .
In response to recent studies , the CDC on Wednesday changed how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Americans .
It essentially says anyone may be a considered a carrier , whether they have symptoms or not .
U.S. officials have been telling people to stay at home as much as possible , and keep at least 6 feet ( 2 meters ) away from others when they do go out .
Other advice includes frequent hand washing and not touching your face .
Scientists can ’ t rule out that infected people sometimes exhale COVID-19 virus particles , rather than just when coughing or sneezing , but there isn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that can cause infection , according to a committee convened by the National Academies of Sciences , Engineering and Medicine to advise the White House .
The question has to do with whether the new coronavirus spreads mostly by droplets that don ’ t linger for long in the air , or also by tinier “ aerosolized ” particles .
Certain medical procedures , such as inserting breathing tubes , can create those tiny particles , which is why health care workers wear close-fitting N95 masks during such care .
U.S .
Surgeon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Americans not to wear face masks , saying they don ’ t prevent the people who wear them from catching the virus .
He and other officials have stressed that surgical face masks and other protective medical equipment have been in short supply and must be prioritized for people such as health-care workers .
The World Health Organization on Monday reiterated its advice that the general population doesn ’ t need to wear masks unless they ’ re sick .
Since the epidemic began in China , the WHO has said masks are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them .
“ There is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any particular benefit , ” WHO ’ s epidemic chief Dr. Mike Ryan said during a news conference .
“ In fact , there ’ s some evidence to suggest the opposite , ” he added , noting risks from an improperly fitted mask or improperly putting it on or taking it off .
That ’ s in addition to the problem that health care workers who do need masks are facing “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said .
“ The thought of them not having masks is horrific , so we have to be very careful on supply , but that is not the primary reason why WHO has advised against using masks.
” Many people have taken it upon themselves to make their own masks , but one North Carolina health system found that such DIY products vary in how well they work .
Wake Forest Baptist Health doctors and scientists tested 13 different designs made by community volunteers .
They found that some were better at filtering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ barely better than wearing no mask at all .

US President Donald Trump gestures as he speaks, flanked by Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci (L) and Response coordinator for White House Coronavirus Task Force Deborah Birx (R), during the daily briefing on the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House on April 1, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images) MANDEL NGAN via Getty Images
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is formalizing new guidance to recommend that many, if not almost all, Americans wear face coverings when leaving home, in an effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.
The recommendations, still being finalized Thursday, would apply at least to those who live in areas hard-hit by community transmission of the virus that causes COVID-19. A person familiar with the White House coronavirus task force’s discussion said officials would suggest that non-medical masks, T-shirts or bandannas be used to cover the nose and mouth when outside the home — for instance, at the grocery store or pharmacy. Medical-grade masks, particularly short-in-supply N95 masks, would be reserved for those dealing directly with the sick.
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The person spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the proposed guidance before its public release.
Trump, who was tested again for COVID-19 on Thursday using a new rapid test, indicated Tuesday he would support such a recommendation, potentially even for all Americans regardless of where they live. “I would say do it, but use a scarf if you want, you know, rather than going out and getting a mask or whatever.”
“It’s not a bad idea, at least for a period of time,” he added.
The White House said Trump’s latest test returned a negative result in 15 minutes, and said Trump was “healthy and without symptoms.”
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention draft of the guidance would make the covering recommendation apply to nearly all Americans, all over the country, according to a federal official who has seen the draft but was not authorized to discuss it.
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Some exceptions would be young children under age 2, anyone who has trouble breathing or anyone who is unable to remove the covering without help.
Officials were still discussing whether to limit its geographic scope.
Under the previous guidance, only the sick or those at high risk of complications from the respiratory illness were advised to wear masks. The new proposal was driven by research showing that some infections are being spread by people who seem to be healthy.
On Wednesday, Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, urged his city’s 4 million residents to wear masks when they’re in public.
In response to recent studies, the CDC on Wednesday changed how it was defining the risk of infection for Americans. It essentially says anyone may be a considered a carrier, whether they have symptoms or not.
The virus spreads mostly through droplets from coughs or sneezes, though experts stress that the germ is still not fully understood.
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U.S. officials have been telling people to stay at home as much as possible, and keep at least 6 feet (2 meters) away from others when they do go out. Other advice includes frequent hand washing and not touching your face.
But until now federal officials have stopped short of telling people to cover their faces out in public.
Scientists can’t rule out that infected people sometimes exhale COVID-19 virus particles, rather than just when coughing or sneezing, but there isn’t enough evidence to show if that can cause infection, according to a committee convened by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to advise the White House.
The question has to do with whether the new coronavirus spreads mostly by droplets that don’t linger for long in the air, or also by tinier “aerosolized” particles. Certain medical procedures, such as inserting breathing tubes, can create those tiny particles, which is why health care workers wear close-fitting N95 masks during such care.
The committee cited one study that detected airborne viral RNA in and just outside some hospital isolation rooms, but noted that it was unclear if that could infect someone.
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U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams has repeatedly admonished Americans not to wear face masks, saying they don’t prevent the people who wear them from catching the virus. He and other officials have stressed that surgical face masks and other protective medical equipment have been in short supply and must be prioritized for people such as health-care workers.
The World Health Organization on Monday reiterated its advice that the general population doesn’t need to wear masks unless they’re sick. Since the epidemic began in China, the WHO has said masks are for the sick and people caring for them.
“There is no specific evidence to suggest that the wearing of masks by the mass population has any particular benefit,” WHO’s epidemic chief Dr. Mike Ryan said during a news conference. “In fact, there’s some evidence to suggest the opposite,” he added, noting risks from an improperly fitted mask or improperly putting it on or taking it off.
That’s in addition to the problem that health care workers who do need masks are facing “a massive global shortage,” Ryan said. “The thought of them not having masks is horrific, so we have to be very careful on supply, but that is not the primary reason why WHO has advised against using masks.”
Many people have taken it upon themselves to make their own masks, but one North Carolina health system found that such DIY products vary in how well they work. Wake Forest Baptist Health doctors and scientists tested 13 different designs made by community volunteers. They found that some were better at filtering than off-the-shelf surgical masks but others were barely better than wearing no mask at all.
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Separately, a 2013 study tested whether homemade masks might help during a flu pandemic. It found surgical masks were three times more effective in catching droplets from coughing people than masks made from cotton T-shirts, though it’s not clear if the new coronavirus behaves exactly like flu viruses.
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huffpost--2020-04-03--Coronavirus Live Updates: Read The Latest About The COVID-19 Outbreak

