Oh my goodness, Dr. Fauci said. Where is it going to end? Were still at the beginning of really understanding.
Another looming question, he said, is whether survivors who were seriously ill will fully recover.
He described the pandemic as shining a very bright light on something weve known for a very long time the health disparities and the harder impact of many illnesses on people of color, particularly African-Americans.
The coronavirus has been a double whammy for black people, he said, first because they are more likely to be exposed to the disease by way of their employment in jobs that cannot be done remotely. Second, they are more vulnerable to severe illness from the coronavirus because they have higher rates of underlying conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and chronic lung disease.
Given the disparities, he said, it is essential to focus more resources to control the coronavirus in the areas with high-density African-American populations. But the longer-term solution will take decades, he said, to address the socioeconomic and dietary factors that contribute to so many of the health problems in racial and ethnic groups that have been most affected by the virus.
The global race for vaccines and treatments by myriad companies and governments has led to calls for nonprofit and government-payment methods to ensure that the drugs would be widely available.
Updated June 5, 2020
So far, the evidence seems to show it does. A widely cited paper published in April suggests that people are most infectious about two days before the onset of coronavirus symptoms and estimated that 44 percent of new infections were a result of transmission from people who were not yet showing symptoms. Recently, a top expert at the World Health Organization stated that transmission of the coronavirus by people who did not have symptoms was very rare, but she later walked back that statement.
A study by European scientists is the first to document a strong statistical link between genetic variations and Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Having Type A blood was linked to a 50 percent increase in the likelihood that a patient would need to get oxygen or to go on a ventilator, according to the new study.
The unemployment rate fell to 13.3 percent in May, the Labor Department said on June 5, an unexpected improvement in the nations job market as hiring rebounded faster than economists expected. Economists had forecast the unemployment rate to increase to as much as 20 percent, after it hit 14.7 percent in April, which was the highest since the government began keeping official statistics after World War II. But the unemployment rate dipped instead, with employers adding 2.5 million jobs, after more than 20 million jobs were lost in April.
Mass protests against police brutality that have brought thousands of people onto the streets in cities across America are raising the specter of new coronavirus outbreaks, prompting political leaders, physicians and public health experts to warn that the crowds could cause a surge in cases. While many political leaders affirmed the right of protesters to express themselves, they urged the demonstrators to wear face masks and maintain social distancing, both to protect themselves and to prevent further community spread of the virus. Some infectious disease experts were reassured by the fact that the protests were held outdoors, saying the open air settings could mitigate the risk of transmission.
Exercise researchers and physicians have some blunt advice for those of us aiming to return to regular exercise now: Start slowly and then rev up your workouts, also slowly. American adults tended to be about 12 percent less active after the stay-at-home mandates began in March than they were in January. But there are steps you can take to ease your way back into regular exercise safely. First, start at no more than 50 percent of the exercise you were doing before Covid, says Dr. Monica Rho, the chief of musculoskeletal medicine at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago. Thread in some preparatory squats, too, she advises. When you havent been exercising, you lose muscle mass. Expect some muscle twinges after these preliminary, post-lockdown sessions, especially a day or two later. But sudden or increasing pain during exercise is a clarion call to stop and return home.
States are reopening bit by bit. This means that more public spaces are available for use and more and more businesses are being allowed to open again. The federal government is largely leaving the decision up to states, and some state leaders are leaving the decision up to local authorities. Even if you arent being told to stay at home, its still a good idea to limit trips outside and your interaction with other people.
Touching contaminated objects and then infecting ourselves with the germs is not typically how the virus spreads. But it can happen. A number of studies of flu, rhinovirus, coronavirus and other microbes have shown that respiratory illnesses, including the new coronavirus, can spread by touching contaminated surfaces, particularly in places like day care centers, offices and hospitals. But a long chain of events has to happen for the disease to spread that way. The best way to protect yourself from coronavirus whether its surface transmission or close human contact is still social distancing, washing your hands, not touching your face and wearing masks.
Common symptoms include fever, a dry cough, fatigue and difficulty breathing or shortness of breath. Some of these symptoms overlap with those of the flu, making detection difficult, but runny noses and stuffy sinuses are less common. The C.D.C. has also added chills, muscle pain, sore throat, headache and a new loss of the sense of taste or smell as symptoms to look out for. Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.
