The Trump administration must release all approved funds to help Palestinians fight the coronavirus

Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat, represents Michigan’s 13th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Alan Lowenthal, also a Democrat, represents California’s 47th Congressional District As members of Congress who come from different backgrounds — a Jewish American from Queens and a Palestinian American from Detroit — and who hold different views on how to achieve peace and justice in the Middle East, we share a fundamental belief that the humanity, dignity, safety and rights of all people should be protected. Again and again, though, we see division and nationalism undermining the global response to the coronavirus pandemic. From withholding critical funding from the World Health Organization to failing to coordinate policies with our closest allies, the Trump administration has pursued counterproductive policies which make the world less safe. The Palestinian people are particularly vulnerable at this moment. In 2018, the Trump administration eliminated funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the international organization charged with addressing the humanitarian needs of Palestinian refugees. While covid-19 does not recognize borders, we must recognize that without aid and assistance, the Palestinian people will be greatly affected by this health crisis. That’s why we are calling on the Trump administration to release all funds appropriated by Congress to support the well-being of the Palestinian people and restore the U.S. relationship with UNRWA. The world faces an unprecedented threat, which no nation can face alone. The need for global cooperation, for transparency, for mutual aid and for trust has never been clearer. There can be no return to normal, no global recovery, as long as the coronavirus disease continues to rage uncontrolled through vulnerable regions. This failure is brought into stark relief in the West Bank and Gaza, where the Trump administration continues to withhold the vast majority of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians — including all funding to UNRWA and $75 million in humanitarian and development aid, appropriated with bipartisan support by Congress. Conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories have deteriorated for decades and are especially critical now. Years of tight restrictions on the flow of goods and people have left local health systems unequipped to cope with a large-scale pandemic. Occupation has contributed to inadequate infrastructure, widespread poverty and critical environmental degradation, particularly in Gaza, where Israel has imposed a long-term military blockade. These factors all raise the risk posed by the coronavirus.


Skywatch: What’s happening in the heavens in May

Two evening planets pass in the night, giant planets deliver a morning show, and the heavens are dusted with a few shooting stars. Above the west-northwest horizon just after sunset, as the curtain of night gently falls, watch Venus beam. If you’re on an early-evening stroll or if the dog needs walking, look up and savor Earth’s neighboring planet as it reaches -4.7 magnitude — extremely bright — according to the U.S. Naval Observatory. The planet drops in brightness slightly as the month wears on, but Venus also darts toward the sun in late May — moving closer to the horizon on subsequent nights, completely leaving the western sky by May’s waning days. Our dazzling friend returns to the morning sky in June. While still gazing at the evening’s western horizon in mid-May, the fleet planet Mercury ascends the early-evening sky — on subsequent nights — in the west-northwest. It is a bright -1.6 magnitude planet in mid-May. For earthbound observers, Mercury climbs while Venus descends. Mercury and Venus formally conjunct May 22, according to the observatory, but appear to quickly move apart over several subsequent nights. In the mornings, long before sunrise, find our other neighboring planet, Mars, in the southeastern heavens. Early in the month, the rusty Red Planet rises around 3 a.m. and rises even earlier later in the month. The Red Planet becomes slightly brighter throughout the month, starting at 0.4 magnitude (bright), according to the observatory, reaching zero magnitude (brighter) by the end of May. The gaseous giant planets Saturn and Jupiter catch our attention in the south-southeast hours before daybreak. Which planet is which? From our perspective, Jupiter is far brighter at -2.3 magnitude, against the markedly dimmer Saturn at 0.6 magnitude. They rise about the 1 a.m. hour early in May, get high enough (about 30 degrees above the horizon) to be seen, only to get washed out by the morning sun. Later in May, Jupiter and Saturn rise around midnight, caught between the constellations Sagittarius and Capricornus all month long. The waning gibbous moon approaches the giant planets on May 12, subsequently passing them. The last-quarter moon scoots by Mars on May 15. The moon reaches perigee — the closest the moon gets to Earth for the month — on May 6. Our lunar companion becomes officially full May 7, according to the observatory. Thus, we have a perigee full moon for


Military jets salute workers on front line as more coronavirus cases and deaths are reported

As military jets streaked overhead in salute to covid-19 first responders, the District, Maryland and Virginia reported 103 additional coronavirus deaths Saturday, bringing the regional death toll to 2,107. The increases in fatalities and cases have been on par with daily rises over the past week. Maryland disclosed 59 more deaths and 1,001 newly confirmed cases. In all, Maryland has reported 1,251 confirmed and probable deaths from covid-19, the disease the novel coronavirus causes, and 24,473 confirmed cases. Virginia added 35 deaths and 830 more cases. Virginia has 616 confirmed and probable fatalities and nearly 18,000 cases. The District disclosed nine additional deaths and 139 newly positive test results. The nation’s capital has nearly 4,800 cases and has lost 240 residents to the virus. Meanwhile, across sunny skies, the Navy’s Blue Angels and the Air Force’s Thunderbirds jet demonstration teams crisscrossed the area in tribute to those on the front lines of the pandemic. On the Mall and along the Georgetown waterfront, among other places, people gathered in the pleasant spring weather to watch, as the 12 jets left twisting white contrails against the blue sky. Elsewhere, a modest crowd of “Reopen Maryland” protesters staged a rolling demonstration from Frederick to Salisbury to pressure Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) to lift restrictions imposed to contain the pandemic. The protest and car caravan began at Francis Scott Key Mall in Frederick and proceeded to Salisbury, where people were addressed by Rep. Andy Harris (R), who voiced his support. Few wore masks. Many wore yellow “Reopen Maryland” T-shirts, which had been handed out in Frederick. One man wore a T-shirt that read, “Tyranny Response Team.” The group wants to reverse the economic standstill caused by efforts to slow the virus, and protesters called for the reopening of schools and houses of worship, saying the measures are too broad and socially destructive. “Ladies and gentlemen,” Harris said to those assembled at a Salisbury mall around 2:30 p.m. “I can’t go to church on Sunday. Because, unbelievably in America, I have been told that you can’t practice your religion.” “And the state has decided if my religion is essential or nonessential,” he said, according to a feed from WBOC-TV in Salisbury. “I didn’t wake up in Communist China. I didn’t wake up in North Korea this morning. And tomorrow morning, I should be able to go to the church of my choice.” “I am


Boom-and-bust federal funding after 9/11 undercut hospitals’ preparedness for pandemics

Congress, however, neglected to provide additional funding. Instead, HHS took $43 million from the existing hospital grant budget to set up a pilot program for hospitals to partner with state agencies and local health-care institutions on emergency preparedness. But applicants had two weeks to submit proposals for spending. Because of the tight deadline, some projects were undeveloped, and others overambitious, according to a report by the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Under the program, Rhode Island Hospital secured $5 million to partner with other hospitals and organizations around the state. They used the money to design an emergency communications system but didn’t have enough funding to launch it at all hospitals. Plans for a patient tracking system fell apart and there was no money to sustain the project, according to the report. “I don’t think the government wanted this responsibility,” said Eric Toner, a co-author of the report who now works as a senior researcher at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “They wanted hospitals to pay for their own preparedness like they did prior to 2001.” Burr declined to comment. Meg Femino, senior director of emergency management at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, said her hospital received about $75,000 in federal preparedness funding and stretched the money over three years. From 2006 through 2009, she stockpiled enough antibiotics to treat every employee and three of their family members in case of a terrorist attack or infectious-disease outbreak. To prepare for a natural disaster like Katrina, Beth Israel Deaconess crafted a sweeping evacuation plan, bought medical sleds to move patients and drilled for evacuating across the medical center. “Every time we saw something new came up, we would put that on our cache of things that we would have to work on,” Femino said. By the mid-2000s, Bush had turned his attention to a new enemy: a worldwide pandemic. Much of the world was already familiar with SARS, or sudden acute respiratory syndrome. The virus tore through Asia starting in 2002 and made its way the following year to Toronto, where many health-care workers were infected with the deadly respiratory illness. The SARS virus largely spared the United States. But concern grew as the avian flu, or H5N1, resurfaced in Asia and then spread in 2005 to Europe and the Middle East. Anthony S. Fauci, the director of the National Institute of


A woman, her brother and their mother, all lost to covid-19: The virus’s devastating toll on one D.C.-area family

virus kept attacking and attacking her.” All the while, Shanta was on the phone daily, even hourly, with doctors and nurses, deciphering their jargon, Googling, jotting notes, then calling family members, including her parents, to fill them in and answer anxious questions — until April 11, when Nicky’s ventilator was switched off, and there were no words. At the house, where Leslie had begun struggling with shortness of breath, she and her husband were inconsolable. “Heartbroken,” Shanta said. “My mom wasn’t eating. She couldn’t sleep. I tried to encourage her; the whole family tried to lift her spirits, to let her know we were going to get through this with the grace of God. But she was devastated, period.” Leslie had asthma, as did John Jr., who also was having trouble breathing around the time of Nicky’s death. They blamed it on pollen, on the allergies that aggravated their compromised respiratory functions every spring. Shanta wasn’t sure. “Often we self-diagnose,” she said by phone. “We shouldn’t.” On April 19, they were wheezing, and ambulances were summoned to the house. One took Leslie to George Washington University Hospital, and the other carried John Jr. to Howard University Hospital. The mother and son both tested positive. Their illnesses followed different progressions in the days afterward but ended the same way, each with a flat line on a bedside monitor. John Jr. worked in communications at the U.S. Postal Service headquarters and had part-time gigs at a grocery store and a hotel. He was a former culinary student, a foodie, and head chef for all events at the house on Alabama Avenue. “His entire time in the hospital almost, he was alert and talking,” and no doubt cracking jokes, Shanta said. Leslie was another story. A day after her mother was admitted, Shanta got a call from the hospital, saying Leslie needed to be heavily sedated and intubated. From then on, she was never more than semiconscious as doctors tried hydroxychloroquine and, later, the experimental drug remdesivir. The treatments were halted after she developed an irregular heart rate, Shanta said. Meanwhile, after days of searching in vain for a funeral parlor that would give Nicky a traditional service, Shanta had to settle for a pandemic version: closed casket, no wake and only a handful of people, including Nicky’s fiance and grown children, allowed near the grave. Shanta and other mourners, gathered 500 feet


