Centers for Disease Control (CDC) director Robert Redfield, third from left, with Anthony Fauci, Deborah Birx and Jerome Adams, medical officials leading the US response to coronavirus. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) director Robert Redfield, third from left, with Anthony Fauci, Deborah Birx and Jerome Adams, medical officials leading the US response to coronavirus. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Donald Trump traveled to a medical equipment distribution facility in Pennsylvania, to tout a plan to replenish the federal stockpile. He did not wear a mask. Prior to the event, Trump announced that he had signed a new Defense Production Act authority to invest in US-based pharmaceutical producers.
Rick Bright, the ousted federal scientist who was in charge of efforts to develop a coronavirus vaccine, told a congressional committee that the “window is closing to address this pandemic” because the Trump administration still lacks a comprehensive plan. Bright was reassigned from his role after he raised concerns about the administration’s touting hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for Covid-19 despite a lack of evidence.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell announced that senator Richard Burr would step down from his post as Senate intelligence committee chair. But Burr will remain on the committee while his stock purchases amid the coronavirus pandemic are being investigated.
The CDC finally released an abridged, edited version of guidance for states to reopen businesses. An earlier, heftier version of the guidelines was shelved. The White House told scientists the initial version step-by-step guidance would “never see the light of day”, according to reporting by AP.
Only about half the small businesses that applied for loans through the Paycheck Protection Program received them, according to a survey from the Census Bureau. Most of those surveyed anticipated it would take months before they could return to normal levels of operations. Three-fourths said revenue had dropped.
Only about half the small businesses who applied for PPP loans have recieved them
According to a new survey from the Census Bureau, about 75% of small businesses applied for a forgivable loan through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). But only 38% received the aid.
About three-quarters of businesses said revenues had deceased. The majority of those surveyed said it would take at least two months if not 4-6 months or more before their business would return to normal levels of operation.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has written to the Federal Reserve, asking that its $600b lending program is made available to nonprofits that serve Latino and immigrant communities.
Main Street is a loan program designed to help companies make it through the lockdown. Businesses that receive loans have a year before they need to start paying back loans ranging from $500,000 to $400m. But the minimum loan amounts are too high for most small businesses like mom-and-pop restaurants and local boutiques hit hard by the economic fallout from the pandemic.
Women are the less visible victims of Covid-19 behind bars – as they are so often overlooked in a criminal justice system that was not designed for them.
Cary Aspinwall, Keri Blakinger and Joseph Neff report:
Though only a small number have died – at least 13 had been reported by Wednesday – their stories illuminate the unique problems women face in prison. They also reflect the all too common ways they get there in the first place: drug addiction and violence involving the men in their lives.
One of the victims was days away from giving birth to her sixth child, but first had to report to prison 900 miles away from her South Dakota home, for a federal drug conviction. Another was a 61-year-old New York woman who survived a life marred by trauma and violence, only to die from the virus. A third was a North Carolina prisoner with a model record, who had served decades of a life sentence for a murder committed by a male accomplice in the aftermath of an armed robbery.
But women in crowded prisons are as much at risk. The Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, south of Baton Rouge, now has more than 165 Covid-19 positive prisoners, the most of any facility in that state. Two women have died, and nearly every prisoner in one dormitory has the virus. And in Connecticut on Tuesday, a federal judge ordered Bureau of Prison officials to speed up their process to release prisoners at risk, including women at Danbury prison.
After every female death, corrections officials have highlighted pre-existing medical conditions that made the women easier targets for the virus. But few prison officials appear to be considering those same risk factors and actually releasing many women before an outbreak.
The Supreme Court has rejected a request to require that a Texas prison for elderly inmates provide coronavirus protections.
After a district judge ordered the prison to provide hand sanitizer, disinfect common areas every 30 minutes and provide all inmates and staff members with masks, a federal appeals court blocked the order while the case was appealed.
