huffpost--2020-03-17--Hospitals Fear There Aren't Enough Ventilators For Coronavirus Patients

The Society of Critical Care Medicine has projected that 960,000 coronavirus patients in the U.S. may need to be put on ventilators at one point or another during the outbreak .
But the nation has only about 200,000 of the machines , by the organization ’ s estimate , and around half are older models that may not be ideal for the most critically ill patients .
Also , many ventilators are already being used by other patients with severe , non-coronavirus ailments .
Hospitals are rushing to rent more ventilators from medical-equipment suppliers .
And manufacturers are ramping up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out enough of the machines at a time when countries around the world are clamoring for them , too , is unclear .
In the most severe cases , the coronavirus damages healthy tissue in the lungs , making it hard for them to deliver oxygen to the blood .
Pneumonia can develop , along with a more severe and potentially deadly condition called acute respiratory distress syndrome , which can damage other organs .
Ventilators feed oxygen into the lungs of patients with severe respiratory problems through a tube inserted down the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ routinely to help other hospital patients breathe , namely those undergoing surgery while under general anesthesia .
The other problem is that there are only enough respiratory therapists , specialist nurses and doctors with the ideal type of critical care training in the U.S. for about 135,000 patients to be put on ventilators at any one time , the critical care organization said .
Postponing non-emergency surgeries in the event of a big surge in coronavirus cases could help free up some ventilators as well as anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists to deal with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tuesday , U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the Pentagon will provide 2,000 specialized ventilators to federal heath authorities to help handle the outbreak .
He said the machines are designed for use by troops , and the military will need to train civilians how to use them .
President Donald Trump said Monday that the government is seeking to acquire more ventilators .
But he angered some when he said governors should feel free to take matters into their own hands if they can obtain the equipment more quickly elsewhere .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the number of ventilators nationwide includes those in the U.S. government ’ s Strategic National Stockpile , which keeps medical supplies on hand for states to use in emergencies .
The stockpile has nearly 13,000 ventilators , Dr. Anthony Fauci , the Trump administration ’ s infectious-disease expert , told ABC on Monday .
For most people , the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms , such as fever and cough .
Most patients recover in a matters of weeks , as seen in mainland China .
Evidence from China suggests that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ problems need to be on ventilators for weeks , if not longer , said Dr. Jacqueline Kruser , an intensive care physician and professor at Northwestern University ’ s medical school .
“ The most important thing right now is to plan ahead and start mobilizing all the resources at hospitals in the city and at the state and national level ... to get ventilators to places that need them the most , ” Kruser said .
“ Waiting until a shortage occurs or appears imminent is going to be far too late.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ at its Palm Springs , California , factory and hiring more workers , spokesman Cheston Turbyfill said .
As a global supplier , it has previously shipped ventilators to China and now is getting requests from Italy .
One major rental company , US Med-Equip , reported that U.S. hospitals have rented 60 percent more ventilators , monitors and other equipment over the past few weeks than at any time last year .
It said it has 6,500 ventilators on rent and expects 1,200 more to arrive within the next few weeks at @ @ @ @

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U.S. hospitals bracing for a possible onslaught of coronavirus patients with pneumonia and other breathing difficulties could face a critical shortage of mechanical ventilators and health care workers to operate them.
The Society of Critical Care Medicine has projected that 960,000 coronavirus patients in the U.S. may need to be put on ventilators at one point or another during the outbreak.
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But the nation has only about 200,000 of the machines, by the organization’s estimate, and around half are older models that may not be ideal for the most critically ill patients. Also, many ventilators are already being used by other patients with severe, non-coronavirus ailments.
Hospitals are rushing to rent more ventilators from medical-equipment suppliers. And manufacturers are ramping up production. But whether they can turn out enough of the machines at a time when countries around the world are clamoring for them, too, is unclear.
“The real issue is how to rapidly increase ventilator production when your need exceeds the supply,” Dr. Lewis Kaplan, president of the critical care society, said Tuesday. “For that I don’t have a very good answer.”
In the most severe cases, the coronavirus damages healthy tissue in the lungs, making it hard for them to deliver oxygen to the blood. Pneumonia can develop, along with a more severe and potentially deadly condition called acute respiratory distress syndrome, which can damage other organs.
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Ventilators feed oxygen into the lungs of patients with severe respiratory problems through a tube inserted down the throat. The machines are also used routinely to help other hospital patients breathe, namely those undergoing surgery while under general anesthesia.
“If everyone in the country wants to order some, that will get rapidly depleted in a heartbeat,” Kaplan said.
The other problem is that there are only enough respiratory therapists, specialist nurses and doctors with the ideal type of critical care training in the U.S. for about 135,000 patients to be put on ventilators at any one time, the critical care organization said.
Postponing non-emergency surgeries in the event of a big surge in coronavirus cases could help free up some ventilators as well as anesthesiologists and nurse anesthetists to deal with the crisis, Kaplan said.
On Tuesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the Pentagon will provide 2,000 specialized ventilators to federal heath authorities to help handle the outbreak. He said the machines are designed for use by troops, and the military will need to train civilians how to use them.
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President Donald Trump said Monday that the government is seeking to acquire more ventilators. But he angered some when he said governors should feel free to take matters into their own hands if they can obtain the equipment more quickly elsewhere.
“To hear the leader of the federal government tell us to work around the federal government because it’s too slow is kind of mind-boggling,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, said on MSNBC.
The critical care group’s estimate of the number of ventilators nationwide includes those in the U.S. government’s Strategic National Stockpile, which keeps medical supplies on hand for states to use in emergencies. The stockpile has nearly 13,000 ventilators, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Trump administration’s infectious-disease expert, told ABC on Monday.
Whether that is enough depends on how well the nation can contain the virus, he said.
For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. Most patients recover in a matters of weeks, as seen in mainland China.
Evidence from China suggests that some coronavirus patients who develop severe breathing problems need to be on ventilators for weeks, if not longer, said Dr. Jacqueline Kruser, an intensive care physician and professor at Northwestern University’s medical school.
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“The most important thing right now is to plan ahead and start mobilizing all the resources at hospitals in the city and at the state and national level ... to get ventilators to places that need them the most,” Kruser said. “Waiting until a shortage occurs or appears imminent is going to be far too late.”
Philips Healthcare of the Netherlands; GE, which manufactures ventilators in Wisconsin and sells them globally; and Vyaire Medical Inc. of Mettawa, Illinois, all said they are stepping up production.
Vyaire is adding a second shift at its Palm Springs, California, factory and hiring more workers, spokesman Cheston Turbyfill said. As a global supplier, it has previously shipped ventilators to China and now is getting requests from Italy.
“We’re prioritizing by where the hot spots are,” he said.
One major rental company, US Med-Equip, reported that U.S. hospitals have rented 60 percent more ventilators, monitors and other equipment over the past few weeks than at any time last year. It said it has 6,500 ventilators on rent and expects 1,200 more to arrive within the next few weeks at its Houston headquarters.
“Our team is working around the clock to provide patient-ready equipment so medical staff can focus on their lifesaving work,” CEO Gurmit Singh Bhatia said in a statement.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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huffpost--2020-05-05--Background Checks For Firearms Remain High Amid Pandemic

The number of April background checks to purchase a firearm showed Americans flocking to gun stores in high numbers for the second month in a row amid worries about the coronavirus pandemic .
The FBI numbers were released Monday with anticipation since March smashed previous records with 3.7 million checks conducted .
While the numbers leveled off a bit to about 2.9 million checks for last month , one week — April 13-19 — is now among the top 10 highest weeks since the system was tracked in November 1998 .
That week in April alone , the FBI conducted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ key barometer of gun sales , but the FBI ’ s monthly figures also incorporate checks for firearm permits that are required in some states .
Each background check also could be for the sale of more than one gun .
According to figures released by the National Shooting Sports Foundation , which represents gunmakers , the number of checks adjusted to not include those conducted for permits was more than 1.67 million for this April , 70 % higher than April 2019 .
Signs point out quantity limits on certain types of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wednesday , March 25 , 2020 , in New Castle , Pa. under the new conditions specified for gun stores .
As fears over the pandemic began ramping up and states began issuing stay-at-home directives , long lines were seen snaking outside of some gun dealers and shelves inside emptied of ammunition .
It ’ s played out amid a debate over whether gun shops should be considered “ essential ” businesses that should remain open .
Fears gun shops would be closed and that economic downturns would lead to high crime and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on firearms .
The pandemic has also inflamed tensions between gun-control supporters and Second Amendment advocates .
Pro-gun groups have said the sales of firearms underscore that Americans ardently support the Second Amendment .
In contrast , gun control activists have said the gun lobby is fueling fears to increase profits and that more firearms in circulation will lead to increases in gun violence .
Gun sales are likely also propelled by the historic highs that occur during presidential election years as gun owners worry that a new crop of elected officials will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ far , more than 12 million background checks have been conducted since the beginning of this year .
April ’ s figures came after eye-popping statistics from March when the FBI data showed five of the top 10 days ever for background checks .
That included the day with the most , March 20 , when more than 210,000 checks were conducted .
Five of the top 10 weeks ever for checks have occurred since mid-February , including the week with the most , March 16-22 , when nearly 1.2 million checks were @ @

