In party dresses or come as you are, with colored lights flashing in their bedrooms and teachers-turned-DJs spinning, high schoolers have turned to virtual proms to salvage at least one slice of fun and tradition for the Class of 2020.
And they’re getting help from familiar brands like Teen Vogue and Jack in the Box, with both serving as hosts to thousands of teens.
Celebrities, too, are taking on prom: The “Get Out” actress Allison Williams was a guest DJ for Zoom partygoers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and “Jack Ryan” star John Krasinski was joined by Billie Eilish when he threw a prom live on YouTube.
“It’s terrible that it’s happening to your class, but I hope you’re having a good time anyway,” Williams told about 100 teens, staff and guests April 16 at the prom hosted by the Baton Rouge Youth Coalition, an after-school program.
The theme was “Royaltee,” an acknowledgement that while some kids had already bought their dresses before lockdown, others never got the chance and were welcome in T-shirts.
On top, Williams sparkled in a strapless copper sequin dress, joking that she couldn’t get up and dance because “there are sweatpants happening.”
Alauna Stults, 17, in Findlay, Ohio, will wear a blue bedazzled two-piece outfit when she attends an online prom May 9 thrown by the party apparel rental service Charlotte’s Closet and an event planning site, My School Dance. Charlotte’s Closet is donating dresses to teens in need, including Alauna.
“I was looking forward to prom,” she said. “I was pretty pumped up about it. I was planning on going with a group of my friends, but it’s really cool we can still dress up and do everything we would do for a prom, like doing makeup.”
High schools and cheer teams have thrown virtual proms of their own as social media has filled up with sweet moments among families. Dads have taken their dressed-up daughters for living room spins for a dance or two, and teens have organized home proms among parents and siblings.
“Prom is definitely one of those bigger life moments when you’re growing up, even if you find it to be corny or not cool. It definitely still is something that’s a moment you look back on and remember,” said Teen Vogue Editor-in-Chief Lindsay Peoples Wagner.
The site expects about 5,000 teens to attend its virtual prom May 16 on Zoom. Organizers are working with high schools around the country to set up separate rooms so kids can be with their friends as celebrity co-hosts pop in and DJs get busy.
YouTuber Emma Chamberlain, H.E.R. and “Euphoria” star Storm Reid are expected.
“It will be really interactive, and that’s going to be the fun part of it,” Peoples Wagner said.
As part of a social distancing campaign, #StayInTheBox, Jack in the Box is working with schools in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Houston to put on a prom in May, complete with free food and delivery codes.
Serenity Cadogan in Covington, Georgia, near Atlanta is only 12, but she hosted a high school prom live on Instagram on March 31, which was National Prom Day, for more than 600 teens around the world, from Texas to London.
“We wanted to brighten their day,” said the seventh-grader, who leads a chapter of Becca’s Closet, a nonprofit that donates free prom dresses to high school girls. “Everybody was really happy. It was really classy. I didn’t expect that many people but it actually ran pretty smoothly.”
Ironically enough, at least one online school, the public K-12 Washington Virtual Academies, hosts an offline prom each year for the students it serves across the state of Washington. Not this year. Prom will be online, just like school.
“People have reached out to us saying, hey, how do we do a virtual prom? But that’s not something we’ve previously done, so we’re embarking on this adventure just like schools all over the U.S.,” said Summer Shelton, the head of school.
Offline, the school hosts prom in Tacoma, its home base. Students travel from as far away as Spokane to attend, staying in hotels. The date for Shelton’s virtual prom had not been finalized but will likely be in June. The school has about 500 juniors and seniors.
“This is one of the most looked-forward-to nights of the year,” Shelton said. “Right now they’re dealing with disappointment, understandably, but trying to move past disappointment and saying, OK, what do we do now to make this special?”
Donna Sheperis, an associate professor of counseling at Palo Alto University’s Los Altos, California, campus, sees other ironies for a tech-savvy generation missing out on prom.
“They also crave human connection,” she said. “They crave a chance to dress up and dance with their friends. They crave some time that’s just for them. And this year, they can’t get it.”