Texas officials said they were already complying with the CDC recommendation for prisons. But inmates at the geriatric prison said the policies were inadequate to protect the elderly, who were more at risk for complications from Covid-19. One inmate at the facility died hours after being taken to the hospital for difficulty breathing. It was later confirmed that he had contracted coronavirus.
In a dissenting argument, Justices Sonya Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote:
It has long been said that a society’s worth can be judged by taking stock of its prisons. That is all the truer in this pandemic, where inmates everywhere have been rendered vulnerable and often powerless to protect themselves from harm. May we hope that our country’s facilities serve as models rather than cautionary tales.
The French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi walked back a promise to prioritize the US market if the company develops a coronavirus vaccine. The company’s CEO Paul Hudson sparked controversy by saying the US had “the right to the largest pre-order because it’s invested in taking the risk”.
The US Department of Health and Human Services has paid Sanofi $30m, Hudson said.
But French prime minister Edouard Philippe said that everyone has equal access to a potential vaccine is “non-negotiable”.
Sanofi chairman Serge Weinberg told France 2 TV that Hudson’s comments had been misconstrued. “I am going to be extremely clear: there will be no particular advance for any country,” he said.
Texas officials reported 58 new deaths since yesterday. The state began the process of reopening businesses on 1 May.
BREAKING: Texas officials report 58 new deaths since yesterday - single largest death toll in one day since this started. We have had 116 deaths over three days. Worst three day total this month.
Since the state began reopening, there have been more than 1,000 new cases reported each day, almost every day.
Dr Anthony Fauci warned on Tuesday that the official coronavirus death toll in the US is an undercount, and “the consequences could be really serious” if America reopens businesses, schools and other establishments too quickly.
Gregory McMichael, the white retired law enforcement officer who helped chase down and kill Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old African American man, failed to complete sufficient basic law enforcement training for years, a deficiency that led to him losing his power of arrest.
The Guardian’s Oliver Laughland and Sam Levine report:
McMichael, who worked as an investigator in the Brunswick judicial circuit district attorney’s office from 1995 to 2019,lost his power of arrest in January 2006 for failing to complete the required 20 hours of training the previous year, according to personnel records obtained by the Guardian.
He continued to be deficient in his training for the years that followed and didn’t get the waiver required to reinstate his power of arrest authority. Some of the training McMichael lacked included required courses on use of force and firearms.
The personnel records, which have been reported by local media, come to light as McMichael faces murder charges for chasing down Arbery, who was jogging through a residential neighborhood. McMichael and his son Travis claimed they believed Arbery looked like a suspect in a string of neighborhood break-ins.
The records also shed light on McMichael’s close relationship with Jackie Johnson, the district attorney for the Brunswick judicial circuit, who recused herself from the case and is now subject to a federal investigation of how the case was handled.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention posted guidelines for businesses and other establishments looking to reopen, even after many states have already begun the process.
The CDC initially shelved an earlier, more extensive version of the reopening guidelines. The longer document, which the Associated Press obtained, would have given organizations specifics about how to limit the spread of disease, including suggestions like keeping employees six feet apart and closing break rooms and communal kitchens.
The guidance that CDC released today includes six one-page documents for schools, workplaces, camps, childcare centers, mass transit systems, and bars, and restaurants. The agency has yet to release any guidelines specifically for churches and other religious centers.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnellannounced that senator Richard Burr would step down from his post as Senate intelligence committee chairman while an investigation is conducted into his stock purchases amid the coronavirus pandemic. Burr will remain on the committee.
“These are not normal times” said California’s governor Gavin Newsom as he took off his face mask and stepped to the podium. “And this is not a normal budget presentation.”
In January, when Newsom projected a budget based on the moment’s economic forecast, California was looking at record-low unemployment rates, 120 consecutive months of job growth and a projected surplus of $5.6 billion.
Today, the state is staring down a budget deficit of $54.3 billion — a shortfall that will force cuts to programs across the state. To keep the impact away from schools and public safety services, California will need more help from the federal government, Newsom said.
