Add Your Heading Text Here
Latest News
All ResourcesCNNThreat PostThe Journal
Are billionaires really self-isolating on superyachts?
| By
talklpstage
(CNN) — When entertainment mogul David Geffen shared an image of his superyacht “Rising Sun” at sea alongside the caption “isolated in the Grenadines” last month, it’s fair to say the post ruffled a few feathers.
However well-meaning his message may have been intended, many felt the billionaire came off as tone deaf, pointing out that self-isolating on a $590 million superyacht (pictured in 2017, above) during the coronavirus pandemic didn’t seem like much of a hardship.
In fact, the reaction was so strong, he later deleted the post, which included the message, “I’m hoping everybody is staying safe.”
However, in the weeks since then, various stories have emerged of the uber rich hopping on private jets and going into quarantine onboard a luxury yacht.
But given the ongoing travel restrictions across the world — not to mention that, while advice may differ from country to country, people are by and large being instructed to “stay at home” — is yacht operation even possible at the moment?
For those owners with a full crew who are stationed in a location where supplies can be brought over to them, it seems it’s very much possible, albeit something of a rarity.
“We have a limited number of private yacht owners who have elected to isolate on their yachts,” Rupert Connor from Luxury Yacht Group LLC tells CNN Travel.
“The most amazing sanctuary”
A police boat pulls over a yacht sailing in the waters of Australia while unnecessary travel is prohibited.
Paul Kane/Getty Images
“When you know your yacht and crew well, it is a very wonderful oasis from the madness that is enveloping the world.
“Many of the larger yachts have supplies for long range cruising, their engineering systems can support them for months at a time and most of the crew have medical training.”
According to Connor, those who are isolating on their yachts aren’t actually moving.
Instead they’re “sticking to an island group where they can receive air freight provisions” and plan to remain there until the global restrictions are lifted.
While a few customers have expressed an interest in long-term yacht charters for the purpose of self-isolation, this isn’t a service the company is currently able to offer due to the level of risk involved.
“The truths of this disease have changed too rapidly for anyone to make solid decisions that involve a yacht charter where the client doesn’t know the crew or owner’s health history,” he explains.
“And I don’t think the science is yet available to be able to state that a yacht is ‘clean’.”
However, it seems there are some yacht brokers who are continuing to offer charters in special circumstances.
“When you know your yacht and crew well, it is a very wonderful oasis from the madness that is enveloping the world.”
Rupert Connor, Luxury Yacht Group
Jonathon Beckett, CEO of luxury yacht broker Burgess, recently told luxury lifestyle magazine Robb Report that a select few customers have booked seven-week and four-week charters for their families “to see out the pandemic.”
“They will be home schooling, but the children will also have cooking lessons with the chef and spending time in the engine room with the engineers learning the more technical sides of yachting,” he said.
Luxury Yacht Group hopes to be able to offer a similar experience when yacht charter companies are able to carry out adequate testing on both passengers and crew.
“Once we have onboard testing for both Covid-19 antibodies for people who have had the disease and testing for the actual disease itself, a yacht is going to be the most amazing sanctuary.”
For many of us, an enormous yacht situated in an exotic location certainly seems like an “amazing sanctuary” for self-isolation, so it’s no surprise that customers are keen to get on board.
Stationery yachts
Oceanco, the shipyard behind luxury yacht Bravo Eugenia, are continuing to work on new projects during the crisis.
Courtesy Francisco Martinez
However, Rumble Romagnoli, CEO of Relevance, a luxury digital marketing company specializing in Monaco yacht marketing, is skeptical of the notion, pointing out that the practicalities involved make it an unfeasible choice for most.
“I think it’s a bit unrealistic to think people are going to swan off, get on board a yacht and just sit in the middle of the sea,” he says.
He also stresses that being stuck in the middle of the sea for weeks on end would prove tedious for most, even if they have lavish amenities at their disposal — “Rising Sun” has a wine cellar and a basketball court onboard.
“These billionaires and multi-millionaires don’t just stay on a yacht for two to three months. It’s not that pleasurable,” he adds.
“They fly over, get on a yacht, go to a restaurant, get off the yacht for lunch, go to a nightclub, get a helicopter somewhere else.
“It’s not like a villa. It can be quite claustrophobic.”
Also, with a full crew on board, as well as passengers, the risk of possible infection cannot be ignored.
“These billionaires and multi-millionaires don’t just stay on a yacht for two to three months. It’s not that pleasurable.”
Rumble Romagnoli, CEO of Relevance
But if no-one is getting on or off, it’s easy to see why some would choose to remain at sea, particularly if supplies are being brought over in a regulated manner and members of the crew are medically-trained.
However, those hoping to charter a luxury yacht in order to follow suit shouldn’t get too excited just yet.
The current global travel restrictions make reaching a yacht very difficult — a group of Cannes-bound passengers on a private jet which flew from London to Marseilles Airport earlier this month, breaching a ban on non-essential travel within France, was met by police and refused entry.
Taking a trip on a yacht would also be going against the current “stay at home” instructions in place across the world — many of those who’ve sailed off to destinations such as the Caribbean and the South Pacific will have done so before restrictions were put in place.
Then there’s the rather important fact that almost all charter bookings have been canceled, crews are being sent home, and the upcoming Mediterranean season is in jeopardy.
Packed ports
Hundreds of yachts and boats docked on the harbor in Auckland, New Zealand.
Bradley White/Getty Images
“Everyone’s on hold, waiting for some idea of when the season will open,” says Romagnoli.
“I believe there are no yachts out there. Some crew members are being released from their duties. Captains and first mates are losing their jobs.
“Some boats are coming out of the water and being wrapped up.”
Connor also notes that most of his company’s charter fleet have “taken up long term dockage.”
“The docks in Fort Lauderdale (and everywhere in the world) are full and crew are bunkered down onboard, if they are fortunate to have been kept on contract.
“Our main charter season runs from spring to late September, so we are projecting that coronavirus will decimate our 2020 revenues.
“Any charters already booked for the summer are nervously waiting for good news but realistically face cancellation.”
But although almost all sailing has stopped, work is continuing at shipyards across the world.
Paris Baloumis, marketing manager for Netherlands-based Oceanco, tells CNN Travel his team is working “with enhanced measures” on various projects, despite the high level of uncertainty.
“The coronavirus has definitely also affected the yachting industry,” he says, lamenting the many industry events that have been postponed or canceled.
“As a builder we have various projects under construction and have therefore taken all necessary safety measures to secure this process as far as possible.”
Not only are shipyards like Oceanco carrying on with projects, people are still buying and selling yachts, with brokers offering virtual tours in some cases.
“As soon as they drop the restrictions on movement, I’m sure there will be the biggest Black Friday of yacht charters ever known.”
Rumble Romagnoli
“I’m already fielding calls from strong sellers and trying to connect them with the few prospective buyers who have already started to sense an opportunity,” says Connor, adding that some clients will likely be forced to sell as a result of the economic effects of the coronavirus crisis.
“The timing for at-home testing will hopefully coincide with the re-opening of international borders and we can then send our yachts out to sea before the summer is completely gone,” he adds.
Romagnoli is also staying positive about the future of yacht chartering, stressing that customers are more eager than ever to get back out there.
“As soon as they drop the restrictions on movement,” he says. “I’m sure there will be the biggest Black Friday of yacht charters ever known.”
Until then, everyone is just waiting for the current situation to play out, but a select few just happen to be waiting onboard a yacht in international waters.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
Police investigating deaths of husband and wife attorneys found in their Illinois home
| By
talklpstage
Oak Park Police were called to perform a welfare check on Leslie Jones, 67, and Thomas Johnson, 70, Monday night. When they arrived around 7:30 p.m. Monday, they found the couple dead, according to CNN affiliate WLS.
Preliminary information indicates the deaths occurred under suspicious circumstances, and none of their injuries appeared to be self-inflicted, said Oak Park Police Chief LaDon Reynolds.
Neighbors honored the couple by playing music from their porches, honoring who prominent Chicago lawyer Dan Herbert called “a true leader and really a hero.” Herbert met Johnson when he was working as a hearing officer for the Chicago Police Board, the station said.
“No matter how many times you’d met them, you walked away feeling better about yourself but more importantly you felt motivated to do good,” Herbert said.
The couple were Harvard Law School graduates who worked at the same downtown Chicago firm, according to WLS. They had children and grandchildren.
Every weekend for years, Herbert said, he met someone whose life was changed by the couple.
Neighbors said the couple lived in the home where they were found for more than 20 years and were determined to improve the lives of those in their community, WLS reported.
Police are still investigating what happened in that home.
Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi released a statement on behalf of the department Tuesday afternoon saying, “Our deepest condolences are with [Jones’ and Johnson’s] family and with the Chicago Police Board.”
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
Coronavirus live updates: Cases near 2 million globally
| By
talklpstage
A police checks a commuter’s documents at the entrance to a Moscow metro station on Wednesday. Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS/Getty Images
The mayor of Moscow has admitted that the rollout of a new digital tracking system to enforce its coronavirus lockdown has caused crowding on public transportation, after images surfaced on Russian social media of large lines forming outside subway entrances as police checked passes.
“This morning, due to verification activities conducted by the GUVD [police], queues formed in the metro, something very critical in the current situation,” Sergey Sobyanin said in a statement on Twitter on Wednesday.
The new system officially went into operation Wednesday, requiring Muscovites and residents of the Moscow region to download a QR code so they can move around the Russian capital.
A Moscow metro passenger displays an electronic pass Tuesday with a QR code on a phone. Moscow News Agency/AP
Opposition activists warned the new system will lead to unprecedented government intrusion.
For example, the permit website prompts all users to register at or link their existing page to a government e-portal, which stores user data on traffic fines, utility bills, foreign passports and so on. Users also need to disclose their points of origin and destination, their employer tax identifier, car plate number and upload their IDs.
Daria Besedina and Maxim Katz, local opposition lawmakers who voted against the system, dubbed it a “cyber Gulag” and “digital concentration camp,” criticizing the authorities for mixed messaging about the coronavirus.
“I talked with the head of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate and asked them to organize work in such a way that further inspections would not lead to mass crowds of people,” Sobyanin, the mayor, said on Twitter.
He added that crowds had lessened and work was resuming at a normal pace.
“In the future it will be necessary to move to automated control,” he said. “We’ll think about how to do this.”
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
Sony World Photography Awards 2020: The year's best photographs revealed
| By
talklpstage
Written by Oscar Holland, CNN
A train carrying iron ore through a barren region of Mauritania and an intimate moment shared between two cheetahs are among the winning images in the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards, it was announced today.
Arranged by the World Photography Organisation, the awards’ annual Open competition recognizes the year’s best single images across categories including architecture, portraiture and still life. The 10 category winners will now compete for the $5,000 overall prize.
Year’s best architecture photos revealed
Also in the running are Jorge Reynal’s depiction of a dead fish caught in a plastic bag and Santiago Mesa’s image of a protester being detained by riot police in the Colombian city of Medellin. A picture of revelers on stage at an Iggy Pop concert and a portrait of Pixies front man Charles Thompson (better known as Black Francis) were also named as category winners.
Craig McGowan’s image of an iceberg in Northeast Greenland National Park won the awards’ landscape category. Credit: Craig McGowan
The images, all taken in 2019, were chosen from 100 shortlisted entries. Three of the 10 winners hail from Australia, with two from both China and the UK, and one each from Colombia, Italy and Argentina.
How can photographers capture human connection in the age of coronavirus?
Earlier this month, organizers announced that the annual awards ceremony will not go ahead as planned amid the coronavirus pandemic. An accompanying exhibition at London’s Somerset House, originally set to open Friday, has also been canceled. The judges will instead announce the winners online on June 9.
Now in its 13th year, the Sony World Photography Awards will also honor individual photographers in professional and student categories. Last year, Italian artist Federico Borella was named Photographer of the Year for his series “Five Degrees,” which explored suicide among male farmers in drought-ridden Tamil Nadu.
Scroll through the gallery above to see the 10 category winners in the Sony World Photography Awards Open competition.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
The economy can't reopen without schools
| By
talklpstage
But it’s not clear how any of this completely ends until the children are back in school. School is how we teach our children facts and figures. It’s also how we take care of them in the middle of the day. Parents can’t easily pick up and go back to work if they have no place to put their children. The reality is that nobody — not governors or the White House — can completely reopen the economy if the schools are still shut.
And they aren’t reopening anytime soon. The nation’s two largest school districts — in New York and Los Angeles — formally announced in just the past few days that they’ll stay closed for the rest of the school year.
That’s because the public health emergency is not yet under control. More than 23,000 Americans have died. If New York is nearing its apex, as the governor there said Tuesday, that means much of the rest of the country is not yet at its apex — or, put another way, things are still getting worse.
Right now, schools are closed everywhere — Education Week has maintained an interactive map of school closures since the beginning of this thing, and that map suggests that nearly every American school kid is not currently in school. It charts around 124,000 school closings affecting more than 55 million American kids.
What are all those kids doing? They’re supposedly distance-learning or homeschooling, taking screen lessons or self-teaching. (Let’s get real. A lot of them are playing Minecraft or making TikToks.) Just like the American education system on any given day, the coronavirus closure is a massive patchwork.
Of course there are outliers. The New York Times found a district in rural California where the K-8 school is still in session. But school is done for the year for kids in at least 21 states. That means no cultural rites of passage like sports championships, proms or SATs, which are all on hiatus.
There are nearly five months between now and Labor Day — Anthony Fauci said last week that he is optimistic that schools will mostly be open in the fall, but he cautioned it’ll be a different reality, because coronavirus isn’t going away. Watch that full (and nuanced!) answer here. It made me feel better, until I looked at the calendar. If schools aren’t opening because of the difficulty of social-distancing kids, will summer camps? What about pools, even?
Little agreement on when or how to get kids back to school — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that schools should look at staggering schedules or implementing social distancing. (Again, it’s very hard to get kids to respect 6-foot boundaries.) In New York, it’s not clear there’s any real plan, since New York Mayor Bill de Blasio informed Gov. Andrew Cuomo via text over this past weekend that he would be closing schools there through the school year. Cuomo later said that is his decision and not de Blasio’s. Ahem. We shall see.
The extended closures have meant figuring out how to distribute free meals to millions of kids who depend on them. It’s also meant figuring out how to get kids who don’t have computers and internet access the ability to get online for distance learning.
In Austin, Texas, the school district has deployed school buses to beam Wi-Fi where it’s needed. Here’s a video by CNN’s Evan McMorris-Santoro about how different schools are dealing with all of it.
Let’s talk about family leave — Some people might have the luxury of being able to work from home and try to manage a distance learning plan at the same time. A lot of Americans — many of them hourly wage earners — have to go into physical spaces to earn that wage. Coronavirus compounds inequality in this way.
A law passed earlier this year (before many mass school closings) requires some companies to provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave until December because of coronavirus-related issues, including school closures. Some large companies that can afford it are helping even more. Microsoft, for instance, is giving its employees an additional 12 weeks of paid family leave. Other companies are providing workers with subsidies to pay for child care — if they can find it. (That includes CNN parent company WarnerMedia.)
We will learn from cautious reopenings — Denmark is reopening some schools for younger children. That will help American officials gauge when it is safe for kids to go back and learn. But for most kids in the US, given the traditional school calendar, that won’t be until the fall. In Hong Kong, schools were shut down in early February. They’re still closed.
The closures will change education even after students go back — Some universities have already made the SAT optional for next year’s applications. The test, which is not a fair indicator of future success, was already under fire after last year’s college cheating scandal. Perhaps coronavirus will end the importance of the SAT. The tests have been canceled through at least May. The next possible testing date is June 6. And Advanced Placement exams will be given online.
College and grad students are seeing changes too — For the highly educated, there are some perks to this emergency. Some med students have been hurried out of school to help fight coronavirus. In New Jersey, the bar exam has been temporarily waived. Most new college graduates, however, will find themselves adrift, with internships and job offers suddenly canceled. They expected to matriculate into one of the strongest job markets ever. Now people are talking about the possibility of a depression.
