Olympic swimmer Haley Anderson turned to wine and beer bottles to continue her training

had to get creative,” she said. “There’s no dumbbells around, so I’ve been using wine and beer bottles. Nothing too heavy, but that was the best I could think of.” For one exercise — a shoulder-strengthening drill called I’s, Y’s and T’s — Anderson lies facedown on a bench, lifting the beer bottles in her outstretched arms, with her body forming the shape of the different letters. In another, she lies on her back, lifting her legs and arms simultaneously. She holds a wine bottle in either hand for added weight. This isn’t how she envisioned her Olympic training just a few weeks ago. Anderson was at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs last month when she received a message that said the training facilities were closing immediately. She returned to California the next morning and was able to swim for a couple of days. “But then that shut down, too,” she said. “It felt like I couldn’t do what I needed to do. It was hard mentally: You can’t be in the water, but you also have to train. I mean, the Olympics were four months away. So the postponement was actually a really big relief.” That was around March 20, and Anderson hasn’t been in the water since. She took a month-long break from swimming following the 2016 Olympics but otherwise has never had this long of a break from the water. None of this is ideal. She has had to accept that so much is out of her control, and mentally she has had to adjust her life calendar, delaying all of her plans and goals by 12 months. “I’ve been thinking about 2020 since 2016,” said Anderson, a silver medalist at the 2012 London Games. “It’s not like I started thinking about this on January 1, 2020. … So it’s hard. I was planning training camps and races and trips for this one day in 2020 — this one race. Now it’s like, ‘I hope I don’t lose steam and the momentum I had.’ I still have the same drive and goals.” Anderson is hoping when restrictions lift in California and pools and gyms reopen, her body will be ready to resume regular training and she will have more than a year to shake off any rust. “I don’t want to come out of this 15 pounds heavier,” she said with a laugh. “I


Persuading Americans that they’re safe from the coronavirus may be harder than you think

Governments around the world have struggled with effectively communicating the public risks of covid-19. In the United States, polls find a public divided, largely by party, about which authorities they trust for information. The president and some other officials have been arguing that the economic risks of keeping everyone isolated are the biggest threats to the country and that businesses must reopen as soon as possible. Other officials argue that public confidence will only be rebuilt with expert scientific assessment that the threat is contained. Whatever the decision, my research suggests that reopening will be difficult. Much of the public will not tolerate any level of risk — and will not trust experts or officials who tell them that it’s safe to go out again. During 2011-2014, epidemiologist Mark Korbitz and I conducted a study investigating public responses to risk communications in a fictional bioterrorist attack in Pueblo, Colo. Our goal was to find out what the public and officials would consider acceptable levels under different scenarios of biological threat. The experiment, sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, involved approximately 50 Colorado federal, state and local elected and emergency response officials and 150 ordinary Coloradans. The Pueblo City-County Health Department sent these volunteers simulated newspaper articles about the fictional attack and recovery every two weeks for six months. The scenario depicted four people dying from the bioterrorist attack, and the destruction of more than 1.5 million livestock because disease spread to more than 2,000 animals nationwide, devastating the American ranching industry. Participants responded by email or social media post, telling us their reactions to the information and what they would do if it were really happening. We coded their written responses, and transcripts of follow-up discussions, using the ATLAS.ti qualitative data program and cross-tabulated the categories of response with demographic data. Participants were told that someone had released lethal anthrax spores into the local water supply and had seeded the animal virus called foot-and-mouth disease at the state fairgrounds. Humans couldn’t transmit these biological agents, unlike covid-19. Still, the study participants responded much as Americans have in 2020, which tell us something about what to expect in the future. A minority refused to believe official confirmations of the outbreaks by public health agencies, and some reported that they would ignore inconvenient rules. Most participants, including some government personnel, said they would not trust “the government” to tell them the


UAE’s ‘Happiness and Positivity Council’ debuts new high-tech police helmet for coronavirus combat

DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates Interior Ministry's "Happiness and Positivity Council" announced late Wednesday that police forces had adopted a new high-tech smart helmet to help in the fight against the novel coronavirus. The interior minister, Lt. Gen. Saif bin Zayed, said the bulbous helmet with a large mirrored visor will be used by specialized police teams. It has night vision and facial recognition cameras and can process car license plates, but its main use now will be to monitor people who might have the virus from a safe distance. The helmets can “accurately and quickly read the temperature of people in different climatic conditions and outdoors, as well as in an unusual environment, utilising thermal radiation based on smart technology while generating sound alerts and warnings according to a person’s condition,” the state news agency reported. The UAE, a wealthy Persian Gulf state that is a top tourist destination and an immense market for migrant labor, created a cabinet position responsible for happiness in 2016 and has made the promotion of happiness a government priority. Police stations now contain “happiness centers.” The novel coronavirus has had a heavy impact on the country — especially Dubai, a city known for its millions of tourists, hundreds of restaurants and many beaches. All restaurants have been closed except for takeout, and many top hotels have been converted to quarantine centers. The UAE’s outbreak has been worsening, with the number of cases doubling three times just in the last two weeks, reaching 5,365. But there have been just 33 reported deaths, a tally attributed to the general youth of the population, extensive testing and good health infrastructure. The UAE has already incorporated technology in its battle to contain the virus, using phone apps to enforce quarantine, speed cameras to monitor cars moving around without permission, and an online permit system to limit those seeking to buy food. While the rest of the country is under just a nighttime curfew, Dubai has put its residents on 24-hour lockdown and required them to get permits to leave their homes. The permits are valid for movement once every three days. Dubai’s traditional trading quarter and home of its famed spice and gold markets were sealed off from the rest of the city on March 30, suggesting that the outbreak was focused in the crowded quarter packed with migrants from South Asia and Iran. While happiness


Woman, 28, fatally shot in Northwest D.C.

THE DISTRICT A 28-year-old woman was killed Wednesday in front of an apartment building on North Capitol Street near New York Avenue in Northwest Washington, D.C. police said. The victim was identified as Shantal Teyonia Hill of Northwest. Police said she was shot several times and was pronounced dead at a hospital. No arrest has been made. Police said the shooting happened about 10:45 p.m. in the 1200 block of North Capitol Street NW, in front of the Tyler House apartment building. That intersection with New York Avenue, known for Big Ben Liquor Store and its signature turret, has been described by police as a trouble spot, and many shootings have occurred there over the years. Officers found Hill when they responded to calls for gunshots. Police did not comment on a possible motive, though a police report lists an argument. — Peter Hermann MARYLAND A pedestrian was struck and killed Thursday by a tractor trailer in a crash along Interstate 270 in Frederick County. The crash happened just before 4 a.m. near the Maryland Route 80 exit in Urbana. Some lanes of the highway were blocked. Maryland state police said in a statement that an initial investigation found that the pedestrian was walking along I-270 and went into one of the lanes. The truck was “unable to stop and struck the pedestrian,” police said. Officials said the pedestrian was pronounced dead at the scene. The person’s name was not immediately released. — Dana Hedgpeth Federal authorities charged a 15th Baltimore police officer in connection with allegations of corruption by a rogue police unit. Victor Rivera was charged with lying to federal investigators about selling a portion of cocaine he helped seize in 2009, the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland said in a news release Wednesday. Prosecutors said Rivera, who retired in March, was paid $20,000 after selling three kilograms of cocaine to an informant who then sold the drug within Baltimore. The charges against him are part of the fallout from a probe into the city’s Gun Trace Task Force, which began in 2015 when police started investigating an officer’s involvement with drug dealers in the city, the Baltimore Sun reported. Prosecutors said Rivera shared the money he got from the cocaine deal with two other detectives from the task force who were with him during the drug seizure. Authorities said Rivera could face up to 10 years in


Which deaths count toward the covid-19 death toll? It depends on the state.

the appropriate response. The tally has also become a politically charged statistic for a president who initially downplayed the pandemic and minimized its threat. President Trump has rejected concerns about an undercount, despite the CDC’s acknowledgment. “The death counts, I think they’re very, very accurate,” he said last week in response to a reporter’s question about limited access to testing. Some of the president’s defenders have pushed the theory — heavily promoted on Fox News and on conservative social media — that the nation’s death toll is actually inflated because it includes the deaths of people who may have had covid-19 but died of other causes. In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey (R) was initially reluctant to order residents to stay home, saying she wanted to balance the state’s public health and economic interests. “I want to echo the president who today said, ‘We have to get back to work,’ ” she said on March 24. “We must do everything we can to keep businesses open, and if they’re closed, get them back up as soon as possible.” The following day, Ivey confirmed the state’s first covid-19 death. Since April 2, the state website has included the number of deaths of people who have tested positive, along with the smaller number of people determined to have died from covid-19 that is reported to the CDC. “It’s really just a matter of the accuracy of the data,” Landers said. “It’s an attempt to really look at this from a little more depth than just putting down, well, this person was positive for this and positive for that.” State Rep. Anthony Daniels, the Democratic leader in the Alabama House and a member of the state’s coronavirus task force, said he was unaware of the state’s approach to counting covid-19 deaths until a Washington Post reporter contacted him about it last week. On Friday, he asked Alabama State Health Officer Scott Harris for a report detailing the number and causes of all deaths found not attributable to covid-19. Harris declined an interview request for this story. “I didn’t know we were doing the process different than other states,” Daniels said. “It’s a fair question to ask: How are you making those decisions on attributed versus reported?” Jonathan Arden, a forensic pathologist who chairs the board of the National Association of Medical Examiners, said there can be a “gray zone’’ when evaluating the death of