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The number of April background checks to purchase a firearm showed Americans flocking to gun stores in high numbers for the second month in a row amid worries about the coronavirus pandemic.
The FBI numbers were released Monday with anticipation since March smashed previous records with 3.7 million checks conducted. While the numbers leveled off a bit to about 2.9 million checks for last month, one week — April 13-19 — is now among the top 10 highest weeks since the system was tracked in November 1998. That week in April alone, the FBI conducted 766,739 checks.
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Background checks are the key barometer of gun sales, but the FBI’s monthly figures also incorporate checks for firearm permits that are required in some states. Each background check also could be for the sale of more than one gun.
According to figures released by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents gunmakers, the number of checks adjusted to not include those conducted for permits was more than 1.67 million for this April, 70% higher than April 2019.
Signs point out quantity limits on certain types of ammunition after Dukes Sport Shop reopened, Wednesday, March 25, 2020, in New Castle, Pa. under the new conditions specified for gun stores. ASSOCIATED PRESS
As fears over the pandemic began ramping up and states began issuing stay-at-home directives, long lines were seen snaking outside of some gun dealers and shelves inside emptied of ammunition. It’s played out amid a debate over whether gun shops should be considered “essential” businesses that should remain open. Fears gun shops would be closed and that economic downturns would lead to high crime and safety concerns have helped fuel the run on firearms.
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The pandemic has also inflamed tensions between gun-control supporters and Second Amendment advocates. Pro-gun groups have said the sales of firearms underscore that Americans ardently support the Second Amendment. In contrast, gun control activists have said the gun lobby is fueling fears to increase profits and that more firearms in circulation will lead to increases in gun violence.
Gun sales are likely also propelled by the historic highs that occur during presidential election years as gun owners worry that a new crop of elected officials will lead to gun control measures.
So far, more than 12 million background checks have been conducted since the beginning of this year.
April’s figures came after eye-popping statistics from March when the FBI data showed five of the top 10 days ever for background checks. That included the day with the most, March 20, when more than 210,000 checks were conducted.
Five of the top 10 weeks ever for checks have occurred since mid-February, including the week with the most, March 16-22, when nearly 1.2 million checks were done.


huffpost--2020-05-05--The Colorful Way These Muslims Are Celebrating Ramadan In Isolation

Muslims in Dearborn , Michigan , are observing Ramadan in a way that would have been inconceivable just a few months ago .
Mosques are shuttered , festive dinners with extended family and friends are canceled , and many members of this ethnically and economically diverse community ― one of the largest Muslim populations in the U.S. ― have found themselves on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic .
The organizers have received photos of Ramadan wreaths , string lights tracing the eaves of houses , and stars dangling from porches .
Above the front door of one house @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crescent moon that glows in the colors of the rainbow .
Another family used a drone to dramatically film their lights from all angles , sending in a video submission with a holiday song playing in the background .
Hassan Chami , a Dearborn resident and one of the organizers of the competition , said he has enlisted a friend to create a customized 3-D printed sign with the words Ramadan Mubarak , or blessed Ramadan , to place outside his home .
“ I hope it ’ s a tradition where in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and nephews grow up in a community where , when Ramadan comes around , the entire city is lit up , ” he said .
Chami founded the Ramadan Suhoor Festival , a late-night food festival that draws thousands of Muslims and non-Muslims throughout the holy month .
This year , Chami said he had about 40 vendors lined up to dish out halal delicacies ― his biggest number yet .
But he had to cancel the festival due to the virus .
It wasn ’ t the only festive social gathering that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forego .
Smoking hookah in friends ’ garages , chatting around fire pits in mosque parking lots after evening prayers , sipping coffee in the city ’ s Yemini cafes into the early morning hours ― all of these beloved local traditions have been shelved because of the virus .
The region ’ s Muslim communities have been on the front lines of responding to COVID-19 , according to Sally Howell , a scholar of Arab-American history at the University of Michigan-Dearborn .
Muslims in the area are overrepresented in fields such as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ service and taxi services , she said .
Howell said that in recent years she ’ s noticed an exponential growth in the number of Muslim families in Dearborn decorating their houses for Ramadan .
Last year , she and other members of Halal Metropolis , an arts exhibition , documented this phenomenon for a project .
Howell said that it ’ s common in the Middle East for public areas , such as streets and cafes , to light up during the holy month , but somewhat rarer for people to decorate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thinks it ’ s standard practice for Muslims in the Middle East to decorate their homes for the holiday ― and that American Muslims are catching up now because they finally have access to Ramadan lights and home decor through Amazon , party stores and local grocery stores .
Machhadie Assi , an event coordinator and youth director for MMCC , said the practice of decorating homes during Ramadan wasn ’ t very popular in Lebanon , where she grew up .
But she said it ’ s a trend that younger American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seeing how important decorating is during Christmas .
Regardless of how it started , Assi hopes that more Dearborn Muslims will adopt the tradition in the future .
She said she sees the Ramadan Lights Challenge as a way to bring “ contagious , positive energy ” to the community .
The three Muslim organizations will be sharing photos of nominated houses throughout the holy month .
The most creative houses will receive a certificate and a tray of sweets for Eid al-Fitr , the celebration that marks the end of Ramadan .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ceremony in 2021 .

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Muslims in Dearborn, Michigan, are observing Ramadan in a way that would have been inconceivable just a few months ago. Mosques are shuttered, festive dinners with extended family and friends are canceled, and many members of this ethnically and economically diverse community ― one of the largest Muslim populations in the U.S. ― have found themselves on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
Confronted with these changes, three Michigan Muslim organizations have come up with a way to help community members feel connected during a season of social distancing ― the Ramadan Lights Contest.
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The challenge encourages Muslims in the area to decorate the exteriors of their houses, take photos of their creations, and nominate themselves or neighbors for prizes.
Across the greater Dearborn region, at least 65 families have responded by decorating their homes with lights, lanterns, and banners to celebrate Ramadan, which began on April 23.
Halal Metropolis, the Ramadan Suhoor Festival and the Michigan Muslim Community Council teamed up to organize a trend into a friendly neighborhood competition marking Ramadan. Ramadan Lights Contest
The organizers have received photos of Ramadan wreaths, string lights tracing the eaves of houses, and stars dangling from porches. Above the front door of one house, a family has placed an electric crescent moon that glows in the colors of the rainbow. Another family used a drone to dramatically film their lights from all angles, sending in a video submission with a holiday song playing in the background.
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Hassan Chami, a Dearborn resident and one of the organizers of the competition, said he has enlisted a friend to create a customized 3-D printed sign with the words Ramadan Mubarak, or blessed Ramadan, to place outside his home.
“In the short term, we’re trying to lift everyone’s spirits during COVID-19,” the disease caused by the coronavirus, Chami told HuffPost. “Maybe we’ll have some families driving around the city looking at the lights.”
But Chami has a long-term dream for Dearborn in mind, too.
“I hope it’s a tradition where in the future, my kids and nieces and nephews grow up in a community where, when Ramadan comes around, the entire city is lit up,” he said.
Stars and crescent moons are a main feature of this family's Ramadan decorations. Ramadan Lights Contest
Chami founded the Ramadan Suhoor Festival, a late-night food festival that draws thousands of Muslims and non-Muslims throughout the holy month. This year, Chami said he had about 40 vendors lined up to dish out halal delicacies ― his biggest number yet. But he had to cancel the festival due to the virus.
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It wasn’t the only festive social gathering that Muslims in the area have had to forego. Smoking hookah in friends’ garages, chatting around fire pits in mosque parking lots after evening prayers, sipping coffee in the city’s Yemini cafes into the early morning hours ― all of these beloved local traditions have been shelved because of the virus.
The region’s Muslim communities have been on the front lines of responding to COVID-19, according to Sally Howell, a scholar of Arab-American history at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. Muslims in the area are overrepresented in fields such as health care, law enforcement, food service and taxi services, she said.
“The Muslim community writ large have been hit very hard by this,” Howell said.
A family in greater Dearborn participates in the Ramadan Lights Contest. Ramadan Lights Contest
Howell said that in recent years she’s noticed an exponential growth in the number of Muslim families in Dearborn decorating their houses for Ramadan. Last year, she and other members of Halal Metropolis, an arts exhibition, documented this phenomenon for a project.
This year, Halal Metropolis, the Ramadan Suhoor Festival, and the Michigan Muslim Community Council (MMCC), an umbrella organization for the state’s Muslim groups, teamed up to organize this trend into a friendly neighborhood competition.
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Howell said that it’s common in the Middle East for public areas, such as streets and cafes, to light up during the holy month, but somewhat rarer for people to decorate their own houses. Chami said he thinks it’s standard practice for Muslims in the Middle East to decorate their homes for the holiday ― and that American Muslims are catching up now because they finally have access to Ramadan lights and home decor through Amazon, party stores and local grocery stores.
Machhadie Assi, an event coordinator and youth director for MMCC, said the practice of decorating homes during Ramadan wasn’t very popular in Lebanon, where she grew up. But she said it’s a trend that younger American Muslims are beginning to adapt, after seeing how important decorating is during Christmas.
A color-changing crescent moon hangs outside a family's house as part of its Ramadan Lights contest submission. Ramadan Lights Contest
Regardless of how it started, Assi hopes that more Dearborn Muslims will adopt the tradition in the future. She said she sees the Ramadan Lights Challenge as a way to bring “contagious, positive energy” to the community.
“Ramadan is a very uplifting month, so hopefully this light will represent the enlightenment of Ramadan,” she said.
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The three Muslim organizations will be sharing photos of nominated houses throughout the holy month. The most creative houses will receive a certificate and a tray of sweets for Eid al-Fitr, the celebration that marks the end of Ramadan. The homes will be recognized during a ceremony in 2021.
Howell said she also hopes the challenge will become an annual tradition ― and that it will eventually be recognized by Dearborn’s local city beautification group, which awards prizes for the city’s best Christmas decorations every year.
In an era of increased surveillance and a time when Islamophobic rhetoric is spewed from the highest offices in the land, draping lights for Ramadan is a way for Dearborn’s Muslims to celebrate their religious identities and make their presence known, Howell said.
“They’re saying, ‘Here in this space, we’re going to be ourselves, we’re not going to worry so much about what other people think. This is who we are,’” she said.
Lights celebrating Ramadan decorate a house in greater Dearborn. Ramadan Lights Contest


huffpost--2020-05-05--America's Cash Assistance Program Appears Dead When People Need It Most

