Northam stumbles through a crisis that should have made him a star

Mark J. Rozell is the dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, where he holds the Ruth D. and John T. Hazel chair in public policy. What a missed opportunity. That’s the undeniable conclusion after watching Gov. Ralph Northam (D), the only governor in the nation who is a doctor, shamble through Virginia’s response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, a crisis that should have been right in his sweet spot. Northam’s medical training uniquely positioned him for confident, assertive and sure-footed leadership of Virginia in the defining crisis of our time. But his stewardship has been marked by confusion, halting half-measures, questions about whether testing data were fudged to begin a reopening early and a bewildering resistance to providing timely, essential information to an anxious public. This pandemic presented Northam with a golden moment to position himself nationally as a respected authority, juxtaposed against a flailing, cartoonish president who inexplicably played down the disease’s severity and the magnitude of the global outbreak, who spouted embarrassing and dangerous whims as possible cures and who angrily lashed out at medical experts who dared contradict him with scientific fact. Instead, Northam drifted along in February and early March, offering lip service and tepid half-measures lacking actionable detail. In late March, when the horrific onset of an exponentially spreading disease was undeniable, he ordered a general shutdown of nonessential businesses, home-sheltering for all but those involved in essential functions and social distancing in places such as grocery stores. His administration’s response to the crisis has lurched from one underachievement to another. Only five states and Puerto Rico have tested fewer residents per capita for coronavirus than Virginia, according to an analysis by the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine. And even those numbers are inflated by unreliable antibody testing. The Department of Health refuses to account publicly for coronavirus outbreaks and deaths at Virginia nursing homes, even when one in Henrico County led the nation in mortality from the disease. Unable to keep pace with other states in securing personal protective equipment (PPE) for health-care professionals, the state entered a $573,000 contract with a high-dollar global consultancy to obtain the PPE but is withholding essential details of the deal. Finally, Northam appears to be ignoring Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for reopening the economy, among the few areas where he and the Trump White House have concurred.


When I call you, it means you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus

‘Hola, Señor Diaz?” I wait patiently as my interpreter introduces us, explaining that I work for the public health department in Arlington County, Va. But before I have a chance to speak, the man on the other end responds in rapid Spanish. “He was expecting you and knows why you’re calling,” the interpreter relays. I’m not surprised: Most of the people who have been potentially exposed to the coronavirus already know. Usually, they are told by the person who tested positive, but once in a while, our call is how people learn about their exposure. The news can catch them off guard, making the interviewers’ jobs delicate — balancing a scared contact’s emotions while protecting the personal information of whomever they were exposed to, a legal mandate under federal health privacy laws. As jurisdictions around the country attempt to open back up, contact tracing can help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus causing the pandemic. An NPR report this month found states plan to put more than 66,000 workers on contact tracing work. Public health departments like mine identify people who may have come into contact with an infected person, then notify them and tell them if they need to stay at home, or how they can continue working while reducing the spread of the disease. Otherwise, overwhelming outbreaks may force communities to adopt strict strategies — like infrastructure closures, stay-at-home orders, mandatory masks and enforced social distancing — again. [We could stop the pandemic by July 4 if the government took these steps] On the phone, I confirm Diaz’s information and verify the last time he remembers being in close contact with the positive case — defined as spending at least a few minutes within six feet. Since a person can transmit the virus before the onset of symptoms, we try to determine whom infected people may have interacted with in the 48 hours before they started to feel ill. In this case, Diaz’s uncle had covid-19, and Diaz had last seen him four days before, when he drove him to the hospital for a coronavirus test. I ask if he’s having any symptoms himself. Since he is an essential employee — a construction worker — he can return to his job without waiting for the recommended 14 days of self-quarantine, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, under certain conditions: He must be symptom-free, wear a mask


Coronavirus Brazil killing young developing world

world, the victim profile is beginning to change. The young are dying of covid-19 at rates unseen in wealthier countries — a development that further illustrates the unpredictable nature of the disease as it pushes into new cultural and geographic landscapes. [In Brazil, a dying man and a desperate search for an open bed] In Brazil, 15 percent of deaths have been people under 50 — a rate more than 10 times greater than in Italy or Spain. In Mexico, the trend is even more stark: Nearly one-fourth of the dead have been between 25 and 49. In India, officials reported this month that nearly half of the dead were younger than 60. In Rio de Janeiro state, more than two-thirds of hospitalizations are for people younger than 49. “This is new terrain compared to what’s happened in other countries,” said Daniel Soranz, the former municipal health minister in Rio de Janeiro. “Brazil is a very important country to be looking at.” Analysts say the emerging data suggests many of the problems that have long troubled the developing world — intractable poverty, extreme inequality, fragile health systems — are increasing vulnerability to the disease. In countries with more poverty and fewer resources, people who might have survived elsewhere are instead dying. [Coronavirus seizes São Paulo as Trump ponders Brazil travel ban] George Gray Molina, chief economist for the United Nations Development Program, said poverty is triggering “compounding effects.” Because population density is so much higher in much of the developing world — and because so many people must keep working to survive — a far greater share of the population ends up being exposed to the virus. The virus then spreads through a population that’s less resilient. People in the developing world grapple not only with the diseases that have long been associated with it — malaria, dengue, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS — but increasingly with those more closely associated with wealthier countries. Rates of diabetes, obesity and hypertension are surging. But treatment for many such illnesses is lacking. When newly infected coronavirus patients already weakened by preexisting conditions seek treatment, they find hospital systems that are overwhelmed and unequipped to handle the deluge of patients. “It all points to social economic status and poverty,” Gray Molina said. The positive benefits associated with the developing world — such as younger populations — are being “wiped out.” “As this plays out,” he said,


The Finance 202: Some billionaires are profiting off pandemic, while low-income Americans bear brunt of it

said in an e-mail to employees … that the company is returning to ‘normal operations’ at its Fremont, California, vehicle assembly plant and Sparks, Nevada, battery factory this week, with some health-related precautions in place,” CNBC's Lora Kolodny reports. Morgan Stanley CEO sees only half of employees returning by year's end: James “Gorman joined other finance-industry leaders in warning that operations won’t be fully back to normal this year,” Bloomberg's Sridhar Natarajan reports. IBM is firing people. “International Business Machines Corp. cut an unspecified number of jobs across the U.S., eliminating employees in at least five states. The company declined to comment on the total number, but the workforce reductions appear far-reaching," Bloomberg's Olivia Carville reports. “Based on a review of IBM internal communications on the Slack corporate messaging service, the number of affected employees is likely to be in the thousands, said a North Carolina-based worker who lost his job along with his entire team of 12.” Americans splurge at Walmart and Target: “The Trump Administration’s relief payment provided a fillip to sales of major retailers in April as millions of Americans used the money to buy everything from video games to sewing machines even as the country struggles with record job losses,” Aishwarya Venugopal reports. Around the world: Sweden is a long way from herd immunity: “The Scandinavian nation made a controversial bet to avoid large-scale lockdowns, keeping schools, restaurants and even nightclubs open as long as they adhere to social distancing guidelines,” Antonia Farzan reports. “But according to data released Wednesday by Sweden’s Public Health Authority, only 7.3 percent of people in Stockholm had developed the antibodies required to fight covid-19 by late April. That’s nowhere near the 60 percent that some experts anticipate being the threshold for herd immunity.” Guatemalan president pushes back on deportation flights: “As the United States deported hundreds of migrants to Guatemala earlier this year, it said some of the deportees were healthy — even though they tested positive after landing, authorities in the Central American nation said,” Teo Armus reports. “El Salvador and Honduras, which have both welcomed the deportation flights without complaint, have received shipments of medical aid along with deportees. But Guatemala has been an exception — in part, it seems, because President Alejandro Giammattei is speaking up.” When superpowers collide Senators to propose sanctioning Chinese officials as fight over Hong Kong erupts. Beijing signaled that it will rein


‘Brilliant from the beginning’

Four years ago, Hermán G. Carrillo and his husband, Dennis vanEngelsdorp, bought a Victorian-style abode just outside the District — it had been a railroad ticket house in the 1920s — and Carrillo, a writer, thought a garden would be nice, a big one. VanEngelsdorp, a professor of entomology, said wonderful, yes, but it shouldn’t be ordinary. He dreaded some backyard palette out of a glossy magazine, conventionally pretty. “I told him it needed to be biodiverse and as attractive to insects and pollinators as possible,” vanEngelsdorp recalled by phone the other day. Cuban-born writer H.G. ‘Hache’ Carrillo died of covid-19 complications April 20, a week before his 60th birthday. (Dennis vanEngelsdorp) He was strolling on the garden’s figure-eight path in the morning sun, alone since Carrillo, 59, died last month of complications from covid-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. “I told him I wanted flowers every day of the year,” vanEngelsdorp said, but mainly what he insisted on were native plants: spiderwort, aster, bee balm. Robins sang from pockets of the yard, in Berwyn Heights, Md., as he walked in the splendid disorder, past the riotous flushes of colors Carrillo left him. “I studied gardening,” vanEngelsdorp, 50, said. “He broke all the rules,” delightfully eschewing any semblance of botanical choreography. Carrillo (“Hache” to his friends, and H.G. Carrillo to readers of his kaleidoscopic fiction, in which he plumbed the meaning of Cuban American identity) created an oasis of asymmetry that vanEngelsdorp lately realized is a metaphor for his lost partner’s peripatetic life. “Now that I’m looking at it with the eyes of someone who has to take it over, it really is an artistic expression,” he said. “Somehow, it exemplifies him. At first, you’re confused by it. Then you look at it, you watch it, and you get to know it — I mean, Hache was always a hard guy to know — and when you take it all in, it’s beautiful chaos.” In Carrillo’s 2004 novel, “Loosing My Espanish,” a Chicago teacher, Óscar Delossantos, is being fired, and he tries in his final weeks to instill a love of cultural history in his middle-class, U.S.-bred Cuban American students. But the teenagers don’t care a whit about their ancestral homeland or the terrors of revolution and escape. Unlike Óscar, none ever dangled “from a little piece of twine over the Florida Straits,” with sharks circling below. Nor