Drug industry warns that cuts to passenger airline service have put medical supplies at risk

Dramatic cuts in passenger airline service in the face of the coronavirus pandemic have had an unintended consequence: disrupting the supply chain for the pharmaceutical industry, which relies on room in the bellies of passenger jets to quickly move drugs around the world. The loss of the cargo space has revealed itself in dramatically higher costs for airfreight. The normal rate of a few dollars per kilogram — a little over two pounds — has surged to as much as $15, customs brokers say. Organizations representing major drugmakers have warned that the strain on their supply chains could affect their ability to respond to the ongoing pandemic. “Our members rely heavily upon a robust U.S. and global transportation network that includes air transport,” wrote Anne McDonald Pritchett, an executive at Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, in a recent letter to the Department of Transportation. “Air transport is key to moving critical pharmaceutical goods through the supply chain, particularly during this global pandemic.” The outbreak has underscored America’s dependence on foreign-made medicines, pharmaceutical ingredients and medical supplies, many of which come from China and India. And it’s an issue that could be of critical importance if a vaccine for the coronavirus is developed and there is a global scramble by nations seeking to protect their citizens. Already, U.S. officials have had to intervene to obtain supplies. The Trump administration has chartered cargo flights to bring in medical supplies from overseas. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) secured thousands of testing kits from South Korea, which arrived by a Korean Air jet last month. But despite fears early in the pandemic of widespread drug shortages across the board, they have largely not materialized. Andrew Mulcahy, a health policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, which has been tracking drug supplies, said the supply chain has held up remarkably well. “There are some bumps in the road, but it could have been a lot worse,” Mulcahy said. “It seems to have not broken so far. That does leave open the door to continue worrying about this a little bit.” The drug industry is remaining vigilant and wants to remain in close communication with the federal government to ward off problems, according to a pharmaceutical executive who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal industry matters. “As of now the price is the most challenging issue for the industry and ensuring predictable costs


U.S. artistic swimmers, separated and out of the pool, are still trying to stay in sync

Andrea Fuentes prepares her artistic swimmers for the unexpected. During one practice, she told them to imagine that their coaches suddenly couldn’t attend a competition. The staff let the swimmers guide themselves as they warmed up and prepared for their routine. Two hours later, Fuentes turned on the music and simulated a competitive performance. She relies on those types of off-the-wall scenarios to teach the U.S. national team how to manage uncertainty. “I put them under stress situations,” Fuentes said. “But I never thought of this one.” The novel coronavirus pandemic left the swimmers without a pool and without one another — two essential elements of a sport more often known by its previous name, synchronized swimming. The U.S. team trains full time at a high school about 20 miles from San Francisco. That pool shut down midway through March, and the swimmers practiced in an unheated outdoor pool for a day. With an Olympic qualifying event slated for the end of April, the team considered moving into an Airbnb with a pool so it could continue training. But once counties in the Bay Area instituted a stay-at-home order and the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics seemed inevitable, the coaches adjusted their planning: “Let’s stop fighting nature,” said Fuentes, the U.S. national team coach and a four-time Olympic medalist for Spain. “The virus is a virus. You cannot go against it, so just accept that we have to adapt.” A few of the American artistic swimmers scattered around the country, heading back to their hometowns, but others remained in California. Rather than guiding the group at the pool each day, Fuentes stares into the camera on her computer and leads workouts from home. The swimmers work through routines on land — leaning on drills, practicing with only arm motions or doing headstands so their legs can move as they would above the water. Through virtual sessions, the swimmers have stayed fit and in sync while forging connections with others who share their sport and these new challenges. In addition to the U.S. team’s daily training, Fuentes has organized international sessions, allowing artistic swimmers around the globe to work out together on a video chat. A few days after the first call between swimmers from the United States and Israel, Fuentes invited national teams from countries in North and South America. An athlete from every nation on the call presented the


Trump and the GOP have a plan for governing during a pandemic: Just don’t

of criminal behavior — because personal responsibility is a universal value, shared and internalized by all. No one has to worry about selfish, irresponsible or dangerous conduct by individuals that could affect the public — because individuals never behave that way. If Noem’s libertarian fantasy were rooted in any kind of reality, South Dakota might not have to worry about covid-19, because “flattening the curve” would have been everyone’s top priority from Day One. The governor’s “let the people govern themselves, because it’s not my job” approach would have yielded results equivalent to those in states observing lockdowns. Needless to say, it has not: South Dakota had the 12th-highest per capita number of covid-19 cases as of April 21, despite having the fifth-lowest population density in the country. Ultimately, the idea that elected officials are not here to govern, either because people can govern themselves or because the private sector will sort it all out, is a rejection of government in principle. It’s a mutation of the right’s impulse toward smaller government, rooted in a Reagan-era individualism that says that Americans are responsible for their own success and that it can and should happen without government intervention. But if Reagan’s notion that “as government expands, liberty contracts” is the theoretical background for what we’re seeing now, it has been taken to such an absurd extreme by successive generations of Republicans that government itself is now considered a violation of liberty, even in situations where government is the only mechanism for addressing a problem. Trump embodies this disdain by failing to fully staff the government, and by appointing people who are inexperienced or incompetent, damaging institutions along the way. And so we get a pandemic response team that was dismantled (or in Republican doublespeak, “streamlined”) before a global pandemic; a weakened Centers for Disease Control and Prevention whose authority is consistently undermined by the president’s actions; a decimated safety net for those who lose jobs or get sick; and a lack of infrastructure to support widespread testing, tracking and tracing. When confronted with these obvious and catastrophic failings, Trump points the finger at governors who’ve been the most aggressive about managing the crisis and whose efforts the administration has actively thwarted by confiscating and redirecting personal protective equipment acquired by the states. “Some have insatiable appetites,” he tweeted about the governors of heavily affected states, casting the need for PPE as


Excess U.S. deaths hit estimated 37,100 in pandemic’s early days, far more than previously known

disease caused by the coronavirus. They could include people with unrelated maladies who avoided hospitals for fear of being exposed or who couldn’t get the care they needed from overwhelmed health systems, as well as some number of deaths that are part of the ordinary variation in the death rate. The number is affected by increases or decreases in other categories of deaths, such as traffic fatalities and homicides. But excess deaths are a starting point for scientists to assess the overall impact of the pandemic. The nation surpassed 64,000 coronavirus deaths on Friday, according to The Post’s compilation of state health department data. Weinberger said his team’s estimates of excess deaths indicate that the pandemic’s true toll to date is likely substantially higher. “It’s hard to say how much higher, but our best guess might be it’s in the range of one and a half times higher,” he said. The analysis is based on death certificate data that states compile and send to the National Center for Health Statistics, a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It often takes weeks for a death to be counted in these federal numbers, so tallies for the most recent weeks are provisional and inevitably missing many deaths. As time passes and more information becomes available, NCHS backfills data for those weeks — and the death totals grow. For example, earlier this week The Post reported — based on the Yale team’s model — that the nation had recorded an estimated 15,400 excess deaths between March 1 and April 4. But more up-to-date NCHS data released Friday revealed that more than 5,000 additional people had died overall during that span — bringing the total estimated excess deaths to 20,500. The fact that the picture of overall death during that period changed so substantially this week underlines how real-time counts of covid-19 deaths are only a partial snapshot. On April 4, state health departments were reporting that about 8,100 people had died of covid-19, according to The Post’s tally at the time. Those figures excluded deaths of people who probably died of covid-19, based on symptoms and exposure, but were never tested. They also excluded some deaths that had occurred but had not yet been publicly reported. NCHS corrects for those exclusions. On Sunday, it was reporting that as of April 4, about 10,500 people had died of covid-19. On Friday,


after more backfilling with updated reports, that number stood at about 11,361 — more than 9,000 short of the estimated 20,500 excess deaths. Examining the number of excess deaths is a vital exercise for understanding the extent of the pandemic, said Eleanor Murray, a professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health, who was not involved in the Yale team’s analysis. “We know because we have not been doing enough testing that we are absolutely missing covid cases,” she said. “So whatever death counts we have are certainly going to be underestimates of the people dying from covid.” State and local leaders should be studying the estimates of excess deaths in their communities and basing consequential decisions about reopening businesses and social activities on those figures, rather than strictly using reported coronavirus infections and covid-19 fatalities, figures that are often incomplete and misleading, Murray said. “If you’re basing your decision to open on your reported case numbers or your reported covid deaths, you’re making the wrong decision because those numbers aren’t reflective of what’s actually happening out in your community,” she said. Estimating the death count from any disaster is a difficult task. After Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017, an accurate assessment of the dead eluded researchers and the public for months, Murray said. For nearly a year, the territory’s leaders refused to acknowledge that the count was higher than the official tally of 64 — even after a Harvard study estimated that more than 4,600 had died. In August 2018, a government-requested report from George Washington University put the number of excess deaths at 2,975, a figure then-Gov. Ricardo Rosselló finally embraced, saying he had “made mistakes.” And Hurricane Maria was a discrete event in a single place. Calculating mortality during the coronavirus pandemic — a global disaster that unfolded over months — will be significantly more challenging, Murray said. “Identifying exactly how many people died from covid and from pandemic-related factors, that’s going to be an open scientific question for years,” she said. “And we’re probably never going to have an exact number.” Jacqueline Dupree and Monica Ulmanu contributed to this report. A research team led by the Yale School of Public Health used historical data on all deaths between 2015 and early 2020, published by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), to model the number of deaths that would normally be expected