Trump wants to grab the authority he gave away
The whole question of schools, though, brings us back to the question of how to restart the US economy. Trump claimed during a wild and angry news conference Monday that he has powers he does not have, but the theoretical standoff between the President and some of the nation’s governors over who does hold the authority to end the coronavirus restrictions is something of a sideshow.
The economy will not return with the flip of a switch. And even if it did, Trump was slow to turn things off. He’d be unable to turn them back on again.
Power of convenience — The whole fight is a window into how Trump views himself. He believes (incorrectly) he is something of a king when it comes to bringing governors like Andrew Cuomo or Gavin Newsom into line, but he has shown a real meekness and hands-off respect for states led by Republicans who didn’t want to make residents stay at home. That’s how we ended up with Spring Break Florida 2020 — and the spike in deaths to show for it.
Back in the early days of this outbreak, CNN spoke with Elizabeth Goitein, an expert on presidential powers, for some insight about what powers US and state laws spell out when it comes to Trump and state governors or mayors. She’s the co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.
We went back to her after Trump’s claim of “total authority” on Monday:
CNN: In a weird twist, since we first talked, Trump is now claiming “total authority” to open the country back up, rather than keep people at home. What do you make of that? Is it a completely different legal question about federalism — Trump vs. governors — or do you think it relates to his emergency powers?
EG: The President seems to assume that he can order the states to do anything he wants, because the federal government ultimately has more power than the states. This is wrong for two reasons. First, when it comes to a state government’s exercise of police powers within that state, the state’s powers are actually much greater than the federal government’s. Second, even to the extent the federal government might have some authority here (for instance, to lift burdens that states have imposed on interstate travel), that authority resides with Congress, not the President. The President has no inherent constitutional authority to deal with public health crises. Congress has not authorized the President to “re-open” the states, and so he has no legal basis to act.
Read the whole thing here.
Left unsaid
Read this description by CNN’s Maeve Reston and Stephen Collinson about what Trump didn’t mention during his news conference/airing of his own personal grievances Monday:
When the Category Five presidential storm had blown out, Trump had offered no new guidance on the key issues — for instance, the continued inadequacy of testing, which will hamper the nation’s economic opening. He vowed that the economy would fire up “ahead of schedule” but did not explain how, when many states are at or are approaching their peak infection rates. And he appeared to warn he would try to force open state economies, including shops, schools and restaurants closed by governors and mayors. He did not explain, either, how he would convince the public to get back to normal if people did not feel confident they were safe.
Read this: Pandemic planning never accounted for a president like Trump.
What are we doing here?
We’ve spent time lately dialing into one specific issue each day with the What Matters newsletter. Need more coronavirus news? You can get the latest details on what happened during the day by clicking here.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
They can't march in the streets. So they're protesting in their cars instead
| By
talklpstage
They taped signs on the sides of their cars and got ready to blare their horns.
Then they drove slowly down the street together.
The scene on a recent evening in Eloy, Arizona, about 60 miles southeast of Phoenix, was different than any demonstration Natally Cruz had joined before.
“I felt chills … just to see how much support there is out there, to see how even at this hard time, people are still trying to find a way to help one another,” says Cruz, who headed to the protest in her black Nissan Maxima with several signs in tow.
One said “honk for justice.”
Unable to gather in large groups because of the coronavirus pandemic, pockets of protesters around the world are turning to a new tactic: trying to make their voices heard from inside vehicles instead of marching in the streets.
One focus of US protests: Immigrant detention
Last Friday in Arizona, organizers say some 200 cars circled outside the Eloy Detention Center and La Palma Correctional Center. For weeks, similar protests have been popping up outside immigrant detention centers across the country.
Advocates such as Cruz are pushing for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release detainees, who they argue are particularly vulnerable to contracting the virus in crowded facilities that have long faced criticism for how they handle even routine medical care. ICE has said it’s committed to caring for those in its custody and considering releases of some detainees on a case-by-case basis. So far there are at least 77 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among more than 33,000 detainees in ICE custody, according to the agency.
At the Eloy demonstration, protesters showed up with signs that said “free them all” and “humanity over profit.” They honked their horns over and over, hoping detainees inside could hear.
“We want them to know people are out here fighting for them,” Cruz says, “that they’re not being left alone.”
Car protests are popping up elsewhere, too
This isn’t just something that’s just been happening outside immigrant detention centers.
In St. Paul, Minnesota, protesters drove by the governor’s mansion last month as they called for the state to release detainees.
At first glance, images of car protests in some cities — such as recent demonstrations in Philadelphia, Sao Paulo, Brazil and Krakow, Poland — look like they could simply be snapshots of rush-hour traffic.
But flags fluttering across windshield and signs taped in windows show that these aren’t scenes from a typical day on the streets.
This isn’t the first time this has happened
It’s no surprise to see different activist groups turning to similar protest tactics as they struggle to get attention for their causes and find new ways to come together, says David Meyer, a professor of sociology and political science at the University of California at Irvine.
“You’re always looking for something that will work. … You have to be constantly prospecting for stuff,” says Meyer, author of “The Politics of Protest: Social Movements in America.”
And vehicles have been used in protests before, Meyer says. In 1964, for example, a group of protesters from the Congress of Racial Equality organized a “stall-in” to try to keep people from going to the World’s Fair in New York — though in the end far fewer protesters showed up than organizers had originally promised. And in 1979, he says, farmers demanding more pay for crops headed to Washington in their tractors. Participants in the so-called “tractorcade” occupied the National Mall for weeks.
Now activists trying to make a point have more tools at their disposal. As the coronavirus pandemic spreads and government orders keep many at home, activists have been working on building capacity and attention for their causes online, Meyer says. But there are limits to internet organizing.
“Mostly that ends up talking to the people who already agree with you and already are with you,” he says. “The car protest is one way to try to break through those boundaries.”
But there could be pitfalls to protests inside vehicles, Meyer says. It’s harder to connect with fellow protesters from inside a car, he says, and vehicles may be viewed as more threatening.
“When protesters wear helmets or gas masks, it almost always leads to police feeling threatened and reacting more harshly. Do cars do that, too? I don’t know,” Meyer says.
More car protests are planned
Immigrant rights advocates have said they’re planning additional car protests. And other groups are, too.
Conservative critics of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have said they’re planning to surround the state’s capitol Wednesday — not only with cars, but also with construction vehicles, landscaping trucks and trailer boats representing industries that have been impacted by the governor’s stay-at-home orders.
Protesters argue that Whitmer has gone too far.
“She’s driving us out of business. We’re driving to Lansing,” says a Facebook invitation for the event, which is dubbed “Operation Gridlock” and organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition.
Whitmer has pledged to reopen the state as soon as it’s safe and is asking for patience.
Monday she called for people participating in the protest to remain in their vehicles “so that they don’t expose themselves or any of our first responders to potential Covid-19.”
“I support people’s right to demonstrate,” she told reporters, “and to use their voice.”
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
FBI warns companies of employees faking coronavirus test results
| By
talklpstage
In a report disseminated Monday to companies across the nation, and obtained by CNN, the FBI’s Office of Private Sector notified members of private industry they should be on the lookout for fake doctors notes and falsified documentation from employees claiming positive Covid-19 test results.
The bureau report warned that the steps a company must take to stop business operations and sanitize work spaces could lead to significant financial loss.
As one example, the FBI report described an incident in March where an employee working for an unidentified “critical manufacturing company” told their bosses they had tested positive for Covid-19 and submitted what appeared to be documentation from a medical facility.
“In response, the company shut down the affected manufacturing facility to disinfect the location, ceasing production and halting delivery of necessary materials to the plant,” the FBI report stated. “The company notified all employees at the facility, including four workers who had close contact with the reportedly infected employee and were required to self-quarantine.”
Upon subsequent close review of the employee’s medical documentation, supervisors became suspicious.
The letter indicating the positive Covid-19 testing was not on official letterhead from a medical facility. A call to a telephone number listed on the documentation revealed the number was not actually associated with a location that conducted novel coronavirus testing at the time the letter was written.
In total, the FBI estimates the victim company incurred over $175,000 in lost productivity due to the alleged scam. One coworker of the alleged scammer, believing they had been exposed to the virus, also faced personal financial loss after deciding to pay for a rental property where they could remain self-quarantined away from members of their family.
The FBI says companies should take certain actions to prevent from becoming the victim of a fraudulent Covid-19 claim.
The bureau recommends employers contact medical providers listed on work excuse documents in order to confirm their veracity. Supervisors should also take note of inconsistencies in font and spacing, or signs a document has been computer edited. And companies should review legitimate excuse letters health care providers have previously given to employees, in order to be aware of the typical format and structure used by medical providers.
While not commenting on any specific FBI report, a bureau spokesperson told CNN that “the FBI regularly shares this type of information that we assess as important, and we also respond to requests from our private sector partners for information on specific topics.”
The incident outlined in the FBI report issued this week is one in a series of alleged recent scams by employees pretending to have the novel coronavirus.
An 18-year-old McDonald’s employee was arrested last month in Canada and charged by authorities after allegedly producing a fake doctor’s note to her boss, claiming she had tested positive for Covid-19.
“The restaurant remained closed for several days while professional cleaning services worked to sanitize the store,” according to Ontario police. “There has been a significant impact on the restaurant, local customers and employees which instigated the need for police involvement.”
Last month, a South Carolina man was arrested and faces state charges after police say he similarly submitted fake documentation to his employer, indicating he contracted Covid-19. The call center where he worked was shut down for five days while the facility was disinfected.
Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright told to CNN affiliate WSPA that it “seems to me like the fellow just wanted a two-week paid vacation.”
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
The second pandemic that awaits Covid-19 first responders
| By
talklpstage
Health care workers are at a greater risk of contracting the novel coronavirus. In New York, according to a report from Business Insider, many providers with symptoms are not being tested, but asked to stay home for just seven days before resuming work. In some cases where a provider tests positive but remains asymptomatic, they’ve been asked to continue working because our hospitals are already short staffed and operating at their maximum capacity. When the rest of the country moves on and rebuilds, a new threat of post-traumatic stress disorder faces responders, and their families, that could rage for years.
My father was a sergeant in the Emergency Service Unit of the NYPD during the nearly nine months he spent at Ground Zero. What started as a rescue mission searching for survivors quickly turned to one of recovery of human remains. At 14-years-old, it was hard for me to understand what he was still doing there in February of 2002. We hardly saw him my first year of high school. He’d come home, take off his Carhartt bodysuit covered in World Trade Center dust, throw it down the basement stairs to wash, and sleep a few hours before waking for another shift. When I asked him what he was searching for at Ground Zero, he simply said, “Thumbs.”
Those working in the health care system are now also enduring trauma, worrying that they may become infected. Some are sleeping in their garages, in hotel rooms with coworkers, or sending their children or parents to live elsewhere to reduce their exposure to the virus.
Nearly 20 years separates this pandemic from the September 11th attacks in New York. At the time of writing, the number of total positive Covid-19 cases in New York state made up 10.5% of those across the world. Once again, we are an epicenter of trauma and death with another 8.7% of the pandemic’s deaths in our state alone.
Nightly, we’re opening our windows and standing on porches to cheer and praise our responder heroes—as they are—sacrificing their own well-being and safety to help others. Like my father and other first responders at Ground Zero, we’ve expected doctors and nurses to perform their jobs without adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). My father was told he didn’t need a proper mask because the air was safe to breathe.
And the similarities don’t end there.
Clapping from our balconies for our heroes is not enough. Though helpful, neither are meals, donations, or stimulus packages. I know this intimately as more of my father’s old coworkers die each year as a direct result of their exposure at Ground Zero. Just ask John Feal, a 9/11 first responder, who has been to Congress numerous times lobbying for financial coverage for responders dying of cancers borne of Ground Zero. Families of responders may not lose their loved one to the virus, but what they may not realize — as we hadn’t — was that you could lose parts of them to their work.
We celebrate our heroes but quickly expect them to resume their normal lives after working through a national crisis. My father left a war zone in the heart of our city and came home to his family and his job at the NYPD in the Emergency Service Unit. He was chronically exhausted, angry, hyper-vigilant, on an inhaler and in desperate need of more support than we could provide him. Eight years after 9/11, my parents ended their 25 year marriage.
The men and women working in hospitals, ambulances, and treating covid patients will be expected to resume their jobs, too — re-enter the site of their most traumatic professional moments — where patients young and old, without a single family member allowed by their side, died in acute respiratory failure. The endless phone calls they made to families on the death of their loved one will rob them of sleep long after a vaccine neutralizes our collective fear. As a society, when the immediate threat is over, we will still expect responders to continue saving people who enter the emergency room doors. But who will care for them or their families when the pandemic ends? If we’ve learned anything in the past few weeks, our economy is only as successful as the health of the people who work to uphold it.
In the months that follow this tragedy, we will need to look out for the signs of PTSD in those on the frontline. My father wasn’t required to see a mental health counselor in the aftermath. For many police like him, the stigma within the department prevented him from seeking help for years. If you find yourself face-to-face with a loved one who is changed by their work this last month, take that as your sign to mobilize. We must support our heroes by having systems in place, securing them affordable and ready access to mental health counseling, drug and alcohol treatment, and the proper time they will need to heal. If we want responders to continue their essential jobs, and do them well, we must afford them our praise in tangible, actionable ways.
On CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Dr. Yuval Neria — the director of trauma and PTSD at New York State Psychiatric Institute — warned of a possible “second pandemic,” one concerning mental health. After 9/11, roughly one to five percent of New Yorkers developed PSTD, according to Neria. Now, think of everyone you know working essential jobs outside of their homes in the fight against this disease right now. With our country facing a serious recession, it’s unlikely there will be any budget set aside for their health in the aftermath.
On late nights at Ground Zero, first responders were haunted by the sound of Personal Alert Safety System (PASS) alarms — a device used to alert others that a firefighter is motionless and in need of help. For this generation of responders, it may be the calls of code blue, indicating a patient’s heart has stopped, or their muffled cries for family in their final moments. We can truly thank our heroes only if we don’t forget them in their coming hours of need.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
Man released from jail amid coronavirus concerns is arrested on a murder charge
| By
talklpstage
Now, the 26-year-old is back behind bars for several new charges including second-degree murder with a firearm, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Williams was originally arrested March 13 for possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia, according to court records. He was one of more than 100 inmates released March 19 to curb the spread of the virus in detention centers and protect inmates and staff.
A day after being released, the sheriff’s office says, Williams became the suspect of a murder case.
“There is no question Joseph Williams took advantage of this health emergency to commit crimes while he was out of jail awaiting resolution of a low-level, non-violent offense,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement.
“Every murder, every violent crime, especially those involving a gun, is a sickening example of the worst in our community, especially at a time when our community is working relentlessly to fight against the spread of this deadly COVID-19.”
Court records show Williams is being held in jail without bond. CNN called the public defender’s office, which is representing Williams, for comment but has not heard back.
On March 20, police investigating reports of gunshots in a Tampa neighborhood found a man who was pronounced dead at the scene, according to CNN affiliate WFLA.
Williams was arrested Sunday in connection with the case. In addition to second-degree murder, he is facing several new charges including resisting an officer, felon in possession of a firearm, possession of heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia.
“Judges, prosecutors, and Sheriffs around the country are facing difficult decisions during this health crisis with respect to balancing public health and public safety,” said Chronister. “Sheriffs in Florida and throughout our country have released non-violent, low-level offenders to protect our deputies and the jail population from an outbreak.”
Williams has a lengthy criminal record that shows he has been arrested for 35 charges, according to the sheriff’s office.
CNN’s Chris Boyette contributed to this report.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
Are billionaires really self-isolating on superyachts?
| By
talklpstage
(CNN) — When entertainment mogul David Geffen shared an image of his superyacht “Rising Sun” at sea alongside the caption “isolated in the Grenadines” last month, it’s fair to say the post ruffled a few feathers.
