RationalWiki:What is going on with the coronavirus?/May 2020

May 2020
From 1st June, the 2.2 million most vulnerable people in England (including those with severe respiratory problems, solid organ transplant patients, cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and pregnant women with heart problems), who have been told to remain indoors at all times since March, will be allowed outside once a day. [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52861617 The Leaning Tower of Pisa reopens. Only 15 people are allowed in at a time and they have to maintain social distancing. They are given devices that beep if they get too near to someone else.] Donald "it's not my fault" Trump [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52857413 announces that the US will completely stop funding the World Health Organization and end its relationship with the international body. Trump accuses the WHO of being pressured by China into misleading the world about the coronavirus. He also said it was China that "instigated a global pandemic that has cost over 100,000 American lives".] [http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-52837564 From 29thMay, up to eight people can meet outside in Scotland. But only if they belong to no more than two households.] [http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-52842327 From 1st June in Wales, there will be no limits on the number of people who will be allowed to meet up in a socially distanced way outside, providing they belong to no more than two households. But if you live in Wales, you're told not to go more than 5 miles from your home.] Outdoor weddings attended by up to ten people are set to be allowed in Northern Ireland from June 8th. [http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52839182 Lockdown is set to continue to ease n England. From June 1st, groups of up to six people from different households will be allowed to meet up outside and children will start to return to school. Dentists will reopen from June 8th and non-essential shops will reopen from June 15th.] Keen to lure back tourists, the government of Cyprus says it will pay for the food, accommodation and medicine of anyone who catches the virus while visiting the island. Grim reality: 100,000 dead from Covid-19 in the United States. What's even worse is the realization is that some states likely have inaccurate numbers that under count their toll. Pennsylvania State House Republican Andrew Lewis hid his positive coronavirus tests from Democratic legislators who worked with them in the same work spaces and committees. Democrat Brian Sims has called for the resignation of leadership involved in the coverup. Starting the UK lockdown just one week earlier could have prevented 30,000 deaths. Sweden's Chief, Dr. Anders Tegnell: Stockholm won't reach herd immunity In May. It's estimated only around 20% have antibodies, the lowest figures for herd immunity working require at least 60% of a population to have antibodies. [http://www.bbc.com/news/health-52799120 It's Donald Trump's drug of choice for fighting off Covid-19. But the World Health Organization has suspended testing of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus due to safety concerns.] Dominic Cummings did a BBC interview to explain himself. Highlights (Links to video clips): He did in fact drive 30 miles to. Not to visit, but because he needed to test his vision before he drove the 260 miles back to London. He also does not regret his actions and he believes he acted legally and reasonably. (The full 14 minute statement.) The state of emergency is officially over in all parts of Japan. Keen to preserve the cleaner air of lockdown after it ends, out of 20,000 motorists surveyed, 40% say they plan to walk more, 50% say they plan to drive less, 20% say they plan to cycle more, 25% say they plan to fly less and 25% say they plan to work from home in future. announced a temporary policy to allow 'flexibility' in food ingredient labeling. While producers would still be required to change labels for substitutions that involve common allergens, producers can for example, substitute canola oil for sunflower oil, without indicating this change on labels. [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-52793349 Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, announces that the current lockdown will be eased because it can't be sustained. He stresses, however, that the worst of the outbreak is still to come.] A University of Wyoming study found that the cost of not flattening the curve (no social restrictions) was $5.2 trillion higher for the US economy than instituting widespread social distancing measures. [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52783936 The far-right Vox party organizes anti-lockdown protests that draw thousands. Protesters stay in their cars to maintain social distancing.] [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-52725246 The isle of Man's Chief Minister Howard Quayle says that easing restrictions is much more complex than imposing them. The state of emergency, in place since 16th March, has been extended until 15th June.] One final viral infusion: Trump’s move to block travel from Europe triggered chaos and a surge of passengers from the outbreak’s center GOP governor Doug Burgum of North Dakota offers emotional plea to the anti-mask crowd: Stop this senseless culture war According to The Economist ($) American church attendance which has been steadily falling, is falling much faster due to the lockdown with one in five churches, and one in three mainline ones, could close for good within the next 18 months. According to a study published in the medical journal The Lancet, hydroxychloroquine, the drug that Donald Trump says he is taking to ward off the coronavirus, actually increases the chances of patients with Covid-19 dying