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Month: April 2020
From a hill four miles outside Boston, World Resources Institute economist Michelle Manion says she can read the letters on top of the Prudential building, a city landmark.”I’ve never been able to do that,” she said. “It’s really amazing.”Since FILE – Gas prices are listed for unleaded at a gas station in Oklahoma City.Don’t expect it to last.”The general expectation is that most of this will pick up once the crisis is over,” said Michael Gerrard, director of the Saban Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. Satellite imagery already shows air pollution rebounding over China. In the meantime, the pandemic has slowed the transition to cleaner energy.BloombergNEF, an energy research organization, lowered its 2020 forecast for new wind power construction globally by 12% and new solar power by 8%. Investment in renewables has dried up. Electric vehicle sales are down by two-fifths compared to last year.The downturn is likely temporary. Renewables still make economic sense.”The cost of building solar and wind has plummeted so much in recent years that it’s highly competitive. It’s really often outbidding fossil fuels,” Gerrard said. “That hasn’t changed. We’ve seen a slowdown in the construction. But I think that should pick up once people are fully back to work.”However, BloombergNEF’s forecasts for global renewable energy installations show the world falling far short of what’s needed to keep the planet from warming more than 2 degrees Celsius, the target in the 2015 U.N. Paris climate agreement.And BNEF’s forecasts are more optimistic than most, according to the firm’s head of clean energy, Logan Goldie-Scot. The deeper the economic downturn from COVID-19, the farther off target the world will likely be. “If it ends up delaying or making it harder to finance and build renewable energy projects, then this will make what was already a challenge even harder,” he said.The impact of the oil price crash isn’t clear. “Ordinarily if gasoline is inexpensive, people are likely to go out and buy expensive gas guzzling cars,” Gerrard said. “But these days, they aren’t buying much of anything.” Sales of all vehicles are down about two-fifths, not just electric vehicles. Automakers have announced a few delays, but they’re mostly sticking to their plans to release new electric models.It’s too soon to say, but the pandemic may bring about societal changes that could affect greenhouse gas emissions. Unprecedented numbers of white-collar workers are telecommuting. “A lot of these folks are like, ‘You know what? This is great,'” Manion said. After the crisis, “I think that there will be a pretty strong demand on the part of workers” to keep it up at least part time.”That’s an area where you could see reduction in emissions from commuting,” she added. “You could also see companies starting to maybe shrink the amount of commercial office space they’re using by 10 or 15 percent” because less of the workforce is in the office at a time. That would cut down on emissions from buildings.Before the crisis, growing numbers of large corporations had made commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The environment often takes a back seat to economic growth in tight times. But Goldie-Scot says he has not seen companies abandoning their plans.”It may result in some delays here and there, but it’s not a structural shift,” he said.One concern is that the COVID-19 crisis will push the climate crisis off the radar. “Before the virus crisis, there was a tremendous buildup of momentum around the world in public activism and public interest about climate change,” Gerrard said. “Obviously, attention has switched to the coronavirus crisis.” The loss of political pressure could do long-term damage to efforts to transition to clean energy, he said.Governments around the world are pouring unprecedented amounts of money into propping up their cratering economies. The U.S. government invested billions into clean energy in the stimulus bill during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Big stimulus packages are expected this time around, too. Experts say the right investments could put the world closer to reaching its climate goals. On the other hand, Goldie-Scot said, “If large sums of recovery money goes into sustaining technologies that are detrimental to those longer-term decarbonization goals, this will end up being a setback.”“We’re at a point where we can turn this ship in one of two ways,” Manion added. “I’m hoping that we see some leadership.”
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More than a million Australians have downloaded a coronavirus contact tracing app within hours of it being released by the government. Officials have said the technology would help Australia get back to normal and help lift restrictions, but it has been criticized by civil liberties groups. Australia has managed to control its coronavirus outbreak, but officials worry about the risk of another flareup. There are 6,713 confirmed Covid-19 infections in Australia. 83 people have died. The Australian government says the voluntary app will help to save lives. It is designed to enable health officials to trace people potentially exposed to COVID-19. Smartphone users who download the app will be notified if they have had contact with another user who has tested positive for coronavirus. It uses Bluetooth signals to log when people have been close to one another. Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline. Embed” />CopyOfficials believe it could help to trace undiagnosed COVID-19 infections. They have insisted the data will only be used by state health authorities.
“No Australian should have any concerns about downloading this app. It is only for one purpose; to help contact tracing if someone becomes positive,” says Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy. “I think Australians will rise to the challenge because they have risen to the challenge of distancing, they have risen to the challenge of testing.” The CovidSafe app is based on software used in Singapore. But civil liberties campaigners say it is an invasion of privacy. Pauline Wright from the Law Council of Australia says data protection safeguards are needed. “If there are problems then people need to have the assurance that it will be overseen by an independent authority,” she said.
The government wants at least 40% of Australians — roughly 10 million people — to sign up to make the Covid-19 digital tracking measure effective.
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By 2025, Indonesia is expected to generate 150 thousand tons of trash per day, much of it plastic. Indonesian entrepreneur David Christian is developing everyday products to edge the world’s 4th most populous nation toward producing zero waste. But with COVID-19 wreaking havoc on businesses around the world, some outlets are finding environmentally friendly packaging a luxury they can’t afford. VOA’s Rendy Wicaksana and Ahadian Utama report from Jakarta, Indonesia.