Slain journalist’s sons forgive his killers, clearing way for clemency

Salah Khashoggi, left, a son of Jamal Khashoggi, shakes hands with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Oct. 23, 2018. (Saudi Press Agency/AP) The sons of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi posted a message on social media early Friday saying that they have forgiven their father’s killers, a declaration that could allow Saudi authorities to commute the death sentences of five Saudi officials convicted of Khashoggi’s murder. The statement was posted on the Twitter account of Salah Khashoggi, the journalist’s eldest son, who lives in Saudi Arabia. “We, sons of the martyr Jamal Khashoggi, announce that we forgive those who killed our father,” said the message, which cited a tradition of granting pardons during the holy month of Ramadan. The Saudi justice system allows families of victims in some capital cases to grant clemency to convicted killers. There had been widespread speculation that Khashoggi’s children, who have refrained from criticizing the Saudi leadership, would take such a step, though it was not clear whether their expression of forgiveness was extended willingly or coerced. Khashoggi’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, criticized the Khashoggi family statement on Friday. “No one has the right to pardon his killers,” she wrote on Twitter. “I and others will not stop until we get #JusticeForJamal.” Khashoggi, a veteran journalist who contributed columns to The Washington Post, was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 when he went to collect documents that would allow him to remarry. The killers were Saudi government agents, dispatched to Turkey on the orders of top advisers to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to Turkish and Saudi prosecutors. Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi attends a news conference in the Bahraini capital, Manama, on Dec. 15, 2014. (Mohammed al-Shaikh/AFP/Getty Images) Khashoggi’s body was dismembered as part of a blundering attempt by the agents to cover up the killing, prosecutors said. The Saudi government initially denied any knowledge of the killing and later called it a rogue operation. The crown prince denied any advance knowledge of the plot, even though the CIA concluded with “medium to high confidence” that Mohammed had ordered Khashoggi’s killing. Saudi prosecutors said in December that five unidentified people had been sentenced to death in connection with the murder after a trial in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. Three other people were sentenced to jail terms totaling 24 years. The verdicts were criticized by human rights


The Technology 202: The tech industry's shift to remote work will forever change Silicon Valley

and protective agencies. The Protecting Seniors from Emergency Scams Act is endorsed by AARP, the Elder Justice Coalition, American Society on Aging, and the National Adult Protective Services Association. More Hill news: Democrats propose limits on political ad targeting in backlash to Facebook The bill aims to crack down on "microtargeting" of voters Politico Privacy monitor Nextdoor is courting local police and public officials, raising alarm from civil rights advocates. A patrol car. (iStock) The community information-sharing app has flown out officials on all-expenses-paid trips, asked them to serve as ambassadors for the product for other police departments and asked them to sign non-disclosure agreements about their work, CityLab's Sarah Holder reports. It's a familiar playbook for tech companies working with police departments, but advocates say it raises a troubling trend. "Police are supposed to be impartial civic servants,” Matthew Guariglia, a policy analyst at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit group that advocates for digital civil liberties, told CityLab. “You want a police officer who has the best interests of their specific community at heart. You don’t want a police officer who’s brand loyal.” More privacy news: Four states warn unemployment benefits applicants about data leaks The breaches stem from two incidents where states hired contractors to quickly implement the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program. NBC News Trending A Virtual DJ, a Drone, and an All-Out Zoom Wedding The bride and groom had a month and a half to move their ceremony online. Here's how they did it, from the AV setup to instructions for guests. Wired Delayed Moves, Poolside Videos and Postmates Spon: The State of TikTok Collab Houses Gen Z influencers are settling into life in a shuttered Los Angeles. The New York Times The Artisanal Pizza You Ordered Might Secretly Be Chuck E. Cheese To drum up delivery businesses, big restaurant chains are rebranding themselves in apps like GrubHub OneZero Daybook Ranking Digital Rights will host an event "Getting to the Source of the 2020 Infodemic: It’s the Business Model," on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. Before you log off Happy anniversary to our favorite TikTok account! (Yes, we're biased.) One year on TikTok ✅ pic.twitter.com/Lcx3HzN419 — Dave Jorgenson (@davejorgenson) May 21, 2020 h5{font:bold 24px/125% 'FranklinPro', sans-serif !important;text-transform: initial;margin-bottom:10px !important;}p + h5 {margin-top:32px !important;}blockquote p{font-style:italic !important; border-left:solid 5px #ccc !important;padding: 0 0 0 15px !important;margin-bottom:35px !important;}.signup-box-rr p{font:bold 22px/115% 'PostoniWide', serif !important;}#newsletter-signUp-button{width: auto !important;padding: 11px 14px !important;}.signup-box-rr .nl-wrapper{padding: 20px


Why a Second Wave of Covid-19 Is Already a Worry

case of the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, countries around the world have adopted movement restrictions on an unprecedented scale and social-distancing measures that together keep people far enough apart so that the virus can’t easily spread. 4. So how does a virus come back? There are a number of possibilities. In the case of influenza, there’s the onset of cool weather, a factor that may affect the coronavirus, too. Or the pathogen can mutate. This is another feature of flu, which evolves more or less constantly. In the fall of 1918, a second wave of the historic influenza outbreak occurred and caused most of the deaths in the pandemic. Some researchers believe it was brought about by a mutation that made the virus again unrecognizable to most people’s immune systems. Another important variable is the movement of the virus to populations that haven’t been exposed before and don’t have immunity. In addition, the World Health Organization said on April 24 that there’s no evidence yet that people who have recovered from Covid-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection. 5. What could prevent it? The WHO has recommended lifting movement restrictions in stages to test the effect of each before moving to greater openness. In any case, experts say, the key to keeping infections low without locking down everyone is to scale up testing and contact tracing. Health authorities need to find infected people, isolate them and identify their recent contacts, so they can be tested as well and isolated if necessary. Eventually, it’s possible that enough people will become exposed to the coronavirus that herd immunity will develop and it will stop spreading, or that a vaccine against it will be licensed. 6. Why wasn’t there a second wave of SARS? The 2002-2003 outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in Asia never reached the scope of a pandemic. Though caused by a coronavirus, it wasn’t as contagious as the one responsible for Covid-19. Its spread was mainly restricted to hospitals and other settings where people came in close contact with the body fluids of infected patients. Ebola is another pathogen relatively new to humans. There have been periodic outbreaks in Africa, but while the virus is highly contagious in some settings, it hasn’t been sufficiently infectious to spread around the world like the coronavirus. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com ©2020 Bloomberg L.P.


Prince George’s jail officials acted with ‘reckless disregard’ to coronavirus outbreak, judge finds

sought immediate operational changes, the release of medically vulnerable inmates and the release of any inmates with covid-19. Xinis issued more “narrowly drawn,” temporary injunctive relief, training her concerns on testing, medical protocols and protecting medically vulnerable inmates. Xinis specifically ordered Prince George’s Department of Corrections Director Mary Lou McDonough — the singular named defendant in the lawsuit — to file written plans addressing those areas within five days. A spokesperson for the jail did not immediately respond to a request for comment. [Prince George’s jail must plan to test more inmates for covid-19, federal judge orders] A total of 18 inmates have tested positive for the virus, according to figures released on May 11. That was the same total going back to April 23, an indication the spread had been halted. But all told, as of last week, the jail had conducted only 24 total coronavirus tests of inmates. Xinis blasted the low total of tests. “The significant presence of covid-19 at the facility, in combination with the scores of detainees who described experiencing distinct covid-19 symptoms (e.g. fever, chills, shortness of breath, loss of smell and taste) yet were never tested, spoke to substantial under-testing at the facility,” Xinis wrote. “The defendant, however, hailed ‘only 18 confirmed cases’ as proof of victory in stopping the spread of the virus.” “It was good fortune,” she added, “that none, to date, suffered any serious, sometimes catastrophic, outcomes of the virus.” Xinis based her order on documents provided by the inmates’ attorneys, documents from the jail’s attorneys and a report by a infectious disease specialist whom she commissioned to inspect the jail on May 6 and 7. The judge found an outbreak began at the end of March in a correctional officers’ dining room and spread to at least four housing units, which together held about 237 inmates. “Detainees described medical staff wholly unfamiliar with how the virus presents, ill-equipped to identify covid-19 symptoms, and uninformed as to how to conduct proper contact tracing or isolation procedures to stop the spread of this highly infectious virus,” Xinis wrote. “Most disturbing, each detainee either described himself as having covid-19 symptoms, being directly exposed to detainees with COVID-19 symptoms, or both.” [Federal judge orders inspection of Prince George’s jail after inmates worried about coronavirus sue] She quoted a declaration in court filings from one of the inmates: “I asked to be tested for