Indigenous communities in Canada have warned they ’ re not ready for an outbreak of coronavirus , as government ministers acknowledge that it ’ s not a matter of if , but when , the virus enters First Nations , Inuit or Metis communities .
Indigenous Peoples in Canada are among the most vulnerable to COVID-19 because of long-standing issues such as higher levels of poverty , poor and overcrowded housing , limited access to health care and other statistical inadequacies .
Most of the 634 First Nations in Canada are now shutting their borders and blocking entrances to their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spread of coronavirus .
“ I ’ m calling it out , we aren ’ t ready , ” Manitoba Assembly of First Nations regional chief Kevin Hart told HuffPost Canada .
Justin Trudeau ’ s government is dividing up an $ 82 billion coronavirus relief package and putting aside $ 305 million to help First Nations , Metis and Inuit communities .
So far 152 people have died from coronavirus in Canada .
Pandemic Ends Nearly 10 Years Of Consistent Job Growth In The U.S. — 4/3/20 , 8:52 a.m .
ET @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years , the U.S. economy lost jobs in the month of March , ending a record-breaking streak of job growth , according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics .
The unemployment rate climbed to 4.4 % , after a 50-year low of 3.5 % .
The actual unemployment rate and number of job losses are even higher because the BLS report does not include the data from the past two weeks , when more and more businesses have shut down and laid off employees .
Nearly 10 million Americans have applied for unemployment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Opens New London Hospital Via Video Link — 4/3/20 , 7:20 a.m .
ET Prince Charles has officially opened a new 4,000-bed temporary hospital at a London exhibition center , after himself being diagnosed with COVID-19 in March .
The National Health Service Nightingale Hospital has been built to treat coronavirus patients at the ExCel center in east London .
Speaking from his home in Scotland via video link , the prince paid tribute to workers who built the facility and frontline workers across the UK who are caring for those hit by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ named after nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale , will need an army of up to 16,000 staff in clinical and ancillary roles to keep it running .
“ It is , without doubt , a spectacular and almost unbelievable feat of work in every sense , from its speed of construction – in just nine days as we ’ ve heard – to its size and the skills of those who have created it .
An example , if ever one was needed , of how the impossible could be made possible and how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will and ingenuity , ” Charles said .
Miami Mayor Urges Trump To Shut Airport To ‘ Hotspot ’ Flights — 4/3/20 — 6:30 a.m .
ET City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez on Thursday urged President Donald Trump to suspend all flights from international and domestic “ COVID-19 hotspots ” to Miami International Airport in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus .
“ I have personally witnessed its speed , its spread , and its lethality among my residents in Miami , and now in the state of Florida @ @ @ @ @ @ @ letter to the president that he shared on Twitter .
Australian Prime Minister Tells Visitors To ‘ Go Home ’ — 4/3/20 , 4:45 a.m .
ET Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told international visitors in Australia it ’ s time they returned to their usual place of residence .
“ As lovely as it is to have visitors to Australia , it is time – as it has been for some while – to make your way home , ” the prime minister said in a press conference Friday .
His comments @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Officer Brendan Murphy remained coy when asked if he believes the coronavirus statistics coming out of China and the U.S. “ The only numbers I have total faith in are the Australian numbers , ” he told media .
“ I ’ m certainly not confident that even the numbers out of the U.S. aren ’ t much higher than being reported because nobody else in the world has been doing testing like we have.
” At least 5,307 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Australia and 28 people have died .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Says Javits Center Will Begin Treating Coronavirus Patients ― 4/2/20 , 6:03 p.m .
ET New York Gov .
Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday that the temporary hospital facility at the Javits Center will start treating COVID-19 patients , a change from the facility ’ s original plan to treat non-coronavirus illnesses spilling over from other hospitals .
“ As we all know the growing coronavirus cases are threatening the capacity of our hospital system , ” Cuomo said in a statement .
“ The original plan for Javits was that it be used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ open up hospital beds .
However , the number of COVID positive patients has increased so dramatically that it would be beneficial to the state if Javits could accept COVID positive patients.
” President Donald Trump confirmed at his Thursday briefing that he granted Cuomo ’ s request to convert the 2,500-bed alternate care facility into a hospital that would take in coronavirus patients .
The facility is being run by the U.S. Army .
“ The federal government is doing a lot of things it wasn ’ t anticipating it would do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
FDA Approves First Coronavirus Antibodies Test In U.S. — 4/2/20 , 5:56 p.m .
ET The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first test for coronavirus antibodies in the U.S. , the agency announced Thursday .
Unlike other coronavirus tests that search for fragments of viral genes that would indicate an ongoing infection , the antibody test can detect whether a patient has ever had exposure to the coronavirus , which would potentially give that person some immunity .
Experts expect the test will help them identify people who ’ ve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ experience any of its telltale signs .
“ If we don ’ t know the asymptomatic or mild cases , we won ’ t know if it ’ s killing a sizable fraction of the people who have it , or only people who have underlying conditions or are very unlucky , ” Dr. Carl Bergstrom , an infectious diseases expert at the University of Washington in Seattle , told The New York Times .

Indigenous communities in Canada have warned they’re not ready for an outbreak of coronavirus, as government ministers acknowledge that it’s not a matter of if, but when, the virus enters First Nations, Inuit or Metis communities.
Indigenous Peoples in Canada are among the most vulnerable to COVID-19 because of long-standing issues such as higher levels of poverty, poor and overcrowded housing, limited access to health care and other statistical inadequacies.
Most of the 634 First Nations in Canada are now shutting their borders and blocking entrances to their reserves in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus. “I’m calling it out, we aren’t ready,” Manitoba Assembly of First Nations regional chief Kevin Hart told HuffPost Canada.
Justin Trudeau’s government is dividing up an $82 billion coronavirus relief package and putting aside $305 million to help First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities. So far 152 people have died from coronavirus in Canada.
Read more.
—Brandi Morin
Pandemic Ends Nearly 10 Years Of Consistent Job Growth In The U.S. — 4/3/20, 8:52 a.m. ET
For the first time in nearly 10 years, the U.S. economy lost jobs in the month of March, ending a record-breaking streak of job growth, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate climbed to 4.4%, after a 50-year low of 3.5%.
The actual unemployment rate and number of job losses are even higher because the BLS report does not include the data from the past two weeks, when more and more businesses have shut down and laid off employees. Nearly 10 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefits during this period.
— Marina Fang
Prince Charles Opens New London Hospital Via Video Link — 4/3/20, 7:20 a.m. ET
Prince Charles has officially opened a new 4,000-bed temporary hospital at a London exhibition center, after himself being diagnosed with COVID-19 in March. The National Health Service Nightingale Hospital has been built to treat coronavirus patients at the ExCel center in east London.
Speaking from his home in Scotland via video link, the prince paid tribute to workers who built the facility and frontline workers across the UK who are caring for those hit by the coronavirus outbreak. The Nightingale, named after nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale, will need an army of up to 16,000 staff in clinical and ancillary roles to keep it running.
“It is, without doubt, a spectacular and almost unbelievable feat of work in every sense, from its speed of construction – in just nine days as we’ve heard – to its size and the skills of those who have created it. An example, if ever one was needed, of how the impossible could be made possible and how we can achieve the unthinkable through human will and ingenuity,” Charles said.
— James Martin
Miami Mayor Urges Trump To Shut Airport To ‘Hotspot’ Flights — 4/3/20 — 6:30 a.m. ET
City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez on Thursday urged President Donald Trump to suspend all flights from international and domestic “COVID-19 hotspots” to Miami International Airport in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
“I have personally witnessed its speed, its spread, and its lethality among my residents in Miami, and now in the state of Florida,” Suarez wrote in an open letter to the president that he shared on Twitter.
— Lee Moran
Australian Prime Minister Tells Visitors To ‘Go Home’ — 4/3/20, 4:45 a.m. ET
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told international visitors in Australia it’s time they returned to their usual place of residence. “As lovely as it is to have visitors to Australia, it is time – as it has been for some while – to make your way home,” the prime minister said in a press conference Friday.
His comments come as Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy remained coy when asked if he believes the coronavirus statistics coming out of China and the U.S. “The only numbers I have total faith in are the Australian numbers,” he told media. “I’m certainly not confident that even the numbers out of the U.S. aren’t much higher than being reported because nobody else in the world has been doing testing like we have.”
At least 5,307 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Australia and 28 people have died. Read more on HuffPost Australia
— Francesca Syrett
New York Says Javits Center Will Begin Treating Coronavirus Patients ― 4/2/20, 6:03 p.m. ET
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Thursday that the temporary hospital facility at the Javits Center will start treating COVID-19 patients, a change from the facility’s original plan to treat non-coronavirus illnesses spilling over from other hospitals.
“As we all know the growing coronavirus cases are threatening the capacity of our hospital system,” Cuomo said in a statement. “The original plan for Javits was that it be used to take non-COVID patients from hospitals to open up hospital beds. However, the number of COVID positive patients has increased so dramatically that it would be beneficial to the state if Javits could accept COVID positive patients.”
President Donald Trump confirmed at his Thursday briefing that he granted Cuomo’s request to convert the 2,500-bed alternate care facility into a hospital that would take in coronavirus patients. The facility is being run by the U.S. Army.
“The federal government is doing a lot of things it wasn’t anticipating it would do,” Trump said at the briefing.
― Sanjana Karanth
FDA Approves First Coronavirus Antibodies Test In U.S. — 4/2/20, 5:56 p.m. ET
The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first test for coronavirus antibodies in the U.S., the agency announced Thursday.
Unlike other coronavirus tests that search for fragments of viral genes that would indicate an ongoing infection, the antibody test can detect whether a patient has ever had exposure to the coronavirus, which would potentially give that person some immunity. Experts expect the test will help them identify people who’ve caught the virus but didn’t experience any of its telltale signs.
“If we don’t know the asymptomatic or mild cases, we won’t know if it’s killing a sizable fraction of the people who have it, or only people who have underlying conditions or are very unlucky,” Dr. Carl Bergstrom, an infectious diseases expert at the University of Washington in Seattle, told The New York Times.
— Lydia O’Connor