If air travel is unavoidable, there are some steps you can take to protect yourself. Most important: Wash your hands often, and stop touching your face. If possible, choose a window seat. A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people. Disinfect hard surfaces. When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table. If the seat is hard and nonporous or leather or pleather, you can wipe that down, too. (Using wipes on upholstered seats could lead to a wet seat and spreading of germs rather than killing them.)
The C.D.C. has recommended that all Americans wear cloth masks if they go out in public. This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms. Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people dont need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing. Part of the reason was to preserve medical-grade masks for health care workers who desperately need them at a time when they are in continuously short supply. Masks dont replace hand washing and social distancing.
If youve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
While access to vaccines will be essential, Dr. Fauci said it would probably not help if the U.S. government tried to impose price controls on drugmakers. If you try to enforce things on a company that has multiple different opportunities to do different things, they will walk away.
He said he had never seen a successful attempt at price controls, and it would be more effective for the government to work with companies and help them in developing products. Then, he said, companies will in good faith make it available to those groups, countries, nations that really cant afford it very well.
Robert F. Bukaty | AP
Robert F. Bukaty | AP
Customers dine inside at the Hot Spot Diner, Monday, May 18, 2020, in Wiscasset, Maine.
The BDN is making the most crucial coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and its economic impact in Maine free for all readers. Click here for all coronavirus stories. You can join others committed to safeguarding this vital public service by purchasing a subscription or donating directly to the newsroom.
Another 31 cases of the new coronavirus have been detected in Maine, health officials said Wednesday.
There have now been 2,637 cases across all of Maines counties since the outbreak began here in March, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Thats up from 2,606 on Tuesday.
Of those, 2,350 have been confirmed positive, while 287 are likely positive, according to the Maine CDC.
[Our COVID-19 tracker contains the most recent information on Maine cases by county]
No new deaths were reported Wednesday, leaving the statewide death toll at 100.
So far, 303 Mainers have been hospitalized at some point with COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. Of those, 27 people are currently hospitalized, with 10 in critical care and five on ventilators.
Meanwhile, 2,023 people have fully recovered from the virus, meaning there are 514 active and likely cases in the state, according to the Maine CDC. Thats unchanged from Tuesday. Active cases of the virus have been trending down in recent days, falling from 714 on May 24, Maine CDC data show.
Heres the latest on the coronavirus and its impact on Maine.
Gov. Janet Mills has extended her 30-day coronavirus civil state of emergency proclamation for the third time since the pandemic began, warning on Wednesday that COVID-19 is very much a threat despite the relaxing of some virus-inspired restrictions. The second extension, due to end Thursday, gives Mills the ability to suspend the enforcement of laws, establish emergency reserves of certain products and allows the state to access federal funding to mitigate the outbreak. Nick Sambides Jr., BDN
CEO of Portland-based Tilson Technology Josh Broder, Hancock Lumber CEO Kevin Hancock and Sea Bags CEO Don Oakes spoke about how they are reinventing their companies to deal with COVID-19. Lori Valigra, BDN
Amtraks Downeaster rail service will begin to emerge from behind the coronavirus curtain and get back on track with resumed service between Brunswick and Boston starting June 15. Nick Sambides Jr., BDN
A Freeport restaurant owner has opened his business for dine-in service in defiance of Gov. Janet Mills order prohibiting that in three counties amid the coronavirus pandemic. Petrillos in Freeport opened for both dine-in and outdoor seating last Thursday. Dominic Petrillo, owner and chef of Petrillos, said four complaints have been filed with the state in less than a week, but he doesnt regret his decision. CBS 13
The Fort Kent Lions Club, famous in northern Maine for its creative biannual Pride of Lions fundraiser, has demonstrated its creativity once again through a unique video making the rounds on Facebook. The video shows Lions Club members ranging in age from 20 to 93 years old passing and in one case golfing a potato to one another in video clips filmed at their homes and places of business. Jessica Potila, Fiddlehead Focus
As of Wednesday evening, the coronavirus has sickened 1,996,960 people in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as caused 112,726 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.