Facebook will alert people who have interacted with coronavirus ‘misinformation’

in users’ News Feeds — will direct people to official, credible information from the World Health Organization in an attempt to ensure that dangerous myths about the disease, its origins and how it is treated don’t continue to proliferate, either on the social networking site or in the real world. “We want to connect people who may have interacted with harmful misinformation about the virus with the truth from authoritative sources in case they see or hear these claims again off of Facebook,” Guy Rosen, the company’s vice president for integrity, said in a blog post. He said the warnings would appear for those who have “liked, reacted or commented” on such content. Facebook also revealed Thursday new data illustrating the enormity of its task to remove dangerous posts, photos and videos about the pandemic from its services, which reach billions of people globally. In March alone, the company said it displayed fact-checking labels on 40 million posts, based on 4,000 articles that its third-party reviewers had rated as false. Taken together, the new announcements illustrate Facebook’s heightened vigilance in the wake of a public health crisis that’s killed more than 29,000 in the United States and affected millions more around the world. “People really need to feel connected in times like this,” the company’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, wrote in a letter to top deputies in March stressing the critical role the social network played at a moment when people feel most isolated. For years, regulators around the world have called on the tech giant to take faster, more decisive action against false information — including that spread by politicians — even as the company maintained it should not serve as an “arbiter of truth.” But Facebook has sought to chart a new course with the novel coronavirus, even banning a wide array of content outright, including posts, photos and videos that peddle fake cures. So far, Facebook said it has directed 2 billion people on its main social networking site and its photo-sharing app, Instagram, to a portal it created for credible covid-19 information. More than 350 million people have clicked through to learn more, the company said. Public health officials tracking coronavirus have sought to debunk several pernicious myths in recent months, including those that wrongly suggest that 5G mobile networks, the next generation of wireless service powering smartphones and other devices, are responsible for the outbreak.


What you need to know from Wednesday’s White House coronavirus briefing

he also didn’t take ownership of it. “I don’t know too much about it, but I understand my name is there,” he said, adding he didn’t think it would delay the checks. “I’m sure people will be very happy to get a big, fat, beautiful check, and my name is on it.” Rein reports Trump asked the treasury secretary whether he himself could sign the checks. (He can’t.) He says this near daily now, blaming the Obama administration for the shortage of masks and other protective equipment and lifesaving ventilators in the federal stockpile. “The shelves are not bare,” he said, speaking of grocery store shelves, “like the shelves that I inherited when we took over the stockpile, the medical stockpile, where the shelves were bare, the cupboard was bare.” He does the same thing with testing kits, falsely saying he “inherited” a false test. His own Centers for Disease Control and Prevention made the faulty coronavirus test. And the federal stockpile, created in the 1990s for emergencies like a terrorist attack, has been ill funded and not well attended to throughout several administrations. But that includes his. And as alarm bells went off in the intelligence community and among some in his own administration about the novel coronavirus, Trump did not seek to build up the stockpile. More than 2,000 ventilators are broken because the government let their contract for maintenance lapse, the New York Times reports. On April 8, the Associated Press reported that the stockpile delivered to hospitals its last remaining masks and protective equipment. The shortages in American grocery stores aren’t really shortages, Agricultural Secretary Sonny Perdue said at the briefing. He said it’s a reflection of people buying up lots of food in cities and of farmers having to readjust from supplying schools to grocery stores. The assurance was, well, reassuring. But it was also a surreal moment to hear a Cabinet secretary tell the American people not to worry about food. “In the United States, we have plenty of food for all of our citizens. I want to be clear, the bare store shelves that you may see in some cities in the country are a demand issue, not a supply issue,” he said. Another concern is that virus outbreaks at meat plants, like the one this past weekend that forced a large pork processing plant to shut down, may affect the food supply.


Student known as vocal critic of China faces expulsion from Australian university

SYDNEY — An Australian university with close links to China is taking disciplinary action, including possible expulsion, against a student known for his criticism of Beijing, in a case that has triggered a free-speech debate and renewed scrutiny of colleges' reliance on Chinese students. The University of Queensland, which refers to itself as “partners in the global economy” with China, last week sent 20-year-old philosophy student Drew Pavlou a 186-page dossier detailing 11 allegations against him, including that he failed to pay for a pen at a campus art shop and damaged the university’s reputation by condemning police attacks on student protesters in Hong Kong in November. The disciplinary action alleges he ridiculed, satirized and mocked the university’s relationship with China, including posing in a hazmat suit outside the college’s Confucius Institute — one of many such facilities on Australian campuses whose operations and influence are being scrutinized as part of a government review. Pavlou, who has criticized China’s repression of its Uighur and Tibetan minorities and supported Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters, was told that his fate would be determined at a two-hour meeting with university officials on April 27, according to a person familiar with the document. “I’m really concerned,” Pavlou said in an interview. “I think it’s really just an attempt to get back at me for my political views and activism, which has made things difficult for the university with their relationship with the Chinese government.” Even in a country without explicit free-speech protections, the university’s disciplinary action against one of its most prominent students is considered highly unusual. In July, Pavlou was involved in a scuffle, and said he was punched by pro-Beijing students, during a rally in support of Hong Kong’s democracy movement at the university’s Brisbane campus. Afterward, China’s consul general in Brisbane, Xu Jie, who is also an adjunct professor at the university, accused the democracy activists of “anti-China separatist activities” and praised the counterprotesters. The statement, in a post on the consulate’s website, prompted Foreign Minister Marise Payne to warn foreign diplomats to respect Australia’s tradition of lawful protest. Pavlou’s activities helped him get elected to the university’s governing senate, giving him an official platform to increase his critiques of what he said were restrictions on free speech out of deference to the communist nation, which is the source of 11,624 students to the university over the past five years. The University


Transcript: Confronting COVID-19

and scrape data off of county websites and put it together in a database. Even the CDC has used our database for a number of things because we are scrounging around, if you will, on very, very local data. Presenting that is important, but also putting it in a form where whether it's Feeding America or the CDC or a number of other parties have been able to use it. But certainly, the graphic shows quite vividly the explosion in the disease. It shows the variations. King County here in the state of Washington was one of the early explosions of the virus. But you can really see that over time and really down to the county level, which is the most important--or the most accurate, I should say. MS. TUMULTY: And we have another graphic here that I think really demonstrates the shortcomings, I think, of the government response thus far, which is of course the CARES Act. People this week started getting their first payments from the government under this rescue bill. Could you talk a little bit about that? Because we have the House and the Senate and the White House are all arguing right now over what the second tranche of funding should look like MR. BALLMER: Right. I mean, it's a great thing about democracy that people will go through and figure that out. What we can show you in the graphic here is for families that are in the middle class--and people define middle class different; I'm just going to define it as the families that are in the middle 20 percent in terms of earners--those people only make between $33,000 and $66,000 a year as a family. If you then take a look--which we have government data on all of this--what does those families spend money on, you can see here the amount people are spending for food, for housing, and for a variety of other needs. The size of the stimulus check is in green. It barely covers food costs and housing costs for somebody in the middle of our spectrum. And certainly, as you get the 40 percent of people who are less affluent than that, these needs stay fixed. All in all, what does it say to me? One month, one month of people's needs are covered, and we're going to face crisis quite quickly. The unemployment insurance will obviously


Woman fatally shot in Northwest Washington

A 28-year-old woman was killed Wednesday night in front of an apartment building on North Capitol Street near New York Avenue in Northwest Washington, according to D.C. police. The victim was identified as Shantal Teyonia Hill, 28, of Northwest Washington. Police said she was shot several times and was pronounced dead at a hospital. No arrest has been made. Police said the shooting happened about 10:45 p.m. in the 1200 block of North Capitol St. NW, in front of the Tyler House apartment building. That intersection with New York Avenue, known for Big Ben Liquor Store and its signature turret, has been described by police as a trouble spot, and many shootings have occurred there over the years. Officers found Hill when they responded to calls for gunshots. Police did not comment on a possible motive, though a police report lists an argument. There have been 44 homicides in the District this year, about even with the pace in 2019, which was a decade high. peter.hermann@washpost.com


Coronavirus policies spread quickly across the U.S. Are cities and states learning — or just copying?