huffpost--2020-06-04--NBA Owners Approve 22-Team Season Restart Plan In July: AP

The NBA ’ s Board of Governors has approved a 22-team format for restarting the league season in late July at the Disney campus near Orlando , Florida , another major step toward getting teams back onto the court and playing games again .
The format calls for each team playing eight games to determine playoff seeding plus the possible utilization of a play-in tournament for the final spot in the Eastern Conference and Western Conference postseason fields , a person familiar with the situation said Thursday .
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vote result publicly .
It is the most significant step yet in the process of trying to resume a season that was suspended nearly three months ago because of the coronavirus pandemic .
There are numerous other details for the league to continue working through — including finalizing specifics of what the testing plan will be once teams arrive next month at the ESPN Wide World Of Sports complex and the calculating the financial ramifications of playing a shortened regular season .
Another person , also speaking to AP on condition of anonymity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have not been publicly released , said the National Basketball Players Association and the NBA are continuing to work on a “ lengthy ” medical protocols document .
The details of that document will be shared with teams once those discussions are completed , said the person , who added that teams should receive them in plenty of time for them to prepare for expected mid-July arrivals at the Disney-ESPN complex .
If all 22 teams that are going to Disney play their allotted eight games before the postseason begins , the NBA @ @ @ @ @ @ @ season .
That means 171 regular season games would be canceled , which could cost players around $ 600 million in salary .
Those 22 clubs would play somewhere between 71 and 75 regular season games if the Disney portion of the schedule is completed , down from the customary 82-game slate .
The teams who didn ’ t qualify for the restart will see their seasons end after having played somewhere between 64 and 67 games .
But one of the biggest hurdles is now cleared , and if things go according @ @ @ @ @ @ @ season unlike any other will be crowned in October .
The season could go into that month if the league goes ahead with its plan for the same playoff rules as usual , that being every round utilizing a best-of-seven format .
Thursday ’ s move by the board of governors — one that came , coincidentally , on the same day this season ’ s NBA Finals would have started if these were normal times — was largely a formality .
The NBA considered countless restart options after suspending the season on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to four possibilities last week and from there the 22-team plan quickly began gaining momentum .
Milwaukee , the Los Angeles Lakers , Boston and reigning NBA champion Toronto had already clinched playoff berths .
Now with only eight games remaining for each team , it means that eight other clubs — Miami , Indiana , Philadelphia , the Los Angeles Clippers , Denver , Utah , Oklahoma City and Houston — have postseason spots secured , and Dallas virtually has one as well .
That leaves nine teams vying for three remaining @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Brooklyn , Orlando and Washington are in the race for two spots .
In the West , Memphis , Portland , New Orleans , Sacramento , San Antonio and Phoenix will jostle for one spot .
If the gap between eighth place and ninth place in either conference is four games or less when the shortened regular season ends , those teams will go head-to-head for the No .
8 seed .
The team in ninth place would have to go 2-0 in a two-game series to win the berth ; otherwise , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the postseason .
Thursday ’ s decision also means that the seasons for Atlanta , Cleveland , New York , Golden State , Minnesota , Detroit , Chicago and Charlotte are over .
The Knicks will miss the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season , the third-longest current drought in the league behind Sacramento and Phoenix — who still have chances of getting into the playoffs this season .
Carter , the first player in NBA history to appear in four different decades , has steadfastly insisted that he is retiring after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ NBA games , behind only Robert Parish ( 1,611 ) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ( 1,560 ) on the league ’ s all-time list .

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The NBA’s Board of Governors has approved a 22-team format for restarting the league season in late July at the Disney campus near Orlando, Florida, another major step toward getting teams back onto the court and playing games again.
The format calls for each team playing eight games to determine playoff seeding plus the possible utilization of a play-in tournament for the final spot in the Eastern Conference and Western Conference postseason fields, a person familiar with the situation said Thursday. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the league had not yet revealed the vote result publicly.
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It is the most significant step yet in the process of trying to resume a season that was suspended nearly three months ago because of the coronavirus pandemic. There are numerous other details for the league to continue working through — including finalizing specifics of what the testing plan will be once teams arrive next month at the ESPN Wide World Of Sports complex and the calculating the financial ramifications of playing a shortened regular season.
Another person, also speaking to AP on condition of anonymity because the details of the ongoing talks have not been publicly released, said the National Basketball Players Association and the NBA are continuing to work on a “lengthy” medical protocols document. The details of that document will be shared with teams once those discussions are completed, said the person, who added that teams should receive them in plenty of time for them to prepare for expected mid-July arrivals at the Disney-ESPN complex.
If all 22 teams that are going to Disney play their allotted eight games before the postseason begins, the NBA would play 1,059 games in this regular season. That means 171 regular season games would be canceled, which could cost players around $600 million in salary.
Those 22 clubs would play somewhere between 71 and 75 regular season games if the Disney portion of the schedule is completed, down from the customary 82-game slate. The teams who didn’t qualify for the restart will see their seasons end after having played somewhere between 64 and 67 games.
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But one of the biggest hurdles is now cleared, and if things go according to plan an NBA champion for a season unlike any other will be crowned in October. The season could go into that month if the league goes ahead with its plan for the same playoff rules as usual, that being every round utilizing a best-of-seven format.
Thursday’s move by the board of governors — one that came, coincidentally, on the same day this season’s NBA Finals would have started if these were normal times — was largely a formality. The NBA considered countless restart options after suspending the season on March 11, whittled that list down to four possibilities last week and from there the 22-team plan quickly began gaining momentum.
The 22-team plan includes all teams that were holding playoff spots when the season was stopped, plus all other clubs within six games of a postseason berth.
Milwaukee, the Los Angeles Lakers, Boston and reigning NBA champion Toronto had already clinched playoff berths. Now with only eight games remaining for each team, it means that eight other clubs — Miami, Indiana, Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Clippers, Denver, Utah, Oklahoma City and Houston — have postseason spots secured, and Dallas virtually has one as well.
That leaves nine teams vying for three remaining playoff berths. In the East, Brooklyn, Orlando and Washington are in the race for two spots. In the West, Memphis, Portland, New Orleans, Sacramento, San Antonio and Phoenix will jostle for one spot.
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If the gap between eighth place and ninth place in either conference is four games or less when the shortened regular season ends, those teams will go head-to-head for the No. 8 seed. The team in ninth place would have to go 2-0 in a two-game series to win the berth; otherwise, the No. 8 seed would advance to the postseason.
Thursday’s decision also means that the seasons for Atlanta, Cleveland, New York, Golden State, Minnesota, Detroit, Chicago and Charlotte are over. The Knicks will miss the playoffs for the seventh consecutive season, the third-longest current drought in the league behind Sacramento and Phoenix — who still have chances of getting into the playoffs this season.
And with the Hawks not moving on, it also means Vince Carter has almost certainly played the final game of his 22-year NBA career — the longest in league history.