However well-meaning his message may have been intended, many felt the billionaire came off as tone deaf, pointing out that self-isolating on a $590 million superyacht (pictured in 2017, above) during the coronavirus pandemic didn’t seem like much of a hardship.
In fact, the reaction was so strong, he later deleted the post, which included the message, “I’m hoping everybody is staying safe.”
However, in the weeks since then, various stories have emerged of the uber rich hopping on private jets and going into quarantine onboard a luxury yacht.
But given the ongoing travel restrictions across the world — not to mention that, while advice may differ from country to country, people are by and large being instructed to “stay at home” — is yacht operation even possible at the moment?
For those owners with a full crew who are stationed in a location where supplies can be brought over to them, it seems it’s very much possible, albeit something of a rarity.
“We have a limited number of private yacht owners who have elected to isolate on their yachts,” Rupert Connor from Luxury Yacht Group LLC tells CNN Travel.
“The most amazing sanctuary”
A police boat pulls over a yacht sailing in the waters of Australia while unnecessary travel is prohibited.
Paul Kane/Getty Images
“When you know your yacht and crew well, it is a very wonderful oasis from the madness that is enveloping the world.
“Many of the larger yachts have supplies for long range cruising, their engineering systems can support them for months at a time and most of the crew have medical training.”
According to Connor, those who are isolating on their yachts aren’t actually moving.
Instead they’re “sticking to an island group where they can receive air freight provisions” and plan to remain there until the global restrictions are lifted.
While a few customers have expressed an interest in long-term yacht charters for the purpose of self-isolation, this isn’t a service the company is currently able to offer due to the level of risk involved.
“The truths of this disease have changed too rapidly for anyone to make solid decisions that involve a yacht charter where the client doesn’t know the crew or owner’s health history,” he explains.
“And I don’t think the science is yet available to be able to state that a yacht is ‘clean’.”
However, it seems there are some yacht brokers who are continuing to offer charters in special circumstances.
“When you know your yacht and crew well, it is a very wonderful oasis from the madness that is enveloping the world.”
Rupert Connor, Luxury Yacht Group
Jonathon Beckett, CEO of luxury yacht broker Burgess, recently told luxury lifestyle magazine Robb Report that a select few customers have booked seven-week and four-week charters for their families “to see out the pandemic.”
“They will be home schooling, but the children will also have cooking lessons with the chef and spending time in the engine room with the engineers learning the more technical sides of yachting,” he said.
Luxury Yacht Group hopes to be able to offer a similar experience when yacht charter companies are able to carry out adequate testing on both passengers and crew.
“Once we have onboard testing for both Covid-19 antibodies for people who have had the disease and testing for the actual disease itself, a yacht is going to be the most amazing sanctuary.”
For many of us, an enormous yacht situated in an exotic location certainly seems like an “amazing sanctuary” for self-isolation, so it’s no surprise that customers are keen to get on board.
Stationery yachts
Oceanco, the shipyard behind luxury yacht Bravo Eugenia, are continuing to work on new projects during the crisis.
Courtesy Francisco Martinez
However, Rumble Romagnoli, CEO of Relevance, a luxury digital marketing company specializing in Monaco yacht marketing, is skeptical of the notion, pointing out that the practicalities involved make it an unfeasible choice for most.
“I think it’s a bit unrealistic to think people are going to swan off, get on board a yacht and just sit in the middle of the sea,” he says.
He also stresses that being stuck in the middle of the sea for weeks on end would prove tedious for most, even if they have lavish amenities at their disposal — “Rising Sun” has a wine cellar and a basketball court onboard.
“These billionaires and multi-millionaires don’t just stay on a yacht for two to three months. It’s not that pleasurable,” he adds.
“They fly over, get on a yacht, go to a restaurant, get off the yacht for lunch, go to a nightclub, get a helicopter somewhere else.
“It’s not like a villa. It can be quite claustrophobic.”
Also, with a full crew on board, as well as passengers, the risk of possible infection cannot be ignored.
“These billionaires and multi-millionaires don’t just stay on a yacht for two to three months. It’s not that pleasurable.”
Rumble Romagnoli, CEO of Relevance
But if no-one is getting on or off, it’s easy to see why some would choose to remain at sea, particularly if supplies are being brought over in a regulated manner and members of the crew are medically-trained.
However, those hoping to charter a luxury yacht in order to follow suit shouldn’t get too excited just yet.
The current global travel restrictions make reaching a yacht very difficult — a group of Cannes-bound passengers on a private jet which flew from London to Marseilles Airport earlier this month, breaching a ban on non-essential travel within France, was met by police and refused entry.
Taking a trip on a yacht would also be going against the current “stay at home” instructions in place across the world — many of those who’ve sailed off to destinations such as the Caribbean and the South Pacific will have done so before restrictions were put in place.
Then there’s the rather important fact that almost all charter bookings have been canceled, crews are being sent home, and the upcoming Mediterranean season is in jeopardy.
Packed ports
Hundreds of yachts and boats docked on the harbor in Auckland, New Zealand.
Bradley White/Getty Images
“Everyone’s on hold, waiting for some idea of when the season will open,” says Romagnoli.
“I believe there are no yachts out there. Some crew members are being released from their duties. Captains and first mates are losing their jobs.
“Some boats are coming out of the water and being wrapped up.”
Connor also notes that most of his company’s charter fleet have “taken up long term dockage.”
“The docks in Fort Lauderdale (and everywhere in the world) are full and crew are bunkered down onboard, if they are fortunate to have been kept on contract.
“Our main charter season runs from spring to late September, so we are projecting that coronavirus will decimate our 2020 revenues.
“Any charters already booked for the summer are nervously waiting for good news but realistically face cancellation.”
But although almost all sailing has stopped, work is continuing at shipyards across the world.
Paris Baloumis, marketing manager for Netherlands-based Oceanco, tells CNN Travel his team is working “with enhanced measures” on various projects, despite the high level of uncertainty.
“The coronavirus has definitely also affected the yachting industry,” he says, lamenting the many industry events that have been postponed or canceled.
“As a builder we have various projects under construction and have therefore taken all necessary safety measures to secure this process as far as possible.”
Not only are shipyards like Oceanco carrying on with projects, people are still buying and selling yachts, with brokers offering virtual tours in some cases.
“As soon as they drop the restrictions on movement, I’m sure there will be the biggest Black Friday of yacht charters ever known.”
Rumble Romagnoli
“I’m already fielding calls from strong sellers and trying to connect them with the few prospective buyers who have already started to sense an opportunity,” says Connor, adding that some clients will likely be forced to sell as a result of the economic effects of the coronavirus crisis.
“The timing for at-home testing will hopefully coincide with the re-opening of international borders and we can then send our yachts out to sea before the summer is completely gone,” he adds.
Romagnoli is also staying positive about the future of yacht chartering, stressing that customers are more eager than ever to get back out there.
“As soon as they drop the restrictions on movement,” he says. “I’m sure there will be the biggest Black Friday of yacht charters ever known.”
Until then, everyone is just waiting for the current situation to play out, but a select few just happen to be waiting onboard a yacht in international waters.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
Police investigating deaths of husband and wife attorneys found in their Illinois home
| By
talklpstage
Oak Park Police were called to perform a welfare check on Leslie Jones, 67, and Thomas Johnson, 70, Monday night. When they arrived around 7:30 p.m. Monday, they found the couple dead, according to CNN affiliate WLS.
Preliminary information indicates the deaths occurred under suspicious circumstances, and none of their injuries appeared to be self-inflicted, said Oak Park Police Chief LaDon Reynolds.
Neighbors honored the couple by playing music from their porches, honoring who prominent Chicago lawyer Dan Herbert called “a true leader and really a hero.” Herbert met Johnson when he was working as a hearing officer for the Chicago Police Board, the station said.
“No matter how many times you’d met them, you walked away feeling better about yourself but more importantly you felt motivated to do good,” Herbert said.
The couple were Harvard Law School graduates who worked at the same downtown Chicago firm, according to WLS. They had children and grandchildren.
Every weekend for years, Herbert said, he met someone whose life was changed by the couple.
Neighbors said the couple lived in the home where they were found for more than 20 years and were determined to improve the lives of those in their community, WLS reported.
Police are still investigating what happened in that home.
Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi released a statement on behalf of the department Tuesday afternoon saying, “Our deepest condolences are with [Jones’ and Johnson’s] family and with the Chicago Police Board.”
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
Coronavirus live updates: Cases near 2 million globally
| By
talklpstage
A police checks a commuter’s documents at the entrance to a Moscow metro station on Wednesday. Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS/Getty Images
The mayor of Moscow has admitted that the rollout of a new digital tracking system to enforce its coronavirus lockdown has caused crowding on public transportation, after images surfaced on Russian social media of large lines forming outside subway entrances as police checked passes.
“This morning, due to verification activities conducted by the GUVD [police], queues formed in the metro, something very critical in the current situation,” Sergey Sobyanin said in a statement on Twitter on Wednesday.
The new system officially went into operation Wednesday, requiring Muscovites and residents of the Moscow region to download a QR code so they can move around the Russian capital.
A Moscow metro passenger displays an electronic pass Tuesday with a QR code on a phone. Moscow News Agency/AP
Opposition activists warned the new system will lead to unprecedented government intrusion.
For example, the permit website prompts all users to register at or link their existing page to a government e-portal, which stores user data on traffic fines, utility bills, foreign passports and so on. Users also need to disclose their points of origin and destination, their employer tax identifier, car plate number and upload their IDs.
Daria Besedina and Maxim Katz, local opposition lawmakers who voted against the system, dubbed it a “cyber Gulag” and “digital concentration camp,” criticizing the authorities for mixed messaging about the coronavirus.
“I talked with the head of the Central Internal Affairs Directorate and asked them to organize work in such a way that further inspections would not lead to mass crowds of people,” Sobyanin, the mayor, said on Twitter.
He added that crowds had lessened and work was resuming at a normal pace.
“In the future it will be necessary to move to automated control,” he said. “We’ll think about how to do this.”
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
Sony World Photography Awards 2020: The year's best photographs revealed
| By
talklpstage
Written by Oscar Holland, CNN
A train carrying iron ore through a barren region of Mauritania and an intimate moment shared between two cheetahs are among the winning images in the prestigious Sony World Photography Awards, it was announced today.
Arranged by the World Photography Organisation, the awards’ annual Open competition recognizes the year’s best single images across categories including architecture, portraiture and still life. The 10 category winners will now compete for the $5,000 overall prize.
Year’s best architecture photos revealed
Also in the running are Jorge Reynal’s depiction of a dead fish caught in a plastic bag and Santiago Mesa’s image of a protester being detained by riot police in the Colombian city of Medellin. A picture of revelers on stage at an Iggy Pop concert and a portrait of Pixies front man Charles Thompson (better known as Black Francis) were also named as category winners.
Craig McGowan’s image of an iceberg in Northeast Greenland National Park won the awards’ landscape category. Credit: Craig McGowan
The images, all taken in 2019, were chosen from 100 shortlisted entries. Three of the 10 winners hail from Australia, with two from both China and the UK, and one each from Colombia, Italy and Argentina.
How can photographers capture human connection in the age of coronavirus?
Earlier this month, organizers announced that the annual awards ceremony will not go ahead as planned amid the coronavirus pandemic. An accompanying exhibition at London’s Somerset House, originally set to open Friday, has also been canceled. The judges will instead announce the winners online on June 9.
Now in its 13th year, the Sony World Photography Awards will also honor individual photographers in professional and student categories. Last year, Italian artist Federico Borella was named Photographer of the Year for his series “Five Degrees,” which explored suicide among male farmers in drought-ridden Tamil Nadu.
Scroll through the gallery above to see the 10 category winners in the Sony World Photography Awards Open competition.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
The economy can't reopen without schools
| By
talklpstage
But it’s not clear how any of this completely ends until the children are back in school. School is how we teach our children facts and figures. It’s also how we take care of them in the middle of the day. Parents can’t easily pick up and go back to work if they have no place to put their children. The reality is that nobody — not governors or the White House — can completely reopen the economy if the schools are still shut.
And they aren’t reopening anytime soon. The nation’s two largest school districts — in New York and Los Angeles — formally announced in just the past few days that they’ll stay closed for the rest of the school year.
That’s because the public health emergency is not yet under control. More than 23,000 Americans have died. If New York is nearing its apex, as the governor there said Tuesday, that means much of the rest of the country is not yet at its apex — or, put another way, things are still getting worse.
Right now, schools are closed everywhere — Education Week has maintained an interactive map of school closures since the beginning of this thing, and that map suggests that nearly every American school kid is not currently in school. It charts around 124,000 school closings affecting more than 55 million American kids.
What are all those kids doing? They’re supposedly distance-learning or homeschooling, taking screen lessons or self-teaching. (Let’s get real. A lot of them are playing Minecraft or making TikToks.) Just like the American education system on any given day, the coronavirus closure is a massive patchwork.
Of course there are outliers. The New York Times found a district in rural California where the K-8 school is still in session. But school is done for the year for kids in at least 21 states. That means no cultural rites of passage like sports championships, proms or SATs, which are all on hiatus.
There are nearly five months between now and Labor Day — Anthony Fauci said last week that he is optimistic that schools will mostly be open in the fall, but he cautioned it’ll be a different reality, because coronavirus isn’t going away. Watch that full (and nuanced!) answer here. It made me feel better, until I looked at the calendar. If schools aren’t opening because of the difficulty of social-distancing kids, will summer camps? What about pools, even?
Little agreement on when or how to get kids back to school — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that schools should look at staggering schedules or implementing social distancing. (Again, it’s very hard to get kids to respect 6-foot boundaries.) In New York, it’s not clear there’s any real plan, since New York Mayor Bill de Blasio informed Gov. Andrew Cuomo via text over this past weekend that he would be closing schools there through the school year. Cuomo later said that is his decision and not de Blasio’s. Ahem. We shall see.
The extended closures have meant figuring out how to distribute free meals to millions of kids who depend on them. It’s also meant figuring out how to get kids who don’t have computers and internet access the ability to get online for distance learning.
In Austin, Texas, the school district has deployed school buses to beam Wi-Fi where it’s needed. Here’s a video by CNN’s Evan McMorris-Santoro about how different schools are dealing with all of it.
Let’s talk about family leave — Some people might have the luxury of being able to work from home and try to manage a distance learning plan at the same time. A lot of Americans — many of them hourly wage earners — have to go into physical spaces to earn that wage. Coronavirus compounds inequality in this way.
A law passed earlier this year (before many mass school closings) requires some companies to provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave until December because of coronavirus-related issues, including school closures. Some large companies that can afford it are helping even more. Microsoft, for instance, is giving its employees an additional 12 weeks of paid family leave. Other companies are providing workers with subsidies to pay for child care — if they can find it. (That includes CNN parent company WarnerMedia.)
We will learn from cautious reopenings — Denmark is reopening some schools for younger children. That will help American officials gauge when it is safe for kids to go back and learn. But for most kids in the US, given the traditional school calendar, that won’t be until the fall. In Hong Kong, schools were shut down in early February. They’re still closed.
The closures will change education even after students go back — Some universities have already made the SAT optional for next year’s applications. The test, which is not a fair indicator of future success, was already under fire after last year’s college cheating scandal. Perhaps coronavirus will end the importance of the SAT. The tests have been canceled through at least May. The next possible testing date is June 6. And Advanced Placement exams will be given online.
College and grad students are seeing changes too — For the highly educated, there are some perks to this emergency. Some med students have been hurried out of school to help fight coronavirus. In New Jersey, the bar exam has been temporarily waived. Most new college graduates, however, will find themselves adrift, with internships and job offers suddenly canceled. They expected to matriculate into one of the strongest job markets ever. Now people are talking about the possibility of a depression.