As the novel coronavirus has spread across U.S. cities and states, so have public policies aimed at stopping the pandemic. Sometimes, states learn from others’ policy successes. Other times, they simply copy neighbors or even compete against them. So far, state and local government policy choices to stem the tide of covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, look more like simple imitation and harmful competition than thoughtful learning and innovation. But we see opportunities for learning going forward. Here’s why. How state governments initially responded In mid-March, governors in all 50 states acted within days of one another to declare states of emergency, a move that enhanced their powers to combat the coronavirus. Starting with California, states then began to issue stay-at-home orders to reduce opportunities for their citizens to transmit the virus. Soon, 45 states had fully or partially adopted stay-at-home policies, except Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota. Compared to the rates at which states ordinarily adopt other important policies, stay-at-home orders spread strikingly fast. But such similarities across states soon break down; beyond them, we see a patchwork of state and local government responses. Weeks after the World Health Organization declared covid-19 a pandemic, states still faced shortages of the equipment necessary to fight the virus. Lacking sufficient ventilators, respirators and face masks, states began competing with one another to obtain the equipment in the open marketplace. States have also gone their own ways to obtain testing kits and to decide whom to test. Here’s how policies typically spread in the U.S. federal system These responses reveal both the benefits and costs of the U.S. federal system, which couples a national government with a broad array of state and local governments. When a federal system works well, governors and mayors tailor responses to local needs, experimenting and learning about other cities’ and states’ best policy choices. However, federalism can result in haphazard policy responses and harmful internal competition for resources. Our research identifies three primary mechanisms for how policies spread, or what social scientists call “policy diffusion”: imitation, competition and learning. Imitation involves state or local officials identifying what another government has done and quickly adopting that policy, without giving much consideration to how well it fits at home. Competition occurs when governments act to remain one step ahead of or catch up with others. In contrast, learning involves governments observing what others are


Trump wants to review the WHO’s actions. These are its key roles and limitations.

its health care system. Neither can it set prices for pharmaceuticals nor unilaterally close borders when a disease outbreak occurs. Instead, WHO plays two key roles. First, it acts as an information hub. If countries are wondering which drugs to stock in their health-care facilities, looking for policy advice on a wide range of health-related matters, or seeking data and technical recommendations, WHO is a one-stop organizational resource. It encourages countries to share their expertise and experiences in an ongoing manner. It also convenes the World Health Assembly every May, bringing all WHO member-states together to set the organization’s agenda. Second, when a disease outbreak does occur, WHO acts as the coordinator for a global response. No country can stop the international spread of a virus on its own, and WHO has the unique mission to call attention to these outbreaks and foster global cooperation. It has the power to declare an outbreak to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), as it did for the novel coronavirus on Jan. 30. WHO doesn’t necessarily have lots of money or personnel that it can deploy when it declares a PHEIC, but this designation sends a signal to the world that there’s a pressing health issue that requires coordinated action. For an organization with such an expansive mission, WHO’s budget is small. For 2018-2019, its total budget is $6.27 billion. To put that in context, Americans spent that same amount shopping online on Black Friday last year. WHO gets its funds from two sources, but must then use these different pots of money in very different ways. The first source is assessed contributions, or membership dues required of each country. These funds make up about 20 percent of WHO’s overall budget, and the organization has complete control over how it wants to spend the money. The second source is made up of voluntary contributions, which are donations that come from countries, philanthropic entities and private businesses. These voluntary contributions — roughly 80 percent of WHO’s budget — generally come in earmarked for a specific purpose, like polio eradication. The United States has long been WHO’s largest financial supporter. For 2018-2019, the U.S. has pledged $893 million in total contributions, according to reporting in The Washington Post. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the world’s wealthiest philanthropy, is WHO’s second-largest contributor, followed by the United Kingdom. China ranks 15th, just behind


The Daily 202: ‘Don’t leave anything unsaid.’ Massachusetts governor chokes up during coronavirus briefing.

Olorunnipa and Lisa Rein report. “’I’m sure people will be very happy to get a big, fat, beautiful check and my name is on it.’ … The plan has been closely held within the IRS, and Commissioner Charles Rettig has not discussed it on his daily calls with his top executives, senior agency officials said. When the decision came down from the Treasury Department late Monday that the first batch of paper checks would include ‘Donald J. Trump’ on the memo line, it was announced to just five senior IRS officials. …The IRS and the Treasury Department said the last-minute change would not delay the payments.” “Critics contend that the White House is employing a cynical strategy… to deflect culpability over Trump’s own mishandling of the U.S. response to the [virus] and create another foil to rally his conservative base ahead of the 2020 presidential election. A fundraising message to supporters Tuesday, sent hours after the president announced the withholding of funds from the WHO, asks for contributions to ‘hold China accountable,’” David Nakamura, Anne Gearan and Josh Dawsey report. “Trump’s allies argued that the move against the WHO is consistent with the administration’s immediate goals of countering Chinese propaganda over the origins and spread of the virus and with its longer-term campaign to contest Beijing’s rising influence at the WHO, a U.N. agency, and other global bodies. ‘This is covid-19, not covid-1 folks. And so, you would think the people charged with the World Health Organization facts and figures would be on top of that,’ White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said on Fox News on Wednesday, as she criticized the WHO’s response.” (The disease is named covid-19 because it was first detected in 2019, not because of the number of previous outbreaks.) Congressional Democrats said defunding the WHO is illegal. The WHO said it is reviewing the impact of the freeze. “The theory is one of multiple being pursued by investigators as they attempt to determine the origin of the coronavirus that has resulted in a pandemic and killed hundreds of thousands. The US does not believe the virus was associated with bioweapons research, and officials noted that the intelligence community is also exploring a range of other theories regarding the origination of the virus, as would typically be the case for high-profile incidents,” CNN reports. “An intelligence official familiar with the government analysis said a theory US intelligence


The Energy 202: Human quarantines are helping wild animals. Conservationists want more protections.

its workforce — in the months ahead ‘if no additional actions are taken to support the industries,’” per the report. “Two-thirds of the people who have lost their jobs so far work in energy efficiency, which includes heating and air conditioning and the installation of efficient lighting and appliances — work that often involves going into people’s homes. Renewable electricity, which includes wind and solar power, was the next most-affected sector, followed by the production of electric and hybrid cars.” The Trump administration has suspended controlled burns — a toll used to prevent blazes in wildfire-prone California — on public lands in the state as the pandemic spreads. The U.S. Forest Service’s move at the end of last month is mean to protect first responders, Reuters reports. The move “comes as forecasters predict yet another above-average year for wildfires in parts of the state because of dry conditions, and follows President Donald Trump’s repeated criticism of California’s own forest management work following the 2018 fires.” A spokesman for the Forest Service in California did not say when they would restart. The fire director for the U.S. Forest Service region in Washington and Oregon said controlled burns are halted there, too. Tanks storing crude oil are almost 65 percent full as a result of the coronavirus-fueled global oil supply glut. Oil demand has plummeted, and prices are at record lows. “After an increase of 19.2 million barrels, there are 503.6 million barrels of crude in commercial tanks across the U.S., 6 percent above the seasonal average, the Energy Information Administration said Wednesday,” the Houston Chronicle reports. “The U.S. has an estimated capacity of 768.8 million barrels at refineries and commercial tank farms.” Climate change is often called a threat multiplier In some ways, the current pandemic is not connected to climate change. “Although climate change is expected to worsen many kinds of disease, especially tropical illnesses carried by insects, coronaviruses like the current one are not on the list,” she writes. “…The virus doesn’t appear to care what the average global temperature is.” But in other ways, climate change is connected. And specific to the current public health crisis, a Harvard University study of those sickened in the coronavirus pandemic found “people living in polluted environments are far less able to fight off the disease — an issue that will become even more prominent as the planet warms.” Most of Florida,


What caused the coronavirus? A skeptical take on the theories about the outbreak’s Chinese origin.

microbiologist at the University of Edinburgh, wrote in an email. “The virus is just like a virus we would expect to see in wild bat populations, similar viruses have jumped from non-human animals to animals in the past, so I see no reason to speculate about this any further.” With no direct evidence of a leak from a laboratory, Cotton and others have noted that China has blocked the release of information about the early days of the outbreak. This is true: The Post reported on China’s obfuscation of information about the outbreak as early as Feb. 1. Beijing was slow to share data with outsiders, including experts from the World Health Organization. An investigation by the Associated Press published Wednesday found that Chinese officials withheld information for six key days, allowing the virus to spread without restriction at a crucial moment. Chinese journalists have published articles that suggest officials undercounted the death toll in Wuhan. Scientific research that suggested China was the source of the outbreak has been withdrawn. Some Chinese officials, such as Foreign Ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao, have floated unfounded theories that the virus may have originated from the United States. Academics who study Chinese propaganda say that the measures were an attempt to distract from early coronavirus failures. This can certainly be seen as a coverup, though Beijing is hardly the only government accused of withholding information related to the virus. The U.S. government has considered these theories. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley confirmed that intelligence agencies were considering the origin at a briefing on Tuesday. “At this point it’s inconclusive, although the weight of evidence seems to indicate natural, but we do not know for sure,” Milley said. At a news conference on Wednesday, Trump was asked an unusually specific question about the laboratory leak theory by John Roberts of Fox News, but he declined to answer. Understanding from whatever mistakes were made in China could mean a new era of openness and cooperation between Washington and Beijing. Indeed, the State Department memos showed, the U.S. government used to help fund the laboratories in Wuhan — the Trump administration cut funding to a U.S. pandemic research program that worked with the Chinese labs in 2019. In the face of a pandemic, it’s understandable that many are looking for someone to blame. But a cascade of small errors is more likely than one grand conspiracy.


