House votes for oversight committee; China pledges $30M to WHO; FDA issues warning against malaria drug; MSF launches in US; Cease fire in Yemen extended; Va. adds two more gun control bills + 'Blech'
NewsHero - April 24, 2020 - Issue 84
Welcome to today’s edition of NewsHero for April 24, 2020.
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Team NewsHero
NewsHero Notes
Google - 🦸♀️🦸♀️
Google said Thursday it will soon be making advertisers verify their identity to keep them from misrepresenting themselves, and should allow consumers to see who’s running ads and from which country.
Those exposing dubious business practices - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Amazon employees told the Wall Street Journal that they had accessed sales data from third-party sellers to help Amazon develop competing private-label products, reports The Verge.
Afternoon Brief
Va. Gov. Northam; Gun control advocates in California - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Virginia’s Democratic-led General Assembly passed two additional gun control measures Wednesday, wrapping up Gov. Ralph Northam’s plan for tighter gun laws in the state.
One bill will allow the regulation of guns in public places with the exemption of higher education institutions, while the other will require people under protective orders to hand over their guns within 24 hours or face being held in contempt of court.
Northam signed five gun control bills into law in April, which expanded background checks and limited how many handguns can be bought in one month.
Gun control has been a priority for Northam since he first introduced measures in the 2019 legislative session. The two new bills will now go to his desk for signing.
On the flip side, a spokeswoman for California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration said it was disappointed by a federal judge’s ruling that eliminates background checks for buying ammunition. “California’s strong gun safety laws help keep our schools and communities safe,” said spokeswoman Vicky Waters.
World Health Organization - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
The World Health Organization is warning that the battle against malaria in sub-Saharan Africa, where it already kills hundreds of thousands of people a year, could be set back by 20 years as countries focus energy and resources on containing the coronavirus.
The WHO said new projections indicate that in a worst-case scenario, 769,000 people could die of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa this year as campaigns to combat it are interrupted. That’s more than double the deaths in the last detailed count two years ago, when more than 360,000 people died, and would be the worst figures for the region since 2000.
“We must not turn back the clock,” Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said Thursday.
“I urge all countries to not lose focus on their gains made in health as they adapt to tackle this new threat,” Moeti said. “We saw with the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa that we lost more people to malaria, for instance, than we lost to the Ebola outbreak. Let us not repeat that with COVID-19.”
Proponents of cease fire - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
The Saudi-led coalition said today it was extending a unilateral ceasefire in Yemen by one month to support efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic, the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported, citing a coalition spokesman.
A two-week ceasefire announced by the coalition that is battling the Iran-aligned Houthi group in Yemen expired on Thursday without leading to a permanent truce.
“The coalition’s command reaffirms that there is still an opportunity to focus all efforts in order to achieve a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire,” coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki was quoted as saying by the SPA.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month called for ceasefires in conflicts across the world to allow countries to focus on the COVID-19 pandemic.
House Votes For Oversight Committee To Monitor Virus Relief Spending
China pledges $30 million more to WHO
A mobile team from MSF is giving a briefing to the staff of the retirement home “Résidence Christalain” in Jette, Brussels. Belgium, April 2020.
NewsHero is continuing to offer a compilation of stories and resources that best represent the current state of the coronavirus pandemic, centered on those individuals, institutions, and organizations stepping up to end this crisis as quickly and effectively as possible. The public, too, has a duty. This includes staying responsibly informed and taking the situation seriously, while remaining as cool-headed and as isolated as possible. These are strange and difficult times, but we will endure.
Doctors Without Borders/MSF is responding to the novel coronavirus pandemic in more than 70 countries around the world, including the United States. “Vulnerable groups, such as people who are currently homeless or housing insecure, lack necessary resources to remain safe and healthy amidst an epidemic,” the group says.
MSF says there’s not enough focus on nursing homes, which are often ill-equipped to handle residents that have contracted the coronavirus. “Too many people have been dying alone, frightened and in a terrible state,” says Dr. Ximena di Lollo, who is coordinating MSF’s COVID-19 response in care homes in Spain and Portugal.
The House of Representatives Thursday passed a $484 billion relief package to help small businesses and hospitals, and further testing, reports Fox News.
The House voted Thursday to create a new investigative oversight committee that will keep an eye on Donald Trump’s spending of nearly $3 trillion in coronavirus relief, with hopes of protecting funds intended for businesses, hospitals, and individual taxpayers, reports Politico.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa were among the world leaders today pledging to accelerate work on tests, drugs, and vaccines against COVID-19 and to share them around the globe, but the United States did not take part in the launch of the WHO initiative, billed as a “landmark collaboration” to fight the pandemic.
The FDA issued a warning today against taking the malaria drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, after “serious” poisoning and deaths were reported, says CNBC.
According to preliminary results of coronavirus antibody testing released by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday, an estimated 13.9% of New Yorkers have likely had COVID-19, reports CNBC.
Chancellor Angela Merkel warns that Germany risks undoing the progress it has made in slowing the spread of COVID-19 if the country opens up too quickly, joining leaders across Europe saying that loosening any lockdown restrictions will likely be gradual, CNN.
A nurse gets help putting on her personal protective equipment before administering care for a Covid-19 patient at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center in Chula Vista, Calif., on April 10, 2020. (Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Agora, a Moscow-based human rights group, and Roskomsvoboda, a digital rights campaign group, said on Thursday that expanding surveillance measures to police Russia’s coronavirus lockdown, including the use of facial recognition technology and collection of personal data, need regulating to ensure they are temporary and proportionate.