Trump wants to grab the authority he gave away
The whole question of schools, though, brings us back to the question of how to restart the US economy. Trump claimed during a wild and angry news conference Monday that he has powers he does not have, but the theoretical standoff between the President and some of the nation’s governors over who does hold the authority to end the coronavirus restrictions is something of a sideshow.
The economy will not return with the flip of a switch. And even if it did, Trump was slow to turn things off. He’d be unable to turn them back on again.
Power of convenience — The whole fight is a window into how Trump views himself. He believes (incorrectly) he is something of a king when it comes to bringing governors like Andrew Cuomo or Gavin Newsom into line, but he has shown a real meekness and hands-off respect for states led by Republicans who didn’t want to make residents stay at home. That’s how we ended up with Spring Break Florida 2020 — and the spike in deaths to show for it.
Back in the early days of this outbreak, CNN spoke with Elizabeth Goitein, an expert on presidential powers, for some insight about what powers US and state laws spell out when it comes to Trump and state governors or mayors. She’s the co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.
We went back to her after Trump’s claim of “total authority” on Monday:
CNN: In a weird twist, since we first talked, Trump is now claiming “total authority” to open the country back up, rather than keep people at home. What do you make of that? Is it a completely different legal question about federalism — Trump vs. governors — or do you think it relates to his emergency powers?
EG: The President seems to assume that he can order the states to do anything he wants, because the federal government ultimately has more power than the states. This is wrong for two reasons. First, when it comes to a state government’s exercise of police powers within that state, the state’s powers are actually much greater than the federal government’s. Second, even to the extent the federal government might have some authority here (for instance, to lift burdens that states have imposed on interstate travel), that authority resides with Congress, not the President. The President has no inherent constitutional authority to deal with public health crises. Congress has not authorized the President to “re-open” the states, and so he has no legal basis to act.
Read the whole thing here.
Left unsaid
Read this description by CNN’s Maeve Reston and Stephen Collinson about what Trump didn’t mention during his news conference/airing of his own personal grievances Monday:
When the Category Five presidential storm had blown out, Trump had offered no new guidance on the key issues — for instance, the continued inadequacy of testing, which will hamper the nation’s economic opening. He vowed that the economy would fire up “ahead of schedule” but did not explain how, when many states are at or are approaching their peak infection rates. And he appeared to warn he would try to force open state economies, including shops, schools and restaurants closed by governors and mayors. He did not explain, either, how he would convince the public to get back to normal if people did not feel confident they were safe.
Read this: Pandemic planning never accounted for a president like Trump.
What are we doing here?
We’ve spent time lately dialing into one specific issue each day with the What Matters newsletter. Need more coronavirus news? You can get the latest details on what happened during the day by clicking here.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
FBI warns companies of employees faking coronavirus test results
| By
talklpstage
In a report disseminated Monday to companies across the nation, and obtained by CNN, the FBI’s Office of Private Sector notified members of private industry they should be on the lookout for fake doctors notes and falsified documentation from employees claiming positive Covid-19 test results.
The bureau report warned that the steps a company must take to stop business operations and sanitize work spaces could lead to significant financial loss.
As one example, the FBI report described an incident in March where an employee working for an unidentified “critical manufacturing company” told their bosses they had tested positive for Covid-19 and submitted what appeared to be documentation from a medical facility.
“In response, the company shut down the affected manufacturing facility to disinfect the location, ceasing production and halting delivery of necessary materials to the plant,” the FBI report stated. “The company notified all employees at the facility, including four workers who had close contact with the reportedly infected employee and were required to self-quarantine.”
Upon subsequent close review of the employee’s medical documentation, supervisors became suspicious.
The letter indicating the positive Covid-19 testing was not on official letterhead from a medical facility. A call to a telephone number listed on the documentation revealed the number was not actually associated with a location that conducted novel coronavirus testing at the time the letter was written.
In total, the FBI estimates the victim company incurred over $175,000 in lost productivity due to the alleged scam. One coworker of the alleged scammer, believing they had been exposed to the virus, also faced personal financial loss after deciding to pay for a rental property where they could remain self-quarantined away from members of their family.
The FBI says companies should take certain actions to prevent from becoming the victim of a fraudulent Covid-19 claim.
The bureau recommends employers contact medical providers listed on work excuse documents in order to confirm their veracity. Supervisors should also take note of inconsistencies in font and spacing, or signs a document has been computer edited. And companies should review legitimate excuse letters health care providers have previously given to employees, in order to be aware of the typical format and structure used by medical providers.
While not commenting on any specific FBI report, a bureau spokesperson told CNN that “the FBI regularly shares this type of information that we assess as important, and we also respond to requests from our private sector partners for information on specific topics.”
The incident outlined in the FBI report issued this week is one in a series of alleged recent scams by employees pretending to have the novel coronavirus.
An 18-year-old McDonald’s employee was arrested last month in Canada and charged by authorities after allegedly producing a fake doctor’s note to her boss, claiming she had tested positive for Covid-19.
“The restaurant remained closed for several days while professional cleaning services worked to sanitize the store,” according to Ontario police. “There has been a significant impact on the restaurant, local customers and employees which instigated the need for police involvement.”
Last month, a South Carolina man was arrested and faces state charges after police say he similarly submitted fake documentation to his employer, indicating he contracted Covid-19. The call center where he worked was shut down for five days while the facility was disinfected.
Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright told to CNN affiliate WSPA that it “seems to me like the fellow just wanted a two-week paid vacation.”
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
They can't march in the streets. So they're protesting in their cars instead
| By
talklpstage
They taped signs on the sides of their cars and got ready to blare their horns.
Then they drove slowly down the street together.
The scene on a recent evening in Eloy, Arizona, about 60 miles southeast of Phoenix, was different than any demonstration Natally Cruz had joined before.
“I felt chills … just to see how much support there is out there, to see how even at this hard time, people are still trying to find a way to help one another,” says Cruz, who headed to the protest in her black Nissan Maxima with several signs in tow.
One said “honk for justice.”
Unable to gather in large groups because of the coronavirus pandemic, pockets of protesters around the world are turning to a new tactic: trying to make their voices heard from inside vehicles instead of marching in the streets.
One focus of US protests: Immigrant detention
Last Friday in Arizona, organizers say some 200 cars circled outside the Eloy Detention Center and La Palma Correctional Center. For weeks, similar protests have been popping up outside immigrant detention centers across the country.
Advocates such as Cruz are pushing for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release detainees, who they argue are particularly vulnerable to contracting the virus in crowded facilities that have long faced criticism for how they handle even routine medical care. ICE has said it’s committed to caring for those in its custody and considering releases of some detainees on a case-by-case basis. So far there are at least 77 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among more than 33,000 detainees in ICE custody, according to the agency.
At the Eloy demonstration, protesters showed up with signs that said “free them all” and “humanity over profit.” They honked their horns over and over, hoping detainees inside could hear.
“We want them to know people are out here fighting for them,” Cruz says, “that they’re not being left alone.”
Car protests are popping up elsewhere, too
This isn’t just something that’s just been happening outside immigrant detention centers.
In St. Paul, Minnesota, protesters drove by the governor’s mansion last month as they called for the state to release detainees.
At first glance, images of car protests in some cities — such as recent demonstrations in Philadelphia, Sao Paulo, Brazil and Krakow, Poland — look like they could simply be snapshots of rush-hour traffic.
But flags fluttering across windshield and signs taped in windows show that these aren’t scenes from a typical day on the streets.
This isn’t the first time this has happened
It’s no surprise to see different activist groups turning to similar protest tactics as they struggle to get attention for their causes and find new ways to come together, says David Meyer, a professor of sociology and political science at the University of California at Irvine.
“You’re always looking for something that will work. … You have to be constantly prospecting for stuff,” says Meyer, author of “The Politics of Protest: Social Movements in America.”
And vehicles have been used in protests before, Meyer says. In 1964, for example, a group of protesters from the Congress of Racial Equality organized a “stall-in” to try to keep people from going to the World’s Fair in New York — though in the end far fewer protesters showed up than organizers had originally promised. And in 1979, he says, farmers demanding more pay for crops headed to Washington in their tractors. Participants in the so-called “tractorcade” occupied the National Mall for weeks.
Now activists trying to make a point have more tools at their disposal. As the coronavirus pandemic spreads and government orders keep many at home, activists have been working on building capacity and attention for their causes online, Meyer says. But there are limits to internet organizing.
“Mostly that ends up talking to the people who already agree with you and already are with you,” he says. “The car protest is one way to try to break through those boundaries.”
But there could be pitfalls to protests inside vehicles, Meyer says. It’s harder to connect with fellow protesters from inside a car, he says, and vehicles may be viewed as more threatening.
“When protesters wear helmets or gas masks, it almost always leads to police feeling threatened and reacting more harshly. Do cars do that, too? I don’t know,” Meyer says.
More car protests are planned
Immigrant rights advocates have said they’re planning additional car protests. And other groups are, too.
Conservative critics of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have said they’re planning to surround the state’s capitol Wednesday — not only with cars, but also with construction vehicles, landscaping trucks and trailer boats representing industries that have been impacted by the governor’s stay-at-home orders.
Protesters argue that Whitmer has gone too far.
“She’s driving us out of business. We’re driving to Lansing,” says a Facebook invitation for the event, which is dubbed “Operation Gridlock” and organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition.
Whitmer has pledged to reopen the state as soon as it’s safe and is asking for patience.
Monday she called for people participating in the protest to remain in their vehicles “so that they don’t expose themselves or any of our first responders to potential Covid-19.”
“I support people’s right to demonstrate,” she told reporters, “and to use their voice.”
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
The second pandemic that awaits Covid-19 first responders
| By
talklpstage
Health care workers are at a greater risk of contracting the novel coronavirus. In New York, according to a report from Business Insider, many providers with symptoms are not being tested, but asked to stay home for just seven days before resuming work. In some cases where a provider tests positive but remains asymptomatic, they’ve been asked to continue working because our hospitals are already short staffed and operating at their maximum capacity. When the rest of the country moves on and rebuilds, a new threat of post-traumatic stress disorder faces responders, and their families, that could rage for years.
My father was a sergeant in the Emergency Service Unit of the NYPD during the nearly nine months he spent at Ground Zero. What started as a rescue mission searching for survivors quickly turned to one of recovery of human remains. At 14-years-old, it was hard for me to understand what he was still doing there in February of 2002. We hardly saw him my first year of high school. He’d come home, take off his Carhartt bodysuit covered in World Trade Center dust, throw it down the basement stairs to wash, and sleep a few hours before waking for another shift. When I asked him what he was searching for at Ground Zero, he simply said, “Thumbs.”
Those working in the health care system are now also enduring trauma, worrying that they may become infected. Some are sleeping in their garages, in hotel rooms with coworkers, or sending their children or parents to live elsewhere to reduce their exposure to the virus.
Nearly 20 years separates this pandemic from the September 11th attacks in New York. At the time of writing, the number of total positive Covid-19 cases in New York state made up 10.5% of those across the world. Once again, we are an epicenter of trauma and death with another 8.7% of the pandemic’s deaths in our state alone.
Nightly, we’re opening our windows and standing on porches to cheer and praise our responder heroes—as they are—sacrificing their own well-being and safety to help others. Like my father and other first responders at Ground Zero, we’ve expected doctors and nurses to perform their jobs without adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). My father was told he didn’t need a proper mask because the air was safe to breathe.
And the similarities don’t end there.
Clapping from our balconies for our heroes is not enough. Though helpful, neither are meals, donations, or stimulus packages. I know this intimately as more of my father’s old coworkers die each year as a direct result of their exposure at Ground Zero. Just ask John Feal, a 9/11 first responder, who has been to Congress numerous times lobbying for financial coverage for responders dying of cancers borne of Ground Zero. Families of responders may not lose their loved one to the virus, but what they may not realize — as we hadn’t — was that you could lose parts of them to their work.
We celebrate our heroes but quickly expect them to resume their normal lives after working through a national crisis. My father left a war zone in the heart of our city and came home to his family and his job at the NYPD in the Emergency Service Unit. He was chronically exhausted, angry, hyper-vigilant, on an inhaler and in desperate need of more support than we could provide him. Eight years after 9/11, my parents ended their 25 year marriage.
The men and women working in hospitals, ambulances, and treating covid patients will be expected to resume their jobs, too — re-enter the site of their most traumatic professional moments — where patients young and old, without a single family member allowed by their side, died in acute respiratory failure. The endless phone calls they made to families on the death of their loved one will rob them of sleep long after a vaccine neutralizes our collective fear. As a society, when the immediate threat is over, we will still expect responders to continue saving people who enter the emergency room doors. But who will care for them or their families when the pandemic ends? If we’ve learned anything in the past few weeks, our economy is only as successful as the health of the people who work to uphold it.
In the months that follow this tragedy, we will need to look out for the signs of PTSD in those on the frontline. My father wasn’t required to see a mental health counselor in the aftermath. For many police like him, the stigma within the department prevented him from seeking help for years. If you find yourself face-to-face with a loved one who is changed by their work this last month, take that as your sign to mobilize. We must support our heroes by having systems in place, securing them affordable and ready access to mental health counseling, drug and alcohol treatment, and the proper time they will need to heal. If we want responders to continue their essential jobs, and do them well, we must afford them our praise in tangible, actionable ways.
On CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Dr. Yuval Neria — the director of trauma and PTSD at New York State Psychiatric Institute — warned of a possible “second pandemic,” one concerning mental health. After 9/11, roughly one to five percent of New Yorkers developed PSTD, according to Neria. Now, think of everyone you know working essential jobs outside of their homes in the fight against this disease right now. With our country facing a serious recession, it’s unlikely there will be any budget set aside for their health in the aftermath.
On late nights at Ground Zero, first responders were haunted by the sound of Personal Alert Safety System (PASS) alarms — a device used to alert others that a firefighter is motionless and in need of help. For this generation of responders, it may be the calls of code blue, indicating a patient’s heart has stopped, or their muffled cries for family in their final moments. We can truly thank our heroes only if we don’t forget them in their coming hours of need.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
Man released from jail amid coronavirus concerns is arrested on a murder charge
| By
talklpstage
Now, the 26-year-old is back behind bars for several new charges including second-degree murder with a firearm, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Williams was originally arrested March 13 for possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia, according to court records. He was one of more than 100 inmates released March 19 to curb the spread of the virus in detention centers and protect inmates and staff.
A day after being released, the sheriff’s office says, Williams became the suspect of a murder case.
“There is no question Joseph Williams took advantage of this health emergency to commit crimes while he was out of jail awaiting resolution of a low-level, non-violent offense,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement.
“Every murder, every violent crime, especially those involving a gun, is a sickening example of the worst in our community, especially at a time when our community is working relentlessly to fight against the spread of this deadly COVID-19.”
Court records show Williams is being held in jail without bond. CNN called the public defender’s office, which is representing Williams, for comment but has not heard back.
On March 20, police investigating reports of gunshots in a Tampa neighborhood found a man who was pronounced dead at the scene, according to CNN affiliate WFLA.
Williams was arrested Sunday in connection with the case. In addition to second-degree murder, he is facing several new charges including resisting an officer, felon in possession of a firearm, possession of heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia.
“Judges, prosecutors, and Sheriffs around the country are facing difficult decisions during this health crisis with respect to balancing public health and public safety,” said Chronister. “Sheriffs in Florida and throughout our country have released non-violent, low-level offenders to protect our deputies and the jail population from an outbreak.”
Williams has a lengthy criminal record that shows he has been arrested for 35 charges, according to the sheriff’s office.
CNN’s Chris Boyette contributed to this report.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
April Patch Tuesday: Microsoft Battles 4 Bugs Under Active Exploit
| By
talklpstage
The administrator of your personal data will be Threatpost, Inc., 500 Unicorn Park, Woburn, MA 01801. Detailed information on the processing of personal data can be found in the privacy policy. In addition, you will find them in the message confirming the subscription to the newsletter.
