Jails could act as incubators for disease to be spread widely both inside and in local communities, ACLU says
America’s addiction to mass incarceration could almost double its number of deaths from coronavirus, with jails acting as incubators of the disease and spreading a further 100,000 fatalities across the US.
The startling warning comes from groundbreaking modeling by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and academic researchers, released on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Joseph Stiglitz attacks Donald Trump, saying US on course for second Great Depression
Donald Trump’s botched handling of the Covid-19 crisis has left the US looking like a “third world” country and on course for a second Great Depression, one of the world’s leading economists has warned.
In a withering attack on the president, Joseph Stiglitz said millions of people were turning to food banks, turning up for work due to a lack of sick pay and dying because of health inequalities.
Continue reading...Trump to halt immigration for 60 days initially; 256m people could starve, says UN; cases worldwide pass 2.5 million
A Chinese citizen journalist who was missing for almost two months after posting videos from Wuhan during the coronavirus outbreak has re-appeared, claiming that he was detained by police and forcibly quarantined, Lily Kuo reports from Beijing.
Li Zehua was one of three Chinese journalists who had been reporting in Wuhan during some of the worst weeks of the epidemic. He was last seen on 26 February after posting a video in which he was chased by a white SUV and an hours-long livestream that ended when several agents entered his apartment.
我是李泽华Kcriss，这是2月26日至今关于我的一些情况。I'm Kcriss, here is something about me si... https://t.co/ETjY7QaacY via @YouTube
Related: Missing Wuhan citizen journalist reappears after two months
Airlines in Europe have applied for €12.8bn (£11.3bn) in government support since the start of the coronavirus pandemic with no binding environmental conditions attached, according to an analysis of the sector’s bailout pleas, Sandra Laville reports.
By Tuesday this week, airlines including easyJet, Scandinavian Airlines and Tui had secured loans and other financial support amounting to €3.36bn. A further €9.47bn is being sought by other airlines, data tracking by Transport & Environment, Greenpeace and Carbon Watch reveals.
Related: Coronavirus: airlines seek €12.8bn in bailouts without environmental conditions attached
Continue reading...President says he could extend measure depending on health of economy amid coronavirus
Donald Trump has announced a 60-day ban on immigrants seeking to live and work in America permanently, and said he could extend it depending on the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
The US president framed the executive order, which he expects to sign on Wednesday, as an effort to protect American workers from foreign competition. He said it would apply only to those seeking green cards and not temporary workers, but he did not explain how those whose applications are currently being processed would be affected.
Continue reading...Robert Redfield’s remarks to Washington Post come as hydroxychloroquine trial finds no benefit against virus
A leading US public health official warned on Tuesday that a new wave of coronavirus hitting the US next winter could be “even more difficult” for America to deal with than the current outbreak.
And in a double blow for the prospect of ending the coronavirus pandemic, a US trial of the controversial treatment Donald Trump has referred to as “like a miracle” has produced poor results.
Continue reading...South Dakota’s Kristi Noem refuses to impose a stay-at-home order, citing a deeply held ideology – one supported by many in the midwest
To much of the rest of the country, South Dakota’s governor looks awfully like an ideologue sacrificing lives on the anvil of Trumpology.
Continue reading...Tuesday, 3 November is the date set by federal government for the 2020 US presidential elections, but amid the pandemic this has been called into question.
America has the world's highest number of coronavirus-related deaths, with many states struggling to contain the outbreak; primary contests have been disrupted, conventions delayed and the two candidates, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, have both been prevented from holding rallies.
Could Trump delay the vote, and if so what would that mean for 2021? The Guardian's Adam Gabbatt explains
Continue reading...Transit workers in New York City are afraid to go back to work after 68 employees have died from coronavirus, and say authorities could have done more to protect them.
'They want to call us heroes now, but how can you call up heroes when you didn't give your heroes proper equipment to fight this,' said conductor Tramell Thompson.
Continue reading...This blog is now closed.
We’ve launched a new live blog at the link below where we’ll be bringing you the latest developments in the coronavirus pandemic:
Related: Coronavirus live news: UN warns of 'biblical' famine as White House prepares immigration halt
In today’s White House press briefing Trump said the US has “tested more than any country in the world, even put together.”
This is false.
Continue reading...Wang Quanzhang has been barred from reuniting with his family after serving nearly five years in prison for ‘subversion’
The US has called for Chinese authorities to allow a prominent human rights lawyer to return home, after having spent almost five years in “unjust detention”.
Wang Quanzhang was released two weeks ago after serving four-and-a-half years for “subversion”, but has been barred from reuniting with his family.
Continue reading...‘I kinda got a cure for this,’ says golfer, before grabbing a bottle of vodka and suggesting one a day
As the world scrambles to find a cure to coronavirus, there is one self-administered treatment that is undoubtedly not going to provide the solution: 40% proof alcohol.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that excess alcohol consumption may weaken the body’s immune system and render people vulnerable to contracting Covid-19. So it was surprising that John Daly, the professional golfer from California, should have posted a video earlier this month suggesting vodka could combat the virus.
Continue reading...The World Health Organization has been at the forefront of the global response to new diseases and with differing outcomes. It was hailed for the way it dealt with Sars but pilloried for its handling of Ebola. Now, with its biggest challenge yet, it is in the crosshairs again as Donald Trump threatens to withdraw funding
When Donald Trump announced he was suspending funding to the World Health Organization it immediately put the future of the UN body in jeopardy. The US president accused the WHO of being too close to China and covering up the spread of Covid-19. But as the journalist Stephen Buranyi tells Anushka Asthana, the facts do not tally with the Trump’s version of events. In January, the WHO director general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared an emergency and has since been urgently telling 194 of its members to “test, test, test” as the only route out of the crisis.