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Amazon.com Inc is piloting the use of video conference calls to verify the identity of merchants who wish to sell goods on its websites, in a new plan to counter fraud without in-person meetings in the pandemic, the company said on Sunday. The world’s largest online retailer has long faced scrutiny over how it polices counterfeits and allegedly unsafe products on its platform. Fakes have frustrated top labels like Apple Inc and Nike Inc and discouraged some from selling via Amazon at all. Amazon said its pilot began early this year and included in-person appointments with prospective sellers. However, it switched exclusively to video conferencing in February because of social distancing requirements related to the highly contagious coronavirus, which has infected more than 2.9 million people globally. The interview vetting, on top of other risk-screening performed by Amazon, has been piloted with more than 1,000 merchant applicants based in China, the United States, United Kingdom and Japan, Amazon said. The extra scrutiny by Amazon could make it harder for some China-based sellers, who have registered multiple accounts using private internet networks or fake utility bills. China-based merchants accounted for 40% of the top 10,000 Amazon sellers in Europe, according to 2019 research from firm Marketplace Pulse.
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Seventy-five-year-old Eileen Higa loves to travel and has visited many countries, but she never got a chance to see the Indonesian island of Bali. After moving into Silverado Beverly Place, a memory care community in Los Angeles, she thought she would never have a chance to see exotic places again. But on a sunny day before lunch, Higa’s dream came true, with virtual reality (VR). When she placed a VR headset over her eyes, the four walls around her disappeared, and she was transported to Bali, where a tour guide showed her key sites around the island.“I like to travel, so for me, it’s great,” Higa said.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
The second image: Eileen Higa feels happy and excited after an adventurous, action-filled virtual reality experience. (E. Lee)“Increasingly over the last few years, noticing first minor memory issues and then bigger things and even bigger things,” said Kevin Higa, who remembered his mother getting increasingly isolated at home.“A lot of concerns and a lot of worries with her living alone with the Alzheimer’s and the dementia.”Signs of promise with VREileen Higa is not the only person who has experienced benefits after a session of virtual reality.In a small pilot study with VR company MyndVR, a few participants felt dizzy, but others responded positively to the experience.“It seemed like it improved their mood,” said Kim Butrum, a gerontological nurse practitioner and senior vice president for clinical services at Silverado. “We saw less depression, a little less anxiety later in the day.”
Researchers are looking into the benefits of virtual reality as a tool to fight isolation and loneliness linked to physical and mental conditions such as cognitive decline. Studies have found social isolation to be associated with a higher risk of mortality. VR for seniors during the pandemicFeelings of loneliness and social isolation could be exacerbated during the pandemic. Older adults are believed to be at a higher risk of life-threatening complications if infected with COVID-19. As a result, many senior living facilities have been on lockdown, not allowing visitors inside and limiting activities in the facilities to protect the residents. MyndVR is donating VR headsets to senior living communities across the U.S., along with access to its library of content for a year to keep seniors engaged.The communities see VR as a way of treating the symptoms of dementia without having to use antipsychotic drugs, which come with side effects including stiffness, a higher tendency of falling, abnormal movements and confusion. Could VR improve quality of life for seniors? Butrum said the possibility is there. “We’re not sure where it’s (VR) going to lead, and that’s why we’re excited to be moving forward with this. “Even to someone living on hospice, what if when they’re in bed and maybe too frail to get up and participate in the life of the community, but that they could see somewhere they went with their loved one and a trip to Paris again. What would that do in terms of improving their quality of life? We do think we’re going to see impact.”Eileen Higa liked her virtual reality experience because it allowed her to do an activity she otherwise would not be able to do. Through the magic of VR, Higa can continue to experience new things and travel to exotic places in this next chapter of her life.
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The cancellation of marathons and major races because of coronavirus lockdown measures doesn’t mean sports lovers can’t compete. Racing and breaking records is still possible – it’s just a bit more complicated. Maxim Moskalkov reports.
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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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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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A song urging Cameroonians not to relent in the fight against malaria blasted through speakers Saturday — World Malaria Day — at road junctions and popular neighborhoods, as well as from publicity vans driving through Cameroon’s capital, Yaounde.Dr. Daniel Etoundi of Cameroon’s public health ministry said health teams were being taken to every neighborhood to try to discourage patients from buying roadside drugs or resorting to African traditional healers for malaria treatment, because those can lead to severe health complications.”If the product is toxic, the liver will be spoiled [destroyed]. Same with the kidney,” he said. “Most of the products that we consume are eliminated through the kidney by urine. Now, if the drug is toxic, it will spoil the kidney function.”The Cameroon Ministry of Public Health reported that since March 5, when the first case of the coronavirus was reported in the central African state, many people with suspected cases of malaria or other diseases have refused to go to hospitals for fear they will catch COVID-19. As of Saturday, more than 1,500 cases had been confirmed in the country, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.But medical doctors say 90 percent of Cameroon’s 25 million people are at risk of malaria, while 41 percent have an episode each year.Dr. Dorothy Achu, coordinator of Cameroon’s National Malaria Control Program, said people should understand that although there is much government emphasis on the dangers of COVID-19, malaria remains the nation’s major killer, especially of children.”We are trying to sensitize health workers to protect themselves well but to continue to provide services,” as well as reassure the population “that it is not in all hospitals that we take care of COVID patients. So we just require them to protect themselves when they go to hospitals,” she said.Education effortsInnocent Kuisseu, sensitization team member for the prevention of malaria, said members also were educating Cameroonians about how to protect themselves from malaria by systematically using insecticide-treated mosquito bed nets and visiting hospitals when they suspect they might have malaria. He said people should not think that anyone who has malaria also has COVID-19.”Efforts are being put in to make sure that the population is more and more aware of what should be the right treatment, to make sure that in suspicion of malaria there should be a rapid diagnostic test, to make sure that they sleep under insecticide-treated nets,” he said.The International group Severe Malaria Observatory reports that malaria causes 22% of deaths occurring in health care facilities in Cameroon, and that 10% of deaths in children under 5 years old are linked to malaria.Health officials in Cameroon blame the surge of malaria and COVID-19 cases on the fact that many people do not respect basic hygiene standards and don’t visit health facilities when they have early signs of either disease. They also say there are too many people who refuse to use treated mosquito bed nets.