In the Senate , Sen. Ron Wyden ( D-Ore. ) , the top Democrat on the Finance Committee who was behind the unemployment insurance expansion , plans to propose a whole new program to get financial assistance to low-income Americans , separate from TANF altogether .
The senator this week is expected to announce a $ 5 billion grant for states to give cash assistance and other benefits to those at 200 % of the poverty line and below .
TANF hasn ’ t responded well in recessions .
But the need is there .
“ TANF is just not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Edin said , reflecting on a congressional hearing she attended on anti-poverty programs in early March .
“ When we talk to people living on no cash income , it doesn ’ t even occur to them to apply to TANF .
People who were on the verge of eviction and homelessness had never heard of the program.
” TANF “ has the potential to be a cash program , ” Ziliak said , unlike SNAP and other welfare programs .
“ Work is not really possible right now , so cash is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have access to cash — they are getting a stimulus payment , which is one and done , and that could be delayed .
...
It could reach a very important and frequently left behind population.
” In 2016 , at a Brookings event with Gingrich , Reed praised the welfare reform bill and funding structure .
Pressed , he said he was “ disappointed ” in how states were handling the funding and called for adjustments for inflation and population changes .
But he wasn ’ t critical of the program as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , TANF remained a great legislative accomplishment , although Gingrich said he wouldn ’ t focus on the program if he were to address welfare then .

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Americans are in need of cash.
In March, congressional leaders and top White House officials negotiated a coronavirus relief package that included up to $1,200 in direct cash payments to most Americans and a $600 weekly increase in unemployment benefits for four months.
But they completely left out a preexisting program that’s meant to give cash assistance to America’s most vulnerable. Temporary Assistance For Needy Families, or TANF, has played no role in the government’s coronavirus economic relief efforts, and Congress didn’t touch the program in its package of emergency funding.
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“We are starting from scratch and we completely glossed over this other program where this was the intention: to provide cash aid to families with kids,” said Luke Shaefer, a poverty and social welfare expert at the University of Michigan. “How it got just missed is just pretty astounding.”
The program is still operating in states. In early April, officials in Columbus, Ohio, made $1.5 million available through TANF, offering $500 checks to families making up to 200% of the federal poverty level — about $43,000 annually for a family of three. It was gone in one day.
In Michigan, applications for TANF have almost doubled. Same with California. In Washington state, the week before the pandemic hit, there were about 1,100 applications. The week of March 16, when Gov. Jay Inslee (D) called for a temporary shutdown of nonessential businesses, there were about 3,000.
Once idealized as one of Congress’ great compromises to alleviate poverty, TANF’s effectiveness has been on the decline since the program was established in the 1996 welfare reform bill. When it began, for every 100 families in poverty, 68 received benefits. In 2018, only 22 families out of 100 in poverty were getting aid.
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For years, states have diverted the money given to them through federal block grants to other programs, from “crisis pregnancy centers” to prekindergarten and Head Start programs, justifying the funding transfers as ways to help job creation and encourage two-parent family life. An audit of Mississippi’s TANF program released Monday found the state’s funds went toward sponsoring college basketball tournaments and paying former NFL star Brett Favre for speeches that never happened.
On average, states spend as little as 20 cents of every TANF dollar on cash assistance. And when the economy sours, as it has during the pandemic, states have even less money to dole out to people who need it.
As far as Congress is concerned, TANF isn’t worth touching anymore.
“TANF really is dead as a chapter in our book.” - Luke Shaefer, University of Michigan public policy expert
House Democrats attempted to remove TANF’s work requirements in April, but dropped their demand in negotiations with the White House. A senior Democratic aide close to the talks said House priorities now are to extend unemployment benefits; boost funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps; provide refundable tax credits; supply broadband and water utility relief; and fund another check for all Americans.
“TANF’s distribution of dollars among states is not ideal,” a senior House Democratic aide familiar with leadership’s thinking said. “SNAP is a much more universal low-income program. SNAP will be a priority again in the next bill.”
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In the Senate, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Finance Committee who was behind the unemployment insurance expansion, plans to propose a whole new program to get financial assistance to low-income Americans, separate from TANF altogether. The senator this week is expected to announce a $5 billion grant for states to give cash assistance and other benefits to those at 200% of the poverty line and below.
“The fact that this is the biggest response to an economic crisis — it ended up being $2 trillion — and we didn’t include anything for TANF ... TANF really is dead as a chapter in our book,” Shaefer said. Still, he noted, the pandemic is forcing more people into poverty while states have less money to help.
“The crux is, what happens when we run out of money?” Shaefer asked.
People line up for food at a food distribution point for people economically impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, organized by New Orleans City Councilman Jay Banks, in New Orleans, Wednesday, April 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) ASSOCIATED PRESS
TANF hasn’t responded well in recessions. But the need is there.
During the last major economic crisis in 2009, TANF got a boost: The Recovery Act created a $5 billion TANF emergency fund, which expired in 2010, to help states handle increasing demands for help. The program was complicated and riddled with problems.
States largely didn’t target their neediest residents for the funds. Still, every state except Wyoming took the federal funding.
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As welfare programs go, TANF has a substantially smaller role than programs like SNAP and unemployment insurance in an economic crisis.
It’s also less advertised. Unlike unemployment insurance and food stamps, TANF has “faded from the public imagination,” Kathryn Edin, a Princeton University sociologist, said.
“TANF is just not on the radar at all,” Edin said, reflecting on a congressional hearing she attended on anti-poverty programs in early March. “When we talk to people living on no cash income, it doesn’t even occur to them to apply to TANF. People who were on the verge of eviction and homelessness had never heard of the program.”
That’s in stark contrast to TANF’s predecessor, Aid to Families with Dependent Children. The AFDC program was effective at providing aid, but it was criticized for discouraging recipients from working.
TANF was created with support from Democrats and Republicans with the aim of putting people into jobs, keeping kids with their families, and encouraging two-parent households. To do that, the 1996 Welfare Reform bill made three big changes to AFDC. It instituted work requirements, limited how long people could receive aid, and changed federal funding into a block grant — a lump sum given to states to allocate under certain, albeit loose, conditions.
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“When we talk to people living on no cash income, it doesn’t even occur to them to apply to TANF. People who were on the verge of eviction and homelessness had never heard of the program.” - Kathryn Edin, Princeton University sociologist
The TANF work rules didn’t pan out in the 2000s, when jobs were hard to find. And the shortcomings are especially stark during the coronavirus pandemic, when work isn’t an option for many.
“There were some naive intentions that the ’90s economy would last forever and you could really get people into the workforce, and that work would sustain them,” Edin said. “But after 2000 that fell apart.”
The program’s core funding hasn’t been adjusted for inflation in decades. States have been shedding TANF recipients, even if poverty levels haven’t improved, and they’ve been using the money for other programs. Schaefer called it “free money” for the states.
And now, when they need it during the pandemic, states don’t have the money to plow back into TANF.
Congress doesn’t see TANF as a pandemic response
James Ziliak, who runs the University of Kentucky’s Center for Poverty Research, said Congress could step in. The federal government could waive TANF’s work requirements and time limits during the pandemic, and tailor a new version of the 2009 TANF emergency fund to actually get checks into people’s hands.
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TANF “has the potential to be a cash program,” Ziliak said, unlike SNAP and other welfare programs. “Work is not really possible right now, so cash is the thing. Households don’t have access to cash — they are getting a stimulus payment, which is one and done, and that could be delayed. ... It could reach a very important and frequently left behind population.”
So far, that hasn’t been Congress’ approach. The $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package that was passed last month included the direct cash payments to Americans as well as the unemployment expansion. Neither directly target the poor.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., arrives for a news conference to announce members of the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) ASSOCIATED PRESS
“The stimulus check was more about the economy than about the needy,” Edin said. “If you are trying to get money to the needy that is a highly inefficient way of doing that.”
There’s also an understanding among poverty experts that while TANF is far from an ideal model, it already exists and is specifically aimed at helping the neediest.
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A child allowance system, or basic income ― popular ideas among anti-poverty experts during the pandemic ― are unlikely to provide immediate relief.
“The major advantage of the TANF program is that it adjusts as people’s needs adjust,” Edin said. “As long as you are below a threshold of income you have a base. It’s not a very good base … but the alternative is no cash at all.”
There’s no appetite in either party to address the program’s shortcomings.
A big compromise that aged poorly
The 1996 welfare reform bill was a compromise between President Bill Clinton’s administration and conservative House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Once idealized as a program that would fundamentally transform American society, TANF now is mostly forgotten history.
Some prominent Democratic policy advisers behind the program are still major players in today’s politics. One of them, Bruce Reed, is a close confidant of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and traveled with him on the campaign trail. The Biden campaign declined a request for an interview with Reed.
In 2016, at a Brookings event with Gingrich, Reed praised the welfare reform bill and funding structure. Pressed, he said he was “disappointed” in how states were handling the funding and called for adjustments for inflation and population changes. But he wasn’t critical of the program as a whole. For Gingrich and Reed, TANF remained a great legislative accomplishment, although Gingrich said he wouldn’t focus on the program if he were to address welfare then.
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“One lesson of welfare reform ... it may be easier to get bipartisan agreement with big bold ideas than timid small ones,” Reed said at the Brookings event.
It’s the kind of thinking that Biden himself has been espousing on the campaign trail. “Compromise isn’t a dirty word,” the former vice president likes to say.
FILE - In this March 17, 2020, file photo, people wait in line for help with unemployment benefits at the One-Stop Career Center in Las Vegas. The number of out-of-work people filing new claims for jobless benefits in Nevada is closing in on 390,000 since casinos and other businesses were shuttered to prevent spread of the coronavirus. The U.S. Department of Labor reported Thursday, April 30, 2020, that more than 45,000 people filed first-time claims for unemployment benefits last week. (AP Photo/John Locher, File) ASSOCIATED PRESS
But now, two decades into TANF, the program lies unmaintained in a time of rising poverty and need. Although Republicans traditionally resist direct cash assistance, they supported the coronavirus relief payments and will again get the chance with Wyden’s idea of providing funding for states to distribute cash payments.
But TANF won’t be on the table.
“The bigger issue is that cash assistance is often a non-starter for Republicans,” said Emily Rampone, a policy adviser on the Senate Budget Committee who works under Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) minority leadership.
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Rampone pointed to Sanders’ proposal to provide $2,000 monthly cash payments through the coronavirus pandemic.
“That would be greater than any family could receive under TANF and negate a lot of the issues with TANF such as strict income limits, work requirements, and state matching funds,” Rampone said.
“Sadly,” Ziliak said, “I think Congress thinks this is a program on autopilot.”
People line up for food at a food distribution point for people economically impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, organized by New Orleans City Councilman Jay Banks, in New Orleans, Wednesday, April 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) ASSOCIATED PRESS


