Month: April 2020

In an unprecedented move, New York has canceled its Democratic presidential primary that was scheduled for June 23 amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Democratic members of the State’s Board of Elections voted Monday to nix the primary. New York will still hold its congressional and state-level primaries on June 23. Commissioner Andrew Spano said he had pondered at length, reaching a decision just Monday morning. He said he worried about potentially forcing voters and poll workers to choose between their democratic duty and their health. While there will still be other offices on the ballot, Spano reasoned it made sense to give voters an opportunity to choose in contested races but not to “have anyone on the ballot just for the purposes of issues at a convention.”FILE – New York State Board of Elections Commissioner Andrew Spano speaks during a meeting in Albany, N.Y., April 16, 2015.New York Democratic Party chair Jay Jacobs has said that the cancellation of the state’s presidential primary would mean a lower expected turnout and a reduced need for polling places.”It just makes so much sense given the extraordinary nature of the challenge,” Jacobs said last week.Local election officials and voting groups have called on the state to use federal funds to purchase cleaning supplies and protective gear, and boost staff ahead of 2020 elections.Both the state’s Democratic Party and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have said they didn’t ask election commissioners to make the change, which is allowed thanks to a little-known provision in the recently passed state budget that allows the New York board of elections to remove names of any candidates who have suspended or terminated their campaign from the ballot.The decision to cancel a Democratic primary is left up to Democratic state election commissioners.Former Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders announced earlier this month that he had suspended his campaign. In a Sunday letter, a lawyer for the Sanders campaign asked the commissioners not to cancel the primary.FILE – Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks to supporters during a rally, in New York, Oct. 19, 2019.”Senator Sanders has collaborated with state parties, the national party and the Biden campaign, to strengthen the Democrats by aligning the party’s progressive and moderate wings. His removal from the ballot would hamper those efforts, to the detriment of the party in the general election,” the lawyer, Malcolm Seymour, wrote in a letter obtained by The Wall Street Journal.Board Co-Chairman Douglas Kellner said the primary cancellation was a “very difficult decision,” but noted state law allows for removing candidates from the ballot when they have suspended their campaigns, as Sanders has done and, further, endorsed presumptive nominee Joe Biden.”That has effectively ended the real contest for the presidential nomination,” Kellner said. “And what the Sanders supporters want is essentially a beauty contest that, given the situation with the public health emergency that exists now, seems to be unnecessary and, indeed, frivolous.”New York voters can now choose to vote with an absentee ballot in the June primaries under a Cuomo executive order that adds the risk of acquiring COVID-19 as a reason to vote absentee. Cuomo also recently announced the state is sending mail-in ballots to voters.Here are the latest coronavirus-related developments in New York:Regional re-openingsStay-at-home restrictions could be eased in mid-May for parts of New York state where the coronavirus outbreak is less severe, Cuomo said Monday.Cuomo outlined re-opening parameters as hospitalization rates and deaths continue to decline from peaks earlier this month. The 337 deaths recorded statewide Sunday was the lowest daily tally this month and down from a high of 799 on April 8. More than 17,000 people have died in New York since the start of the outbreak.A U.S. military personnel wearing a face mask walks outside the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which was converted into a hospital during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New York City, April 27, 2020.Cuomo said at his daily news briefing that statewide restrictions set to expire May 15 will likely be extended in many parts of the state.”But in some parts of the state, some regions, you could make the case that we should un-pause on May 15,” said Cuomo, who likened it to turning a valve a bit at a time.The governor laid out a series of conditions to reopen individual regions that included decreasing hospitalization rates, robust testing and tracing, places to isolate positive cases and enough hospital capacity if cases surge again.Preliminary results of antibody tests, which check for substances the immune system makes to fight the virus, suggest the coronavirus is far less prevalent in some upstate areas compared New York City, a pandemic hotspot.While almost a quarter of people in New York City tested positive, the rate was below 2% in northern and central New York, according to preliminary estimates.Self-swab testsNew York City-run health clinics will soon take a new tack on coronavirus testing, using a procedure that lets people collect samples themselves at a health care worker’s direction, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday.FILE – Mayor Bill de Blasio wears a mask while honoring health care workers at Brooklyn’s Kings County Hospital Center during the coronavirus pandemic, in New York, April 24, 2020.He said the “self-swab” tests would allow for more and easier testing and make it safer for test-seekers and health care workers alike.”This is something we’re going to start using aggressively because it will be better for everyone,” the Democrat said.Up to this point, testing has mainly been done by health care workers inserting a swab deep into a person’s nostrils. The feeling often makes someone sneeze or cough while the health care professional is right there, city Health and Hospitals President Dr. Mitchell Katz said.The new method is set to start within the next few days at eight community testing sites around the city. The process will work like this: A health care worker will explain how to administer the test, and then the person would take a nasal swab, with a health professional watching via a mirror to offer guidance, Katz said. The person getting tested then will spit into a cup for a second sample for cross-checking. The samples will then be given to a health care worker and tested.De Blasio said the method would allow health care workers and test-seekers to keep more distance; reduce the need to devote health care workers to administering tests; and allow the clinics to administer as many as 20 tests and hour, instead of 15.So far, more than 5,000 people have been tested at the city-run community sites since April 17.The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death. 
 
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The Trump administration is reviewing proposed new guidelines for how restaurants, schools, churches and businesses can safely reopen as states look to gradually lift their coronavirus  restrictions.
The draft guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been sent to Washington but still could be revised before being released to the public. The recommendations were obtained from a federal official who was not authorized to release them publicly.
The guidelines include suggestions such as closing break rooms at offices, using disposable menus in restaurants and having students eat lunch in their classrooms.
The CDC put together so-called “decision trees” for at least seven types of organizations: schools, camps, childcare centers, religious facilities, mass transit systems, workplaces, and bars/restaurants.
White House officials previously released a three-phase reopening plan for the nation that mentioned schools and other organizations that come back on line at different points. But it hadn’t previously offered more specific how-to guidelines for each kind of entity with specific steps they can take.
The new guidance still amounts to little more than advice. State and local officials will be the ones to adopt and enforce them. Some state and local government have already put rules in places for businesses that are operating. For example, Michigan requires businesses to limit how many customers can be in a store at one time.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday said that each business that wants to reopen will have to submit a plan to the state on how to do that.
The new guidance could offer some unified federal guidance that local officials can lean on, said Lindsay Wiley, an American University public health law expert.  
“Federal guidance provides cover to the states for those regulations if they’re challenged in the courts,” she said. “It allows the state to say ‘well the CDC said to do it this way,’ and the judge then is very happy to say ‘well yes you consulted CDC and that’s the appropriate body,’ and then uphold the restrictions and say they’re appropriately evidence based.”
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If he had died in a normal time, Larry Arthur Hammond would have had a funeral befitting a Zulu king, with more than a thousand mourners in the church and marching in second-line parades celebrating a mainstay of New Orleans Mardi Gras royalty.  
Instead, only 10 people were allowed into the funeral parlor, his widow grieving from a socially distanced chair while family and friends strained to hear through cell phones on speaker mode.
Hundreds of close-knit members of his century-old parade group and African American fraternity were prevented from honoring one of their leaders, weeks after he died of COVID-19.
It seemed cruel, how this virus  that summoned them to mourn was keeping them apart. The masks his wife and daughter wore to protect each other muffled their weeping. Nobody could see a smile; nobody could hug.
“Only having 10 family members was so hurting to me because we have such a large, loving family,” said his wife, Lillian Hammond.
But improvisation is integral to the jazz culture of New Orleans, and improvise they did.
After the funeral, scores of cars and trucks passed the Hammond home as the family sat in chairs on their front lawn, still dressed in their funeral attire. A police escort led the procession.  
Honking, waving and calling to his family, drivers and passengers showed their respect and love for the 2007 king of the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club, a retired postal worker and Air Force veteran who tutored, mentored and provided Christmas presents through Omega Psi Phi.  
“I was so pleased. I was amazed. I was excited and not just excited for my family, but excited for Larry, because their procession, that motorcade was him,” Lillian Hammond said.
The Zulu club, as with African Americans nationwide, has been particularly hard-hit by this virus, to which humans have no natural immunity. At least eight of its 800 members have died of COVID-19, according to its board chairman, City Councilman Jay H. Banks. African Americans represent more than 56% of Louisiana’s 1,670 coronavirus deaths, the state public health department reported Sunday.
Larry Hammond, 70, died on March 31. If not for the pandemic, which delayed his funeral until April 22, he would have received “past-king” honors, with massive second-line tributes organized by the Zulus and his fraternity brothers, marching behind his casket with brass bands playing dirges and then breaking out into Dixieland jazz, celebrating his ascension to heaven.  
“There would have been thousands of people there, I can say that without qualification,” said Banks, who dressed in crisp white for the procession because he was King Zulu in 2016. “It’s the funeral of a king, you don’t get any higher than that.”
The loneliness of the sparse funeral parlor seemed grievous by comparison.  
Lillian Hammond’s daughter, wearing a cloth mask and protective blue gloves, embraced her as she wept. Beside his open casket, an easel bore his portrait, wearing his white king suit. Another portrait was in the waiting area, with a bottle of hand sanitizer and a sign: “Please sanitize your hands before signing the guest book.”
“I am so happy that Larry’s in a better place,” Lillian Hammond said. “I want to say to all of you, we don’t know what’s going on with this coronavirus but please take it serious. And make sure that every day that you say something about the Lord and bless your family.”
It was a much warmer setting in their front yard that afternoon, where Lillian, her daughter Nicole and her sister Lori Adams were joined by his granddaughter, Kailyn Hammond Gouch. People in cars and trucks rolled slowly by for about 15 minutes, waving, calling out and holding handmade signs and memorabilia.  
Hammond said she recognized people from Zulu, the fraternity, the neighborhood, the school where her husband tutored students for standardized tests, and from outside the New Orleans area. As the last car drove past, the family applauded.  
Barry Hammond said his brother was a giver who saw the value in helping others and bringing people together. He hopes Americans will reach similar conclusions, since the pandemic has shown that we’re all human beings first, undivided by race or politics.
“We are all in this together. Corona has proven this,” he said. “My prayer is the virus causes us to reunite as a country.”
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Maj. Brian Minietta’s eyes are locked down the barrel of a camera lens. He sways gently back and forth in silence, then his gruff voice belts out, in singsong: “A little patience … yeah, yeah!”  He finishes the chorus — it’s the 1989 Guns N’ Roses hit “Patience.” And he tells the Green Berets he counsels as an Army chaplain: “Yeah. Patience. That’s the word we’re going to talk about today.”For two years, Minietta, 46, has served the 3rd Special Forces Group, based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, though many of the soldiers have spent more time bouncing from deployments to conflict zones in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria than at home. As Green Berets — the better-known moniker for the elite soldiers of the Special Forces — these operators specialize in unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense and counterinsurgency.Now, the coronavirus outbreak has upended the norm on base and beyond. Some training and deployments continue, but many have been sidelined. Only essential workers are reporting on post, ushered through gates patrolled by military police officers wearing masks.A chaplain’s ministry — no matter the religion — has always been about in-person connections. How does that continue when the flock is forced apart? Minietta and others are figuring it out on the fly, with the help of technology, all while tensions are high for soldiers.  “Whether that’s anxiety, whether that’s fear, whether it’s the family dynamics that come up from being home — we have the opportunity to support,” he said. “This has given us the opportunity to be innovative and creative.”Minietta’s patience-themed video message is the third he’s recorded since the pandemic began. He’s also preached about fear and hope in video clips uploaded to his group’s Facebook page.  The Green Berets he serves are known as quiet professionals. They’ve done a lot, seen a lot — but they don’t talk about it much. Gaining their trust takes time and effort, Minietta said. And while most chaplains don’t go through the Special Forces selection process, they train, deploy and are airborne qualified, jumping out of airplanes alongside the operators they serve. Minietta, after spending years as a missionary and youth pastor, was commissioned in 2007 and has deployed seven times.  When Capt. Scott Britton, a fellow Fort Bragg chaplain who serves the Green Berets of 3rd Group’s 3rd Battalion, joined the Army in 2012, he felt he was walking among giants. But through his training and building relationships, he now feels connected to his soldiers.”This style of ministry allows the shepherd to smell like the sheep,” Britton, 42, said. “We get to experience a lot of the same things the soldiers do, and I think for a lot of chaplains that’s a comfortable place to be.”  This month, Britton preached his Easter sermon alone on his back porch, while 35 soldiers training in the field listened on the phone. It was certainly a first, he said, but “we do find ways.”  Both chaplains say they’re used to being out of their comfort zones. Working with soldiers whose lives are grounded in chaos and loss can be hard.  Since 2002, the 3rd Special Forces Group has lost 60 Green Berets in action. Sixteen times, Minietta has knocked on doors alongside casualty assistance officers who are giving families the worst kind of news.  “Every time I knock on a door, there are an unbelievable amount of nerves,” he said.  Minietta brings up those door knocks at the end of his video message. He tells the camera he couldn’t have done it without patience — patience to know the worst thing is never the last thing, whether it’s death, divorce and or a pandemic.”May we remember that Axl Rose ultimately had it right,” he told his video audience. “All we need is a little patience.”