Threat Post,
Source:
threatpost Rss
Adobe Fixes ‘Important’ Flaws in ColdFusion, After Effects and Digital Editions
| By
talklpstage
The administrator of your personal data will be Threatpost, Inc., 500 Unicorn Park, Woburn, MA 01801. Detailed information on the processing of personal data can be found in the privacy policy. In addition, you will find them in the message confirming the subscription to the newsletter.
Threat Post,
Source:
threatpost Rss
TA505 Crime Gang Deploys SDBbot for Corporate Network Takeover
| By
talklpstage
The administrator of your personal data will be Threatpost, Inc., 500 Unicorn Park, Woburn, MA 01801. Detailed information on the processing of personal data can be found in the privacy policy. In addition, you will find them in the message confirming the subscription to the newsletter.
Threat Post,
Source:
threatpost Rss
Cyberattacks Target Healthcare Orgs on Coronavirus Frontlines
| By
talklpstage
The administrator of your personal data will be Threatpost, Inc., 500 Unicorn Park, Woburn, MA 01801. Detailed information on the processing of personal data can be found in the privacy policy. In addition, you will find them in the message confirming the subscription to the newsletter.
Threat Post,
Source:
threatpost Rss
Safe Remote Access to Critical Infrastructure Networks in a Time of Global Crisis
| By
talklpstage
The administrator of your personal data will be Threatpost, Inc., 500 Unicorn Park, Woburn, MA 01801. Detailed information on the processing of personal data can be found in the privacy policy. In addition, you will find them in the message confirming the subscription to the newsletter.
Threat Post,
Source:
threatpost Rss
TikTok Flaw Allows Threat Actors to Plant Forged Videos in User Feeds
| By
talklpstage
The administrator of your personal data will be Threatpost, Inc., 500 Unicorn Park, Woburn, MA 01801. Detailed information on the processing of personal data can be found in the privacy policy. In addition, you will find them in the message confirming the subscription to the newsletter.
Threat Post,
Source:
threatpost Rss
Malware Risks Triple on WFH Networks: Experts Offer Advice
| By
talklpstage
The administrator of your personal data will be Threatpost, Inc., 500 Unicorn Park, Woburn, MA 01801. Detailed information on the processing of personal data can be found in the privacy policy. In addition, you will find them in the message confirming the subscription to the newsletter.
Threat Post,
Source:
threatpost Rss
Oracle Tackles a Massive 405 Bugs for Its April Quarterly Patch Update
| By
talklpstage
The administrator of your personal data will be Threatpost, Inc., 500 Unicorn Park, Woburn, MA 01801. Detailed information on the processing of personal data can be found in the privacy policy. In addition, you will find them in the message confirming the subscription to the newsletter.
Threat Post,
Source:
threatpost Rss
Overlay Malware Leverages Chrome Browser, Targets Banks and Heads to Spain
| By
talklpstage
The administrator of your personal data will be Threatpost, Inc., 500 Unicorn Park, Woburn, MA 01801. Detailed information on the processing of personal data can be found in the privacy policy. In addition, you will find them in the message confirming the subscription to the newsletter.
Threat Post,
Source:
threatpost Rss
As We Shift to Remote Learning in These Uncertain Times, Let’s Not Forget the Whole Child
| By
talklpstage
Expert Viewpoint
As We Shift to Remote Learning in These Uncertain Times, Let’s Not Forget the Whole Child
By Ronald Chaluisán Batlle
04/14/20
Students whose social and emotional needs are not being met do not learn effectively. The Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional and Academic Development states in the conclusion of its final report, “Opportunities create responsibilities. And we are all responsible — all of us who interact with students and all of us who care about students — for an approach to learning that touches and challenges the whole child.”
Young people worry when routines are interrupted. They worry when their world stops making sense. They worry when adults around them are worried. According to mental health professionals, young people facing stressful situations should maintain regular routines; talk, listen and express themselves; connect with others; and regularly eat, sleep and take breaks.
When children are in school, this structure is largely in place. When schools close, the child’s world can crumble.
In this new reality, assignments should be designed to decrease students’ stress levels, not increase them. Educators should help students and their families establish new routines to maximize learning. They should encourage, not create barriers to, conversations between siblings as well as between children and parents and other family members. Distance learning and e-learning platforms should not only be used to get content and assignments to students but to connect students with each other in meaningful ways.
Distance learning is defined as a method of study where teachers and students use the Internet, e-mail, and mail to have classes. The Association for Talent Development tells us that e-learning is “asynchronous, structured, self-paced learning that is delivered electronically.” Effective use of these methods requires students to have easy access to computers and stable internet connections. Students learn better when the experience is personalized and interactive, with sufficient technical support.
Over the last few years, school districts have made much progress integrating e- and distance learning strategies into their array of teaching methods. However, some schools, especially elementary and middle schools, do not yet have the infrastructure in place to offer these methods widely. Even more challenging are districts where a good, if not substantial, number of families do not have computers or consistent broadband access in their homes.
Long term, school districts will need to think creatively about how they incorporate e- and distance learning into their overall plans. They will need to ensure multiple methods for families to access content as well as various mechanisms for communication. Short term, they will need to find pragmatic ways to quickly broaden access to computers and provide support services for students to use them, with the support of their families.
School districts must also consider the impact that interruptions to students’ lives have on their social and emotional well-being.
I ask district leaders and educators not to create assignments as if they were going to be taught in the classroom. I encourage them to imagine the home as a parallel and equally important learning environment to the school. I propose that they create assignments that leverage the most valuable resources available in homes: the student’s family, their history and their practices and beliefs. I urge them to define the unit of focus, not as the individual student, but as the members of the student’s family as defined by the student. I ask that they not expect the student to sit independently at a desk, chair or computer for long periods. I challenge them to identify compelling and culturally relevant questions that immerse students in the content and skills on which they will be assessed while allowing families to construct answers by reading, speaking, and exploring together in their homes.
I believe that our educators can meet the challenges laid out above, activating the social and emotional supports necessary for robust learning in uncertain times. I trust that they can imagine and construct assignments that support family interactions rather than interrupt them. I believe that educators can create tasks that promote and support the “culture” of learning that teachers strive to achieve in their classrooms.
Conversely, we should not ask families to replicate the classroom setting in their home. I believe assignments can be designed to meet the needs of the whole child, nurturing a learning culture in the home in which family members observe, question, and search for answers together. A culture in which they are asked to present what they see and think to each other and document it for credit. A culture in which they invite each other to critique each other’s findings and learn together.
The Journal,
Source:
The Journal Rss
Grants & Upcoming Events (Week of April 13, 2020)
| By
talklpstage
What Cybercriminals Want From Your Schools
Every day, schools are exposed to cyberthreats like phishing emails, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, insider threats, and malware—with the most disruptive coming from information-stealing Trojans and ransomware attacks. There have been 491 reported incidents of cyberattacks in schools throughout the US since 2016. Read more…
The Journal,
Source:
The Journal Rss
Google Classroom Is Top Education App Download
| By
talklpstage
Learning Tools
Google Classroom Is Top Education App Download
By Dian Schaffhauser
04/09/20
Mobile education applications have experienced a 90 percent increase in weekly downloads usage worldwide between the last three months of 2019 and the first three months of 2020, according to a new analysis by App Annie. For the United States Overall growth rate in education app downloads in the United States alone was 135 percent. But that was beat out by Australia, where the rate of increase was 190 percent; the United Kingdom, where it was 150 percent; and Brazil, where it was 140 percent. App Annie is a company that develops mobile market data.
The top education apps downloaded during the week of March 22, 2020, from the Apple App Store and Google Play. Source: App Annie
For the United States, the top three education apps in use during Mar. 22, 2020 were Google Classroom, Remind: Safe Classroom Communication and ClassDojo for sharing photos, videos, announcements and private messages with families. The following week, Google Classroom came in fourth among all non-gaming applications by downloads, beat out by Zoom Cloud Meetings in the number one spot, TikTok in second place and group video app Houseparty in third place.
The company reported that Flipgrid, a short-form educational video platform, has also seen strong growth, rising dramatically from position number 620 just a month ago to spot number 43 most recently.
The data was shared as a “mobile minute” on the company blog.
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a senior contributing editor for 1105 Media’s education publications THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @schaffhauser.
The Journal,
Source:
The Journal Rss
Coronavirus Fears Lead to Cancellation of SXSW EDU
| By
talklpstage
Events
Coronavirus Fears Lead to Cancellation of SXSW EDU
By David Nagel
03/06/20
The SXSW EDU conference been canceled owing to fears over the Coronavirus. SXSW EDU is an annual education technology-focused event held in Austin, TX the week before the main SXSW festival, which has also been canceled.
According to organizers, “The City of Austin has canceled the March dates for SXSW and SXSW EDU. SXSW will faithfully follow the City’s directions. We are devastated to share this news with you. ‘The show must go on’ is in our DNA, and this is the first time in 34 years that the March event will not take place. We are now working through the ramifications of this unprecedented situation.”
Organizers said they’re exploring options for rescheduling and/or creating a virtual event.
“We are exploring options to reschedule the event and are working to provide a virtual SXSW online experience as soon as possible for 2020 participants, starting with SXSW EDU. For our registrants, clients, and participants we will be in touch as soon as possible and will publish an FAQ.”
Updated details can be found on the SXSW EDU site.
About the Author
David Nagel is editorial director of 1105 Media’s Education Technology Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal and STEAM Universe. A 25-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art and business publications.
He can be reached at [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at or follow him on Twitter at @THEJournalDave (K-12) or @CampusTechDave (higher education).
The Journal,
Source:
The Journal Rss
Survey on Digital Learning Hints at Gaps in School Prep for 'Virus Days'
| By
talklpstage
Contingency Planning
Survey on Digital Learning Hints at Gaps in School Prep for ‘Virus Days’
By Dian Schaffhauser
03/05/20
If more schools need to close even temporarily in response to Coronavirus (COVID-19), in some places, they may not be able to substitute at-home learning for in-class learning. A recent survey found that just 70 percent of educators worked for schools in states that allowed for the use of digital learning days in place of “snow days” (which now might need to be renamed to “virus days”). Among those schools that have tried digital learning days, 70 percent of respondents reported that those had a “positive impact” on teaching and learning, with a subset of 18 percent stating that the use was “very effective.”
These results came out of an open online survey for both teachers and administrators in K-12. The project was initiated by PowerSchool, a company that sells several education technology programs, including Schoology, its flagship learning management system. The survey drew 16,906 responses, 97 percent of which came from the United States and the remainder from the rest of the world.
Schoology’s “The State of Digital Learning 2020” came out before COVID-19 dominated headlines. Its findings primarily focused on other topics — how schools are using digital tools and digital learning and what the hopes and challenges are for that. But it also provided a glimpse into some of the barriers schools will face if they need to begin delivering instruction virtually in areas such as whether devices are available for student use at home and whether teachers feel ready to teach that way.
Among teachers only, the biggest digital learning challenge was student access to technology at home, mentioned by 42.5 percent of respondents. The next biggest challenge was “lack of time during normal business hours,” referenced by 39 percent. That was followed by lack of parent involvement or understanding (30 percent).
The top digital learning priorities for the current school, according to teacher respondents, was more effective use of digital tools for teaching and learning, mentioned by nearly half (46 percent); implementing a new instructional approach (27 percent); and collaborating with a professional learning community or other educators (25 percent).
For K-12 administrators, the top digital learning challenges consisted of:
Providing relevant and effective professional development (37 percent);
Device management (36 percent); and
Technological infrastructure, such as wireless networking and security (31 percent).
Their top priorities by a wide margin were:
The use of “differentiated learning” was most common instructional approach used by respondents, mentioned by 76 percent. That was followed by blended or hybrid learning (57 percent), individualized learning (56 percent), personalized learning (39 percent) and flipped learning (26 percent). Purely online learning existed in just 10 percent of represented schools, and where that existed teachers and administrators scored it below average in effectiveness. (Blended and hybrid learning, on the other hand, was rated a 3.5 on the 5.0 effectiveness scale.)
On the tech front, two-thirds of schools represented in the survey (66 percent) are using Chromebooks; nearly half (47 percent) are using Windows laptops and desktops; and more than a third (36 percent) have iOS tablets and devices on hand; with Apple laptops/desktops present at another 26 percent of schools.
The largest share of schools (four in 10) run 1-to-1 programs, allowing students to take devices home. Nearly a quarter of schools with 1-to-1 programs forbid their students from taking machines home. Another large group (28 percent) use shared carts with devices on them. Only 2 percent of respondent schools run bring-your-own-device programs.
The Journal,
Source:
The Journal Rss
Coronavirus Forces Personal Computing Devices and Smartphones into Temporary Decline
| By
talklpstage
Market Research
Coronavirus Forces Personal Computing Devices and Smartphones into Temporary Decline
By David Nagel
03/04/20
All categories of computing devices, including tablets, desktops, workstations, laptops and smartphones, will be impacted in 2020 by the Coronavirus and its hit on the supply chain and economies. According to market research firm IDC, the impact is expected to be short-term.
2020 was supposed to have been a recovery year for the smartphone market. However, shipments of smartphones are now expected to decline 10.6 percent year over year in the first half of 2020. For the full year, the market is expected to decline 2.3 percent.
“COVID-19 became yet another reason to extend the current trend of smartphone market contraction, dampening growth in the first half of the year. While China, the largest smartphone market, will take the biggest hit, other major geographies will feel the hit from supply chain disruptions. Component shortages, factory shutdowns, quarantine mandates, logistics, and travel restrictions will create hindrances for smartphone vendors to produce handsets and roll out new devices. The overall scenario is expected to stabilize from the third quarter of the year as the COVID-19 situation hopefully improves and 5G plans pick up the pace globally,” said Sangeetika Srivastava, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers, in a prepared statement.
IDC is currently predicting that the worldwide market will return to growth in 2021, driven in large part by the growth of 5G.
Meanwhile on the personal computing front, desktops, notebooks, workstations and tablets will take a similarly large hit. In the first quarter, personal computing devices are expected to decline 8.2 percent. That decline will increase to 12.7 percent in the second quarter as existing supplies are depleted and the impact of coronavirus on the supply chain is felt more acutely. IDC is currently predicting that the impact will be less severe in the second half of the year, though the market will still be in a decline.
“There’s no doubt that 2020 will remain challenged as manufacturing levels are at an all-time low and even the products that are ready to ship face issues with logistics,” added Jitesh Ubrani research manager for IDC’s Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers, in a prepared statement. “Lost wages associated with factory shutdowns and the overall reduction in quality of life will further the decline in the second half of the year as demand will be negatively impacted.”
According to IDC: “Assuming the spread of the virus subsides in 2020, IDC anticipates minor growth in 2021 as the market returns to normal with growth stemming from modern form factors such as thin and light notebooks, detachable tablets, and convertible laptops. Many commercial organizations are expected to refresh their devices and move towards these modern form factors in an effort to attract and retain a younger workforce. Meanwhile, consumer demand in gaming as well as the rise in cellular-enabled PCs and tablets will also help provide a marginal uplift.”
About the Author
David Nagel is editorial director of 1105 Media’s Education Technology Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal and STEAM Universe. A 25-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art and business publications.
He can be reached at [email protected]. You can also connect with him on LinkedIn at or follow him on Twitter at @THEJournalDave (K-12) or @CampusTechDave (higher education).
The Journal,
Source:
The Journal Rss
Grants & Upcoming Events (Week of March 9, 2020)
| By
talklpstage
This post was originally published on this site
The Journal,
Source:
The Journal Rss
Engineers Name Cybersecurity the 'Most Daunting' Challenge
| By
talklpstage
Security
Engineers Name Cybersecurity the ‘Most Daunting’ Challenge
By Dian Schaffhauser
03/10/20
Worldwide health concerns aside, cybersecurity is the “most daunting challenge,” according to a survey of the world’s engineers. One in five (19 percent) recently chose securing cyberspace as the biggest challenge that engineers will face over the next 25 years. That was followed by development of “economical clean energy, mentioned by 18 percent; sustaining land and oceans, chosen by 16 percent; and creating “sustainable and resilient infrastructure” (11 percent).