huffpost--2020-05-05--Coronavirus-Afflicted 2020 Looks A Lot Like 1918 Despite Science's March

ASSOCIATED PRESS In this 1918 photo made available by the Library of Congress , volunteer nurses from the American Red Cross tend to influenza patients in the Oakland Municipal Auditorium , used as a temporary hospital .
( Edward A .
`` Doc '' Rogers/Library of Congress via AP ) As in 1918 , people are again hearing hollow assurances at odds with the reality of hospitals and morgues filling up and bank accounts draining .
The ancient common sense of quarantining is back .
So is quackery : Rub raw onions on your chest , they said in 1918 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ now ?
mused President Donald Trump , drawing gasps instead of laughs over what he weakly tried to pass off as a joke .
Young soldiers and sailors massed at military camps in the U.S. , sailed for Europe on ships stuffed to the gunwales with humanity , fought side by side in the trenches and came home in victory to adoring crowds .
The toll was enormous , on them and the people they infected .
The Spanish flu could just as easily have been called the U.S. Army or U.S. Navy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ British flu , for that matter .
In 1918 , the surgeon general noted in a handbill that “ a person who has only a mild attack of the disease himself may give a very severe attack to others.
” The warning is just as applicable to the coronavirus , especially as scientists learned large numbers of people with COVID-19 may spread it despite no obvious symptoms .
Exactly how often the new virus kills can ’ t be determined without better counts of the infected ; some estimates put the 1918 flu @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

In this 1918 photo made available by the Library of Congress, volunteer nurses from the American Red Cross tend to influenza patients in the Oakland Municipal Auditorium, used as a temporary hospital. (Edward A. "Doc" Rogers/Library of Congress via AP) ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite a century’s progress in science, 2020 is looking a lot like 1918.
In the years between two lethal pandemics, one the misnamed Spanish flu, the other COVID-19, the world learned about viruses, cured various diseases, made effective vaccines, developed instant communications and created elaborate public-health networks.
Yet here we are again, face-masked to the max. And still unable to crush an insidious yet avoidable infectious disease before hundreds of thousands die from it.
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As in 1918, people are again hearing hollow assurances at odds with the reality of hospitals and morgues filling up and bank accounts draining. The ancient common sense of quarantining is back. So is quackery: Rub raw onions on your chest, they said in 1918. How about disinfectant in your veins now? mused President Donald Trump, drawing gasps instead of laughs over what he weakly tried to pass off as a joke.
In 1918, no one had a vaccine, treatment or cure for the great flu pandemic as it ravaged the world and killed more than 50 million people. No one has any of that for the coronavirus, either.
This Library of Congress photo shows a demonstration at the Red Cross Emergency Ambulance Station in Washington, D.C., during the influenza pandemic of 1918. Science has ticked off some major accomplishments over the last century. The world learned about viruses, cured various diseases, made effective vaccines, developed instant communications and created elaborate public-health networks. Yet in many ways, 2020 is looking like 1918, the year the great influenza pandemic raged. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division via AP) ASSOCIATED PRESS
Modern science quickly identified today’s new coronavirus, mapped its genetic code and developed a diagnostic test, tapping knowledge no one had in 1918. That has given people more of a fighting chance to stay out of harm’s way, at least in countries that deployed tests quickly, which the U.S. didn’t.
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But the ways to avoid getting sick and what to do when sick are little changed. The failure of U.S. presidents to take the threat seriously from the start also joins past to present.
Trump all but declared victory before infection took root in his country and he’s delivered a stream of misinformation ever since. President Woodrow Wilson’s principal failure was his silence.
Not once, historians say, did Wilson publicly speak about a disease that was killing Americans grotesquely and in huge numbers, even though he contracted it himself and was never the same after. Wilson fixated on America’s parallel fight in World War I like “a dog with a bone,” says John M. Barry, author of “The Great Influenza.”
In this Oct. 19, 1918 file photo provide by the U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command a sign is posted at the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia that indicates, the Spanish Influenza was then extremely active. (U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command via AP) ASSOCIATED PRESS
The suspected ground zero of the Spanish flu ranges from Kansas to China. But it was clear to U.S. officials even in 1918 that it didn’t start in Spain.
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The pandemic took on Spain’s name only because its free press ambitiously reported the devastation in the disease’s early 1918 wave while government officials and a complicit press in countries at war — the U.S. among them — played it down in a time of jingoism, censorship and denial.
Like COVID-19, the 1918 pandemic came from a respiratory virus that jumped from animals to people, was transmitted the same way, and had similar pathology, Barry said by email. Social distancing, hand-washing and masks were leading control measures then and now.
Medical advice from then also resonates today: “If you get it, stay at home, rest in bed, keep warm, drink hot drinks and stay quiet until the symptoms are past,” said Dr. John Dill Robertson, Chicago health commissioner in 1918. “Then continue to be careful, for the greatest danger is from pneumonia or some kindred disease after the influenza is gone.”
In the manner of the day, there just had to be a catchy rhyme in circulation, too: “Cover up each cough and sneeze. If you don’t you’ll spread disease.”
But there were also marked differences between the viruses of 1918 and 2020. The Spanish flu was particularly dangerous to healthy people aged 20 to 40 — the prime generation of military service — paradoxically because of their vibrant immune systems.
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When such people got infected, their antibodies went after the virus like soldiers spilling from the trenches of Europe’s killing fields.
“The immune system was throwing every weapon it had at the virus,” Barry said. “The battlefield was the lung. The lung was being destroyed in that battle.”
Young soldiers and sailors massed at military camps in the U.S., sailed for Europe on ships stuffed to the gunwales with humanity, fought side by side in the trenches and came home in victory to adoring crowds. The toll was enormous, on them and the people they infected. The Spanish flu could just as easily have been called the U.S. Army or U.S. Navy flu instead. Or the German or British flu, for that matter.
Among those who died in the pandemic was Friedrich Trump, Donald Trump’s paternal grandfather. Among those who contracted it and recovered were the wartime leaders of Britain and Germany as well as of the United States, British and Spanish kings and the future U.S. president, Franklin Roosevelt, when he was assistant Navy secretary.
But the toll was heavier on average people and the poor, crowded in tenements, street cars and sweaty factories.
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They could not all live by the words of the 1918 U.S. surgeon general, Rupert Blue: “Keep out of crowds and stuffy places as much as possible. ... The value of fresh air through open windows cannot be overemphasized. ... Make every possible effort to breath as much pure air as possible.”
An estimated 675,000 Americans died in the pandemic, which is thought to have infected one-third of the global population. Tracking by Johns Hopkins University shows the continuing COVID-19 pandemic has killed more than 250,000 people globally, more than 68,000 in the United States.
In this November 1918 photo made available by the Library of Congress, a nurse takes the pulse of a patient in the influenza ward of the Walter Reed hospital in Washington. (Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress via AP) ASSOCIATED PRESS
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BAD SCIENCE
In 1918, the surgeon general noted in a handbill that “a person who has only a mild attack of the disease himself may give a very severe attack to others.” The warning is just as applicable to the coronavirus, especially as scientists learned large numbers of people with COVID-19 may spread it despite no obvious symptoms. Exactly how often the new virus kills can’t be determined without better counts of the infected; some estimates put the 1918 flu’s death rate at 2.5%.
Blue’s public notice also warned people to avoid charlatans and only get medicine from doctors.
Physicians, though, didn’t always know what they were doing. Medical journals at the time describe a rash of unusual treatments, some in the league of Trump’s amateur theories about disinfectant, blasts of lights and an unapproved drug that has both potential benefits and risks.
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One 1918-era doctor recommended that people sniff a boric acid and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) powder to rinse out nasal passages. Others prescribed quinine, strychnine and a poisonous garden plant called Digitalis to help circulation, as well as drugs derived from iodine for “internal disinfection,” according to Laura Spinney, who wrote the 2017 book “Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World.”
Popular theories spread that warming your feet would prevent infection, or gobbling brown sugar, or getting the onion rubdown. A “clean heart” was one supposed preventive, though it is not clear whether that meant the organ or the heart of love.
“There was no Tony Fauci back then,” Barry said in a remote Library of Congress interview in April.
We have Fauci now — a federal immunologist who has been regarded as the truth-teller in White House briefings, singularly immune to Trump’s positive spin and falsehoods. Plus, we know so much more than people did in 1918.
Yet we’re still hearing lots of Dark Ages nonsense.
Conspiracy theorists have blamed COVID-19 on the development of 5G networks, just as they say radio waves caused the 1918 flu. Arsonists recently torched more than a dozen British cell towers after that falsehood circulated.
Over the months of this pandemic, The Associated Press has debunked a series of bogus remedies that spread on Facebook, Twitter and the like. No, blasting hot air up your nose from a hair dryer won’t protect you. Nor will drinking tonic water, eating high-alkaline foods, stuffing antibiotic ointment up your nose, downing vodka or any home elixir.
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No, it’s not true that if you can’t hold your breath very long, you have COVID-19. Or that a vaccine from a lab only works on a disease created by a lab.
Social distancing has not come with social-media distancing. Over a century of science, we haven’t gone back to the future, but ahead to the past.
This Library of Congress photo shows a demonstration at the Red Cross Emergency Ambulance Station in Washington, D.C., during the influenza pandemic of 1918. (Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division via AP) ASSOCIATED PRESS
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LESSONS OF 1918 (and 1919)
In September 1918, as the Spanish flu’s second and by far deadliest wave hit in the U.S., Philadelphia’s public health chief disregarded advisers and let a massive war-bond parade proceed through downtown. The H1N1 virus raced through the masses in what has been called the world’s deadliest parade. As officials insisted there was nothing to be alarmed about, people were seeing neighbors sicken and die with astonishing speed and mass graves being dug.
“It’s just the flu” had worn thin as the mantra of officialdom.
Late that November, sirens wailed in San Francisco to sound the all-clear after six weeks of lockdown and tell people they could remove their masks. San Francisco, like many cities in the West, had been largely spared the first wave and spent the interval preparing for Round 2, mandating masks and jailing people who didn’t comply.
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They had a rhyme for that, too, of course: “Obey the laws, and wear the gauze. Protect your jaws from septic paws.”
The precautions paid off with a death rate lower than in afflicted cities elsewhere. But the city relaxed too soon.
In December, thousands of new cases erupted. A wave spilling into the new year was underway. San Francisco’s death toll mounted by more than 1,000. It was the last lashing by the Spanish flu, and a less lethal one.
The brutal lessons of 1918 and 1919? To Barry, who was enlisted 15 years ago in a Bush administration drive to prepare all levels of government for pandemics, they are to respond early, relax cautiously, tell people the truth.
Instead he has seen denial followed by a chaotic federal response and leadership vacuum as Washington and the states compete for the same medical essentials and now move fitfully toward reopening.
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“Now we have plans, even war-gamed the plans, spent billions preparing for just what is happening, federal agencies have been tasked to handle all these things, and we get ... next to nothing,” he said.
Not even a jingle.
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huffpost--2020-05-05--Candidates For Home Confinement Have A Problem: Many Can’t Afford It