huffpost--2020-06-04--2020 Isn't 1968 And Donald Trump Isn't Richard Nixon

But for all of the similarities , 2020 isn ’ t 1968 .
The electorate has changed .
Trump ’ s supporters are neither silent , nor a majority .
And Trump ― who polling shows is an unpopular president ― isn ’ t in the same position in 2020 that Nixon was in 1968 .
Where Nixon ― seeking the White House ― offered himself as a solution to unrest and mismanagement , Trump ― the incumbent ― is its culprit .
When 1968 is summoned as a comparison to the present day , it is conjured as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disorder and failure .
Its milestones included the Tet Offensive in Vietnam that undermined any perception that the U.S. was prevailing in that war ; the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the ensuing riots in more than 40 cities that saw federal troops deployed to Chicago , Baltimore and Washington ; the assassination of Robert Kennedy ; a rising crime rate ; the police riot at the Democratic National Convention ― all while the body count in Vietnam ticked up and up .
When Vice President Hubert Humphrey took up the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ him for the same failures as Johnson , but also for the continuing chaos after the Democratic Party ’ s contentious nomination of Humphrey inside the International Amphitheater in Chicago as the police rioted outside .
Nixon ’ s focus on “ law and order ” and ending domestic turmoil worked because he could point to the people in the White House as the culprits .
And that underscores a key difference between then and now ― Trump isn ’ t the challenger like Nixon , he occupies the office Johnson did in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ former Vice President Joe Biden , who can make the case for the incumbent ’ s failures .
Even as Trump tried to take no personal responsibility for any of his actions , it was his policies that led to a mismanaged pandemic response and his support for police brutality and repression that escalated the protests .
Whatever failures of instituting “ law and order ” have occurred did so on his watch .
Nixon ’ s “ law and order ” campaign worked because he was riding a wave of white backlash @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that was gathering momentum .
The backlash began after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the expansion of the welfare state under Johnson ’ s Great Society initiatives .
These laws and programs became linked in the minds of many white Americans with riots in Black neighborhoods in Los Angeles ’ Watts neighborhood , Detroit , Cleveland and elsewhere that exploded prior to 1968 after acts of police brutality or harassment .
White voters began to oppose further civil rights legislation , in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ racist housing practices .
In 1966 , King protested for equal housing rights in Chicago ’ s Bungalow Belt .
This was where descendants of Polish and German immigrants were able to buy into the American Dream of homeownership , but red-lining practices excluded Blacks .
When King and his followers marched through the streets of this community , he was pelted with rocks and met with chants of “ White Power !
” and “ Burn them like Jews !
” Douglas wasn ’ t the lone liberal ― or policy ― @ @ @ @ @ @ @ civil rights movement during this period .
New York City voters rejected a ballot initiative creating a civilian review board for police officers by a two-to-one margin .
Anti-civil rights candidates won the governorships in Alabama , Florida and Georgia .
California Gov .
Pat Brown ( D ) lost his reelection to actor Ronald Reagan , the brash young standard-bearer of the new conservatism who expertly trolled student radicals and civil rights activists .
“ Whether we like it or not , the people want separation of the races , ” Brown @ @ @ @ @ @ @ results to the midterms of 2018 .
Trump , as he touted Republican candidates two years ago , renewed his rhetoric on race and crime with overhyped warnings of a caravan of dangerous undocumented immigrants poised to invade the country .
While voters in solidly GOP states backed Trump in important Senate races , Republicans lost the House as the suburbs , which white voters had once fled to , turned sharply against the party and Trump .
In 1968 , Nixon found a receptive audience as a champion for the white backlash @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of insurrection ” in “ Watts and Harlem and Detroit and Newark ” and what they were “ planning for the summer ahead.
” The nation “ must take the warnings to heart and prepare to meet force with force , ” he said , adding , “ our first commitment as a nation in this time of crisis and questioning must be a commitment to order.
” What did exist in 1968 was a large group of voters opposed to the protests , the student radicals , the rock-and-roll culture and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s law-and-order rhetoric was effective because it could peel away conservative white Democrats who already felt alienated from their party .
But those voters are much fewer in numbers today , while moderate voters who typically vote Republican but are repelled by Trump ’ s rhetoric are up for grabs in this November ’ s elections .