Elsewhere in New England, there have been 7,454 coronavirus deaths in Massachusetts, 4,120 in Connecticut, 812 in Rhode Island, 294 in New Hampshire and 55 in Vermont.
Watch: Maine gets funding for coronavirus testing
The man lay alone in his pressurized room at Dr. P. Phillips Hospital in Orlando. He had a severe case of Covid-19, and it looked like he was losing the battle.
A Catholic priest came to administer last rites. The patient, Jason Denney, said goodbye to his family via FaceTime.
But Quinteros, a hospital housekeeper, urged Denney not to lose hope.
She told him his life was in good hands, both the doctors' and God's. She said God was not done with Denney and encouraged him to keep fighting.
As the coronavirus pandemic has forced hospitals to impose strict restrictions on visitors and clergy, the work of people like Quinteros has become even more important, say health care experts.
They don't just keep the rooms clean of harmful germs. Many also try to lighten the mood with smiles or jokes, provide encouragement when patients lose hope and offer an attentive ear when patients need to process their emotions.
And so it was that a housekeeper from Guatemala and a retired Air Force colonel met in a hospital room in Florida. And slowly, one began to heal the other.
"I don't think she realized at the time what she was doing for me," Denney told CNN in recent interview. "She was saving my life."
The colonel and the housekeeper
Denney, 52, was born in England to an American father and Scottish mother. After 22 years in the Air Force and two deployments, he recently took a job with a defense contractor.
Quinteros was born in Pasaco, a small city in southern Guatamala, where her father was a farmer. The 33-year-old moved to the United States about 15 years ago, and is married with two children.
She was a hotel housekeeper for years before joining the hospital staff seven months ago.
When Covid-19 patients began to arrive at Dr. Phillips, Melinda Plumley, the chaplain manager, realized her staff would not be able to do their job as usual. Fears of contagion made it impossible to hold the face-to-face conversations that can help patients process difficult emotions.
So Plumley turned to the housekeepers and other staff members who visit patients' rooms each day.
"We put together some material of easy, open-ended questions for staff to get the patient talking," she said. "And now we have patients who say that if it weren't for the woman who cleans my room, I'm not sure I would have made it."
They talked about their children and their faith
At first, Quinteros and Denney just talked about the weather. Small talk to get his mind off the suffering.
Denney, who didn't want to be sedated or intubated, said he was in unspeakable pain, focusing on surviving five minutes at a time.
"It was really nice to talk about something other than my illness," he said. "I was sick and tired of hearing about what bad shape I was in."
While he is quick to credit his doctors and nurses, Denney also began to look forward to Quinteros' short visits every morning while she cleaned his room.
"She was not scared to be close to me," he said.
After a few days they began talking about more serious subjects, like their children and their faith. Quinteros has two kids. Denney has three, including a 16-year-old son who also contracted coronavirus.
"I felt very guilty about my son coming down with Covid," said Denney, who thought he might have passed along the illness to his child.
Quinteros, in an interview facilitated by a translator, said she noticed Denney's fear and guilt right away.
"I felt bad for him," she said, "and I wanted to make sure that he knew he was not alone."
Though English is not her first language, Quinteros said she and Denney quickly formed a bond. For six days, she became a ray of light in his suffocating darkness.
"When a patient is treated with compassion and love," she said, "language is not a barrier."
Hospital housekeepers fulfill an unsung need
They are sometimes called "invisible" workers, the custodians and housekeepers who clean and restock hospital rooms. But while we often don't see them, they see us.
Doctors, nurses and chaplains have rightly been hailed as heroes for their brave efforts during the coronavirus pandemic. Plumley jokes that spiritual healers haven't gotten this much press since the Reformation.
But the work of hospital housekeepers has been just as vital, said Dr. Neil Prose, a pediatric dermatologist and professor at Duke University's Global Health Institute.
Most hospitals around the country have imposed strict limits on visits from family members and even chaplains, leaving patients to suffer through agonizing hours alone.
"For this reason," said Prose, "the work of housekeepers in providing emotional support to patients and their families has become more important than ever."
It can be scary being a hospital housekeeper, sometimes called an environmental services worker, during a pandemic.