Attorney General William Barr has directed the Bureau of Prisons to expand the use of home confinement for some elderly and at-risk people who are incarcerated , and several state and local officials have announced their own efforts to depopulate crowded jails and prisons .
Eligibility requirements for home confinement in most areas are still very narrow and exclude most people .
But even those who qualify for home release have wound up stuck in custody because of various conditions of their release that have no bearing on public safety and disproportionately impact people experiencing poverty .
When You ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Only Housing Available In Las Vegas , Debbie Sutton , who is pregnant with twins , was imprisoned at the Clark County Detention Center for nearly two months after she was approved for home confinement — in part because authorities would not allow her to move into a weekly motel , the only housing available to her at the time .
There are several confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the jail and there was high turnover in her jail cell , Sutton said .
Every time she got a new cellmate , she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and potentially endangering her unborn children .
When Sutton ’ s boyfriend , David Kessler , found out she was eligible to be released into home confinement , he scrambled to find them a place to stay .
Out of work , he had been living in Sutton ’ s mother ’ s car , he said .
He saved his unemployment checks and paid for a month upfront at a weekly motel , in hopes of showing that Sutton had a place waiting for her .
By the time he learned Sutton @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , he had already paid for the entire month and couldn ’ t get the money back .
Having already paid for a room that his girlfriend wasn ’ t allowed to live in , Kessler set out , in the middle of a pandemic , to find an affordable apartment that would accept an accused criminal wearing an ankle monitor as a tenant .
During the housing search , Sutton learned she had a bench warrant for a $ 250 ticket for driving without a license or proof of insurance .
She @ @ @ @ @ @ @ scheduled while she was in jail , Turner said .
The unpaid $ 250 ticket turned into a $ 1,800 bond , which had to be paid in person before Sutton could get out .
Pay For Your Ankle Monitor ― Or Stay In Jail Criminal justice reform advocate Montrell Carmouche paid the man ’ s bond more than three weeks ago with money from a bail fund in hopes of getting him out of the Orleans Parish Jail , where at least 88 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19 .
But Alternative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ private ankle monitor company he is required to use , charges up to $ 180 per month for use of its monitors , in addition to an activation fee .
The initial fee is typically $ 230 , Carmouche said in an interview .
“ I have no income , there ’ s no way I can come up with the money , ” said one defendant in New Orleans who was released after Carmouche posted her bail and paid the activation fee for the device .
The woman , who requested anonymity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ case , doesn ’ t know how she ’ s going to pay the monthly fees .
She hasn ’ t been able to find work during the pandemic and has struggled to pay for food .
“ I ’ m not trying to go back to jail because it ’ s not safe .
I don ’ t know what else to do , ” she said .
When Carissa Cline found out she was eligible for home confinement , she got to work finding a place to stay .
But one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ safely self-isolate was getting a landline set up at her next home .
She already had a GPS-enabled cell phone and would eventually be required to get an ankle monitor — but she was also required to have a landline that she could pick up to prove she was home .
To expedite the process , her lawyer paid for the phone and the installation .
But since she was still detained at Hope Village , Cline had to find someone else to wait at the home and oversee installation .
After the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Verizon and verified that it had been set up , she said in an interview .
The day before her release , a Hope Village staffer called the landline to make sure it was ringing .
But because Cline wasn ’ t yet living there , the phone had been set up to go straight to voicemail — which nearly further delayed her release .
Throughout the phone ordeal , Cline got bounced around between the BOP , Hope Village staff , and the probation office — none of whom seemed to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to do to get out , she said .
Her court case was based in Maryland , but because she was living in D.C. , her probation officer had to get reassigned , which caused yet another delay .
The day she was supposed to leave , she found out she was required to give her probation officer 24 hours notice in advance of leaving .
But she didn ’ t get the piece of paper her probation officer sent to Hope Village informing her of this requirement until the day she was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ staying another day .