In certain ways, 2020 feels a lot like 1968. Federal troops and local police are clashing with Black people sick of police brutality and discrimination. Americans are dying in massive, alarming numbers ― then, in the Vietnam war; now, as the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the nation. Americans are angry.
And President Donald Trump, in his bid for reelection, is echoing the same language Richard Nixon used in his successful 1968 presidential campaign.
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“I am your president of law and order,” Trump said Monday on the South Lawn of the White House as the sound of peaceful protesters being violently dispersed with pepper pellets, smoke grenades, flash-bangs and baton-wielding military police echoed in the background.
He declared he would be the voice of the “Silent Majority” ― a favorite Nixon phrase parroted by Trump since he began his first presidential campaign in 2015. Now, it’s a nod to those who want the police to start cracking heads to quell widespread tumult, and Trump hopes to ride that wave of “law and order” backlash to reelection.
But for all of the similarities, 2020 isn’t 1968. The electorate has changed. Trump’s supporters are neither silent, nor a majority. And Trump ― who polling shows is an unpopular president ― isn’t in the same position in 2020 that Nixon was in 1968. Where Nixon ― seeking the White House ― offered himself as a solution to unrest and mismanagement, Trump ― the incumbent ― is its culprit.
Protesters were tear-gassed as the police dispersed them near the White House on Monday to make way for what became President Donald Trump's controversial photo-op at a church. ROBERTO SCHMIDT via Getty Images
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When 1968 is summoned as a comparison to the present day, it is conjured as a symbol of chaotic change, upheaval, disorder and failure. Its milestones included the Tet Offensive in Vietnam that undermined any perception that the U.S. was prevailing in that war; the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the ensuing riots in more than 40 cities that saw federal troops deployed to Chicago, Baltimore and Washington; the assassination of Robert Kennedy; a rising crime rate; the police riot at the Democratic National Convention ― all while the body count in Vietnam ticked up and up.
At the time, Nixon was running to replace President Lyndon Johnson, whom he argued had failed to enforce “law and order.” He knocked Johnson for his failures to quell riots, to subdue student activists and to win the war in Vietnam. Johnson, besieged from his left over his disastrous Vietnam policy, withdrew from the race.
When Vice President Hubert Humphrey took up the mantle, Nixon could not only blame him for the same failures as Johnson, but also for the continuing chaos after the Democratic Party’s contentious nomination of Humphrey inside the International Amphitheater in Chicago as the police rioted outside. Nixon’s focus on “law and order” and ending domestic turmoil worked because he could point to the people in the White House as the culprits.
The year 2020 seems similarly disorienting. A viral pandemic has caused depression-level unemployment and the botched government response has left more than 100,000 dead from the disease. Amid the pandemic, police and self-appointed vigilantes continued to kill Black Americans ― Ahmad Aubrey in Georgia, Breonna Taylor in Kentucky, and, in the tipping point, George Floyd in Minnesota. Police then violently repressed the protest movement sparked by Floyd’s killing as looters took advantage.
The president, meanwhile, has been woefully unable to rise to the challenges confronting him. In the early stages of the coronavirus threat, he called concerns raised about it a hoax. Finally responding to it, he teetered between endorsing stay-at-home measures to then endorsing protests to end them.
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And that underscores a key difference between then and now ― Trump isn’t the challenger like Nixon, he occupies the office Johnson did in 1968. It is his challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, who can make the case for the incumbent’s failures. Even as Trump tried to take no personal responsibility for any of his actions, it was his policies that led to a mismanaged pandemic response and his support for police brutality and repression that escalated the protests. Whatever failures of instituting “law and order” have occurred did so on his watch.
Nor can Trump’s situation be likened to Nixon’s 1972 reelection. The latter’s resounding win that year wasn’t the result of promises to restore “law and order,” but instead on his record as president and attacks on his rival as a left-wing extremist.
A Different Electorate
Today’s voting public is also very different than the one Nixon sought to win over in 1968.
Nixon’s “law and order” campaign worked because he was riding a wave of white backlash to civil rights activism and welfare policies that was gathering momentum. The backlash began after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the expansion of the welfare state under Johnson’s Great Society initiatives. These laws and programs became linked in the minds of many white Americans with riots in Black neighborhoods in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood, Detroit, Cleveland and elsewhere that exploded prior to 1968 after acts of police brutality or harassment. White voters began to oppose further civil rights legislation, in particular bills that would end unfair, racist housing practices.
In 1966, King protested for equal housing rights in Chicago’s Bungalow Belt. This was where descendants of Polish and German immigrants were able to buy into the American Dream of homeownership, but red-lining practices excluded Blacks. When King and his followers marched through the streets of this community, he was pelted with rocks and met with chants of “White Power!” and “Burn them like Jews!”
Voters in these once-solidly Democratic neighborhoods fueled the 1966 defeat of Democratic Sen. Paul Douglas, a committed civil rights advocate who King had once called the “greatest of all senators.” Nationally, public support for King collapsed, even before his 1967 “Beyond Vietnam” speech that earned him intense criticism, as Gallup measured his favorability as 32% positive and 63% negative.
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Douglas wasn’t the lone liberal ― or policy ― to fall to the backlash against the civil rights movement during this period. New York City voters rejected a ballot initiative creating a civilian review board for police officers by a two-to-one margin. Anti-civil rights candidates won the governorships in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. California Gov. Pat Brown (D) lost his reelection to actor Ronald Reagan, the brash young standard-bearer of the new conservatism who expertly trolled student radicals and civil rights activists. “Whether we like it or not, the people want separation of the races,” Brown mused after his loss.
Contrast those results to the midterms of 2018. Trump, as he touted Republican candidates two years ago, renewed his rhetoric on race and crime with overhyped warnings of a caravan of dangerous undocumented immigrants poised to invade the country. While voters in solidly GOP states backed Trump in important Senate races, Republicans lost the House as the suburbs, which white voters had once fled to, turned sharply against the party and Trump.
In 1968, Nixon found a receptive audience as a champion for the white backlash. He warned of the “organizers of insurrection” in “Watts and Harlem and Detroit and Newark” and what they were “planning for the summer ahead.” The nation “must take the warnings to heart and prepare to meet force with force,” he said, adding, “our first commitment as a nation in this time of crisis and questioning must be a commitment to order.”
Troops march along a street in Washington in April 1968, responding to protests that turned violent following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee. The grief and anger caused by his killing sparked tumult in cities throughout the U.S. The Washington Post via Getty Images
Half a century later, a significant increase in the public acknowledgment of racial discrimination has occurred, particularly among white Democrats. And amid the current ferment, support for civil rights protests is increasing, not decreasing.
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A plurality of whites expressed backing for Black Lives Matter protests for the first time in May, according to a daily tracking poll by Civiqs conducted for the liberal blog Daily Kos. A HuffPost/YouGov poll found 78% percent of Americans, including 74% of white Americans, view police brutality as a serious problem.
Poll after poll also shows white Democrats increasingly agreeing with Black Americans that systemic racism is real and needs to be addressed. This convergence, dubbed the Great Awokening by Vox, is evident in the multi-racial nature of the protests in the streets around the country since Floyd’s death at the hands of the Minneapolis police.
“There is a change in mindset that’s taking place — a recognition that we can do better,” former President Barack Obama said at a roundtable discussion hosted by the Obama Foundation on Wednesday. Today’s protests are made up of “a far more representative cross-section of America ... that didn’t exist back in the 1960s,” he added.
What did exist in 1968 was a large group of voters opposed to the protests, the student radicals, the rock-and-roll culture and the demonstrations against the Vietnam War. Nixon’s law-and-order rhetoric was effective because it could peel away conservative white Democrats who already felt alienated from their party. But those voters are much fewer in numbers today, while moderate voters who typically vote Republican but are repelled by Trump’s rhetoric are up for grabs in this November’s elections.
One of Nixon’s most famous commercials was titled “Law and Order.” It featured fast-cut clips of burning buildings, young radicals, bloodied protesters and police in distress set to a discordant soundtrack. “I pledge to you we shall have order in the United States,” Nixon intoned.
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Trump may pose for photo-ops for his personal social media audience today. But that is a strategy aimed solely at his closest followers. On Tuesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after Trump made his “president of law and order” declaration, his comments had been cut into a political ad. Tellingly, it is not Republicans who are using Trump’s words, but Democrats. Priorities USA, a Democratic super PAC, plans to air the spot in this campaign’s most crucial states: Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
The ad highlights the violent dispersal of peaceful protesters from in front of the White House so Trump could stroll out for his photo-op in front of the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church. It ends with the voice of Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington from a CNN interview.
“The president just used a Bible and one of the churches of my diocese as a message antithetical to the teaching Jesus,” Budde says. “I just can’t believe what my eyes are seeing.”
The message is clear: Americans may still worry about law and order, but they should see Trump as a threat to it, not the solution.


huffpost--2020-06-04--Food Pantries Struggle To Feed The Hungry Amid Protests. Here’s How You Can Help.