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In farming, there are many unknowns. The economy, weather and customer demand can affect crops and ultimately a farmer’s bottom line.
This year the agricultural industry was thrown a curve ball with COVID-19. Now as harvest season approaches, farmers are facing new questions about the availability of workers and how to keep them safe.
Farms in Adams and Franklin counties rank No. 1 and 3, respectively, in Pennsylvania for fruit, tree nut and berry sales.
“Generally, one of the biggest concerns right now and we’re hearing from our members, especially Adams and Franklin and areas where fruit growing is the primary agriculture sector, it’s just access to workers,” said Liam Migdail of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.
The potential shortage comes from recent restrictions to international workers in light of COVID-19 and fears about what to do if too many employees get sick.
“That would shut us down in a heartbeat. If we all got the coronavirus, OK, nobody could work, the fruit falls on the ground … ,” said Kay Hollabaugh, co-owner and manager at Hollabaugh Bros. Inc. in Butler Township. But, in the meantime, the farm is trying to stay positive and keeping their workers “safe and healthy.”
Not only could a shortage of workers affect a farmer’s ability to pick their produce to sell, but it could also mean fewer options available for customers in stores and an increase in unemployment.
But some farmers say it’s too early to tell if coronavirus regulations are going to affect their ability to harvest fruits and vegetables since many begin between May and July.
“We don’t even know if (workers are) going to be able to come, so working on stuff that we may not have to work on is not something that we tend to do,” said Chris Baugher, co-owner of Adams County Nursery in Menallen Township.’Locals don’t want the work’
In 2016, the fruit industry contributed $580 million to the Adams County economy, creating 8,500 jobs and $16.4 million in local tax revenue, according to a study commissioned by Adams County Fruit Growers, Penn State Extension and others.
The South Mountain Fruit Belt produces 70 percent of Pennsylvania’s total crop, which is about 400 to 500 million pounds of apples a year.
Franklin County is also ranked No. 2 in the state for production of vegetables, melons, potatoes and sweet potatoes.
In 2019, there were more than 1,800 guest workers in Pennsylvania through the H-2A visa program.
Denton Benedict, co-owner of Benedict’s Produce in Franklin County, usually employs around 90 workers through this visa program.
The program allows agricultural employers to hire temporary workers from outside the U.S. to perform temporary or seasonal work when there’s a lack of available domestic workers, according to Farmers.gov.
“Not being able to find good help locally is the reason that we went to the H-2A program,” said Baugher, who usually hires around 24 workers out of Honduras.
The H-2A program requires that participants attempt to fill jobs with domestic workers, which farmers say is difficult.
“For example, we’ve had our (job) ad out since two months or something, I haven’t got a single response, so if that tells you anything (it’s) that locals don’t want to work (picking vegetables),” Benedict said.
At Adams County Nursery, one apple picker will pick 150 to 200 bushels of apples a day within the span of three months. Baugher said the year before he began employing H-2A workers in 2017, they lost 5,000 bushels, that’s between $4 to $10 a bushel.
Hollabaugh said that they do not hire H-2A workers, but they also have a hard time hiring domestic workers because people aren’t interested.
“We’ve been in business since 1955, I’ve been involved in the business for probably 35 years, and I would say in the last 10 to 15 years there’s been a dramatic shift away from anyone domestic wanting to apply for any of our jobs,” Hollabaugh said.
Hollabaugh said some of the factors in this includes:
— People don’t have the skills to do this kind of work anymore.
— It’s hard physical labor. Domestic workers don’t want to work in the 95 degree weather, with humidity, carrying a crate around their neck that weighs 35 pounds.
— The pay is lower than what a domestic person will work for. Hollabaugh said they pay $10 to $15 an hour for people with skills and minimum wage for those without any skills, like high school students.
“There is a skill set involved,” Hollabaugh said. “The people who work for us who harvest our fruits and vegetables are very skilled, they’re very fast, they come to work in the morning with the sole purpose in mind to work to the best of their ability because we’re giving them a job, and they’re so grateful for it.”
On March 20, the U.S. Department of State temporarily suspended routine visa services like in-person interviews at all U.S. Embassies and Consulates in response to the pandemic. Embassies in Mexico, which last year supplied 91 percent of H-2A workers to the U.S., were the first to implement this policy.
On March 26, the State Department released an announcement allowing consular officers to waive visa interview requirements for first-time and returning H-2 applicants who have no apparent ineligibility or potential ineligibility.
“There was some changes that happened at the State Department to try and make it available for more workers to come in but it didn’t fix the whole problem. We’re still advocating to try to get more access to H-2A workers,” Migdail said.
While Benedict said that his application seems to be moving along he does expect that his workers’ arrival date will be pushed back.
“If we don’t get our help, I mean, we’re already laying plastic, we got the greenhouses full of plants so we’re counting on that,” Benedict said. “If that would fall through, I mean that would be devastating.”Keeping workers healthy, virus-free
Employers that use the H-2A program are required to provide transportation and housing for their workers.
At Adams County Nursery, migrant workers are housed in a barrack-style camp that fits about 16 people and two house trailers that can house 12 more.
These living conditions do not allow for self-quarantine in case an employee gets coronavirus. Baugher hopes that by the time he needs these employees in June it won’t be a problem anymore.
“We’ve thought about maybe the need to quarantine them when they arrive for two weeks, but we haven’t thought about what a quarantine would look like if when we had them here we would need to quarantine them (individually),” Baugher said.
Hollabaugh hires migrant workers that are already in the country. She said they have not looked into how their employees can self-quarantine yet either since their harvesting season isn’t until the Fourth of July.
“Right now we are going like the rest of the world, day to day. … Certainly my hope and prayer is that by the Fourth of July it’s not an issue anymore. That’s my prayer, but if it still is an issue that is absolutely something that we will be addressing, we will be following the CDC guidelines and doing whatever is required of us,” Hollabaugh said.
Their camp is made up of apartment units available for singles and families, which would allow individuals to self-quarantine.
“I think it’s reasonable to say that we can expect that there’s going to be some shortages as a result of this,” Migdail said. “I mean if people’s kids are out of school or daycares close, they get sick, a family member gets sick, I think those ripple effects of not necessarily being able to have the workers you usually do are absolutely a concern.”
As part of the U.S. government’s attempt to help encourage employees to choose their health over their paycheck, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act requires certain employers to provide employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19.
This includes farmers who employ less than 500 people, Migdail said.
“We are also mindful of the financial strain this places on many farms, who are already operating on tight margins and contending with the economic fallout of the pandemic,” Migdail said. “We are advocating for farms to be able to access the assistance they need to remain viable during this time.”
‘If we don’t have the workers … you’re also gonna lose farms’
A shortage of farm workers has much greater consequences than just less hands to pick the fruits and vegetables grown in Franklin and Adams counties. Nationally, this shortage could mean less produce available for customers and less employment opportunities.
“There’s a lot of jobs in between the apple tree on the farm and in the orchard and the bin at the grocery store. … The whole industry as a whole employs a lot of people, and it generates extra economic boom for the areas as a result of that,” Migdail said.
Benedict said he knows a lot of farmers that rely on H-2A workers to keep their farms going.
“If they would shut down the H-2A … that would drastically impact the food for sure and prices will go up or else there will be a shortage of it,” Benedict said. “That’s why I think they’re trying pretty hard to let the H-2A stuff still go because I think they realized that it would cripple agriculture.”
Baugher said that if this shortage goes too far, the effects could be much more long term.
“The ag industries have not been faring well the last three or four years, and if they can’t pay the bank they’re gonna go away. … If we don’t have the workers to harvest the crops, you’re gonna lose jobs, you’re gonna have higher price produce on the shelves and you’re also gonna lose farms, I believe,” Baugher said.
For Benedict, one challenge he thinks he will have is selling his “crooked cucumbers or mis-shapen peppers” because of restaurant closures.
“Whereas the stores all want your nice looking, No. 1 stuff, so I have a feeling there’s gonna be a lot dumped because of that,” Benedict said.
But he knows that in the end, people have to eat.
“We’re just rolling with it and we’ll see what happens, not much else you can do. … We’re gonna do our best to provide it to them as long as we can get a reasonable price for stuff and we have the help to do it,” Benedict said.
All he asks of the public is to shop local and fresh when possible.
“Maybe with this virus people will pay more attention to that, they might want local, fresh stuff and know where it’s coming from. … We just keep on doing what we’re doing and try to make a living.” Benedict said.
Trying to stay up-to-date with precautions
In the meantime, farmers are doing what they can to stay sanitary and ensure that the public can get their produce.
At Hollabaugh Bros., market employees are wearing masks and gloves while all employees are also being asked to stay at home if they feel sick or don’t feel safe coming into work.
“My son takes care of the production crew, and he has been talking regularly with them about the CDC mandates, if you’re sick stay home, wash your hands, don’t touch your face, keep the distance,” Hollabaugh said.
Baugher said they are doing what they can to keep employees at the nursery separated by keeping groups smaller then 10 and staggering lunches. At times it can be hard though, like when workers are packaging trees into boxes that are 5 feet long.
Baugher said they are hesitant to use N95 masks because of the shortage.
“We didn’t figure we (should) put any more pressure on that market at the moment, than there already is.”
While farms are doing everything to stay compliant, Hollabaugh said it can be hard to keep up with all the changes that come with every passing day.
“Every day is a new day with a new set of challenges that we’re reading, what are the regulations now, what are they saying now, can we do this, should we do this or wait? It’s crazy,” Hollabaugh said.
One change they’re now facing is how they are going to market their crop. Usually, the Hollabaugh farm allows customers to pick out their individual produce but that isn’t safe to do this year
“Everything that’s coming in here right now that is not grown by us is being packaged in plastic, I mean with a worker who has a mask on and gloves on, that person is packing it in plastic so that no hands are ever touching it,” Hollabaugh said.
If this continues, they will have to take the same precautions for peaches. Though, there is no evidence that human or animal food or food packaging is associated with transmission of COVID-19, according to a news release from the Pa. Department of Agriculture.
“It’s vital that they’re able to keep doing what they’re doing through this and that creates a whole other set of challenges,” Migdail said. “OK, you are essential and you’re going to keep operating but how do you do that in a way that you know works with the new regulations or rules that we’re seeing state, national level and how do you do that in a way that’s safe for yourself, your workers, your family, the public?”
