NEWS AND OPINION
New York City’s coronavirus outbreak grew so large by early March that the city became the primary source of new infections in the United States, new research reveals, as thousands of infected people traveled from the city and seeded outbreaks around the country.
The coronavirus pandemic is an humanitarian and an economic tragedy. It is causing a devastating loss of life, unprecedented economic destruction and widespread misery. Yet, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden recently described it as “an incredible opportunity to ...fundamentally transform the country.”
Biden is not alone in seeing this pandemic as an opportunity to enact a leftist political agenda. As President Trump fights to save lives and return the nation to prosperity, numerous Democrats have expressed similarly cynical sentiments. With their political instincts telling them not to let this pandemic go to waste, it’s worth considering what happened the last time Democrats attempted to take advantage of a crisis.
What do Americans think? By a 64 to 24 point margin, according to a YouGov/Economist poll taken April 22–23, “Americans don’t think state lockdowns during COVID-19 are a violation of constitutional rights.” Sentiment shows some polarization along party lines: “Close to half (47 percent) of Republicans believe these lockdowns are unconstitutional, while just about a quarter (26 percent) of Independents and 10 percent of Democrats say the same.” Of course, polls can’t tell us whether something is unconstitutional; however, they can tell us about the state of public opinion.
People are not happy about Costco’s newest policy.
Last week, the retail giant announced that starting Monday, customers wouldn’t be allowed into Costco locations unless they were wearing a mask.
Children under 2 years old or people with medical conditions that prevent them from wearing a mask are the only exclusions to the policy, according to the announcement on Costco’s COVID-19 updates web page.
There’s a famous scene in the movie Fight Club where Tyler Durden is on an airplane thumbing through one of those safety manuals in emergency exit rows.
“An exit door procedure at 30,000 feet,” says Durden (Brad Pitt). “The illusion of safety.”
It’s a memorable scene because it touches on the strange things humans do to make ourselves feel secure in frightening situations. Which brings me to America’s latest fad: wearing masks in public.
In an industry rocked over the past year by record rates of bankruptcies, suicides and mental health crises spurred by weather extremes, trade wars and faltering economics, COVID-19 has fostered even more uncertainty for the future of America's farms. Already the pandemic has decimated agricultural markets.
For the men and women struggling to operate farms and associated businesses across the country, concerns are rising that the existing mental health crisis in farm country is about to get worse...
“Farming is so much of an identity, and that concept of it being a family identity that has been passed down through generations,” Fahy said. “And now today’s farmers are faced with: ‘Am I going to be the generation that loses the farm?’”
Protests flared up at state capitols last week as frustration reached a boiling point for Americans forced to stay at home across the country. Activists vented their frustration with the ongoing economic shutdown that has left more than 20% of the nation’s workforce without a means to provide for themselves and their families. The percentage of Americans who will have their careers and livelihoods ruined by the lockdown restrictions is set to surpass that of the Great Depression.
Still, it’s important to recognize that 72% of registered voters believe that the initial lockdowns saved lives and prevented the spread of the coronavirus. However, a new poll commissioned by FreedomWorks and conducted by Scott Rasmussen, shows that public opinion is shifting rapidly in favor of reopening society. Just 51% now believe it is appropriate to continue with the lockdowns. Only 21 percent believe continuing lockdowns for another 60 days will be the safest approach.
Across the nation, protesters are taking to the streets and business owners are filing lawsuits objecting to the coronavirus shutdown rules. As the rules drag on, they're causing job losses, bankruptcies and a feeling that people have no rights. The liberal media are labeling the protesters "virus deniers." Don't fall for that. The protesters have science and the U.S. Constitution on their side.
Not to mention common sense. As New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo said Monday: "This is not a sustainable situation. Close down everything, close down the economy, lock yourself in the house."
Start with the science. Data show almost all the coronavirus fatalities are among the elderly and those with serious health problems. A staggering 68% of deaths in Pennsylvania have been nursing home residents. Shutting stores and restaurants didn't save them.
U.S. workers have filed nearly 33.5 million applications for unemployment benefits in the seven weeks since closures were put in place to combat the coronavirus pandemic, showing a wave of layoffs that likely pushed April job losses to record levels.
U.S. workers filed 3.2 million jobless claims last week, the Labor Department said. It was the fewest since the week ended March 14, before the pandemic caused claims to spike, but still fifteen-times early March readings.
Recent layoffs are expected to cause nonfarm payrolls to fall by 21.5 million and the unemployment rate to climb to 16% in the April jobs report, which will be released on Friday, according to economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. Both numbers would be highs on records back to the late 1930s and late ’40s.
The previous peak unemployment rate was 10.8% in 1982. The largest monthly jobs loss, 1.96 million, occurred at the end of World War II.
Researchers from Sydney University’s Brain and Mind Centre forecast a 50 percent rise in the national suicide rate because of the economic and social impact of government responses to the virus, which would drive deaths to as much as ten times higher than those causes by the coronavirus itself.
Already this year global deaths by suicide are significantly higher than those attributed to the coronavirus. According to the respected Worldometers running tallies, there have already been 374,225 suicides since the start of 2020, whereas the Wuhan coronavirus has claimed 251,898 lives, Johns Hopkins University reveals.
If the Australian research holds up for other nations as well, the global suicide rate could end up far outpacing the death toll from COVID-19.
As society tries to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic, some scientists hope a decades-old technology could zap pathogens out of the air in stores, restaurants and classrooms, potentially playing a key role in containing further spread of the infection.
It has the ungainly name of upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation, and it is something like bringing the power of sunlight indoors.
“We have struggled in the past to see this highly effective, very safe technology fully implemented for airborne infections,” said Dr. Edward A. Nardell, a professor of global health and social medicine at Harvard Medical School. “We’ve done the studies. We know it works.”
Sunlight disinfects, and the UV part of its spectrum is particularly effective at knocking out airborne pathogens.
Disney Springs, which has been closed for more than a month due to the coronavirus pandemic, will begin slowly reopening on May 20.
The news came Thursday via a Walt Disney World blog post. It didn’t include details on which shops and restaurants will be among the first to open.
Come May 20, guests can expect reduced hours, parking and capacity in order to keep in line with social distancing rules.
“Disney Springs will begin to reopen in a way that incorporates enhanced safety measures, including increased cleaning procedures, the use of appropriate face coverings by both cast members and guests, limited-contact guest services and additional safety training for cast members,” Matt Simon, the vice president of Disney Springs, wrote in the post.