In Latin America, coronavirus threatens not just public health, but also democracy

many analysts agree, has overseen a serious erosion in the quality of the country’s democracy. Bolsonaro has downplayed the seriousness of the pandemic, and his skepticism toward experts has led to public spats with his health minister over the country’s response to the pandemic. In Mexico, López Obrador has, so far, been largely impervious to criticism. He has also been able to concentrate power into his hands by rolling back checks and balances. Like Bolsonaro, López Obrador’s hostility toward expertise also meant he was initially dismissive of the disease, but under pressure, he has tepidly changed tactics. 4. Social media may be spreading disinformation Latin Americans, like citizens around the world, rely increasingly on social media for news and information. WhatsApp messages circulating among Latin Americans include disinformation about the virus, however. Data from LAPOP, the Latin American Public Opinion Project, shows that 64 percent of Latin Americans use WhatsApp, with 82 percent using it daily. LAPOP’s report shows that “high social media users are more politically cynical than their counterparts.” These researchers found that frequent social media users are 12 percent less likely to trust the media and 10 percent less likely to trust the executive branch than people who don’t use social media. As a result, governments may be facing an additional hurdle in convincing their populations of the need to follow public health guidelines. The coronavirus pandemic — perhaps a once-in-a-century crisis — is testing Latin America’s governments. The story of Ecuador’s largest city’s struggle to cope with the coronavirus suggests the region may find it difficult to contain the disease. Governments are only starting to formulate their responses, with Panama standing out as an early model of aggressive monitoring and testing. How well governments address the crisis may have important consequences for the future of the region’s politics as well. The TMC newsletter is changing shape! Sign up here to keep receiving our smart analysis. Nicolás Saldías Read more: International politics is making it harder to make a coronavirus vaccine Trump announced the U.S. will suspend WHO funding. That could leave another global initiative under China’s influence. Does the World Health Organization have the freedom to do what it needs to do about covid-19? The U.N. has appealed for a global coronavirus cease-fire Syria’s civil war will make fighting coronavirus particularly difficult The coronavirus is expanding the surveillance state. How will this play out? The World


erosion in the quality of the country’s democracy. Bolsonaro has downplayed the seriousness of the pandemic, and his skepticism toward experts has led to public spats with his health minister over the country’s response to the pandemic. In Mexico, López Obrador has, so far, been largely impervious to criticism. He has also been able to concentrate power into his hands by rolling back checks and balances. Like Bolsonaro, López Obrador’s hostility toward expertise also meant he was initially dismissive of the disease, but under pressure, he has tepidly changed tactics. 4. Social media may be spreading disinformation Latin Americans, like citizens around the world, rely increasingly on social media for news and information. WhatsApp messages circulating among Latin Americans include disinformation about the virus, however. Data from LAPOP, the Latin American Public Opinion Project, shows that 64 percent of Latin Americans use WhatsApp, with 82 percent using it daily. LAPOP’s report shows that “high social media users are more politically cynical than their counterparts.” These researchers found that frequent social media users are 12 percent less likely to trust the media and 10 percent less likely to trust the executive branch than people who don’t use social media. As a result, governments may be facing an additional hurdle in convincing their populations of the need to follow public health guidelines. The coronavirus pandemic — perhaps a once-in-a-century crisis — is testing Latin America’s governments. The story of Ecuador’s largest city’s struggle to cope with the coronavirus suggests the region may find it difficult to contain the disease. Governments are only starting to formulate their responses, with Panama standing out as an early model of aggressive monitoring and testing. How well governments address the crisis may have important consequences for the future of the region’s politics as well. The TMC newsletter is changing shape! Sign up here to keep receiving our smart analysis. Nicolás Saldías Read more: International politics is making it harder to make a coronavirus vaccine Trump announced the U.S. will suspend WHO funding. That could leave another global initiative under China’s influence. Does the World Health Organization have the freedom to do what it needs to do about covid-19? The U.N. has appealed for a global coronavirus cease-fire Syria’s civil war will make fighting coronavirus particularly difficult The coronavirus is expanding the surveillance state. How will this play out? The World Bank’s 2017 pandemic response fund isn’t working


How do we move forward from here?

Carey Regarding the April 11 Most of us would agree that the proposed three-part strategy (testing, contact tracing and targeted quarantine) to combat the novel coronavirus is based on good science and real-world experience. As made clear in the article, while testing and quarantine are relatively straightforward to implement, contact tracing on such a large scale will require an organized effort of a small army of paid and unpaid workers. Though the article mentioned ideas such as deploying the Peace Corps and repurposing medical students to assist underfunded and overwhelmed health departments in this daunting mission, it seems we have an untapped resource (at least locally) that could help to guide this army. As a physician in Howard County, I have many patients who are National Security Agency retirees. Using their unique skills as analysts, some of them now volunteer with the Howard County Police Department to assist in helping to solve and even prevent crime in the county. While I’m not proposing to change the mission of the NSA to focus instead on contact tracing, there must be thousands of NSA retirees in our midst who would gladly fill paid and unpaid positions as part of this vital mission. Dean Glaros Regarding the April 12 Those who disdain vaccinations, the “anti-vaxxers,” should consider what lesson the coronavirus pandemic is teaching us about how devastating a viral pandemic can be. How different our lives would be now if we had an effective vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes covid-19. Instead, without one, we are confined to our homes, isolated from family and friends, unable in many instances to find provisions and food items in grocery stores. Schools and businesses are closed. We walk about wearing face masks and faithfully wash our hands multiple times a day. Our country’s economy is in a virtual free fall As the article pointed out, in times past, bacterial and viral diseases such as bubonic plague, smallpox, measles, the 1918 flu, the 1957-1958 flu and swine flu caused millions of deaths worldwide. With covid-19 rampaging through the United States, health experts predict we won’t have a vaccine for 12 to 18 months. When an effective vaccine finally becomes available for widespread distribution, it will be essential for everyone to be vaccinated or we will be doomed to a future of more outbreaks and economic devastation. Robert D. Greenberg Read more letters to the editor.


The IRS’s stimulus payment plan is basically asking for fraud. Here’s how to avoid it.

register their bank account information to receive their stimulus payment. That’s a wonderful idea in theory, but it falls apart in practice. The brief form asks non-filers to prove their identity by providing their name, Social Security number, address, phone number and date of birth. The form also allows, but does not require, individuals to provide their driver’s license number. But none of the information requested by the IRS is secret The IRS should know better. The agency has fallen victim to this type of fraud before. In 2015, the IRS discovered that it had been victimized by attackers who gained access to the accounts of approximately 390,000 Americans. That system used stronger security than the Cares Act non-filer form — in addition to the identity questions above, it included security questions pulled from applicants’ credit files. It’s almost certain that the weaker Cares Act system will allow fraudsters to steal stimulus payments. To get Cares Act payments into the hands of the low-income Americans who need them most, the government must perform additional vetting on non-filer claims to prevent fraud, and it should do so quickly. The most effective way to accomplish this is by requiring that those filling out the Cares Act form upload a snapshot of their photo identification — a process used by many other federal systems. It’s relatively easy for a hacker to steal a driver’s license number; it’s far more difficult to obtain a photo of a driver’s license. For people who have no photo identification, the IRS should insist on sending a paper check so that the bank cashing the check can verify the depositor’s identity. The IRS must also urgently investigate possible cases of fraud. Internal controls can search for red flags, such as multiple deposits being sent to the same bank account or deposits being sent to local banks far from the filer’s last known residence. Information provided by filers can be automatically cross-referenced with other federal databases for accuracy. Suspicious transactions should be flagged for manual review by an IRS analyst before funds are released. After this crisis passes, the agency must prevent a problem like this from ever occurring again. Two independent watchdogs, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and the National Taxpayer Advocate, have both repeatedly informed the IRS that their identity and access management practices were not effective and required immediate investment to protect taxpayers and


Grocery delivery was supposed to be the ultimate pandemic lifeline. But it’s falling short.

and Amazon’s Prime Now, fueling ongoing frustrations and questions about how, or when, the outlook might improve. Delivery workers say they are under growing pressure, too, with many going on strike in recent weeks to protest the lack of protective gear and demand higher pay. Analysts say the delivery hiccups will likely be long term, even as companies hire and train tens of thousands of new workers. There are some signs, though, that wait times are easing in some parts of the country. “Everyone is running behind — regional grocers, Amazon, Walmart,” said Bill Bishop, chief executive of retail consulting firm Brick Meets Click. “But the rush is subsiding, and consumers are starting to manage their expectations. They’ve realized they can’t just go online and get their groceries delivered in an hour or two anymore, so they’re starting to plan ahead.” The coronavirus has brought much of the country to a halt. Millions are sheltering at home at the urging of public officials, limiting their trips outside, including to supermarkets and pharmacies. That has led to skyrocketing demand for home deliveries, which made up just 3 percent of overall grocery sales before the pandemic, according to supermarket consultant Phil Lempert. Instacart, which hires independent contractors to deliver groceries from such national chains as Safeway, Kroger, Giant and Costco, says orders have quadrupled from a year ago, while Shipt, which is owned by Target, is reporting “record-breaking” demand. Both companies have hired tens of thousands of new shoppers in recent weeks and say they expect those numbers to grow. Amazon, meanwhile, says it is experiencing such “unprecedented” demand that it is wait-listing new customers for its Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market delivery services. (Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon, owns The Washington Post.) “The customer demand we expected over the next two to four years has happened on the Instacart platform in the last two to four weeks,” company founder Apoorva Mehta said last week. The service has introduced more flexible delivery options and is allowing customers to place orders two weeks ahead instead of one. It has also nearly doubled its workforce during the last two weeks, from 200,000 to 350,000. At the same time, delivery workers are dealing with a host of new challenges. Supermarkets are cutting their hours and limiting the number of people who can shop at one time. Stores also are running low