The survey, which included 10,077 respondents from 119 countries, was undertaken by DiscoverE, an organization that works to draw young people into the engineering field.
What could hold them back from addressing these challenges? A shortage of engineers now (mentioned by 52 percent) and in the future (54 percent), and a lack of government support.
“Solving the world’s problems is an enormous collaborative undertaking involving both the public and private sectors and extending across disciplines, borders and demographics,” said Kathy Renzetti, executive director of DiscoverE, in a statement.
“Engineers are the world’s problem solvers, yet engineering is often overlooked or under-appreciated as providing the solution to major challenges such as climate change, digitalization and food security,” added Gong Ke, president of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO).
At the behest of the WFEO, the UNESCO General Conference named March 4 as “World Engineering Day,” in recognition of engineers and their role in solving big problems and to encourage students to study in the field.
Their take on the top three innovations that could turn science fiction into reality: transportation, artificial intelligence and space travel.
About the Author
Dian Schaffhauser is a senior contributing editor for 1105 Media’s education publications THE Journal and Campus Technology. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @schaffhauser.
The Journal,
Source:
The Journal Rss
Blackboard Selling Open LMS Business
| By
talklpstage
Learning Management Systems
Blackboard Selling Open LMS Business
By Rhea Kelly
03/10/20
Blackboard today announced it will sell its Open LMS business to workplace digital learning and talent management company Learning Technologies Group (LTG). The transaction is expected to close in Q2 2020.
According to a news announcement, the move “enables Blackboard to further simplify its business and accelerate momentum in helping clients move to its software-as-a-service (SaaS) deployment of Learn and Ultra,” while allowing the Moodle-based Open LMS to “increase its focus on the innovations and services that are core to its client base.”
“This further simplification of our business will enable the company to continue accelerating investment and innovation in our unique ed tech platform that will enable a more personalized experience, fueled by data, to advance learning for our clients,” commented Blackboard Chairman, CEO and President Bill Ballhaus, in a statement. “We look forward to the continued growth of Blackboard and Open LMS as separate market-leading businesses serving their respective clients.”
Blackboard will “continue to provide existing Open LMS clients access to Blackboard products that fully integrate within Open LMS, including Ally, SafeAssign, Collaborate, and Predict,” the company said.
About the Author
About the author: Rhea Kelly is executive editor for Campus Technology. She can be reached at [email protected].
The Journal,
Source:
The Journal Rss
The World Has Too Much Oil
| By
talklpstage
Demand for oil has plummeted as the coronavirus has shut down much of the world, but most producers are still…
Source:
the journal,
What Happens When 10% of Workers File for Unemployment
| By
talklpstage
Nearly 17 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefits in the last three weeks. WSJ’s Eric Morath explains how the…
Source:
the journal,
The Navy’s Coronavirus Crisis
| By
talklpstage
After the coronavirus began spreading on a U.S. aircraft carrier, the ship’s commander Brett Crozier sent a memo asking for…
Source:
the journal,
The economy can't reopen without schools
| By
talklpstage
But it’s not clear how any of this completely ends until the children are back in school. School is how we teach our children facts and figures. It’s also how we take care of them in the middle of the day. Parents can’t easily pick up and go back to work if they have no place to put their children. The reality is that nobody — not governors or the White House — can completely reopen the economy if the schools are still shut.
And they aren’t reopening anytime soon. The nation’s two largest school districts — in New York and Los Angeles — formally announced in just the past few days that they’ll stay closed for the rest of the school year.
That’s because the public health emergency is not yet under control. More than 23,000 Americans have died. If New York is nearing its apex, as the governor there said Tuesday, that means much of the rest of the country is not yet at its apex — or, put another way, things are still getting worse.
Right now, schools are closed everywhere — Education Week has maintained an interactive map of school closures since the beginning of this thing, and that map suggests that nearly every American school kid is not currently in school. It charts around 124,000 school closings affecting more than 55 million American kids.
What are all those kids doing? They’re supposedly distance-learning or homeschooling, taking screen lessons or self-teaching. (Let’s get real. A lot of them are playing Minecraft or making TikToks.) Just like the American education system on any given day, the coronavirus closure is a massive patchwork.
Of course there are outliers. The New York Times found a district in rural California where the K-8 school is still in session. But school is done for the year for kids in at least 21 states. That means no cultural rites of passage like sports championships, proms or SATs, which are all on hiatus.
There are nearly five months between now and Labor Day — Anthony Fauci said last week that he is optimistic that schools will mostly be open in the fall, but he cautioned it’ll be a different reality, because coronavirus isn’t going away. Watch that full (and nuanced!) answer here. It made me feel better, until I looked at the calendar. If schools aren’t opening because of the difficulty of social-distancing kids, will summer camps? What about pools, even?
Little agreement on when or how to get kids back to school — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that schools should look at staggering schedules or implementing social distancing. (Again, it’s very hard to get kids to respect 6-foot boundaries.) In New York, it’s not clear there’s any real plan, since New York Mayor Bill de Blasio informed Gov. Andrew Cuomo via text over this past weekend that he would be closing schools there through the school year. Cuomo later said that is his decision and not de Blasio’s. Ahem. We shall see.
The extended closures have meant figuring out how to distribute free meals to millions of kids who depend on them. It’s also meant figuring out how to get kids who don’t have computers and internet access the ability to get online for distance learning.
In Austin, Texas, the school district has deployed school buses to beam Wi-Fi where it’s needed. Here’s a video by CNN’s Evan McMorris-Santoro about how different schools are dealing with all of it.
Let’s talk about family leave — Some people might have the luxury of being able to work from home and try to manage a distance learning plan at the same time. A lot of Americans — many of them hourly wage earners — have to go into physical spaces to earn that wage. Coronavirus compounds inequality in this way.
A law passed earlier this year (before many mass school closings) requires some companies to provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave until December because of coronavirus-related issues, including school closures. Some large companies that can afford it are helping even more. Microsoft, for instance, is giving its employees an additional 12 weeks of paid family leave. Other companies are providing workers with subsidies to pay for child care — if they can find it. (That includes CNN parent company WarnerMedia.)
We will learn from cautious reopenings — Denmark is reopening some schools for younger children. That will help American officials gauge when it is safe for kids to go back and learn. But for most kids in the US, given the traditional school calendar, that won’t be until the fall. In Hong Kong, schools were shut down in early February. They’re still closed.
The closures will change education even after students go back — Some universities have already made the SAT optional for next year’s applications. The test, which is not a fair indicator of future success, was already under fire after last year’s college cheating scandal. Perhaps coronavirus will end the importance of the SAT. The tests have been canceled through at least May. The next possible testing date is June 6. And Advanced Placement exams will be given online.
College and grad students are seeing changes too — For the highly educated, there are some perks to this emergency. Some med students have been hurried out of school to help fight coronavirus. In New Jersey, the bar exam has been temporarily waived. Most new college graduates, however, will find themselves adrift, with internships and job offers suddenly canceled. They expected to matriculate into one of the strongest job markets ever. Now people are talking about the possibility of a depression.
Trump wants to grab the authority he gave away
The whole question of schools, though, brings us back to the question of how to restart the US economy. Trump claimed during a wild and angry news conference Monday that he has powers he does not have, but the theoretical standoff between the President and some of the nation’s governors over who does hold the authority to end the coronavirus restrictions is something of a sideshow.
The economy will not return with the flip of a switch. And even if it did, Trump was slow to turn things off. He’d be unable to turn them back on again.
Power of convenience — The whole fight is a window into how Trump views himself. He believes (incorrectly) he is something of a king when it comes to bringing governors like Andrew Cuomo or Gavin Newsom into line, but he has shown a real meekness and hands-off respect for states led by Republicans who didn’t want to make residents stay at home. That’s how we ended up with Spring Break Florida 2020 — and the spike in deaths to show for it.
Back in the early days of this outbreak, CNN spoke with Elizabeth Goitein, an expert on presidential powers, for some insight about what powers US and state laws spell out when it comes to Trump and state governors or mayors. She’s the co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.
We went back to her after Trump’s claim of “total authority” on Monday:
CNN: In a weird twist, since we first talked, Trump is now claiming “total authority” to open the country back up, rather than keep people at home. What do you make of that? Is it a completely different legal question about federalism — Trump vs. governors — or do you think it relates to his emergency powers?
EG: The President seems to assume that he can order the states to do anything he wants, because the federal government ultimately has more power than the states. This is wrong for two reasons. First, when it comes to a state government’s exercise of police powers within that state, the state’s powers are actually much greater than the federal government’s. Second, even to the extent the federal government might have some authority here (for instance, to lift burdens that states have imposed on interstate travel), that authority resides with Congress, not the President. The President has no inherent constitutional authority to deal with public health crises. Congress has not authorized the President to “re-open” the states, and so he has no legal basis to act.
Read the whole thing here.
Left unsaid
Read this description by CNN’s Maeve Reston and Stephen Collinson about what Trump didn’t mention during his news conference/airing of his own personal grievances Monday:
When the Category Five presidential storm had blown out, Trump had offered no new guidance on the key issues — for instance, the continued inadequacy of testing, which will hamper the nation’s economic opening. He vowed that the economy would fire up “ahead of schedule” but did not explain how, when many states are at or are approaching their peak infection rates. And he appeared to warn he would try to force open state economies, including shops, schools and restaurants closed by governors and mayors. He did not explain, either, how he would convince the public to get back to normal if people did not feel confident they were safe.
Read this: Pandemic planning never accounted for a president like Trump.
What are we doing here?
We’ve spent time lately dialing into one specific issue each day with the What Matters newsletter. Need more coronavirus news? You can get the latest details on what happened during the day by clicking here.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
FBI warns companies of employees faking coronavirus test results
| By
talklpstage
In a report disseminated Monday to companies across the nation, and obtained by CNN, the FBI’s Office of Private Sector notified members of private industry they should be on the lookout for fake doctors notes and falsified documentation from employees claiming positive Covid-19 test results.
The bureau report warned that the steps a company must take to stop business operations and sanitize work spaces could lead to significant financial loss.
As one example, the FBI report described an incident in March where an employee working for an unidentified “critical manufacturing company” told their bosses they had tested positive for Covid-19 and submitted what appeared to be documentation from a medical facility.
“In response, the company shut down the affected manufacturing facility to disinfect the location, ceasing production and halting delivery of necessary materials to the plant,” the FBI report stated. “The company notified all employees at the facility, including four workers who had close contact with the reportedly infected employee and were required to self-quarantine.”
Upon subsequent close review of the employee’s medical documentation, supervisors became suspicious.
The letter indicating the positive Covid-19 testing was not on official letterhead from a medical facility. A call to a telephone number listed on the documentation revealed the number was not actually associated with a location that conducted novel coronavirus testing at the time the letter was written.
In total, the FBI estimates the victim company incurred over $175,000 in lost productivity due to the alleged scam. One coworker of the alleged scammer, believing they had been exposed to the virus, also faced personal financial loss after deciding to pay for a rental property where they could remain self-quarantined away from members of their family.
The FBI says companies should take certain actions to prevent from becoming the victim of a fraudulent Covid-19 claim.
The bureau recommends employers contact medical providers listed on work excuse documents in order to confirm their veracity. Supervisors should also take note of inconsistencies in font and spacing, or signs a document has been computer edited. And companies should review legitimate excuse letters health care providers have previously given to employees, in order to be aware of the typical format and structure used by medical providers.
While not commenting on any specific FBI report, a bureau spokesperson told CNN that “the FBI regularly shares this type of information that we assess as important, and we also respond to requests from our private sector partners for information on specific topics.”
The incident outlined in the FBI report issued this week is one in a series of alleged recent scams by employees pretending to have the novel coronavirus.
An 18-year-old McDonald’s employee was arrested last month in Canada and charged by authorities after allegedly producing a fake doctor’s note to her boss, claiming she had tested positive for Covid-19.
“The restaurant remained closed for several days while professional cleaning services worked to sanitize the store,” according to Ontario police. “There has been a significant impact on the restaurant, local customers and employees which instigated the need for police involvement.”
Last month, a South Carolina man was arrested and faces state charges after police say he similarly submitted fake documentation to his employer, indicating he contracted Covid-19. The call center where he worked was shut down for five days while the facility was disinfected.
Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright told to CNN affiliate WSPA that it “seems to me like the fellow just wanted a two-week paid vacation.”
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
They can't march in the streets. So they're protesting in their cars instead
| By
talklpstage
They taped signs on the sides of their cars and got ready to blare their horns.
Then they drove slowly down the street together.
The scene on a recent evening in Eloy, Arizona, about 60 miles southeast of Phoenix, was different than any demonstration Natally Cruz had joined before.
“I felt chills … just to see how much support there is out there, to see how even at this hard time, people are still trying to find a way to help one another,” says Cruz, who headed to the protest in her black Nissan Maxima with several signs in tow.
One said “honk for justice.”
Unable to gather in large groups because of the coronavirus pandemic, pockets of protesters around the world are turning to a new tactic: trying to make their voices heard from inside vehicles instead of marching in the streets.
One focus of US protests: Immigrant detention
Last Friday in Arizona, organizers say some 200 cars circled outside the Eloy Detention Center and La Palma Correctional Center. For weeks, similar protests have been popping up outside immigrant detention centers across the country.
Advocates such as Cruz are pushing for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release detainees, who they argue are particularly vulnerable to contracting the virus in crowded facilities that have long faced criticism for how they handle even routine medical care. ICE has said it’s committed to caring for those in its custody and considering releases of some detainees on a case-by-case basis. So far there are at least 77 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among more than 33,000 detainees in ICE custody, according to the agency.
At the Eloy demonstration, protesters showed up with signs that said “free them all” and “humanity over profit.” They honked their horns over and over, hoping detainees inside could hear.
“We want them to know people are out here fighting for them,” Cruz says, “that they’re not being left alone.”
Car protests are popping up elsewhere, too
This isn’t just something that’s just been happening outside immigrant detention centers.
In St. Paul, Minnesota, protesters drove by the governor’s mansion last month as they called for the state to release detainees.
At first glance, images of car protests in some cities — such as recent demonstrations in Philadelphia, Sao Paulo, Brazil and Krakow, Poland — look like they could simply be snapshots of rush-hour traffic.
But flags fluttering across windshield and signs taped in windows show that these aren’t scenes from a typical day on the streets.
This isn’t the first time this has happened
It’s no surprise to see different activist groups turning to similar protest tactics as they struggle to get attention for their causes and find new ways to come together, says David Meyer, a professor of sociology and political science at the University of California at Irvine.
“You’re always looking for something that will work. … You have to be constantly prospecting for stuff,” says Meyer, author of “The Politics of Protest: Social Movements in America.”
And vehicles have been used in protests before, Meyer says. In 1964, for example, a group of protesters from the Congress of Racial Equality organized a “stall-in” to try to keep people from going to the World’s Fair in New York — though in the end far fewer protesters showed up than organizers had originally promised. And in 1979, he says, farmers demanding more pay for crops headed to Washington in their tractors. Participants in the so-called “tractorcade” occupied the National Mall for weeks.
Now activists trying to make a point have more tools at their disposal. As the coronavirus pandemic spreads and government orders keep many at home, activists have been working on building capacity and attention for their causes online, Meyer says. But there are limits to internet organizing.
“Mostly that ends up talking to the people who already agree with you and already are with you,” he says. “The car protest is one way to try to break through those boundaries.”
But there could be pitfalls to protests inside vehicles, Meyer says. It’s harder to connect with fellow protesters from inside a car, he says, and vehicles may be viewed as more threatening.
“When protesters wear helmets or gas masks, it almost always leads to police feeling threatened and reacting more harshly. Do cars do that, too? I don’t know,” Meyer says.
More car protests are planned
Immigrant rights advocates have said they’re planning additional car protests. And other groups are, too.