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In response to the coronavirus pandemic, some jails, prisons and halfway houses have slowly started releasing incarcerated people into home confinement so they can protect themselves and mitigate the spread of the highly contagious virus in crowded detention facilities.
Releasing people from custody is one of the only ways to save prisoners’ lives. But the criminal justice system has built in so many obstacles to getting out of custody that even people who have been approved for home confinement are ending up trapped inside COVID-19-infested jails and prisons because they don’t have money to pay for their release.
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Attorney General William Barr has directed the Bureau of Prisons to expand the use of home confinement for some elderly and at-risk people who are incarcerated, and several state and local officials have announced their own efforts to depopulate crowded jails and prisons. Eligibility requirements for home confinement in most areas are still very narrow and exclude most people. But even those who qualify for home release have wound up stuck in custody because of various conditions of their release that have no bearing on public safety and disproportionately impact people experiencing poverty.
It is nearly impossible for incarcerated people to earn a meaningful income. But in order to get out, some people are being required to first secure stable housing, pay for ankle monitors that cost hundreds of dollars per month, and equip their future homes with a landline telephone. These conditions of release are burdensome for most prisoners under regular circumstances — but during a pandemic, these requirements are life-threatening.
When You’re Not Allowed To Live In The Only Housing Available
Being released to home confinement presents an immediate problem for many low-income prisoners: They may not have a home. And the criminal justice system often restricts what can be considered an acceptable place to stay while on temporary release.
In Las Vegas, Debbie Sutton, who is pregnant with twins, was imprisoned at the Clark County Detention Center for nearly two months after she was approved for home confinement — in part because authorities would not allow her to move into a weekly motel, the only housing available to her at the time. There are several confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the jail and there was high turnover in her jail cell, Sutton said. Every time she got a new cellmate, she worried about being exposed to the coronavirus and potentially endangering her unborn children.
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When Sutton’s boyfriend, David Kessler, found out she was eligible to be released into home confinement, he scrambled to find them a place to stay. Out of work, he had been living in Sutton’s mother’s car, he said. He saved his unemployment checks and paid for a month upfront at a weekly motel, in hopes of showing that Sutton had a place waiting for her. By the time he learned Sutton could not move into a weekly motel, he had already paid for the entire month and couldn’t get the money back.
Certain “classifications” of inmates are allowed to stay in a weekly motel under home confinement, Larry Hadfield, a spokesman for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, told HuffPost. Hadfield did not respond to a request to specify who would not be eligible.
“These conditions of release are burdensome for most prisoners under regular circumstances — but during a pandemic, these requirements are life-threatening.”
Weekly motels are commonly used by people who can’t afford to pay for a security deposit and first and last month’s rent on an apartment upfront and for people who can’t get approval to live elsewhere because of a criminal record or past eviction.
“Weeklies are not affordable housing. But for a lot of people, that’s their only option,” said Leslie Turner, a decarceration organizer at the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada Action Fund who helped get Sutton out of jail.
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Having already paid for a room that his girlfriend wasn’t allowed to live in, Kessler set out, in the middle of a pandemic, to find an affordable apartment that would accept an accused criminal wearing an ankle monitor as a tenant. During the housing search, Sutton learned she had a bench warrant for a $250 ticket for driving without a license or proof of insurance. She missed her court appearance, which was scheduled while she was in jail, Turner said. The unpaid $250 ticket turned into a $1,800 bond, which had to be paid in person before Sutton could get out.
Kessler couldn’t afford the bail, so Turner drove to the courthouse — 82 miles each way — to pay with money raised by her organization. Sutton eventually got out, but only after weeks of needless potential exposure to the coronavirus in jail.
Pay For Your Ankle Monitor ― Or Stay In Jail
In New Orleans, a pretrial defendant who has been cleared for home release is still stuck in jail because he can’t afford the fees associated with the ankle monitor he is required to wear as a condition of his release.
Criminal justice reform advocate Montrell Carmouche paid the man’s bond more than three weeks ago with money from a bail fund in hopes of getting him out of the Orleans Parish Jail, where at least 88 inmates have tested positive for COVID-19. But Alternative to Incarceration (A2i), the private ankle monitor company he is required to use, charges up to $180 per month for use of its monitors, in addition to an activation fee. The initial fee is typically $230, Carmouche said in an interview.
New Orleans is one of several places where the financial burden of paying ankle monitor fees falls on the defendant, not the government. Matt Dennis, the head of A2i, is also a bail bonds agent who has compared cash bail reform to “the tactic of Hitlers.” Dennis expanded into the ankle monitoring business, he told the Guardian in 2016, as a way of making money off of the decarceration movement.
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In 2018, the watchdog group Court Watch NOLA found that executives at another private ankle monitor company called ETOH donated more than $8,000 to a New Orleans judge who steered defendants toward ETOH’s devices.
Defense lawyers and criminal justice reform advocates say they’ve noticed a slight uptick in judges requiring defendants to wear ankle monitors as a condition of pretrial release — in “exchange” for reducing bail so that defendants who do not pose a safety threat can get out of custody and safely self-isolate. But the expensive ankle monitor fees exacerbate the problems within the criminal justice system that already ties freedom to an individual’s ability to pay for it.
“I have no income, there’s no way I can come up with the money,” said one defendant in New Orleans who was released after Carmouche posted her bail and paid the activation fee for the device. The woman, who requested anonymity out of fear of jeopardizing her ongoing case, doesn’t know how she’s going to pay the monthly fees. She hasn’t been able to find work during the pandemic and has struggled to pay for food. “I’m not trying to go back to jail because it’s not safe. I don’t know what else to do,” she said.
Outdated Technological Requirements
The coronavirus has also prompted authorities to start releasing people from halfway houses — facilities for people nearing the end of their sentences. As in jails and prisons, it is nearly impossible to practice social distancing in halfway houses. Most residents share a room with multiple other people and eat in common spaces. Halfway houses can be even more dangerous than jails and prisons in terms of COVID-19 exposure because residents leave and reenter frequently to go to work.
The public safety argument for continuing to detain people at halfway houses during a pandemic is particularly weak. The people who are living in halfway houses are not considered dangerous and have already been granted the freedom to get jobs and visit family.
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Hope Village, a halfway house in Washington, D.C., was the target of a class-action lawsuit brought last month by two people formerly detained there who alleged that the facility’s disregard of social distancing guidelines and lack of on-site medical care put residents at high risk of contracting COVID-19. The federal Bureau of Prisons, which oversees Hope Village, “refused to exercise [its] discretion to provide early release and significantly reduce the population in the facility,” the plaintiffs alleged. Hope Village announced last month plans to begin “winding down” operations.
Even in cases where individuals have been granted release from Hope Village, the process has been slow, confusing and predicated on conditions that can be difficult to satisfy with limited resources.
When Carissa Cline found out she was eligible for home confinement, she got to work finding a place to stay. But one of several obstacles delaying her freedom to safely self-isolate was getting a landline set up at her next home. She already had a GPS-enabled cell phone and would eventually be required to get an ankle monitor — but she was also required to have a landline that she could pick up to prove she was home.
To expedite the process, her lawyer paid for the phone and the installation. But since she was still detained at Hope Village, Cline had to find someone else to wait at the home and oversee installation. After the phone was installed, Hope Village called Verizon and verified that it had been set up, she said in an interview. The day before her release, a Hope Village staffer called the landline to make sure it was ringing. But because Cline wasn’t yet living there, the phone had been set up to go straight to voicemail — which nearly further delayed her release.
Throughout the phone ordeal, Cline got bounced around between the BOP, Hope Village staff, and the probation office — none of whom seemed to be able to explain what she was required to do to get out, she said. Her court case was based in Maryland, but because she was living in D.C., her probation officer had to get reassigned, which caused yet another delay. The day she was supposed to leave, she found out she was required to give her probation officer 24 hours notice in advance of leaving. But she didn’t get the piece of paper her probation officer sent to Hope Village informing her of this requirement until the day she was set to leave. She ended up staying another day.
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Altogether, Cline wasn’t allowed to leave until nine days after she first found a place to move in to.
Under regular circumstances, these delays would be frustrating. But because of the pandemic, every additional day at Hope Village meant another chance for Cline to contract the coronavirus from one of the hundreds of people she lived with.


huffpost--2020-05-05--China Facing Rising Global Backlash Akin To Tiananmen Square, Internal Report Warns

As a result , Beijing faces a wave of anti-China sentiment led by the United States in the aftermath of the pandemic and needs to be prepared in a worst-case scenario for armed confrontation between the two global powers , according to people familiar with the report ’ s content , who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter .
Reuters couldn ’ t determine to what extent the stark assessment described in the paper reflects positions held by China ’ s state leaders , and to what extent , if at all , it would influence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ report shows how seriously Beijing takes the threat of a building backlash that could threaten what China sees as its strategic investments overseas and its view of its security standing .
Relations between China and the United States are widely seen to be at their worst point in decades , with deepening mistrust and friction points from U.S. allegations of unfair trade and technology practices to disputes over Hong Kong , Taiwan and contested territories in the South China Sea .
In recent days , U.S. President Donald Trump , facing a more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ claimed tens of thousands of American lives and ravaged the U.S. economy , has been ramping up his criticism of Beijing and threatening new tariffs on China .
His administration , meanwhile , is considering retaliatory measures against China over the outbreak , officials said .
Chinese officials had a “ special responsibility ” to inform their people and the world of the threat posed by the coronavirus “ since they were the first to learn of it , ” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in response to questions from Reuters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that anti-China sentiment sparked by the coronavirus could fuel resistance to China ’ s Belt and Road infrastructure investment projects , and that Washington could step up financial and military support for regional allies , making the security situation in Asia more volatile .
In this June 5 , 1989 , file photo , a Chinese man stands alone to block a line of tanks heading east on Beijing 's Changan Boulevard in Tiananmen Square .
The man , calling for an end to the recent violence and bloodshed against pro-democracy demonstrators , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the tanks continued on their way .
( AP Photo/Jeff Widener , File ) One of those with knowledge of the report said it was regarded by some in the Chinese intelligence community as China ’ s version of the “ Novikov Telegram ” , a 1946 dispatch by the Soviet ambassador to Washington , Nikolai Novikov , that stressed the dangers of U.S. economic and military ambition in the wake of World War Two .
Novikov ’ s missive was a response to U.S. diplomat George Kennan ’ s “ Long Telegram @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Union did not see the possibility for peaceful coexistence with the West , and that containment was the best long-term strategy .
China has managed to contain domestic spread of the virus and has been trying to assert a leading role in the global battle against COVID-19 .
That has included a propaganda push around its donations and sale of medical supplies to the United States and other countries and sharing of expertise .

