Up to 43m Americans could lose health insurance amid pandemic, report says

Prior to pandemic, 160 million got insurance through their job – but up to 7 million are unlikely to find new plans, say researchers * Coronavirus – live US updates * Live global updatesAs many as 43 million Americans could lose their health insurance in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Urban Institute.Prior to the pandemic, 160 million Americans, or roughly half the population, received their medical insurance through their job. The tidal wave of layoffs triggered by quarantine measures now threatens that coverage for millions.Up to 7 million of those people are unlikely to find new insurance as poor economic conditions drag on, researchers at the Urban Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation thinktanks predict.Such enormous insurance losses could dramatically alter America’s healthcare landscape, and will probably result in more deaths as people avoid unaffordable healthcare.“The status quo is incredibly inefficient, it’s incredibly unfair, it’s tied to employment for no real reason,” said Katherine Hempstead, a senior policy adviser for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “This problem exposes a lot of the inadequacies in our system.”If the pandemic results in a 20% unemployment rate, as some analysts expect, researchers at the Urban Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) predict anywhere from 25 to 43 million people could lose health insurance. Many will use social safety nets to obtain insurance, including Medicaid, the public health insurance program for low-income people. However, eligibility criteria varies from state to state, with more restrictions in Republican-led states.“It’s incredibly segmented and every state has a different story,” said Hempstead. “There’s 50 different experiences.”Christine Mohn, 51, lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and worked as a physical therapist. She lost her job of 18 years when her company was bought out in November 2019.“You walk in the door one day, and they said: ‘Your job is not here and neither is your health insurance – bye,’” Mohn said.For several months, Mohn, her husband and college-age daughter relied on a program called Cobra, which allows Americans to continue the benefits they once received from a job. But the benefits came at a steep cost. Mohn paid $1,700 a month for insurance using a line of credit on her mortgage until April 2020, when she finally got a new job.Mohn only worked two weeks before the job indefinitely furloughed its workers because the pandemic closed down all non-urgent health services.The company that furloughed Mohn allowed her to keep her health insurance, even though it is under no obligation to do so. The insurance costs Mohn $400 a month, and after four weeks she still has not received her first unemployment check. When she finally does go back to work, she said: “I can get to paying off my line of credit I’ve been living off.”Of those who lose employer-based insurance, an estimated 7 million Americans will remain uninsured, and will lack access to healthcare during the worst pandemic in a century, RWJF predicted. Another 30 million people lacked insurance even before the pandemic, according to the Urban Institute. “You have people who think they have an infectious disease, but they don’t want to come forward to get tested or get treatment because they’re so worried about what kind of financial liabilities they will have,” said Hempstead. “This problem exposes, really, a lot of the inadequacies in our system.”Emily Jones, 22, is one of them. She lives with her mother and sister in Flushing, Michigan, and is a cancer survivor. People’s Action, an advocacy group, said her insurance lapsed when she missed renewal paperwork just as the pandemic set in. Now, she is without insurance even as her mother is an essential worker.Estimating the number of people who lack insurance is a complicated task. America’s fragmented health system lacks a single metric for how many people are shut out. Some researchers believe insurance losses will be low relative to job losses, because many lacked insurance despite working.“The American healthcare financing system was not built to withstand the combined impact of a pandemic and a recession,” said Dr Adam Gaffney, the president of Physicians for a National Health Program. PNHP advocates for a single-payer health system in the US, similar to the NHS. “It’s inevitable that people will die because they can’t get the care they need, because of the looming recession.”

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California governor says community spread started at nail salon

He said he couldn't provide more information because of health and privacy concerns.

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Schumer calls on VA to explain use of unproven drug on vets

The Senate’s top Democrat on Sunday called on the Department of Veterans Affairs to explain why it allowed the use of an unproven drug on veterans for the coronavirus, saying patients may have been put at unnecessary risk. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York said the VA needs to provide Congress more information about a recent bulk order for $208,000 worth of hydroxychloroquine. President Donald Trump has heavily promoted the malaria drug, without evidence, as a treatment for COVID-19.