Read The Washington Post stories that won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize

by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) — the threshold international negotiators hope the planet as a whole will never reach. This massive, pioneering use of temperature data demonstrated that extreme climate change is already a life-altering reality across 10 percent of the Earth’s surface. Writers and photographers were dispatched to produce deeply reported missives from a warmer, more erratic future. The series simultaneously relied on and demystified the science of climate change — for instance, allowing readers to interact with a spinning globe that highlighted the areas of greatest warming. The work was scientifically advanced, but the results were simple to understand. The effort was prompted by a pair of alarming studies that found that insects and birds were disappearing in Puerto Rico and the Mojave Desert. The Post noticed a key detail: These locations were heating up much faster than the global average. Working with data from Berkeley Earth, a nonprofit climate research group, and that of other researchers, we mapped temperature change across a century. The multimedia series included 12 stories that took readers to places as varied and far-flung as the troubled waters in the Sea of Okhotsk, the outdoor air-conditioning in some of Qatar’s stadiums and markets, and a popular New Jersey resort whose lake once supplied the ice boxes of New York City. Now the water no longer freezes thick enough to sustain ice fishing. The research added to our understanding of the erosion of winter and rapidly changing ocean currents — many of the latter not previously reported. And it allowed The Post to create the graphics and animations that let readers see how severe climate change has affected their own counties and countries. For groundbreaking, data-driven journalism that used previously hidden government records and confidential company documents to provide unprecedented insight into America’s deadly opioid epidemic. It is one of the biggest stories of our time and it was hiding in plain sight: How did the opioid epidemic overtake America? The prevailing narrative offered a too-easy scapegoat. Purdue Pharma in the 1990s unleashed an ostensible wonder drug, OxyContin, and addicted millions. But the epidemic took off after Purdue was brought to heel and fined $600 million. If not Purdue, who drove the epidemic? And why didn’t anyone stop them? The Washington Post definitively answered these questions in 2019, establishing an accurate narrative that brought accountability to the companies involved and the government


officials who failed to act. The Post learned that a secret DEA database contained a hidden road map to the epidemic, tracking every opioid pill from maker to pharmacy. The Post and the owner of the Charleston (W.Va.) Gazette-Mail sued to get the data. After a year-long legal fight, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of The Post and Gazette-Mail. The database contained 380 million records and was by far the largest we have ever worked with. Under enormous deadline pressure, The Post produced exclusive stories and interactive databases spotlighting the biggest distributors: McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health, Walgreens, Walmart. The biggest manufacturer was a company few people had ever heard of: SpecGx, a subsidiary of Mallinckrodt. The Post published the entire data set, allowing readers to see how many pills came into their neighborhood pharmacies and who sent them. Reporters at 129 media outlets used the data to write their own stories and 44,000 individuals downloaded the entire set. For incisive coverage of back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio that contextualized these events for a national audience. The dual tragedies in El Paso and Dayton challenged our staff to break through the formulas of mass shooting coverage. Instead of two news events, we approached them as a single national moment, exemplified by our five-column front-page headline coming out of that deadly weekend: “2 cities, 13 hours, 29 deaths” (the death toll later rose to 31). By Monday, The Post had staffers in El Paso, Dallas, Dayton and Mexico City. In the days that followed, our stories covered every aspect of the fallout, including the political and social ramifications as well as the emotional, international, medical and national security impacts. Our coverage drove home the enormity of the moment and the ever-present challenge our nation faces in confronting gun violence. The Post was the first news organization to report that most of the hospitalized victims in El Paso did not want to meet with President Trump; we were the first to interview the Dayton shooter’s girlfriend, who told us “this was expected”; and we were the first to identify his Twitter account, moments before it was shut down. Our staff worked quickly to archive and screenshot the tweets, which showed a penchant for violence and leftist politics. We also put the victims at the center of our coverage, producing a 12-page special section that presented the


Global warming to push billions outside climate range that has sustained society for 6,000 years, study finds

of Africa. However, with projected increases in global average surface temperatures, this area is expected to expand significantly to cover about 19 percent of the global land, home to 3.5 billion people, in 2070. This would not be a huge problem if few people lived in that part of the world, but it happens to be one of the fastest-growing regions on the planet. “It’s a bit unfortunate that most population growth happens to be in the place that will be hardest to live in,” Scheffer said. According to the study, the ideal temperature range for human society is expected to expand toward the poles “in unprecedented ways,” while population growth mainly occurs in developing countries in the tropics and sub-Saharan region, thereby exacerbating the disconnect between how humans will be distributed and the new, much warmer and more extreme climate. The study points to the likelihood of increased climate-induced migration. If a few billion get in trouble because of climate change, Scheffer says, “The people won’t stay where the trouble is.” The study notes multiple uncertainties, mainly concerning decisions made about reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming greenhouse gases, as well as our ability to adapt to a warmer climate. “Populations have avoided stifling hot or freezing temperatures in large numbers, concentrating instead on the goldilocks zones,” said Neil Adger, professor of human geography at the University of Exeter. Adger reviewed an early copy of the study but was not involved in the research itself. “It is likely climatic changes will in effect move large cities and whole countries into temperature niches that present inhabitants would find unimaginable,” he said in an email. “So will cities move? Unlikely. But will they become less attractive destinations for people to move to? Definitely. And ultimately some present cities will stop growing and ossify,” he said. Adger points out that questions remain about economic output in areas that are pushed outside their climate niche, as it is known. “A key unknown is whether labor productivity for outdoor work can adapt to these new niches. Even if plant breeding technologies can solve the temperature tolerance of crops, can technologies help farming practices, which are always labor intensive, to be tolerable?” he said. “Ultimately, we will witness imperceptible shifts that over decades will represent a profound shift in the economic geography of the human world.” John Schellnhuber, director emeritus at the Potsdam


While Brazil’s president fights social distancing, its public health system is fighting the pandemic

be to thank. Here’s what recent research tells us about the SUS. Created in 1989, Brazil’s SUS is one of the largest government-run public health-care systems in the world. Its family health program alone includes 40,000 clinics, employs more than 265,000 community-health-care workers, and serves nearly 67 percent of the population with regular house visits. Because of such programs, Brazil has recorded among the world’s largest improvements in health outcomes in recent decades. The SUS has also suffered from severe funding shortfalls, which worsened significantly after 2016, when conservative politicians backed by private business interests imposed a 20-year freeze on the SUS budget. The result of such austerity measures have been systemic problems that limit Brazil’s coronavirus response capacity. Public hospitals were already short on beds for patients; stocks of medications often run out; and doctors’ appointments often involve long waits. Still, behind the scenes, Brazil’s public health agencies have actively taken measures to combat the epidemic, despite Bolsonaro’s stance. By mid-April, government health-care workers had given flu vaccines to over 90 percent of the nation’s elderly — helping to keep hospital beds and ventilators free while reducing the potential need for coronavirus tests. The SUS provides critical infrastructure for responding to the pandemic with testing, tracing and social isolation. SUS community health workers already pay regular visits to every home in their tract of 75 to 200 households. During visits, they educate people about health and refer sick people to clinics — serving as conduits between doctors and patients and building community trust in the health system. Once reliable tests are widely available, the SUS community health infrastructure can help Brazil take that approach. The SUS has also had a leading international role in fighting covid-19. Along with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Brazil’s Fiocruz national health institute has been designated by the WHO as one of two covid-19 reference centers for the Americas. Thousands of epidemiologists and other specialists, educated across Brazil’s network of 40 public health schools and working across the national epidemiological surveillance system, have been training public health workers across Latin America in covid-19 diagnosis. Brazil’s national public health system exists because of a public health mobilization known as the Sanitarista movement. This movement first emerged in the 1970s, and it brought together a diverse array of activists concerned with extreme inequalities in access to health care, from medical professionals to poor