Video: What you need to know about the coronavirus death toll

The United States surpassed Italy with the most confirmed novel coronavirus deaths in the world on April 11. Yet as the covid-19 death toll rises in the United States skeptics, including Fox News hosts, have falsely claimed the death toll is inflated. At the onset of the outbreak President Trump also tried to play down covid-19 deaths by comparing its numbers with those of the swine flu or seasonal influenza. Neither case is based on accurate data or facts. The argument — that patients who have died from other illnesses are wrongly being classified as covid-19 deaths — has been debunked by health experts on Trump’s coronavirus task force. These experts and government officials say the opposite: the nation’s covid-19 death toll is most likely an undercount. On Tuesday New York announced a revised count that added more than 3,700 people. These people were believed to have died from covid-19 but were never tested. A lack of testing in the early stages of the pandemic in the United States means people who most likely died of covid-19 were not tested. There’s also recently been a spike in at-home deaths in several cities, which could be related to covid-19 but are going undetected and unreported. We investigated this issue in a fact check in March. Watch our video above for a breakdown on how the death toll is being counted. (About our rating scale) Send us facts to check by filling out Sign up for The Fact Checker The Fact Checker is a verified The Washington Post Fact Checker is working with the CoronaVirusFacts/DatosCoronaVirus Alliance, a coalition of more than 100 fact-checkers who are fighting misinformation related to the covid-19 pandemic. Learn more about the alliance


U.S. stocks plunge amid steep falls in oil prices, bank earnings and retail sales

anecdotes from economic and business leaders across the country, foresees more negative economic developments. The National Association of Home Builders reported a record drop in confidence in the housing industry. The retail numbers were especially alarming, as consumers drive 70 percent of the U.S. economy. “The stock market can discount the slowing of the spread of the coronavirus, but it can’t ignore the sharpest one-month drop in retail sales on record,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank. “Retail sales say this is a depression, not a recession, and who knows when corporations will make money again?” Commerce Department data shows sales at food and beverage stores were up 28 percent compared with March 2019 as consumers stocked up on eggs, toilet paper, disinfectants and other essentials as the novel coronavirus spread through the country. But the numbers don’t fully capture just how abruptly spending has faltered. Sales at clothing stores plunged 50.7 percent compared with last year. Car sales dropped off between February and March and could decline even more by April. On Wednesday, Best Buy said it would furlough 51,000 store employees in the United States, or about 40 percent of its total workforce. “Outside of grocery stores, the story was nearly universally negative,” said Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors. “Higher-ticket and non-discretionary sectors were hit especially hard. Auto and furniture sales plummeted more than 25 percent. Far and away, the greatest impact was felt in apparel retailers.” The repercussions from the outbreak have been swift and stinging. More than 17 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits. The federal government has responded with trillions of dollars in emergency relief to households, small businesses and entire industries. About 80 million people were set to receive stimulus checks by Wednesday. But even that boost is unlikely to save a retail sector in free fall. The industry was struggling well before the pandemic took hold. More than 60,000 stores have closed in recent weeks, according to Coresight Research, and retailers have canceled millions of dollars’ worth of orders. By the start of April, nearly 1 million retail workers were furloughed as giants including Macy’s, Gap, Kohl’s, L Brands and J.C. Penney sent most of their employees home without pay. For comparison, at the peak of the Great Recession, retailers eliminated 2.6 million jobs. Abha Bhattarai and Renae Merle contributed to this report.


Global democracy will be weakened without fair elections. South Korea shows they’re possible.

SOUTH KOREAN voters were at the polls Wednesday, spaced at three-foot intervals and wearing masks and state-supplied gloves. Provided they passed a temperature screening, they were able to vote in national parliamentary elections. Turnout was expected to be above 70 percent, thanks in part to early voting and balloting by mail for covid-19 patients, and it could exceed that of the previous legislative election four years ago. All that is evidence of an effective response to the coronavirus pandemic by the ruling Democratic Party of President Moon Jae-in, which is likely to be rewarded as a result. Unfortunately, it also makes South Korea an exception in the democratic world. Governments that have been forced to postpone or cancel elections this spring because of their inability to manage them during the pandemic include Britain, France, Chile, Bolivia, Ethiopia and more than a dozen U.S. states. Even some authoritarian regimes have been inconvenienced: Russian President Vladimir Putin had to postpone the referendum that would enable him to remain in office until 2036. Several of those votes were crucial to establishing or maintaining democratic order. Ethiopia’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, was committed to staging the most free and competitive election in the country’s history in August; it is now postponed. Bolivia’s interim president, Jeanine Áñez, was to serve only until a vote in May to replace the ousted Evo Morales. Her tenure and its questionable legitimacy will be extended. Chilean President Sebastián Piñera answered mass demonstrations last year by promising a referendum on a new constitution this month; it has been put off until October. Those elections that have gone forward have been flawed and tainted by partisan manipulation. That, sadly, was true of last week’s primary election in Wisconsin, where Republicans in the state legislature refused to make voting less difficult or more safe in the hope of reducing Democratic turnout. Poland’s ruling party is insisting on going forward with a presidential election in May, using an untried and insecure mail-in system. Because a lockdown makes campaigning nearly impossible, incumbent Andrzej Duda, who enjoys heavy backing by state television, will have a major advantage. The most shameful action came from Iran’s clerical regime, which, having excluded most reformist candidates, pressed forward with a parliamentary election on Feb. 21 even though the coronavirus was already spreading around the country. The result was to accelerate the epidemic: Iran has now reported


Gaza is an open-air prison. As covid-19 spreads, it’s time to lift the siege.

This piece has been updated. Tarek Loubani is an emergency room doctor, associate professor at the University of Western Ontario and founder of the Glia Project, which provides medical supplies to impoverished locations. As health-care professionals around the world struggle to cope with the covid-19 pandemic, doctors and nurses in Gaza face challenges more daunting than most due to the Israeli-led siege imposed on the overcrowded coastal territory more than a decade ago. The recent confirmation of the first covid-19 cases in Gaza should prompt immediate action to lift the siege and ensure medical workers have the supplies and equipment they desperately need. Since I left Gaza a few weeks ago, there have been 13 confirmed cases of covid-19 in Gaza, nearly 300 confirmed cases and two deaths in the West Bank. Gaza is one of the most densely populated places on earth, and the poor conditions in its refugee camps and cities mean that the novel coronavirus could spread quickly and devastatingly. Gaza’s health-care system has long been past its breaking point. Last month, the head of the World Health Organization’s sub-office in Gaza warned that the territory’s health infrastructure would not be able to deal with hundreds or thousands of covid-19 cases, let alone tens or hundreds of thousands of cases. Doctors and nurses in Gaza have always done heroic work under terrible conditions. But how do you prepare for a pandemic in a place like Gaza? In London, Ontario, where I work, we lack N95 masks. In Gaza, they lack masks, gloves and drugs. There is not enough specialized staff in intensive care units, and Gaza is running dangerously low on covid-19 tests. According to the WHO, there are only 87 ventilators in Gaza for a population of 2 million. I’ve seen many of these units; many are not fit for purpose in the best of times and most are already being used. In emergency conditions, the number of intensive unit beds can be stretched only from the existing 40 to a mere 100. A major limiting factor is that, because of a lack of electricity, hospitals must rely on generators, which means that lifesaving machines cannot function reliably. Add to that a lack of clean water for people to wash their hands with, a paralyzed sewage-treatment system due to the lack of electricity, widespread poverty and the inability of many Palestinians to socially distance in densely


Coronavirus destroys lungs. But doctors are finding its damage in kidneys, hearts and elsewhere.

the coronavirus in their kidneys, according to a paper by the Wuhan scientists published April 9 in the medical journal Kidney International. “It does raise the very clear suspicion that at least a part of the acute kidney injury that we’re seeing is resulting from direct viral involvement of the kidney, which is distinct from what was seen in the SARS outbreak in 2002,” said Paul M. Palevsky, a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine nephrologist and president-elect of the National Kidney Foundation. One New York hospital recently had 51 ICU patients who needed 24-hour kidney treatment but had just 39 machines to do it, he said. The hospital had to ration the care, keeping each patient on the therapy less than 24 hours a day, he said. The virus also may be damaging the heart. Clinicians in China and New York have reported myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and, more dangerous, irregular heart rhythms that can lead to cardiac arrest in covid-19 patients. “They seem to be doing really well as far as respiratory status goes, and then suddenly they develop a cardiac issue that seems out of proportion to their respiratory issues,” said Mitchell Elkind, a Columbia University neurologist and president-elect of the American Heart Association. “This seems to be out of proportion to their lung disease, which makes people wonder about that direct effect.” One review of severely ill patients in China found that about 40 percent suffered arrhythmias and 20 percent had some form of cardiac injury, Elkind said. “There is some concern that some of it may be due to direct influence of the virus,” he said. The new virus enters the cells of people who are infected by latching onto the ACE2 receptor on cell surfaces. It unquestionably attacks the cells in the respiratory tract, but there is increasing suspicion that it is using the same doorway to enter other cells. The gastrointestinal tract, for instance, contains 100 times more of these receptors than other parts of the body, and its surface area is enormous. “If you unfurl it, it’s like a tennis court of surface area — this tremendous area for the virus to invade and replicate itself,” said Brennan Spiegel, co-editor in chief of the American Journal of Gastroenterology. In a subset of covid-19 cases, researchers have found, the immune system battling the infection goes into hyperdrive. The uncontrolled response