"Cleaners like me do the very hard and dangerous work of disinfecting and keeping every surface up to a critically safe standard," she wrote. "We are desperately hanging on to our jobs while knowing it could get us and our family sick or even killed."
Little human moments can help save lives
Before she enters a Covid-19 patient's room, Quinteros puts on a mask as well as a protective gown, gloves and eyewear.
Her Catholic faith, she said, provides another kind of protection.
"I rely on the training I received at the hospital and put my faith in God. I put everything in God's hands."
Denney, who is also Catholic, said Quinteros would talk about the power of Jesus and how the Lord would heal him.
These little moments can save lives, said Jane Dutton, a scholar at the University of Michigan who has studied the role of hospital housekeepers and other "invisible workers."
And it's the less-heralded hospital workers who most often provide these healing moments, Dutton said.
Though hospital housekeepers are often measured by standards of productivity -- how many rooms they clean -- hospital executives are beginning to realize their larger importance.
Denney, for one, knows how important a hospital housekeeper can be.
A few days after he left Dr. Phillips, Denney asked the hospital for Quinteros' number and sent her a text thanking her. He hopes to meet her family and take them out for dinner.
"I would love just to see her again and say thank you," he said. "People don't realize that in their brief engagements with other people, the words you say matter. And in the situation I was in, they really matter."
(CNN) Almost all coronavirus restrictions in New Zealand will be lifted tomorrow, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced, after the country reported no active cases.
Social distancing, however, is still encouraged and Ardern said New Zealand's international borders will remain shut to non-residents to prevent new outbreaks. Residents arriving in New Zealand will still have to quarantine for two weeks.
"This freedom from restrictions relies though heavily on the ongoing role that our border controls will play in keeping the virus out ... The virus will be in our world for some time to come," Ardern said at a press conference Monday.
Ardern said she had danced from excitement on hearing the news that New Zealand currently has no active Covid cases.
New Zealand's lockdown timetable
The first case of coronavirus was confirmed in New Zealand on February 28 -- more than a month after the United States confirmed its first infection.
On March 14, when the country had six cases, Ardern announced that anyone entering the country would need to self isolate for two weeks, which at the time was among the toughest border restrictions in the world. Foreign nationals were banned from entering the country on March 20.
Days later, on March 23 -- with no deaths and when there were 102 confirmed cases -- Ardern announced the country was entering "level three" lockdown. Non-essential businesses were closed, events and gatherings canceled and schools closed to all children except those of essential workers.
Employers were told to allow working from home where possible, public transport was reserved for essential workers, and discretionary domestic air travel between regions was banned.
At midnight on March 25, New Zealand moved to the strictest level 4 lockdown, with people told not to leave home except for essential exercise near the home, while maintaining social distancing.
On April 9, despite a decline in cases, Ardern tightened border restrictions so that all citizens and permanent residents arriving in New Zealand were required to spend two weeks quarantined in an approved facility rather than at home.
Travel bubble looms?
Both countries have mostly controlled their local coronavirus outbreaks and have large tourism industries which have been severely impacted by widespread travel restrictions.
However, Ardern warned Monday that such a corridor could still be months away.
"I don't want New Zealand businesses or even Kiwis who want to travel across the ditch to be given a false start. I'd rather share timelines when we have much more certainty," she said.
"(Australia is) making progress state by state, but it's not universal."
"At home he would say, 'Let's stay apart from each other.' He wanted to keep us safe because he knew his working conditions weren't safe," his wife Nancy Edith Alba Cullar told CNN in an interview.
The father of three girls told her his ambulance crew hadn't been given the proper protective equipment such as gloves, coveralls and masks to keep them safe. He'd complained to his bosses, she said, but they'd respond there wasn't more money available for better supplies.
Still, he kept doing his job. It was mid-April when he started feeling sick.
By April 20, Dr. Prez had been hospitalized with a confirmed case of Covid-19. On April 22, he typed out his last message to his family before being intubated.
'Be very careful. I love you all,' he texted his wife. He passed away a few days later.
In response to CNN's request for comment regarding allegations of improper PPE gear, the federal agencies that manage the paramedics said proper equipment is provided. They declined to provide numbers on how many staff have contracted Covid-19 or have died from it.
