Millions vote in S. Korea elections amid crisis; 400 Rohingya rescued from stranded ship; U.N. migration agency calls for change in Libya; Ford, GE to make 80,000 ventilators; Remdesivir shows results
NewsHero - April 17, 2020 - Issue 79
Welcome to today’s edition of NewsHero for April 17, 2020.
**Now through June 1, 2020, new annual subscriptions to NewsHero will each be contributing 25% to the World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund**
We know that things are tough all around right now, so we have upgraded all of our early adopters to a paid account for the next three months. This subscription will expire on July 1, 2020. If when that time comes you are experiencing financial hardships, just let us know.
We are doing this because we want to make sure that anyone who wants or needs what we are offering can have it, regardless of their financial situation—and also because we want to say thank you! You are awesome!
With that in mind, we created NewsHero to be a subscriber-supported public benefit company, so we ask that if you can, you do subscribe so we can keep this ship heading in the right direction. If you are unable to subscribe, we ask that you please share this with friends and family.
Stay safe and healthy, and thank you for your support!
Team NewsHero
NewsHero Notes
Animal lovers - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
A Florida animal shelter recently celebrated via social media: “An incredible and joyful thing happened today....For the first time in the history of Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control, we have completely emptied one of our three dog kennels!”
Environmental advocates - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Royal Dutch Shell says it intends to become a net zero-carbon company by 2050 by selling more green energy, reports The Guardian. While we’re on the subject: The New York Times reports that environmental lawyers and public health leaders are calling a new EPA rule that weakens regulations on the release of mercury from power plants an attack on air quality.
Afternoon Brief
South Korean elections, voters - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Millions of South Koreans wore masks and gloves as they voted in parliamentary elections Wednesday, the highest turnout in nearly three decades despite the coronavirus.
Authorities took stringent safety measures, disinfecting all 14,000 polling stations and requiring voters to wear masks, have their temperatures checked, use hand sanitizer and disposable plastic gloves and maintain a safe distance from others.
About 2,800 coronavirus patients were allowed to vote by mail or in person, using special booths, while more than 13,000 in self-quarantine cast their ballots after polls closed.
The government resisted calls to postpone the elections billed as a midterm referendum on President Moon Jae-in, who enters the final two years of his single five-year term grappling with a historic public health crisis that is unleashing massive economic shock.
Moon Jae-in's ruling party won an absolute majority, results on Thursday showed.
Bangladesh’s coast guard - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Bangladesh’s coast guard rescued nearly 400 Rohingya—a Muslim minority—stranded at sea after their boat was turned away from Malaysia, reports The New Humanitarian.
“They were at sea for about two months and were starving,” a Bangladesh coast guard official told Reuters, adding that the ship was brought to shore late on Wednesday.
The 396 survivors would be handed to the U.N refugee agency, said the official, who had initially said they would be sent to Myanmar. The official also revised the death toll to 32 from 24.
There are fears that other boats may be stranded, as well.
”We understand these men, women and children were at sea for nearly two months in harrowing conditions and that many of them are extremely malnourished and dehydrated,” the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said.
The agency was offering to help the government move them to quarantine facilities and would provide medical care, it said in a statement.
Migrant rights groups, advocates - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
The U.N. migration agency reports that more than 50 migrants from Eritrea and Sudan disembarked in Libya’s capital Wednesday and were detained by local authorities after spending hours on a coast guard vessel off Tripoli.
The U.N. mission in Libya, meanwhile, voiced concern about an escalation of fighting between rival forces over Tripoli in recent days, and the release of over 400 jail inmates in a western town recently taken by Tripoli-allied militias.
“We reiterate that people rescued at sea should not be returned to unsafe ports,” the U.N. migration agency said. “An alternative to disembarkation in Libya must be found urgently.”
Alarm Phone, a crisis hotline for migrants in need of rescue at sea, said the migrants were “illegally abducted” in Malta’s search-and-rescue zone, blaming Maltese authorities for five deaths and the return of the others to “war, rape and torture” in Libya.
FEMA Reps Say Use ‘Defense Production Act’ For More PPE
Ford, GE announce plans for making 80,000 ventilators
Doctors test a hospital staffer Tuesday for coronavirus, in a triage tent that’s been set up outside the E.R. at St. Barnabas hospital in the Bronx. Hospital workers are at higher risk of getting COVID-19, and public health experts fear a staffing shortage in the U.S. is coming. Misha Friedman/Getty Images
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.
The union representing FEMA employees is joining those calling for the Trump administration to utilize a war-time Defense Production Act to generate more protective equipment to fight COVID-19, according to a letter obtained by CNN.
Ford and GE have announced plans to build a simplified ventilator design, with hopes of producing 50,000 machines by July, and up to 30,000 a month later, reports Axios.
British fashion brand Barbour is producing 23,000 protective gowns for medical workers battling coronavirus, making it the latest clothing company to assist with PPE shortages, reports Forbes.
A hospital in Chicago treating COVID-19 patients with the antiviral drug Remdesivir is seeing quick recoveries in fever and respiratory symptoms, with most patients discharged in less than a week, STAT reports.