As unemployment rates increased due to the coronavirus pandemic , so too did the number of people relying on food pantries to survive .
Over the past week , the destruction of property and the fear of violence ( by police and others ) accompanying a nationwide wave of racial justice protests has just made the situation more difficult .
The challenge is to continue sourcing food and getting it to those in need .
Not far from where TC Food Justice rents its cooler space , three of the four local supermarkets were damaged by fire last week .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ sudden less food everywhere , ” Chmielewski said .
“ Places established as safe spaces to get food , to get help , to get assistance , are no longer safe and , in some cases , are no longer there.
” She added , “ At least one of our food pantry partners was damaged because it was on Lake Street and they had to shut down.
” In response , TC Food Justice is partnering with Urban Ventures , Sisters Camelot , the Salvation Army and St. Vincent de Paul , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ food source for local residents .
They plan to have fresh and dried food available for pick up at designated neighborhood sites and will also offer home delivery by bicycle .
“ We ’ re hoping that within a week , we ’ ll be ready to go , ” Chmielewski said .
“ [ Monday ] we were spared ― there was no damage to our building , ” he said , referring to the recent looting at nearby stores in Hollywood , where the organization ’ s offices are located .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ re inside that building and you don ’ t feel safe , it ’ s just not good for our staff to have to deal with that on top of everything else going on.
” Project Angel Food provides medically tailored meals to people living with critical illnesses .
According to Ayoub , 76 % of its clientele are people of color , 98 % are living at or below the poverty line , and many are over the age of 60 and vulnerable to the coronavirus .
Although he sent his staff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the charity ’ s drivers were still able to deliver food to clients without incident .
“ [ They ] said that police , National Guard and residents are making way for Project Angel Food because they know we ’ re delivering food , ” Ayoub said .
“ And it ’ s just powerful and incredible.
” It ’ s Not Just About Food “ The issue of food is much deeper than just having something to eat — it is a justice issue , ” she said .
“ I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ started to shine a light on the inequities of society .
When you are looking at the health disparities and who lost their jobs and who had to continue working in dangerous situations , there ’ s no justice in that .
And the food system is no different , but people haven ’ t realized that.
” “ For at least a decade , we ’ ve been intentionally trying to deal with the intersection between racism and all the disadvantages — food insecurity , the housing crisis , high unemployment rates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those things have long for us been symptomatic of the larger systemic oppressions .
That ’ s always been our reality , our sensibility , ” Jones told HuffPost .
Add racist law enforcement to that burden .
“ It ’ s just really painful to have these fatal incarnations of oppression , ” Jones said .
“ That ’ s what these deaths Black people experience at the hands of police or vigilantes are — the worst kind of reminder of what these systems can produce.
” “ These are people who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ world .
And it ’ s hard ... when you get these deadly reminders of how much further we have to go.
” - George Jones , CEO of Bread for the City It all takes a spiritual and emotional toll on him and his staff .
“ You know , these are people who believe in the possibility of a just world .
And it ’ s hard when you ’ ve dedicated your life — I ’ ve been at Bread almost 25 years — it ’ s hard when you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ further we have to go , ” Jones said .
How You Can Help Food shelters across the country are seeing greater demand under these challenging circumstances .
Over the past couple of months , Bread for the City went from serving up to 400 families in a day to as many as 800 families .
Project Angel Food added 400 new clients to its program just in the month of May .
Kyle Waide , president and CEO of Atlanta Community Food Bank , estimates a 40 % increase in clients since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that we ’ re trying to serve 300,000 to 400,000 more people , ” he explained , which requires finding new sources and buying more food .
Adding to the cost and complexity of how they ’ re operating is the need to curb the coronavirus by modifying the way they distribute food to limit person-to-person contact and increasing cleaning and sanitation practices .

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As unemployment rates increased due to the coronavirus pandemic, so too did the number of people relying on food pantries to survive. Over the past week, the destruction of property and the fear of violence (by police and others) accompanying a nationwide wave of racial justice protests has just made the situation more difficult.
HuffPost spoke to senior staff at charitable organizations to learn whether food-insecure people in their cities are now even more at risk.
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Dedication Prevails Over Disruption
Looking at the destruction of property along Lake Street in South Minneapolis, TC Food Justice executive director Autumn Chmielewski concluded that safety is paramount.
“I cannot, in good conscience ― given everything that I’ve seen that’s happening, personally, as I’ve watched buildings burn to the ground in my neighborhood and people’s protests turn into riots ― I can’t have volunteers out in that situation,” she told HuffPost.
TC Food Justice rescues fruits, vegetables and other food that co-ops, grocery stores and farmers markets have deemed unsalable and brings it to local hunger relief organizations. For now, Chmielewski said, it’s up to her nonprofit’s small staff — all volunteers themselves — to handle that redistribution in addition to administration.
“COVID really started to shine a light on the inequities of society. When you are looking at the health disparities and who lost their jobs and who had to continue working in dangerous situations, there’s no justice in that. And the food system is no different.” - Autumn Chmielewski, executive director of TC Food Justice
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The challenge is to continue sourcing food and getting it to those in need. Not far from where TC Food Justice rents its cooler space, three of the four local supermarkets were damaged by fire last week.
“There’s all of a sudden less food everywhere,” Chmielewski said. “Places established as safe spaces to get food, to get help, to get assistance, are no longer safe and, in some cases, are no longer there.” She added, “At least one of our food pantry partners was damaged because it was on Lake Street and they had to shut down.”
In response, TC Food Justice is partnering with Urban Ventures, Sisters Camelot, the Salvation Army and St. Vincent de Paul, among others, to mobilize a reliable food source for local residents. They plan to have fresh and dried food available for pick up at designated neighborhood sites and will also offer home delivery by bicycle. “We’re hoping that within a week, we’ll be ready to go,” Chmielewski said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS Fire burns inside a Family Dollar Store, where many community members buy groceries, after a night of unrest in Minneapolis on Friday, May 29.
Richard Ayoub, executive director of Project Angel Food in Los Angeles, can certainly relate.
“[Monday] we were spared ― there was no damage to our building,” he said, referring to the recent looting at nearby stores in Hollywood, where the organization’s offices are located. “But still, if you’re inside that building and you don’t feel safe, it’s just not good for our staff to have to deal with that on top of everything else going on.”
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Project Angel Food provides medically tailored meals to people living with critical illnesses. According to Ayoub, 76% of its clientele are people of color, 98% are living at or below the poverty line, and many are over the age of 60 and vulnerable to the coronavirus.
Although he sent his staff home early two days in a row, the charity’s drivers were still able to deliver food to clients without incident. “[They] said that police, National Guard and residents are making way for Project Angel Food because they know we’re delivering food,” Ayoub said. “And it’s just powerful and incredible.”
It’s Not Just About Food
Chmielewski relates the events of the past week to her organization’s mission.
“The issue of food is much deeper than just having something to eat — it is a justice issue,” she said. “I think everything that happened with COVID really started to shine a light on the inequities of society. When you are looking at the health disparities and who lost their jobs and who had to continue working in dangerous situations, there’s no justice in that. And the food system is no different, but people haven’t realized that.”
While operations out of Bread for the City’s center in Northwest Washington have been largely unaffected by the protests around the White House, CEO George Jones said recent events have certainly shaken the staff’s morale.
MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images James Walton of Helping Harvest carries a box of food to a car during a pop-up food distribution in Reading, Pennsylvania, on May 29.
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“For at least a decade, we’ve been intentionally trying to deal with the intersection between racism and all the disadvantages — food insecurity, the housing crisis, high unemployment rates, the income disparity — all of those things have long for us been symptomatic of the larger systemic oppressions. That’s always been our reality, our sensibility,” Jones told HuffPost.
Add racist law enforcement to that burden. “It’s just really painful to have these fatal incarnations of oppression,” Jones said. “That’s what these deaths Black people experience at the hands of police or vigilantes are — the worst kind of reminder of what these systems can produce.”
“These are people who believe in the possibility of a just world. And it’s hard ... when you get these deadly reminders of how much further we have to go.” - George Jones, CEO of Bread for the City
It all takes a spiritual and emotional toll on him and his staff. “You know, these are people who believe in the possibility of a just world. And it’s hard when you’ve dedicated your life — I’ve been at Bread almost 25 years — it’s hard when you get these deadly reminders of how much further we have to go,” Jones said.
How You Can Help
Food shelters across the country are seeing greater demand under these challenging circumstances. Over the past couple of months, Bread for the City went from serving up to 400 families in a day to as many as 800 families. Project Angel Food added 400 new clients to its program just in the month of May.
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Kyle Waide, president and CEO of Atlanta Community Food Bank, estimates a 40% increase in clients since the pandemic began. “That means that we’re trying to serve 300,000 to 400,000 more people,” he explained, which requires finding new sources and buying more food. Adding to the cost and complexity of how they’re operating is the need to curb the coronavirus by modifying the way they distribute food to limit person-to-person contact and increasing cleaning and sanitation practices.
“We’re now distributing 2 million pounds of food a week,” Waide said. “That’s a 35% increase over what we were doing before, and we expect that that’s going to continue indefinitely.”
Yet another thing that all of these organizations have in common is that they depend on donations and the work of volunteers to survive.


