SUMMARY: President Biden on Thursday marked the U.S. nearing one million lives lost due to the pandemic and called on Congress to pass funding for more COVID relief. The pandemic has claimed more than 6 million lives worldwide, though WHO estimates the real toll tops 15 million deaths tied to the virus.Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden’s chief medical adviser, joins Amna Nawaz to discuss.
SUMMARY:As we approach the tragic milestone of 1 million deaths from COVID-19 in the U.S. we wanted to bring you reflections from some of the people we’ve met over the past two years of this pandemic. A paramedic, a nurse, a single mom, a sister, a daughter, a student -- all facing their own challenges and carrying their own hopes for what comes next.
SUMMARY:Each day the Twitter thread “Faces Of COVID” posts the names, images and a short remembrance of Americans who have died from COVID-19. The project was started by Boston-based communications consultant Alex Goldstein, who has posted more than 7,000 remembrances since starting the feed in March 2020. Geoff Bennett recently spoke with Goldstein to learn more.
SUMMARY: COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are rising again in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] has labeled it a "pandemic of the unvaccinated," warning of the delta variant. President Joe Biden also warned Monday to beware of misinformation. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases [NIH], joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.
SUMMARY:The White House is issuing urgent calls to action Thursday in the face of COVID-19's latest assault, especially given the dangerous delta variant of the virus. The Biden administration's appeals for Americans to get vaccinated come amid talks of re-imposing restrictions. Amna Nawaz reports.
SUMMARY: Amna Nawaz and U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy dive deeper into the Biden administration's efforts to combat the delta variant of the novel coronavirus and surrounding misinformation, public masking requirements and vaccination efforts amid the rise of COVID-19 cases.
SUMMARY: Since the pandemic began, children have largely been spared from severe illness and hospitalization. But nearly a year and a half later, the number of adolescent COVID cases is rising. While rare, for many it includes debilitating symptoms that can drag on for months. Black and Latino children have been especially impacted. Special correspondent Sarah Varney reports.
SUMMARY: There have been more than 40 million Pfizer and Moderna vaccine doses delivered around the U.S. thus far, with more than half of those administered. But while the pace has increased, the rates of vaccination vary widely by states and counties.Dr. Jennifer Kates, senior Vice President and Director of Global Health at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, joins Amna Nawaz to discuss.
SUMMARY:President Biden is moving on new fronts in his latest spate of policy actions Tuesday that include boosting COVID vaccine supplies and addressing racial equity. Biden's actions come as the U.S. Senate gears up to put his predecessor on trial. Lisa Desjardins and Yamiche Alcindor report.
SUMMARY:By one count nursing homes and assisted-living facilities account for about 6 percent of COVID cases but 40 percent of virus-related deaths. Now some state officials are worried vaccinations are moving on to other parts of the populations before long-term care residents and staff are inoculated. David Grabowski, health care policy professor at Harvard Medical School, joins John Yang to discuss.
SUMMARY:A recent analysis by Kaiser Health News finds Black and Latino citizens are getting vaccines at significantly lower rates in many states. This is especially worrying given disparities in COVID-19 death rates, with Black, Indigenous and Latino people dying at much higher rates than white people. Dr. Mysheika Roberts, Public Health Commissioner of Columbus [Public Health], Ohio, joins Stephanie Sy to discuss.
SUMMARY: More than 25 million shots of a COVID vaccine have been given out, or about 8 doses for every 100 people. But the process can be difficult and overwhelming. Here's a sampling of what some Americans say they are facing as they attempt to get vaccinated.
SUMMARY:There are now several troubling variants of the coronavirus circulating, and a few seem to make the virus more contagious. One variant , the United Kingdom strain, is also more likely to make people sick or to kill them. The CDC believes that strain will become dominant in the U.S. as soon as March. William Brangham reports on what experts say about avoiding exposure.
SUMMARY:New vaccines created by Johnson & Johnson and Novavax are showing promising results in reducing illness caused by the coronavirus, though they were less effective than other vaccines and against some virus variants, which are causing growing concerns. White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor reports.
SUMMARY: The drive to get more coronavirus vaccines into more arms is gaining momentum, with two new COVID vaccines possibly accelerating the effort. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH and a top adviser to President Biden on the pandemic, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the efficacy of the new vaccines and preparing for the virus variants.