The Milken Institute is currently tracking the development of treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, offering a document that contains an aggregation of publicly-available information from validated sources.
A report from WIRED takes a look at how artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a role in finding treatment for the novel coronavirus.
More than 1 million coronavirus tests will be rolled out starting next week in Africa to address the “big gap” in assessing the true number of cases on the continent, the head of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday.
A report from Devex examines what COVID-19 response looks like in refugee camps. “According to The UN Refugee Agency, there are currently 70.8 million people forcibly displaced around the world. Of the 100 countries that had reported cases of the coronavirus as of March 10, 34 had refugee populations of over 20,000 people.”
In a protest designed to adhere to social-distancing and with care taken for safety, 1,000 pop-up signs were arranged on the lawn of the US Capitol Building showing the faces of nurses and frontline healthcare workers pleading for adequate personal protective equipment on Friday in Washington, DC.Paul Morigi/Getty Images for MoveOn
Mitch McConnell has said he does not support Donald Trump’s suggestion he could as president use his “very strong power” to “exercise my Constitutional authority to adjourn both chambers of Congress.”
Facebook will start letting users know if they have interacted with misinformation regarding the coronavirus on its main Facebook app, and will point those people to WHO resources, reports Axios.
Governors of Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky announced Thursday they will work as a bipartisan group on decisions to re-open the Midwest regional economy, reports CNN.
BJ’s Wholesale Club announced Thursday that healthcare workers and first responders working during the COVID-19 pandemic will be exempt from the membership needed to shop at the retail chain.
Lastly, we’ve found a couple of longer reads that we think you might like to peruse, perhaps over the weekend. The New York Times has a piece, “Putin’s Long War Against American Science,” which examines how years of health disinformation have affected the U.S. “The Worry of Governance: Coronavirus and Emergency Politics” from Oxfam explores different responses to COVID-19 from around the globe, plus the potential impact of “emergency politics.”
First responders are continuing to keep their communities safe, despite putting themselves at risk for contracting COVID-19. That adds stress to an already high-pressure job. Orange County Fire Rescue Facebook page
Extra! Extra!
Does anyone really need a warning from the authorities to clothe the lower half of their body before stepping outside the house? Apparently yes.
Here’s the headline we spotted over at USA Today: “Maryland police remind residents to wear pants to mailbox: ‘This is your final warning’”
…to mailbox, to market, to anywhere, for the love of…
“Please remember to put pants on before leaving the house to check your mailbox. You know who you are. This is your final warning,” the Taneytown Police Department wrote in a Facebook post.
Just the other day we “covered” a story about people showing up less-than-appropriately attired for online Zoom meetings. Silly, yes, but at least those people weren’t outside on the sidewalk.
Please remember that your work-from-home outfit—especially if it lacks key articles of clothing—is for INSIDE your home.
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:
Florida animal shelter celebrates emptying a kennel for the first time ever - CNN
Shell unveils plans to become net-zero carbon company by 2050 - The Guardian
E.P.A. Weakens Controls on Mercury - The New York Times
South Korea's coronavirus battle propels Moon's party to election win - NBC News
High turnout in South Korean election despite virus fears - AP News
South Korea election: Ruling party wins amid coronavirus outbreak - BBC News
Rohingya boat rescued after weeks at sea - The New Humanitarian
Bangladesh coast guard rescues 396 Rohingya from drifting boat; 32 dead - Reuters
Nearly 400 Rohingya Rescued From Boat Near Bangladesh After 2 Months Adrift - NPR
UN: 51 migrants disembark in Libyan capital amid clashes - AP News
Around 50 migrants taken back to Libya, as fighting continues - InfoMigrants
Libya allows 51 migrants to land in Tripoli amid clashes, UN says - Daily Sabah
FEMA union urges Trump to use wartime-era law for more protective equipment - CNNPolitics
Africa to roll out more than 1 million coronavirus tests - AP News Here's what the COVID-19 response looks like in refugee camps - Devex
COVID-19 Treatment and Vaccine Tracker - Milken Institute
AI Uncovers a Potential Treatment for Covid-19 Patients - WIRED
Adjourning Congress: Mitch McConnell & Donald Trump Disagree - National Review
Remdesivir: COVID-19 patients recovering quickly after getting experimental drug - CNN
British Fashion Brand Barbour Pivots From Wax Jackets To Medical Gowns Amid PPE Shortage - Forbes
Facebook will notify users who engaged with coronavirus misinformation - Axios
7 Midwestern governors announce their states will coordinate on reopening - CNNPolitics
Gilead data suggests coronavirus patients are responding to treatment - STAT
Ford, GE aim to make 50,000 ventilators in 100 days - Axios
BJ's sets time for front-line workers to shop, no membership needed - News10
Putin’s Long War Against American Science - The New York Times
The Worry of Governance: Coronavirus and Emergency Politics—From Poverty to Power - Oxfam
Maryland police remind residents to wear pants to mailbox: 'This is your final warning' - USA Today