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Outside of rural areas and some medical practices, telemedicine in the U.S. has been slow to catch on. But the pandemic’s social-distancing requirement has accelerated the use of telemedicine worldwide, particularly primary care visits over video chat. Doctor and patient alike are learning that a lot can be accomplished remotely. Michelle Quinn takes a look.
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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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Steve Dalkowski, a hard-throwing, wild left-hander whose minor league career inspired the creation of Nuke LaLoosh in the movie “Bull Durham,” has died. He was 80.He died Sunday at the Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain. His sister, Patricia Cain, said Friday that he had several pre-existing conditions that were complicated when he became infected with the new coronavirus. Dalkowski had been in assisted living for 26 years because of alcoholic dementia.Dalkowski never reached the major leagues but was said to have pitched much faster than 100 mph. Long before velocity was tracked with precision, he spawned legends that estimated he approached 110 mph or 115 mph — some said even 125 mph.”Fastest I ever saw,” then-retired Ted Williams said after facing Dalkowski during batting practice at spring training in 1963, according to a first-person story by director and writer Ron Shelton.Clyde King, the future big league manager and executive who worked with Dalkowski in the Orioles system, wrote in his 1999 autobiography “A King’s Legacy” that Dalkowski had the best fastball among the thousands of pitchers he saw.But Dalkowski’s location was lacking.Lots of walksHe averaged 17.6 strikeouts and 18.7 walks per nine innings at Class D Kingsport in 1957, throwing 39 wild pitches in 62 innings as he went 1-8. That August 31, he struck out 24 and walked 17 or 18 — records differ — in an 8-4 loss to Bluefield, hitting four and throwing six wild pitches.At Class C Stockton in 1960, he struck out 262 and walked 262 in 170 innings. No matter what he tried or the Orioles suggested, Dalkowski never mastered control. “What if? But it wasn’t in the cards,” his sister said. “Stevie was wild. That was part of his thing.”Shelton was a minor league infielder with the Orioles from 1967 to 1971 and used the stories he heard about Dalkowski when he wrote and directed the 1988 movie “Bull Durham.”Dalkowski signed with the Orioles in 1957 and remained in their minor league system until 1964. He finished with farm teams of the Pittsburgh Pirates and California Angels in 1965.”They called him ‘Dalko’ and guys liked to hang with him and women wanted to take care of him, and if he walked into a room in those days he was probably drunk,” Shelton wrote in his 2009 story, which appeared in the Los Angeles Times and The Sun in Baltimore.”He had a record 14 feet long inside the Bakersfield, California, police station, all barroom brawls, nothing serious, the cops said. He rode the trucks out at dawn to pick grapes with the migrant farm workers of Kern County — and finally couldn’t even hold that job.”Dalkowski pitched and played quarterback at New Britain High School, setting a Connecticut high school record with 24 strikeouts in a game.Injury diminished velocityHe was with the Orioles for big league spring training in 1963 when he injured his pitching arm. He never regained his former velocity.”He was measured for a uniform in the morning and he was pitching against those damn Yankees in the afternoon and hurt his elbow,” his sister said.Dalkowski’s minor league record was 46-80 with 1,324 strikeouts, 1,236 walks and 145 wild pitches over 956 innings in nine seasons, according to Baseball Reference.Plagued by dementia, Dalkowski had lived since 1994 at New Britain’s Grandview Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center, previously known as Walnut Hill Care Center.”He was a piece of work, my brother. Even in the last few years when things are not so great, he still was fun to be around,” Cain said. “He’s going to be sorely missed, by not only myself, but by a lot of other people.”Dalkowski married Virginia Billingsley in 1975, and his wife died in 1994. In addition to his sister, he is survived by nephews Daniel and David Lee, great niece Amanda Lee and great nephew Nicholas Lee.His funeral will be private.