CNN interviewed seven paramedics and one doctor who work in Mexico City public ambulances, belonging to two different sections of the country's Health Ministry. All eight said they feel a sense of betrayal because they argue the government has not helped to keep them safe.
"From the beginning we took precautions," said Fatima Torrs, a 29-year-old paramedic who tested positive for the virus. "But we didn't have much material to avoid contamination."
'I don't know anyone who goes to work and isn't afraid'
On the frontlines are the paramedics, shuttling patients to hospitals across the city. In interviews with CNN, they described many shortcomings with protective equipment, including poor-quality masks (not the N95 masks recommended to protect healthcare workers), no face shields unless they bought their own, a short supply of gloves, poor-quality goggles and coveralls, and no equipment to isolate Covid-19 patients inside ambulances.
Plastic isolation capsules are not provided inside their work vehicles, so paramedics described taping up garbage bags around the cabin to isolate patients as much as possible.
"I don't know anyone who goes to work and isn't afraid," said Oscar Prado, a paramedic who has worked in a public ambulance for 10 years. "The level of stress we're working under is immense and we're angry that we're not getting the proper support from our superiors."
Every paramedic we spoke to had bought some extra supplies, ranging from N95 masks to swimming goggles and snorkels to hazmat suits.
One man, speaking anonymously for fear of losing his job, said once the supplies he bought run out, he's not going to go back to work. "It's not worth it. They're sending you to war without anything. You don't send firefighters to a fire without equipment. It's the same for us."
A government response that doesn't add up
Mexico City's public ambulance fleet is a patchwork group of units, spanning several different government agencies and ministries. The city relies on a large number of private, for-profit ambulances and volunteer groups like the Red Cross to help meet its emergency medical needs.
Those who spoke to CNN about the poor supplies work for the Institute for Social Security and Services for State Workers, or ISSSTE, and the Regulatory Center for Medical Emergencies, known as CRUM. The two agencies, both under Mexico's Healthy Ministry, operate about 130 ambulances in the capital.
"[CRUM] guarantees the provision of personal protective supplies, fundamental to carry out their work, recognized as highly specialized and that provide service with the highest standards of care and patient protection," a CRUM spokesperson said in a statement provided to CNN.
In a one-line WhatsApp message to CNN, ISSSTE said "[our ambulances] have the required supplies."
Both statements appear to be demonstrably untrue, based on interviews with the staff.
Repeated requests to both agencies for both the official number of ambulance healthcare workers that have contracted the virus and those that have passed away went unanswered.
'I think about my family'
The epidemic in Mexico has shown no signs of slowing down. "We are experiencing one of the most complex and most dangerous moments of the epidemic," Cristian Morales, the World Health Organization's Representative in Mexico, said in a press briefing Tuesday.
That means the demand for emergency medical services is still extremely high.
"I think about my family," said another paramedic, who asked to remain anonymous. "I think about Dr. Prez's family. What if that happened to mine?"
When CNN spoke a few weeks ago to Dr. Prez's wife, Nancy, she worried her husband wouldn't be the last ambulance worker to die.
"There are many of his colleagues, many people that are still at risk and don't have the necessary supplies to work properly and to be safe," she said.
Her words were prescient.
Last weekend, 53-year-old Sergio Arturo Mendoza Romero, a paramedic of 33 years and a former colleague of Dr. Prez, passed away from the coronavirus after being intubated and fighting for his life for weeks in the hospital.
His colleagues believe he contracted the virus on the job.
Meantime, the Prez family is battling to get help from the government as the doctor was the sole breadwinner.
"I just think it's unfair. My husband and his colleagues are just doing their jobs. They do it out of necessity and because they love what they do," Nancy said. "They're helping their country."
But in the face of an unprecedented pandemic, it appears their country isn't helping them.
Workers line up to enter a Tyson Foods pork processing plant last month in Logansport, Ind. Some of the worst workplace coronavirus outbreaks have been in the meatpacking industry. Major meatpackers JBS USA, Smithfield Foods and Tyson have said worker safety is their highest priority. Michael Conroy/AP hide caption
Workers line up to enter a Tyson Foods pork processing plant last month in Logansport, Ind. Some of the worst workplace coronavirus outbreaks have been in the meatpacking industry. Major meatpackers JBS USA, Smithfield Foods and Tyson have said worker safety is their highest priority.