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Nurse Flora Ajayi parks her car on a residential block in Queens, New York and pops open the trunk, revealing plastic bins full of personal protective gear. She dons gloves, a blue gown, two masks, a face shield and shoe covers and turns to enter the home of one of her COVID-19 patients.   Ajayi, 47, works alone on the next front line of the coronavirus pandemic. She is part of a network of New York home care nurses treating hundreds of patients who have been discharged from hospitals and sent home to recover from the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.   The highly infectious disease has killed at least 20,300 people in the state, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, where more people have died than any other country — at least 49,000, according to a Reuters tally.   Home care nurses have a vital role to play as patients transition from around-the-clock care in a hospital to life at home. Ajayi enters and exits virus-ridden homes daily, donning and doffing her protective equipment up to 12 times a day on curbsides around the city.   Home care nurse Flora Ajayi poses for a portrait after visiting a client during the ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in the Queens borough of New York City, April 22, 2020.Still, Ajayi worries she might bring the virus back from a patient’s home to her own, where she lives with her son, 23, and her sister. She wears a mask at home and tries to stay 6 feet away from her family to limit any infection – a sacrifice she makes for the job she loves.   “I love to be part of the healing, part of the mentorship, part of the progression,” she said. “It makes it all worth it.” ‘We don’t know’ Ajayi works for Northwell Health, New York’s largest healthcare provider with 23 hospitals.   Almost all hospitalized COVID-19 patients will require some medical follow-up or rehabilitation when they are discharged before they can regain their former quality of life, if that ever happens, said Dr. Maria Carney, Northwell’s medical director for post-acute services.   “We’re really entering an area of ‘we don’t know.’ We don’t know what patients need right now, we just see that they are extremely weak, both physically and mentally,” Carney said. “How can our health system deal with that next phase of recovery? It’s going to be a challenge.”   Of the patients who have been discharged so far, many suffer from blood clots in their legs, muscle atrophy, aches, fatigue, cardiac issues and continued respiratory distress.   Home care nurse Flora Ajayi is thanked by a clients daughter as she departs from a home while wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect herself and prevent cross-contamination while visiting a client, April 22, 2020.Patients who were intubated are showing these symptoms more acutely when discharged, and many also are showing cognitive impairment, which could be an effect of long-term sedation or a condition called Post-Intensive Care Syndrome, Carney said.   As the number of COVID-19 patients discharged from Northwell’s hospitals topped 6,600 this week, the hospital system is considering hiring more home care nurses. It may also expand telehealth services and partner with local skilled care facilities to accommodate the discharged patients, Carney said.   Inside the homes, Ajayi answers a flood of questions from patients and their families, ranging from how often they should go to the grocery store to how they can self-monitor blood pressure.   She listens to the patients’ lungs with a stethoscope for signs of fluid build-up. She reminds them to not share toiletries and to wipe down doorknobs and light switches.   She checks the refrigerator and sometimes nudges them to call charitable meal delivery services if it is empty. She tells the doctor a patient needs more oxygen if she sees they are sleeping propped up in a chair, unable to breathe while lying flat.   Ajayi’s five confirmed COVID-19 patients have made slow and steady progress since returning home, and none have needed to be readmitted to hospital.   Ajayi never removes her two masks and face shield around patients, but the creases around her silver eye-shadowed eyes give away her smile and her even voice brings comfort.   “We keep the calm in this hysteria for them,” Ajayi said. “They’re scared, we’re scared, but we can do it.”     
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A shooting in Louisiana’s capital city of Baton Rouge has left one police officer dead and a wounded colleague fighting for life Sunday, authorities said, adding a suspect was in custody after an hourslong standoff at a home.Baton Rouge Police Chief Murphy Paul told The Advocate the officers were shot in the northern part of the city, and one of the officers later died.  Police said the officers were responding to a call about reports of gunfire when they were shot.At a news conference Sunday evening, the police chief said the slain officer was a 21-year law enforcement veteran and that the wounded colleague had seven years of police work, according to WBRZ-TV.  The chief did not identify the officers.  The second wounded officer was hospitalized and “fighting for his life,” Paul said, adding both officers were rushed earlier to a leading Baton Rouge hospital.Paul said a suspect was taken into custody after the standoff. The police chief did not elaborate on any possible charges. Many details of events leading up to the shooting remained sketchy, and the chief said only that police continue to investigate.Later Sunday, dozens of officers gathered outside the hospital where the wounded officer was being treated, awaiting updates amid their impromptu vigil.  A coroner’s van was seen during the afternoon being escorted away by dozens of law enforcement vehicles as it left the hospital, according to media reports. 
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A teacher greets her students. An imam counsels his congregants. A firefighter reports for duty. New parents take their baby home from the hospital.These are routine moments in the lives of Coloradans. But the coronavirus has transformed the routine into the remarkable, upending how we live and interact with each other.  As a heavy spring snow blanketed the state on Thursday, April 16, journalists from news organizations across Colorado set out to chronicle a day in the life of the state’s residents during this extraordinary time.  It happened that this day was the deadliest to date in the U.S. for the COVID-19 pandemic. More than 4,500 people died. Colorado’s state health department reported 17 more deaths, and that the death toll had hit 374 — a figure that the state would later determine was more than 560, as more reports of COVID-19 victims surfaced.A jogger wears a face mask to protect against the new coronavirus while running through Larimer Square early Saturday, April 25, 2020, in downtown Denver.The statewide order to shut down non-essential businesses — issued a month before to the day — had taken a toll. In that month-long period, more than 231,000 people filed for unemployment, just short of the 285,000 unemployment claims filed in all of 2009 during the height of the great recession.The Colorado stories of April 16 show how much has changed in such a short amount of time. Teachers now instruct students over screens. Doctors speak to patients through masks and face shields. Newborn babies are quarantined from sick parents.But the journalists also chronicled how, even as Colorado stares down uncertainty, death and illness, life goes on. Birthdays are celebrated. Prayers are said.And in what feels like a dark hour, there are moments of hope.___7 a.m.: Venture For Success Preparatory Learning Center, Denver  Dressed in purple scrub pants and a coordinated print top, Catherine Scott started her work day with a spray bottle of bleach solution, wiping down door handles, tables and a laptop keyboard.  Scott is not a health care worker, but a preschool teacher — often tasked with opening the child care center where she works in Denver’s Montbello neighborhood.When children began arriving with their parents, Scott met them at the front door, thermometer in hand. After temperature checks, parents logged their child’s arrival on the laptop, and everybody washed their hands in the sink up front.  Scott, who the youngsters call “Miss Cathy” or “Miss Cappy,” had just three children in her classroom — a 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old — two of them new to the center. It was a far cry from the usual 15 she would have on a day without coronavirus.  After many child care providers closed last month, state officials made a recommendation that caught some by surprise: Stay open, with precautions, to care for the children of working parents.  Scott and her co-teacher recorded morning “circle time” so the video could be posted to a private YouTube channel for children whose parents kept them home. They sang their good morning song in English and Spanish and read the book “Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons.”  One of the biggest challenges of preschool in the coronavirus era is social distancing. Instead of the usual snuggles and hugs, Scott has switched to distance hugs, air high fives, and pats on the back. One student spontaneously jumped into her lap, then quickly realized her mistake.  “I sorry,” the girl said. “Air high five.”—Ann Schimke, Chalkbeat  ___8 a.m.: COVID-19 unit, St. Joseph Hospital, Denver  Dr. Peter Stubenrauch reviewed patients’ charts with his medical team during morning rounds and once again weighed the tradeoffs of long-term ventilator use.  Patients getting high levels of oxygen usually are placed on their stomach to ease pressure on the lungs. But that leaves them vulnerable to skin damage as they rest on tubes and equipment.  “Unfortunately, it comes down to an intellectual discussion between how sick are their lungs and how worried are you about the skin,” said Stubenrauch, a critical care pulmonologist with National Jewish Health, which staffs and manages the ICU. “But ultimately the skin wounds should recover (and) we need people oxygenating well enough that they’ll hopefully recover from this from a lung standpoint, too.”Nearly every patient in the unit was on a ventilator, that precious piece of equipment that can be the difference between life and death during the coronavirus crisis.The medical guidance on COVID-19 is evolving fast. Stubenrauch said doctors use the “tried and true” approaches to respiratory illness and are eyeing experimental treatments being developed. He recommended that one of his patients be added to a promising drug study. If she’s accepted, she could get the drug or a placebo the research requires. He can’t know.  Consultations with families are done by phone. Discussing life and death matters but not face to-face, with family members who can’t even be together with their loved one, is heartbreaking. And the uncertainty about COVID-19 means preparing families for the worst.”You by no means have any interest in giving up on a patient, particularly someone who came into the intensive care unit relatively recently,” Stubenrauch said. But he must “also set the expectation that we’re observing a lot of patients who remain on mechanical ventilation for prolonged periods of time and can quite suddenly take turns for the worse and pass away.”  By his shift’s end, the news in the unit was brighter. There were no new admissions for the day.—Kelley Griffin, CPR News___9 a.m.: Office in the former Morris Elementary School, YumaThe president of the United States was on the line again.  U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, elected in 2014 as a rising star in the Republican party, joined other senators on a conference call with President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The subject: How to begin reopening America’s economy.  Gardner took the call from a private office in a coworking space carved from the elementary school he attended, and his parents attended before him, in this Eastern Plains town.It’s close enough to his house that he can get there for lunch and, on this day, make chili for dinner.  Later in the day, Gardner spoke to Gov. Jared Polis about a letter they and Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet were sending to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell informing him of Colorado’s needs. He spoke to banking leaders about nagging problems with the federal Paycheck Protection Program. He conducted a pair of TV interviews.”Constant calls,” Gardner said. “There are constant calls, scheduled and unscheduled.”Gardner is up for reelection in November and his seat is considered one of the most vulnerable for Republicans in 2020. His relationship with Trump is central to the campaign, and in recent months the pair have been closely aligned and supportive of each other.Gardner has been speaking regularly with Trump throughout the crisis. He said the president recently called late at night to pick his brain about trying to bring America back to normalcy.”I talk to him about what I’m hearing,” Gardner said of the conversations. “He’s asking, ‘How do you think we should reopen the economy, get out of where we’re at right now?'”—Jesse Paul, Colorado Sun  ___9:10 a.m.: Denver City and County Building  Speaking in a basement room of a mostly quiet City and County building, Denver Mayor Michael Hancock told a dozen Emergency Operations Center staff gathered before him and others watching online that citizens need the safety and security only they can provide.  Denver Mayor Michael Hancock pulls off his mask to speak before red and white lights were illuminated on the City/County Building to show support and gratitude for first responders and medical personnel during the outbreak, April 9, 2020, in Denver.Hancock’s days are filled with meetings. Questions and concerns pile up with each one.  More residents are ignoring the stay-at-home order he put in place through the end of April to control the spread of the virus. How can Denver ease restrictions equitably? Will businesses hurt more if they open at half capacity? Should there be a curfew?  Hancock’s rollout of the stay-at-home order was not smooth. He initially announced that liquor stores and recreational marijuana shops would be closed before reversing course after long lines formed outside of both across the city, undermining social distancing guidance.  The city government, like public agencies across Colorado, faces a dire loss of tax revenue from virus-prompted shutdowns. Hancock, on a conference call with other metro area city leaders, heard of planned furloughs and open positions left dark, which Denver is considering, too.”In every challenge, the people are looking for that group of people who are going to stand up and fight on their behalf,” Hancock said. “We’re the people. We’re the ones.”—Conrad Swanson, The Denver Post  ___11:15 a.m.: Avery Parsons Elementary School, Buena Vista  The vehicles pulled into the parking lot on the west side of the school.  Michelle Cunningham was there in a surgical mask and gloves, greeting parents and students by name and giving them thumbs-up signs and smiles in lieu of high-fives and hugs.  The school counselor has been struck by the volume of families showing up for free meals. Though nearly one-third of the school district’s roughly 1,100 students are eligible for government-subsidized lunches, a measure of poverty, only about 40 children a day typically take advantage, she said. Now the district is handing out 400 meals a day, she said.  “As counselors, we know brains work best when physiological needs are met,” Cunningham said. “Its benefits go beyond food. I’m out where I connect with families. We give them a warm smile, a ‘How are things going?’… It’s a highlight of the kids’ day — a daily field trip to go get your lunch! This check-in connection can make it easier for them to ask for help.”In communities across the country, school buildings closed for learning remain open for meal distribution, extending a social safety net during the crisis. That holds true in Buena Vista, a tourism-dependent community set amid the majestic Collegiate Peaks.With retailers, restaurants, and other small businesses closed, hundreds of families are out of work. Many just received their last paychecks. The virus caused the cancellation of a summer whitewater festival in nearby Salida, part of a $75 million rafting season for the local economy.  Even so, Cunningham said she is proud of how the community has rallied.  “The school board, the business owners, the community leaders, the churches, the school’s lunch ladies … Everyone is stepping up in so many ways to support each other.”—Jan Wondra, Ark Valley Voice  ___Noon: Parking lot of the El Jebel Laundromat, Eagle County  Fabiola Grajales waited for the nose swab that would tell her whether she was finally free of the coronavirus and able to be near her family again.  In one of Colorado’s COVID-19 hotspots, a coalition of Eagle County Public Health, MidValley Family Practice and the Mobile Intercultural Resource Alliance has set up this free mobile testing site. Most patients waiting at the open-sided tent were screened in advance and recommended for the tests after showing symptoms consistent with the coronavirus.  Grajales, 27, a medical assistant at a Glenwood Springs clinic, said she started feeling sick March 2 and tested positive for the virus March 6. Over the next week, her cough worsened and she experienced shortness of breath.  “You know when you step on dry leaves? I could hear that sound coming from my lungs.”  “You get really bad headaches,” Grajales continued. “You feel like your eyes, they’re going to pop out. I couldn’t smell or taste anything.”  Doctors at Grand River Hospital in Rifle confirmed she had pneumonia and treated her there but didn’t admit her, she said.She self-isolated for 10 days before symptoms disappeared. But a follow-up test showed she still had coronavirus. After more rest, Grajales felt “90% better, maybe 95,” she said.  Waiting her turn for yet another test, Grajales said the knowledge and contacts she’s gained working in health care helped her acquire tests and treatment, with some effort.”It was hard for me,” she said. “I can’t imagine how hard it would be for other people.”She would need to wait a bit longer to learn whether she was finally well.  —Scott Condon, The Aspen Times___12:20 p.m., St. Joseph Hospital emergency room, DenverIt was another quiet day in the E.R., and the nurses gathered as they do every afternoon to discuss adjusting their schedules. This is a ripple effect of the pandemic: While parts of the health care system are stretched to the limit, emergency rooms are less busy.”Not gonna lie,” said Dr. Ramnik Dhaliwal, who started his shift at 8. “A little bit bored today.”  More people than ever before are staying home, which means fewer accidents and injuries, Dhaliwal said. He had a patient who suffered a heart attack at home and didn’t go to the ER for three days. He said it’s part messaging — people heeding calls to avoid the hospital unless it’s a true emergency — but also fear of contracting the virus at the hospital.Like all health care professionals, Dhaliwal wears personal protective equipment, or PPE. That means scrubs, a mask, protective glasses and a scrub hat. He understands the need, but he’s bothered that it takes away from the personal nature of his interactions with patients.  “Hopefully this doesn’t stay like this forever,” he said. “Just waiting for that vaccine.”  The slower traffic to the E.R. compounds the financial pressures facing health-care providers. To make sure resources are adequate to battle the virus, hospitals in Colorado and nationwide have postponed elective medicine including non-emergency surgeries and procedures.  The meeting of the nursing staff ended with the decision to send some home early.  —Claire Cleveland, CPR News  ___1:30 p.m.: Self-storage locker, Grand Junction  The self-storage yard was empty when Dawna Numbers arrived.  The rain had paused, so the 48-year-old moved quickly to load her clothes in plastic bags into the back of her red Kia for the long journey on a mostly empty interstate.With no money for rent, Numbers was headed for her mother’s house on the Front Range.Numbers has been out of work since March 25, when the coronavirus outbreak eliminated her night shift job at a fishing-line factory in Grand Junction. Like many Americans, she had tried fruitlessly to file for unemployment benefits. The state unemployment office had been slammed with more than 231,,000 new claims in the last month, slowing services to a crawl.Numbers had taken the night job so she could attend physical therapy appointments during the day. She’s worked in the past as a utility locator, a caregiver, and a Lyft driver. She had few options in Grand Junction. Many employers are shut down because of the virus.”I’ve never just felt so alone,” she said. Maybe this crisis would bring out something better in people, she hoped. Maybe she’d have better luck in Denver.”We just need to do the best we can and hopefully this ends soon and somehow we can go back to some kind of normal life,” she said. “Or hopefully better than it was before.”—Andrew Kenney, CPR News___2 p.m.: On the road from Steamboat Springs to Oak Creek  Nolan Christopher Dreher’s parents tucked him into his car seat in the back of their Toyota Highlander and drove snowy roads from Steamboat Springs to their home in Oak Creek. Nolan, cozy in a white onesie with bears on it, was two days old and on his way to meet his brothers.Lauren Dreher was hoping she had been careful enough, that the nurses and doctors and the woman who came in her hospital room to take out the trash were not infected with the virus.”At the end of the day you have to know that you did everything you could do,” she said. “I’m just hoping that that’s enough. I was trying so hard not to touch my face. You’re in labor and you brush your hair out of your face and wipe your brow.”What a weird time to bring a new human into the world, she thought. Will Nolan get a vaccine to protect him against the new coronavirus? What if social norms change so much that her third son never knows a world where people shake hands?Dreher, who had a complicated second pregnancy, planned to give birth to Nolan in Denver with an at-risk pregnancy specialist. She changed her mind as she watched the number of COVID-19 cases climb in the city. Plus, UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center isn’t nearly as busy.”It was just kind of eerie how quiet it was,” Dreher said. Adding to that surreal feeling was the fact that “everyone you came into contact with was wearing a mask, from the security guard to the nurses and doctors.” Dreher’s delivery team wore N95 masks and face shields.  She was allowed one visitor: her husband, Christopher.The Drehers are both furloughed. Lauren works for an orthodontist, and Christopher works at a French restaurant in Steamboat. They are trying to look at the bright side — more time with their new baby and sons Calvin, 6, and Landon, 4.  By late afternoon all were back in their warm home with a fresh blanket of snow outside, the first time together as a family of five.—Jennifer Brown, Colorado Sun  ___2:30 p.m.: Home of Arapahoe County coroner Dr. Kelly Lear, CentennialArapahoe County coroner Dr. Kelly Lear was at home, in jeans and a turtleneck instead of her usual scrubs, handling the administrative tasks that go along with the job since she and her fellow pathologist must stagger days in the office to maintain social distancing.But she was thinking about a case from early February: The death of a man in his 40s who had been seemingly healthy — with no serious pre-existing medical conditions – before falling ill with a cough a few weeks earlier. When she examined him then in the sterile autopsy room at the coroner’s office, she discovered lungs ravaged by an infection.More than two months later, Lear was still searching for answers to why the man died.The forensic pathologist suspected a virus and had ordered tests to prove it. The results came in mid-March. No flu. No other viruses. Nothing pinpointing what attacked his lungs.”I was basically ready to sign his death certificate as severe lung disease – unknown infection,” she said.But emerging news of the novel coronavirus got her thinking.”He showed all the symptoms and had very severe lung disease – and it looked at autopsy like what we are hearing, you know, COVID-19 lungs look like,” Lear said.A week later, Lear got the results of specimens she sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The man’s test was negative.—Kevin Vaughan, 9NEWS___4:44 p.m.: Masjid Al-Shuhada, downtown Denver  In a building that can hold up to 200 praying together, Imam Muhammad Kolila was alone as he prayed the Salat al-‘asr, one of Islam’s five daily prayers.”One of the things I really miss about community, before coronavirus, is that sense of belonging and that sense of human, physical interactions,” he said afterward. “If we have good intentions, and we lack all the resources and we do our best to pray and make sure we pray in a group, we get the same reward as we would as if we pray in the mosque. And that’s one of the things I’m trying to highlight.”Kolila has highlighted such teachings online. Like religious leaders of all faith traditions, Kolila has been streaming services — in his case, since March 16 — to provide spiritual direction at a trying time and keep his congregation connected as best he can.”One of the main objectives and one of the main missions of this mosque is to provide a safe space for people to come and pray, and connect with God, but right now we cannot create that safe space—physically,” he said. “This is why our biggest challenge is to create the space virtually.”  In addition to providing spiritual guidance digitally, Kolila has helped members in need. He regularly delivers food, supplies and money to members. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan was about to begin, providing another test for the imam and his temporarily virtual congregation.  The easing of stay-at-home orders will raise additional questions for Masjid Al-Shuhada and other places of worship: What does praying together look like in the new normal of 2020?—Victoria Carodine, 5280  ___5 p.m.: Fire Station 52, Brighton  Capt. Colin Brunt climbed into Brighton Fire Rescue Tower 51, a 46-foot long fire truck with a ladder. Trailed by his colleagues in Engine 52, Brunt traveled to Bason Kramer’s house to wish the 5-year-old a happy birthday. When they arrived, the crews switched on their lights and honked their horns while a firefighter stepped out to hand the boy a certificate.  This was not a typical day for the Brighton Fire Department, but it was a welcome one.  Since COVID-19 began to spread, Brunt has worked six 48-hour rotations. Each day of every rotation, he’s responded to multiple COVID-19 medical calls.When his six-person firefighter and EMS team shows up to a house with a presumed positive case, a paramedic enters the house for reconnaissance while Brunt and his team prepare an ambulance for the patient by wrapping the inside of the cabin with thick plastic.  Before the birthday party, Brunt’s unit extinguished a car fire, helped out on a call of a tractor-trailer hanging off the side of a highway and responded to a fire alarm. Brunt took a mask and worries about exposure to the coronavirus.”That’s our worst-case scenario that goes through all of our heads, bringing something back to our family,” said Brunt, who is married and has two daughters in kindergarten.  Birthday drive-bys — which more fire departments are doing to lift the spirits of isolated children — and other non-coronavirus calls were a nice change. “It’s a morale booster,” Brunt said.—Liam Adams, MetroWest newspapers  ___6:30 p.m.: home of Cat and Zach Garcia, Aurora  Cat Garcia had been waiting for the call from the nurses at the neonatal intensive care unit, hoping to hear good news about her baby twin boys she had yet to meet.  Three weeks earlier, she lay in St. Joseph Hospital about to undergo an emergency cesarean section. Garcia wasn’t due for another six weeks but her doctors felt like they had little choice: She had tested positive for COVID-19, had pneumonia, and was having difficulty breathing.  Bright lights filled the room. Doctors and nurses were covered from head to toe in PPE. The drugs began to take hold, and everything went dark.  When Garcia woke up, she had a breathing tube in her mouth. A nurse held up her phone to show pictures of her newborn sons, Kal and Bruce. It was the closest she was going to get to them.Her husband, Zach, who works for the Transportation Security Administration at Denver International Airport, had begun to show symptoms of COVID-19 on March 19. Cat Garcia developed a violent cough not long after, and the couple were suddenly facing the prospect of becoming parents in frightening times.Released from the hospital while Kal and Bruce gained strength in the NICU, Garcia returned home. She pumped milk and unpacked baby clothes while hoping for good news.  When the call came, the news wasn’t good. The twins — both of whom have tested negative for the coronavirus — still weren’t feeding well enough. Watching them on the NICU webcam would have to be good enough for a while longer.”We haven’t been able to hold them or see them,” Garcia said.  Three days later, the twins were sleeping in car seats on their way home, dressed in matching powder-blue pajamas and hooked up to oxygen to help them breathe.  —Adilene Guajardo, Denver 7___11:30 p.m.: Dr. Mercedes Rincon’s home office, Aurora  For nearly three decades, Dr. Mercedes Rincon has studied a molecule so obscure and unremarkable that even her colleagues tease her about it.The Spanish-born professor in the University of Colorado’s Department of Immunology and Microbiology was doing postdoctoral work at Yale when she stumbled upon an article about interleukin-6, or IL-6.She became fascinated with the molecule commonly produced in inflammation, which is familiar to arthritis and cancer researchers searching for treatments.When the coronavirus began wreaking havoc on human lungs, Rincon saw a familiar microscopic face in the mix: IL-6 is consistently present in the lungs of the most severely affected patients.  Whether IL-6 is a cause or a consequence of the coronavirus, Rincon isn’t sure. But she hypothesizes that drugs like tocilizumab, traditionally used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, could possibly target IL-6 and prevent it from producing more damaging inflammatory molecules.Early results from studies in China, as well as research in Europe and at the University of Vermont, show some promise.  “We can’t conclude anything yet,” she cautioned. “We have to be careful. We need more data.”With the clock approaching midnight, a long day coming to a close, Rincon got to work crafting a grant proposal. She wants the University of Colorado to be at the forefront of this research.With a little funding and a little luck, Rincon and her obscure molecule might just provide Coloradans — and the rest of the world — with a reason to hope. 
