Rights groups battle in 'Culture wars'; UN emphasizes women's rights; CNN skips airing press conference, VP bars Fauci from network; EU reaches $590b rescue plan; Group forms virus action plan for US
NewsHero - April 10, 2020 - Issue 74
Welcome to today’s edition of NewsHero for April 10, 2020.
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NewsHero Notes
Recycling advocates - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
Scientists have created a mutant enzyme that can break down plastic bottles for recycling in just hours. Carbios, the company behind the breakthrough, said it hopes for industrial-scale recycling within five years, reports The Guardian.
DARPA - 🦸♀️🦸♀️
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is investing in an AI defense program, with Intel and Georgia Tech among those leading the efforts against the potential hacking of self-driving cars, facial recognition, and weapons detection software, reports protocol.
Afternoon Brief
Those who do not use the COVID-19 crisis as a cover for advancing a personal agenda - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
The coronavirus outbreak has put a great deal of life in America on hold but has had little effect on slowing the nation’s culture wars.
A partisan fight over voting in Wisconsin was the first issue linked to the coronavirus to make it to the Supreme Court. Efforts to limit abortion during the pandemic could eventually land in the justices’ hands. Disputes over guns and religious freedom also are popping up.
And in a country deeply divided over politics, some liberals are accusing conservatives of using this crisis to advance long-held goals, especially in the areas of access to abortion and the ballot box. Conservatives have complained about restrictions on church services and gun shops.
“We see the right as being very opportunistic to advance their agenda,” said Marge Baker, executive vice president of the liberal People for the American Way.
António Guterres; UN members addressing surge in domestic violence - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday said that limited gains in gender equality and women’s rights made over the decades are in danger of being rolled back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guterres laid out in a report how the novel coronavirus is deepening pre-existing inequalities, in turn increasing its impacts on the lives of women and girls.
“I urge governments to put women and girls at the centre of their efforts to recover from COVID-19. That starts with women as leaders, with equal representation and decision-making power,” Guterres said in an accompanying video.
Ambassadors from 124 UN Member States and Observers have answered the Secretary-General’s recent call to address the surge in domestic violence amid the pandemic. “More than ever, there needs to be zero tolerance for domestic violence,” they wrote in a letter to the UN chief.
“Nearly 70 per cent of frontline health and social workers are women. Women also shoulder a disproportionate share of unpaid care work and they are critical actors in the sustainable development of all countries,” the letter said.
Saleema Rehman - 🦸♀️🦸♀️🦸♀️
An Afghan refugee has become the first female Turkmen doctor in Pakistan. After facing a lifetime of barriers in seeking an education, 28-year-old Saleema Rehman beat the odds and completed her medical studies.
“I have a duty to help women,” Rehman says. “I feel so lucky. In my community many girls do not get this opportunity. I think it is in my destiny.”
Rehman specializes in gynecology. She delivers around five babies every day at Rawalpindi’s Holy Family Hospital and cares for 40 women in each ward, many of whom live in poverty. Treatment is free, though there are two patients for every bed and Rehman works long shifts to attend to them all.
The UN Refugee Agency reports: “Efforts to bring refugees and their host communities together form part of a wider approach to address displacement and enhance the socioeconomic inclusion and self-reliance of refugees.”
Top Health Officials Barred By Pence From Speaking On CNN
EU reaches $590 billion rescue plan for Europe
Doctors and nurses walk to attend residents of Paraisopolis Favela in Sao Paulo on Tuesday, April 7, 2020. (Alexandre Schneider/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.
According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. is enduring a “very bad week” during the coronavirus crisis. But he also says that the public’s social distancing and following other restrictions is greatly reducing projections of loss of life, reports NPR. The final number “looks more like 60,000 than the 100,000 to 200,000” that officials had estimated, Fauci said.
CNN opted not to air Donald Trump’s Thursday press conference live. Now, Vice President Mike Pence’s office is barring top public health officials like Dr. Deborah Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci from appearing on CNN, the network said.
Health officials, including Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx, are speaking out against a new conspiracy theory—heard on Fox News—that says official numbers of those who’ve succumbed to the coronavirus are padded with people who would’ve died anyway from pre-existing conditions, reports Forbes.
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), along with Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and a coalition of over 40 media and nonprofit partners, announced Thursday the launch of a joint bilingual campaign to recognize the #PRESSential workers, and #ThankAJourno for their efforts on the frontlines of COVID-19.
The preliminary findings of an antibody study by German virologists at the University of Bonn published on Thursday indicate a COVID-19 fatality rate of 0.37 percent, information expected to inform government decision-making about lifting restrictions, reports The Washington Post. The findings represent an effort to learn the number of people who have been infected without realizing it.
Doctors in Brazil are racing to treat patients during the coronavirus pandemic while struggling to deal with President Jair Bolsonaro’s lack of action in keeping residents home to slow the spread of the virus.
The European Union’s finance ministers have reached a deal on a roughly $590 billion rescue plan to support the continent's coronavirus-stricken economies, reports NPR.