SUMMARY: Fourth of July celebrations in many parts of the United States were muted this year, overshadowed by a virus spreading with alarming speed. The national death toll from COVID-19 has surpassed 130,000, and hospitals in the South and West particularly are struggling to keep up with the demand for urgent care. Still, some Americans oppose shutdowns and mask requirements. William Brangham reports.
SUMMARY: For months, it's been clear that the pandemic is taking a disproportionate toll on people of color. Now, new data quantifies the disparities, showing that African American and Latinx people are nearly three times as likely to contract COVID-19 as white Americans and twice as likely to die from it. Amna Nawaz talks to Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo of the University of California, San Francisco.
SUMMARY:With the U.S. economy in shambles due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, Latina workers have suffered the worst job losses, with 19 percent reporting being unemployed in May. Latinx Americans are also among the groups most likely to contract COVID-19 -- and to die from it. We spoke to several Latina women, including two undocumented immigrants, about their experiences of the past few months.
SUMMARY: Recent headlines out of Hong Kong have focused on politics, with the imposition of a controversial new national security law from Beijing. But on the public health front, Hong Kong has been a coronavirus success story, suffering much less infection and death than was expected considering the semi-autonomous city’s high population density and proximity to China. Nick Schifrin reports.
SUMMARY: In Britain, pubs reopened over July 4th weekend after nearly three months of coronavirus lockdowns. Patrons expressed their desire to get out and socialize after the long period of isolation, and business owners took special precautions to prepare. But many revelers ignored appeals for social distancing, and police had to disperse drunken crowds. Special correspondent Malcolm Brabant reports.
SUMMARY: Coronavirus infections are on the rise in 42 states, with the national total passing the 3 million mark. In the hardest-hit areas, including parts of Florida, intensive care units are filled to the brim with patients, and communities are grappling with testing shortages and delays. But some officials, including President Trump, are downplaying the crisis and pushing to reopen. John Yang reports.
SUMMARY: Parents across the U.S. are wondering what the next school year will hold for their children. While reopening decisions will ultimately be up to state and local officials, President Trump said Tuesday he'll pressure governors to resume in-person classes. Judy Woodruff talks to Noel Candelaria of the Texas State Teachers Association and Elliot Haspel an education policy expert and former teacher.
SUMMARY:During this coronavirus pandemic, we hear repeatedly from public health officials to stay at home. But many Americans don’t have stable housing -- and now, a growing number of people are being forced out of where they live because they can’t pay the rent. William Brangham reports on the causes and consequences of a national rise in evictions.
SUMMARY: President Trump will welcome the president of Mexico to the White House on Wednesday. The country has more than 215,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the second-highest total in Latin America. More than 20,000 deaths have been recorded from the pandemic in Mexico -- but its government admits the number is a major undercount. Nick Schifrin reports on Mexico’s failures to contain the coronavirus.
SUMMARY:The summer surge of COVID-19 is raising more and more questions about reopening schools this fall. That issue was at the forefront today, even as daily deaths nationwide rose to nearly 1,000, the most in weeks. White House correspondent Yamiche Alcindor begins our coverage.
SUMMARY:Coronavirus cases in Florida, Arizona and South Carolina are increasing faster than in any other country in the world, reigniting the debate over American exceptionalism. Nick Schifrin talks to former Mexican foreign minister Jorge Castaneda, former Hungarian ambassador to the U.S. Réka Szemerkényi, and Maina Kiai a human rights and anti-corruption lawyer previously with the United Nations.
SUMMARY: Since the earliest days of the coronavirus pandemic, public health experts have emphasized that having an efficient system for wide-scale testing was key to bringing the COVID-19 outbreak under control. But in reality, virus testing in the United States has consistently missed the mark. William Brangham talks to Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
SUMMARY: The rising number of coronavirus infections in the U.S. proves the pandemic is far from abating. New cases are setting single-day records in several states and declining in only two. While the nation’s top medical officials say states should pause reopening in order to control virus spread, the Trump administration insists schools should resume as normal this fall. Yamiche Alcindor reports.
SUMMARY:Of the nation’s roughly 130,000 coronavirus deaths, more than 40,000 have occurred in nursing homes. But one facility in Maryland has had zero COVID-19 cases so far -- despite serving one of the most at-risk populations. Rev. Derrick DeWitt, director of the Maryland Baptist Aged Home, joins Amna Nawaz to discuss his facility’s proactive approach, systemic racism and a lack of federal leadership.