How international organizations are stepping up to respond to the pandemic

Has the pandemic sidelined multilateral organizations? We’ve seen unilateral border closures and beggar-thy-neighbor fights over medical equipment — and perhaps less news about the coordination and cooperation these organizations were created to foster. The covid-19 pandemic has presented enormous political challenges to global cooperation, and organizations. In April, President Trump announced he would suspend funding to the World Health Organization over allegations of mismanagement. But international organizations play a vital role in the global response, and are still carrying out important tasks — where they can. Key organizations are coordinating international efforts, including airlifting material and medical staff, managing transnational research on the pandemic and sharing essential information and initiating relief funds. Global bureaucracies are acting in the areas where they have most autonomy. But where the political stakes are highest for their members, and where their members have veto power, that cooperation is stalling. Here’s what you need to know. The WHO does more than issue recommendations Even before Trump took aim against the WHO, analysts had criticized the WHO’s handling of the crisis, citing a lack of resolve vis-a-vis China and allegedly politically tainted advice. This criticism reflects the basic dilemmas of being a multilateral organization that has to deal with its membership. Evidence-based recommendations are politically risky when the question of how to obtain evidence — and what to count as evidence — has political implications for powerful members. Countries have been less likely to comply than to complain when the WHO issues recommendations with controversial domestic consequences — for example, on travel restrictions or widespread testing. However, the WHO does a lot more than issue recommendations. It has used its expert network to provide relevant information, issued over 50 pieces of technical guidance, distributed medical equipment and test kits, established a supply chain task force in cooperation with the World Food Programme, and supported countries’ capacities for preparedness and response by raising over $800 million through its Solidarity Response Fund. It also supports transnational research networks that are trying to produce vaccines. The U.N.’s potential is hampered by great power rivalry The U.N. faces similar constraints from powerful member states. The U.N. General Assembly in early April adopted a resolution to ask for “intensified international cooperation” and tasked Secretary General António Guterres to lead the effort. But to date, the U.N. Security Council hasn’t echoed this call. While the Security Council took action against past HIV/AIDS


The Energy 202: It’s not just oil. The coronavirus crisis is hitting solar and wind work, too.

that scales back the number of waterways that are granted federal protections. “Clean water is a fundamental right. It is essential to preserving California’s biodiversity and protecting the health of our children and communities,” California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “We don’t intend to turn back the clock on clean waters.” The states argue the administration’s new rule is unlawful in part because it “Arbitrarily and capriciously reduces and eliminates protections for ephemeral streams, tributaries, adjacent waters, wetlands and other important water resources that significantly affect downstream waters” and “lacks a reasoned explanation or rational basis for changing long-standing policy and practice.” The agency is working on the Forecasting a Continuum of Environmental Threats program, or FACETs, meant to improve weather watches and warnings to provide continuous information. The program will deploy “detailed hazard information through the use of ‘threat grids’ that are monitored and adjusted as new information becomes available,” according to the National Severe Storms Laboratory. “In the current system, a severe thunderstorm warning isn’t issued until a storm meets severe thunderstorm criteria — the capability of producing damaging wind or hail larger than the size of quarters. The same is true with tornado warnings — rotation must be spotted within a storm,” Matthew Cappucci reports. “With more advanced high-resolution computer models, NOAA aims to model individual thunderstorms before they become severe or generate a tornado, issuing warnings based on the forecast of severe weather … There may even come a day when you’ll get a severe thunderstorm or tornado warning while standing beneath a blue sky — awaiting a storm that has yet to develop.” The world’s largest hornet species, whose queens can grow up to two inches long, has arrived in the United States. The Washington State Department of Agriculture is trying to track down the insects, known for invading honeybee hives, after receiving and verifying four reports of the hornet late last year, Marisa Iati reports. A New York Times story on Saturday made the term “murder hornets” trend on Twitter. While the insects will direct aggression toward humans if they are threatened, the “giant hornets are primarily a danger to bees,” she adds. “Scientists are hunting for the insects, whose queens can grow to two inches long, in hopes of rounding them up before they become rooted in the United States and destroy bee populations that are crucial to crop pollination.”


The long war against the coronavirus

The April 28 front-page article “U.S. testing ‘blueprint’ keeps onus on states” outlined the challenges in developing a coronavirus testing strategy. In all the coverage, I have not heard much discussion of the role of primary care providers in the testing and care of the majority of coronavirus patients who do not require hospitalization. At the community health center in the District where I am a nurse practitioner, we counsel most of our patients who call in with covid-19 symptoms or coronavirus exposure to stay home, without bringing them in for testing. A positive test result would not change our management. Having the patient travel to a testing site could expose more people and require valuable personal protective equipment. When we do test, a symptomatic or exposed person with a negative test result receives the same recommendation because the tests can be falsely negative. The daily tallies of people infected likely represent a vast undercount, not just of those who are asymptomatic but also of those who are being cared for by their primary-care providers with phone calls every few days to monitor and manage symptoms, prevent transmission to others, refer to higher levels of care if symptoms become severe, find survival resources while staying home and navigate the return to work. Until we have widespread accessible testing and contact tracing, reliable antibody testing and knowledge about immunity and, ultimately, a vaccine, primary care providers will keep caring for our patients and communities over the phone. Laura Worby Regarding the April 22 There was an outbreak of novel coronavirus infections in the dormitories for migrant workers despite the steps we asked dormitory operators to take since January: ensure safe distancing, step up cleaning, suspend nonessential communal activities, require temperature checks, distribute hand sanitizer and segregate residents from different dormitory blocks. Unfortunately, the measures proved insufficient. Now we must deal with the ongoing outbreak. We must provide workers assurance and health care. This includes testing them extensively, which is reflected in the high number of cases reported. We have set up medical posts in all the dormitories with clusters of infections. All migrant workers with fevers or respiratory symptoms receive timely treatment, including intensive care should they need it, at no charge. Beyond medical care, we cater three meals a day for migrant workers. Government financial support to their employers helps fund their upkeep and ensure that they can continue to


The long war against the coronavirus

find survival resources while staying home and navigate the return to work. Until we have widespread accessible testing and contact tracing, reliable antibody testing and knowledge about immunity and, ultimately, a vaccine, primary care providers will keep caring for our patients and communities over the phone. Laura Worby Regarding the April 22 There was an outbreak of novel coronavirus infections in the dormitories for migrant workers despite the steps we asked dormitory operators to take since January: ensure safe distancing, step up cleaning, suspend nonessential communal activities, require temperature checks, distribute hand sanitizer and segregate residents from different dormitory blocks. Unfortunately, the measures proved insufficient. Now we must deal with the ongoing outbreak. We must provide workers assurance and health care. This includes testing them extensively, which is reflected in the high number of cases reported. We have set up medical posts in all the dormitories with clusters of infections. All migrant workers with fevers or respiratory symptoms receive timely treatment, including intensive care should they need it, at no charge. Beyond medical care, we cater three meals a day for migrant workers. Government financial support to their employers helps fund their upkeep and ensure that they can continue to be paid. We have arranged remittance services and ensured free Internet access so they can stay in touch with friends and family. Community partners counsel workers who need social and emotional support. We are enabling Muslim workers to observe Ramadan and celebrate Eid al-Fitr, just as we celebrated the new year with Indian workers. We feel a deep responsibility to take care of these workers. When the dust has settled, there will be time for a thorough review of what must change and how we could have done better. For now, our focus must be to win the fight against the coronavirus. Ashok Kumar Mirpuri The writer is Singapore’s ambassador to the United States. Regarding the April 22 It is unconscionable that the Trump administration is using the novel coronavirus as a sorry excuse to eviscerate environmental regulations, including those under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The modern CAA, signed into law in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush, is one of the most effective programs and partnerships crafted and has saved hundreds of thousands of lives over three decades. Unfortunately, President Trump is presenting the public with a false choice. We need not relax important federal regulations to tackle


New evidence reinforces the suspicion that Russia was behind the downed MH17 plane

A FAIR amount of detail has been gathered about the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 on July 17, 2014, in eastern Ukraine, which killed all 298 people aboard. The plane was hit by a Russian-made Buk missile launched by the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade based at Kursk, Russia. An investigation has identified four men — three Russians and one Ukrainian — who helped bring the Buk launcher to eastern Ukraine. But a missing piece has been: Who was responsible, and who approved? Russia has for several years insisted it did not shoot down MH17. The Kremlin tried all manner of tricks to lay the blame on Ukraine. The body of evidence, however, clearly points to Russia, and now a new piece of evidence reinforces that suspicion. The open-source investigative group Bellingcat, along with its Russian partner the Insider and the McClatchy Washington Bureau, reports that a high-ranking official of the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB, oversaw the separatists and deployment of the missile. They have identified him as Col. Gen. Andrey Ivanovich Burlaka, chief of the operational staff of the FSB’s Border Service and one of the most senior officers in the FSB, a successor to the Soviet Union’s KGB. The BBC separately reached a similar conclusion. A Dutch-led Joint Investigative Team, including Australia, Malaysia, Belgium and Ukraine, concluded in 2018 that the missile system belonged to a Russian brigade. Then in 2019, the investigative team named the four suspects, who are charged with murder in a trial just getting underway. They are all presumed to be in Russia, which has dismissed the international investigation, saying it is biased against Moscow. The four are to be tried in absentia. But investigators have also appealed for more information about who else was involved. The international investigators and Bellingcat have scrutinized intercepted telephone conversations during the period before and after the shoot-down. Over and over again, they heard reference to a shadowy FSB officer, “Vladimir Ivanovich.” According to Bellingcat, the officer at the start of July 2014 “was already in a crucial role supervising militant activities” in the separatist region “and authorizing the flow of weapons across the border.” This continued until the end of July. The officer, the intercepts show, “played a critical role in the chain of command” between the separatists and the Russian government. Bellingcat identified “Vladimir Ivanovich” as Gen. Burlaka by scrutinizing leaked text messages


The White House is focused on per capita coronavirus death tolls. Here’s where we rank.