Dr. Saleema Rehman, Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. After nearly three decades of study, this former Afghan refugee is set to become the first-ever female Turkmen refugee doctor. (UNHCR/Roger Arnold)
The New York Times reported on the famously traditional Amish community gathering in Ohio to help medical facilities with supplies.
A report from the Los Angeles Times says that the federal government is quietly seizing orders of medical supplies, leaving providers across the U.S. clueless about where the stuff is going and how they can get what they need.
Two black men say they were kicked out of Walmart for wearing protective masks, reports The Washington Post, and others worry it will happen to them.
New York announced a partnership with Google for an online unemployment application system as the state deals with increasing numbers of job losses. “Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the New York State Department of Labor’s unemployment insurance filing system has faced an unprecedented increase in volume—with peak weeks seeing a 16,000% increase in phone calls and a 1,600% increase in web traffic, compared to a typical week,” the New York Department of Labor said in a press release on Thursday.
Modified sleep apnea machines may be able to assist with the growing shortage of ventilators needed by medical facilities.
USAA, the nation’s fifth-largest property-casualty insurer, announced it is returning $520 million to policyholders as result of data showing decreased driving habits because of stay-at-home orders.
First Lady of the U.S. Melania Trump was recently photographed wearing a face mask, highlighting, as The New York Times said, her husband’s reluctance to wear one.
A report today from The Washington Post details a plan to defeat the coronavirus—a plan that didn’t come from the White House, rather a collection of governors, former government officials, disease specialists and nonprofits. The group’s strategy “relies on the three pillars of disease control: ramp up testing to identify people who are infected. Find everyone they interact with by deploying contact tracing on a scale America has never attempted before. And focus restrictions more narrowly on the infected and their contacts so the rest of society doesn’t have to stay in permanent lockdown.”
Extra! Extra!
Hey, Happy Passover! Happy Easter! Happy whatever it is you believe or disbelieve in! Either way, stay home. This is a time for many to congregate, gathering in fellowship. And whether you’re in Kansas or not, FFS listen to the FFRF:
“A recent Kansas move to exempt religious gatherings from coronavirus-related measures could have large-scale deadly consequences, asserts the Freedom From Religion Foundation.” That’s the FFRF.
“The Kansas Legislative Coordinating Council, on bad advice from Attorney General Derek Schmidt, has overturned a gubernatorial order banning religious assemblies of 10 individuals or more.
The council’s vote, which comes at about the same time the state crossed the ominous threshold of 1,000 confirmed cases, will kill Kansans, FFRF emphasizes. Data doesn’t lie. One-fourth of Kansas’s confirmed cases have been traced to church gatherings.”
Enjoy the weekend. At home. 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:
Scientists create mutant enzyme that recycles plastic bottles in hours - The Guardian
DARPA is pouring millions into a new AI defense program. Here are the companies leading the charge - protocol
No halt to culture wars during coronavirus outbreak - AP News
Democrats renew vote-by-mail push as virus upends elections - AP News
Legal Fight Heats Up In Texas Over Ban On Abortions Amid Coronavirus - NPR
SwitzerlandUN - Twitter Zero Tolerance For Domestic Violence Needed: UN Secretary-General - shethepeople
Put women and girls at centre of COVID-19 recovery: UN Secretary-General - UN News
U.S. has expelled thousands of migrants under coronavirus public health order - Axios
Trump administration, citing coronavirus, expels 10,000 migrants in less than 3 weeks - Los Angeles Times
US-Mexico border: Thousands of migrants expelled under coronavirus powers - BBC News
Afghan woman breaks barriers to heal Pakistan's poor - UNHCR
Afghan doctor helps Pakistani women - EC
Meet Afghan refugee doctor in Pakistan saving lives during coronavirus pandemic - The News
Fauci Says U.S. Coronavirus Deaths May Be 'More Like 60,000'; Antibody Tests On Way - NPR
Scott Dworkin - Twitter
Pence bars top health experts Fauci and Birx from appearing on CNN, the network says - CNBC
A Fox News Conspiracy—Are Coronavirus Death Numbers Inflated?—Attacked By Fauci, Birx - Forbes
CPJ joins partners in nationwide campaign to show gratitude for journalists during COVID-19 - CPJ
German antibody study indicates fatality rate of 0.37 percent - The Washington Post
Brazil's doctors fight coronavirus pandemic while they 'struggle' with Bolsonaro 'every day' - NBC News
EU Finance Ministers Reach $590 Billion Coronavirus Rescue Deal - NPR
With a Face Mask Photo, Melania Trump Highlights Her Husband’s Reluctance to Wear One - The New York Times
Coronavirus: USAA will return $520 million to policyholders - KIRO7
In Ohio, the Amish take on the coronavirus - The New York Times
Hospitals say feds are seizing masks and other coronavirus supplies without a word - Los Angeles Times
Two black men say they were kicked out of Walmart for wearing protective masks. Others worry it will happen to them. - The Washington Post
Google creates online unemployment application with state of New York - CNBC
Modified Sleep Apnea Machines May Ease the Ventilator Crunch - Wired
A plan to defeat coronavirus finally emerges, but it’s not from the White House - The Washington Post
Kansas church exemption is unconstitutional and lethal, FFRF asserts - FFRF