Who’s Succeeding Against the Coronavirus and Why

Four months after the coronavirus outbreak was declared a global health emergency, countries around the world have seen vastly different results from their efforts to fight the pandemic. Some have beaten an initial onslaught, some are in the middle of it, and some have yet to see, or at least report, that the virus is causing havoc. Factors both in and out of the control of individual countries have influenced their different outcomes so far. Here’s a breakdown of some things we’ve learned: Acting Early Helps Early testing is paramount. Countries that rolled out good diagnostics in January -- including South Korea and Germany -- have managed their crises comparably well, since it enabled policy makers to react quickly to the growing threat and convinced people of the danger at hand. The picture was grimmer for countries that failed to put early testing into effect, including the U.S. There, the virus spread largely unchecked through February. When cases exploded, hospitals in hot-spots such as New York City were overwhelmed, states had to compete with each other for essential equipment, and citizens were subjected to conflicting, often highly politicized messaging about the stakes of the twin health-care and economic crises. Geography Counts While the virus obeys no borders, it spreads only where humans are allowed to go. That’s enabled island nations such as Japan, Iceland, New Zealand and Australia to reduce new daily confirmed cases to extremely low numbers by fully isolating themselves. The number of visitors to Japan, for example, fell 99.9% in April compared to a year ago. It remains to be seen whether infections will remain so low when these countries start allowing more arrivals. Geography can also pose challenges. China, where the pandemic began, acted swiftly and curbed its outbreak. But in re-opening its economy, it’s had to take special precautions to prevent case spillovers along its borders with Russia, which has one of the biggest outbreaks in Europe, and North Korea, which has yet to report any infections. Preparedness Helps Once the virus begins circulating, a new set of questions arises: Are those who develop bad cases of Covid-19 getting to hospitals fast enough? Do medical workers have sufficient personal protective equipment to safely care for the sick? Are there enough ventilators and intensive-care beds to accommodate the worst cases? Public-health officials and policy makers all over the world have long discussed the probability of a


Counts While the virus obeys no borders, it spreads only where humans are allowed to go. That’s enabled island nations such as Japan, Iceland, New Zealand and Australia to reduce new daily confirmed cases to extremely low numbers by fully isolating themselves. The number of visitors to Japan, for example, fell 99.9% in April compared to a year ago. It remains to be seen whether infections will remain so low when these countries start allowing more arrivals. Geography can also pose challenges. China, where the pandemic began, acted swiftly and curbed its outbreak. But in re-opening its economy, it’s had to take special precautions to prevent case spillovers along its borders with Russia, which has one of the biggest outbreaks in Europe, and North Korea, which has yet to report any infections. Preparedness Helps Once the virus begins circulating, a new set of questions arises: Are those who develop bad cases of Covid-19 getting to hospitals fast enough? Do medical workers have sufficient personal protective equipment to safely care for the sick? Are there enough ventilators and intensive-care beds to accommodate the worst cases? Public-health officials and policy makers all over the world have long discussed the probability of a pandemic like this one. Now that it’s here, the impact of the decisions that were made -- or postponed -- are glaringly obvious. In Brazil, where cases have soared, the public health system was already under strain before the pandemic, and the country has been unable to form a coherent strategy to stop the spread. In Taiwan, by contrast, a combination of early health screening for arrivals to the country, thorough testing and contact tracing, and widespread medical mask usage has brought new domestic infections close to zero. Strong-Arm Tactics Work China raised eyebrows globally when it locked down tens of millions of people in January to stanch the spread of the virus. The effort worked, and was soon copied by countries on other continents. As China re-opens, it’s raising eyebrows again -- with measures most countries probably will deem too intrusive. For example, authorities use data from government departments, phone carriers, locations and transactions to assign citizens a color-coded risk level. Millions of people have to show they have a green code on their mobile phone before being allowed into hotels, restaurants, shops and subways or out of their residential compounds. The codes are updated frequently. Just visiting a


Summer vacations could be tamped down, ground-bound

may continue as Americans who can afford a vacation look to social distancing options that allow them to travel, sleep and eat in the same place with limited contact with others. [The coronavirus pandemic emptied America’s roadways. Now speeders have taken over.] And it’s not just rentals. Rick Miller, sales manager at Cruise America RV Rental and Sales in Manassas, said the company sold about 20 RVs this month — much quicker than expected in a regular season. Business was slow early in the spring as states shut down, Miller said, but phones began to ring in the past two weeks as people became more fatigued of quarantining. “We are pretty close to being sold out,” Miller said. “People are trying to go on vacation. We had 80 on the ground, and we might have two or three left.” Airline and railroad officials said they have seen small increases in bookings in recent weeks, but the numbers remain low and industry officials are not expecting high volumes of travelers anytime soon. John Heimlich, chief economist for the trade group Airlines for America, said in a briefing Wednesday that travelers are concerned about the risks of contracting the virus not just while flying, but while getting to and from the airport, boarding a shuttle to the rental car facility and checking in at a hotel. Heimlich doesn’t know how long it will be before Americans regain confidence in air travel, but he predicts it will be a multiyear effort. “People will be reluctant to travel — or even to book travel — until there is a strong degree of confidence that the health crisis and associated risks are behind us,” Heimlich said in an industry presentation. “We see the unemployment rate climbing to 15 percent,” and while it is expected to bounce back a little bit into 2021, it is expected to stay quite high, Heimlich said. “That, of course, has implications for our business.” After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it took four years for air travel volumes to rebound, and it took seven years after the economic crisis of the late 2000s, Heimlich said. The expectation for the covid-19 crisis recovery is that family trips will resume first, followed by domestic vacationers and then international and business travel. [Temperature scans, self-serve kiosks, less human contact key for return of air travel] More than half of the fleet of


Veronica Norman dies coronavirus

Norman, 75, who lived in Prince George’s County, died April 18. Her death was announced by D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8), who had been close to Norman since his childhood and considers her a grandmother. Her family said the cause of death was covid-19. Norman was born July 22, 1944, in South Carolina, near Augusta. Her mother, Bernice, was a homemaker and her father, John, a railroad porter, farmer and minister. She attended Allen University in South Carolina before moving in the 1960s to the District, where she got her nursing degree. Even into her late 60s, Norman liked to maintain her health by walking 4½ miles from her home to work at St. Elizabeths, a practice she only ended in 2015. Before working at the hospital, Norman worked at D.C. Village, the city’s now-shuttered nursing home for poor people who were elderly, mentally ill or physically disabled, said Ratunda Norman, one of her two children. For years, Veronica Norman also worked as a nurse at a summer sports camp, where she came to know generations of District youngsters. A religious woman, Norman was known within her social network and family as “a grandma to all,” Ratunda Norman said. “She was like a safe house for a lot of people. If you were going through something, she would say, ‘Come on in,’ and she would feed you. She made everyone feel welcome.” When she wasn’t working, Veronica Norman liked to take trips to places such as Disneyland and Puerto Rico. Her passions included cooking up ribs, crabs and fried chicken, along with sweet potato pie, apple pie and pound cake. Each creation was an expression of her need to care for anyone in her midst, her daughter and niece said. As the daughter of a farmer, Norman also knew about plants and vegetation, and liked to dispense health and nutritional advice, though always in a measured tone. “I never heard her raise her voice,” said Hedrington-Jones. “She just wasn’t one to be critical. It wasn’t her way.” Norman took the same gentle approach with her patients, whom she planned to tend through the pandemic that ultimately claimed her life. “She was doing something she wanted to do,” her niece said. “Why stop if you have the energy to do it?” Read more: Local newsletters: Local headlines (8 a.m.) | Afternoon Buzz (4 p.m.) Like PostLocal on Facebook


Alan G. Merten, president who expanded George Mason University’s reach, dies at 78

normally do things,” Dr. Merten told The Washington Post in 2011. “We have an approach that says, ‘Do something in a hurry and then correct it, because it’s never going to be perfect.’ ” Faculty member Vernon Smith won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2002, but the university was never in the spotlight more than when its men’s basketball team reached the Final Four in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. During the Patriots’ Cinderella run, many sports fans and basketball announcers learned about George Mason for the first time. According to then-Coach Jim Larranaga, Dr. Merten had planned for the team’s success for a decade. “The first time we met, when I was interviewing for the men’s basketball coaching job in 1997,” Larranaga said in an interview, “he said something to me that made a lasting impression. He said, ‘The men’s basketball team is the marketing arm of the university. I’m trying to make it the best and biggest university in the state, and I need you to build a winner.’ He told me about his vision for the university and how the basketball program could be a big part of that.” As underdog George Mason defeated Michigan State, North Carolina and Wichita State, enthusiasm grew on the campus. Dr. Merten, who became close friends with Larranaga, organized campus celebrations that grew more spirited with each successive victory. After George Mason reached the Final Four, the team was greeted on campus by thousands of students and a fireworks display. “I said, ‘Did you orchestrate the fireworks?’ ” recalled Larranaga, now the head coach at the University of Miami. “ ‘You didn’t know until a couple of hours ago that we were even going to win.’ He said, ‘I ordered them a week ago. We were going to have them anyway, win or lose.’ “When you have a president who shows that much foresight and leadership skills, they are one of a kind. And it wasn’t just basketball. He had total focus on what the future of what George Mason University was going to be.” In the tournament, George Mason lost to eventual national champion Florida, but the publicity led to a 25 percent increase in enrollment applications and an uptick in alumni donations. “We used the athletic megaphone to tell the George Mason story every day for a month,” Dr. Merten later told The Post. Alan Gilbert Merten was born