As a body with no formal powers to sanction its members, it relies on the effectiveness of its leader. In the past that has led to mixed results: exemplary in the fight against Sars, heavily criticised for its Ebola response. But as the WHO faces its biggest crisis yet, its future is now as uncertain as ever.
Continue reading...Epidemiologist predicts ‘new epidemic surge’ as protesters across the US flout social distancing measures
As healthcare workers in Colorado and Pennsylvania staged counter-protests against rightwing anti-quarantine rallies that continue to spread across the US, some experts warned such rallies could cause a surge in coronavirus cases.
Several nurses gathered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Monday, where a protest against stay-at-home orders was taking place. The nurses carried signs urging people to go home.
Continue reading...A standout image by photographer Alyson McClaran captures a face-off between a healthcare worker and an angry protester
The weekend has seen a spate of anti-lockdown protests across the US in Ohio, Michigan and Colorado.
But a standout image by photographer Alyson McClaran came on Sunday from Denver, Colorado. As protesters gathered outside the capitol steps and others assembled in their automobiles to ask the city to reopen for business, healthcare workers stood in the middle of the road in their scrubs. After having spent the last weeks treating Covid-19 patients, they staged their own demonstration: they wanted to remind the protestors of why the shutdown measures are important.
Continue reading...Albin Kurti claims Richard Grenell involved in pushing for vote that collapsed government
Kosovo’s caretaker prime minister, Albin Kurti, has launched a stinging attack on Donald Trump’s acting national intelligence director, accusing him of meddling in the country’s politics and helping to bring down his former government with the goal of delivering a quick diplomatic victory for Trump.
Kurti is staying on as PM in an acting capacity after his coalition partners turned against him in a parliamentary vote last month that was egged on by US diplomats. The upheaval was met with disbelief among many Kosovans, who wanted the government to focus on fighting coronavirus.
Continue reading...Hundreds of travelers, motivated in part by low airfares, are riding out the pandemic in Hawaii – but some islanders see it a disregard for their home
A week ago, on the east side of Oahu, Troy Kane spent the day in waist-high water lugging rocks across Pā Honu fishpond. Usually he’d go with a group, but because of social distancing orders, he ventured out alone.
Related: Coronavirus live news: Spain proposes €1.5tn EU Covid-19 fund; US blocks pro-WHO statement by G20
Continue reading...Exclusive: objections leave health ministers unable to agree joint communique on cooperation
US hostility to the World Health Organization scuppered the publication of a communique by G20 health ministers on Sunday that committed to strengthening the WHO’s mandate in coordinating a response to the global coronavirus pandemic.
In place of a lengthy statement with paragraphs of detail, the leaders instead issued a brief statement saying that gaps existed in the way the world handled pandemics.
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New York City mayor Bill de Blasio ramped up the rhetroic in his campaign for increased federal funding for US cities during the coronavirus crisis during his press briefing on Sunday, asking Donald Trump whether his administration was “going to save New York City or are you telling New York City to drop dead?”
As the Guardian’s Edward Helmore reports:
De Blasio’s dramatic language came during his press conference on Sunday, after he warned last week that he planned to cut a further $2bn from the city’s municipal services budget due to the economic downturn. He said the city was likely to lose at least $7.4bn in tax revenue over the current and next fiscal year.
De Blasio has criticized the $2tn coronavirus relief package that Trump signed last month, saying New York only received $1.4bn from the stimulus, compared with around $58bn for the airline industry. He has called for the next package, which congressional and administration leaders say they are “close” to reaching a deal on, to include tens of billions for states, cities and municipalities.
Related: New York mayor De Blasio asks if Trump is telling city to 'drop dead' over Covid-19
A sensational investigation co-published today by ProPublica and the Seattle Times shows how officials in the first US state to be hit by Covid-19 struggled to send the public a clear, consistent message in the early days of the pandemic, bowing to a professional soccer team’s desire to host a game with 33,000 spectators despite urgent warnings from the health department for a ban on large gatherings.
On March 6, at 2:43 p.m., the health officer for Public Health — Seattle & King County, the hardest-hit region in the first state to be slammed by COVID-19, sent an email to a half-dozen colleagues, saying, “I want to cancel large group gatherings now.”
The county’s numbers — 10 known deaths and nearly 60 confirmed cases as of late morning — were bad and getting worse. Many local events had already been called off for fear of spreading the coronavirus. Oyster Fest. The Puget Sound Puppetry Festival. A Women’s Day speaker series at the Gates Foundation. King County had ordered a stop to in-person government meetings unless they were considered essential.
Continue reading...Demonstrations have taken place across the US against orders put in place to limit the spread of coronavirus. The protests were organised by the far-right media site Infowars. Rallies were held in state capitals, with more planned for next week in other states. Hundreds of people stood and chanted for the US to be reopened. Rightwing media and Donald Trump have supported the protests but they appear to represent a minority opinion
Resolution strongly supported by dozens of countries, human rights groups and charities
The Trump administration and Russia are blocking efforts to win binding UN security council backing for a global ceasefire to help fight the coronavirus pandemic, which has claimed more than 150,000 lives worldwide.
Related: Coronavirus world map: which countries have the most cases and deaths?
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