SUMMARY: The coronavirus pandemic is exacting a devastating toll on families and communities across the United States. Each week, we want to remember some of the tens of thousands of lives we have lost. Judy Woodruff shares five more stories.
SUMMARY: The U.S. has set another record for daily new coronavirus infections -- as it has on six out of the past 10 days. Texas logged 10,000 new cases Thursday, and hospitals in Florida are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. With no signs of improvement in infection rates, more states are again implementing restrictions such as mask requirements and business shutdowns. Lisa Desjardins reports.
For months, Anthony S. Fauci has played a lead role in America’s coronavirus pandemic, as a diminutive, Brooklyn-accented narrator who has assessed the risk and issued increasingly blunt warnings as the nation’s response has gone badly awry.
But as the Trump Administration has strayed from the advice of many of its scientists and public health experts, the White House has moved to sideline Fauci, scuttled some of his planned TV appearances and largely kept him out of the Oval Office for more than a month even as coronavirus infections surge in large swaths of the country.
In recent days, the 79-year-old scientist and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has found himself directly in the president’s crosshairs. During a Fox News interview Thursday with Sean Hannity, Trump said Fauci “is a nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes.” And when Greta Van Susteren asked him last week about Fauci’s assessment that the country was not in a good place, Trump said flatly: “I disagree with him.”
Fauci no longer briefs Trump and is “never in the Oval [Office] anymore,” said a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Fauci last spoke to the president during the first week of June, according to a person with knowledge of Trump’s calendar.
For some administration officials, such developments have been an early sign their job was on the line. But Trump cannot directly fire Fauci, a career civil servant with more than 50 years in government service who enjoys strong bipartisan support in Congress. In any case, the President has no plans to get rid of him, said the official.
As for Fauci himself, although he is frustrated by the turmoil and the state of the outbreak, friends say he has no plans to abandon his post, which includes a critical role in the development of a coronavirus vaccine and treatments.
Fauci has found other ways to get his message out, from online Facebook chats to podcasts and print media interviews. And in recent days, with coronavirus cases slamming hospitals in the South and West, he has been frankly critical of the U.S. response — and implicitly, of the President.
“As a country, when you compare us to other countries, I don’t think you can say we’re doing great. I mean, we’re just not,” Fauci said in a podcast interview with FiveThirtyEight last week.
Fauci did not respond to requests to be interviewed for this story.
A White House official released a statement saying that “several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr. Fauci has been wrong on things” and included a lengthy list of the scientist’s comments from early in the outbreak. Those included his early doubt that people with no symptoms could play a significant role in spreading the virus — a notion based on earlier outbreaks that the novel coronavirus would turn on its head. They also point to public reassurances Fauci made in late February, around the time of the first U.S. case of community transmission, that “at this moment, there is no need to change anything that you’re doing on a day-by-day basis.”
Fauci’s supporters acknowledge those early mistakes, attributing them to the challenges posed by a new, largely unknown pathogen. They agree he downplayed the possibility of the virus spreading from person to person in January and early February even as it quietly seeded itself in communities on the East and West coasts. And, like several other public health officials, he initially said the public shouldn’t wear masks, but now strongly recommends it, especially when individuals can’t maintain distances of at least six feet from other people.
Fauci has said he was worried early in the outbreak about a shortage of masks and wanted to reserve them for health care workers. And he has said from the start that scientists’ knowledge of a brand new virus would evolve and recommendations could change based on new information.
The tension between the White House and Fauci was on full display last Sunday, when CBS host Margaret Brennan told millions of viewers that “Face the Nation” had tried for three months to interview him.
White House communications officials, who must approve television appearances related to the coronavirus, responded by allowing Fauci spots this week on PBS NewsHour, a CNN Town Hall with Sanjay Gupta, and NBC’s “Meet the Press” during the prime Sunday morning slot, according to one person familiar with the situation.
Then Fauci joined a Facebook Live event on Tuesday with Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), disputing Trump’s assertions that a lower death rate showed the country’s progress against the pandemic. Fauci called it “a false narrative” and warned, “Don’t get yourself into false complacency.”
Fauci did not end up making any of the scheduled appearances. The White House canceled them after his Tuesday remarks, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to relate behind-the-scenes conversations.
