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The media must stop live-broadcasting Trump’s dangerous, destructive coronavirus briefings

The media must stop live-broadcasting Trump’s dangerous, destructive coronavirus briefings

Margaret Sullivan writes: Trump is doing harm and spreading misinformation while working for his own partisan political benefit — a naked attempt to portray himself as a wartime president bravely leading the nation through a tumultuous time, the FDR of the 21st century. The press — if it defines its purpose as getting truthful, useful, non-harmful information to the public, as opposed to merely juicing its own ratings and profits — must recognize what is happening and adjust accordingly. (And…

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‘Terrified’ package delivery employees going to work sick

‘Terrified’ package delivery employees going to work sick

The New York Times reports: Hour after hour, day after day, the packages keep arriving: food, medicine, clothes, toys and a million other items brought to the doorsteps and building lobbies of Americans who are hunkering down as the coronavirus sweeps the land. An increasing number of the workers sorting those boxes, loading them into trucks and then transporting and delivering them around the country have fallen sick. They have coughs, sore throats, aches and fevers — symptoms consistent with…

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Nicholas Christakis: How will coronavirus impact us as a society?

Nicholas Christakis: How will coronavirus impact us as a society?

  Nicholas Christakis is a physician, sociologist and author who has an important message for us all: even in trying times, humans show an innate instinct for good. It’s a case he makes in his latest book “Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society.” He speaks with Hari about this latest theory. He also explains the importance of social distancing and why it actually works as well as how coronavirus compares to other pandemics in the past 100 years;…

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Like previous pandemics, Covid-19 will shape the fates of nations

Like previous pandemics, Covid-19 will shape the fates of nations

By Richard Heinberg, Undark, March 20, 2020 For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been delving back into one of my favorite books, “Plagues and Peoples,” by the celebrated historian William H. McNeill. Its relevance to today’s headlines is fairly obvious. What makes the book so compelling is McNeill’s ecological sensibility: He understands human beings as biological organisms embedded in living systems. For him, conquerors like Genghis Khan are macropredators, disease organisms are micropredators, and human history is the tale…

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Coronavirus could overwhelm U.S. without urgent action, estimates say

Coronavirus could overwhelm U.S. without urgent action, estimates say

The New York Times reports: The coronavirus has infected far more people in the United States than testing has shown so far, and stringent measures to limit social contact in parts of the country not yet seeing many cases are needed to significantly stem the tide of illness and death in the coming months. Those are the conclusions of Columbia University researchers who used a New York Times database of known cases and Census Bureau transportation data to model how…

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U.S. intelligence reports from January and February warned about a likely pandemic

U.S. intelligence reports from January and February warned about a likely pandemic

The Washington Post reports: U.S. intelligence agencies were issuing ominous, classified warnings in January and February about the global danger posed by the coronavirus while President Trump and lawmakers played down the threat and failed to take action that might have slowed the spread of the pathogen, according to U.S. officials familiar with spy agency reporting. The intelligence reports didn’t predict when the virus might land on U.S. shores or recommend particular steps that public health officials should take, issues…

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Former intelligence chiefs: Trump’s removal of experts is deeply destructive to our nation’s safety

Former intelligence chiefs: Trump’s removal of experts is deeply destructive to our nation’s safety

Joseph Maguire, John Brennan, Michael Leiter, Matthew G. Olsen, Nicholas Rasmussen, Andrew Liepman, Geoffrey O’Connell, Michael, V. Hayden and James Clapper write: The United States — and the world — faces a historic threat to its health, well-being and economy. The global covid-19 pandemic challenges all of us: the public, cities, states and, of course, the federal government. But as we collectively fight this deadly disease, the intelligence institutions that help protect us all from current and future threats are…

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The epic failure of coronavirus testing in America

The epic failure of coronavirus testing in America

In an editorial, the New York Times says: The World Health Organization, for weeks now, has been making an emphatic plea to countries around the world: Social distancing is crucial to stopping the spread of coronavirus, but it is only half of the equation. To suppress and control a pandemic of this magnitude, countries also must find and isolate every person infected with Covid-19 — including those with mild cases of the disease who don’t turn up in doctor’s offices…

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Coronavirus will radically alter the U.S.