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The billions of dollars in coronavirus relief targeted at small businesses may not prevent many of them from ending up in bankruptcy court.Business filings under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy law rose sharply in March, and attorneys who work with struggling companies are seeing signs that more owners are contemplating the possibility of bankruptcy.  Companies forced to close or curtail business due to government attempts to stop the virus’s spread have mounting debts and uncertain prospects for returning to normal operations. Even those owners receiving emergency loans and grants aren’t sure that help will be enough.  The most vulnerable companies include the thousands of restaurants and retailers that shut down, many of them more than a month ago. Some restaurants have managed to bring in a bit of revenue by serving meals for takeout and delivery, but even they are struggling financially. Small and independent retailers, including those with online stores. are similarly at risk; clothing retailers have the added problem of winter inventory that they are unlikely to sell with spring here and summer approaching.Independent oil companies whose revenue was slammed by the collapse in energy prices also are strapped, as are other companies that were already burdened with high debt levels before the virus struck.Jennifer Bennett, who closed one of her San Francisco restaurants on Wednesday, was still waiting for the financial aid she sought from the federal, state and city governments. Even with the money, she doesn’t know if the revenue will cover the bills when she’s finally able to reopen Zazie — especially if she’s required to space tables six feet apart for social distancing.”Our occupancy is going to be cut 60% to 65%,” Bennett says. “I fear bankruptcy is a possibility.”Other small companies have similar anxieties, says Paul Singerman, a bankruptcy attorney with Berger Singerman in Miami.  “There is no reliable visibility into when business operations will be able to resume the pre-COVID normal,” Singerman says.  Even larger companies are in trouble, including already struggling retailers who had to shut their stores.  The jeans company True Religion filed for Chapter 11 earlier this month, saying extended closures of its stores in the pandemic have hurt its business. Recent reports say department store chains Neiman Marcus and J.C. Penney, which has struggled for years with slumping sales, could soon file for bankruptcy protection.  The number of Chapter 11 filings rose 18 percent in March from a year earlier, a dramatic swing from the 20 percent decrease in February, according to the American Bankruptcy Institute, a trade organization for attorneys and other professionals involved in bankruptcy proceedings. The numbers don’t break out filings by company size, but given that the vast majority of companies are small to mid-size, it does give an indication that smaller companies are struggling.The federal government has already approved or given out more than 2 million loans and grants to small businesses totaling nearly $360 billion; another $310 billion is on the way to one of the programs. Still, the money may be at best a stopgap for companies with little to no revenue coming in. And the new funds are expected to go so quickly that thousands of owners won’t get loans.There’s no way to predict how many companies will file for bankruptcy. There were over 160,000 bankruptcy filings from 2008 to 2010, during the Great Recession and its aftermath, according to statistics compiled by the federal court system. The numbers don’t break out filings by company size. The majority were for liquidations. although some companies restructured their debt and continued operating under Chapter 11.  Many companies, however, just shut their doors, and that’s likely to be the case again, Singerman says. According to some estimates, 170,000 companies failed during the recession.But the Small Business Reorganization Act, which took effect in February, may encourage more companies to seek Chapter 11. The law is aimed at allowing owners to retain their ownership rather than lose their companies to their creditors; that is generally what happens in Chapter 11. The law also streamlines the reorganization process so a company is not wiped out by attorneys’ fees, says Edward Janger, a professor at Brooklyn Law School in New York whose expertise includes bankruptcy law.Another change under the law is that a bankruptcy judge can approve the reorganization over creditors’ objections, Janger says.  Business owners will try to avoid bankruptcy by seeking leniency from landlords, lenders and vendors, bankruptcy attorney David Wander says. But with their companies’ financial troubles beyond their control because of the virus outbreak, many will file for Chapter 11 because the stigma that bankruptcy has long held will be gone, says Wander, a partner at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron in New York.  “The tsunami is going to happen in the coming months and it’s going to be ongoing,” Wander says. 
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With limited supplies of coronavirus tests available, the Pentagon is focusing first on testing those performing duties deemed most vital to national security. Atop the list are the men and women who operate the nation’s nuclear forces, some counterterrorism forces, and the crew of a soon-to-deploy aircraft carrier.Defense leaders hope to increase testing from the current rate of about 7,000 a day to 60,000 by June. This will enable them to test those showing symptoms as well as those who do not.The current tight supply forced the Pentagon to take a phased approach, which includes testing sailors aboard the USS Nimitz, the Bremerton, Washington-based Navy carrier next in line to head to the Pacific. Officials hope to avoid a repeat of problems that plagued the virus-stricken USS Theodore Roosevelt. On Friday the Navy disclosed a virus outbreak aboard another ship at sea, the USS Kidd.Despite President Donald Trump’s assertion that testing capacity is not an issue in the United States, Pentagon officials don’t expect to have enough tests for all service members until sometime this summer.Defense Secretary Mark Esper recently approved the tiered approach. It expands the Pentagon’s practice of testing mainly those who show symptoms of the virus to eventually testing everyone. Many virus carriers show no symptoms but can be contagious, as was discovered aboard the Roosevelt.The aim is to allocate testing materials to protect what the military considers its most important missions, while not depleting supplies for high-risk groups in the civilian population, including the elderly at nursing homes and health care professionals on the front lines of battling the virus.The first tier of U.S. troops are being tested this month, followed in May and June by the second-highest priority group: forces in combat zones such as Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Next will be those abroad outside of war zones, like troops in Europe and aboard ships at sea, as well as those returning to the United States from overseas deployments.Last in line: the remainder of the force.Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the first three groups could be fully tested by June. By then the Pentagon hopes to reach its goal of being able to conduct 60,000 tests per day. To complete testing of the entire force will take “into the summer,” he said without being specific.Hyten said that testing under this tiered approach started to step up in mid-April, and that it included a plan to fully test the crew of the Nimitz. The complications that come with trying to test for coronavirus aboard a ship while it’s already underway were made clear with the Roosevelt, which pulled into port at Guam in late March after discovering its first infections. It wasn’t able to test 100% of the crew until a few days ago.Beyond its desire to limit the spread of the virus, the Pentagon views testing and associated measures such as isolating and quarantining troops as tools to keep the force viable and to ensure it can perform its central function: to defend the nation. At least 3,900 members of the military had tested positive, including more than 850 from the Roosevelt.Military members, being fitter and younger than the general U.S. population, are thought to be less vulnerable to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus. So far only two military members have died from it.For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.The military’s staggered approach to testing is necessary, officials said, because of limited supplies and incomplete knowledge about the virus.”It is a supply issue right now, which is causing us not to be able to go down the full spectrum of all of the forces,” Hyten said. “So we’ll have to — that’s why we came up with the tiered approach.”Keeping coronavirus out of the nuclear force has been a high priority from the earliest days of this crisis. There are several reasons for that, including the Pentagon’s view that operating those forces 24/7 is central to deterring an attack on the United States. Also, there are limited numbers of military personnel certified to perform those missions, which include controlling Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missiles from cramped underground modules and operating nuclear-armed Ohio-class submarines.Since early in the outbreak crisis, Minuteman 3 launch officers have been operating in the missile fields for 14 days at a time, an extraordinary arrangement for personnel who for years had done 24-hour shifts and then returned to base.Gen. David Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, said Wednesday there are no COVID-positive cases in the nuclear force. That’s a “no fail” mission, he said, that will have to work around the virus indefinitely.Other first-tier forces, Goldfein said, are elements of the new Space Force, including those who operate Global Positioning System navigation satellites as well as the satellites that would provide early warning of a missile attack on the United States or its allies.The Air Force and the other services are prioritizing testing in their own ranks, he said, “to make sure that as test kits become available, we’re able to put them where they are most needed.”Goldfein said the military understands that the limited national supply of test kits means it cannot have all that it would like.”One of the top priorities right now across the nation is nursing homes,” he said. “I would not want to take tests away from that top national priority for my younger and healthier force. As tests become available, we’ve tiered them out and we know where we need to put them.” 
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Jamon Jordan could not mourn his mother in the traditional way. At Jacquelynne Jordan’s memorial in early April, there were just seven people. No hugs. No traditional dinner where family members could gather to honor the 66-year-old matriarch’s memory.That stripped-down scenario has played out hundreds of times in Detroit — 912 to be exact, the number of city residents who have died of COVID-19.So amid the pandemic, Detroit — the nation’s largest black city, the birthplace of distinctive soulful music and black cultural significance — grieves collectively. Famed across the world as Motown, Detroiters know it as a big city with a small-town feel, with a connectivity that has only magnified the community’s pain. “People always say that Detroit is like a northern country town,” said Marsha Battle Philpot, a cultural writer known as Marsha Music. “There tends to be very closely knit familial connections. In Detroit, there’s not six degrees of separation — there are only two and, most of the time, just one. Detroit has this character, which in a time like this, exacerbates the grief and the loss. But it will also be part of the recovery because Detroit is a fighting town.” The virus has disproportionately impacted black Americans across the country, including Detroit, where more than 8,500 infections have been reported, with black people accounting for more than 64% of them. And nearly 77% of the city’s residents who have died from coronavirus-related complications have been African American. The losses have shattered the city, compounded by a heightened economic uncertainty. Among those lost: community pillars, dedicated public servants and Michigan’s youngest victim, 5-year-old Skylar Herbert, whose parents, LaVondria and Ebbie Herbert, have served Detroit for decades — as a police officer and a firefighter. “They’ve been on the front line and they’ve served with honor and integrity,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said after Skylar’s death. “They did not deserve to lose their child to this virus. Nobody does.”’ Jamon Jordan, who runs the Black Scroll Network History and Tours company in Detroit, contracted COVID-19 himself, most likely while giving tours in early March. While he was battling the virus, his mother also fell ill. Despite his mother having existing health conditions, he said they both struggled to convince doctors they needed to be tested and were told not to come to the hospital and instead self-quarantine for two weeks. Jordan got better; his mother grew sicker. She died March 28. “She did not make it to two weeks,” Jordan said. “She was brought in by ambulance and, within an hour of arriving to the hospital, she had already passed away. I made it, but she didn’t.” And then her family could safely offer only an abbreviated farewell. “In the African American community, homegoing celebrations, funerals, are just a part of a very spiritual experience that allows family and the community to move this ancestor onto the afterlife,” said Jordan, a black historian. “It’s a part of a communal practice that goes all the way back to our African roots. “It’s a blow to this culture, our practices, our traditions, that we can’t really say goodbye,” he said. “When this is over, there are things that will not exist in our community, there are ideas that we will never see come to fruition. Detroit will be different.” Tributes cascade in every day on a Facebook COVID-19 group memorial page created by Michigan State Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo. Just weeks after she started it, Gay-Dagnogo’s own sister became one of hundreds honored on the page. Julena Gay was Gay-Dagnogo’s backbone, everything a sister should be. She died April 14 at the age of 63. “This type of collective loss, it’s profound,” Gay-Dagnogo said. “There’s a fear of ‘am I next?’ I started this page because people need to get beyond the thought that black people aren’t dying — they’re dying in record numbers.” Beyond the grief lies deep economic pain. Despite gains in recent years, including the city emerging from bankruptcy, swaths of neighborhoods remain blighted and 33% of Detroit residents live below the poverty line. And city leaders announced this month that the pandemic has created a projected $348 million budget deficit. A poll shared exclusively with The Associated Press, conducted in early April by the University of Michigan’s Detroit Metro Area Communities Study, found 35% of Detroiters employed full time or part time before March 1 have lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic. The study surveyed 1,020 residents across demographics. Jeffrey Morenoff, one of the study’s faculty research leads and director of the university’s Population Studies Center, said roughly 1 in 5 Detroiters say they will run out of money in three months. And research associate Lydia Wileden said the survey also found 49% of black residents are concerned about access to food, water and other supplies and 42% said they wouldn’t be able to afford a $400 emergency expense. For now, the focus is on how to help the city survive the widening ripples of devastating loss. “There’s going to be an aftermath of this, not only physically, socially, spiritually but also, mentally,” said Bishop Edgar Vann, who has been senior pastor of Detroit’s Second Ebenezer Church for 45 years. “It’s going to be difficult whenever you reopen because the norms that we had will be old and shattered. But there is a uniqueness about the city and, of course, one of them is the population being 80% African American. There is a certain spirit here, there’s a grit, toughness and resilience.”  
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The United States has again demanded that Afghanistan’s feuding leaders and the Taliban insurgency set internal disputes aside and cease armed violence to focus on combating the coronavirus pandemic. American peace envoy to the country, Zalmay Khalilzad, made the call Sunday through a series of tweets to wish Afghans a happy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.  “The well-being of the Afghan people and the country itself depend on all parties devoting their full energies to the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the shared enemy of all,” Khalilzad emphasized. To all those who celebrate, Ramadan Kareem, Ramadan Mubarak, Happy Ramadan!The opportunity to reflect and think of others in these unprecedented times is a blessing.— U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (@US4AfghanPeace) April 26, 2020At least 50 people have died out of 1,500 people who contracted the coronavirus in Afghanistan and the number of infections continues to spread in a country where decades of war has left an already underdeveloped public health system in shambles.Khalilzad said that Ramadan, which began on Friday, offered Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his political rival, Abdullah Abdullah “the opportunity to put the interest of the country ahead of their own.”  
Both the rival leaders claim to have won the September 28 presidential election and held competing inauguration ceremonies last month. The political crisis paralyzed national governance just when a U.S. negotiated peace-building agreement with the Taliban had raised hopes for finding a negotiated end to years of hostilities in Afghanistan.  