The past few months have weighed heavily on Edgar Fields. He has been meeting with workers at chicken processing plants across Georgia and in nearby states. His union represents them, and many have become sick. Some have died.
"You know, you lay in the bed and you can't sleep because stuff is on your mind? I've got to do this. I've got to do that," he says. "That's what I wake up in every morning thinking, 'What can I do to protect my members to where they have a safe work environment to go to?' "
For example, Fields says, take a Tyson Foods chicken processing facility in Camilla, Ga. Tyson confirms more than 100 workers there tested positive for the coronavirus and four died. Fields says the company promised to spread the workers out 6 feet apart.
From his Atlanta office and across the state of Georgia, union leader Edgar Fields has been pushing for safety protections for workers during the COVID-19 outbreak. Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union hide caption
From his Atlanta office and across the state of Georgia, union leader Edgar Fields has been pushing for safety protections for workers during the COVID-19 outbreak.
But it's not doing that everywhere in the plant. "In some places, they haven't spread them out at all," Fields says. "They're still close." He says the company could do it if it processed fewer chickens. He's also pushing for on-site testing for the coronavirus at the plant.
Tyson tells NPR in a statement, "Our top priority is the health and safety of our team members." The company says it's checking workers' temperatures and requiring them to wear masks. And that they wear face shields in "the limited areas in the plant where neither barriers nor physical separation is feasible."
The company also says its safety measures "meet or exceed" federal safety guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
But therein lies the heart of a big problem, according to safety advocates. The federal government has issued guidelines for employers during the outbreak but those aren't mandatory or enforceable.
"They have decided not to issue any specific requirements for employers to keep workers 6 feet apart, to keep workers in masks," says Debbie Berkowitz, a former chief of staff at OSHA. "The guidance is voluntary. Employers can comply with it, or they can ignore it."
As a result, she says, "OSHA has received thousands of complaints from terrified workers from all over the economy." Berkowitz is now working with the nonprofit National Employment Law Project.
She says there are still some things workers can do. If an employer isn't following even the suggested federal guidelines from OSHA and the CDC, workers should still file a complaint with OSHA. She says that can be done confidentially at osha.gov.
Berkowitz says OSHA will contact the employer, and that in itself can be a strong nudge to improve safety measures. "Sometimes that can make all the difference in the world," she says.
Workers may also have state-level protections.
"There are states where the governors have, by executive order to protect the public, have set some real requirements in the workplace," Berkowitz says. "Workers really need governors and health departments to step in because the federal government has failed here."
Loren Sweatt, the top Trump administration official overseeing OSHA, says the agency is not failing workers. "We have over 5,000 complaints, and our inspectors are investigating all of them," Sweatt said at a recent hearing in Congress. "So yes, the agency has been doing its job since the beginning of this pandemic."
But Berkowitz says almost none of those investigations have been on-site, in-person inspections, which could result in enforcement actions. And she says that with only voluntary federal guidelines, there's not much OSHA can do in the way of enforcement anyway.
The AFL-CIO disagrees. The big labor union group is suing OSHA to get it to issue emergency national mandatory safety requirements for the outbreak.
Hairstylist Ashley Weiner cuts a friend's hair outdoors. She says she's worried about returning to work. She says that before the pandemic customers would often show up sick. "They come and sit in my chair, and I often get sick and bring that home." She says, "If COVID comes into the salon, there's a high chance that it's going to get passed around." Mike Goetz hide caption
Hairstylist Ashley Weiner cuts a friend's hair outdoors. She says she's worried about returning to work. She says that before the pandemic customers would often show up sick. "They come and sit in my chair, and I often get sick and bring that home." She says, "If COVID comes into the salon, there's a high chance that it's going to get passed around."
Meanwhile, the economy continues to reopen. And while meat processing plants have seen some of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks, people with plenty of other types of jobs are worried about their safety, too.
"I'm feeling anxious. It's stressful because I feel like my back is up against a wall," says Ashley Weiner, a hairstylist who has two young children in Portland, Ore.