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The World Health Organization (WHO) Friday announced a collaborative effort with world leaders and private industry to ensure equitable distribution of any viable vaccines or treatments for COVID-19.WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus joined U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres via teleconference from Geneva, along with European Union leaders, to announce the project that is aimed at ensuring all countries get the latest tools to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Calling it “the fight of our lives,” Guterres said treatments and vaccines for the virus should belong to the whole world, not to individual countries or regions. He added the treatments must be “affordable, safe, effective, [and] easily administered.”French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and representatives from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation were among the participants in Friday’s teleconference.No representatives from the United States took part in the announcement.
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U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion that disinfectants could be used to treat coronavirus patients is triggering alarm among health experts, and warnings from a maker of the sanitizing solutions.Trump said at his regular White House coronavirus media briefing Thursday that scientists should investigate inserting disinfectants into patients’ bodies to cure COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.”I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute,” Trump said. “And is there a way we can do something like that by injection, inside, or almost a cleaning?”With coronavirus response coordinator and physician Deborah Birx looking on, Trump noted the virus “does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it would be interesting to check that.” However, physicians and other health experts are warning against Trump’s suggestion to use disinfectants to treat the virus.”(This is an) absolutely dangerous, crazy suggestion,” said Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine at Britain’s University of East Anglia.An academic pharmacist at the University of Reading in Berkshire, England, Parastou Donyai, expressed shock over what she said were “unscientific comments” that could lead people with the virus to seek homemade remedies.President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, April 23, 2020.”What is shocking about these latest comments is that they completely bypass other important facts about injections … not only will homemade injections bruise, burn, or block the veins, they will almost certainly also introduce new infections straight into the body, the very thing people are desperate to avoid.””People worried about the coronavirus or COVID-19 should seek help from a qualified doctor or pharmacist, and not take unfounded and off-the-cuff comments as actual advice,” Donyai added.University of California public policy professor and former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich tweeted that “Trump’s briefings are actively endangering the public’s health” and advised that people “don’t drink disinfectant.”Trump’s remarks have also sparked warnings from manufacturers of household disinfectants. The maker of Lysol and Dettol, Britain’s Reckitt Benckiser company, said, “Under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body, through injection, ingestion or any other route.”The former head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Walter Shaub, tweeted that Trump’s regular media briefings are putting lives at risk.”As a public service, please stop airing these coronavirus briefings; they are endangering lives,” Shaub said. “And please do not drink or inject disinfectant.”White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement Friday that Trump has urged people to check with their doctors about treatment, and accused the media of distorting his comments.”President Trump has repeatedly said that Americans should consult with medical doctors regarding coronavirus treatment, a point that he emphasized again during yesterday’s briefing,” McEnany said.Heat and lightTrump also discussed the possible use of heat and light to treat the coronavirus during Thursday’s briefing.When asked if it is dangerous to make people think they would be safe by going outside in the heat, given that so many people have died in the U.S. state of Florida, Trump said “I hope people enjoy the sun. And if it has an impact, that’s great.”Trump’s comments came after Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary for Science William Bryan said there was “emerging” research on the ability of sunlight and humidity to reduce the threat of the virus.President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence listen as Dr. Deborah Birx, White House coronavirus response coordinator, speaks about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, April 23, 2020.Trump asked Birx during the briefing if she was aware of any evidence that heat or light could be used as potential treatment. She responded by saying, “Not as a treatment.”Past studies have not found evidence that warmer temperatures and higher humidity levels in spring and summer could help curb the spread of the virus.Chloroquine treatmentsTrump has repeatedly pushed for unverified treatments of the coronavirus, including his touting of hydroxychloroquine as a possible “game changer,” an assertion that health officials have warned against.A man in the southwestern U.S. state of Arizona died late last month after he consumed chloroquine phosphate, which is used to treat malaria. The man’s wife told NBC News he believed it would prevent him from being infected with the coronavirus after watching Trump tout the potential benefits of chloroquine phosphate during his televised briefings.In a related development, the man who was once the top Department of Health and Human Services official, Dr. Rick Bright, says he was fired from his job earlier this week for pushing back on demands that he approve chloroquine treatments. The Democratic Party chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, Anna Eshoo, said Thursday she plans to hold hearings on Bright’s departure.The United States leads the world by far in COVID-19 deaths, with at least 50,000 deaths, more than one-fourth of the 191,962 fatalities worldwide, according to the Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking cases.Nearly one-third of all confirmed cases globally are in the U.S., with Johns Hopkins reporting 869,172.
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After months of testing, a European space telescope finally begins its work studying far-off planets. Meanwhile, a crew return home from the International Space Station after more than two hundred days in orbit. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has the week in space.
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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Friday lengthened her stay-at-home order through May 15, while lifting restrictions so some businesses can reopen and the public can participate in outdoor activities like golf and motorized boating during the coronavirus pandemic.
The measure immediately replaces one that was scheduled to expire next week. Michigan has had nearly 3,000 deaths related to COVID-19, behind only New York and New Jersey among U.S. states.