huffpost--2020-06-04--More Than 10,000 People Reportedly Arrested At U.S. Protests

PHOENIX ( AP ) — More than 10,000 people have been arrested in protests decrying racism and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd ’ s death , according to an Associated Press tally of known arrests across the U.S. Los Angeles has had more than a quarter of the national arrests , followed by New York , Dallas and Philadelphia .
Many of the arrests have been for low-level offenses such as curfew violations and failure to disperse .
Hundreds were arrested on burglary and looting charges .
As cities were engulfed in unrest last week , politicians @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were outside agitators , including a contention by Minnesota ’ s governor that 80 percent of the participants in the demonstrations were from out of state .
The arrests in Minneapolis during a frenzied weekend tell a different story .
In a nearly 24-hour period from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon , 41 of the 52 people cited with protest-related arrests had Minnesota driver ’ s licenses , according to the Hennepin County sheriff .
It is not known how many of the people arrested were locked up — an issue at a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s jails are dealing with coronavirus outbreaks .
The protesters are often placed in zip-ties and hauled away from the scene in buses .
In Los Angeles , an online fundraising campaign has gathered $ 2 million so far to help more than 3,000 people arrested in demonstrations since Floyd died on May 25 in Minneapolis .
Kath Rogers , executive director of the Los Angeles office of the National Lawyers Guild , said she was surprised by the huge number of arrests in that city .
The office is calling on those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can be part of the group ’ s mass defense .
So far , they have heard from about 400 people , she said .
She said some people had been swept up in the arrests because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time , like a woman who was simply going for an evening walk and wasn ’ t part of the protest .
Or a young man who was taking pictures of the looting with his phone and then was arrested for looting .
“ I ’ ve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go to hundreds of demonstrations , but I ’ ve never seen rubber bullets flying like this , tear gas used this way , ” she said .
The only other U.S. city with an arrest toll that comes close to Los Angeles ’ is New York , with about 2,000 , according to AP ’ s tally .
A Los Angeles group called the Peoples City Council Fund as of Wednesday night had gathered more than $ 2 million for arrested protesters there through the online fundraising platform gofundme .
More than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some just $ 10 or $ 20 .
Fundraiser organizers said hundreds of thousands of the dollars raised will go to Black Lives Matter LA as well as the National Lawyers Guild , a progressive group that has been defending civil rights activists since the 1930s .

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PHOENIX (AP) — More than 10,000 people have been arrested in protests decrying racism and police brutality in the wake of George Floyd’s death, according to an Associated Press tally of known arrests across the U.S.
The count has grown by the hundreds each day as protesters spilled into the streets and encountered a heavy police presence and curfews that give law enforcement stepped-up arrest powers.
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Los Angeles has had more than a quarter of the national arrests, followed by New York, Dallas and Philadelphia. Many of the arrests have been for low-level offenses such as curfew violations and failure to disperse. Hundreds were arrested on burglary and looting charges.
As cities were engulfed in unrest last week, politicians claimed that the majority of the protesters were outside agitators, including a contention by Minnesota’s governor that 80 percent of the participants in the demonstrations were from out of state.
The arrests in Minneapolis during a frenzied weekend tell a different story. In a nearly 24-hour period from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, 41 of the 52 people cited with protest-related arrests had Minnesota driver’s licenses, according to the Hennepin County sheriff.
In the nation’s capital, 86 percent of the more than 400 people arrested as of Wednesday afternoon were from Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia.
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It is not known how many of the people arrested were locked up — an issue at a time when many of the nation’s jails are dealing with coronavirus outbreaks. The protesters are often placed in zip-ties and hauled away from the scene in buses.
In Los Angeles, an online fundraising campaign has gathered $2 million so far to help more than 3,000 people arrested in demonstrations since Floyd died on May 25 in Minneapolis.
Kath Rogers, executive director of the Los Angeles office of the National Lawyers Guild, said she was surprised by the huge number of arrests in that city. The office is calling on those arrested to be in contact so they can be part of the group’s mass defense. So far, they have heard from about 400 people, she said.
She said some people had been swept up in the arrests because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, like a woman who was simply going for an evening walk and wasn’t part of the protest. Or a young man who was taking pictures of the looting with his phone and then was arrested for looting.
“I’ve been here for two years and we go to hundreds of demonstrations, but I’ve never seen rubber bullets flying like this, tear gas used this way,” she said.
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Los Angeles Chief Michel Moore told the city’s Police Commission Tuesday the bulk of the arrests, about 2,500, were for failure to disperse or curfew violations.
The rest were for crimes including burglary, looting, assaults on police officers and other violence, Moore told the panel, which functions as the police department’s civilian oversight board.
The only other U.S. city with an arrest toll that comes close to Los Angeles’ is New York, with about 2,000, according to AP’s tally.
A Los Angeles group called the Peoples City Council Fund as of Wednesday night had gathered more than $2 million for arrested protesters there through the online fundraising platform gofundme. More than 46,000 people donated mostly small amounts, some just $10 or $20.
Fundraiser organizers said hundreds of thousands of the dollars raised will go to Black Lives Matter LA as well as the National Lawyers Guild, a progressive group that has been defending civil rights activists since the 1930s.
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huffpost--2020-06-04--Fauci The Racehorse Tries To Lock Down A Victory At Belmont Park