get this different expression in different people, nobody knows,” she said. There are also reports that covid-19 can turn people’s eyes red, causing pinkeye, or conjunctivitis, in some patients. One study of 38 hospitalized patients in Hubei province, China, found that a third had pinkeye. But like many of the non-respiratory effects of the virus, this symptom may be relatively uncommon — and may develop only in people already severely ill. The fact that the virus has been found in the mucus membrane that covers the eye in a small number of patients, however, does suggest that the eye could be an entryway for the virus — and is one reason that face shields and goggles are being used to protect health-care workers. The virus also is having a clear impact on the gastrointestinal tract, causing diarrhea, vomiting and other symptoms. One study found that half of covid-19 patients have gastrointestinal symptoms, and specialists have coined the hashtag #NotJustCough for social media to raise awareness of them. Studies suggest that patients with digestive symptoms will also develop a cough, but one may occur days before the other. “The question is, is it kind of behaving like a hybrid of different viruses?” Spiegel said. “What we’re learning is, it seems anyway, that this virus homes in on more than one organ system.” Reports also indicate that the virus can attack the liver. A 59-year-old woman in Long Island came to the hospital with dark urine, which was ultimately found to be caused by acute hepatitis. After she developed a cough, physicians attributed the liver damage to a covid-19 infection. Spiegel said he has seen more such reports every day, including one from China on five patients with acute viral hepatitis. A particular danger of the virus appears to be its tendency to produce blood clots in the veins of the legs and other vessels, which can break off, travel to the lung and cause death by a condition known as pulmonary embolism. An examination of 81 patients hospitalized with pneumonia caused by covid-19 in Wuhan found that 20 had such events and that eight of them died. The peer-reviewed data was published online April 9 in the Journal of Thrombosis and Hemostasis. Across New York City, blood thinners are being used with covid-19 patients much more than expected, said Sanjum Sethi, an interventional cardiologist and assistant professor of medicine at Columbia


Hogan predicts drastic budget cuts, freezes non-coronavirus state spending; D.C. mayor says stay home over Easter weekend

The number of known coronavirus cases in the District, Maryland and Virginia stood at 13,155 on Friday, with 6,971 cases in Maryland, 4,520 in Virginia and 1,664 in the District. The number of virus-related deaths was 171 in Maryland, 121 in Virginia and 39 in the District, for a total of 331 fatalities. Here are some of the most significant and recent developments as the region responds to the pandemic of the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease covid-19: • Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan froze all non-coronavirus state spending and ordered agencies to identify broad budget cuts Friday after a new analysis showed the pandemic could reduce state tax revenue by nearly $2 billion over the next three months. • On Good Friday, D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser’s daily news conference took on a religious tone, as she reminded residents to stay home over the holiday weekend. While some states have religious exemptions in their stay-at-home orders, the District does not. • Maryland recorded its biggest single-day increase in coronavirus-related deaths Friday, reporting 33 additional fatalities. The District reported six additional deaths Friday and Virginia added 12, bringing the total number of fatalities in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia to 331. • The first D.C. food market has received permission to reopen after Bowser ordered the closure of all open-air food markets unless they present plans for effective social distancing. What a stay-at-home order means for you


Weathering the coronavirus pandemic with an anxiety disorder

Michael Leonberger is a writer and teacher living in Falls Church. Mental health is a lot like Jenga. In the game, players slide pieces of a tower out from its foundation and place them on top, until the increasingly unstable tower crashes down. Jenga! In life, foundational truths are needed to build the rest of our towers. Every subsequent layer is less essential. If one of the foundational pieces is plucked out, though, the tower starts to rock. I have obsessive-compulsive disorder, a chemical imbalance I was born with. You could say my tower is a special edition. When the wrong piece is pulled in my life, horrible, panicky, isolating anxiety might follow. One of my earliest memories of OCD, and one of the root pieces in my personal Jenga tower, had to do with germs. In third grade, I cleared my throat in class one day, and I became terrified that whatever came out might travel through the air, land inside my teacher’s mug and kill her. I mustered all my courage, and I told my teacher she must throw out her coffee. I remember her laugh. It was the kind of laugh some of us with anxiety yearn for, the sort of laugh that says, “Well, you’re just a nut!” Truth is, I’d rather be a nut than live in a world where a simple cough could, without warning, transmit a deadly virus to another person. Eventually, I went to battle with OCD, armed with therapy, coping strategies, and supportive family and friends. I’ve learned to be grateful for some of my anxiety. I work with children who have disorders on the autism spectrum, and I think OCD makes me better at my job. I appreciate the kids’ rituals and anxieties. But the novel coronavirus breakout was an unexpected test of my tower. The pandemic’s first move? Pulling out that bottom piece about germs. Here’s the way I interpret the warnings about how coronavirus is spread: Actually, coughing a little can and will send a deadly virus into the air. And it can kill someone without you even knowing it. And it’ll be all your fault. Whoopsies! Next piece it pulls: You should be washing your hands until they bleed. If you don’t, someone will die and that will be all your fault. The tower sways. Did I do that? Your move Okay. My move. But first I


type them, for the same reason I hate stepping on cracks, so I won’t. The pandemic has imposed unusual stress and chaos on all, but those of us with anxiety disorders might feel a particular strain. I don’t take any of my pieces for granted, and I’ve learned to live with a wobbly tower. A wobbly tower is kind of my thing. And my tower is not coming down. Not even during a global pandemic. Okay? My move is writing this. I’m hoping, with enough time and reflection, that this can calcify into a regulation-size piece that I can use to reinforce my tower. Because sometimes when you’re playing Jenga with the covid-19 threat, you’ve got to be creative. Writing was the right move, and it’s reminding me of other truths I’ve learned along the way. Some of these lessons have been replicated many, many times throughout my life, so even if my mental tower takes a hit, there are other pieces ready to hold up the structure. Those truths go something like this: What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. Wounds heal, and scars are beautiful. Every winter becomes spring, and every night becomes day. Life is a gift, and life’s randomness is not your fault. So long as the sun’s up, it is ours to enjoy. So here’s to the strength of our towers, to the hits that make them stronger, and to the family and friends who support us when we need shoring up. If any of our towers do come down, we’ll pick up the pieces and reassemble — together. Because that’s how this works. That’s how this has always worked. And I plan on playing for a long time. Your move. The Opinions section is looking for more stories like this one. Write to us with how the virus has affected you. Read more: Bob Brody: The basketball hoops are down in New York. It’s painful. It’s also our best shot. Joanne Gruber: Okay, I’m old, but I’m sure I can think of a reason to let me stay on the ventilator Michael Saag: Eric Althoff: We got married in a 53-second ceremony in a conference room. It was joyful. Leana S. Wen: Everything is different at hospitals. Except for the most important thing. David Lat: I spent six days on a ventilator with covid-19. It saved me, but my life is not the same.


The coronavirus is infecting and killing black Americans at an alarmingly high rate

have disproportionately on African Americans in our country.” “We know that underlying conditions, like hypertension and diabetes and heart disease, this virus is particularly hard on,” Bowser said. “And we know that African Americans are living with those underlying conditions every day, probably in larger proportions than most of our fellow Americans." Although the disparities have garnered national attention in recent days, some predominantly black communities have been rocked by the outbreak for the past several weeks — and not just in the nation’s urban cities. Dougherty County and the city of Albany, in rural southwest Georgia, have recorded the highest number of deaths in Georgia. Dougherty, with a population of 90,000, had 973 positive cases and 56 deaths as of Tuesday. By contrast, Fulton County, which includes Atlanta and has a population of more than 1 million, had 1,185 cases and 39 deaths. Black residents make up 70 percent of Dougherty’s population and more than 90 percent of coronavirus deaths, said county coroner Michel Fowler. “Historically, when America catches a cold, black America catches pneumonia,” Albany City Commissioner Demetrius Young said last week. Elected officials and public-health experts have pointed to generations of discrimination and distrust between black communities and the health-care system. African Americans are also more likely to be uninsured and live in communities with inadequate health-care facilities. As a result, African Americans have historically been disproportionately diagnosed with chronic diseases such as asthma, hypertension and diabetes — underlying conditions that experts say make covid-19 more lethal. Critics of the public-health response have cited confusing messaging about how the virus is transmitted, such as an early emphasis on overseas travel, and have noted that some public officials were slow to issue stay-at-home directives to encourage social distancing. Even then, some activists argued, black people might have been more exposed because many held low-wage or essential jobs, such as food service, public transit and health care, that required them to continue to interact with the public. “This outbreak is exposing the deep structural inequities that make communities pushed to the margins more vulnerable to health crises in good times and in bad,” Dorianne Mason, the director of health equity at the National Women’s Law Center, said in a statement. “These structural inequities in our health care system do not ignore racial and gender disparities — and neither should our response to this pandemic.” David Montgomery, Ovetta Wiggins, Samantha


Maryland announces first death from coronavirus; dozens of D.C. firefighters and first-responders self-quarantine