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World Health Organisation denies China influence allegations

The World Health Organization on Sunday denied allegations that the president of China asked it to delay issuing a global warning about the Covid-19 virus amid an intensifying war of words between Beijing and Washington over the handling of the pandemic. Der Speigel on Friday cited sources in Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) saying that Xi Jinping, China's head of state, had asked Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organisation, to withhold information about human-to-human transmission and delay sounding a global alarm. The WHO said in a statement that the report was "unfounded and untrue." "Dr Tedros and President Xi did not speak on 21 January and they have never spoken by telephone. Such inaccurate reports distract and detract from WHO’s and the world’s efforts to end the COVID-19 pandemic," it said in a statement. China publicly confirmed human-to-human transmission of the novel coronavirus on 20 January. Der Speigel did not explain why president Xi would ask Dr Tedros to suppress information China had already released. The WHO declared the outbreak had become a pandemic on March 12. The same report said the BND believed Donald Trump had fabricated a claim that the virus escaped from a Wuhan research laboratory as a "diversion." Mr Trump and Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, have claimed to have seen intelligence and "enormous evidence" that the Wuhan lab was responsible for the pandemic. They have not made the alleged evidence public. Most scientists believe the virus jumped from bats to humans via an animal host at a food market in Wuhan. No Western intelligence agency has said there is evidence that the virus escaped from a lab, although they have expressed concern over a lack of transparency in China's response. China on Sunday issued a lengthy rebuttal of what it said were 24 "preposterous allegations" by some leading U.S. politicians over its handling of the new coronavirus outbreak. The document included references to media reports that there were infections in America before the outbreak in Wuhan, a claim for which there is no evidence. China has also been accused of pressuring the European Union to delay and change a report that accused China or spreading disinformation about the virus. Donald Trump suspended US funding for the WHO on April 15 over what he called its "mismanagement" of the epidemic and alleged influence by China.

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US authorities seized $1 million worth of heroin and fentanyl labeled 'coronavirus'

The drugs were also stamped with Kobe Bryant references, the DEA said in a press release after the bust.

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Coronavirus: Tesla ordered to keep main US plant closed

It reportedly planned to re-open on Friday, but authorities say this could lead to more virus cases.

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'There is no precedent that anybody can find': Obama reportedly excoriated the DOJ's decision to drop the Michael Flynn case in a private call

"That's the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that ... our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk," Obama reportedly said.

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South Korean president says epidemic isn't over 'until it's over' after cases rise

South Korean President Moon Jae-in channeled Yogi Berra on Sunday, though the circumstances were much more grim.After the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Sunday reported 34 new coronavirus infections — the country's highest daily rise since April 9 — Moon warned about the risk of a second wave of COVID-19 later this year. "It's not over until it's over," he said of the coronavirus epidemic.Moon said the new cluster, which emerged after a man who eventually tested positive visited multiple recently reopened night clubs in Seoul, shows how quickly the disease can spread. South Korea has drawn praise for how it has largely curbed the outbreak, but the latest development shows how difficult reopening can be, and Seoul's bars and clubs were quickly ordered shut once again.South Korea isn't alone — new infections continued to accelerate in Germany, which has also started to open things up slowly after responding to the initial outbreak relatively successfully, and China, where the virus originated, has reported what could be the beginning of a second wave of cases in the country's northeastern Jilin province.Despite the rise in cases, South Korea has been able to trace most of them to the specific night clubs, highlighting its ability to track new infections, which could prove crucial in keeping a second wave far below the first one. Read more at The Wall Street Journal and Reuters.More stories from theweek.com 5 brutally funny cartoons about Trump's coronavirus strategy The dark decade ahead White House reportedly rejected 'ludicrous' coronavirus relief plan that would have curbed retirement benefits

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Record-breaking cold and snow blast through Mother's Day weekend

"Passing along a message from Mother Nature," the National Weather Service in Binghamton, New York, tweeted alongside a photo of a car covered in light snow. "Happy Mother's Day Weekend."