The Daily 202: More churches rebel against state orders, as Trump reverses course on releasing reopening guidelines

patients. Doctors have described widespread damage to blood vessels and the presence of blood clots that would not be expected in a respiratory disease.” “What’s different about covid-19 is the lungs don’t get stiff or injured or destroyed before there’s hypoxia,” the medical term for oxygen deprivation, said Steven Mentzer, a professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and part of the team that detailed their findings in the New England Journal of Medicine. “For whatever reason, there is a vascular phase,” he said, in addition to damage more commonly associated with viral diseases such as the flu. It's not just kids. Young adults are increasingly crippled by the Kawasaki-like disease linked to the virus. “A 20-year-old is being treated for the condition in San Diego, a 25-year-old has been diagnosed at Northwell Health’s Long Island Jewish Medical Center, and several patients in their early 20s are hospitalized with the syndrome at NYU Langone in New York City,” Ariana and Chelsea Janes report. “Jennifer Lighter, a pediatric infectious diseases doctor at NYU Langone, said younger children with the condition seem to have symptoms that look more like traditional Kawasaki, which is characterized by inflammation of the blood vessels. But teens and young adults have more of an ‘overwhelming’ response involving the heart and multiple organs. ‘The older ones have had a more severe course,’ Lighter said. … “Many of the patients have antibodies to the coronavirus — suggesting they may have been infected weeks earlier and the condition may be a delayed immune response. While the overall number of covid-19 patients has dropped off sharply in New York City and other early hot spots, the number of children and young adults with the inflammatory condition continues to mount. … The cause of Kawasaki has long been a mystery, and the same is true of the inflammatory syndrome linked to covid-19. But doctors say they suspect some people are born with a genetic predisposition for an overactive immune response to the coronavirus that triggers a Kawasaki-like syndrome. The New York State Health Department is conducting genetic tests of patients’ DNA to figure out whether there is a common link among the children who have the condition.” The CDC is conflating viral and antibody tests, which paints a misleading picture of the infection rate. The CDC is “combining test results that diagnose current coronavirus infections with test results that measure whether someone


has ever had the virus,” the Atlantic reports. “The upshot is that the government’s disease-fighting agency is overstating the country’s ability to test people who are sick with COVID-19. … This is not merely a technical error. States have set quantitative guidelines for reopening their economies based on these flawed data points. … The widespread use of the practice means that it remains difficult to know exactly how much the country’s ability to test people who are actively sick with COVID-19 has improved." County-level excess death rates reveal a different picture of the virus’s death toll than testing. A study of excess deaths across 366 counties by the Surgo Foundation found there were, on average, 51 more deaths per 100,00 people than the average for the same period from 2014 to 2018: “If this rate held against the entire US population of 328 million, this would amount to over 167,000 excess deaths this year to date.” The study’s data suggests the U.S. may be undercounting deaths in the South, in particular, because a number of Southern counties have low reported covid-19 death rates but high excess death rates. To wit: Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) further reopened her state, announcing that theaters, child-care facilities and summer camps can resume operations today, despite worrisome infection increases. (Steven Goff) Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) suggested that his team accidentally released inaccurate testing data. “Kemp held a news conference Thursday where he asked Georgians for patience, noting that state government isn't perfect and if there is a mistake they will own it,” perWSB-TV. A Wall Street Journal analysis of death certificates indicates that Michigan undercounted hundreds of coronavirus-connected fatalities during a period in March and April when deaths surged above normal levels. A continuing testing shortfall there is probably fueling a substantial, continuing undercount. A British model says U.S. deaths could double in two months as lockdowns are relaxed. Researchers from Imperial College London estimate in a new report that 24 states still have a reproduction number — which measures the average number of people each infected person goes on to infect — above the critical threshold of one. “The researchers found higher reproduction numbers were geographically clustered in the South and the Midwest, suggesting epidemics may be just starting in some states. Among those most likely to have an R number higher than one were Texas, Arizona, Illinois, Colorado and Ohio,” Adam


that theaters, child-care facilities and summer camps can resume operations today, despite worrisome infection increases. (Steven Goff) Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) suggested that his team accidentally released inaccurate testing data. “Kemp held a news conference Thursday where he asked Georgians for patience, noting that state government isn't perfect and if there is a mistake they will own it,” perWSB-TV. A Wall Street Journal analysis of death certificates indicates that Michigan undercounted hundreds of coronavirus-connected fatalities during a period in March and April when deaths surged above normal levels. A continuing testing shortfall there is probably fueling a substantial, continuing undercount. A British model says U.S. deaths could double in two months as lockdowns are relaxed. Researchers from Imperial College London estimate in a new report that 24 states still have a reproduction number — which measures the average number of people each infected person goes on to infect — above the critical threshold of one. “The researchers found higher reproduction numbers were geographically clustered in the South and the Midwest, suggesting epidemics may be just starting in some states. Among those most likely to have an R number higher than one were Texas, Arizona, Illinois, Colorado and Ohio,” Adam Taylor reports. “This suggests that other interventions are necessary if mobility begins to increase in these states as stay-at-home orders are eased,” said Juliette Unwin, one of the report’s authors. She added that rapid testing, contact tracing and behavioral precautions will avert their worst-case scenario. One of America’s first contact-tracing apps violates its own privacy policy. “A new analysis of one of the first of a handful of U.S. contact-tracing apps, North and South Dakota’s Care19, finds it violates its own privacy policy by sharing citizen location and other personal data with an outside company,” Geoffrey Fowler writes. “The states turned to North Dakota app maker ProudCrowd to make Care19 for free. ProudCrowd confirmed to me that some data from its iPhone app goes to Foursquare, a prominent location-data provider for marketers — but says it isn’t used for commercial purposes. … Still, ProudCrowd says it plans to change Care19’s privacy policy and will share less data in the future.” Maryland’s Anne Arundel County launched a contact-tracing army way before the state acted. Republican Gov. Larry Hogan’s office said Maryland has hired 650 contact tracers who will be “fully operational” by next week. But Anne Arundel, a largely suburban county


White House says D.C. region among worst in country, as summer closures continue

May and 11 percent over the last week. City officials originally listed a cumulative positivity rate below 10 percent among their reopening metrics. But they no longer highlight that benchmark, focusing instead on community spread of the virus and noting that a large proportion of D.C. cases are in nursing homes and other institutional settings. If the city reaches “Phase 2” of its reopening plan this summer — meaning only localized transmission of the virus is taking place — then the department could offer in-person camps for small groups of children at 27 locations, officials said. Parks director Delano Hunter said the modified camps would have “a heavy outdoor emphasis on socially distant activities and games.” D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Lewis Ferebee announced virtual graduations for all city high schools and virtual summer school from June 22 to July 24. In August, if the city has reached Phase 2, the school system will offer a “bridge program,” an optional two weeks of school for the district’s 11,5000 rising third, sixth and ninth graders. The need for caution was underscored by the daily reporting of new coronavirus cases in the region: Virginia reported 37 deaths on Friday, the highest number in 10 days. It also counted 813 new infections, including 32 in Arlington, 37 in Alexandria and 154 in Fairfax County. The District counted 105 new infections and six new deaths, bringing the total number of victims who have died of the virus to 418. Maryland recorded 48 deaths, including 12 in Montgomery County and 11 were in neighboring Prince George’s County. The state also added 893 new infections. Baltimore County, which lifted some social distancing restrictions on Friday morning, added 35 new cases — the lowest number since mid-April. In total, 87,267 people in the two states and the District have contracted the virus and 3,761 people have died. In Maryland and Virginia, legislators and businesspeople expressed different opinions Friday about what next steps are warranted. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and two union leaders separately urged Northam to mandate mask-wearing in businesses or “public spaces.” It was not immediately clear whether he meant outdoor spaces as well. Northam (D), a physician, has encouraged Virginians to wear face coverings in public, but has not required them to do so. Both the District and Maryland require people to wear masks while in public spaces indoors. In a letter to the governor, Stoney


line up to get tested for the coronavirus in Hyattsville Friday. The testing, done at a vehicle inspection station, is now open to Maryland residents regardless of whether they show symptoms or have a doctor’s referral. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post) In Maryland, a bipartisan group of state senators asked Hogan (R) to issue an executive order to protect small business owners from potential liability from lawsuits if they follow safety protocols. A spokesman for Hogan did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Senate Small Business Job Caucus, an ad hoc group created after the tense debate over increasing the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, wants the state to use money it received from the federal government to help provide grants and loans to businesses with 50 or fewer employees. Sen. Douglas J.J. Peters (D-Prince George’s), a caucus member and small business owner, said liability was a top discussion during the caucus meetings. “I think there are a lot of people very nervous about reopening, worried about defending themselves if they do get sued.” The letter was signed by 10 state senators. In Virginia, Wolf Trap National Park announced it will not host any live performances this summer, including concerts or children’s theater, for the first time in its 50 year history. Arvind Manocha, Wolf Trap Foundation’s president and chief executive, said it was “with profound sadness” that he canceled the entire May-to-September season. Shenandoah National Park, on the other hand, announced it would reopen Skyline Drive and some hiking trails beginning Saturday. Some popular areas, including Old Rag Mountain and Whiteoak, will remain closed. The park will resume collecting entry fees, but picnic spots will be off-limits and restrooms will be limited. Arlington County, too, announced it would reopen its 148 parks on a very limited basis, with playgrounds, picnic shelters, athletic courts, dog parks and park restrooms all off limits. County officials said residents can use open spaces to exercise or sit with members of their household, provided that they keep their distance from others. Wearing a mask is recommended, they said. In early June, dog parks, athletic fields and outdoor courts will also reopen, with social distancing restrictions. Colby Itkowitz, Rebecca Tan, Laura Vozzella, Dana Hedgpeth, Ovetta Wiggins and Antonio Olivo contributed to this report. Read more: Local newsletters: Local headlines (8 a.m.) | Afternoon Buzz (4 p.m.) Like PostLocal on Facebook