The Washington region’s total number of novel coronavirus cases grew to 203 on Wednesday. Maryland added 23 cases Wednesday, bringing the state’s total to 86. Virginia reported 10 more cases, for a total of 77, including the Washington region’s only two deaths. The District reported eight new patients Wednesday evening, bringing its total to 40 cases. Here are some of the most significant and recent developments as the region responds to the pandemic of the coronavirus that causes the disease covid-19: • Maryland announced the state’s first death from coronavirus, a Prince George’s County resident in his 60s who had underlying health issues. Earlier, the state added 23 coronavirus cases Wednesday, while Virginia added 10. The District announced eight new cases. • As many as 73 D.C. firefighters, paramedics and emergency medical technicians have self-quarantined after they potentially were exposed to the coronavirus. Union officials said they do not think it will impact the department’s ability to cover shifts. • Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said in a Fox News interview that he couldn’t rule out the possibility that state schools may have to close for the rest of the school year. • George Washington University Hospital and GW Medical Faculty Associates set up a tent at their Foggy Bottom campus for patients suspected of having covid-19 — an effort to keep them separate from the general population. Critical cases will be admitted into the hospital. Coronavirus in the DMV: What you need to know


Northam issues order allowing restrictions at businesses, Hogan postpones April 28 primary and Metro further reduces service

As of Tuesday evening, newly reported cases of the novel coronavirus pushed the region’s known total to 162 — 67 in Virginia, 63 in Maryland and 32 in the District. Here are some of the most significant and recent developments as the region responds to the pandemic of the coronavirus that causes the disease covid-19: • Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) issued an order to let local governments prohibit more than 10 people in restaurants, fitness centers and theaters. He had previously refrained from issuing mandatory limits or closures, such as those in place in the District and Maryland. • Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) postponed the state’s April 28 primary to June 2, but he will allow mail-in only ballots for a special election to succeed the late Elijah E. Cummings. Hogan also announced Maryland is shutting down vehicle emissions inspection sites and turning them into drive-through coronavirus testing centers across the state. • Maryland added 22 confirmed cases of the coronavirus — its largest per-day increase. Virginia added 15 cases, while results from 48 tests are pending. The District announced 9 new cases, which is also its largest increase in a single day. • Metro is further reducing service starting Wednesday as the transit agency said it seeks to further protect passengers and employees. Trains will run every 15 minutes. Coronavirus in the DMV: What you need to know


Fairfax County announces first death from coronavirus. Monastery member is identified as D.C.'s first covid-19 death.

The tally of known coronavirus cases in the District, Maryland and Virginia reached 447 on Saturday as Maryland added 42 cases Friday and another 41 cases on Saturday, bringing the state’s total to 191. Virginia reported a third death, a Fairfax County man in his 60s. On Saturday, Virginia reported another 38 cases for a total of 154. The District reported 21 new patients Saturday evening, including two girls, 9 and 11-years-old. There are now 102 cases in D.C. Here are some of the most significant and recent developments as the region responds to the pandemic of the coronavirus, which causes the disease covid-19: From Thursday: D.C. cases surge, Maryland adds new restrictions as coronavirus reaches grim milestones • Nine more people tested positive in the District and the first known death in the city as a result of the virus is that of a member of the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America, the monastery’s superior said Saturday. Two girls, ages 9 and 11, are among those who tested positive. • Maryland reported a second man had died as a result of the virus. Officials said the man, Baltimore County resident was in his 60s and suffered from underlying medical conditions. A Prince George’s man, also in his 60s, died earlier in the week. • Virginia reported 38 new cases on Saturday and Gov. Ralph Northam signed an executive order making it easier for hospitals and nursing homes to add beds during the coronavirus pandemic. • The Maryland National Guard is helping to set up an assessment center for people experiencing symptoms of coronavirus at FedEx Field in Landover. Coronavirus in the DMV: What you need to know


Nine D.C. bars are among the best in America. Here’s how you can still sample some of their drinks.

If this was a normal week for Washington bars, it would be a time for celebration. On Tuesday, the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation announced the regional finalists for its annual Spirited Awards, which recognize the best bars and bar staff in America and around the world. At least one D.C. bar was nominated in each of the six U.S. categories, including Best American Cocktail Bar, Best American Restaurant Bar and Best American Bar Team. Three other categories each had two D.C. nominees. (Like the food world’s James Beard Awards, the Spirited Awards have a two-step process to announcing finalists in each category. Judges first pick 10 bars in each of three geographic areas; Washington is in the East, which covers Atlantic states from Florida to Maine, all of New England, and West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. The 10 national finalists are announced in May.) But these are obviously tough times for bars. Barmini, the only local nominee for Best American Cocktail Bar, is closed while owner José Andrés focuses on feeding the hungry from his Community Kitchens. Both nominees for Best American Hotel Bar — the Eaton Hotel’s secluded Allegory and W Hotel’s rooftop POV — are closed until further notice, as are both nominees for Best New American Cocktail Bar — the bar at Shaw’s Lao hotspot Hanumanh and the flashy new Silver Lyan at the Riggs Hotel, which had barely been open for a month before it shuttered. “It’s definitely an odd time, and we are facing an unprecedented challenge to stay alive right now,” says Chad Spangler, a co-founder of Service Bar. The U Street NW bar earned a nod for Best Bar Team, which recognizes the staff’s dedication to hospitality. “In a way, I think now might be the most righteous time to win this award, for which we are truly humbled. We have begun changing our menu, adapting our schedules, and our operation is tremendously different. It is a testament to our team that we have been able to execute a ‘survival mode’ for now, and what may be for some time to come.” You may not be able to pull up a stool and toast the bars in person, but it’s still possible to sample some of what judges — expert bartenders, bar owners and spirits writers — found so exceptional about D.C.'s nominees. Here’s what we’d get to go. A reminder: In


These apes and monkeys escaped poaching and trafficking. Now they must battle a pandemic.

been passed from humans to dogs, cats and even a zoo tiger. But facilities housing primates are a particular concern, scientists say, because of the animals’ established susceptibility to human respiratory diseases, and because all great apes are endangered in the wild. “My worst fear right now is that covid-19 gets into the sanctuary,” said Sheri Speede, founder and director of Sanaga-Yong, about nine hours from the capital city Yaoundé. “And if we get it in there, everybody’s going to get it. ” Viruses, some of which have been traced to humans and cause only mild symptoms in people, have sickened and killed apes in several African countries. In 2019, a respiratory infection swept through Kenya’s Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary, infecting 39 animals and killing two. “Something that’s sort of like a bad cold for us can be lethal for great apes,” said Gregg Tully, executive director of the alliance. Speede has seen her share of respiratory illness outbreaks in her chimps over the last 20 years. “It’s really sad,” she said. “You see them all in a group coughing and coughing, and snotting, and not eating, and you’re struggling and struggling to get them to take medication. ” And for the novel coronavirus, of course, there is no treatment. The pandemic is already complicating daily operations at primate sanctuaries in other ways. Lockdowns and travel restrictions have cut off volunteers and visitors, disrupted food and medical supply lines, and forced some staffers to stay home and tend to their families. Speede herself is stuck in the United States, having traveled home for a four-month visit in November. Cameroon has since closed its borders. The sanctuary’s staff of 30 is holding things together, she said. Everyone who comes within six feet of the chimps at Sanaga-Yong now wears a mask, Speede said. Food preparation takes longer because the staff is spending even more time washing fruits and vegetables in both soap and a bleach solution. Deliveries are dropped off at the gate, about half a mile from the camp. Employees still must go to local villages about three times a week to gather food — all while maintaining as much social distancing as possible. Some supplies simply must be imported, though. “Chimps fight,” Speede said. “And those injuries have to be treated, and we need anesthesia for that. ” One of Speede’s chimps is an older female with advanced heart failure


Nightmares, flashbacks, uncertainty: A 29-year-old recovers after coronavirus brought him near death

while I was under, as well,” he said. “That’s been one of the strangest things for me to try to work through. Why do I remember this? Is any of it real?” Wilson started to feel sick on March 8, the day after the rector at Christ Church Georgetown became the first person to test positive for covid-19 in the District. The law student’s symptoms were mild at first: sore throat, headaches, a slight cough, feeling sluggish and tired. Wilson said he thought it was spring allergies. At the time, few Americans realized that widespread community infection had probably already begun beyond Washington state, where the United States saw its first fatal infection clusters of the virus. Doctors in the District at the time were still asking about travel histories and exposure to people who had tested positive. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) did not declare a public health emergency until March 11. News coverage and scientific studies indicated that young, healthy people were at low risk. Wilson had not been out of the country. He was not in contact with anyone who he thought had the virus. But a week later, he felt worse. He went in for a flu test, which came back negative, and a pneumonia test, which came back positive. Wanting a more detailed diagnosis, Wilson said, the doctor requested further testing, including checking for covid-19. Three days later, Wilson found out he had the novel coronavirus. By then, he had already called an ambulance to take him to the hospital. It took him an hour to get from one room in his one-level apartment to the other. Standing up knocked the wind out of him. When he started to cough, he couldn’t stop. A friend he had gone bowling with the week before also developed symptoms. Doctors at Virginia Hospital Center told him they were going to put him under general anesthesia for further monitoring and connect him to a ventilator to help him breathe. “We didn’t know how serious his situation really was at the time,” said his father, Henry Wilson. “We thought when he got to the hospital that they would take care of it and he would be getting better soon. But then it only got worse.” Francis Wilson had been on a ventilator for seven days when his parents received a call from an ICU nurse telling them they had to