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The Hunger Pains of a Pandemic

By BY CHARLES M. BLOW from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/3dye2D5

Amazon whistleblowers call Bezos 'out of touch,' say they were fired for trying to protect warehouse workers from coronavirus

Two web designers say they were fired by Amazon for organizing a virtual town hall to hear from the company’s low-paid warehouse staff.

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Italian woman returns home after 18-month African kidnapping

Wearing a surgical mask, disposable gloves and booties to guard against COVID-19, a young Italian woman returned to her homeland Sunday after 18 months as a hostage in eastern Africa. Silvia Romano lowered her mask briefly to display a broad smile after she stepped off an Italian government plane at Rome-Ciampino International Airport. Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte has thanked the Italian intelligence agents who worked for her release, which took place Friday in Somalia.

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FDA authorizes emergency use for quicker, but less reliable coronavirus antigen test

With the United States struggling to meet the recommended quota of coronavirus tests per day, the Food and Drug Administration issued the first emergency use authorization Friday for a COVID-19 antigen test.The test, produced by San Diego-based manufacturer Quidel, can diagnose COVID-19 by detecting fragments of protein found on or within the virus present in samples collected from the naval cavity using swabs. The test produces results within minutes — much more quickly than many other tests on the market, which are more complex to conduct and analyze — but the technology is also more liable to result in false negatives, so an additional PCR test may be necessary to confirm.But once production ramps up, so will the country's ability to test millions of Americans per day. Douglas Bryant, Quidel's chief executive, told The Wall Street Journal, they hope to have 200,000 tests available as soon as next week. Read more at CNBC and The Wall Street Journal.More stories from theweek.com 5 brutally funny cartoons about Trump's coronavirus strategy The dark decade ahead White House reportedly rejected 'ludicrous' coronavirus relief plan that would have curbed retirement benefits

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'F--- Elon Musk': California assemblywoman responds to Tesla CEO's threats to move the company's main factory

The comment comes after Musk announced that he would file a lawsuit against Almeda County, which has ordered Tesla's main factory to remain closed.

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The man who recorded Ahmaud Arbery's death has received threats after police said they were investigating him, his lawyer said

An attorney for William Bryan, who filmed the video, said his client did not associate with the suspects and has cooperated in the investigation.

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Nearly one-third of Americans believe a coronavirus vaccine exists and is being withheld, survey finds

The Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape Project found some misinformation about the coronavirus is more widespread that you might think.

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India, China in high-altitude fistfight at disputed border

Several Indian and Chinese soldiers were injured in a high-altitude cross-border clash involving fistfights and stone-throwing at a remote but strategically important mountain pass near Tibet, the Indian Army said Sunday. There have been long-running border tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours, with a bitter war fought over India's northeastern-most state of Arunachal Pradesh in 1962. The "stand-off" on Saturday at Naku La sector near the 15,000-feet (4,572-metre) Nathu La crossing in the northeastern state of Sikkim -- which borders Bhutan, Nepal and China -- was later resolved after "dialogue and interaction" at a local level, Hooda said.

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Pandemic modelers expect loosening restrictions to lead to coronavirus case increase in coming weeks

As some states in the U.S. begin to reopen parts of their economies, scientists are anticipating a growth in coronavirus cases in those areas over the next few weeks.The University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Director Christopher Murray told CBS' Margaret Brennan on Sunday that his model, which the White House has favored during the pandemic, anticipates a jump in cases in states where his team noticed a large increase in mobility among the population in recent days.> NEWS: @IHME_UW's Director Christopher Murray thinks there will be a big increase in coronavirus cases over the next ten days in places like Georgia where restrictions have been loosened and residents have become more mobile. pic.twitter.com/r0H0MER1Dz> > — Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 10, 2020Dr. Jeffrey Shaman, a professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University who has also created a pandemic model, similarly expects loosening restrictions to lead to an increase in transmission, though he thinks the data won't really show up until later in the month.> WATCH: Dr. Jeffrey Shaman says "we are going to see a growth in cases" over the next couple of weeks due to loosening restrictions. MTP @JeffreyShaman: "Any changes we do to social distancing ... we are not going to realize until we are already in some period of growth." pic.twitter.com/6NcfTnwjYg> > — Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) May 10, 2020Shaman did include some caveats, however, noting that models aren't really making predictions themselves. Instead, they're testing out a range of outcomes. There's really no telling, he said, how exactly rolling back lockdown measures will affect people's actual behavior, so there's a chance the worst case scenario won't come to fruition.More stories from theweek.com 5 brutally funny cartoons about Trump's coronavirus strategy The dark decade ahead White House reportedly rejected 'ludicrous' coronavirus relief plan that would have curbed retirement benefits