“Similarly, Ramadan offers the Taliban an opportunity to embrace a humanitarian ceasefire to reduce violence and suspend offensive military operations until the health crisis is over,” Khalilzad stressed.  Similarly, Ramadan offers the Taliban an opportunity to embrace a humanitarian ceasefire to reduce violence and suspend offensive military operations until the health crisis is over.— U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (@US4AfghanPeace) April 26, 2020
But the Islamist insurgent group in a statement Sunday again rejected domestic and international calls for reducing violence or declaring a ceasefire during Ramadan.  Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid insisted the implementation of its February 29th U.S. troop withdrawal agreement with Washington was the “sole path” toward ending their nearly 19-year-old war and establishing peace in Afghanistan.  FILE – Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the leader of the Taliban delegation, and Zalmay Khalilzad shake hands after signing an agreement at a ceremony between members of Afghanistan’s Taliban and the U.S. in Doha, Qatar, Feb. 29, 2020.Mujahid noted the deal signed in February had required both sides to release thousands of prisoners within ten days of the signing ceremony to lay the ground for Afghan warring sides to negotiate a political settlement to the conflict.“Intra-Afghan negotiations itself would have laid the groundwork for peace, security and end of hostilities and perhaps we would have made major progress on it till now,” Mujahid said. The dialogue was supposed to open on March 10. The Taliban spokesman, however, accused the U.S.-backed Afghan government, which was not part of the pact, of creating hurdles in the way of implementation of the deal from the outset and using delaying tactics on the prisoner swap issue. He went on to also accuse American and NATO troops of violating the agreement, saying the alliance continues to provide weapons and ammunition to the Afghan government to fuel the conflict. “Demanding a ceasefire and reduction in violence at a time when the opposite side is not executing its own obligations is both illogical and opportunistic,” Mujahid said. The U.S. military denies insurgent charges of deal violations and maintains the agreement binds it to support Afghan forces if attacked. U.S. military spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett tweeted Sunday it “is committed to our support for ANDSF [Afghan National Defense Security Force] and we continue to work together despite COVID-19.” 
The U.S.-Taliban agreement called for the release of up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners, and 1,000 Afghan government personnel held by the insurgent group by March 10, when the two rivals were supposed to open direct peace talks.  But the Ghani government has to date rebased 550 insurgent inmates as part its own plan, subject to a reduction in Taliban violence and the opening of peace talks. The Taliban has responded by freeing 60 Afghan security forces, though Kabul says most of the released men were non-combatants. In his Sunday statement, Khalilzad also urged both sides to accelerate the release of prisoners. “The war on COVID-19 makes it urgent and will also aid the peace process including getting intra-Afghan negotiations underway,” he noted.   
While the Taliban insists it is living up to its side of the agreement, the insurgents have in recent days carried out major attacks against Afghan security forces, killing more than 100 of them just in the past week. 
 Afghan officials have also accused the Taliban of killing or injuring up to 800 civilians during this period, charges Taliban officials have denied.   
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New Yorkers will soon be able to go to their local pharmacies for COVID-19 testing, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday.Cuomo said 5,000 pharmacies will be allowed to conduct the tests, with the goal of carrying out 40,000 tests each day.In addition, front line health care workers at four New York City hospitals will receive antibody testing for the virus, the governor said.New York is the epicenter of the virus outbreak in United States.  The virus death toll in New York City represents about a third of the country’s nearly 54,000 fatalities.The World Health Organization warned Saturday there is “no evidence” that recovered COVID-19 patients with antibodies are immune to a second coronavirus infection.The WHO issued the warning in a scientific brief as it confirmed cases of coronavirus worldwide topped 2.8 million.  Worldwide fatalities have now exceeded 200,000, according to statistics from Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.  Johns Hopkins said early Sunday the global death tally was 203,043.”Some governments have suggested that the detection of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could serve as the basis for an ‘immunity passport’ or ‘risk-free certificate’ that would enable individuals to travel or to return to work assuming that they are protected against re-infection,” the WHO said.A man collect supplies over barbed wire in the coronavirus locked down area of Selayang Baru, outside of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on April 26, 2020.”There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection,” it added.Chile said last week it would start distributing “health passports” to people who were considered recovered patients, allowing them to return to their jobs. Before receiving passports, they were screened to determine if they have developed antibodies.Other countries are also taking action to reopen their economies, even amid fears of new outbreaks.Iran, the hardest-hit country in the Middle East, warned Saturday of a “fresh outbreak” at the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.Iran’s ministry of infectious diseases said there are “signs of a fresh outbreak” in northern and central provinces “where we made great efforts to control the epidemic.”The warning came after Iran began reopening businesses that had been closed on April 11 due to the virus.Other countries are moving ahead with plans to ease travel restrictions and reopen businesses to jump-start their economies, including the U.S., the world leader by far in reported coronavirus infections and fatalities.The southeastern U.S. state of Georgia has become the center of debate about when to lift lockdown orders that have kept hundreds of millions of people at home.Friday, Georgia became the first U.S. state to launch a widespread reopening effort, allowing some nonessential businesses to reopen “on a limited basis.” The businesses were permitted to reopen their doors before the state’s monthlong shutdown is lifted on April 30, despite warnings from some elected officials in the state that the action could spark a new surge in coronavirus infections.Oklahoma also allowed some retail business to reopen Friday, and Florida opened some of its beaches to visitors a week ago. South Carolina eased some restrictions on Monday, and other states plan to relax guidelines next week.While U.S. President Donald Trump voiced opposition to Georgia’s reopening after initially supporting it, he has pushed to reopen the U.S. economy sooner than most health experts recommend.Venezuelan BMX racer Stefany Hernandez wears a mask rides her bicycle on Bolivar Avenue in Caracas, Venezuela, on April 25, 2020.The U.S. Congressional Budget Office says the economic hardship caused by the coronavirus in the U.S. will last through next year, as the pandemic wreaks havoc on the financial health of countries around the world.The nonpartisan agency said the U.S. budget deficit will nearly quadruple from $1 trillion to $3.7 trillion this year and the unemployment rate would soar from 3.5 percent in February to 16 percent in September. The CBO predicted that unemployment would fall after September but would remain in double digits through 2021.The report intensifies pressure on the Trump administration as it tries to balance concerns over the ballooning federal deficit with the provision of stimulus money to offset the outbreak’s economic effects.Trump signed a $484 billion relief package Friday for small-business loans and to help hospitals expand COVID-19 testing. The money is part of more than $3 trillion the U.S. government has spent to boost the economy.Trump did not hold his daily coronavirus briefing Saturday.  He posted on Twitter that it was “not worth the time & effort.” He said, “What is the purpose of having White House News Conferences when the Lamestream Media asks nothing but hostile questions, & then refuses to report the truth or facts accurately.”Reporters have repeatedly questioned the president about his suggestion that the coronavirus could possibly be cured by ingesting household cleaners, a position that has been roundly denounced by public health officials and manufacturers of the cleansers.The coronavirus has had a devastating effect on the global economy, but the International Monetary Fund and other organizations warn that developing countries will be the worst hit.The United Nations food agency projects that some 265 million people could experience acute hunger this year, twice as many as last year. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on governments to ensure health care is available to all people and that economic aid packages help those most affected.An isolated resident caresses Venezuelan doctor Diego Padron’s face as he examines her at an elderly people nursing home in Madrid, Spain, on April 24, 2020.In Spain, second to the U.S. in reported confirmed cases, more of its health care workers have been infected with COVID-19 than anywhere else in the world, according to a new report.A report by the European Center for Disease Control said about 18 percent of the 205,905 coronavirus cases in Spain were confirmed among its health care workers. The report found that 10 percent of Italy’s cases and 3 percent of the U.S. cases were detected in those who work in the medical field.Spain’s Medical Colleges Organization said the high rate of infections in health care workers is due to the lack of “essential safety measures.”Spain has seen the number of recovered cases outnumber new infections in recent days, and the government announced Saturday that children under 14 will be allowed to go outdoors Sunday for the first time since March 15.The G-20 called Friday on “all countries, international organizations, the private sector, philanthropic institutions, and individuals” to contribute to its funding efforts to fight COVID-19, setting an $8 billion goal.The G-20, an international forum for the governments and central bank governors of 19 nations and the European Union, said it had previously raised $1.9 billion. Saudi Arabia, the current holder of the G-20 presidency, contributed $500 million.The U.S. has more than 907,000 COVID-19 cases, nearly one-third of the world’s reported total. There have also been more coronavirus deaths reported in the U.S. than any other country.  
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Ulises García went from being a waiter to working at a laundromat. Yelitza Esteva used to do manicures and now delivers groceries. Maribel Torres swapped cleaning homes for sewing masks.  The coronavirus pandemic has devastated sectors of the economy dominated by immigrant labor: Restaurants, hotels, office cleaning services, in-home childcare and hair and nail salons, among others, have seen businesses shuttered as nonessential. The Migration Policy Institute found that 20% of the U.S. workers in vulnerable industries facing layoffs are immigrants, even though they only make up 17% of the civilian workforce.  And some of those immigrants, those without social security numbers, are unable to access any of the $2.2 trillion package that Congress approved to offer financial help during the pandemic. The economic meltdown has forced many immigrants to branch out to new jobs or adapt skills to meet new demands generated by the virus. Those immigrants who are able to find new jobs say the possibility of catching the virus makes them nervous. “I wonder sometimes if I should quit because I don’t feel comfortable working, when the virus is everywhere,” said García, a former waiter who now works at the laundromat in Brooklyn selling detergent, bleach or fabric softener. “The problem is that no one knows for how long this will last,” he added.  For Venezuelan immigrant Yelizta Esteva there was no option other than to work after she lost the $2,100-per-month salary she earned at a Miami hair salon. Her husband also lost his job at a house remodeling company. Besides rent and bills, they send money to at least seven family members in Venezuela. “I was terrified. I was left with nothing,” said the 51-year-old immigrant, who left Venezuela in 2015 to seek asylum. Now, Esteva and her husband work for the grocery delivery service Instacart and make an average of $150 per day, working more than 12 hours daily. “I am very, very fearful,” said Esteva, who applies anti-bacterial lotion constantly while shopping at the supermarkets. “I trust God, who is protecting us.”  Most green-card holders can benefit from unemployment insurance and from the economic stimulus package. Some immigrants on a temporary work permit, like those applying for asylum, can also get unemployment insurance and the new relief checks. Immigrants in the country illegally can’t access the stimulus help or unemployment benefits even if they pay taxes. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, however, announced that his state will give cash to immigrants living in the country illegally who are hurt by the coronavirus, offering $500 apiece to 150,000 adults.  Some cities in the country are pushing similar efforts: Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, have both set up bridge funds that are open regardless of immigration status. Austin, Texas, has a fund that will be used in part to help people left out of federal relief.  Diana Mejía, health and safety coordinator for an interfaith organization that helps immigrants, Wind of the Spirit, says day laborers have shown up near the train station in Morristown, New Jersey, for years to wait to be picked up by construction and landscaping companies.  Now, Mejía says she sees new faces. “Many used to work at restaurants. Also, for construction companies that closed,” she said. In New York, Maribel Torres, a 47-year-old Mexican immigrant used to clean apartments, but tenants stopped calling her when the pandemic started. Her husband, a cook, lost his job when the restaurant he worked at closed.  Now, with support from MakerSpace, a collaborative work space full of tools and materials that people can learn to use, and La Colmena, a non-profit that helps day laborers, she is sewing masks from home.  Torres, along with three other immigrant women who do this work with her, will donate some masks and sell others. So far, they have sold about 300 online. A young day laborer who also lost his job has been making the deliveries. “I feel that we are helping, and we plan to make a little money too,” said Torres. Leymar Navas, a former attorney in Venezuela, was working as a restaurant cashier in Miami before the virus outbreak. But the sushi shop closed its doors in March, almost at the same time that her husband and her two adult sons also lost their jobs.  After a desperate search, she found a part-time job for a disinfecting company that cleans bank ATMs.  “Nobody expected this,” said the 47-year-old asylum seeker. “But any job is decent as long as you bring food to the table.” According to a Pew Research Center study conducted in March, around half (49%) of Hispanics surveyed say they or someone in their household has taken a pay cut or lost a job – or both – because of the COVID-19 outbreak, compared with 29% of white people and 36% of black people.  A recent analysis from Pew based on Census statistics found that about 8 million Hispanic workers were employed in service-sector positions that are at higher risk of job loss.  Many of the immigrants with new jobs now say they feel grateful to have a job amid the pandemic, even if it means putting their own health at risk.  
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Elderly people are believed to be especially susceptible to the coronavirus. As a result, many senior living facilities have been on lockdown mode, not allowing visitors in order to protect the residents. But experts say this social isolation could lead to feelings of loneliness for many seniors.  One virtual reality company, MyndVR, is donating VR headsets to all 50 U.S. states to keep seniors engaged.  VOA’s Elizabeth Lee reports on the potential benefits of a virtual reality experience.
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The Detroit metropolitan area in the state of Michigan is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the U.S. Some of those Muslims chose to work in the medical field as physicians working the front lines in the COVID-19 pandemic. VOA’s Alam Burhanan reports.
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An appeals court has reinstated a California law requiring background checks for people buying ammunition, reversing a federal judge’s decision to stop the checks that he said violate the constitutional right to bear arms.The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday granted the state attorney general’s request to stay the judge’s order.”This means that the same restrictions that have been previously in effect regarding ammunition in California are back for the time being,” the National Rifle Association, which had hailed the judge’s injunction, said in a news release.The law, which took effect in July, requires Californians to pass an in-store background check before buying ammunition. The check involves running buyers’ names through a California Department of Justice database that tracks legal purchases of guns.Gun rights activists complained the law’s red tape and database errors unfairly limited legal purchases of ammunition.U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez in San Diego ruled in their favor, saying the law “defies common sense while unduly and severely burdening the Second Amendment rights of every responsible, gun-owning citizen desiring to lawfully buy ammunition.”While it is intended to keep ammunition from criminals, it blocked sales to legitimate, law-abiding buyers about 16 percent of the time, Benitez wrote. Moreover, he ruled that the state’s ban on importing ammunition from outside California violates federal interstate commerce laws.Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a court filing earlier this month that the background checks stopped more than 750 people from buying bullets illegally from July 2019 through January 2020, not including those who didn’t even try because they knew they weren’t eligible.The law requires buyers who already are in the state’s firearm background check database to pay a $1 fee each time they buy ammunition, while others can buy longer-term licenses if they do not have certain criminal convictions or mental health commitments.It took an average of less than five minutes to complete the background checks, according to state court filings.  
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The FBI is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone connected to a fire that badly damaged an Islamic center in southeastern Missouri and that coincided with the start of a holy month for Muslims.Richard Quinn, the special agent in charge of the St. Louis Division, announced the award Friday, hours after the fire broke out early that morning at the Islamic Center of Cape Girardeau. Twelve to 15 people were evacuated and escaped injury. Fire Chief Travis Hollis said the damage to the building was extensive.The Missouri chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group, said the fire began at the front door of the building. CAIR noted the timing of the blaze — Thursday night was the beginning of Ramadan, a holy month during which Muslims fast and pray.”Because the fire was deemed ‘suspicious,’ and because it occurred at a house of worship on a significant religious date, we urge law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive for the blaze,” CAIR’s national communications director, Ibrahim Hooper, said in a statement.The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the state fire marshal also were investigating the fire.Cape Girardeau is about 115 miles south of St. Louis.
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U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, issued a rare joint statement Saturday commemorating a 1945 World War II link-up of U.S. and Soviet troops on their way to defeat Nazi Germany as an example of how their countries can cooperate.The statement by Trump and Putin came amid deep strains in U.S.-Russian ties over a raft of issues, from arms control and Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and Syria to U.S. charges that Russia has spread disinformation about the novel coronavirus pandemic and interfered in U.S. election campaigns.The Wall Street Journal reported that the decision to issue the statement sparked debate within the Trump administration, with some officials worried it could undercut stern U.S. messages to Moscow.The joint statement marked the anniversary of the April 25, 1945, meeting on a bridge over the Elbe River in Germany of Soviet soldiers advancing from the east and American troops moving from the West.“This event heralded the decisive defeat of the Nazi regime,” the statement said. “The ‘Spirit of the Elbe’ is an example of how our countries can put aside differences, build trust and cooperate in pursuit of a greater cause.”Last Elbe statement in 2010The Journal said the last joint statement marking the Elbe River bridge link-up was issued in 2010, when the Obama administration was seeking improved relations with Moscow.Trump had hoped to travel to Moscow to mark the anniversary. He has been complimentary of Putin, promoted cooperation with Moscow and said he believed the Russian leader’s denials of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.Senior administration officials and lawmakers, in contrast, have been fiercely critical of Russia, with relations between the nuclear-armed nations at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.The Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday issued a bipartisan report concurring with a 2017 U.S. intelligence assessment that Russia pursued an influence campaign of misinformation and cyber hacking aimed at swinging the vote to Trump over his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.U.S. intelligence officials have warned lawmakers that Moscow is meddling in the 2020 presidential election campaign, which Russia denies.
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The worldwide number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb, bringing misery and pain to all echelons of society.The global count of cases has reached more than 2.8 million people, and more than 197,000 people have died.There have been a growing number of coronavirus cases aboard an Italian cruise ship docked in Japan with a crew but no passengers.  The Costa Atlantica had been headed to China for repairs but was diverted to Nagasaki earlier this year.Crew members were told to stay aboard the ship but media reports say some of them were spotted in Nagasaki.Local officials say at least 91 crew members, many of them asymptomatic, have tested positive for the virus. One has been hospitalized.In Europe, Spain has more than 219,000 coronavirus cases and more than 22,500 deaths, followed by Italy with more than 192,000 cases and almost 26,000 deaths.A nurse wearing a face mask writes down a telephone message from a deceased patient’s family member, to be put in the victim’s coffin, in Corsica, April 23, 2020.Several European countries have seen a decrease in new cases and are preparing to gradually reopen businesses and ease restrictions.The number of U.S. infections is creeping up to a million with more than 905,000 cases and nearly 52,000 deaths. Despite the rising tally, several states took steps Friday to reopen their economies, with Georgia and Oklahoma allowing salons, spas and barbershops to reopen. Some business owners said it was too early to open and doing so could spark a new surge in coronavirus infections, despite facing financial collapse if they do not.The U.S. Congressional Budget Office says the economic hardship caused by the coronavirus in the United States will last through next year, as the pandemic wreaks havoc on the financial health of countries around the world.The nonpartisan agency said the U.S. budget deficit will grow from $1 trillion to $3.7 trillion this year and said the unemployment rate would rise from 3.5 percent in February to 16 percent in September. It predicted that unemployment would fall after that time but would remain in double digits through 2021.The report puts pressure on the U.S. government as it tries to balance the concerns over the growing federal deficit with the approval of stimulus money meant to combat the outbreak’s economic effects.A woman wears a face mask to protect herself from COVID-19 as she walks past a painting in Hong Kong, April 25, 2020.On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a $484 billion relief package to extend additional support for small business loans and to help hospitals expand COVID-19 testing. The money is part of more than $3 trillion the U.S. government has spent to boost the economy.Earlier Friday, the G-20 called on “all countries, international organizations, the private sector, philanthropic institutions, and individuals” to contribute to its funding efforts to fight COVID-19, setting an $8 billion goal.An international forum for the governments and central bank governors of 19 nations and the European Union said Friday the G-20 already has raised $1.9 billion. Saudi Arabia, the current holder of the G-20 presidency, contributed $500 million.With no proven remedy for the coronavirus, health officials worldwide are recommending protective measures such as hygiene, social distancing and wearing masks and gloves. But people in many places are growing tired of restrictions, even as the number of cases grows.The coronavirus has had a devastating effect on the global economy, but the International Monetary Fund and other organizations warn that developing countries will be the worst hit.The United Nations food agency projects that some 265 million people could experience acute hunger this year, twice as many as last year. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on governments to ensure health care is available to all people and that economic aid packages help those most affected. In Brief:COVID-19’s toll continues to climb, with cases now having surpassed 2.8 millionMore than 197,000 people have died from the diseaseThe U.S. has more than 905,000 cases and almost 52,000 deathsSome states, nevertheless, are taking steps to reopen their economiesA congressional office sees U.S. COVID economic hardship lasting through 2021  Spain has more than 219,000 cases and over 22,500 deathsItaly has more than 192,000 cases and almost 26,000 deathsAuthorities in Italy say the country has passed the peak of the outbreakWith their cases down, parts of Europe are preparing to ease restrictions 
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A U.S. federal judge has ordered the release of migrant children who have been detained at the Mexico border, after ruling Friday the Trump administration was again violating an agreement to release them within 20 days.
 
The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law has been challenging the Trump administration’s child detention policies on behalf of plaintiffs who contend the coronavirus pandemic has triggered more delays in the release of the migrant children.
 
The center’s argument against the administration is being made under a 1997 pact known as the Flores agreement, which generally requires minors who have been detained in non-licensed facilities at the U.S.-Mexico border to be released within the 20-day period.
 
The plaintiffs maintain the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) stopped releasing children to their parents or other guardians in California, Washington state and New York to avoid getting involved with the states’ lockdown rules, which have been imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
 
They also allege the administration stopped the release process for some children because their parents or guardians could not easily arrange to be fingerprinted as required for background checks.
 
The plaintiffs argued the delays could expose the children to the coronavirus if it spreads in detention facilities. They cited a non-profit detention center in Texas where a 14-day quarantine order was put into effect.
 
In addition, the plaintiffs accused the government of releasing a teenager who turned 18 while in “quarantine” to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) instead of sending him to family placement program where arrangements had been made to accommodate him.
 
U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee, who oversees the case, did not agree with all of the allegations but once more ordered the administration to “expedite the release of the children.”
 
Gee concluded that “ORR and ICE shall continue to make every effort to promptly and safely release” the detained children who are represented by the plaintiffs.
 
In a separate ruling last month, Gee described the immigration detention centers as “hotbeds of contagion.”
 
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The worldwide number of COVID-19 cases continues to climb, bringing misery and pain to all echelons of society.The global count of cases has reached more than 2.8 million people, and more than 197,000 people have died.There have been a growing number of coronavirus cases aboard an Italian cruise ship docked in Japan with a crew but no passengers.  The Costa Atlantica had been headed to China for repairs but was diverted to Nagasaki earlier this year.Crew members were told to stay aboard the ship but media reports say some of them were spotted in Nagasaki.Local officials say at least 91 crew members, many of them asymptomatic, have tested positive for the virus. One has been hospitalized.In Europe, Spain has more than 219,000 coronavirus cases and more than 22,500 deaths, followed by Italy with more than 192,000 cases and almost 26,000 deaths.A nurse wearing a face mask writes down a telephone message from a deceased patient’s family member, to be put in the victim’s coffin, in Corsica on April 23, 2020.Several European countries have seen a decrease in new cases and are preparing to gradually reopen businesses and ease restrictions.The number of U.S. infections is creeping up to a million with more than 905,000 cases and nearly 52,000 deaths. Despite the rising tally, several states took steps Friday to reopen their economies, with Georgia and Oklahoma allowing salons, spas and barbershops to reopen. Some business owners said it was too early to open and doing so could spark a new surge in coronavirus infections, despite facing financial collapse if they do not.The U.S. Congressional Budget Office says the economic hardship caused by the coronavirus in the United States will last through next year, as the pandemic wreaks havoc on the financial health of countries around the world.The nonpartisan agency said the U.S. budget deficit will grow from $1 trillion to $3.7 trillion this year and said the unemployment rate would rise from 3.5 percent in February to 16 percent in September. It predicted that unemployment would fall after that time but would remain in double digits through 2021.The report puts pressure on the U.S. government as it tries to balance the concerns over the growing federal deficit with the approval of stimulus money meant to combat the outbreak’s economic effects.A woman wears a face mask to protect herself from COVID-19 as she walks past a painting in Hong Kong, April 25, 2020.On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a $484 billion relief package to extend additional support for small business loans and to help hospitals expand COVID-19 testing. The money is part of more than $3 trillion the U.S. government has spent to boost the economy.Earlier Friday, the G-20 called on “all countries, international organizations, the private sector, philanthropic institutions, and individuals” to contribute to its funding efforts to fight COVID-19, setting an $8 billion goal.An international forum for the governments and central bank governors of 19 nations and the European Union said Friday the G-20 already has raised $1.9 billion. Saudi Arabia, the current holder of the G-20 presidency, contributed $500 million.With no proven remedy for the coronavirus, health officials worldwide are recommending protective measures such as hygiene, social distancing and wearing masks and gloves. But people in many places are growing tired of restrictions, even as the number of cases grows.The coronavirus has had a devastating effect on the global economy, but the International Monetary Fund and other organizations warn that developing countries will be the worst hit.The United Nations food agency projects that some 265 million people could experience acute hunger this year, twice as many as last year. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on governments to ensure health care is available to all people and that economic aid packages help those most affected.   
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An unmanned cargo spacecraft with food, fuel and supplies docked at the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday.Russian Progress 75 cargo ship left the Baikonur Cosmodrom in Kazakhstan, a few minutes before 1 a.m. GMT and transported almost 3 tons of food and other supplies to the ISS.Scientists and staff, both in Baikonur and at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, monitored the three-hour journey and the docking.The cargo ship is set to remain at the station until December, when it will leave and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.   
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State and local governments across the United States have obtained more than 30 million doses of a malaria drug touted by President Donald Trump to treat patients with the coronavirus, despite warnings from doctors that more research is needed.At least 22 states and Washington, D.C., secured shipments of the drug, hydroxychloroquine, according to information compiled from state and federal officials by the Associated Press. Sixteen of those states were won by Trump in 2016, although five of them, including North Carolina and Louisiana, are now led by Democratic governors.Supporters say having a supply on hand makes sense in case the drug is shown to be effective against the pandemic that has devastated the global economy and killed nearly 200,000 people worldwide, and to ensure a steady supply for people who need it for other conditions, like lupus.But health experts worry that having the drug easily available at a time of heightened public fear could make it easier to misuse it. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday warned doctors against prescribing hydroxychloroquine for treating the coronavirus outside of hospitals or research settings because of reports of serious side effects, including dangerous irregular heart rhythms and death among patients.It’s the latest admonition against the drug that Trump mentioned 17 times in various public appearances, touting its potential despite his own health advisers telling him it is unproven.Oklahoma spent $2 million to buy the drugs, and Utah and Ohio have spent hundreds of thousands on purchases. The rest of the cities and states received free shipments from drug companies or the U.S. government over the last month. Ohio received a large donation from a local company.FILE – This April 7, 2020, photo shows a bottle of hydroxychloroquine tablets in Texas City, Texas.Several states, including New York, Connecticut, Oregon, Louisiana, North Carolina and Texas, received donations of the medication from a private company based in New Jersey called Amneal Pharmaceutical. Florida was given 1 million doses from Israeli company Teva Pharmaceutical.The Federal Emergency Management Agency has sent 19 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to 14 cities including Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Baltimore, Maryland, from the federal government’s national stockpile, a source that also provided South Dakota and California with supplies. The U.S. government received a donation of 30 million doses from Swiss drugmaker Novartis on March 29 to build up the stockpile, which does not normally stock the drug.”If he (Trump) hadn’t amplified the early and inappropriate enthusiasm for the drug, I doubt if the states would have even been aware of it,” said Dr. Kenneth B. Klein, a consultant from outside Seattle, Washington, who has spent the last three decades working for drug companies to design and evaluate their clinical trials.Klein said it’s understandable that government and health officials looked into hydroxychloroquine — which is approved for treating malaria, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus — as a possible remedy during a frightening pandemic, but the time and energy has been misspent. The potential side effects are worrisome, especially because many coronavirus patients already have underlying health conditions, he said.”The states and the federal government are reacting in light of that fear. But it’s not a rational response,” Klein said.Doctors can already prescribe the malaria drug to patients with COVID-19, a practice known as off-label prescribing, and many do. Medical and pharmacy groups have warned against prescribing it for preventive purposes. The FDA has allowed it into the national stockpile, but only for narrowly defined purposes as studies continue.Utah Gov. Gary Herbert, a Republican, has previously acknowledged that the drug is “not without controversy,” but defended the state’s efforts to build up a supply. As questions mounted Friday, though, he distanced himself from an $800,000 purchase the state made from a local company and said it would be investigated.Herbert also halted a plan to spend $8 million more to buy 200,000 additional treatments. “The bottom line is, we’re not purchasing any more of this drug,” he said.FILE – This April 6, 2020, photo shows an arrangement of hydroxychloroquine pills in Las Vegas.Other states have received it from the federal government. South Dakota, with a population of 885,000 people, received 1.2 million doses and is using the drug for a trial as well as doctor-approved prescriptions for COVID-19 positive patients.South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican and Trump ally, said earlier this month she pushed the White House to provide enough hydroxychloroquine to give it to every hospitalized person, others who are vulnerable to the coronavirus and “front line” health care workers. As of Tuesday, 200 people in South Dakota were being treated with the drug, according to Sanford Health.It is one of several states that say they are using some of the doses for clinical trials going on to assess whether the drugs has benefits for COVID-19 patients.Many states, however, have opted to steer clear over concerns about side effects and lingering questions about the drug’s effectiveness. At least one of those states is led by a Republican governor, Tennessee, where the state’s Department of Health sent a letter warning against using the drug or hoarding it.”We were seeing a flood of inappropriate prescribing and hoarding, quite frankly,” Health Commissioner Lisa Piercey told reporters.Kansas health director Dr. Lee Norman said the state has no plans to buy the drug because evidence is lacking that it helps treat COVID-19.Most states aren’t paying for the drug, and it’s not clear why Utah didn’t get it from the federal reserve or a donation from a business like Amneal Pharmaceutical.News releases from state governments show the New Jersey-based company has sent millions of doses of the drug free of charge to states, including 2 million to New York and 1 million to Texas. A company spokesperson declined to provide a list of donations or answer other questions from the Associated Press.FILE – This April 6, 2020, photo shows an arrangement of Hydroxychloroquine pills in Las Vegas.Pharmaceutical companies can often manufacture pills they already make fairly cheaply. The donations may have been done to earn good publicity while setting companies up to make future sales if hydroxychloroquine ends up being a reliable treatment for the virus, Klein said.Controversy has swirled around the drug since Trump started promoting it in the White House briefing room on March 19.He mentioned the drug in briefings through April 14, and the White House distributed news releases praising Trump’s efforts to stockpile it for use in areas of the country hard-hit by the virus. But for the past week, as studies have shown mixed or even harmful results, Trump has gone silent on the drug.Asked about it Thursday, Trump said he hadn’t heard of a study done at U.S. veterans hospitals with preliminary results that showed no benefit, and he rejected the notion that he had stopped promoting hydroxychloroquine as a cure.”I haven’t at all. I haven’t at all,” Trump said. “We’ll see what happens.”  
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The Ethiopian community in the Washington, D.C., area is mourning the loss of a woman who died from coronavirus shortly after giving birth, without seeing her newborn.Wogene Debele of Takoma Park, Maryland, was eight months pregnant when she began experiencing symptoms including fever, shortness of breath and loss of sense of smell. On March 25 she was hospitalized, and her son was born one month early via emergency cesarean section. On April 21 she died due to complications from the virus. Her son is healthy and does not have the disease.On Friday at the Wilkes Street Cemetery Complex in Virginia, mourners wore masks and stood at a safe distance from one another.  Her husband, Yilma Asfaw, collapsed on the casket, crying out in Amharic. “You didn’t see the boy you were looking for. You left your four children, and what would I do for them?” Despite his distress, his friends and family were unable to comfort him due to the distancing restrictions.Her 17-year-old daughter, Mihret Yilma, said the loss is impossible to process. “I didn’t just lose one person. I lost three. I lost my mother, my sister and my friend. We were very close. She left without saying goodbye,” she told VOA, speaking a mix of Amharic and English.  “She taught me the meaning of strength and faith. We are safe because of her prayer night and day.”The daughter has been thrust into the role of mother, mixing milk formula to feed the baby and taking care of the newborn for three weeks. She said she takes solace in her new responsibility.“The newborn baby reminds me of my mother,” she said. “I feel like I am finding my mother through my siblings. From now on, they are all I’ve got. Mom used to say when I have my own children that I wouldn’t need a babysitter and that she would raise my children.”Wogene Debele of Takoma Park, Maryland, was eight months pregnant when she fell ill. She died from coronavirus shortly after giving birth. Here, her family mourns at her graveside.Yilma, 50, and Wegene, 43, won the Diversity Visa Lottery to come to the United States 10 years ago, bringing their daughter Mihret and son Naol Yilma, now 10. They had their third child, another son, Asher Yilma, after arriving in the U.S. The father is a school bus driver for Montgomery County, Maryland.The Washington, D.C., area is home to the largest population of people of Ethiopian descent in the U.S., with an estimated 100,000 living in the region.“This family is going to need us in the future. They’re going to need our support and our assistance, like so many families in our community,” Takoma Park Mayor Kate Stewart told local television station WUSA9.Etsegenet Bekele is a neighbor and had known Wegene since she came to the U.S. She lived on the third floor and Wegene on the eighth. “This is so painful for a new mother. I have no words. It is so painful,” she said. “She was a good person for everyone, but she would die for her children more than anything. She is a soldier for children.”She said to mourn in such circumstances is painful, as people are keeping distance and can’t console each other. “You can’t get over it even after crying and everything is done from a distance. In our culture to be buried like this is deeply painful.”Yilma said he still can’t accept the loss of the woman he has loved since they were both children.“We have been together for 25 years,” he said. “She was my childhood friend; she was my childhood partner. She was my adviser, my lead, I don’t even know what to say. She loved her children. She was the kind of person who welcomed people with open arms. My sorrow is deep and bitter,” he told VOA.This story originated in the Africa Division with reporting contributions from VOA Amharic Service’s Tsion Girma. 
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The senior Department of Homeland Security official who was thrust into the spotlight by President Donald Trump to describe the effects of temperature on COVID-19 has been the subject of misconduct allegations for his previous government work.A Department of Energy Inspector General investigation was still pending Friday based on evidence submitted by a whistleblower that William Bryan abused his government position with energy consulting work in Ukraine.It’s unclear if Trump was aware of that investigation when he called on Bryan at his daily briefing Thursday to explain DHS research that prompted a presidential riff on the potential to cure the virus with disinfectant and kill it with sunlight.Bryan has been acting undersecretary for the DHS Science and Technology Directorate since May 2017. Before that, he was president of ValueBridge International’s Energy Group, a consulting firm in Virginia, following previous work with the Department of Energy.Trump nominated him to be the undersecretary of the directorate, which is charged with developing technology for the components of DHS. But days after his Senate hearing in August, a government whistleblower and his attorneys received a letter from the Office of the Special Counsel that information they provided about Bryan showed a “substantial likelihood of wrongdoing.”The letter, first reported by The Hill newspaper in September, said the Office of the Special Counsel, an independent federal investigative agency, had referred the matter to the Department of Energy Office of Inspector General, which opened an investigation.The letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, said the IG would conduct an investigation to see if his allegations could be substantiated and would inform Congress and the president.Bill Bryan, head of science and technology at the Department of Homeland Security, speaks about the coronavirus April 23, 2020, in Washington, D.C.The allegations against Bryan, which were reported by The New York Times in October 2018, center around his time as a senior adviser in the Office of International Affairs in 2016. He was designated a “special government employee,” which allowed him to do limited private sector work.The whistleblower, Robert Ivy, alleged that Bryan used his DOE position to develop his business interests with ValueBridge, including by providing money to foreign officials with the goal of influencing their actions and improperly sharing proprietary information.The allegations reference players who featured prominently in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.The complaint, which was also obtained by AP, describes Bryan’s dealings with Rinat Akhmetov, the Ukrainian energy oligarch who hired Paul Manafort as an adviser years before Manafort became chairman of Trump’s presidential campaign. According to the complaint, Bryan denied ever interacting with Manafort, who was convicted in Mueller’s Russia investigation related to Manafort’s work in Ukraine — though they did stay at the same Hyatt Hotel in Kyiv on one occasion recounted by the whistleblower.It says Bryan, as the head of an international Energy Department team that traveled to Ukraine with the goal of stabilizing the country’s energy security, aligned himself with Ahkmetov, became manipulated by the oligarch and his lieutenants and cashed in “personally on the cowboy capitalism that has driven so much of the former Soviet Union.”FILE – The Department of Energy is seen in Washington, D.C., May 1, 2015.Ivy, a former DOE official who now works in the private sector, and his attorney said Friday that they provided information to the IG investigation but have not received any notice of a conclusion. Both expressed surprise that Bryan, who has a military background but is not a scientist, was called upon by the Trump to discuss the research.”Bill Bryan should not be in that position in the first place,” said John Tye, Ivy’s attorney and the founder and CEO of Whistleblower Aid. “The U.S. government found a substantial likelihood of wrongdoing by him on both the corruption and security violation matters.”The Department of Energy referred questions about the investigation, which remains open, to its Inspector General’s office, which did not respond to a request for information. DHS also did not respond to questions or make Bryan available for an interview.Bryan presides over an organization that has had its budget cut by the Trump administration, despite the prominent role the president gave it during his briefing to discuss how work done at an agency lab in Maryland showed the virus breaking down when exposed to light and humidity.Under the final year of President Barack Obama, the agency had a budget of $841 million, more than half of which was for research and development. The Trump administration cut that to around $583 million in its first budget to fund other priorities. It proposed restoring some of that this year and raising it to $643 million. 
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