The United States has the most confirmed coronavirus cases and the most confirmed coronavirus deaths in the world. This became true weeks ago, and the gap between us and the rest of the world is only growing. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the United States has more than 1.1 million confirmed cases — more than five times that of the next-highest country, Spain, which has about 217,000. We also have more than 68,000 deaths — more than double the next-highest country, Italy, which is at about 29,000. But these numbers can be somewhat misleading. President Trump and the White House in recent weeks have begun playing up not the total number of confirmed cases and deaths but rather the per capita numbers. The United States, they note, has a much larger population than many countries facing significant outbreaks, particularly in Western Europe, and looking at things on a per capita basis pushes us down the list when it comes to the size of the coronavirus outbreak. At times, both Trump and Deborah Birx, one of the leading medical experts on the White House coronavirus task force, have exaggerated these numbers by claiming that the United States has one of the lowest mortality rates in the world. “Our mortality rate remains roughly half of that of many other countries and [is] one of the lowest of any country in the world,” Trump said recently. Birx added that we have “one of the lowest mortality rates in the entire world.” This is not true. Even as we do have a rate significantly lower than some Western European countries dealing with major outbreaks, our rate is higher than the vast majority of other countries — most of which are dealing with many fewer cases. But the substance of the claim is important. And as the U.S. outbreak continues to grow, it’s worth looking at where we stand relative to other countries with large outbreaks. While the United States has the highest number of documented infections and deaths, we have the seventh-most per capita deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins data. When you distill it down to the biggest countries in Western Europe, here’s what the comparison looks like over the past month: As you can see, the per capita death rate in the United States remains far below that of many Western European countries, including Spain, Italy, the United Kingdom and


‘Serology’ is the new coronavirus buzzword. Here’s why it matters.

Marc Lipsitch is a professor of epidemiology and director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “Serology” is the new buzzword in covid-19 epidemiology, for good reason. Widespread tests to determine whether people are “seropositive” — carrying antibodies indicating that they have been infected with the virus — are essential to understanding where we are in the pandemic. But in the rush to generate and interpret serologic data, it can be hard for anyone, including experts, to understand what serologic studies can and cannot teach us. Why are they so important, and what decisions will they inform? If carrying the covid-19 antibody confers immunity, then half to two-thirds of the population must be seropositive before we can expect to control the virus without social distancing, contact tracing or other special measures. New serosurveys appear almost daily. Their widely varying results emphasize the hyperlocal nature of the pandemic. Researchers in Santa Clara, Calif., recently found that 1.5 percent of the county’s population sampled tested positive for the antibodies (the study’s methodology has since been roundly criticized, and a new version of the study attempts to answer those criticisms), while other cities have shown much more widespread evidence of past infection: 21 percent of those tested in New York and nearly a third in Chelsea, Mass. More studies will follow, with a variety of strategies about whom to sample, which test to use and how to analyze the data. New ways to measure antibodies are being invented even as the pandemic unfolds, and disputes about statistical methods that would otherwise seem academic now have consequences for immediate decisions on public health and the economy. Early studies have focused on hot spots of transmission, often to answer an important, narrowly defined question. For example, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital studied seroprevalence in Chelsea because a disproportionate number of infected patients at the hospital lived in Chelsea. The researchers found that one reason for the excess of cases was that the virus really had spread far more widely in Chelsea than other places. Recruitment in serosurveys to date has been through what epidemiologists call a “convenience sample” — testing people out shopping in Chelsea and New York and recruiting through Facebook in Santa Clara. Such surveys can give rapid answers but can’t pin down the exact amount of infection in a location, and those who participate


may not be representative of the whole population. To understand the overall pattern in the U.S. population, larger serologic surveys must cover a wide range of areas, not just hot spots, recruiting a truly representative sample. Testing the same people for antibodies and virus week after week can help answer another question: Do antibodies to the virus signal that a person is protected against further infection, so-called seroprotection? The idea is to follow individuals with and without antibodies, who are otherwise similar (live in the same area, have similar work patterns and otherwise are likely to have similar risks of encountering an infectious person), and find out if those with antibodies have lower rates of contracting the virus than those without. In the best case, maybe those with antibodies are completely protected; more likely, based on experience with other coronaviruses, they will be at lower but not zero risk. As in every epidemiologic study, the challenge in these studies is to separate causal from confounding factors, by ensuring that seropositives (those with detectable antibodies) and the seronegatives (those without) have comparable exposures to viral infection. Many factors, including lack of hand-washing, riding crowded public transportation, job-related exposures, or living in a densely populated neighborhood, could predispose someone both to having antibodies and to getting infected again. If so, this would obscure the protective effect of antibodies; other biases could exaggerate it. Nonetheless, seroprotection studies are needed to enhance scientific understanding of whether high levels of antibody in the population signal high levels of immunity, and to inform “back to work” policies favoring those with antibodies. Epidemiologists are hard at work designing studies to minimize these biases. With careful study design and analysis involving social epidemiologists, we could also start to understand — and try to mitigate — the higher rates of disease in groups that are already disadvantaged. There is a long tradition of “social seroepidemiology”: using serosurveys to understand social, demographic and economic reasons why people get certain infections. Applying this tradition to covid-19 could help us separate out which exposures account for high infection rates among the disadvantaged. That knowledge could help tailor social distancing policies, personal protection and other interventions to reduce these rates. The quality of serologic tests varies widely, and many studies are being set up with the goal of quick answers rather than precision. Quick answers are important, but the next chapter must be


Why the flyovers by the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds angered me

I heard the roar of the jets after I got home from a mind-cleansing eight-mile walk near the National Mall and the Potomac River. Then I saw the tweets about the aeronautical tribute by the legendary Blue Angels and Thunderbirds to health-care workers helping to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Then I saw the posts on social media thrilling over the patriotic gesture. And then I became angry. My anger was not aimed at the pilots of those jets. Nor was it directed at the Pentagon. It was their idea, after all. According to The Post story on April 22 that broke news of the plan, “The mission was conceived by senior military officers in the Pentagon and is meant to be a nonpartisan show of resolve.” A senior military official said, “This is just a sincere thank-you. … It’s one way to acknowledge those who are pitching in.” Wonderful. What angered me was the horrific bungling that made such a noble gesture necessary. President Trump officially announced the plan within hours of the The Post story and said that the flyovers, dubbed Operation America Strong, would occur over several cities. He did this at what used to be the daily briefing of the White House coronavirus task force. By then, Trump had turned them into campaign rallies filled with lies, score settling and tiresome pleas for gratitude that weren’t deserved. And Trump used them to peddle dangerous “cures.” The day after Operation America Strong was announced, Trump wondered aloud, “I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that by injection inside, or almost a cleaning? Because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that. … It sounds interesting to me.” As of this writing, more than 67,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the United States. At least 1.15 million cases have been reported. A disproportionate number of the cases and the deaths are among African Americans. Nursing home residents and staff are sitting ducks for infection. Meat and poultry workers are being forced to work despite high infection rates among fellow employees, thanks to an executive order signed by Trump. Meanwhile, over the past six weeks, more than 30 million Americans who had been working have filed


With virus under control, Australia and New Zealand may form a travel ‘bubble’

HAVELOCK NORTH, New Zealand — With their novel coronavirus outbreaks under control, New Zealand and Australia are discussing forming a "travel bubble" that would allow people to resume international journeys across the Tasman Sea without quarantine restrictions. The move, which is still weeks if not months away, would enable both countries to take a step toward normality and help their tourism industries. It also would serve as a potential template for other governments as they emerge from the crisis. Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, is scheduled to join Australia’s national cabinet meeting, along with Australian state premiers, on Tuesday to discuss the proposal. “Such a meeting is without precedent and highlights . . . the mutual importance of our two countries and economies to each other,” Ardern told reporters Monday. “Both our countries’ strong record of fighting the virus has placed us in the enviable position of being able to plan the next stage in our economic rebuild and to include trans-Tasman travel and engagement in our strategy.” Scott Morrison, Australia’s prime minister, last week suggested that Ardern call into the meeting to discuss the arrangement. The two leaders are from opposite ends of the political spectrum and have clashed previously, but they see eye-to-eye on the coronavirus recovery effort. “If there’s any country in the world with whom we can reconnect with first, undoubtedly that’s New Zealand,” Morrison told reporters last week. Both countries have quickly contained the virus, with a steady decline in new infections to negligible numbers. New Zealand recorded zero new cases on Monday for the first time since it went into a strict lockdown in late March. Its success is based partly on the concept of “bubbles,” which have required New Zealanders to limit contact to a small group of people, usually just their household. Australia’s efforts Both nations closed their borders to noncitizens at the end of March, while allowing Australians and New Zealanders who were residents in the other country to enter. Now there are increasing calls, especially from tourism operators, to allow travel between the two nations, forming an exclusive “bubble.” For the system to work, both governments would have to agree on what to do if coronavirus cases started ticking up again, said University of Otago epidemiologist Michael Baker. “We need to come up with a common definition of what ‘elimination’ means. That might be one of the prerequisites for