Hair salons are about to reopen there, and she'll need to make money. So she'll be touching clients' heads and breathing next to them indoors all day. She says she worries that customers and salons won't be able to get high-quality face masks.
"I know people who work in the medical field here, and they say they don't have enough supplies themselves, so then how are we going to be getting access to these supplies?" Weiner asks.
Berkowitz says you can call your state health department, governor's office and attorney general's office to find out what the state-level protections are in your area.
Another issue advocates for workers are watching: Republican lawmakers in Washington want to shield employers from legal liability if their workers contract the coronavirus. The lawmakers argue that employers need that protection to reopen, but critics say it would result in more unsafe workplaces.
1. How COVID-19 is affecting the globe
2. COVID-19 and seasonality
Responding to a question about the onset of winter in the southern hemisphere, the Executive Director of the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme, Dr Mike Ryan said:
Right now, we have no data to suggest that the virus will behave more aggressively, or transmit more efficiently, or not."
He said the same was true of summertime conditions, and added: "At this point, just to be clear, we have no indication as yet how the disease will behave in future.
Tracking the history of confirmed cases.
Image: Our World in Data
3. 3 actions for redesigning our food systems in the post-COVID world
The coronavirus crisis has been a "stress test" for global food systems - and they are failing, write Sara Farley, Managing Director, Food Initiative, Rockefeller Foundation, and Sara Scherr, President and Chief Executive Officer, EcoAgriculture Partners.
World leaders and experts will come together for the Food Systems Summit of 2021 to articulate and adopt an actionable, integrated plan for food systems transformation.
Here are three actions to reimagine global food systems:
1. Re-think supply chains for a diverse and healthy diet.
Supply chains must be redesigned with health and nutrition in mind, to reduce diet-related disease, including heart disease, diabetes and stroke, which increase the risk of serious illness from COVID-19.
2. Build strong connections between environment and food policy.
The way farmers produce food determines the fertility of their soils and the health of the planet. The food systems of tomorrow must embrace the One Health vision and advance positive interactions between human health, livestock health, wildlife health and ecosystem health.
3. Strengthen, democratize and localize food systems planning.
While national policy-makers can provide critical perspectives and frameworks for change, local and regional stakeholders must be able to shape their own food systems to reflect local values, resources and priorities.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with our Terms of Use.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Workers also contributing less to retirement funds; Fox Biz Flash: 5/27.
The coronavirus pandemic has put a financial strain on people and households throughout the United States, and a new survey shows that many have turned to their retirement stash as a means to meet immediate payment obligations.
More than one-in-three people were thinking about or had already decreased retirement savings contributions, according to new data from TD Ameritrade.And others are putting retirement plans on hold. Forty-four percent of people said they would delay retirement as a means to cut costs, while 51 percent were open to picking up a job.
About 17 percent of people told TD Ameritrade they had already tapped their retirement accounts as of May, and 21 percent said they were considering doing so. Nearly 30 percent of respondents had withdrawn, or were considering withdrawing, from their 401(k) accounts, and 27 percent said the same about their IRA and Roth IRA accounts.
Lawmakers approved legislation that gives individuals greater flexibility to tap retirement accounts as a means to help them weather the financial effects of the virus. People can take up to $100,000 from their 401(k) retirement stash without being subject to the 10 percent penalty so long as the funds are used for coronavirus-related financial needs. Individuals will, however, have to pay incometaxeson the money.
CORONAVIRUS AND RETIREMENT: EXPERTS' 401(K) TIPS
Experts, however, are cautioning against using this option if possible. Jeff Schneble, CEO of Human Interest, said it could eventually compromise the ability for people to retire down the line especially considering people would essentially be selling at a time when the market is near a low point in valuation.
Nevertheless, 71 percent of respondents said their retirement plans will be affected by the pandemic when compared with the Great Recession (58 percent).
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On the bright side, many Americans are hoping to shore up their savings accounts when their financial situations stabilize. Seventy-two percent said they would prioritize saving for retirement once the pandemic ended.