The Health 202: Americans are deeply divided by party about timing of reopening their states, per new poll

should have known?” Cuomo told reporters. “It’s above my paygrade as the governor of one state, but what federal agency? What international health organization? I don’t know. It’s not what I do; it’s not my responsibility. But someone has to answer that question.” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) (AP Photo/John Minchillo) They were responding to findings of a Columbia University report, which concluded that if New York City had mandated social distancing even one week earlier, more than 17,000 deaths in the metro area could have been avoided. “The findings, first OUCH: Michigan may have significantly undercounted its covid-19 deaths. The state, one of those hit hardest by the coronavirus, “could have undercounted hundreds of fatalities connected to Covid-19 during a period in March and April when deaths had surged above normal levels,” the Wall Street Journal’s Coulter Jones and Jon Kamp report. A Detroit resident is administered a free coronavirus test at the Sheffield Center in Detroit. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters) There were more than 13,000 deaths in the state between March 15 through April 18. That’s compared with an average of about 9,300 deaths a year in the same period in the last six years, according to an analysis of death certificates. “The state’s death certificate data show a significant surge in fatalities in and around Detroit, “The Journal’s findings underscore the broader challenge of tracking the disease even as the country looks for accurate data to measure the safety of reopening the economy,” they add. “Public-health experts say it is common to undercount deaths from new maladies, and that testing deficits made it particularly easy to miss deaths from people infected by the coronavirus.” There's still a lot to learn about the coronavirus Doctors say they’re now seeing a puzzling inflammatory syndrome linked to the coronavirus in a few young adults, not just kids. “Jennifer Lighter, a pediatric infectious diseases doctor at NYU Langone, said younger children with the condition seem to have symptoms that look more like traditional Kawasaki, which is characterized by inflammation of the blood vessels,” Ariana Eunjung Cha and Chelsea Janes report. “But teens and young adults have more of an ‘overwhelming’ response involving the heart and multiple organs.” Some doctors worry the syndrome has been underdiagnosed in adults. That may be in part because doctors who treat adults may not have seen Kawasaki disease, which is a childhood disease. “The syndrome appears to


of death certificates. “The state’s death certificate data show a significant surge in fatalities in and around Detroit, “The Journal’s findings underscore the broader challenge of tracking the disease even as the country looks for accurate data to measure the safety of reopening the economy,” they add. “Public-health experts say it is common to undercount deaths from new maladies, and that testing deficits made it particularly easy to miss deaths from people infected by the coronavirus.” There's still a lot to learn about the coronavirus Doctors say they’re now seeing a puzzling inflammatory syndrome linked to the coronavirus in a few young adults, not just kids. “Jennifer Lighter, a pediatric infectious diseases doctor at NYU Langone, said younger children with the condition seem to have symptoms that look more like traditional Kawasaki, which is characterized by inflammation of the blood vessels,” Ariana Eunjung Cha and Chelsea Janes report. “But teens and young adults have more of an ‘overwhelming’ response involving the heart and multiple organs.” Some doctors worry the syndrome has been underdiagnosed in adults. That may be in part because doctors who treat adults may not have seen Kawasaki disease, which is a childhood disease. “The syndrome appears to be rare, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — which recently dubbed the condition MIS-C, or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children — has expressed alarm about the rapid decline of patients with the illness,” Ariana and Chelsea write. “… At least four children, three in New York state and a 15-year-old girl in Maryland, have died of apparent MIS-C in recent weeks.” A company under investigation by the Justice Department wants Maryland to restore its canceled contract for medical equipment. Blue Flame Medical, a supply company started by a pair of well-connected Republican operatives, was meant to fulfill a $12.5 million contract to provide medical equipment. But Maryland officials canceled the contract, saying the company didn’t deliver medical masks and ventilators on time. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan removes a face mask as he begins a news conference in Annapolis. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post) “The firm’s lawyer, Douglas Gansler, a former Maryland attorney general, said Thursday that Maryland officials made a mistake,” Tom Hamburger and Juliet Eilperin report. “Gansler said 27 of 110 mechanical ventilators promised by Blue Flame were delivered Thursday to a Maryland Emergency Management Agency office in Sparrows Point, a sign of the company’s good-faith effort


NASA and SpaceX are go for historic launch

NASA and SpaceX are go for launch. NASA announced Friday that an exhaustive “flight readiness review” of Wednesday’s scheduled launch of a SpaceX rocket with two NASA astronauts aboard had determined that the mission could proceed. The launch, a test flight to the International Space Station, is now set for Wednesday at 4:33 p.m. from launchpad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If all goes well, it would be the first launch of NASA astronauts to space from U.S. soil since the space shuttle program was retired nearly a decade ago, and it would be the first time a private company had boosted people to orbit. Since the shuttle was retired, NASA has had to rely on Russia to get its astronauts to the station. “There are no significant issues, I am happy to report," Steve Jurczyk, NASA’s associate administrator who chaired the review, told a news conference. "In the end, it was a very, very clean review.” The review, which began Thursday and resumed Friday morning, was one of the last hurdles to be cleared before the launch. On Friday afternoon, SpaceX successfully fired the engines on the Falcon 9 rocket for a short test to ensure they were operating correctly. On Saturday, astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will suit up and go through the prelaunch procedures one last time. A final launch readiness review will be held on Monday. The launch still could be delayed by weather or any number of last-minute mechanical glitches. Saturday morning, the Space Force’s weather office at Cape Canaveral predicted a 60 percent chance weather would prevent a launch. “We’re going to stay vigilant over the next few days,” said Kathy Lueders, the director of NASA’s commercial crew program. She added that “we are trying to identify any risks that are out there, and continue to look at risk, and buy them down. But we also can’t fool ourselves, human spaceflight is really, really tough.” “There'll be lots more data, lots more reviews in the next few days,” said Benji Reed, SpaceX’s director of crew and mission management. “There will be constant vigilance and watching of the data and observations as we go through the mission.” Officials from NASA and SpaceX said part of the review focused on the safety of the parachutes that would deploy and slow the Dragon spacecraft as it drops through the Earth’s atmosphere, bringing the


Godspeed, SpaceX

Regarding the May 17 front-page article “As it prepares to fly humans, SpaceX faces the biggest challenge in its history”: I am 71 and have lived through all the failures and successes of our space programs. I remember watching the Vanguard fireball, the horror of the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia tragedies It is hoped that one does learn by failure. Elon Musk and all the employees of SpaceX are to be congratulated for their risk-taking and vision. I want to see our astronauts walk again on the moon and reach Mars before I die. Frank Maddox Read more letters to the editor.


In Baltimore, not all neighborhoods get the message

Todd Oppenheim is a supervising attorney in the Baltimore city public defender’s office. These opinions are his own. It shouldn’t be shocking that not only does Baltimore have more than 100 homicides barely five months into the year, but the city also contains one of the leading Zip codes in Maryland for documented novel coronavirus cases, in 21215 (Northwest). We’ve disconnected segments of the population in places such as Northwest, a mainly African American area, through poor governmental oversight, horrible schools and a lack of employment, which all contribute to the historic violence. Now, to fuel deadly viral infections in those same spots, add an institutional inability to properly instruct and inform citizens. Two weeks into Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s (R) stay-at-home order, a group of young men, mostly African American, continued to participate in organized football workouts supervised by coaches on the turf field next to and operated by the YMCA on 33rd Street. The group was larger than 10 people. Social distancing was disregarded, even though senior apartment buildings are within spitting distance. It was stupid and dangerous. The Y said the group and others that used the space were trespassing. About a week later, “no trespassing” notices went up, and the field cleared. Take a drive around the city, and you’ll still see others ignoring the pandemic rules. Forget our failed national leadership. On a local level, messaging on fighting the virus has been unclear at best but mainly nonexistent, especially in poor, black areas — apropos of a city that has long abandoned many of its inhabitants. I have been a public defender in the city for more than 15 years. I am a white man living in a predominantly black neighborhood. A major issue for my clients, most of whom are black, is encounters with Baltimore Police Department (BPD) officers who violate Fourth Amendment guarantees of freedom from illegal stops and searches. To put it bluntly, Baltimore police officers rarely shied from an encounter with a black person they deemed “suspicious.” Now, when everyone’s health is at risk, simply having a conversation with some young men playing football is problematic for law enforcement because the police department lacks credibility. However, people need to be thoughtfully advised about staying home, social distancing, contact tracing and stopping the spread. The police can’t seem to do it. Our elected officials aren’t doing too well, either. What does this


The Energy 202: Offshore oil producers say Trump administration's coronavirus response falls flat

and public spaces to keep power lines running and to fix gas leaks, E&E News reports. A Pacific Gas & Electric Co. worker attaches a wire to a power line in Yountville, Calif. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News) The union’s president, James Slevin, was “among several union officials on a call with reporters led by the AFL-CIO to outline the precautions that have helped electric, natural gas, water and communications operations continue while much of the U.S. population stays home to slow down the spread of COVID-19.” A storm season is coming Parts of the country are in for an unusually active Atlantic hurricane season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is forecasting a 60 percent chance of an above-average season, with a 70 percent chance of 13 to 19 named storms. NOAA said six to 10 of those storms will become hurricanes and three to six could be major hurricanes, Andrew Freedman reports. .@NOAA: Forecasters predict an above-normal 2020 #Atlantic #HurricaneSeason https://t.co/bHEpbI1dLP #HurricaneOutlook pic.twitter.com/ImAEdiMIGh — NOAA Communications (@NOAAComms) May 21, 2020 There’s only a 10 percent change the hurricane season is below average, the agency says. The Federal Emergency Management Agency stands to be tested this season. “With the hurricane season falling in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, FEMA, which is the main federal disaster response agency, is likely to face a challenge that is unparalleled in its history,” Freedman writes. “The agency historically has dealt with multiple hurricanes and floods, notably during the 2005 hurricane season, when three hurricanes struck Florida within weeks of each other. But it has not had to address a pandemic at the same time as a regional crisis like a hurricane.” President Trump listens to Pete Gaynor, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images) FEMA will try to minimize how many people authorities evacuate in emergencies. It’s an unprecedented move for the agency to try to reduce the number of residents it evacuates ahead of a hurricane. But the change is an effort to prevent any spread of the coronavirus in shelters, E&E News reports. A 59-page guidance for the 2020 hurricane season, which is “written with NOAA and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, departs from traditional advice urging evacuation, as well as the message authorities gave in March and April when they advised people facing tornado warnings to go to shelters despite the risk of contracting