People are now required, rather than encouraged, to wear face coverings in enclosed public spaces such as grocery stores if they can medically tolerate it. Employers must provide non-medical grade masks to their in-person employees.
Landscapers, lawn-service companies, plant nurseries and bike repair shops can resume operating, subject to social-distancing rules. Stores selling nonessential supplies can reopen for curbside pickup and delivery. Big-box retailers no longer have to close off garden centers and areas dedicated to selling paint, flooring and carpet.
Whitmer said people with multiple in-state homes can resume traveling between them, though it is strongly discouraged.
“The vast majority of people in this state are doing the right things. We’ve seen the curve get pushed down,” the Democratic governor told The Associated Press. “I think it’s appropriate to reevaluate along the way. At this point we feel like’s good to have our first wave of reengagement in this way.”
The order continues to prohibit in-person work that is not necessary to sustain or protect life, with exemptions for various critical jobs. Restaurants remain closed to dine-in customers under a separate measure, and bars, movie theaters, gyms and other sports facilities also are still shuttered.
The prior stay-home order — in tandem with guidance issued by Whitmer’s office — prompted lawsuits on behalf of anglers, landscaping companies, cottage owners and others. Republicans who control the Legislature also criticized it and plan to vote Friday to limit her emergency powers despite a certain veto. Conservative demonstrators held a large rally at the state Capitol last week, and a much smaller protest took place Thursday outside the governor’s residence in Lansing.
Whitmer defended the previous order, which she issued April 9 and was stricter than one that took effect March 24. Imposing some of the country’s toughest restrictions, she said, was necessary because of what were rapidly rising cases and deaths that threatened to overwhelm hospitals.
“Michigan’s COVID-19 experience was tougher than just about any other state,” said Whitmer, whose moves have been backed by health experts and in public polling.
Landscaping and more outdoor activities, she said, were “naturally parts of our economy that we could move forward on” now. While golfing is allowed, the use of carts is not. State parks will generally remain open and people already were allowed to run, walk, hike and ride bikes.
Whitmer said her administration is talking with medical and business experts to assess different jobs and industries for risk, to promulgate safety protocols and to determine “markers” that need to be reached before reopening additional sectors. She said more will be revealed on Monday.
The order does not explicitly address Detroit-area automakers’ ability to restart plants. It continues to list “transportation and logistics” and “critical manufacturing” as sectors where some employees can go to work. Talks continue between the Detroit Three and the United Auto Workers union.
“This is one of what will be many waves,” Whitmer said. “My hope is that we can contemplate the next one. But it all depends on if people observe these best practices, if we can keep the COVID-19 trajectory headed downward and if we can keep people safe.”
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In Israel, all synagogues have been closed for more than a month because of the coronavirus. Linda Gradstein reports for VOA on her synagogue in Jerusalem.
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Millions of Muslims in Asia on Friday started the holiest month on the Islamic calendar under the coronavirus lockdown or strict social restrictions, deepening their anxiety over the disease.
For many, Ramadan is a time to get closer to God, family and community, but the pandemic has upended those traditions. Many face unemployment, travel plans to visit relatives have been canceled and places where they usually break the daytime fast with families such as malls, parks and mosques are locked.
“This is too sad to be remembered in history,” said Belm Febriansyah, a resident in the capital of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation.
Social restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus have been extended in Jakarta, the epicenter of the outbreak in Indonesia, which has recorded more COVID-19 fatalities than any other Asian country except China. Indonesia counted 8,211 infections and 689 deaths.
Passenger flights and rail services have been suspended, preventing people from traveling to their hometowns in an annual exodus to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan. Authorities also banned private cars from leaving Jakarta.
The government of Muslim-majority Malaysia also extended the lockdown by two more weeks to May 12, although its daily virus cases have dropped significantly to double-digits in the past week. The country now has 5,603 cases, including 95 deaths.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said in a televised speech late Thursday on the eve of Ramadan that people’s “jihad” against the COVID-19 pandemic has shown results but needed to be prolonged.
Malaysia, along with neighboring Singapore and Brunei, has banned popular Ramadan bazaars where food, drinks and clothing are sold in congested open-air markets or roadside stalls. The bazaars are a source of key income for many small traders. Some have shifted their businesses online.
Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has banned Ramadan prayers after the Pakistan Medical Association pleaded with Prime Minister Imran Khan and the country’s religious leaders to rethink their refusal to close mosques countrywide.
Even as Pakistan’s confirmed cases of COVID-19 have begun to increase by 600 and 700 a day, compared to earlier daily jumps of about 300, Khan has refused to order mosques closed. Instead he left it to clerics__ some of whom have called for adherents to pack mosques and trust their faith to protect them.
Pakistan recorded 642 new cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of known infections to 11,155 with 237 deaths. Khan has criticized Sindh’s Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah of being too zealous in his restrictions. Shah’s Pakistan People’s Party is politically opposed to Khan’s Justice Party.
Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital and the country’s financial hub, has the second largest number of cases in Pakistan.