Conservative critics of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have said they’re planning to surround the state’s capitol Wednesday — not only with cars, but also with construction vehicles, landscaping trucks and trailer boats representing industries that have been impacted by the governor’s stay-at-home orders.
Protesters argue that Whitmer has gone too far.
“She’s driving us out of business. We’re driving to Lansing,” says a Facebook invitation for the event, which is dubbed “Operation Gridlock” and organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition.
Whitmer has pledged to reopen the state as soon as it’s safe and is asking for patience.
Monday she called for people participating in the protest to remain in their vehicles “so that they don’t expose themselves or any of our first responders to potential Covid-19.”
“I support people’s right to demonstrate,” she told reporters, “and to use their voice.”
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
The second pandemic that awaits Covid-19 first responders
| By
talklpstage
Health care workers are at a greater risk of contracting the novel coronavirus. In New York, according to a report from Business Insider, many providers with symptoms are not being tested, but asked to stay home for just seven days before resuming work. In some cases where a provider tests positive but remains asymptomatic, they’ve been asked to continue working because our hospitals are already short staffed and operating at their maximum capacity. When the rest of the country moves on and rebuilds, a new threat of post-traumatic stress disorder faces responders, and their families, that could rage for years.
My father was a sergeant in the Emergency Service Unit of the NYPD during the nearly nine months he spent at Ground Zero. What started as a rescue mission searching for survivors quickly turned to one of recovery of human remains. At 14-years-old, it was hard for me to understand what he was still doing there in February of 2002. We hardly saw him my first year of high school. He’d come home, take off his Carhartt bodysuit covered in World Trade Center dust, throw it down the basement stairs to wash, and sleep a few hours before waking for another shift. When I asked him what he was searching for at Ground Zero, he simply said, “Thumbs.”
Those working in the health care system are now also enduring trauma, worrying that they may become infected. Some are sleeping in their garages, in hotel rooms with coworkers, or sending their children or parents to live elsewhere to reduce their exposure to the virus.
Nearly 20 years separates this pandemic from the September 11th attacks in New York. At the time of writing, the number of total positive Covid-19 cases in New York state made up 10.5% of those across the world. Once again, we are an epicenter of trauma and death with another 8.7% of the pandemic’s deaths in our state alone.
Nightly, we’re opening our windows and standing on porches to cheer and praise our responder heroes—as they are—sacrificing their own well-being and safety to help others. Like my father and other first responders at Ground Zero, we’ve expected doctors and nurses to perform their jobs without adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). My father was told he didn’t need a proper mask because the air was safe to breathe.
And the similarities don’t end there.
Clapping from our balconies for our heroes is not enough. Though helpful, neither are meals, donations, or stimulus packages. I know this intimately as more of my father’s old coworkers die each year as a direct result of their exposure at Ground Zero. Just ask John Feal, a 9/11 first responder, who has been to Congress numerous times lobbying for financial coverage for responders dying of cancers borne of Ground Zero. Families of responders may not lose their loved one to the virus, but what they may not realize — as we hadn’t — was that you could lose parts of them to their work.
We celebrate our heroes but quickly expect them to resume their normal lives after working through a national crisis. My father left a war zone in the heart of our city and came home to his family and his job at the NYPD in the Emergency Service Unit. He was chronically exhausted, angry, hyper-vigilant, on an inhaler and in desperate need of more support than we could provide him. Eight years after 9/11, my parents ended their 25 year marriage.
The men and women working in hospitals, ambulances, and treating covid patients will be expected to resume their jobs, too — re-enter the site of their most traumatic professional moments — where patients young and old, without a single family member allowed by their side, died in acute respiratory failure. The endless phone calls they made to families on the death of their loved one will rob them of sleep long after a vaccine neutralizes our collective fear. As a society, when the immediate threat is over, we will still expect responders to continue saving people who enter the emergency room doors. But who will care for them or their families when the pandemic ends? If we’ve learned anything in the past few weeks, our economy is only as successful as the health of the people who work to uphold it.
In the months that follow this tragedy, we will need to look out for the signs of PTSD in those on the frontline. My father wasn’t required to see a mental health counselor in the aftermath. For many police like him, the stigma within the department prevented him from seeking help for years. If you find yourself face-to-face with a loved one who is changed by their work this last month, take that as your sign to mobilize. We must support our heroes by having systems in place, securing them affordable and ready access to mental health counseling, drug and alcohol treatment, and the proper time they will need to heal. If we want responders to continue their essential jobs, and do them well, we must afford them our praise in tangible, actionable ways.
On CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Dr. Yuval Neria — the director of trauma and PTSD at New York State Psychiatric Institute — warned of a possible “second pandemic,” one concerning mental health. After 9/11, roughly one to five percent of New Yorkers developed PSTD, according to Neria. Now, think of everyone you know working essential jobs outside of their homes in the fight against this disease right now. With our country facing a serious recession, it’s unlikely there will be any budget set aside for their health in the aftermath.
On late nights at Ground Zero, first responders were haunted by the sound of Personal Alert Safety System (PASS) alarms — a device used to alert others that a firefighter is motionless and in need of help. For this generation of responders, it may be the calls of code blue, indicating a patient’s heart has stopped, or their muffled cries for family in their final moments. We can truly thank our heroes only if we don’t forget them in their coming hours of need.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
Man released from jail amid coronavirus concerns is arrested on a murder charge
| By
talklpstage
Now, the 26-year-old is back behind bars for several new charges including second-degree murder with a firearm, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Williams was originally arrested March 13 for possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia, according to court records. He was one of more than 100 inmates released March 19 to curb the spread of the virus in detention centers and protect inmates and staff.
A day after being released, the sheriff’s office says, Williams became the suspect of a murder case.
“There is no question Joseph Williams took advantage of this health emergency to commit crimes while he was out of jail awaiting resolution of a low-level, non-violent offense,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement.
“Every murder, every violent crime, especially those involving a gun, is a sickening example of the worst in our community, especially at a time when our community is working relentlessly to fight against the spread of this deadly COVID-19.”
Court records show Williams is being held in jail without bond. CNN called the public defender’s office, which is representing Williams, for comment but has not heard back.
On March 20, police investigating reports of gunshots in a Tampa neighborhood found a man who was pronounced dead at the scene, according to CNN affiliate WFLA.
Williams was arrested Sunday in connection with the case. In addition to second-degree murder, he is facing several new charges including resisting an officer, felon in possession of a firearm, possession of heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia.
“Judges, prosecutors, and Sheriffs around the country are facing difficult decisions during this health crisis with respect to balancing public health and public safety,” said Chronister. “Sheriffs in Florida and throughout our country have released non-violent, low-level offenders to protect our deputies and the jail population from an outbreak.”
Williams has a lengthy criminal record that shows he has been arrested for 35 charges, according to the sheriff’s office.
CNN’s Chris Boyette contributed to this report.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
US may have to endure social distancing until 2022 if no vaccine is quickly found, scientists predict
| By
talklpstage
The US may have to endure social distancing measures — such as stay-at-home orders and school closures — until 2022, researchers projected on Tuesday. That is, unless, a vaccine becomes quickly available.
That’s according to researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who published their findings in the journal Science on Tuesday. Those findings directly contradict research being touted by the White House that suggests the pandemic may stop this summer.
The team at the Harvard School of Public Health used what’s known about Covid-19 and other coronaviruses to create possible scenarios of the current pandemic.
“Intermittent distancing may be required into 2022 unless critical care capacity is increased substantially or a treatment or vaccine becomes available,” they wrote in their report.
“Even in the event of apparent elimination, SARS-CoV-2 surveillance should be maintained since a resurgence in contagion could be possible as late as 2024.”
Another important factor: Whether people become immune to the new coronavirus after they have been infected. That’s not yet known.
Potential challenges include finding a reliable test to determine who has antibodies for the coronavirus, establishing the level of immunity conferred by previous infection and how long it lasts, and the capacity of overstretched health systems to carry out reliable, widespread antibody tests in the general population.
There’s also the difficult social questions around immunity certificates, which have been floated as a possibility in the UK. Would they create a kind of two-tier society, where those who have them can return to a more normal life, while others remain locked down?
The study researchers say they are aware that such prolonged distancing, even if intermittent, would likely have “profoundly negative economic, social, and educational consequences.” They hope their research will help identify likely trajectories of the epidemic under alternative approaches, identify complementary ways to fight it, and to spur further thinking about ways to get the pandemic under control.
Though coronavirus cases in the US have been soaring, social distancing appears to be effective.
Social distancing is “one of the most powerful weapons” against COVID-19, said Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“If we can just maximize that social distancing, we can limit this virus’s ability,” he said earlier this month.
States across the country have issued stay-at-home orders, allowing only for essential errands or tasks.
Penalties for breaking the order vary by state. In Maine, the penalty for breaking the order can be up to six months in jail and up to a $1,000 fine.
In Florida, a pastor was arrested last month for continuing to hold large services and is charged with unlawful assembly and violation of public health emergency rules, both second-degree misdemeanors.
This week, states on the East and West coasts announced they are forming their own regional pacts to work together on how to reopen after the stay-at-home orders.
New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island and Massachusetts each plan to name a public health and economic official to a regional working group.
West Coast states of California, Washington and Oregon also announced they are joining forces in a plan to begin incremental release of stay-at-home orders.
CNN’s Steve Almasy, Jason Hanna, Laura Smith-Spark, Maeve Reston, Kristina Sgueglia, Cheri Mossburg and Christina Maxouris contributed to this report.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
Featured News
The economy can't reopen without schools
| By
talklpstage
But it’s not clear how any of this completely ends until the children are back in school. School is how we teach our children facts and figures. It’s also how we take care of them in the middle of the day. Parents can’t easily pick up and go back to work if they have no place to put their children. The reality is that nobody — not governors or the White House — can completely reopen the economy if the schools are still shut.
And they aren’t reopening anytime soon. The nation’s two largest school districts — in New York and Los Angeles — formally announced in just the past few days that they’ll stay closed for the rest of the school year.
That’s because the public health emergency is not yet under control. More than 23,000 Americans have died. If New York is nearing its apex, as the governor there said Tuesday, that means much of the rest of the country is not yet at its apex — or, put another way, things are still getting worse.
Right now, schools are closed everywhere — Education Week has maintained an interactive map of school closures since the beginning of this thing, and that map suggests that nearly every American school kid is not currently in school. It charts around 124,000 school closings affecting more than 55 million American kids.
What are all those kids doing? They’re supposedly distance-learning or homeschooling, taking screen lessons or self-teaching. (Let’s get real. A lot of them are playing Minecraft or making TikToks.) Just like the American education system on any given day, the coronavirus closure is a massive patchwork.
Of course there are outliers. The New York Times found a district in rural California where the K-8 school is still in session. But school is done for the year for kids in at least 21 states. That means no cultural rites of passage like sports championships, proms or SATs, which are all on hiatus.
There are nearly five months between now and Labor Day — Anthony Fauci said last week that he is optimistic that schools will mostly be open in the fall, but he cautioned it’ll be a different reality, because coronavirus isn’t going away. Watch that full (and nuanced!) answer here. It made me feel better, until I looked at the calendar. If schools aren’t opening because of the difficulty of social-distancing kids, will summer camps? What about pools, even?
Little agreement on when or how to get kids back to school — California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that schools should look at staggering schedules or implementing social distancing. (Again, it’s very hard to get kids to respect 6-foot boundaries.) In New York, it’s not clear there’s any real plan, since New York Mayor Bill de Blasio informed Gov. Andrew Cuomo via text over this past weekend that he would be closing schools there through the school year. Cuomo later said that is his decision and not de Blasio’s. Ahem. We shall see.
The extended closures have meant figuring out how to distribute free meals to millions of kids who depend on them. It’s also meant figuring out how to get kids who don’t have computers and internet access the ability to get online for distance learning.
In Austin, Texas, the school district has deployed school buses to beam Wi-Fi where it’s needed. Here’s a video by CNN’s Evan McMorris-Santoro about how different schools are dealing with all of it.
Let’s talk about family leave — Some people might have the luxury of being able to work from home and try to manage a distance learning plan at the same time. A lot of Americans — many of them hourly wage earners — have to go into physical spaces to earn that wage. Coronavirus compounds inequality in this way.
A law passed earlier this year (before many mass school closings) requires some companies to provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave until December because of coronavirus-related issues, including school closures. Some large companies that can afford it are helping even more. Microsoft, for instance, is giving its employees an additional 12 weeks of paid family leave. Other companies are providing workers with subsidies to pay for child care — if they can find it. (That includes CNN parent company WarnerMedia.)
We will learn from cautious reopenings — Denmark is reopening some schools for younger children. That will help American officials gauge when it is safe for kids to go back and learn. But for most kids in the US, given the traditional school calendar, that won’t be until the fall. In Hong Kong, schools were shut down in early February. They’re still closed.
The closures will change education even after students go back — Some universities have already made the SAT optional for next year’s applications. The test, which is not a fair indicator of future success, was already under fire after last year’s college cheating scandal. Perhaps coronavirus will end the importance of the SAT. The tests have been canceled through at least May. The next possible testing date is June 6. And Advanced Placement exams will be given online.
College and grad students are seeing changes too — For the highly educated, there are some perks to this emergency. Some med students have been hurried out of school to help fight coronavirus. In New Jersey, the bar exam has been temporarily waived. Most new college graduates, however, will find themselves adrift, with internships and job offers suddenly canceled. They expected to matriculate into one of the strongest job markets ever. Now people are talking about the possibility of a depression.
Trump wants to grab the authority he gave away
The whole question of schools, though, brings us back to the question of how to restart the US economy. Trump claimed during a wild and angry news conference Monday that he has powers he does not have, but the theoretical standoff between the President and some of the nation’s governors over who does hold the authority to end the coronavirus restrictions is something of a sideshow.
The economy will not return with the flip of a switch. And even if it did, Trump was slow to turn things off. He’d be unable to turn them back on again.
Power of convenience — The whole fight is a window into how Trump views himself. He believes (incorrectly) he is something of a king when it comes to bringing governors like Andrew Cuomo or Gavin Newsom into line, but he has shown a real meekness and hands-off respect for states led by Republicans who didn’t want to make residents stay at home. That’s how we ended up with Spring Break Florida 2020 — and the spike in deaths to show for it.
Back in the early days of this outbreak, CNN spoke with Elizabeth Goitein, an expert on presidential powers, for some insight about what powers US and state laws spell out when it comes to Trump and state governors or mayors. She’s the co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.
We went back to her after Trump’s claim of “total authority” on Monday:
CNN: In a weird twist, since we first talked, Trump is now claiming “total authority” to open the country back up, rather than keep people at home. What do you make of that? Is it a completely different legal question about federalism — Trump vs. governors — or do you think it relates to his emergency powers?
EG: The President seems to assume that he can order the states to do anything he wants, because the federal government ultimately has more power than the states. This is wrong for two reasons. First, when it comes to a state government’s exercise of police powers within that state, the state’s powers are actually much greater than the federal government’s. Second, even to the extent the federal government might have some authority here (for instance, to lift burdens that states have imposed on interstate travel), that authority resides with Congress, not the President. The President has no inherent constitutional authority to deal with public health crises. Congress has not authorized the President to “re-open” the states, and so he has no legal basis to act.
Read the whole thing here.
Left unsaid
Read this description by CNN’s Maeve Reston and Stephen Collinson about what Trump didn’t mention during his news conference/airing of his own personal grievances Monday:
When the Category Five presidential storm had blown out, Trump had offered no new guidance on the key issues — for instance, the continued inadequacy of testing, which will hamper the nation’s economic opening. He vowed that the economy would fire up “ahead of schedule” but did not explain how, when many states are at or are approaching their peak infection rates. And he appeared to warn he would try to force open state economies, including shops, schools and restaurants closed by governors and mayors. He did not explain, either, how he would convince the public to get back to normal if people did not feel confident they were safe.
Read this: Pandemic planning never accounted for a president like Trump.