U.S. slow to collect complete data on race, ethnicity in coronavirus cases, civil rights group says

Months into the coronavirus pandemic that has killed black Americans at a disproportionate rate, the head of a civil rights group said the federal government is still unable to provide more complete data about testing, infection and mortality rates by race and ethnicity. Kristen Clarke, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said she was disappointed in the response from Robert R. Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which cited uneven reporting by state health departments as the reason for the lack of more comprehensive data. Clarke said she is “deeply concerned” about the lack of information “because it means that officials are shooting in the dark when it comes to making important policy decisions like when do you lift the stay-at-home orders or when do you tell employers it’s safe for employees to come back to work.” Clarke said she also is concerned about new hot spots emerging in some Southern states, such as Alabama, where the mayor of Montgomery has sounded the alarm in recent days that the city is running out of critical space in its hospitals. Redfield’s letter was in response to one the Lawyers’ Committee sent to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, which was signed by several hundred doctors and public health experts. The group wrote that the information was necessary to ensure people of color were not being discriminated against in testing and treatment. The letter also said the data would help public health officials better respond to the needs of African Americans and other people of color. Clarke said the committee is concerned about “reports from doctors and health professionals about bias in terms of care and treatment of black Americans, that they are being told at higher rates to stay at home, you don’t need to go to the hospital, just monitor your symptoms at home,” she said. Redfield’s letter acknowledges the disproportionate impact of covid-19, the disease the coronavirus causes, on people of color: “Protecting them and other people at risk is a priority for the CDC, and to do so requires that we have strong data that describes the impact of COVID-19 on these populations.” The CDC director’s letter notes that state health departments “work to get complete information on every case, including race/ethnicity, but during a large-scale pandemic, it is understandable that these health departments may not be able


widespread testing of inmates. In the judge’s opinion, she blasted the low total of tests during the outbreak. “The significant presence of covid-19 at the facility, in combination with the scores of detainees who described experiencing distinct covid-19 symptoms (e.g. fever, chills, shortness of breath, loss of smell and taste) yet were never tested, spoke to substantial under-testing at the facility,” Xinis wrote. “The defendant, however, hailed ‘only 18 confirmed cases’ as proof of victory in stopping the spread of the virus.” “It was good fortune,” she added, “that none, to date, suffered any serious, sometimes catastrophic, outcomes of the virus.” Xinis’s opinion also confirmed that the jail has recently “begun more systematized screening and testing.” Xinis based her order on documents provided by the inmates’ attorneys, documents from the jail’s attorneys and a report by an infectious-disease specialist whom she commissioned to inspect the jail on May 6 and 7. The judge found an outbreak began at the end of March in a dining room for correctional officers and spread to at least four housing units, which together held about 237 inmates. “Detainees described medical staff wholly unfamiliar with how the virus presents, ill-equipped to identify covid-19 symptoms, and uninformed as to how to conduct proper contact tracing or isolation procedures to stop the spread of this highly infectious virus,” Xinis wrote. “Most disturbing, each detainee either described himself as having covid-19 symptoms, being directly exposed to detainees with covid-19 symptoms, or both.” She quoted a declaration in court filings from one of the inmates: “I asked to be tested for the virus, but they said they don’t have any tests. Last night I went to sick call again. I had a fever and a headache. They told me that my fever wasn’t high enough, and that they would only test me if it got higher. They told me to drink water and sent me back to the unit.” In court documents, jail officials reported conducting twice-daily temperature checks of inmates living near inmates who had tested positive. “However,” Xinis wrote, “the temperature-check logs submitted to the court heightened, rather than allayed, the court’s concerns. The records were spotty and did not reflect the purported twice daily checks. Even more concerning, the recorded temperatures were consistently and atypically low. A significant cohort of detainees had temperatures as low as 95 and 96 degrees, with some as low as 90,


Amid the pandemic, people are paying more attention to tweets. And not the Twitter kind.

in urban and high-density [areas]: Greatly reduced human traffic leaves more acoustic space out there,” Fitzpatrick said. “Birds do respond negatively to a lot of human noise, according to acoustic studies. It’s quite reasonable to imagine birds are using more of that space with people in their houses. City parks are usually overrun with human beings, and now species are stopping to check them out and use them.” In some cases, the newfound freedom is to their detriment. On the Gulf Coast crescent that extends from Brownsville, Tex., to Naples, Fla., migrating shorebirds and seabirds have nested in areas that human beachgoers would occupy were it not for the pandemic. Now, people are returning, and those nests could be threatened. “Generally, when the covid shutdown began and all the beaches closed, that was right at the beginning of the breeding season of the shorebirds and seabirds we work with,” said Kacy Ray, the gulf program manager for the American Bird Conservancy. “They were just beginning to nest and pair.” Last year, there were more than 430 pairs of nesting birds on a section of a beach in Galveston, Tex. Dozens of groups that protect birds, including state and county government organizations, rushed to fence off those areas, but they could only protect a few. Kristen Vale, the Texas coastal program manager for the conservancy, said she watched as a Wilson’s plover, a shorebird, hovered over a nest that was suddenly overrun by people. “I’m almost certain that bird abandoned its nest because there was so much recreation,” Vale said. “Another plover nested in an area where they hadn’t before, where cars could park, and the bird is still defending its nest. It’s incredibly disturbed.” That bird is spending a lot of time off its nest, which could slow the development of its eggs, if they survive. Grackles and other predators, such as gulls, eat eggs at nests when parents are away for long periods. If a person is at the beach and a bird is hovering, squawking like crazy, it’s probably trying to protect a nest with eggs, Vale said. Stay away from dunes where birds tend to nest. “A lot of these birds are camouflaged and are hard to see with the naked eye,” she said. “They’re above the high-tide line. We strongly encourage people to keep dogs on leashes because dogs eat eggs and they eat the adults.”


adults working remote jobs — such as tech support or teaching children to read — and practicing job skills through more than 200 hours of online training through the D.C. Department of Employment Services. In lieu of summer camps, the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation will give out supplies for up to 5,000 children to participate in activities such as cooking, art projects and science experiments. If the city reaches Phase 2 of its reopening plan this summer — meaning only localized transmission of the virus is taking place — then the department could offer in-person camps for small groups of children at 27 locations, officials said. Parks director Delano Hunter said the modified camps would have “a heavy outdoor emphasis on socially distant activities and games.” D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Lewis D. Ferebee announced virtual graduations for all city high schools and virtual summer school from June 22 to July 24. In August, if the city has reached Phase 2, the school system will offer a “bridge program,” an optional two weeks of school for the District’s 11,5000 rising third-, sixth- and ninth-graders. The need for caution was underscored by the daily reporting of new coronavirus cases in the region: Virginia reported 37 deaths on Friday, the highest number in 10 days. It also counted 813 new infections, including 32 in Arlington, 37 in Alexandria and 154 in Fairfax County. The District counted 105 new infections and six new deaths, bringing the total number of victims who have died of the virus to 418. Maryland recorded 48 deaths, including 12 in Montgomery County and 11 were in neighboring Prince George’s. The state also added 893 new infections. Baltimore County, which lifted some social distancing restrictions on Friday morning, added 35 new cases — the lowest number since mid-April. In total, 87,267 people in the two states and the District have contracted the virus and 3,761 people have died. In Maryland and Virginia, legislators and business people expressed different opinions Friday about what next steps are warranted. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and two union leaders separately urged Northam to mandate mask-wearing as a public safety measure. Northam, a physician, has encouraged Virginians to wear face coverings in public, but he has not required them to do so. In a letter to the governor, Stoney wrote that at least one Richmond grocery store noticed far fewer customers wearing masks once


At a busy East African border, testing truckers created perfect conditions for coronavirus to spread

NAMANGA, KENYA — When Habibu Juma Ali lined up his truck full of Whitedent toothpaste behind hundreds of others waiting to cross the border from Tanzania into Kenya, he didn’t expect to wait two weeks to get tested for the novel coronavirus. Truckers are permitted to drive across the otherwise closed border between East Africa’s two biggest countries, but for the first two months of the pandemic, they had to get tested at the crossing. More than 150 tested positive and were turned back. The rest spent interminable days waiting for their results. Ali has spent his days on both the Kenyan and Tanzanian sides of the border town of Namanga, where, when you’re on foot, you can cross the border as easily as crossing a road. He has bought food at shops, exchanged money at banks and, at night, he sleeps huddled with other drivers on cardboard mats underneath his truck. They cook and share meals with newcomers as the line of waiting trucks grows. Others find racier ways to pass the time — chewing khat, shooting dice, hiring sex workers. The truckers’ growing web of interactions points to a dilemma at international borders: how to let essential trade through without the virus slipping in with it. At a meeting Friday to resolve the growing crisis, Kenya and Tanzania agreed that starting next week, drivers will have to get negative test certificates before starting their journeys. For many of the thousands of truckers who have already spent days or weeks in Namanga waiting for tests, that decision will have come too late. “If my results come back positive, who can say how many people I’d have infected?” said Ali, 47. “I’m almost sure most of us here have now got the virus.” The porous border, inefficient testing and limited contact tracing made this town an ideal place for the coronavirus to spread. Truckers say the long waits left them more susceptible to the virus and cost them time and money. The town’s business people, who interact with them on a daily basis, were caught between fear of contagion and unwillingness to give up their livelihoods. Truck drivers distribute goods but also sometimes diseases, as became especially clear during HIV’s spread in Africa, where they carry the virus at double the rate of the general population. Truckers’ contacts are harder to trace than those of people who’ve traveled by airplane,