The risk of rich countries neglecting poorer ones during the pandemic

Want smart analysis of the most important news in your inbox every weekday, along with other global reads, interesting ideas and opinions to know? The pandemic is not a great leveler. The effects of the outbreak there are legion: Hundreds of millions of migrant and day laborers have already lost or will lose their livelihoods with little recourse to state aid. The flow of migrant remittances — a vital economic lifeline for many developing countries — is expected to thin dramatically. And cash-strapped governments won’t be able to fill the breach. Global poverty is expected to increase this year for the first time in more than two decades. In Europe and the United States, food waste is turning into a critical crisis. But in other parts of the world, hunger stalks the land. Last month, the U.N. World Food Program warned of famines of “biblical” proportions if urgent action is not taken to offset the effects of collapsing economies, snarled trade and shortfalls in humanitarian funding. The U.N. agency predicts that the global population of those facing “acute food insecurity” — essentially, the risk of starvation — could double to 265 million. “When you consider that already, despite our best efforts, 21,000 people die of hunger every single day, the scale of the potential death toll is heart-rending,” David M. Beasley, WFP’s executive director, wrote in The Washington Post last month. He warned of a parallel “hunger pandemic” and underscored the importance of keeping economies in the developing world afloat, even as industrialized nations pour trillions of dollars in stimulus into their own. “We are seeing as we speak the deterioration in the food security of millions of people across the globe,” said Amer Daoudi, the WFP official in charge of its coronavirus response, pointing to “a new category of urban populations sliding” toward hunger and insecurity. Speaking to Today’s WorldView, Daoudi warned that the coronavirus “would be a double whammy” in many of the countries where his agency already operates, overwhelming enfeebled health systems. The United Nations has launched an emergency $2 billion humanitarian response plan for the world’s poorest countries, but donor funds are trickling in too slowly Billions of dollars in funding may also be needed to help poorer countries distribute a future coronavirus vaccine. But these rising costs represent a sliver of what wealthy governments bankrolled for their citizens in the space of a few months.


efforts, 21,000 people die of hunger every single day, the scale of the potential death toll is heart-rending,” David M. Beasley, WFP’s executive director, wrote in The Washington Post last month. He warned of a parallel “hunger pandemic” and underscored the importance of keeping economies in the developing world afloat, even as industrialized nations pour trillions of dollars in stimulus into their own. “We are seeing as we speak the deterioration in the food security of millions of people across the globe,” said Amer Daoudi, the WFP official in charge of its coronavirus response, pointing to “a new category of urban populations sliding” toward hunger and insecurity. Speaking to Today’s WorldView, Daoudi warned that the coronavirus “would be a double whammy” in many of the countries where his agency already operates, overwhelming enfeebled health systems. The United Nations has launched an emergency $2 billion humanitarian response plan for the world’s poorest countries, but donor funds are trickling in too slowly Billions of dollars in funding may also be needed to help poorer countries distribute a future coronavirus vaccine. But these rising costs represent a sliver of what wealthy governments bankrolled for their citizens in the space of a few months. The United States passed a $2 trillion stimulus package, with more aid to come. The response of European governments collectively may reach those figures, too. “It makes you want to wonder, if it’s just a drop in the bucket, why does it get pushed to a side?” Daoudi said. Wealthier governments are seeking to provide support on other fronts. But that doesn’t go far enough, argued Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who called for global creditors to cancel “both official bilateral and commercial debt” for many of these countries so that they can devote resources toward bolstering their economies and societies during the pandemic. “In 2019, 64 countries, nearly half of them in sub-Saharan Africa, spent more on servicing external debt than on health,” he wrote in a New York Times op-ed. “Ethiopia spends twice as much on paying off external debt as on health.” Ahmed framed such relief as a global good. “It is in everybody’s enlightened self-interest that the borrowers be allowed breathing space to get back to relative health,” he wrote. “The benefits of rehabilitation of the economies of the hardest-hit countries will be shared by all of us, just as the consequences of neglect will harm


How Carl Maynard of Walk With Locals would spend a perfect day in D.C.

Baked Joint with my wife and we would have brunch. We would not wait in line. I’m a big fan of the smoked salmon baguette. The fried capers are just … there’s never enough of them on there, even if they would have doubled [the amount] I’d probably say that they needed more. I just love those little things. The baguette is my go to, with a double espresso. From there, assuming we’ve cleaned up, I would then grab my camera and go to the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, that is by far my favorite museum. But I would go to it during the time of “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors.” I was actually deployed to Afghanistan when it first came to the Hirshhorn, so I missed it. I would grab my camera and see the exhibit — but it would be closed, and I’d be the only person there, with my wife there too, of course. Then it would be time for lunch. I would go to the Salt Line at Navy Yard, sit outside and eat oysters. I would also have a really great glass of sweet tea. We would ride bikes through the city without having to use the bike lanes, because there would be no traffic that day. That’s actually my dream day: no cars allowed on the road. We’d eventually make our way to Georgetown and go to Baked & Wired. Baked & Wired was the first cup of coffee that I had when I moved to D.C. I would get a cupcake, and I wouldn’t share it. And I would probably get an iced coffee. After a cupcake at Baked & Wired, I would head to Reverie a couple blocks away [and get] their burger as a predinner snack. You see, the cupcake is post-bike ride fuel. Up until dinner, I would go and hang out at Meridian Hill Park near the fountain, and the water would be on — which one can only dream of. It would be a drum circle day. Maybe I’d have a book, maybe not. But certainly I would love to just lie down on that ledge that overlooks the fountain while the drum circle is going on. When it comes time for the evening, I would go and get dinner at the Dabney in Blagden Alley. It’s my favorite restaurant in the city. My wife would be there,


Florida grasshopper sparrow will probably go extinct. A conservation effort may be the last hope.

their species. Biologists are tracking the sparrows’ every move with the help of the transmitters. They’re watching their courtships, listening to songs for clues on how they are doing, putting two-foot-high fences around their nests for protection and waiting to see the tiny white speckled eggs that would signal success. “No one’s ever done this before,’’ said Paul Gray, science coordinator with Audubon Florida, one of the partners. “We’re in completely new territory.’’ The sparrow project does indeed chart a new path in biological engineering, which goes beyond traditional conservation measures of preserving habitat, putting laws into place to protect troubled birds and studying their declines. It’s also part of a wider push by researchers to use their growing knowledge of birds — the most studied branch of wildlife — in complex interventions to counteract habitat loss and climate change. In the Southeast, biologists are installing the reproductions of the cavities red-cockaded woodpeckers need to provide homes for and protect the endangered birds. Off the coast of Maine, researchers have lured Atlantic puffins to a remote island to rebuild communities of the exotic seagoing birds. Their tools included decoys and mirrors that fooled the first puffins into thinking they were part of an existing colony. In one of the most sophisticated interventions, scientists in Hawaii are trying to save endangered birds by sterilizing mosquitoes that spread deadly avian malaria throughout the islands. Most of the projects are still underway, so full results aren’t in. But researchers say creative solutions like these may be the best option for protecting threatened species. The grasshopper sparrow is the case they are following most closely. The Florida grasshopper sparrow is a living symbol of the unique grassland called the Florida prairie defining it by its song and presence, and it is part of the state’s avian culture. It sits at the baseline of the balance of nature, eating insects and grasshoppers — hence its name — and in turn being consumed by a variety of predators. For decades, the small, reclusive sparrow subspecies was in a slow decline as the state’s rapid development consumed 90 percent of the prairie land. In the early 2000s, the number of grasshopper sparrows across central Florida began a startling drop. “The populations took a dive,’’ said Mary Peterson, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s lead sparrow researcher. “We really needed to do something.’’ The list of suspects out


How the coronavirus is creating other threats for addicts

a prescription, however, doesn’t eliminate all problems. Although restrictions have been eased to allow stable patients in opioid treatment programs to receive as many as 28 days’ worth of doses to be taken home, many clinics refuse to dispense more than one dose at a time. Crowded conditions and long lines have been reported across the country, precisely the risky type of situation that social-distancing measures seek to avoid. Users motivated to seek treatment or to minimize risks related to their addiction have limited options. Although drug overdose fatalities declined 5.1 percent from 2017 to 2018, opioid overdoses are still at crisis levels. Using alone increases the odds of fatality if the person overdoses. Pandemic measures have limited access to resources that might reduce risk, such as needle-exchange and safe-injection sites, or the overdose-reversing drug Narcan (naloxone). In Texas and Indiana, first responders recently stopped carrying naloxone and have been instructed to maintain a distance of six feet from overdose victims, reportedly to reduce potential exposure to the coronavirus. A recent Indiana policy change considers treatment of an overdose with naloxone probable cause for a police investigation. This practice is likely to deter addicts from seeking medical treatment in an emergency or carrying something that could save their life. Historically, mental health and substance-abuse issues have surged after disasters. The viral outbreak and self-isolation trigger stress and fear that could be particularly difficult for recovering addicts. Support groups, though helpful, do not have the proven efficacy of medication, and many people prefer in-person contact to remote connections. Just 11 percent of the more than 21 million Americans struggling with substance abuse received needed treatment in 2018, the Association of American Medical Colleges reported in December, and only 1,883 physicians are certified in addiction medicine. Most care is provided by counselors without medical qualifications and no standard training or requirements. Medically assisted treatment is offered in only about a third of rehabs. The opioid crisis cannot be resolved by restricting and stigmatizing the antidote. A 2019 Journal of the American Medical Association article predicted 82,000 annual opioid overdose deaths from 2016 through 2025, or about 700,000 such fatalities, barring substantial changes to policies for treatment and harm reduction. Access to a coronavirus vaccine or a cure for covid-19 would not be limited. Why are the most effective remedies to another national health emergency being restricted? Read more Jim Carroll: Here’s how


Carlos DeLeon was cleared for early release. He died of covid-19 before it could happen.