The episode underscores the deteriorating relationship between a scientist and a President who once bonded over their shared New York City roots and love of sports, but whose rapport has long since disintegrated over their differences on face mask policy, state reopening strategies and the use of antimalarial drugs to treat COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
A senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal internal deliberations, said the White House has asked Fauci to do certain media appearances but is not approving all of his requests.
“Our bigger issue with Fauci is stop critiquing the task force .?.?. and try to fix it,” the official said.
But that may be an impossible order given his strong differences with the White House over how the federal government should respond to the accelerating infection rate that’s pushing up the death toll after months of decline.
Fauci has argued that parts of the country experiencing surges should shut down, “but there is no buy-in for that,” said an official with direct knowledge of the conversation who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Four months ahead of Election Day, Trump wants to “reopen and move on,” said another senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reveal internal deliberations. Those who disagree with that approach are out of favor, the official said.
Fauci has also expressed concern about the administration’s plan to reopen schools, but White House officials see keeping children home as having even more deleterious effects. Fauci has also called on state and local officials to mandate that people wear masks in public.
Even though his suggestions have been largely ignored, Fauci has not complained that he does not get in to see the President, according to one of the officials.
Trump is also galled by Fauci’s approval ratings. A recent New York Times/Siena College poll showed that 67 percent of voters trusted Fauci for information on the coronavirus, compared with 26 percent who trusted Trump.
The internal turmoil and troubled national response have taken a toll on Fauci, those close to him say. He is exasperated that states and individuals are not following the recommendations of experts, such as social distancing and wearing face coverings, said David Barr, a longtime HIV/AIDS activist who has known Fauci for 30 years.
Three or four weeks ago, Barr said, he and Fauci spoke about the troubling signs they were seeing as cases began to tick upward.
“You could just feel from Tony .?.?. how unsettled it made him,” Barr said. “He didn’t know what to do to change that, to stop it, but if the leadership isn’t there, and it’s clearly not there, then it’s really difficult to set the tone for the country.”
“What he cares most about is not his influence, but what’s happening — that things are going so badly and it’s going to cause so much disease and death,” Barr added.
People who are close to Fauci say the public undermining of scientists and public health experts has frustrated and saddened him because it adds to the chaos the country is already experiencing from the pandemic.
Despite the repeated pushback from Trump and the White House, however, Fauci has told those close to him that has no plans to do anything differently.
“For somebody like Tony, who tries to deal with people honestly and in a very open and generous way — that’s how he’s tried to approach his personal interactions with the president — it’s immensely frustrating and depressing. And there’s not much he can do about it,” said Peter Staley, a longtime HIV/AIDS activist who has known Fauci for more than 30 years.
“He’s going to continue being himself, which is always talking honestly about a public health crisis and a new infectious disease,” Staley added. “If things are looking more in conflict, it’s because this administration is going further and further adrift from a pro-science approach.”
White House communications officials say they have told government scientists and doctors that their job is to educate the public by talking about best practices to contain the virus and what the administration is doing to help the states.
Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Michael Caputo, a longtime Trump ally, approves Fauci’s television appearances, with input from the White House, said one of the senior administration officials. Several White House aides view Fauci’s interviews as unhelpful and say they’re frustrated he has expressed interest in appearing on programs such as MSNBC’s “Rachel Maddow Show,” which are hostile to the administration. That one was rejected.
“The speculation game doesn’t serve the public in any particular way,” the same official said. “When it gets to handicapping and what’s going to happen next, get a cable news gig. We’ve conveyed that down to all the doctors.”
White House officials generally favor White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx, one of the senior administration officials said. Both Birx and Fauci have expressed frustration that their concerns have not gotten to the president, although Birx is working with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Jared Kushner, a White House senior adviser and Trump’s son-in-law, to ensure better communication, the official said.
The administration also plans to have Brett Giroir, an assistant HHS secretary, and FEMA Administrator Peter T. Gaynor do more appearances related to coronavirus.
Among those crusading against Fauci internally is Peter Navarro, the President’s trade adviser, who has clashed with Fauci over his opposition to adopting the use of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial drug, to treat COVID-19 before its effectiveness had been proved.
When Trump and Navarro repeatedly touted hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for coronavirus, Fauci pushed back both internally and at task force briefings, arguing there was only anecdotal evidence about the drug’s efficacy. The Food and Drug Administration eventually revoked its temporary authorization after evidence showed it was not effective against COVID-19 and could be dangerous for some patients.