Coronavirus will radically alter the U.S.

The Washington Post reports: When Jason Christie, chief of pulmonary medicine at Penn Medicine, got projections on how many coronavirus patients might soon be flocking to his Philadelphia hospital, he said he felt physically ill. “My front-line providers — we were speaking about it in the situation report that night, and their voices cracked,” Christie said Wednesday. They saw how quickly the surge would overwhelm the system, forcing doctors to make impossible choices — which patients would get ventilators and…

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U.S. economy deteriorating faster than anticipated as 80 million Americans are forced to stay at home

U.S. economy deteriorating faster than anticipated as 80 million Americans are forced to stay at home

The Washington Post reports: The U.S. economy is deteriorating more quickly than was expected just days ago as extraordinary measures designed to curb the coronavirus keep 84 million Americans penned in their homes and cause the near-total shutdown of most businesses. In a single 24-hour period, governors of three of the largest states — California, New York and Illinois — ordered residents to stay home except to buy food and medicine, while the governor of Pennsylvania ordered the closure of…

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A growing number of Americans say they can’t afford to stock up on groceries

A growing number of Americans say they can’t afford to stock up on groceries

The Washington Post reports: More than 37 million Americans — or about 1 in 9 people — struggled to put food on the table in 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That number could soon double as the outbreak wreaks havoc on workers around the country, said Katie Fitzgerald, chief operating officer of Feeding America, a nonprofit that oversees 200 food banks. Already, companies like Marriott International, MGM Resorts and Caesars have signaled plans to shed thousands of…

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Senators sold stocks before coronavirus sank the markets

Senators sold stocks before coronavirus sank the markets

USA Today reports: Senators are facing backlash for selling in some cases millions of dollars in personal stocks shortly before the coronavirus pandemic sent markets into a freefall earlier this month. Based on publicly available financial transaction disclosures, Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., all appear to have sold stock earlier this year. The question is whether the senators were aware, based on briefings, that the coronavirus scare was…

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A New York doctor’s coronavirus warning: The sky is falling

A New York doctor’s coronavirus warning: The sky is falling

Cornelia Griggs writes: Today, at the hospital where I work, one of the largest in New York City, Covid-19 cases continue to climb, and there’s movement to redeploy as many health care workers as possible to the E.R.s, new “fever clinics” and I.C.U.s. It’s becoming an all-healthy-hands-on-deck scenario. The sky is falling. I’m not afraid to say it. A few weeks from now you may call me an alarmist; and I can live with that. Actually, I will keel over…

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Before pandemic, a cascade of warnings went unheeded

Before pandemic, a cascade of warnings went unheeded

The New York Times reports: The outbreak of the respiratory virus began in China and was quickly spread around the world by air travelers, who ran high fevers. In the United States, it was first detected in Chicago, and 47 days later, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic. By then it was too late: 110 million Americans were expected to become ill, leading to 7.7 million hospitalized and 586,000 dead. That scenario, code-named “Crimson Contagion” and imagining an influenza…

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Senate Intelligence Chair dumped up to $1.6 million of stock after reassuring public about coronavirus preparedness

Senate Intelligence Chair dumped up to $1.6 million of stock after reassuring public about coronavirus preparedness

By Robert Faturechi and Derek Willis, ProPublica, March 19, 2020 Soon after he offered public assurances that the government was ready to battle the coronavirus, the powerful chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr, sold off a significant percentage of his stocks, unloading between $582,029 and $1.56 million of his holdings on Feb. 13 in 29 separate transactions. As the head of the intelligence committee, Burr, a North Carolina Republican, has access to the government’s most highly classified information…

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