This story is part of “ Carlos DeLeon was hoping to enter a halfway house — approved for early release after a year in prison for illegally possessing a firearm. Instead, the 63-year-old left prison last month for the hospital. By the time his sister got to say “I love you” over video, she says, he was comatose with a tube down his throat. “I’m going to die in here,” Milagros DeLeon recalled him telling another sister more than a week before he went to the hospital, saying he was feverish and seeking outside treatment. Carlos DeLeon was the first Connecticut inmate to die of the coronavirus. To Milagros DeLeon, her brother was a handyman who loved to collect junk off the street, a joker who she said kidded around with the medical staff while he could still speak. He was also a smoker with chronic breathing difficulties, according to family — and that made him especially vulnerable to the virus turning correctional centers around the country into deadly hot spots. Milagros said she called a reporter after her brother’s death, wanting people to know that the anonymous Connecticut inmate had a name and a family. Soon protesters were shouting about Carlos outside the Bridgeport Correctional Center in his city, demanding changes. Milagros said she drove by and cried. “You get so numb,” she said. “Like you just want to … just lift up a rock and go under and hide.” The Connecticut Department of Correction said an inmate who died April 13, and whose identity it was not disclosing, was tested for the coronavirus on April 6 and taken to UConn Health on April 8, a day before his positive result came back. Corrections officials said they are taking extensive precautions during the pandemic and “immediately” removing people with symptoms from the inmate population, as well as testing them. Gov. Ned Lamont (D) has said the state is releasing nonviolent inmates faster “than we have in a long time.” Spokeswoman Karen Martucci said Thursday that the department’s measures to combat the coronavirus include a pause on visitors, temperature checks for staff before they enter facilities and separating inmates. Staff and prisoners are required to wear provided masks, she said, though she did not immediately clarify when this took effect. The American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, which is suing for increased social distancing and vulnerable inmates’ release, argued last


Maryland Coach Michael Locksley adding Instagram show, ‘domestic experience’ during pandemic

Various groups — from the athletic trainers to the equipment staff — provide updates to keep the program running smoothly. In the afternoons, players join the calls, meeting as they would with their units in the team facility. Locksley’s evenings consist of recruiting calls, and even during this time, the Terps have climbed to 13th in 247 Sports’ national recruiting rankings for next year’s class. Twice a week, Locksley hosts an Instagram Live show called “Late Night with Locks,” on which he has had guests such as Scott Van Pelt, an anchor for ESPN’s “SportsCenter” and a Maryland graduate; former Maryland players Stefon Diggs and Vernon Davis; quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, whom Locksley coached at Alabama; and professional athletes from local teams. Here’s a look at how Locksley’s life beyond football has changed during the pandemic. Q. What have you added to your daily routine? A. If you’re asking your players to do certain things, then as coaches, we need to lead by example. I’ve taken on the challenge of developing a workout plan and being on schedule. I wake up in the morning, I usually do some form of cardio or lifting six days out of the week. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday is lifting with a little cardio. And then Monday, Wednesday, Friday is cardio. I’ve also embarked on a second life in the media field, where I do a show on Tuesdays and Fridays on my Instagram Live. We call it “Late Night with Locks.” I bring on former players, all things DMV-related — whether it’s artists, Caps, Wizards, Ravens, Orioles — to create some content that keeps us in the forefront with these recruits in this area since we have their undivided attention and there’s not a lot of things they can be doing. We’re trying to stay relevant in that space to show the power of what the Maryland relationships are all about. Q. Who’s helping you with your workout plan? A. One of my close friends is a personal trainer — Myron Flowers, who works over at the St. James facility [in Springfield, Va.]. Luckily for me, I have a gym here at the house that I’m able to go in. He has the ability to keep me accountable to getting up and doing it. He’s been really persistent. I’ve been really consistent and haven’t missed a day of training. Q. Who are your most ambitious picks


Venezuelan government says it stopped ‘invasion’ launched from Colombia

purpose was the “assassination of leaders of the revolutionary government.” U.S. officials expressed skepticism. “The Maduro regime has been consistent in its use of misinformation in order to shift focus from its mismanagement of Venezuela,” the State Department said in a statement. Venezuelan authorities said they confiscated 10 rifles, one Glock 9mm pistol and two AFAG machine guns. Images on television showed a pile of documents including ID cards, bank cards and an orthodontist’s receipt. Diosdado Cabello, president of the Maduro-controlled National Constituent Assembly, said eight people had been killed and two arrested, including, an “agent” of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. “Behind all of this is the United States, the Colombian oligarchy and narcotrafficking,” Cabello said. The Colombian government denied that an “invasion” had originated in Colombia. Cabello claimed that one of the people killed in the operation was Robert Colina, a military operative linked to Alcalá known as Pantera — Panther. Cabello blamed the “right wing,” but neither he nor other government officials immediately accused Guaidó or his opposition movement. Alemán said Sunday’s operation was conducted without the knowledge of Guaidó or other senior opposition officials. He said they had been briefed last year on the broad outlines of the effort but did not endorse it. The Colombian camps — described by several people familiar with them as rudimentary — were established after Guaido’s failed uprising last year. Senior opposition officials say they dismissed Alcalá’s effort as haphazard and unlikely to yield results, and in addition feared it had been infiltrated by Maduro’s agents. Colombian authorities, meanwhile, did not take them seriously until the March seizure of a truckload of weapons destined for the camps. Before Alcalá was taken into Colombian custody in connection with the U.S. charges, he said in an interview with Colombian radio that the weapons were meant to be used in an operation near the border “against the Maduro dictatorship.” He has not specifically acknowledged the existence of the camps. Guaidó did not immediately comment on Sunday’s events. Some in the mainstream opposition said Maduro’s government might have staged a fake operation for propaganda purposes. Iván Simonovis, Guaido’s security commissioner, denied any involvement by Guaido’s “interim government.” “If there are any bodies, I suspect they killed people elsewhere and brought the bodies to the coast,” Simonovis said. “I mean, a helmet with a U.S. flag? Come on. This is some kind of childish game.”


Maryland Gov. Hogan resists pressure to reopen quickly as coronavirus deaths, infections rise throughout Washington region

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) on Sunday pushed back against pressure to lift his stay-at-home order, saying he respects the rights of demonstrators who gathered over the weekend to protest the restrictions but that it is too soon to safely reopen the state. Hogan pointed to the crowds of people gathered at the Mall and in other public spaces to enjoy the weekend's temperate spring weather as cause for concern — an example of why he is reluctant to immediately lift measures designed to contain the deadly coronavirus. “You see this happening around the country as states try to open in a safe way,” Hogan said during an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union.” He continued: “Unfortunately, the pressure is to do it in a not-safe way, and that’s something that we’re very concerned about and one of the reasons we’re being cautious, and trying to do things in a slow, safe and effective manner.” Maryland, Virginia and the District reported 85 additional covid-19 deaths, along with 2,148 new coronavirus infections. As of Sunday, the region had recorded a total of 2,192 deaths and 49,149 confirmed cases of the virus. In Virginia, there were 44 new deaths reported overnight for a total of 660. Fairfax County saw its highest single-day increase with 31 fatalities, bringing its death toll from the virus to 184. More than 700 residents in the county have been hospitalized with covid-19. John Silcox, a spokesman for the Fairfax County Health Department, said the spike reported Sunday was the result of deaths that occurred throughout the month of April but were not confirmed as covid-19-related until recently. In a message to residents, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff C. McKay (D-At Large) warned that the county is “in the exponential growth phase of our epidemic curve” and said residents could expect to see cases and deaths increase for several more weeks. He also noted, however, that known infections in Fairfax, as in other jurisdictions, were growing because of increased testing. D.C. officials reported 11 new deaths Sunday, bringing the toll in the nation’s capital to 251. In Maryland, an additional 30 deaths were reported, including 13 in Montgomery County. Prince George’s County added eight new deaths. A total of 1,281 people statewide have succumbed to the disease. On a positive note, for the third consecutive day the number of covid-19 patients hospitalized statewide in Maryland