“Dr. Fauci has a good bedside manner with the public but he has been wrong about everything I have ever interacted with him on,” Navarro said. “Now Fauci is saying that a falling mortality rate doesn’t matter when it is the single most important statistic to help guide the pace of our economic reopening. So when you ask me if I listen to Dr. Fauci’s advice, my answer is only with caution.”
Friends and allies say Fauci doesn’t quit because he loves his job and also feels a great sense of responsibility about helping to develop coronavirus vaccines and treatments — the biggest challenge of his career and the only way the country can truly begin to move past the pandemic. He has long said he does not want to retire before there is an AIDS vaccine.
“He recognizes if he doesn’t intercede, things could fall apart very quickly — even more so than they have already,” said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. “He does it because he cares about the country and realizes he is uniquely positioned to help in this.”
Although his message is regularly at odds with the President, Fauci is naturally conflict-averse and has sought to establish a personal relationship with the six Presidents he has served over his career.
“He’ll try to be accommodating except for principles that are truly not something he can compromise on,” said one former senior administration official who has worked closely with Fauci for years. “He will try to really accommodate and fulfill your reality, but he’s bound by the laws of science.”
In the previous five presidential administrations, Fauci has almost always played a key role in public health emergencies and infectious-disease responses by advising the president and serving as a chief spokesman for both Republican and Democratic administrations.
In many ways, he was shaped by the HIV/AIDS crisis that emerged during his first years as NIAID director when the Reagan administration remained largely silent about a disease afflicting mostly gay men.
Amid fear of the virus and the stigma associated with having the infection, Fauci learned the importance of communicating with the public about new diseases that were little understood. He found out it was critical to speak honestly about the risks, and help people differentiate between valid concerns and unfounded fears, according to several people who have worked with him.
As the face of the HIV/AIDS response, Fauci also developed a thick skin, experiencing the ire of activists who felt an uncaring federal government was not doing enough to make treatments available for dying patients. But over the years, he forged friendships with some of those who had begun as adversaries, activists said.
The lessons learned from the HIV/AIDS outbreak have had an impact on how he has handled almost every public health crisis since. During the 2014 Ebola outbreak, the Obama administration made Fauci its chief spokesperson to explain to people the actual risk of the virus.
Fauci briefed Obama about three times a week and had unlimited access to him if something came up, said Ron Klain, the Obama administration’s Ebola czar and now an adviser to the Biden campaign.
But in the coronavirus pandemic, Klain said Fauci is facing a new challenge: He’s the only member of the administration willing or able to speak plainly about the threat of the virus, in Klain’s view.
Fauci “respects the public,” Klain said. “He has this view that the public can handle the truth, whether it’s good news or bad news and the most important thing is to give people the best information he has at the time. Tony is left being the one person having to carry the weight of speaking honestly about all this stuff.”
COMMENT: I absolutely believe in Dr. Fauci (who IS willing to admit when he's wrong) over Trump who is only concerned about himself and his re-election, and hates any news he thinks as bad.
SUMMARY:The World Health Organization says Sunday marked the largest global daily surge in new coronavirus cases since the pandemic began: 183,000. In the U.S., daily fatalities from the disease have dropped since the initial peak this spring, but more than 600 people are still dying each day. Amna Nawaz reports and talks to Stephen Morrison of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
As to Confederate monuments: The Confederacy conducted a war against the United States of America, killed American soldiers, and committed treason against the union they had they had signed a contract (Constitution of the United States) to support. The Confederacy should never be celebrated.
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SUMMARY: As states continue to lift pandemic restrictions and allow economic activity to resume, many are seeing new surges in coronavirus cases. Arkansas has documented more than 3,500 new positive tests since it began the second phase of its reopening. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson joins Judy Woodruff to discuss where the increase in cases is coming from and his thoughts on moving Confederate monuments.
SUMMARY:Although the coronavirus pandemic presents unprecedented challenges for people living through it, humans have endured similar health ordeals in the past. Jeffrey Brown speaks to two historians, Frank Snowden of Yale University and Nancy Bristow of the University of Puget Sound, about how previous pandemics have shaped societies. It’s part of our ongoing arts and culture series, Canvas.