“The enormity of the task at hand can’t just be borne by a state. The federal government has a moral, ethical and economic [duty] to support the states. What’s the point of government, if not to protect people and the wellbeing of citizens? This is the opportunity to make our purpose real”, said Newsom.
Without extra funding, and fast, the state is looking at cancelling billions in program expansions. One likely casualty of a paired-down budget: an expansion to the state’s health care program for undocumented immigrants over 65.
To help close some of the budget gap, the state will draw from $16 m in “rainy-day” funds over three years. It will also attempt to negotiate a 10% pay cut with government workers -- cuts that will also impact Newsom and his staff.
But throughout the presentation, Newsom implored the federal government to take action, calling for support for the sprawling Heroes Act package, which includes $875 billion for cash for state and local governments
“The federal government, we need you. Our cuts can be mitigated with your support. I encourage my Republican friends in the Senate to help support the states, cities, counties, America, and Americans. The Heroes Act is the best approach. Everything is negotiable”, Newsom said.
Donald Trump traveled to a medical equipment distribution facility in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on Thursday to tout a new plan to replenish and upgrade the nation’s vital stockpile of medical equipment.
Trump vowed to “create a stockpile that is not only the best resourced in the world but also evolved to meet all of the new threats that can happen things that you’re not even thinking about right now.” He also announced that on the flight to Pennsylvania, he signed a new Defense Production Act authority to invest in US based pharmaceutical producers.
But the event also had the unmistakable trappings of a campaign rally. He approached the podium as “God Bless the USA” blared.
“All that social distancing. Look at you people,” he said, noting that the facility’s employees were spaced six feet apart. Trump did not wear a mask during his tour of the facility.
“That’s pretty impressive,” he continued of their efforts to socially distance themselves. “But we like it the old way a little bit better don’t we? And we’ll be back, we’ll be back to that soon. I really believe it.”
But he also appeared to go off script to assail the media – “They’re a disaster” – and Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, who he mocked as “Sleepy Joe.”
Referring to an occasion in which Biden garbled the name of the H1N1 virus, Biden asked the crowd: “N1H1, who said that?”
“Sleepy Joe!” he replied, eliciting a ripple of nervous laughter.
Trump went on to argue that the Obama administration mishandled the response to the H1N1 virus, though the scale and scope of the outbreak was nothing compared to the death toll and social disruption that has been made worse, critics say, by Trump’s mismanagement.
Former vice president Joe Biden is currently doing a live stream with three Democratic governors on how they have handled the coronavirus pandemic. Notably, Biden is not broadcasting from his basement, as he’s done previously. He’s outside.
Biden is interviewing governors Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Phil Murphy of New Jersey, and Ned Lamont of Connecticut.
Whitmer has been mentioned as a possible runningmate for Biden. Biden alluded to the selection process for his runningmate on Thursday night during a fundraiser.
“They’re now in the process of thoroughly examining a group of women, all of whom are capable in my view of being president,” Biden said of the search committee set up to help Biden pick a runningmate. “And there’s about a dozen of them. We’re keeping the names quiet because if anyone isn’t chosen I don’t want anybody to think it’s because there was something that was a -- some liability that existed.”
Summer in the Adirondacks? Photograph: Leon Werdinger/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Stock Photo
New York’s North Country, a sprawling, rural swath that includes the Adirondack Mountains, has been added to the regions of the state poised to restart some economic activity in the days ahead as the state slowly relaxes pandemic-induced social restrictions, governor AndrewCuomo said a little earlier.
The region, which draws hikers, boaters and campers up from New York City and beyond during warmer months, met all seven benchmarks the state requires before selected businesses can be approved for reopening, according to the administration, The Associated Press reported.
It joins New York’s Southern Tier, along the Pennsylvania border, the Mohawk Valley and the Finger Lakes regions in preparing to reopen in phases as early as tomorrow.
None of those parts of the state have been particularly hard hit by the virus, but all are within a few hours drive of still locked-down metropolitan areas where the virus has killed thousands of people.