decreased. As of Sunday, there were 1,635 patients in the hospital, the lowest number in five days. Residents across the Washington region have been locked down since late March. Hogan has released a plan that outlines how to reopen the state in three stages and has estimated that the first phase could happen in early May. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam As of Friday, Northam had lifted a ban on non-emergency procedures for doctors, dentists and veterinarians. Hogan, Northam and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) have said any reopening of the region would be a coordinated effort. Hogan has said he won’t consider lifting stay-at-home measures until the state sees either a consistent plateau or downward trend in new hospitalizations and new intensive care unit patients. Even so, he and leaders in other states continue to face pressure from some corners to reopen more quickly. On Saturday, a modest crowd of residents frustrated by the prolonged social distancing restrictions held a rolling “Reopen Maryland” protest from Frederick to Salisbury. Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) gave the keynote speech and likened Hogan’s restrictions on church gatherings to the autocratic regimes of China and North Korea. “Everybody has a right to protest and express their feelings,” Hogan said in response, during his CNN appearance Sunday. “Sadly, we had far more people die yesterday in Maryland than we had protesters.” Separately, a coalition of Maryland religious leaders, business owners and state lawmakers have filed a federal lawsuit, asking a judge in Baltimore to intervene to block Hogan’s restrictions on certain businesses and religious gatherings. In the court filing, four of Hogan’s fellow Republicans say the governor is picking and choosing which businesses can continue to thrive during the pandemic, while violating the constitutional rights of individuals to gather to worship or engage in political speech. Big box stores such as Lowe’s and Walmart “are permitted to have hundreds of cars and people because the Governor chose them to be ‘essential’ businesses. However, under the same orders a church may not have anyone in its buildings with limited exceptions for ‘virtual’ services,” according to the filing from Dels. Daniel L. Cox (Frederick), Warren E. Miller (Howard), Neil C. Parrott (Washington), and Robin L. Grammer Jr. (Baltimore County). The religious leaders involved in the lawsuit say their congregations do not have the equipment to broadcast worship services online or to host drive-in services, and that many


Young and middle-aged people, barely sick with covid-19, are dying of strokes

number of other emergencies fell. More than half of were covid-19 positive. It isn’t just the number of patients that was unusual. The first wave of the pandemic has hit the elderly and those with heart disease, diabetes, obesity or other preexisting conditions disproportionately. The covid-19 patients treated for stroke at Mount Sinai were younger and mostly without risk factors. On average, the covid-19 stroke patients were 15 years younger than stroke patients without the virus. “These are people among the least likely statistically to have a stroke,” Mocco said. Mocco, who has spent his career studying strokes and how to treat them, said he was “completely shocked” by the analysis. He noted the link between covid-19 and stroke “is one of the clearest and most profound correlations I’ve come across.” “This is much too powerful of a signal to be chance or happenstance,” he said. In a letter to be published in the New England Journal of Medicine next week, the Mount Sinai team details five case studies of young patients who had strokes at home from March 23 to April 7. They make for difficult reading: The victims’ ages are 33, 37, 39, 44 and 49, and they were all home when they began to experience sudden symptoms, including slurred speech, confusion, drooping on one side of the face and a dead feeling in one arm. One died, two are still hospitalized, one was released to rehabilitation, and one was released home to the care of his brother. Only one of the five, a 33-year-old woman, is able to speak. Oxley, the interventional neurologist, said one striking aspect of the cases is how long many waited before seeking emergency care. The 33-year-old woman was previously healthy but had a cough and headache for about a week. Over the course of 28 hours, she noticed her speech was slurred and that she was going numb and weak on her left side but, the researchers wrote, “delayed seeking emergency care due to fear of the covid-19 outbreak.” It turned out she was already infected. By the time she arrived at the hospital, a CT scan showed she had two clots in her brain and patchy “ground glass” in her lungs — the opacity in CT scans that is a hallmark of covid-19 infection. She was given two different types of therapy to try to break up the clots and by


‘Until we are shut down, we are here’: The coronavirus hits Mexico’s informal economy

need food. So we haven’t been affected so badly, but we will be affected. I am sure of it.” One thing that doesn’t scare many: the virus itself. I heard a variety of theories ranging from religious proclamations of protection to the idea that if you eat healthy and exercise, the virus can’t really hurt you. I walked laps around the market and saw the majority of vendors wearing masks, though some with the mask looped around their chin or covering just their mouth. It was near-impossible to maintain six feet between people, and it seemed as though most people weren’t invested in the effort. A few days ago, the market put restrictions on the number of people who can enter. Benjamín López, who has worked in the market for 27 years, said he wears his face mask when he leaves the market but doesn’t need it here. “People are really afraid. I think what they need more than anything is information, real information.” As Mexico’s president continues to face criticism over his slow initial response and dismissive attitude, the country’s health official taking the lead on covid-19 recently said that the country likely has eight times as many cases of coronavirus than are being reported. Public hospitals are already facing shortages of personal protective equipment. And even Mexico’s $17 billion medical device industry ramps up production of ventilator components and hospital beds, very few will stay behind — López Obrador acknowledged recently that there were only 5,000 ventilators in the country. The products, manufactured largely in factories run by U.S. corporations, will land in almost every hospital in the United States. Very few will remain in Mexico In La Dalia, Javier Sánchez shaved corn off the cob. At the stall he runs with his brother Juan, there is no talk of virus phases or strain on the public health-care system. Neither expresses personal concern about the virus, but Juan says their elderly mother is worried about them and is asking God to protect her sons each day. “There is really no other way for us,” Juan said. “So we are here. Until we are shut down, we are here. Maybe we’ll see you again soon?” Read more: León Krauze: Mexico is not ready for the coronavirus. Just look at AMLO’s behavior. Rosana Pinheiro-Machado: Bolsonaro is endangering Brazil. He must be impeached. The Post’s View: A failure of leadership in


The Health 202: Social distancing hasn’t been as effective in stemming U.S. coronavirus deaths as policymakers had hoped.

and other public areas. Nonetheless, a new Washington Post-University of Maryland poll out this morning shows sizable majority of Americans oppose the reopening of restaurants, retail stores and businesses. Executive producer of 7News WHDH in Boston: Social distancing did accomplish some important objectives. It undoubtedly saved the health-care system from being crushed by an overwhelming caseload of sick patients all at once. And the United States is still outranked by half a dozen European countries when it comes to deaths per capita. New cases and deaths across the whole U.S. are about where they were 20 days ago, my colleague Philip Bump reports. He created a graphic where you can view the three-day averages of cases, deaths and tests performed by state (check it out here). “The back of the mountain doesn’t look the way the front did,” Philip writes. “We saw a steady, exponential rise in confirmed cases and deaths each day for several weeks. But particularly with daily case totals, the period after the peak nationally has looked more like a plateau than a downward slide.” Daily cases appear to be rising significantly in Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota and Virginia. Andy Slavitt, former head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: “There are so many emerging areas still throughout the country that our group has been trying to wave our hands about,” Marynia Kolak, a health and spatial data science researcher at the University of Chicago, told me. Kolak and her colleagues are tracking covid-19 cases and deaths at the county level. They’ve been increasingly spotting clusters of the disease in rural areas. One example: Five counties in Minnesota with significant meat-processing plants. State officials said about a quarter of cases reported over the weekend came from those counties. One is Nobles County, home to a JBS USA pork processing plant in Worthington, with a population of around 22,000. It is scheduled to partially reopen this week, under an order by Trump to keep meat plants open. The outbreaks in counties with meat-processing plants “illustrates how powerfully situations can change at the community level,” said Jan Malcolm, commissioner of Minnesota’s Department of Health. Malcolm stressed how hard it is to stem the spread of the virus in these types of facilities. “These are particularly challenging investigations,” Malcolm said. “Many of the workers involved don’t have phones, don’t provide phone numbers, aren’t answering calls. It’s been a very


Biden decries pandemic’s effects on black and Latino communities

group. The efforts are part of a broader push by Democrats to draw a contrast between the ways Trump’s policies are affecting nonwhite communities at a time of crisis and what Biden says he would do differently. In the fall, turnout among black and Hispanic voters could be pivotal in swing states such as Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Arizona. Biden has close ties to the African American community, a relationship that was critical to his victory in the Democratic primary race, but he has struggled somewhat to cement his support among Latino voters. He made his pitch as he is trying to move beyond an allegation by a former Senate aide that he sexually assaulted her in 1993. Biden has vigorously denied the accusation by the former aide, Tara Reade, but it has attracted attention that threatens to eclipse his proposals and message. The expected nominee has remained at his home in Delaware as the pandemic sweeps across the country, speaking in online events that often focus on the virus. Last week, he talked with a nurse who works in an intensive care unit. His campaign also enlisted Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) to help highlight issues with Trump’s response to the crisis. Trump has faced criticism of his handling of the pandemic, and recent polls show Biden leading in crucial battlegrounds. Downballot, Democratic candidates have gained steam, causing some Republicans to worry that their Senate majority is at risk. Biden has regularly zeroed in on the pandemic’s impact on the most vulnerable people, including front-line workers and immigrants. On Monday, he proposed cost-free treatment for covid-19 — regardless of immigration or insurance status — and a $13-an-hour minimum pay hike for front-line workers. “There’s so much we can change,” said Biden, who knocked Trump for what he called “malarkey” that casts immigrants as a problem. “We are strong because of that population,” Biden said. Trump and his supporters, despite the intense anger his response has caused among many Americans and the documented dysfunction within his administration, have regularly touted what they call his enormous success in tackling the pandemic, arguing that the White House response has been fast, effective and fair. A Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of early data released last month suggested that covid-19, the illness caused by the virus, was disproportionately affecting groups of color. Biden faced criticism during the primary contest from some Latino