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BEIJING (Reuters) - An internal Chinese report warns that Beijing faces a rising wave of hostility in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak that could tip relations with the United States into confrontation, people familiar with the paper told Reuters.
The report, presented early last month by the Ministry of State Security to top Beijing leaders including President Xi Jinping, concluded that global anti-China sentiment is at its highest since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, the sources said.
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As a result, Beijing faces a wave of anti-China sentiment led by the United States in the aftermath of the pandemic and needs to be prepared in a worst-case scenario for armed confrontation between the two global powers, according to people familiar with the report’s content, who declined to be identified given the sensitivity of the matter.
The report was drawn up by the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), a think tank affiliated with the Ministry of State Security, China’s top intelligence body.
Reuters has not seen the briefing paper, but it was described by people who had direct knowledge of its findings.
“I don’t have relevant information,” the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson’s office said in a statement responding to questions from Reuters on the report.
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China’s Ministry of State Security has no public contact details and could not be reached for comment.
In this Tuesday, March 10, 2020, photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping talks by video with patients and medical workers at the Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province. (Xie Huanchi/Xinhua via AP) ASSOCIATED PRESS
CICIR, an influential think tank that until 1980 was within the Ministry of State Security and advises the Chinese government on foreign and security policy, did not reply to a request for comment.
Reuters couldn’t determine to what extent the stark assessment described in the paper reflects positions held by China’s state leaders, and to what extent, if at all, it would influence policy. But the presentation of the report shows how seriously Beijing takes the threat of a building backlash that could threaten what China sees as its strategic investments overseas and its view of its security standing.
Relations between China and the United States are widely seen to be at their worst point in decades, with deepening mistrust and friction points from U.S. allegations of unfair trade and technology practices to disputes over Hong Kong, Taiwan and contested territories in the South China Sea.
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In recent days, U.S. President Donald Trump, facing a more difficult re-election campaign as the coronavirus has claimed tens of thousands of American lives and ravaged the U.S. economy, has been ramping up his criticism of Beijing and threatening new tariffs on China. His administration, meanwhile, is considering retaliatory measures against China over the outbreak, officials said.
It is widely believed in Beijing that the United States wants to contain a rising China, which has become more assertive globally as its economy has grown.
The paper concluded that Washington views China’s rise as an economic and national security threat and a challenge to Western democracies, the people said. The report also said the United States was aiming to undercut the ruling Communist Party by undermining public confidence.
China has just announced a doubling in the number of their deaths from the Invisible Enemy. It is far higher than that and far higher than the U.S., not even close! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
Chinese officials had a “special responsibility” to inform their people and the world of the threat posed by the coronavirus “since they were the first to learn of it,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in response to questions from Reuters.
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Without directly addressing the assessment made in the Chinese report, Ortagus added: “Beijing’s efforts to silence scientists, journalists, and citizens and spread disinformation exacerbated the dangers of this health crisis.”
A spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council declined to comment.
REPERCUSSIONS
The report described to Reuters warned that anti-China sentiment sparked by the coronavirus could fuel resistance to China’s Belt and Road infrastructure investment projects, and that Washington could step up financial and military support for regional allies, making the security situation in Asia more volatile.
Three decades ago, in the aftermath of Tiananmen, the United States and many Western governments imposed sanctions against China including banning or restricting arms sales and technology transfers.
China is far more powerful nowadays.
Xi has revamped China’s military strategy to create a fighting force equipped to win modern wars. He is expanding China’s air and naval reach in a challenge to more than 70 years of U.S. military dominance in Asia.
In this June 5, 1989, file photo, a Chinese man stands alone to block a line of tanks heading east on Beijing's Changan Boulevard in Tiananmen Square. The man, calling for an end to the recent violence and bloodshed against pro-democracy demonstrators, was pulled away by bystanders, and the tanks continued on their way. (AP Photo/Jeff Widener, File) ASSOCIATED PRESS
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In its statement, China’s foreign ministry called for cooperation, saying, “the sound and steady development of China-U.S. relations” serve the interests of both countries and the international community.
It added: “any words or actions that engage in political manipulation or stigmatization under the pretext of the pandemic, including taking the opportunity to sow discord between countries, are not conducive to international cooperation against the pandemic.”
COLD WAR ECHOES
One of those with knowledge of the report said it was regarded by some in the Chinese intelligence community as China’s version of the “Novikov Telegram”, a 1946 dispatch by the Soviet ambassador to Washington, Nikolai Novikov, that stressed the dangers of U.S. economic and military ambition in the wake of World War Two.
Novikov’s missive was a response to U.S. diplomat George Kennan’s “Long Telegram” from Moscow that said the Soviet Union did not see the possibility for peaceful coexistence with the West, and that containment was the best long-term strategy.
The two documents helped set the stage for the strategic thinking that defined both sides of the Cold War.
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China has been accused by the United States of suppressing early information on the virus, which was first detected in the central city of Wuhan, and downplaying its risks.
Beijing has repeatedly denied that it covered up the extent or severity of the virus outbreak.
China has managed to contain domestic spread of the virus and has been trying to assert a leading role in the global battle against COVID-19. That has included a propaganda push around its donations and sale of medical supplies to the United States and other countries and sharing of expertise.
But China faces a growing backlash from critics who have called to hold Beijing accountable for its role in the pandemic.
Trump has said he will cut off funding for the World Health Organization (WHO), which he called “very China-centric,” something WHO officials have denied.
Australia’s government has called for an international investigation into the origins and spread of the virus.
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Last month, France summoned China’s ambassador to protest a publication on the website of China’s embassy that criticized Western handling of coronavirus.
The virus has so far infected more than 3 million people globally and caused more than 200,000 deaths, according to a Reuters tally.


huffpost--2020-03-17--Here's How Coronavirus Is Already Affecting Americans Across The Country

The share of coronavirus cases remains , in relative terms , a tiny fraction of the American public .
And only 2 % of Americans have tried to receive coronavirus test and been unable to get one , according to a new NPR/PBS/NewsHour/Marist poll .
But social distancing and other precautionary measures have been much more common : 30 % had changed travel plans , 42 % had stocked up on food or supplies , 46 % of Americans had decided to eat at home more often and 48 % had cancelled plans to avoid crowds .
A third of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ routine , and 18 % had seen reduced hours or been let go .
In two surveys HuffPost conducted with YouGov over the course of the past week , we asked Americans across the country to tell us about any ways the outbreak was already affecting them .
Their answers range in scope and severity , from serious concerns about life and livelihood to mild regrets over canceled plans .
Some expressed annoyance at what they saw as a media-fueled overreaction .
But taken as a whole , the responses show how far-reaching @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few days .
Here ’ s a sampling of some of the responses , lightly edited for clarity and length .
“ The shortage of everyday items people are hoarding because they think the world ’ s ending !
We are bound to catch this no matter how safe or prepared you think you are .
Just like the flu and cold happen , certain people catch it , while others don ’ t , so don ’ t freak out .
There are people hoarding baby formula who don ’ t have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2.5-month-old who is getting low and I ’ m worried I won ’ t be able to find it.
” ― 27-year-old woman “ We have family members in another household who are presumed positive .
Today I tested positive for the flu , so I didn ’ t have to test for coronavirus .
My 14-year-old son is quarantined at my ex-husband ’ s home and his twin sister is with me because of how our families were informed and notified to quarantine , based on where they happened to be on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to decide if we want to cross-contaminate the households to get them back together .
Today was the last day of school statewide for K-12 and the stores have empty shelves in my city so I ’ m worried about availability of food and basic supplies the next couple of weeks.
” ― 47-year-old woman

