Thursday, April 23, 2020

Cabinet set to further ease COVID-19 restrictions amid rising public frustration

https://www.timesofisrael.com/cabinet-to-meet-on-easing-further-restrictions-amid-rising-public-anger/


Reopened IKEA draws crowds, lottery booths given permission to resume activities; with still-shuttered businesses fuming, cabinet to rethink on Thursday

Trump Spreads Coronavirus Misinformation As U.S. Death Toll Tops 46,000 | The 11th Hour | MSNBC


Wisconsin Voters Reject Trump’s Pick for State Supreme Court in Election Marred by Coronavirus

https://time.com/5820383/wisconsin-supreme-court-election-coronavirus/

 A liberal challenger on Monday ousted a conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice endorsed by President Donald Trump, overcoming a successful push by Republicans to forge ahead with last week’s election even as numerous other states postponed theirs due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But the absentee-ballot-fueled victory by liberal Supreme Court candidate Jill Karofsky was a huge win for Democrats. It reduced conservative control of the court to 4-3, giving liberals a chance to take control in 2023.

Her win will also certainly be seen as a bellwether in battleground Wisconsin ahead of the November presidential election. Trump barely carried the state four years ago, and both parties see it as critical this year.

Senior ultra-Orthodox rabbis split on response to coronavirus epidemic

https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/senior-ultra-orthodox-rabbis-split-on-response-to-coronavirus-epidemic-625504


Letter sent by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, the most senior rabbi of the haredi, non-hassidic world for publication in Yated Neeman newspaper stopped by second most senior leader Rabbi Gershon Edelstein.

  In a highly embarrassing incident for the rabbinic leadership of the ultra-Orthodox (haredi), non-hassidic community, the Yated Neeman newspaper decided not to print a letter by Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky calling for ultra-Orthodox schools to reopen, despite the ongoing coronavirus epidemic, following the intervention of his fellow leader Rabbi Gershon Edelstein.

Why incompetent people think they're amazing - David Dunning


Williamsburg Satmar yeshivas operating secret schools in apartments and synagogues

https://forward.com/news/breaking-news/444376/williamsburg-yeshivas-secret-schools-apartments-synagogues-coronavirus/

 Orthodox yeshivas for boys in Williamsburg are running underground schools in closed synagogues and apartment buildings despite social distancing requirements imposed by the city and state to try to slow the spread of coronavirus, a parent whose child attended one of the secret schools told the Forward.
 

Who’s Behind the ‘Reopen’ Protests?



America is now facing three calamities: a deadly contagion, a capricious president and a well-funded right-wing infrastructure willing to devalue human life in pursuit of its political agenda. Some very rich men and women are making this medical disaster worse through their reckless bellows, inflaming people to demand that states open now no matter how many lives that costs.

What 5 Coronavirus Models Say the Next Month Will Look Like

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/22/upshot/coronavirus-models.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage


In the last few weeks, we’ve all become a little more familiar with epidemiological models. These calculations, which make estimates about how many people are likely to get sick, need a hospital bed or die from coronavirus, are guiding public policy — and our expectations about what the future holds.
But if you look at the models, they don’t really agree.
 

He was on a ventilator, fighting for his life. A stranger sent reinforcements

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/22/opinions/coronavirus-plasma-donor/index.html


He received the plasma transfusion on the night of April 8. Grasping for anything that might help, doctors also gave him various drugs with long and complicated names: hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, tocilizumab. After getting a little worse, he began to get better. The toxins in his liver decreased. He began to need less oxygen. On Easter Sunday, April 12, the doctors brought him out of his coma to see if his body was strong enough to function on its own. Stacie and the kids got to see him on FaceTime. He was still groggy and delirious. One by one, they told him who they were.
 

Trump disregards science as chaos overtakes coronavirus response

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/04/23/politics/donald-trump-science-coronavirus/index.html

Alarming new signs are emerging that the Trump administration is shunting science aside in the battle against coronavirus.
In Wednesday's most stunning development, a top administration official working on a vaccine claimed he was ousted after resisting efforts to push unproven drugs promoted by President Donald Trump and his conservative media cheerleaders as "game changer" treatments.
That news was followed by a bewilderingly inconsistent White House briefing. Conflicting messages on when to reboot the economy, the need for testing and the possibility of a resurgence of the virus combined with Trump's effort to suppress facts that jar with his insistence that the end of a nightmare likely to last many more months is near.
In another bizarre twist, Trump produced Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to walk back his remarks that the coronavirus challenge could be more difficult in the fall.

 

Trump: Why Waste a Crisis?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/opinion/trump-coronavirus-immigration.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage


When things aren’t going smoothly for President Trump, his go-to move is to change the subject to topics that cheer his supporters and drive his critics into paroxysms of outrage. Mr. Trump’s decision on Wednesday to, as he proclaimed on Twitter, sign an “Executive Order prohibiting immigration into our Country today” seems designed as just such a distraction.

The president first announced his intention in a late-night tweet on Monday, claiming it was a necessary response to “the attack from the Invisible Enemy” — his latest nickname for the coronavirus — and “to protect the jobs of our GREAT American citizens.” Like clockwork, Democrats denounced his “xenophobia” and accused him of trying to shift the nation’s focus away from his handling of the pandemic.
But the outcry is also behind the curve. In the name of protecting the nation, the Trump administration has already shut down most legal immigration through more piecemeal moves. In recent weeks, it has imposed tougher travel restrictions and has stopped processing most visas. Visa interviews are not taking place, nor are citizenship ceremonies. Migrants crossing the border are now turned back without the usual protections for minors and asylum seekers.

Fox News Stars Trumpeted a Malaria Drug, Until They Didn’t

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/business/media/virus-fox-news-hydroxychloroquine.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

Laura Ingraham called hydroxychloroquine “a game changer.” But after a month of coverage, she stopped discussing the drug on the air.

 

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Doctor Says He Was Removed From Federal Post After Questioning Hydroxychloroquine Treatment

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/us/coronavirus-live-coverage.html

The doctor who led the federal agency involved in developing a coronavirus vaccine said on Wednesday that he was removed from his post after he pressed for a rigorous vetting of a coronavirus treatment embraced by President Trump. The doctor said that science, not “politics and cronyism” must lead the way.
Dr. Rick Bright was abruptly dismissed this week as the director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, and as the deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response.

Sweden's Relaxed Approach to the Coronavirus Could Already Be Backfiring

https://time.com/5817412/sweden-coronavirus/


A head doctor at a major hospital in Sweden says the current approach will “probably end in a historical massacre.” He says healthcare workers at his hospital who have tested positive for the virus but are asymptomatic have been advised to continue working. He asked to remain anonymous because “it is frowned upon to speak of the epidemic or to go against the official vision” but said he felt a need to speak out from an “ethical and medical point of view.”