Communal sharing meals have been banned in Turkey during Ramadan.
The Interior Ministry also barred iftar tents providing food to break the fast, and Ramadan drummers, who mark fasting times by going door-to-door to collect tips.
Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted that the month of Ramadan should not be “an excuse to relax precautions.”
“The month of blessings should not result in illness,” he said.
Ramadan in India begins on Saturday, but it has been marred by rising vilification of Muslims following accusations that a surge in infections was tied to a three-day meeting in March in New Delhi of an Islamic missionary group, the Tablighi Jamaat.
Some leaders of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party labeled the meeting as “corona terrorism” and “Talibani crime.”
As a result, many Muslims have faced renewed stigma, threats and boycott of vendors venturing into Hindu-dominated neighborhoods.
The lockdown in India, the world’s most draconian, has multiplied their troubles. During Ramadan, many would look up for community meals, alms and elaborate rituals giving them a sense of community.
A group of over two dozen Indian Muslim scholars, in a recent joint message, appealed to their communities to strictly follow the lockdown and offer all prayers at their homes. They also asked Muslims to refrain from organizing large parties held for breaking the fast and taraweeh, the long post-iftar congregational prayer offered in mosques.
“Families should use this unprecedented situation for spiritual guidance and purification,” they said, while asking local volunteers and elders to look after the needy and destitute.
India’s 200 million Muslims, 14% of the population, are the largest minority group in the Hindu-majority nation, but they are also the poorest.
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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Trump administration on Thursday, saying industry cannot avoid the Clean Water Act when it pumps wastewater into the ground instead of directly into oceans and rivers.In a 6-3 decision, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the majority. He said putting the polluted water into the ground before it eventually reaches oceans and rivers is “the functional equivalent” of directly releasing it into the ocean, and permission from the Environmental Protection Agency is needed.In his dissenting opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that according to current laws, a permit is needed only for directly dumping polluted water into a waterway.Attorney David Henkin argued the case on behalf of the environmental group Earthjustice.“This decision is a huge victory for clean water. The Supreme Court has rejected the Trump administration’s effort to blow a big hole in the Clean Water Act’s protections for rivers, lakes and oceans,” he said.Thursday’s decision stems from a case in Hawaii involving the question of whether a sewage treatment plant needs permission from the EPA to pump treated wastewater into the ground instead of straight into the Pacific Ocean.Environmentalists said even through this indirect route, the dirty water damaged a fragile coral reef.President Donald Trump has promised to cut government regulations and rules he says stifle business and kill jobs. But environmentalists say cutting back on such enforcement and oversight is harmful not only to the air and water but also to human health.
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After last week’s court ruling brought to light potential environmental concerns, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suspended a nationwide program meant to approve utility work, despite industry representatives’ warnings it could stop important infrastructure projects.Nationwide Permit 12, a blanket permit used by utility companies to build gas and oil pipelines, powerlines and other infrastructure across wetlands and streams, was ruled illegal by U.S. District Judge Brian Morris concerning the Keystone XL pipeline’s use of the permit for water crossings without the Army Corps’ proper consideration of endangered wildlife.From there, the judge’s findings were expanded to include any projects using Nationwide Permit 12.The Trump administration likely will counter the court’s ruling, seeing as the original lawsuit was over the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, a project Trump supported.Currently, 360 requests are pending from companies seeking approval to use the permit, according to Army Corps spokesman Doug Garman.Though no further details were released on the nature of these projects and their locations, industry representatives say the suspension’s potential longevity could affect thousands of separate projects.Critics see minimal reviewTo many environmentalists’ dismay, Nationwide Permit 12 is often used by the Army Corps, which has control over U.S. waterways, to approve utility projects after minimal environmental review. Since the permit’s last renewal in 2017, it has been used more than 37,000 times.Utility companies counter that this is because projects are timely and expansive, often spanning multiple states and hundreds of waterways. Therefore, it would be counterproductive and unnecessarily expensive to inspect each crossing.Labor and industry groups American Petroleum Institute and Interstate Natural Gas Association of America said the permit was “critical to the responsible and efficient development and maintenance of energy and other vital infrastructure.””The fact that this case involves the Keystone pipeline will almost certainly elevate its profile within the administration,” said Ben Cowan, an attorney representing energy companies. He expects government attorneys to file an appeal or request with Morris to clarify his ruling.