A horse named after coronavirus task force expert Dr. Anthony Fauci placed second Wednesday at Belmont Park in Elmont , @ @ @ @ @ the race as the betting favorite .
Prisoner pulled away for the victory after the @ @ @ @ @ the first part of the race .
( See the replay below . )
The @ @ @ @ @ day without fans after the pandemic lockdown began in order to help prevent the virus @ @ @ @ @ Antonacci bought the 2-year-old for $ 175,000 last year and registered the name Fauci to @ @ @ @ @ was a neighbor of his family in Brooklyn , according to the New York Post @ @ @ @ @ Tyler Gaffalione aboard , paid $ 2.40 to place .
He crossed the wire in @ @ @ @ @ lengths back ― a “ socially distant second , ” the Post joked .
Guess @ @ @ @ @ to a stiff challenge .
Indoctrinate finished third , while Garoppolo , whom the Sporting @ @ @ @ @ 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo , finished fourth .

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This Fauci better hope losing isn’t contagious.
A horse named after coronavirus task force expert Dr. Anthony Fauci placed second Wednesday at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, after entering the race as the betting favorite. Prisoner pulled away for the victory after the two were nearly even for the first part of the race. (See the replay below.)
The meet celebrated a rainy opening day without fans after the pandemic lockdown began in order to help prevent the virus from spreading further.
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Philip Antonacci bought the 2-year-old for $175,000 last year and registered the name Fauci to honor the doctor, who was a neighbor of his family in Brooklyn, according to the New York Post.
(Antonacci also wanted to name a filly after Anthony Fauci’s task force colleague Dr. Deborah Birx but didn’t have a good enough horse, the Associated Press reported.)
Fauci, with jockey Tyler Gaffalione aboard, paid $2.40 to place. He crossed the wire in the 5-furlong event about 4.5 lengths back ― a “socially distant second,” the Post joked. Guess Fauci wasn’t immune to a stiff challenge.
Indoctrinate finished third, while Garoppolo, whom the Sporting News said is named after 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, finished fourth.


huffpost--2020-06-04--Rachel Griffiths Sorry For Flaunting Manicure While 'People Are Dying' After Backlash

Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Rachel Griffiths is apologizing after the backlash over her `` shallow '' Instagram post .
Rachel Griffiths is acknowledging her “ white bitch privilege ” after sparking outrage with an insensitive post about getting a manicure , in which she wrote about how “ America is burning ” and “ people are dying.
” The Australian actor , who ’ s best known her roles on television series like HBO ’ s “ Six Feet Under ” and the ABC soap “ Brothers and Sisters , ” caught backlash earlier this week for sharing a photo of herself @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to read the room in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and protests against racial injustice , Griffiths told her followers that global unrest was “ easier on the soul to watch ” with a fresh coat of polish .
“ Shallow I know , ” Griffiths wrote alongside the photo with her diamond ring front and center .
“ America is burning people are dying … but still it just seems easier on the soul to watch all this happening with beautiful nails.
” “ And judging by the line of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” she continued .
“ Shallow people we are but I need to share this important covid update .
The manicurists are open !
!
!
Tip generously as they have had not income since COVID lockdown.
” “ I am continually floored by celebrities who write wildly inappropriate and tone deaf statements and share it online , ” one person wrote on Twitter .
“ Rachel Griffith ’ s post about her nails , featuring a ring with a stone the size of every semi-precious gemstone ring I ’ ve ever own @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has since deleted the post and issued a lengthy apology on Tuesday , going as far to thank her detractors for keeping her in check .
“ The last few days have been wrenching , ” she wrote in the caption .
“ My post early today leant away from that pain but I understand in doing so it pained others who can ’ t look away from what ’ s happening — can ’ t turn off and check out because it is their lives — their brothers theirs sisters their children @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ‘ there.
’ This our country ’ s stain also.
” She continued : “ I did not intend to trivialise just escape it .
But that I understand is part of the problem .
I am sorry .
I am sorry that I got this so wrong today .
I am sorry that I abdicated any meaningful sense making of what is happening this week and has been happening for centuries.
” “ Thank you to the people who have called me out , ” she concluded .
“ I have a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ my white bitch privilege.
” While some readily forgave Griffiths for her misstep , others weren ’ t so keen on letting her off the hook , especially given her current role in “ Total Control , ” a political drama exploring racism and the discrimination against Indigenous Australians .
“ Come on , you knew better , ” one Instagram user commented under the post .
“ You are the Executive Producer and lead actress in a prime-time indigenous ABC Australia drama , about black deaths in custody , working alongside a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
You even said in the post ‘ this is shallow… ’ , so why did you post it anyway ?
The spirit in which it was intended was pure ignorant white privilege .
”

Rachel Griffiths is apologizing after the backlash over her "shallow" Instagram post. Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
Rachel Griffiths is acknowledging her “white bitch privilege” after sparking outrage with an insensitive post about getting a manicure, in which she wrote about how “America is burning” and “people are dying.”
The Australian actor, who’s best known her roles on television series like HBO’s “Six Feet Under” and the ABC soap “Brothers and Sisters,” caught backlash earlier this week for sharing a photo of herself at the nail salon.
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Absolutely failing to read the room in the wake of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and protests against racial injustice, Griffiths told her followers that global unrest was “easier on the soul to watch” with a fresh coat of polish.
“Shallow I know,” Griffiths wrote alongside the photo with her diamond ring front and center. “America is burning people are dying … but still it just seems easier on the soul to watch all this happening with beautiful nails.”
“And judging by the line of desperate ladies I am not alone,” she continued. “Shallow people we are but I need to share this important covid update. The manicurists are open!!! Tip generously as they have had not income since COVID lockdown.”
rachel griffiths career? six feet under pic.twitter.com/PwaRhHVvtM — Eric Eidelstein (@ericeidelstein) June 3, 2020
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Her post quickly caught the attention of people who called the actor out across social media.
“I am continually floored by celebrities who write wildly inappropriate and tone deaf statements and share it online,” one person wrote on Twitter. “Rachel Griffith’s post about her nails, featuring a ring with a stone the size of every semi-precious gemstone ring I’ve ever own combined, IS A CLANGER.”
“OMG is this Australia’s own Rachel Griffiths? Eeeek,” another added.
She has since deleted the post and issued a lengthy apology on Tuesday, going as far to thank her detractors for keeping her in check.
“The last few days have been wrenching,” she wrote in the caption. “My post early today leant away from that pain but I understand in doing so it pained others who can’t look away from what’s happening — can’t turn off and check out because it is their lives — their brothers theirs sisters their children. And it’s not over ‘there.’ This our country’s stain also.”
She continued: “I did not intend to trivialise just escape it. But that I understand is part of the problem. I am sorry. I am sorry that I got this so wrong today. I am sorry that I abdicated any meaningful sense making of what is happening this week and has been happening for centuries.”
“Thank you to the people who have called me out,” she concluded. “I have a long way to go to truly understand my white bitch privilege.”
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While some readily forgave Griffiths for her misstep, others weren’t so keen on letting her off the hook, especially given her current role in “Total Control,” a political drama exploring racism and the discrimination against Indigenous Australians.