What are we doing here?
We’ve spent time lately dialing into one specific issue each day with the What Matters newsletter. Need more coronavirus news? You can get the latest details on what happened during the day by clicking here.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
FBI warns companies of employees faking coronavirus test results
| By
talklpstage
In a report disseminated Monday to companies across the nation, and obtained by CNN, the FBI’s Office of Private Sector notified members of private industry they should be on the lookout for fake doctors notes and falsified documentation from employees claiming positive Covid-19 test results.
The bureau report warned that the steps a company must take to stop business operations and sanitize work spaces could lead to significant financial loss.
As one example, the FBI report described an incident in March where an employee working for an unidentified “critical manufacturing company” told their bosses they had tested positive for Covid-19 and submitted what appeared to be documentation from a medical facility.
“In response, the company shut down the affected manufacturing facility to disinfect the location, ceasing production and halting delivery of necessary materials to the plant,” the FBI report stated. “The company notified all employees at the facility, including four workers who had close contact with the reportedly infected employee and were required to self-quarantine.”
Upon subsequent close review of the employee’s medical documentation, supervisors became suspicious.
The letter indicating the positive Covid-19 testing was not on official letterhead from a medical facility. A call to a telephone number listed on the documentation revealed the number was not actually associated with a location that conducted novel coronavirus testing at the time the letter was written.
In total, the FBI estimates the victim company incurred over $175,000 in lost productivity due to the alleged scam. One coworker of the alleged scammer, believing they had been exposed to the virus, also faced personal financial loss after deciding to pay for a rental property where they could remain self-quarantined away from members of their family.
The FBI says companies should take certain actions to prevent from becoming the victim of a fraudulent Covid-19 claim.
The bureau recommends employers contact medical providers listed on work excuse documents in order to confirm their veracity. Supervisors should also take note of inconsistencies in font and spacing, or signs a document has been computer edited. And companies should review legitimate excuse letters health care providers have previously given to employees, in order to be aware of the typical format and structure used by medical providers.
While not commenting on any specific FBI report, a bureau spokesperson told CNN that “the FBI regularly shares this type of information that we assess as important, and we also respond to requests from our private sector partners for information on specific topics.”
The incident outlined in the FBI report issued this week is one in a series of alleged recent scams by employees pretending to have the novel coronavirus.
An 18-year-old McDonald’s employee was arrested last month in Canada and charged by authorities after allegedly producing a fake doctor’s note to her boss, claiming she had tested positive for Covid-19.
“The restaurant remained closed for several days while professional cleaning services worked to sanitize the store,” according to Ontario police. “There has been a significant impact on the restaurant, local customers and employees which instigated the need for police involvement.”
Last month, a South Carolina man was arrested and faces state charges after police say he similarly submitted fake documentation to his employer, indicating he contracted Covid-19. The call center where he worked was shut down for five days while the facility was disinfected.
Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright told to CNN affiliate WSPA that it “seems to me like the fellow just wanted a two-week paid vacation.”
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
They can't march in the streets. So they're protesting in their cars instead
| By
talklpstage
They taped signs on the sides of their cars and got ready to blare their horns.
Then they drove slowly down the street together.
The scene on a recent evening in Eloy, Arizona, about 60 miles southeast of Phoenix, was different than any demonstration Natally Cruz had joined before.
“I felt chills … just to see how much support there is out there, to see how even at this hard time, people are still trying to find a way to help one another,” says Cruz, who headed to the protest in her black Nissan Maxima with several signs in tow.
One said “honk for justice.”
Unable to gather in large groups because of the coronavirus pandemic, pockets of protesters around the world are turning to a new tactic: trying to make their voices heard from inside vehicles instead of marching in the streets.
One focus of US protests: Immigrant detention
Last Friday in Arizona, organizers say some 200 cars circled outside the Eloy Detention Center and La Palma Correctional Center. For weeks, similar protests have been popping up outside immigrant detention centers across the country.
Advocates such as Cruz are pushing for Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release detainees, who they argue are particularly vulnerable to contracting the virus in crowded facilities that have long faced criticism for how they handle even routine medical care. ICE has said it’s committed to caring for those in its custody and considering releases of some detainees on a case-by-case basis. So far there are at least 77 confirmed cases of Covid-19 among more than 33,000 detainees in ICE custody, according to the agency.
At the Eloy demonstration, protesters showed up with signs that said “free them all” and “humanity over profit.” They honked their horns over and over, hoping detainees inside could hear.
“We want them to know people are out here fighting for them,” Cruz says, “that they’re not being left alone.”
Car protests are popping up elsewhere, too
This isn’t just something that’s just been happening outside immigrant detention centers.
In St. Paul, Minnesota, protesters drove by the governor’s mansion last month as they called for the state to release detainees.
At first glance, images of car protests in some cities — such as recent demonstrations in Philadelphia, Sao Paulo, Brazil and Krakow, Poland — look like they could simply be snapshots of rush-hour traffic.
But flags fluttering across windshield and signs taped in windows show that these aren’t scenes from a typical day on the streets.
This isn’t the first time this has happened
It’s no surprise to see different activist groups turning to similar protest tactics as they struggle to get attention for their causes and find new ways to come together, says David Meyer, a professor of sociology and political science at the University of California at Irvine.
“You’re always looking for something that will work. … You have to be constantly prospecting for stuff,” says Meyer, author of “The Politics of Protest: Social Movements in America.”
And vehicles have been used in protests before, Meyer says. In 1964, for example, a group of protesters from the Congress of Racial Equality organized a “stall-in” to try to keep people from going to the World’s Fair in New York — though in the end far fewer protesters showed up than organizers had originally promised. And in 1979, he says, farmers demanding more pay for crops headed to Washington in their tractors. Participants in the so-called “tractorcade” occupied the National Mall for weeks.
Now activists trying to make a point have more tools at their disposal. As the coronavirus pandemic spreads and government orders keep many at home, activists have been working on building capacity and attention for their causes online, Meyer says. But there are limits to internet organizing.
“Mostly that ends up talking to the people who already agree with you and already are with you,” he says. “The car protest is one way to try to break through those boundaries.”
But there could be pitfalls to protests inside vehicles, Meyer says. It’s harder to connect with fellow protesters from inside a car, he says, and vehicles may be viewed as more threatening.
“When protesters wear helmets or gas masks, it almost always leads to police feeling threatened and reacting more harshly. Do cars do that, too? I don’t know,” Meyer says.
More car protests are planned
Immigrant rights advocates have said they’re planning additional car protests. And other groups are, too.
Conservative critics of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have said they’re planning to surround the state’s capitol Wednesday — not only with cars, but also with construction vehicles, landscaping trucks and trailer boats representing industries that have been impacted by the governor’s stay-at-home orders.
Protesters argue that Whitmer has gone too far.
“She’s driving us out of business. We’re driving to Lansing,” says a Facebook invitation for the event, which is dubbed “Operation Gridlock” and organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition.
Whitmer has pledged to reopen the state as soon as it’s safe and is asking for patience.
Monday she called for people participating in the protest to remain in their vehicles “so that they don’t expose themselves or any of our first responders to potential Covid-19.”
“I support people’s right to demonstrate,” she told reporters, “and to use their voice.”
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
The second pandemic that awaits Covid-19 first responders
| By
talklpstage
Health care workers are at a greater risk of contracting the novel coronavirus. In New York, according to a report from Business Insider, many providers with symptoms are not being tested, but asked to stay home for just seven days before resuming work. In some cases where a provider tests positive but remains asymptomatic, they’ve been asked to continue working because our hospitals are already short staffed and operating at their maximum capacity. When the rest of the country moves on and rebuilds, a new threat of post-traumatic stress disorder faces responders, and their families, that could rage for years.
My father was a sergeant in the Emergency Service Unit of the NYPD during the nearly nine months he spent at Ground Zero. What started as a rescue mission searching for survivors quickly turned to one of recovery of human remains. At 14-years-old, it was hard for me to understand what he was still doing there in February of 2002. We hardly saw him my first year of high school. He’d come home, take off his Carhartt bodysuit covered in World Trade Center dust, throw it down the basement stairs to wash, and sleep a few hours before waking for another shift. When I asked him what he was searching for at Ground Zero, he simply said, “Thumbs.”
Those working in the health care system are now also enduring trauma, worrying that they may become infected. Some are sleeping in their garages, in hotel rooms with coworkers, or sending their children or parents to live elsewhere to reduce their exposure to the virus.
Nearly 20 years separates this pandemic from the September 11th attacks in New York. At the time of writing, the number of total positive Covid-19 cases in New York state made up 10.5% of those across the world. Once again, we are an epicenter of trauma and death with another 8.7% of the pandemic’s deaths in our state alone.
Nightly, we’re opening our windows and standing on porches to cheer and praise our responder heroes—as they are—sacrificing their own well-being and safety to help others. Like my father and other first responders at Ground Zero, we’ve expected doctors and nurses to perform their jobs without adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). My father was told he didn’t need a proper mask because the air was safe to breathe.
And the similarities don’t end there.
Clapping from our balconies for our heroes is not enough. Though helpful, neither are meals, donations, or stimulus packages. I know this intimately as more of my father’s old coworkers die each year as a direct result of their exposure at Ground Zero. Just ask John Feal, a 9/11 first responder, who has been to Congress numerous times lobbying for financial coverage for responders dying of cancers borne of Ground Zero. Families of responders may not lose their loved one to the virus, but what they may not realize — as we hadn’t — was that you could lose parts of them to their work.
We celebrate our heroes but quickly expect them to resume their normal lives after working through a national crisis. My father left a war zone in the heart of our city and came home to his family and his job at the NYPD in the Emergency Service Unit. He was chronically exhausted, angry, hyper-vigilant, on an inhaler and in desperate need of more support than we could provide him. Eight years after 9/11, my parents ended their 25 year marriage.
The men and women working in hospitals, ambulances, and treating covid patients will be expected to resume their jobs, too — re-enter the site of their most traumatic professional moments — where patients young and old, without a single family member allowed by their side, died in acute respiratory failure. The endless phone calls they made to families on the death of their loved one will rob them of sleep long after a vaccine neutralizes our collective fear. As a society, when the immediate threat is over, we will still expect responders to continue saving people who enter the emergency room doors. But who will care for them or their families when the pandemic ends? If we’ve learned anything in the past few weeks, our economy is only as successful as the health of the people who work to uphold it.
In the months that follow this tragedy, we will need to look out for the signs of PTSD in those on the frontline. My father wasn’t required to see a mental health counselor in the aftermath. For many police like him, the stigma within the department prevented him from seeking help for years. If you find yourself face-to-face with a loved one who is changed by their work this last month, take that as your sign to mobilize. We must support our heroes by having systems in place, securing them affordable and ready access to mental health counseling, drug and alcohol treatment, and the proper time they will need to heal. If we want responders to continue their essential jobs, and do them well, we must afford them our praise in tangible, actionable ways.
On CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday, Dr. Yuval Neria — the director of trauma and PTSD at New York State Psychiatric Institute — warned of a possible “second pandemic,” one concerning mental health. After 9/11, roughly one to five percent of New Yorkers developed PSTD, according to Neria. Now, think of everyone you know working essential jobs outside of their homes in the fight against this disease right now. With our country facing a serious recession, it’s unlikely there will be any budget set aside for their health in the aftermath.
On late nights at Ground Zero, first responders were haunted by the sound of Personal Alert Safety System (PASS) alarms — a device used to alert others that a firefighter is motionless and in need of help. For this generation of responders, it may be the calls of code blue, indicating a patient’s heart has stopped, or their muffled cries for family in their final moments. We can truly thank our heroes only if we don’t forget them in their coming hours of need.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
Man released from jail amid coronavirus concerns is arrested on a murder charge
| By
talklpstage
Now, the 26-year-old is back behind bars for several new charges including second-degree murder with a firearm, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Williams was originally arrested March 13 for possession of heroin and drug paraphernalia, according to court records. He was one of more than 100 inmates released March 19 to curb the spread of the virus in detention centers and protect inmates and staff.
A day after being released, the sheriff’s office says, Williams became the suspect of a murder case.
“There is no question Joseph Williams took advantage of this health emergency to commit crimes while he was out of jail awaiting resolution of a low-level, non-violent offense,” Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement.
“Every murder, every violent crime, especially those involving a gun, is a sickening example of the worst in our community, especially at a time when our community is working relentlessly to fight against the spread of this deadly COVID-19.”
Court records show Williams is being held in jail without bond. CNN called the public defender’s office, which is representing Williams, for comment but has not heard back.
On March 20, police investigating reports of gunshots in a Tampa neighborhood found a man who was pronounced dead at the scene, according to CNN affiliate WFLA.
Williams was arrested Sunday in connection with the case. In addition to second-degree murder, he is facing several new charges including resisting an officer, felon in possession of a firearm, possession of heroin and possession of drug paraphernalia.
“Judges, prosecutors, and Sheriffs around the country are facing difficult decisions during this health crisis with respect to balancing public health and public safety,” said Chronister. “Sheriffs in Florida and throughout our country have released non-violent, low-level offenders to protect our deputies and the jail population from an outbreak.”
Williams has a lengthy criminal record that shows he has been arrested for 35 charges, according to the sheriff’s office.
CNN’s Chris Boyette contributed to this report.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS
US may have to endure social distancing until 2022 if no vaccine is quickly found, scientists predict
| By
talklpstage
The US may have to endure social distancing measures — such as stay-at-home orders and school closures — until 2022, researchers projected on Tuesday. That is, unless, a vaccine becomes quickly available.
That’s according to researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who published their findings in the journal Science on Tuesday. Those findings directly contradict research being touted by the White House that suggests the pandemic may stop this summer.
The team at the Harvard School of Public Health used what’s known about Covid-19 and other coronaviruses to create possible scenarios of the current pandemic.
“Intermittent distancing may be required into 2022 unless critical care capacity is increased substantially or a treatment or vaccine becomes available,” they wrote in their report.
“Even in the event of apparent elimination, SARS-CoV-2 surveillance should be maintained since a resurgence in contagion could be possible as late as 2024.”
Another important factor: Whether people become immune to the new coronavirus after they have been infected. That’s not yet known.
Potential challenges include finding a reliable test to determine who has antibodies for the coronavirus, establishing the level of immunity conferred by previous infection and how long it lasts, and the capacity of overstretched health systems to carry out reliable, widespread antibody tests in the general population.
There’s also the difficult social questions around immunity certificates, which have been floated as a possibility in the UK. Would they create a kind of two-tier society, where those who have them can return to a more normal life, while others remain locked down?
The study researchers say they are aware that such prolonged distancing, even if intermittent, would likely have “profoundly negative economic, social, and educational consequences.” They hope their research will help identify likely trajectories of the epidemic under alternative approaches, identify complementary ways to fight it, and to spur further thinking about ways to get the pandemic under control.
Though coronavirus cases in the US have been soaring, social distancing appears to be effective.
Social distancing is “one of the most powerful weapons” against COVID-19, said Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“If we can just maximize that social distancing, we can limit this virus’s ability,” he said earlier this month.
States across the country have issued stay-at-home orders, allowing only for essential errands or tasks.
Penalties for breaking the order vary by state. In Maine, the penalty for breaking the order can be up to six months in jail and up to a $1,000 fine.
In Florida, a pastor was arrested last month for continuing to hold large services and is charged with unlawful assembly and violation of public health emergency rules, both second-degree misdemeanors.
This week, states on the East and West coasts announced they are forming their own regional pacts to work together on how to reopen after the stay-at-home orders.
New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island and Massachusetts each plan to name a public health and economic official to a regional working group.
West Coast states of California, Washington and Oregon also announced they are joining forces in a plan to begin incremental release of stay-at-home orders.
CNN’s Steve Almasy, Jason Hanna, Laura Smith-Spark, Maeve Reston, Kristina Sgueglia, Cheri Mossburg and Christina Maxouris contributed to this report.
CNN,
Source:
CNN RSS