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The world has lost more than one quarter of its land-dwelling insects in the past 30 years, according to researchers whose big picture study of global bug decline paints a disturbing but more nuanced problem than earlier research. From bees and other pollinators crucial to the world’s food supply to butterflies that beautify places, the bugs are disappearing at a rate of just under 1% a year, with lots of variation from place to place, according to a study in Thursday’s journal Science. That’s a tinier population decline than found by some smaller localized studies, which had triggered fears of a so-called insect apocalypse. But it still adds up to something “awfully alarming,” said entomologist Roel van Klink of the German Centre for Integrative Biology, the study’s lead author. “The decline across insect orders on land is jaw dropping,” said Michigan State University butterfly expert Nick Haddad, who wasn’t part of the study. “Ongoing decline on land at this rate will be catastrophic for ecological systems and for humans. Insects are pollinators, natural enemies of pests, decomposers and besides that, are critical to functioning of all Earth’s ecosystems.” FILE – A grasshopper rests on a rail outside the Kansas City Royals dugout during a baseball game, in Kansas City, Mo., Aug. 2, 2011.Midwest numbersInsect declines are worst in North America, especially the Midwestern United States, and in parts of Europe, but the drop appears to be leveling off in the U.S. in recent years, said the study that pulled together earlier research on more than 10,000 species with data from 1,676 locations. The Midwest lost 4% of its bugs a year. The big global losses seem to be around urban and suburban areas and croplands, where bugs are losing their food and habitat, van Klink said. University of Delaware entomologist Douglas Tallamy, who wasn’t part of the study, said he would drive through the Midwest where there were supposed to be lots of butterflies and other insects but would see only corn and soybeans in an insect desert. Some outside scientists said the results made sense, but worried that the study lacked research and data from some large areas, such as the tropics and Africa. Co-author Ann Swengel, a citizen scientist who has tracked butterflies for more than 30 years, recalled that when driving around Wisconsin a few decades ago, she would “look out in a field and you’d see all these Sulphur butterflies around. I can’t think of the last time that I’ve seen that.”FILE – Monarch butterflies cling to a plant at the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove, California, Dec. 30, 2014.’Absolutely intolerable’ The study detailed quite different losses from place to place and from decade to decade. That tells scientists that “we’re not looking for a single stressor or we’re not looking a global phenomenon that is stressing insects in the same way,” said University of Connecticut insect expert David Wagner, who wasn’t part of the study. What’s happening, he said, is “absolutely intolerable.” Van Klink didn’t find a link to climate change in the insect loss. But he did see an overarching theme of creeping urbanization, which absorbs land where insects live and eat, and general loss of habitat from farming that takes away weeds and flowers bugs need. While land bugs were dwindling, freshwater insects, such as mayflies, dragonflies and mosquitoes, are increasing at more than 1% a year, the study found. That’s faster than land bugs were disappearing. But those thriving freshwater insects are a tiny percentage of bugs in the world. That improvement of freshwater species, likely because rivers and streams got cleaner, shows hope, scientists said. Swengel said she saw another sign of hope on a cloudy day last year in Wisconsin: She and her husband counted 3,848 monarchs, reflecting recent local efforts to improve habitat for the colorful migrating butterfly. “It was absolutely magnificent,” she said. “It’s not too late.”
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A feature film about Whitney Houston’s life is in the works from the screenwriter of “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The biopic is being shepherded by the Whitney Houston Estate, music producer Clive Davis and Primary Wave Music, the partners said Wednesday. “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” will follow Houston from obscurity to pop stardom and promises to be “frank about the price that super-stardom exacted,” according to the announcement. “From all my personal and professional experience with Whitney from her late teenage years to her tragic premature death, I know the full Whitney Houston story has not yet been told,” Davis said in a statement. He said Anthony McCarten’s script will finally reveal the “whole Whitney whose vocal genius deeply affected the world while she fiercely battled the demons that were to be her undoing.” Houston sold over 200 million records worldwide during her 25-year career and won six Grammys, 16 Billboard Music Awards and two Emmys before her death in 2012. McCarten, who has gotten Oscar nominations for his scripts for “The Theory of Everything,” “The Darkest Hour” and “The Two Popes,” said in a statement that he’s grateful to be working closely with the people who knew Houston best. The announcement also said that Stella Meghie is in “advanced talks” to direct. Meghie most recently directed “The Photograph” with Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield. The project does not have a studio or distribution yet.
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Apple Inc. plans to sell Mac computers with its own main processors by next year based on the chip designs currently used in its iPhones and iPads, Bloomberg reported Thursday.The iPhone maker is working on three Mac processors based on the A14 processor in its next iPhone, suggesting the company will transition more of its Mac lineup away from current supplier Intel Corp., the report added, citing people familiar with the matter.Apple started using Intel’s processors in 2006 and a year later all Mac computers featured its chips. Since then, Intel has made chips for other Apple products such as modem chips for its iPhones.Apple has always relied on outside suppliers for its modem chips, a crucial part that connects devices like the iPhone to wireless data networks.In a bid to make its own chips, Apple bought a majority of Intel’s modem business last July for $1 billion and settled a long legal battle with supplier Qualcomm Inc. over the chipmaker’s patent licensing practices.Apple’s Mac computers generated $7.16 billion in revenue in the last reported quarter while Intel’s PC unit that includes modem chip sales recorded $10 billion in sales in the last quarter.Apple was planning to use its own chips in Mac computers beginning as early as 2020, Bloomberg reported in April 2018.Apple and Intel did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comments.
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