Coronavirus patients turn to social media group for answers, support

conspiracy theories and fake cures. “There’s no oversight or verification,” said Athena Poppas, president of the American College of Cardiology. Other doctors said patients could best use social media to gather ideas to discuss with their doctors. Before the pandemic, more than 40 percent of Americans consulted the Internet for medical information. Yet sick people might have been less likely to rely on social media stories to forecast their prospects — everyone knows someone who has recovered from the flu. Now, most stories circulating about people sick with the coronavirus involve grave illness and death. “I turned off the TV,” said Danielle Maggiotta, 33, a special-education teacher from Nassau County, N.Y., and a Survivor Corps member. “That doesn’t give you a good outlook on what could potentially be in store for you.” People are greedy for stories from others with similar symptoms a few stages ahead in the illness. How did your symptoms progress? What helped? Where’s the happy ending? Samantha Rosenberg, 31, of Long Island, a supervisor at a party products company, lost an uncle to covid-19. After testing positive herself, she posted on Survivor Corps about stomach pain she worried might force her to seek medical care. “I’m scared to go, what if I infect people,” she asked. Finding other people with similar pain helped rally her a little longer, she said. People compare rashes that leave the skin feeling as though it was grated, crusty eyes, lesions on toes, breathing that makes a crackling sound. The lag of research to understand these symptoms can make their illness more isolating and frightening. Debbie Olsen, 58, who lives in rural Delaware, posted about an itchy, chickenpox-like rash that broke out all over her body, including around her eyes, ears and lips. “I wanted to let you all know so no one freaks out about it,” she wrote to the Facebook group, posting a picture of her mottled hand. People posted more than 200 comments and their own rash photos. Following their suggestions, Olsen took an oatmeal bath and consulted a dermatologist. Susan Silverman, 64, a spin instructor in Montgomery County, Pa., tested positive in mid-March. As she experienced a loss of smell and taste and a clot in her arm, her husband, a pulmonary and critical care physician, searched the covid-19 medical literature — and found nothing. Researchers shortly afterward linked those symptoms with the illness. When Silverman developed


blurred vision, vertigo and hives, she turned to Survivor Corps and found others experiencing the same. “It’s a relief,” she said. “I’m not losing my mind.” One woman whose illness did not include the best-known trifecta of fever, cough and shortness of breath, posted that her doctor dismissed her as perimenopausal. “That’s ridiculous,” answered Eileen McDermott, 43, an editor for an intellectual property blog who lives in the Hudson Valley of New York. She tested positive for the coronavirus, and her temperature never rose above 99.5 degrees, she said. “And never had a cough worth mentioning,” McDermott wrote. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently added six other symptoms of covid-19 to its short list of fever, cough and shortness of breath. But the list still excludes symptoms researchers have identified, such as toe lesions, clots, stomach pain— as well as many more discussed on Facebook. Online, people are also combing through collective experiences to address questions science cannot yet fully answer: What signs suggest a shift for the worse? How long can a person be contagious? Why do some people experience a long course of illness? Steven Ortiz, 27, who works at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, tested positive for the virus in March. Two weeks later, he still had shortness of breath, worsening sore throat and a cough, but his doctor cleared him to return to work. Reading Survivor Corps posts about prolonged illness, he said, helped give him the confidence to press for another test. When a second test showed he was still positive and a third test showed inconclusive results, the doctor ordered continued isolation. “I work at the airport,” he posted to the group. “If I went back, I would’ve infected so many people.” On Survivor Corps, several dozen volunteer administrators monitor posts for adherence to rules including no unsubstantiated health advice, no unsubstantiated scientific conclusions and no conspiracy theories, Berrent said. They receive alerts to examine posts containing key words and phrases such as “vitamin,” “virus was created,” “biowarfare,” “poison,” “bleach,” “ingest,” “disinfectant,” “gofundme” and “I recommend taking.” But things slip through. Anna V. de Ocampo, 52, a pediatrician in Fayetteville, N.C., became disillusioned with the Survivor Corps Facebook page after someone posted a question about when to go to the ER with difficulty breathing — other commenters suggested Xanax or a change of diet. “She needs to understand to go


Novelist H.G. Carrillo, who explored themes of cultural alienation, dies after developing covid-19

Editor’s note: After initial publication of this article on May 22, The Washington Post learned that key elements of H.G. Carrillo’s biography had been fabricated over many years, by Carrillo himself. The story below has been revised to include the correct background, how The Post learned of the fabrication and some reaction to it. Four years ago, Dennis vanEngelsdorp and his husband, who used the name Hermán G. Carrillo, bought a Victorian-style abode just outside the District — it had been a railroad ticket house in the 1920s — and Carrillo, a novelist, thought a garden would be nice, a big one. VanEngelsdorp, a professor of entomology, said wonderful, yes, but it shouldn’t be ordinary. He dreaded some backyard palette out of a glossy magazine, conventionally pretty. “I told him it needed to be biodiverse and as attractive to insects and pollinators as possible,” vanEngelsdorp recalled by phone last week. He was strolling on the garden’s figure-eight path in the morning sun, alone since Carrillo, 59, died of complications from covid-19, the illness caused by the novel coronavirus. “I told him I wanted flowers every day of the year,” vanEngelsdorp said, but mainly what he insisted on were native plants: spiderwort, aster, bee balm. Robins sang in pockets of the yard, in Berwyn Heights, Md., as he walked past the riotous flushes of colors Carrillo left him. “I studied gardening,” vanEngelsdorp, 50, said. “He broke all the rules,” delightfully eschewing any semblance of botanical choreography. Carrillo (“Hache” to his friends, and H.G. Carrillo to readers of his kaleidoscopic fiction, in which he plumbed the meaning of Cuban American identity) created an oasis of asymmetry that vanEngelsdorp lately realized is a metaphor for his lost partner’s peripatetic existence. And this weekend, in his grief, he suddenly learned that his husband (true name Herman Glenn Carroll, it turns out) was not the childhood Cuban immigrant he claimed to be — that Hache’s personal origin story, which he shared publicly and with those close to him throughout his adult life, was an extension of his fiction, a product of imagination. “It was a story he told me,” vanEngelsdorp said Saturday. He sighed and said: “I mean, he was a storyteller.” Even before Saturday, though, he had sensed that something undefinable about Carrillo remained a mystery to him. Last week, in the splendid disorder of the garden, vanEngelsdorp said: “Now that I’m looking at


Sons of Jamal Khashoggi forgive his killers, clearing path for official pardons

The sons of slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi posted a message on social media early Friday saying that they have forgiven their father’s killers, a declaration that could allow Saudi authorities to commute the death sentences of five Saudi officials convicted of Khashoggi’s murder. The statement was posted on the Twitter account of Salah Khashoggi, the journalist’s eldest son, who lives in Saudi Arabia. “We, sons of the martyr Jamal Khashoggi, announce that we forgive those who killed our father,” said the message, which cited a tradition of granting pardons during the holy month of Ramadan. The Saudi justice system allows families of victims in some capital cases to grant clemency to convicted killers. There had been widespread speculation that Khashoggi’s children, who have refrained from criticizing the Saudi leadership, would take such a step, though it was not clear whether their expression of forgiveness was extended willingly or coerced. Khashoggi’s fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, criticized the Khashoggi family statement on Friday. “No one has the right to pardon his killers,” she wrote on Twitter. “I and others will not stop until we get #JusticeForJamal.” Khashoggi, a veteran journalist who contributed columns to The Washington Post, was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October 2018 when he went to collect documents that would allow him to remarry. The killers were Saudi government agents, dispatched to Turkey on the orders of top advisers to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to Turkish and Saudi prosecutors. Khashoggi’s body was dismembered as part of a blundering attempt by the agents to cover up the killing, prosecutors said. The Saudi government initially denied any knowledge of the killing and later called it a rogue operation. The crown prince denied any advance knowledge of the plot, even though the CIA concluded with “medium to high confidence” that Mohammed had ordered Khashoggi’s killing. Saudi prosecutors said in December that five unidentified people had been sentenced to death in connection with the murder after a trial in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. Three other people were sentenced to jail terms totaling 24 years. The verdicts were criticized by human rights groups because of the trial’s secrecy. Two senior officials who were implicated in the killing, including Saud al-Qahtani, the crown prince’s media adviser, were cleared of wrongdoing, prosecutors said. Even as the trial was held, the Saudi royal court was preparing for a private settlement with Khashoggi’s four


White House coronavirus task force leader says D.C. region has highest rate of positive test results in U.S.

The number of known coronavirus cases in the District, Maryland and Virginia was 87,267 on Friday, with 44,424 cases in Maryland, 34,950 in Virginia and 7,893 in the District. The number of virus-related deaths reached 2,207 in Maryland, 1,136 in Virginia and 418 in the District, for a total of 3,761 fatalities. Here are some of the most significant recent developments as the region responds to the pandemic of the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease covid-19: • Deborah Birx, lead coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, said Friday that Maryland, Virginia and the District lead the country in the percentage of positive test results for the virus and — despite their quarantine measures — have not seen the decline in infections witnessed in other states. • For the first time in its 50-year history, Wolf Trap is canceling its summer concerts and children’s theater program because of the coronavirus. • The District, Maryland and Virginia reported an additional 91 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday. Virginia reported 37 deaths, the highest number in 10 days. • Some parts of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia are reopening in phases starting Saturday morning, officials said. But other areas in the park, including Old Rag Mountain and Whiteoak, and picnic areas remain closed. • Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) laid out plans for a drastically different summer. The city’s Summer Youth Employment Program will be an almost entirely virtual program this year, with teenagers and young adults working remote jobs — like tech support or teaching children to read — and practicing job skills through more than 200 hours of remote training offered through the D.C. Department of Employment Services. When will D.C. reopen?