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Coronavirus: Rising trend of new cases in southern US states as it happened Financial Times
Manoj Joshi
Distinguished fellow, Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi
EVEN as the US is tightening the screws on China on account of 5G technology, another, perhaps more consequential, front may be opening up in its new Cold War with China. According to a report, Beijing may deploy a coronavirus vaccine as early as September, even if the clinical trials are not finished. This is being justified as an effort to protect at risk groups like medical personnel, but it is also about who comes first in the race for an effective vaccine.
While a gold standard vaccine will take time, thecontest is as much about prestige as about saving millions of lives and earning billions of dollars.
This contest is as much about prestige, as about saving millions of lives and earning billions of dollars. For China, it is also about redemption, given its inexplicable delay in informing the world about the outbreak.
We can only hope that following the unseemly conduct of countries in restricting the export of medicines and medical equipment at the outbreak of Covid-19, we will not see vaccine nationalism when their efforts bear fruit.
The Chinese see themselves against a US effort triggered by President Trumps call, in mid-May, for developing a vaccine at warp speed. To meet the target of a vaccine by October in part motivated by the US elections in November the USs Biomedical Advanced Research & Development Authority (BARDA) said they would provide $1.2 billion support to Oxford University-AstraZeneca to deliver 300 doses of their potential vaccine by the end of September.
As of now, there are 224 candidate vaccines in development globally, according to the data collected by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). While North America has the largest number of projects 49 per cent China is the furthest along the track with five vaccines in phase II human trials, more than any other country.
Of the 10 vaccines that are at the stage of human trials, six are Chinese, and it is the only country with a vaccine which has advanced to phase II. This is the Can Sino Biologics-Beijing Institute of Biotechnology product using the non-replicating viral vector design, similar to the Oxford University one, and whose phase I trial was reported on May 22 by Lancet.
Other leading candidates are being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech of Germany, Moderna and Inovio of the US, and a clutch of Chinese institutions like Sinovac Biotech, the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and the Shenzhen Geno-Immune Medical Institute. Most of them are completing their phase I trial.
Both the US and Chinese militaries are active in the vaccine development front. The Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, which is working with Can Sino, is part of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, whose star is a top virologist, Major General Chen Wei. In the US, the Army Medical Research Institute and the Walter Reed Institute of Research are also working to develop a vaccine.
The effort is seeing innovative approaches and new kinds of partnerships to ensure that, when certified, the vaccine will be available at the fastest speed and most widely distributed. Besides AstraZeneca, BARDA has also agreed to give $483 million to Moderna and $500 million to Johnson & Johnson for their efforts. But, BARDAs 300 million doses are obviously aimed to cover all US citizens. The real battle is to ensure that it reaches the globes billions.
For this reason, Oxford University has a prior agreement with AstraZeneca to distribute the potential vaccine at no profit for the duration of the epidemic. Another British effort through the Imperial Colleges laboratory would bypass the drug industry entirely. According to the New York Times, the vaccine, using specifically engineered genetic materialRNAis cheaper and easier to make than Modernas, which uses a similar technique, and so would be ideal for global use.
A major player in these efforts is CEPI, launched in Norway in 2017 to finance new vaccines. It has among its sponsors, the Norwegian and Indian governments, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust. CEPI has provided initial support and funding to Curevac, Inovio, Moderna, Novavax, University of Queensland, University of Hong Kong and Oxford University and a consortium led by Institut Pasteur and Clover Biopharmaceuticals.
AstraZeneca has arrived at a $750 million agreement with CEPI and GAVI to provide 300 million doses of their vaccine for the poorer countries by the end of the year. A major share of this effort will be achieved through the partnership with the Serum Institute of India, the worlds biggest vaccine maker based in Pune, to make a billion doses of their vaccine eventually.
Vaccines against viruses are notoriously difficult to develop. There is none, despite huge expenditure and effort, against HIV as yet. They can take a great deal of time, but the coronavirus pandemic is pushing its own envelope. A gold standard vaccinegiving protection of six months, at least 50 per cent effective and able to prevent the transmission of the viruswill take time. The early vaccines may provide limited protection for frontline workers and medical personnel.
Technology has always been a major element in global power equations. Some of it has been good, and some bad. In some cases like nuclear power, it has both facets. But now, for the first time, we may be seeing biotechnology emerge as a factor as well.