SUMMARY: Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified before Congress Tuesday, referring to the spread of COVID-19 in a dozen U.S. states as “a disturbing surge.” Fauci and other top health experts reiterated the need for more testing, even as President Trump claimed that “testing is a double-edged sword” in the pandemic fight. Lisa Desjardins reports.
SUMMARY: Texas is taking a particularly hard hit from COVID-19. For about a week, the state has been reporting roughly 4,000 new cases per day. In the Houston region alone, there are nearly 32,000 cases. For a report from the front lines of the fight against the disease, Amna Nawaz turns to Dr. Hilary Fairbrother, who works in emergency medicine at the Texas Medical Center.
SUMMARY: The pandemic halted Major League Baseball's spring training in mid-March. Now, the league has announced it will start a shortened regular season in July. The plan to play 60 games comes after 40 players and staff tested positive for coronavirus in recent days. Amna Nawaz talks to author and sportswriter John Feinstein about the pandemic’s challenges for professional sports.
SUMMARY: As the United States approaches another coronavirus milestone, with nearly 125,000 deaths from the disease, we look back at the lives of a few of those lost. Judy Woodruff shares their stories.
SUMMARY: At least six states have reported a record increase in COVID-19 cases as the total number of cases in the U.S. nears 2.5 million. Some states, like Florida, which saw more than 9,500 new cases Saturday morning, are rolling back some of the reopening including shutting beaches, parks and some bars. Ben Conarck, who covers healthcare for the Miami Herald, joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the state’s response.
SUMMARY: Pharmaceutical companies and governments around the world are chasing a coronavirus vaccine, fast tracking the usually years-long vaccine development procedure to a few months. ProPublica reporter Caroline Chen joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the ambitious timeline and the unpredictability of the clinical trials.
SUMMARY:Despite recent signs of advancement, many health experts say the U.S. capacity to test for the novel coronavirus remains too limited and progress too slow. President Trump has previously claimed anyone could be tested -- but that isn't what we’re hearing from people who have tried. Jennifer Nuzzo, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.
SUMMARY:Illinois has become another national hot spot for coronavirus, with a surging number of confirmed cases. Most are in Cook County, the region that is home to Chicago. William Brangham talks to Dr. Claudia Fegan, chief medical officer for Cook County Health, about how her employees are holding up amid the stress and why they continue to worry about a shortage of critical medical supplies.
SUMMARY: More than 250 million Americans in 30 states have been asked or ordered to stay at home. Although some still buy essentials in person at stores, many are ordering online instead. As a result, warehouse and delivery workers and professional shoppers have become central to the current economy -- and a growing number are concerned about the risks they face by doing their jobs. Paul Solman reports.
Editor's Note: Amazon disputes the claim that dozens of workers walked out in protest on Monday. According to Amazon, “15 people participated in the demonstration of which only 9 were Amazon associates—the rest were community organizers.” According to protest leaders, “Organizers on the ground counted 62 workers who walked off their jobs.”
SUMMARY: How much do we know about COVID-19, the virus spreading misery across the globe? Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee joins Jeffrey Brown to discuss understanding the dynamics of the virus within people it has infected, why some experience much more severe forms of illness than others, how we can limit asymptomatic transmission and the need to buy medical researchers time to develop treatments.
SUMMARY:New York’s death toll from COVID-19 is nearing 2,000, and experts warn it will continue to rise. But many other areas of the country are also seeing cases climb and taking steps to try to limit them. President Trump sounded a grave warning during a Tuesday Coronavirus Task Force briefing, saying the virus is projected to kill at least 100,000 Americans in the months to come. John Yang reports.
SUMMARY:COVID-19 is a huge challenge for many U.S. hospitals, from large cities to rural areas. The next few weeks are expected to be especially difficult, as critical supplies dwindle and health care workers are stressed. William Brangham talks to Dr. Phillip Coule, chief medical officer for Georgia’s Augusta University Health System, and Michael Dowling, president and CEO of New York's Northwell Health.
SUMMARY:The coronavirus pandemic has infected at least 1 million people and killed over 50,000 worldwide. In the U.S., President Trump is taking new action to bolster medical supplies, and unemployment is surging. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy relieved the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt amid conflict over his response to COVID-19. John Yang reports, and Nick Schifrin joins Judy Woodruff to discuss.