What will summer vacation be like in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic?

just rentals. Rick Miller, sales manager at Cruise America RV Rental and Sales in Manassas, said the company sold about 20 RVs this month — much quicker than expected in a regular season. Business was slow early in the spring as states shut down, Miller said, but phones began to ring in the past two weeks as people became more fatigued of quarantining. “We are pretty close to being sold out,” Miller said. “People are trying to go on vacation. We had 80 on the ground, and we might have two or three left.” Airline and railroad officials said they have seen small increases in bookings in recent weeks, but the numbers remain low and industry officials are not expecting high volumes of travelers anytime soon. John Heimlich, chief economist for the trade group Airlines for America, said in a briefing Wednesday that travelers are concerned about the risks of contracting the virus not just while flying, but while getting to and from the airport, boarding a shuttle to the rental car facility and checking in at a hotel. Heimlich doesn’t know how long it will be before Americans regain confidence in air travel, but he predicts it will be a multiyear effort. “People will be reluctant to travel — or even to book travel — until there is a strong degree of confidence that the health crisis and associated risks are behind us,” Heimlich said in an industry presentation. “We see the unemployment rate climbing to 15 percent,” and while it is expected to bounce back a little bit into 2021, it is expected to stay quite high, Heimlich said. “That, of course, has implications for our business.” After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, it took four years for air travel volumes to rebound, and it took seven years after the economic crisis of the late 2000s, Heimlich said. The expectation for the covid-19 crisis recovery is that family trips will resume first, followed by domestic vacationers and then international and business travel. More than half of the fleet of U.S. airlines is grounded, idle in storage, and air travel is down more than 90 percent compared with pre-pandemic numbers. Of those planes flying, 73 percent are less than half full. At the onset of Memorial Day weekend, 318,449 people went through U.S. airport checkpoints, about 90,000 more than the previous day, the Transportation Security Administration said. Still,


Americans are drinking more during the pandemic. Craft distillers aren’t getting any of the love.

We’ve seen the memes about quarantinis, we’ve seen Ina Garten and her mondo cosmo, also the Wine O’Clock inessential worker Barbie. According to market research firm Nielsen, sales of alcoholic beverages spiked 55 percent in the week ending March 21, one of the first weeks of lockdown, and online sales of alcohol in the United States rose almost fivefold in April compared to the same period last year. Alcohol delivery app Drizly says sales surged 485 percent through mid-April. And data analysis firm inMarket says light beer sales have skyrocketed, with Anheuser-Busch’s Busch Light sales experiencing a 44 increase over the past two months. Restaurants and bars are just waking up from a long slumber, but our livers have been working overtime during the pandemic. One category has had little uptick in sales and consumption, however. American craft distillers have seen precipitous declines in sales, worrying industry experts that many distilleries will not make it through the pandemic and economic downturn. According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States and the American Distilling Institute, distilleries are experiencing significant layoffs and declines in sales. “The narrative had been that people were buying all kinds of liquors, but we were skeptical,” said Scott Harris, co-owner of Catoctin Creek Distilling in Purcellville, Va., which makes its flagship Roundstone Rye, as well as gin and brandy. “The market has seismically changed.” He said that before the pandemic the company sold 60 percent of its product to liquor stores and 40 percent to restaurants and bars. In April, Catoctin did not sell to a single restaurant or bar, he said. “To actually see that is devastating,” he said. People largely drink the fancy stuff, the small-production craft spirits, in restaurants and bars, leaving themselves in the expert care of mixologists. At home, people aren’t fiddling with amari and bitters so much, going heavy on handles of less-expensive familiar brands such as Jim Beam or Smirnoff. Restaurants returned 80 cases of bespoke whiskey, bottlings that had been made specifically for them, to Catoctin Creek in early March. And sales in the tasting room, which accounted for 20 to 25 percent of revenue before the pandemic, disappeared completely. The company had been scaling up to sell 100,000 bottles this year but Harris said they will be lucky if they can repeat last year’s sales of 60,000 bottles. They have dramatically cut staffing in the distillery


One final viral infusion: Trump’s move to block travel from Europe triggered chaos and a surge of passengers from the outbreak’s center

were becoming reality. On Feb. 22, Italy issued quarantine orders on 11 municipalities in the northern part of the country. It closed schools, canceled public events and halted train travel in the same region. Because there are no constraints on crossing borders within continental Europe, the developments in Italy meant that spread into other countries was inevitable. But Pottinger and a handful of other officials who shared his concerns faced opposition from powerful administration figures fearing enormous economic fallout. Among those arguing most vehemently against curbing travel from Europe, officials said, were Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Larry Kudlow, the president’s chief economic adviser. Even health experts at times seemed skeptical. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, at first reacted skeptically to limiting travel from Europe, saying in a February meeting in the Situation Room that the available data did not support such a move , the senior official said. A spokesperson for Fauci declined to comment, referring questions to the White House. Few countries were then imposing travel restrictions on nations other than China and its neighbors in Asia. Europe did not issue comprehensive travel restrictions until after the United States had done so. Debate on the issue was also derailed by turmoil on the coronavirus task force. Trump put Vice President Pence in charge of the panel on Feb. 26 as Italy confronted a surging outbreak. Officials said it took a week or more for Pence to get up to speed on the threat and array of possible responses. Serious deliberations about Europe didn’t resume until mid-March. By then, Pottinger had gained a new ally. Deborah Birx, who had joined the task force earlier that month, entered a White House meeting armed with worrisome data on a surge in cases in northern Italy, as well as numbers that showed accelerating spread across Europe. Then, on March 11, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic. A tense meeting of task force members and other White House officials followed that afternoon in the Cabinet Room. A small contingent then gathered around Trump in the Oval Office. Mnuchin remained against the move, officials said, vociferously arguing about its potentially damaging effects on the economy. But others present, including Robert C. O’Brien, the national security adviser, and Alex Azar, the secretary of health and human services, argued the United States could no longer justify the risk


The Region

covid-19 deaths reported occurred in Prince George’s and Montgomery counties. Montgomery officials recently announced they may begin lifting some shutdown restrictions in the coming week. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) recently expanded testing to include people who have not shown symptoms, following complaints from local officials who’ve said a lack of testing has made it more difficult to join the rest of the state in gradually lifting shutdown restrictions. That extra testing may account for some of the state’s 1,071 additional cases Saturday. In the District, Metro shut down Orange and Silver line stations west of Ballston-MU on Saturday for repairs that will last through the summer. Officials said the project, which will stop all Silver Line service, will end sometime later in the summer. Free shuttle and bus service will be available at the affected stations. The District recorded nine additional fatalities, four of whom were patients older than 70. Given that the city has the highest covid-19 death rates in the region, Mayor Muriel E. Bowser recently extended the city’s shutdown order to June 8, though educational and academic retail shops, such as bookstores, can now seek waivers to reopen for curbside and front-door pickup sales. Last week, Bowser (D) received a report from an advisory group for reopening that recommends lifting restrictions in four phases, with the fourth phase triggered when there is a vaccine or a cure for covid-19. District officials have said the group’s recommendations would influence how the city reopens, but that Bowser is not required to adopt them. Saturday’s warm weather nonetheless brought out area residents to local waterfront neighborhoods, bike trails and parks. Local frustrations with sheltering in place were underscored by an announcement from the Washington Nationals baseball team, informing fans that a virtual World Series ring ceremony scheduled for Sunday had been canceled. “When team leaders discussed the plan this week with the players, the players collectively decided they would prefer to receive their rings when the team could be physically reunited,” the team said in a press release. Read more: Quebec, Canada’s hardest-hit province, is also the most aggressive about reopening Germany’s Bundesliga soccer has a model for how sports can return. The world is watching. Socially distant bunnies and masked unicorns. How a D.C. couple turned their front lawn into a pandemic warning. Local newsletters: Local headlines (8 a.m.) | Afternoon Buzz (4 p.m.) Like PostLocal on Facebook


Sick and scared they find advice on Facebook


Space Taxis

which circles the planet at a distance of about 220 miles, (354 kilometers). That’s well within what’s known as low-Earth orbit, which extends to 2,000 kilometers out. SpaceX launched the first private resupply run to the station in 2013, and Orbital Sciences Corp. (now part of Northrop Grumman Corp.) began making deliveries in 2014. They’ll be joined as well by Sierra Nevada. Musk’s SpaceX is revolutionizing the rocket industry by re-landing booster rockets for reuse rather than letting them burn up while re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. By recycling machinery as expensive to build as a Boeing 737 jet, Musk hopes to drive down costs to the point where consumers can become space explorers. Since SpaceX stuck its first successful re-landing on Dec. 21, 2015, the feat has almost become routine. On Feb. 6, 2018, the company launched the world’s most powerful rocket in 45 years, then flew two of its spent boosters back to the Florida coast for a spectacular, simultaneous upright landing. The Background NASA is fostering a commercial space industry by subcontracting the work of sending humans to low-Earth orbit, technology it pioneered a half-century ago. The strategic shift started when President Barack Obama’s administration in 2010 scuttled plans to build a shuttle replacement and revisit the moon. After NASA’s manned missions ended, its astronauts began heading to the space station on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft for a fare of now roughly $80 million per trip. That arrangement turned fraught after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Crimea in 2014. Russia responded by threatening to halt rocket engine exports to the U.S. and to stop collaborating on the space station. The Russian deputy prime minister, Dmitry Rogozin, even suggested that the U.S. could deliver astronauts to the space station “with a trampoline.” Tensions eventually died down. The Argument Private competition is bringing down the cost of space exploration. But the risks — and costs — are higher when human lives are at stake. Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, designed to take visitors to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere rather than into orbit, suffered a fatal crash during a test flight in 2014. A similar accident with passengers on board could be financially devastating to the nascent commercial space industry. So spacecraft are being designed with safety systems to push capsules away from malfunctioning rockets. NASA’s turn to private firms is designed to save capital for projects