LOADING ERROR LOADING
Across much of the U.S., daily life has already been affected by efforts to stem the rapidly growing outbreak of coronavirus cases.
The share of coronavirus cases remains, in relative terms, a tiny fraction of the American public. And only 2% of Americans have tried to receive coronavirus test and been unable to get one, according to a new NPR/PBS/NewsHour/Marist poll. But social distancing and other precautionary measures have been much more common: 30% had changed travel plans, 42% had stocked up on food or supplies, 46% of Americans had decided to eat at home more often and 48% had cancelled plans to avoid crowds. A third of currently employed Americans had changed their work routine, and 18% had seen reduced hours or been let go.
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In two surveys HuffPost conducted with YouGov over the course of the past week, we asked Americans across the country to tell us about any ways the outbreak was already affecting them. Their answers range in scope and severity, from serious concerns about life and livelihood to mild regrets over canceled plans. Some expressed annoyance at what they saw as a media-fueled overreaction. But taken as a whole, the responses show how far-reaching the impact has been in just a few days. Here’s a sampling of some of the responses, lightly edited for clarity and length.
Alabama
“I have been feeling sick, but can’t get tested. I’m especially worried because I am over 60 and I have an autoimmune disorder ― the medication I am on suppresses my immune system.” ― 60-year woman
Alaska
“Quarantining a 74-year-old relative recovering from surgery, with lung issues.” ― 27-year old woman
Arizona
“I’m a food server, and we have lost tons of reservations and may close down for a month.” ― 26-year-old man
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“Not the virus itself, but the effects of the panic surrounding the virus. My local grocery stores are out of toilet paper, soap, hand sanitizer and they are running out of food items.” ― 54-year-old woman
California
“As a teacher, my district has closed all schools and we are going to be working, but in an empty school and on administrative tasks instead of actually teaching. I’m worried about the safety of my students while they’re out of school, as well as the disruption to instruction.” ― 29-year-old woman
“My husband works in the airline industry, which is struggling right now. We fear for layoffs.” ― 47-year-old woman
Connecticut
“My kids are home from school for weeks and no babysitter. One of us needs to take a leave from work.” ― 43-year-old man
“I was laid off from my job about six weeks ago. I believe it may be tougher to find a job with the state of mind companies will have now.” ― 59-year-old man
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“Self-quarantining after travel in Indonesia. My boyfriend also has to go home to California because his college may close and it’ll suck if I can’t see him. So nothing drastic, but it does affect me.” ― 18-year old woman
Delaware
“I am a K-12 music teacher and my school’s musicals have been postponed.” ― 26-year-old woman
District of Columbia
“My office has moved to full remote. I’ve stocked up food and have been social distancing, so I am limiting my social interactions. I’m not going to become a hermit, but it’s hard to imagine going to the gym, being in crowded places, so I will limit that. And that will change my life considerably. But it’s important.” ― 44-year-old woman
Florida
“College classes now virtual, children’s school canceled, supermarket stocks sold out, business trip canceled, club/organization meetings restricted or canceled. I am pregnant and care for elderly grandmother, so I am high-risk.” ― 33-year-old woman
“I am a plumber and can no longer have a helper.” ― 52-year-old man
“I have been affected financially as a freelance musician. I have had several jobs cancel due to concerns of the disease and no way to get the money back.” ― 24-year-old woman
“The rehab center where my husband is confined is on lockdown and no visitors are allowed. I believe this is necessary, though difficult for us.” ― 73-year-old woman
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“The value of my IRA that I am using for retirement dropped dramatically. My parents are 92 and 88, and I have been frantically shopping for them to ensure they can self-quarantine as needed.” ― 65-year-old man
Lori Harper, manager, wipes down tables in the dining room area of the McDonald's on Prince Street in Beckley Tuesday morning, March 17, 2020. McDonald's closed off the dining section and will provide drive-through service along with walk-in orders placed at the front counter. Customers are not allowed to eat their meals in the restaurant because of the coronavirus. (Rick Barbero/The Register-Herald via AP) ASSOCIATED PRESS
Georgia
“My kids are on a mandatory extended leave from school. They are young and don’t understand what is actually going on.” ― 26-year-old-woman
“My job as a firefighter is being affected by the panic that the community is in over this. My wife’s job in law enforcement is being affected too.” ― 28-year-old man
Illinois
“My work at a law office has been very up in the air. I’ve been nervous taking public transportation. Can’t find certain things at the grocery store anymore.” ― 28-year-old woman
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“Our county has been ransacked by preppers, leaving shelves utterly devoid of water, paper products, canned goods, etc., thanks to the hysteria of the mainstream media.” ― 56-year-old woman
“Visit to Grandma canceled.” ― 25-year-old man
“On lockdown at the nursing home.” ― 50-year-old man
Iowa
“I have some sort of respiratory illness right now and my sister and brother-in-law do too and they may need to be hospitalized. We are unsure if it is coronavirus.” ― 40-year-old man
Kansas
“My place of business will be closing for two weeks. A lot of people will not be paid.” ― 38-year-old woman
“My stocks and bonds have suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic panic.” ― 48-year-old man
Kentucky
“I live for sports, especially basketball, so I’m very sad about it being cancelled.” ― 36-year-old woman
Louisiana
“As a senior citizen with health issues, I have taken care to stock my home with needed things for as long as possible to vastly limit outside contact.” ― 72-year-old woman
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Massachusetts
“My office has closed and I now need to work from home. I need to limit my social contact to protect my 90-year-old grandmother, whom I care for as well.” ― 28-year-old man
Michigan
“Had some pre-screening for an operation canceled, but still having the surgery.” ― 57-year-old woman
Minnesota
“I was exposed to the virus by someone who had it at CPAC, and had to self-quarantine and get tested.” ― 19-year-old woman
Missouri
“My dad is getting ready to go on a cruise ship to Greece and I worry he and his wife might get sick or be quarantined when they get back. They are in their 70s.” ― 33-year-old woman
Nevada
“I can no longer go to my only child’s military graduation. Fort Jackson has shut down all military graduation ceremonies till further notice! They will not be rescheduled. My daughter will just not have one like her father did.” ― 40-year-old woman
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New York
“Can’t get groceries. Local stores have bare shelves. I’m less concerned with the virus than I am with starving.” ― 39-year-old woman
“My school has gone to remote classes, which has involved canceling several specific things for my degree (I’m a music major, and all performances are canceled). My travel plans have altered, and my work through my university has been disrupted. My stress levels have increased. It’s dominated my social media and all my conversations in person, making it hard to focus on other things.” ― 20-year-old man
“Self-quarantined because of an immunocompromised spouse. Have had to cancel my medical appointments. Confined to home ... ” ― 70-year-old woman
“Our community has been named a place for SUNY students who studied abroad to come for a 14-day quarantine period. It was a fast announcement and the community had little time to prepare for 20+ exposed or potentially exposed people to be housed here. They are equipped to handle the situation but the community had little fair warning.” ― 46-year-old woman
North Carolina
“I am a coach. My season is suspended.” ― 29-year-old man
Ohio
“As of today, temporarily out of work as a government consultant.” ― 76-year-old man
“My university is closed through the end of the semester. I will have to take classes online, we most likely will not have a graduation ceremony, and my study abroad trip to Europe this summer is canceled.” ― 21-year-old woman
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“The closing of schools has impacted our family schedules. As a pastor I am working to help those affected by the closing of various gatherings. We have also had to modify things in our worship services in order to keep people safe.” ― 36-year-old man
“The shortage of everyday items people are hoarding because they think the world’s ending! We are bound to catch this no matter how safe or prepared you think you are. Just like the flu and cold happen, certain people catch it, while others don’t, so don’t freak out. There are people hoarding baby formula who don’t have kids, and yet I have a 2.5-month-old who is getting low and I’m worried I won’t be able to find it.” ― 27-year-old woman
Oregon
“Canceled travel plans. Canceled family get-togethers. Stopped going out for two weeks, at least ... even church.” ― 61-year-old man
“Child’s school is closed, husband and I have mandatory work from home. Difficult to care for children and get work done.” ― 34-year-old woman
“We have family members in another household who are presumed positive. Today I tested positive for the flu, so I didn’t have to test for coronavirus. My 14-year-old son is quarantined at my ex-husband’s home and his twin sister is with me because of how our families were informed and notified to quarantine, based on where they happened to be on Monday after school. Now we have to decide if we want to cross-contaminate the households to get them back together. Today was the last day of school statewide for K-12 and the stores have empty shelves in my city so I’m worried about availability of food and basic supplies the next couple of weeks.” ― 47-year-old woman
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Tennessee
“I work in the entertainment industry. All of my sources of income have been canceled or postponed.” ― 37-year-old woman
“I’m a nurse practitioner, and it has made it difficult to do my job without worrying about it. But at the same time, I’m glad to see visitation restrictions.” ― 39-year-old woman
My daughter is a server and now there are no customers ― or income.” ― 68-year-old man
Texas
“I am a caregiver to my husband who is a stroke survivor. I cannot find basic need items in the store now, like toilet paper and cleaning supplies.” ― 69-year-old woman
Utah
“I work for a university ― everyone is in panic mode. It has caused a lot of work for me in coordinating and making sure we have cleaning and safety products available.” ― 53-year-old man
Vermont
“I am a physician. This puts me and my family in harm’s way, but this is my duty. I am working around the clock to protect my family and community.” ― 42-year-old woman
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Washington
“I live in Seattle, which has been directly affected. My family has been a little worried about my mom, who’s in good health but is 62 and diabetic. My brother’s bandmate’s roommate works as an EMT and may have contracted the virus. Tensions have sometimes escalated between various family members as a result.” ― 24-year-old woman
West Virginia
“I had to cancel a vacation to a low-risk country at the last minute, and I had to stress about what to do for work because I cannot work from home.” ― 20-year-old woman
Wisconsin
“Well, I had to do something I never do. I had to stock up on things to eat, toiletries, first aid supplies, OTC fever and pain relief. Disinfectants, bleach, alcohol, Listerine, Lysol. I didn’t really have money for this but I feel it’s necessary to be ready for anything. Not for me but for my family and extended family.” ― 66-year-old woman
“I’ve been uncharacteristically neurotic: staying home, missing events, avoiding strangers and friends alike, afraid to hug people, and VERY afraid of how billions of other humans will behave because they are uncharacteristically fearful and neurotic. I’m more afraid of societal ramifications than I am of health concerns.” ― 35-year-old woman