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Germany's infection rate rises above one after they ease lockdown

Germany’s coronavirus reproduction rate – the crucial measure shows how widely the virus is spreading in the community – has risen to 1.1, giving rise to fears that a second wave of infections may be imminent. The findings come just days after the country begun the first phase of relaxing its coronavirus lockdown measures, while anti-lockdown protests have been building across the country. Germany has been lauded internationally for its coordinated response to the virus and its corresponding low death rate, with 7,549 having fallen victim to the disease there until Saturday, compared with 31,587 in the UK, which has a much smaller population. But the rise in infections suggests that the lockdown relaxations may have been premature, and is a headache for Chancellor Angela Merkel who has limits on her powers in Germany's decentralised system. Britain will be watching the developments closely as it begins to move towards easing lockdown. When she announced a relaxation of lockdown measures on Wednesday, Germany’s reproduction rate was at 0.65, before rising to 0.81 on Friday and 1.1 on Saturday. A rate of 1 or more means that each carrier of the virus infects at least one more person, ensuring it continues to spread. Germany’s Robert Koch Institute which compiled the figures, said it that while the rate has been increasing rapidly since Wednesday, at this stage it cannot be determined whether the relaxed lockdowns were responsible. It said: “The increase in the estimated (reproduction) value makes it necessary to watch the development very carefully over the next few days.|" The findings come from data compiled on Saturday, and show that the infection rate has now effectively doubled in the three days since the relaxation of lockdown restrictions. On Saturday, outbreaks at several meatpacking plants in North Rhine-Westphalia – the country’s most populous state - prompted the state leadership to promise to test each of the estimated 18-20,000 meatworkers in the state. In the western town of Coesfeld, where 151 of 200 slaughterhouse workers tested positive for the virus, authorities decided to suspend lockdown relaxations. Despite the outbreaks, Armin Laschet, Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, called for the country’s border with France to be reopened in order to foster European solidarity. Merkel struck a different tone when announcing the first phase of relaxations midweek, reminding the German public “we still have a long fight against the virus ahead of us”. It was a rare example of contradicting sentiments between the German leader and the man favoured to succeed her as leader of the Christian Democrats when she steps down next year. Despite the continued danger posed by Covid-19, protesters took to the streets across Germany at the weekend to criticise the lockdown measures. Thousands gathered in Berlin, Frankfurt, Stuttgart and other German cities, saying their rights were being infringed and complaining that the government and medical workers were spreading panic. In Munich, more than 3,000 people – many without masks and not respecting social distancing rules - gathered in the city’s central Marienplatz, with signs critical of “health fascism” and proclaiming: “We want our lives back”. Although there have been consistent protests against the measures since they were first put in place in March, the weekend’s demonstrations were the biggest seen so far since the outbreak of the virus. The German Press Agency reports that although the group was well over the maximum of 50 people allowed to attend demonstrations under the government’s coronavirus restrictions, police decided not to break up the largely peaceful demonstration in the interests of “proportionality”. Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter was heavily critical of the protesters on Sunday. Despite saying he empathised with their desire “to return to a certain normality”, Reiter told German media "I have absolutely no understanding of actions or demonstrations that, due to the lack of distance and mouth / nose protection, counteract any positive developments in the infection and more likely to jeopardise further loosening than to enable it." Reiter also said he found it “absolutely unbearable” that the protests had a heavy presence from known far-right groups.

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Despite White House virus cases, top aides defend reopening

Two top US economic advisers on Sunday defended the need for an expeditious reopening of the economy even as the coronavirus reached into the White House despite the extraordinary precautions taken there. The comments by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and economic adviser Larry Kudlow came just two days after the country recorded its steepest job losses in history, with 20.5 million jobs lost in April, and as virus cases continued rising in some states with far more deaths projected. Kudlow was asked on ABC's "This Week" how US businesses could reopen with confidence when the White House -- where virus protections are far more rigorous than what is available to most Americans -- had proven vulnerable.

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Coronavirus: Chinese official admits health system weaknesses

China says it will improve public health systems after criticism of its early response to the virus.

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Coronavirus hospitalizations in New York drop, but deaths remain 'infuriatingly constant'

New York state, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, recorded 572 new coronavirus hospitalizations Friday, its lowest daily rise since March. Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) called the total "welcome news," but he was far more somber when it came to the number of daily deaths in his state.While hospitalizations have continuously fallen to essentially the point they were when New York first went into lockdown, the number of deaths has remained flat in recent days. Cuomo said Saturday that the latest daily toll was 226, a figure he described as "infuriatingly constant."> The number of new coronavirus cases per day in New York has dropped, but the number of deaths remains "infuriatingly constant," Gov. Cuomo says https://t.co/t5NBe35MU3 pic.twitter.com/YfGBhLF4rQ> > -- CBS News (@CBSNews) May 9, 2020He also noted that poor and minority communities are "suffering most" from the epidemic, something the state is focusing on. > Of the 21 New York zip codes with the most new COVID-19 hospitalizations, 20 have greater than average black and/or Latino populations, Gov. Cuomo says https://t.co/t5NBe35MU3 pic.twitter.com/GHhtM1mjXC> > -- CBS News (@CBSNews) May 9, 2020More stories from theweek.com 5 brutally funny cartoons about Trump's coronavirus strategy The dark decade ahead White House reportedly rejected 'ludicrous' coronavirus relief plan that would have curbed retirement benefits

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Lockdown Mutiny Brews in California After Guv Blames Nail Salon for Spreading COVID-19

On Thursday, the Professional Beauty Federation of California published a press release to the “Hot Topics” section of their website. It was titled: “Time to Sue Governor Newsom.” The release came in response to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement that the following morning, California would officially enter “Phase Two” of the “Safer at Home” order. Select businesses, from florists to clothing retailers to toy stores, would be able to resume operations in a limited capacity. But absent from the list of acceptable businesses: beauty salons. Newsom placed businesses like nail salons and barbershops in “Phase Three”—a stage he believes to be “months, not weeks” away. “This whole thing spread in the state of California—the first community spread—was in a nail salon,” Newsom said in a press conference last week, without providing details about the date or location of the case. “Many of the practices that you would otherwise expect of a modification were already in play in many of these salons, with people that had procedure masks on, were using gloves, and were advancing higher levels of sanitation.”The news has thrust nail salons onto the frontline of a growing coronavirus revolt in California, a battle being waged in many more American cities, like Dallas, where hairdresser Shelley Luther became a star of the anti-lockdown movement when she opted to go to jail rather than comply with an order to close her hair salon. Anti-Lockdown Protesters Are Now Facing Down Cops Outside of BarsOn Monday morning, the Professional Beauty Federation of California will file a lawsuit in federal court demanding a regulated reopening process of their salons. “We were 100 percent behind the lockdown, so that we would not overwhelm our hospitals,” the group’s legal counsel Fred Jones said in an interview with The Daily Beast. “However, after two months of the lockdown, in which, by Gov. Newsom’s own admission, we have succeeded—we have checked the mark, we have flattened the curve—we were anticipating that the governor would allow for gradual reopenings of our beauty salons under strict new guidelines.”Their argument, Jones said, hinges on the fact that, without regulated reopening, stylists will be forced underground to meet financial ends, resulting in a potentially more dangerous risk.“A lot of our stylists are on the brink of starvation in order to make their leases and make ends meet,” Jones said. “So you have a volatile combination of desperate clients and desperate stylists. We know that will lead to thousands of our stylists going underground and moving kitchen to kitchen and house to house. That’s reality. Nobody can argue that. So the real question is: how do you stop that from happening if you’re the governor? You can’t.”He suggested a gradual and controlled reopening would be safer than “stylists going house to house and spreading more than beauty.”Unmasked Protesters Storm Huntington Beach After California Governor’s ClosureSome salons statewide have already opened, defying the statewide order, like an Orange County nail spa owner who has vowed to stay open despite being handed a citation by local police, who ordered her to appear in court in July. “I have to do what I have to do. I’m fighting to provide for my children and myself and my family,” another salon owner, Breann Curtis, of The Clip Cage barbershop in Auburn, California, told Fox40 about her decision to reopen. “It’s very hard. I’m pregnant. I have children.”“Just going into debt every single day,” added Tisha Fernhoff, who owns The Beauty Bar Salon in the same Auburn shopping center. “How much longer am I supposed to just go down the rabbit hole before I just throw in the towel and go back to work?”According to Jones, the California State Board of Barbering and Cosmetology—which issues all 623,442 beauty licenses in the state—has already drafted a protocol for how salons could reopen under the current conditions. He claimed Newsom had blocked the plan from distribution, to avoid mixed messaging. (Newsom’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment and a spokesperson for the Board of Barbering and Cosmetology said their draft protocols “haven't been published because they are not finished.”)“We want him to release the plan so that our professionals can start stocking up,” Jones said. “We know we’ll need masks. Will shields be required for these services? They probably will.”If such a plan was to go into effect, Jones said, salons would use personal protective equipment widely. They would stagger appointments to avoid crowded waiting rooms, spread out work stations and shift schedules, implement a touchless pay system, and remove anything in the waiting rooms that could carry contagion. “So, sorry no more magazines and newspapers for our clientele,” Jones said. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends maintaining a distance of six feet from other people—a practice that would be all but impossible in salon settings. Dr. Birx Says What Trump Would Not About ProtestersThere are 53,694 licensed beauty salons in California, representing 313,734 stylists or cosmetologists, 34,093 barbers, 90,392 estheticians, 1,679 electrologists, and 129,802 manicurists, according to the State Board of Barbering and Cosmetology. All of these workers, Jones said, have to complete between 350 and 1600 hours of formal education before acquiring their license, including training in sanitization. Jones emphasized that the lawsuit stemmed from financial desperation, a sentiment shared across the country. The Labor Department announced Friday that the economy lost over 20.5 million jobs in April alone, putting the national unemployment rate at its highest since the Great Depression: 14.7 percent. But the devastation has hit the beauty sector differently than many industries. Over 80 percent of salon workers are independent contractors, meaning each stylist represents their own business. By extension, many salon owners are basically landlords, “whose income relies on those booth owners,” Jones said. As a result, most salon workers qualify for unemployment benefits under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, signed by Trump in March—although the program is riddled with loopholes, has frequently run out of money, and may not cover their entire income, which heavily relies on tips. It is salon owners who stand to gain the most from the lawsuit. “Freelance workers do benefit on unemployment benefits,” Jones said. “But most of those Paycheck Protection Program reimbursements are based on your payments. If you’re a salon owner, you don’t have a payroll. Those stylists are their own proprietors.”On Friday, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Kamala Harris (D-CA) introduced legislation to give a majority of Americans $2,000 a month throughout the pandemic. Asked whether the bill could provide financial relief to salon workers, while allowing them to maintain social distancing, Jones seemed doubtful that it would pass. “It’s the proverbial ‘check is in the mail’ promise,” he said. “When you’re dealing with true economic devastation, let me tell you, most of our licensees will not be banking on a divided Congress and a White House that is also divided. While Washington fiddles, our stylists are burning.” Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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