SUMMARY:The loss of jobs caused by the coronavirus pandemic and its fallout is unprecedented in the U.S. Over 10 million Americans became unemployed in the past two weeks alone -- and economists say there are many more who have not yet been counted. The NewsHour continues to share the stories of some of those who have been laid off or furloughed, in their own words.
SUMMARY:A sector of the economy that is being hit especially hard amid the coronavirus pandemic is the restaurant industry. In normal times, Americans were spending roughly as much money on dining out as they were at grocery stores. With restaurants now closed, more than 3 millions jobs have been lost nationwide. Paul Solman reports on the impact on establishments in the Washington, D.C., metro area.
SUMMARY: Health officials have stressed that novel coronavirus doesn’t discriminate based on race or ethnicity. But disparities long present in the U.S. medical system are now driving what some call a crisis within a crisis: black and brown communities across the country are being hit harder, and with fewer resources to save them. Amna Nawaz talks to Dr. Uché Blackstock of Advancing Health Equity.
Americans should wear face masks as a way to help stifle the spread of COVID-19, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the nation’s top doctors leading the public health fight against the coronavirus pandemic — a departure from previous government guidance to only wear a mask if you were caring for someone with the illness or had it yourself.
“If everybody does that, we’re each protecting each other,” Fauci said in an interview with PBS NewsHour anchor and managing editor Judy Woodruff. His comments came shortly before President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force shared national recommendations for people to wear non-medical face masks. The task force did not recommend the use of surgical or medical grade face masks, which are in short supply for hospitals and front line health care workers.
For months, federal health officials discouraged the use of surgical face masks. In recent weeks, some health experts began to question that decision, suggesting that the use of face coverings could have helped slow the spread of the virus sooner. But on Friday, the task force said it was now recommending face coverings “in light of recent studies.” Trump added that this recommendation does not eliminate the need for social distancing.
This guidance comes as more states this week told residents to stay at home to prevent further spread of the virus that causes the disease, COVID-19. But more states and communities should join in tightening those measures, Fauci said.
He warned that the U.S. is currently “in a very difficult period. It will get worse before it gets better.”
So far, testing has confirmed roughly 240,000 cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., where nearly 5,900 people have died after they were infected by the virus, according to the latest data from The COVID Tracking Project. Public health experts have said those numbers are likely an undercount because testing remains inadequate, despite being the only way to measure how far the pandemic has spread within the country.
As of Thursday, the pandemic crossed another milestone, now infecting more than 1 million people worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers who have been tracking the virus’ global spread. Fauci said he was confident Americans “will get out of this.”
SUMMARY: As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the U.S., officials are warning that there are not enough medical professionals available to meet the growing needs of patients. The shortage has led to the easing of some regulations, enabling medical students to graduate early and retired doctors to return to practice. Lisa Desjardins shares some of their stories from this all-hands-on-deck moment.
SUMMARY:As more and more people stay at home during the pandemic, millions of vehicles are no longer on the roads and the skies are comparatively free of airplanes. Many other human activities that cause air pollution also have been scaled back. But will this lull in activity make a difference in the air we breathe or the future of climate change? NewsHour Weekend's Christopher Booker reports.
SUMMARY: Amid heavy criticism, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday issued a state-wide stay-at-home order for the state in response to the coronavirus. This came after some local counties and cities had already put similar orders in place ahead of the governor’s mandate. Stephen Mort of PBS station WUCF joins Hari Sreenivasan from Orlando to discuss what's happening in the state related to the outbreak.
I am Retired U.S. Navy (22yrs) and a Vietnam Veteran. After my Navy retirement I was in the computer related industry, now retired. In 2000 I was a registered Republican and voted for George W. Bush. Six months of having Bush in the Whitehouse forced me to re-evaluate my political stance. I had always thought of myself as a Moderate Republican, but was a Republican by "default" NOT because of close examination of the GOP. Due to what has happened in America since 2000, I now consider myself a progressive, and registered as a Non-Affiliated voter.
*Anti-First Amendment policies that attempt to turn America into a theocracy by enshrining ANY religious belief as law.
* Any attempt to suppress human or Constitutional rights.
* Any law or policy that supports discrimination based on religion, ethnicity, race/color, gender, sexual orientation, or any law that does NOT support Equal Treatment under the law.
*Any law or policy that attempts to suppress Freedom of the Press or Free Speech.
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