China announced Thursday it will give the World Health Organization an additional $30 million, after donating $20 million in March, to help fight the global coronavirus outbreak, reports Axios.
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives accused the Trump administration of trying to “scapegoat” the World Health Organization to distract from its own handling of the coronavirus outbreak, as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington may never restore its WHO funding.
Thousands of immigrants with criminal convictions—many for minor offenses—who reside legally in the United States could be affected by a Supreme Court decision that makes it easier for federal authorities to deport certain immigrants who have committed crimes.
Though fewer people appear to be crossing illegally, the Trump administration has been quietly adding mobile surveillance cameras at the U.S.-Mexico border in response to the coronavirus pandemic—operations at the border have become increasingly militarized and secretive.
A report from PassBlue’s independent coverage of the UN says that Singapore is “known for its world-class health system, but in its strong response to the coronavirus pandemic, it had overlooked a crucial segment of society that enables its prosperity: migrants.”
Africa’s coronavirus cases have surged 43% in the past week but its countries are dangerously behind in the global race for scarce medical equipment. Ten nations have no ventilators at all. “We are competing with the developed world,” said John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The very future of the continent will depend on how this matter is handled.”
As part of its COVID-19 Notes series, the New England Journal of Medicine posted “In Pursuit of PPE,” a doctor’s first-hand account of what it took to get protective equipment for his hospital.
Extra! Extra!
Have we tried drinking upside down? What about holding our breath? If it works for the hiccups maybe it will work for the coronavirus.
Wait, what about that stuff that cleans the toilet? It gets rid of everything! Bleach? Yeah, that’s it, bleach. Drink some of that. That’ll surely kill off COVID-19. Or better yet, inject it into your veins? It’ll probably work quicker that way.
**The above is just a joke. The below is, sadly, all too real**
These are actual headlines:
Don't inject disinfectants, Lysol warns as Trump raises idea - Associated Press
Trump's disinfectant idea shocking and dangerous, doctors say - Reuters
Fact check: Trump dangerously suggests sunlight and ingesting disinfectants could help cure coronavirus - CNN
As the articles show, it’s dangerous enough to be saying whatever comes to your mind without any scientific backing, proof, or, uh, education, but there are people that actually listen to—and believe—what Donald Trump says.
Please get your information from a reputable source—like the CDC: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Stay safe. Take care of yourselves and each other.
Have a good weekend. We’ll see you Monday.
Our heroes are identified as follows:
🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️ - the hero, hands down. - Meaning that it wasn’t even a close call.
🦸♀️🦸♀️ - the hero, but… - Meaning that in this situation the call needed to be looked at in a little more detail. For example, in this case, they did the right thing but there have been some questionable calls in the past.
🦸♀️ - the hero, but only here, and it was a close call. - Meaning that in this instance they did the right thing but it was either out of character or a maddeningly close call.
Sources:
Google will make all advertisers prove their identities, so people can see who they are and which country they’re in - CNBC
Amazon reportedly accessed third-party seller data to develop private-label products - The Verge
Virginia passes final remaining bills of Northam's gun control package - CNNPolitics
Virginia Democrats tack on two more 'common sense' gun control bills during reconvened session - Washington Examiner
Judge tosses California ammunition purchase law - AP News
WHO warns malaria deaths in Africa could double amid pandemic - Al Jazeera
Pandemic could 'turn back the clock' 20 years on malaria deaths, warns WHO - The Guardian
Fight against malaria could be set back 20 years, WHO warns - AP News
Saudi-led coalition announces one-month extension of Yemen ceasefire - Reuters
Arab coalition extends Yemen ceasefire by a month - Arab News
MSF Launching In The US - Doctors Without Borders
MSF response to coronavirus COVID-19 in care homes - Doctors Without Borders
House creates new select coronavirus oversight committee over GOP objections - Politico
House passes resolution creating coronavirus oversight committee - Axios
Watchdogs scramble to keep tabs on billions in stimulus spending - CNNPolitics
House passes $484B coronavirus small business relief bill, sends to Trump - Fox News
World leaders due to launch COVID-19 drugs, vaccine plan: WHO - Reuters
Covid-19 vaccine trial on humans starts as UK warns restrictions could stay in place until next year - CNN
Coronavirus NY: Antibody study estimates 13.9% of residents have had Covid-19, Cuomo says - CNBC
FDA issues warnings on chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine after deaths and poisonings reported - CNBC
Data on Gilead's remdesivir show no benefit for coronavirus patients - STAT News
Merkel warns Germany is on the 'thinnest ice' as Europe realizes social distancing is here to stay - CNN
Russia's lockdown surveillance measures need regulating, rights groups say - Reuters
HHS official plans to file whistleblower complaint over coronavirus drug pressure related to Trump and ouster - CNBC
China pledges additional $30 million for World Health Organization - Axios
Pompeo says U.S. may never restore WHO funds after cutoff over pandemic - Reuters
In win for Trump, U.S. Supreme Court makes deporting immigrants for crimes easier - Reuters
US adds cameras at Mexico border despite drop in crossings - AP News
Suddenly, Singapore’s Coronavirus Cases Skyrocketed: Here’s Why - PassBlue
Africa dangerously behind in global race for virus gear - AP News
In Pursuit of PPE - NEJM
Don't inject disinfectants, Lysol warns as Trump raises idea - AP News
Trump's disinfectant idea shocking and dangerous, doctors say - Reuters
Fact check: Trump wrongly suggests sunlight could help cure coronavirus - CNNPolitics