New York’s 10 regions can start reopening once they demonstrate that Covid-19-related deaths and hospitalizations are consistently down; that there are enough hospital beds to meet any new surge in cases; and that there is sufficient local testing and contact-tracing efforts.
New York state recorded 166 new deaths from the virus Tuesday, bringing the total since March to more than 22,000.
New York City is launching an ad campaign to educate parents about a rare and serious inflammatory syndrome that is thought to be linked to Covid-19 and has been diagnosed in more than 80 children in the city, the mayor, Bill de Blasio, said.
Latest statistics:
There are now 1.4 million confirmed cases of coronavirus in the US and the death toll will surpass 85,000 today (with those deaths occurring in just two months).
Worldwide there are 4.4 million cases and an official toll so far of 300,000 deaths.
As Donald Trump and his team were lead around the Owens & Minor facility reporters noted that the president and chief of staff Mark Meadows were the only two people of the entourage not wearing masks.
"Much of this is made in the USA," says Pres Trump of the medical supplies being distributed by the Owens & Minor Company he's visiting in Allentown, PA. Nearly all the company and US officials are wearing face masks including @SecAzar, but not Pres Trump. pic.twitter.com/qHZaoa4rP1
And according to The Huffington Post’s S.V. Date, the pool reporter during the Allentown trip, “The president and his entourage were led around by Owens and Minor employees, who explained their distribution system and the products they handle. Trump and COS Mark Meadows did not wear masks. Everyone else did.”
It’s become common for lawmakers (both Republican and Democratic) to wear masks during work and public appearances to prevent spreading the coronavirus.
Donald Trump has arrived in Allentown, Pennsylvania, for a tour of Owens and Minor, a medical equipment distribution company where he plans to tout his administration’s efforts ramping up testing and boosting production of vital protective equipment.
The Pennsylvania jaunt marks the second time in as many weeks that Trump has visited a battleground state at a time when campaign travel has been almost entirely suspended.
On a tour of the facility, Trump did not wear a mask, though nearly everyone else in his entourage was spotted wearing a face covering.
Trump approached reporters as Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean played over the loudspeaker, part of what appeared to be a playlist similar to the ones featured at his signature campaign rallies.
“Most of this equipment is made in the USA,” he told them. “That’s the way we like it.”
More details about Burr’s decision to step down, from the congressional reporters at Politico:
The North Carolina Republicantold reporters he stepped aside because the investigation is a “distraction to the hard work of the committee, and the members and I think that the security of the country is too important to have a distraction.” He will remain on the committee, a source familiar with the situation said, and his decision to step down for now is not required by the Senate Republican Conference.
[...]
It’s unclear who will take the helm of the powerful committee, but Thune predicted it could be Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who currently chairs the Small Business Committee. Sens. Jim Risch of Idaho and Susan Collins of Maine are also senior members of the panel, though Risch chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and may not want to take on the Intel chairmanship.
[...]
A senior Justice Department official confirmed on Thursday that a warrant was served on Burr’s lawyer for the senator’s cell phone. The warrant was approved at the highest levels of the Justice Department, the official said, addingthat authorities did notconduct a raid.It was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
It’s also important to note that it’s extremely rare for a sitting senator to be the target of a federal investigation. Politico noted it’s also very rare for such a lawmaker to be served a search warrant.
Besides Burr, federal law enforcement officials also questioned California senator Dianne Feinstein on stock trades her husband made after the coronavirus pandemic began. According to the San Francisco Chronicle:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein was questioned by federal law enforcement agents about stock trades her husband made after the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States, her office said Thursday.
The California Democrat also provided documents to federal agents to show she was not involved in the transactions by her husband, investment banker Richard Blum, her spokesman said.
“She was happy to voluntarily answer those questions to set the record straight,” said spokesman Tom Mentzer. “There have been no follow-up actions on this issue.”
More on the flurry of stock trading amidst the pandemic here:
