As about half of U.S. states and European nations begin to ease their coronavirus lockdowns, AP reports health authorities are increasingly worried about a second wave of cases and deaths that could force governments to shut things down again. They believe there will be one, and it's just a matter of when and how bad it will be. In the U.S., many states haven't put in place the kind of extensive testing needed to detect new outbreaks and contain them, and many are reopening without having a 14-day decline in new illnesses and infections, which was one of the key benchmarks in the Trump administration's guidelines for reopening. As of last night, there were more than 73,200 deaths in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University's count, and more than 1,228,000 confirmed cases.
After reports Tuesday that the White House was going to be winding down its coronavirus task force by the end of the month led to a backlash, President Trump reversed those plans yesterday and said it would continue, but would shift focus toward restarting the economy and the development of a vaccine. Trump said, "I thought we could wind it down sooner, I had no idea how popular the task force is." Trump also said that he'd still seek the counsel of its medical experts, Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, no matter what happens with the task force. Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized Trump's push for states to reopen, saying in an MSNBC interview, "Death is not an economic motivator, stimulus. So why are we going down that path?" She continued, "To unlock the lockdown is to test, trace, treat as well as isolate social distancing."
New York officials said Wednesday that there have been 64 suspected cases in the state of a puzzling inflammatory illness in children that medical experts believe may be connected to the coronavirus. None have died from it. The illness is similar to a rare blood vessel disorder called Kawasaki syndrome." New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot said symptoms include days of high fever, eye inflammation, abdominal pain, vomiting, rash and swollen lymph nodes. She said cases have also been identified in the U.K., Philadelphia and Boston.
➤GEORGIA PARENTS WANT IMMEDIATE ARRESTS IN FEBRUARY KILLING OF SON: The parents of a 25-year-old black man who was killed in Georgia on February 23rd by two armed white men, a father and son, called Wednesday for immediate arrests. There had been a growing outcry over Ahmaud Arbery's death, with no arrests having been made more than two months after his killing, and it intensified after cellphone video showing the shooting surfaced online Tuesday. After it was released, the state opened an investigation supported by Georgia's governor and attorney general. An outside prosecutor who's in charge of the case said he wants a grand jury to decide whether criminal charges are warranted. But that won
Arbery's mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, said Wednesday she believes her son was jogging outside the city of Brunswick, which she said he did daily. The men who killed Arbery, father Gregory McMichael and his son Travis McMichael, told police they grabbed guns and went after him in a truck after seeing him running in their neighborhood, saying they thought he matched the description of someone who'd carried out a recent burglary in the neighborhood. The father said his son got out of the truck holding a shotgun and Arbery, quote, "began to violently attack." He said Arbery was shot as he and Travis fought over the gun.
The cellphone video shows Arbery running on the left side of a road with a pickup truck parked in the road in front of him with one man in the bed of the truck and another next to the open driver's side door. Arbery crosses the road to pass the truck on the passenger side, then crosses back in front of it. A gunshot is heard, and then Arbery and one of the men are seen grappling over a shotgun. A second shot is heard as Arbery is seen punching the man. A third shot is fired, and Arbery staggers and falls face down. Lee Merritt, an attorney for Arbery's mother, called the death a "modern lynching."
➤MLB TO HAVE RETURN-TO-PLAY PROPOSAL WITHIN WEEK: Major League Baseball expects to give a return-to-play proposal to the players' union within a week, according to ESPN. The network also reported that some teams have begun to tell players to prepare for a spring training that could begin in mid-June and a regular season that could start in early July.
➤NBA TO HAVE ALL-PLAYERS CALL FRIDAY, AS PRACTICE FACILITIES ALLOWED TO REOPEN: The NBA will host a call for all players on Friday (May 8th) with Commissioner Adam Silver and Players Association executive director Michele Roberts, ESPN reported yesterday. The call is meant to be an open forum during which players can address any concerns or ask questions they have. It will take place on the same day that the NBA is allowing teams to reopen their practice facilities for voluntary, social-distanced workouts in places where it's allowed by local public health officials.
➤FAVRE REPAYING $1.1 MILLION FROM WELFARE FUNDS FOR SPEECHES HE DIDN'T SHOW UP FOR: Hall of Fame former NFL quarterback Brett Favre is repaying $1.1 million that he got from welfare funds for multiple speeches he didn't show up for, Mississippi state auditor Shad White said Wednesday. White released an audit two days earlier that showed Favre had been paid by Mississippi Community Education Center, a nonprofit whose former leader has been indicted in a welfare embezzlement scheme. The Center had contracts to spend money through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. White said, "To date, we have seen no records indicating Mr. Favre knew that TANF was the program that served as the source of the money he was paid." Favre said on Facebook last night that he didn’t know the payments came from welfare funds. He also said, "I have never received moneys for obligations I didn't meet."
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