Trump’s false claim that the WHO said the coronavirus was ‘not communicable’

as yet no cases of the disease in Taiwan, we could not state directly and conclusively that there had been human-to-human transmission.” Apparently, Taiwanese officials had been alerted to Dec. 30 posts in a chat room by a doctor, Li Wenliang, in which he said that seven cases he had been treating resembled severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, a deadly form of coronavirus. Li was reprimanded by the Chinese government for illegally spreading rumors. He later died of covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Analysis: “Taiwan authorities contacted the WHO about medical staff in Wuhan who were getting ill with a new type of pneumonia, signaling human-to-human transmission,” a senior administration official said. “This key information was seemingly disregarded by the WHO, which does not allow Taiwan to participate in its meetings due to Chinese political pressure, and not shared with the world until later in January.” But at best, we’re talking about the last two days in December. Jan. 5 WHO news release: “On 31 December 2019, the WHO China Country Office was informed of cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology (unknown cause) detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province of China. … Based on the preliminary information from the Chinese investigation team, no evidence of significant human-to-human transmission and no health care worker infections have been reported.” Jan. 9 WHO statement Jan. 10 WHO health-worker guidance released Jan. 12 WHO news release Analysis: Jan. 13: Jan. 13 WHO news release Jan. 14 WHO news release Jan. 14 WHO tweet Jan. 14 WHO news briefing: Van Kerkhove added, however, that human-to-human transmission would not be surprising given the WHO’s experience with SARS, MERS and other respiratory pathogens. “What we have seen from both SARS and from MERS is we have had limited human-to-human transmission, and that there are amplification events,” Van Kerkhove told reporters. “There is the possibility that transmission can be amplified. Most notably in health-care facilities.” Analysis: Van Kerkhove’s message was not lost on reporters. The Telegraph in Britain headlined its article on the news conference: “WHO refuses to rule out human-to-human spread in China’s mystery coronavirus outbreak.” The Telegraph noted that it was a surprise that the virus had ended up in Thailand because authorities had been tracking 763 people who may have come into contact with the virus, including 419 health workers. Jimmy Whitworth, professor of international public health at the London School


How hydroxychloroquine went from obscure to ‘100% coronavirus cure’

people who rely on the drugs. He earns Four Pinocchios. For the full fact check, click here. To watch the video, click here. Sign up for The Post’s Coronavirus Updates newsletter to track the outbreak. All stories linked within the newsletter are free to access. Enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to someone else who’d like it! If this email was forwarded to you, At a White House news briefing, President Trump declared, “When somebody is the president of the United States, the authority is total. And that’s the way it’s got to be. It’s total.” When asked about the debate around his authority to reopen the country, he retorted, “Well, I have the ultimate authority.” The vast authority of the president does expand during a national emergency like the one that the country currently faces, but that doesn’t mean the president can micromanage state’s public health actions. A variety of legal and constitutional experts point to the 10th Amendment, writings by James Madison in the Federalist Papers and Supreme Court decisions that refute the idea Trump has “ultimate authority.” Yet, Trump claimed numerous clauses of the constitution supported his claim. But when we asked for clarity on which clauses, we did not hear back. The president— it seems — missed the section of U.S. history where the Founders of the United States overthrew the king and adopted a system of government in which power would be split between the states and a centralized federal government. Put simply, no American president is not a king. For the full fact check, click here. The Fact Checker last updated our ongoing database of the president’s false and misleading claims on Jan. 19, 2020, marking the end of his third year in office. That was two days before the U.S. would confirm the first positive case of covid-19. For the last 75 days, Trump has not slowed down, averaging just over 23 claims per day, many involving the coronavirus. That’s slightly higher than the 22 a day he recorded in 2019. As of April 3, The Fact Checker found President Trump made 18,000 false and misleading claims. For the full article, click here We’re always looking for fact-check suggestions. You can reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP, @rizzoTK, @mmkelly22, @SarahCahlan) or Facebook. Read about our process and rating scale here, and sign up for the newsletter here. Scroll down for this week’s Pinocchio roundup.


Stock gains continue amid hope in battle against coronavirus

U.S. stocks posted their first back-to-back weekly gain since mid-February on growing optimism that the economy is on track to emerge from a lockdown amid signs of progress in the fight against the covid-19 outbreak. The S&P 500 climbed 3 percent, following last week’s 12 percent rally, its biggest gain in 46 years. The benchmark for U.S. equities is now 15 percent below its Feb. 19 record after climbing 28 percent from last month’s low. The technology heavy Nasdaq rose 7.2 percent for the week and is now in the green for 2020. Investors continued to move back into the stock market this week as indications that officials are preparing to relax stay-at-home orders and other social-distancing measures offset data underscoring the coronavirus pandemic’s devastating economic toll. Signs that infections have reached a plateau in some areas and promising early test results of an experimental drug treatment also fueled the momentum. The Dow rose 2.2 percent, ending the week at 23,243. It has gained 30 percent from the March 23 low. United Health Group was the best performer, rallying 10 percent as the health insurer beat quarterly earnings estimates and maintained its profit outlook for 2020. Tech companies including Amazon and Netflix notched records and were among the biggest gainers in the Nasdaq. Contrary to about a decade of Wall Street predictions, technology and Internet companies have held up remarkably well, as the coronavirus increases demand for some of their services. Gilead Sciences was also a standout this week, rallying 14 percent. The drugmaker’s shares posted their biggest one-day gain since 2012 on Friday after a report that a group of covid-19 patients being treated in a trial of its drug, remdesivir, in Chicago were “seeing rapid recoveries in fever and respiratory symptoms.” The U.S. Treasury will sell 13-week bills and 26-week bills on April 20. It will 52-week bills on April 21, as well as four-week bills, eight-week bills and five-year Treasury Inflation Protected Securities on April 23.


How can African governments persuade citizens to follow coronavirus guidelines?

African countries are the latest to confront the coronavirus pandemic, with over 17,000 confirmed cases on the continent. Two West African countries, Burkina Faso and Senegal, have seen particularly sharp increases in the number of covid-19 cases after initial case confirmation, which suggests these countries may follow a coronavirus path similar to Spain and Italy, two particularly hard-hit countries. But some governments have struggled to persuade citizens to follow basic public health guidelines to limit the spread of disease. Protesters in Ivory Coast destroyed a covid-19 health center under construction, recalling the resistance to officials during the 2014 West African Ebola epidemic. Journalists documented individuals refusing treatment for Ebola, and families hiding or lying about the whereabouts of infected relatives. In Guinea, one community attacked medical personnel, accusing them of bringing the Ebola virus to them. How can African governments convince their citizens to comply with public health guidelines to counter the transmission of covid-19? My research with Professor Leo Arriola in the West African country of Guinea suggests that governments and their international partners may gain higher levels of compliance if they tailor the messenger of those guidelines. Specifically, this research finds that members of politically marginalized groups are more likely to comply if they hear health advisories coming from local — rather than national — political authorities. Here’s how we did our research To understand why some people might resist public health measures intended to save their lives, this survey included over 1,200 adults in Guinea, a West African country at the epicenter of the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak. Local enumerators conducted the survey in person in two prefectures in Guinea in July 2016. They selected participants using a random walk protocol modeled on Afrobarometer methods. Our paper describes the survey in greater detail. We wanted to know how social identity — individuals’ sense of identity based on their membership in shared groups, such as religious or ethnic groups — might affect compliance with public health advisories. Survey respondents came from the country’s three largest ethnic groups, the Soussou, Peul and Malinke. This survey presented a fictional scenario that urged respondents to seek a free HIV/AIDS test after being informed of new cases in their area. The survey randomly varied the identity of the authority issuing the fictional advisory for each respondent. Respondents received messages attributed to the country’s president, a local government official, a traditional chief, a religious


more likely to comply if they hear health advisories coming from local — rather than national — political authorities. Here’s how we did our research To understand why some people might resist public health measures intended to save their lives, this survey included over 1,200 adults in Guinea, a West African country at the epicenter of the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak. Local enumerators conducted the survey in person in two prefectures in Guinea in July 2016. They selected participants using a random walk protocol modeled on Afrobarometer methods. Our paper describes the survey in greater detail. We wanted to know how social identity — individuals’ sense of identity based on their membership in shared groups, such as religious or ethnic groups — might affect compliance with public health advisories. Survey respondents came from the country’s three largest ethnic groups, the Soussou, Peul and Malinke. This survey presented a fictional scenario that urged respondents to seek a free HIV/AIDS test after being informed of new cases in their area. The survey randomly varied the identity of the authority issuing the fictional advisory for each respondent. Respondents received messages attributed to the country’s president, a local government official, a traditional chief, a religious authority or U.N. representative. We then asked respondents if they would be willing to follow the public health advisory, encourage family members to comply, or go to a health center for a free HIV test. In getting people to change their behavior, the messenger matters So who complied with the fictional scenario? We find that individuals comply with messages only when they report trusting the messenger. Respondents from the Peul ethnicity, a politically marginalized group in Guinea, are less likely to follow a public health advisory, or encourage their family to do so, when it comes from the country’s president rather than a local or religious leader. The Peul make up Guinea’s largest ethnic group, but they have suffered from political exclusion since independence. In our study, people who identify as Soussou or Malinke were relatively more receptive to public health advisories from Guinea’s president. Unlike the Peul, these two ethnic groups have been represented in or have led national government. We also found that international organizations or their representatives have no advantage over the national government in inducing compliance. Members of politically marginalized ethnic groups were no more willing to follow a U.N.-issued advisory than one coming from the