from it. Donald Trump [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52779326 has criticized some state governors for allowing liquor stores and abortion clinics to stay open as essential but considering churches to be non-essential and keeping them closed. He says that churches and other places of worship will reopen across the US and he will "override governors" who choose to keep them shut, something he does not have the power to do.] Dominic Cummings, chief adviser to the prime minister, faces criticism for going from London to his parents' house in County Durham, a journey of hundreds of miles, in March during lockdown while he had coronavirus symptoms. UPDATE: Sorry, not once, but two times, and the government is asserting he did nothing wrong. UPDATE 2: A citizen reported to police that Dominic Cummings was around in the town of a town about 30 miles away from  on 12th April. The closure of schools in India leaves millions of teenage girls without any sanitary pads. [https://uk.news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-conspiracy-beliefs-reduce-adherence-230100436.html Brits still believe in conspiracy theories about the pandemic too. Out of 2,500 adults questioned by clinical psychologists from the University of Oxford, 62% agree to some extent that the coronavirus is man-made, 59% agree to some extent that the government is misleading the public about the cause of the virus, and 21% believe Covid-19 is a hoax.] [http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-52745643 Lockdown will start to ease in Scotland from 28th May, making things a lot more like they already are in England. Schools will reopen on 11th August.] Justice Department warns California that stay-at-home order might violate " religious freedom" Antivaxxers and anti-quarantiners are showing signs of political alignment Australia's first "COVID-safe" drive-in concert has taken place in Sydney. [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52742406 Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is keen to get tourism going again. Seasonal hotels will reopen in June and international charter flights will resume in July. "Let us make this summer the epilogue of the crisis", Mitsotakis said.] 100-year-old Captain Tom Moore, who has helped raise £32 million for the National Health Service since lockdown began, is to be knighted. Oh cool, another idiotic move by a judge: Oregon county judge strikes down Oregon's public health orders, and refuses to stay his decision while the state appeals to the Oregon Supreme Court. Among reasons the idiot judge cites in his decision: 'damage to Oregonians and their livelihood was greater than the dangers presented by the coronavirus'. UPDATE: The Oregon Supreme Court issues a stay of the county judge, allowing the extension of the public health orders until appeals can be heard. [http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-52711301 Lockdown eases in Northern Ireland more than anywhere else in the UK. Drive-in movies, drive-in church services and drive-in concerts will be permitted.] Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel propose a 500 billion euro recovery fund to help the EU countries worst hit by the coronavirus. Trump claims to have started taking hydroxychloroquine since a week ago despite — or because of — its lack of safety & efficacy for treating or preventing coronavirus Governor Kemp of Georgia doctored the statistics to make it look like opening the state was a good idea. Churchgoer exposes 180 on Mother's Day service in Butte County that violated state order [https://sbs.com.au/news/australia-s-places-of-worship-reopen-their-doors-as-coronavirus-restrictions-ease Churches, mosques and temples are allowed to reopen in many parts of Australia. But they can only let in up to ten people at a time, which means that some faith leaders think it's not worth the bother.] A federal judge has denied a "delusional self-aggrandizing" request from "pharma bro" Martin Shkreli to be released from prison so he can work on a coronavirus treatment. A week after his private criticism of Trump's handling of the pandemic was leaked, Barack Obama [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52694872 has publicly stated that he thinks the Donald and his administration have made a right balls up of it. He also said that the outbreak has spotlighted the racial inequalities that persist in the USA.] A month after his predecessor was fired for disagreeing with the president's handling of the pandemic, Brazil's health minister has quit because he obviously doesn't think the president has a bloody clue what he's doing either. Unions find opportunity in restaurants' Covid-19 woes Hundreds have gathered ad Hyde Park, London, to protest the UK's lockdown measures. Among the protesters was Piers Corbyn, the conspiracy theorist brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn Spain to quarantine international arrivals from 15 May [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52687448 From June 3rd, travel restrictions will be lifted in Italy, allowing Italians to go wherever they like within the country and even abroad. Foreign visitors will also be allowed back into Italy once again.] [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-52624208 Antarctica is the only continent on Earth where there have been no cases of the coronavirus. But staff at an Indian research facility there are self-isolating anyway.] [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/13/lesotho-records-first-coronavirus-case-a-week-after-lifting-lockdown On Tuesday 12th May, Lesotho was the only country in Africa where there had not been a single confirmed case of Covid-19. It's not anymore.] Wisconsin continues to be a shitshow, thanks to their useless Supreme Court: 5-4 decision, struck down Governor Evers's stay at home order is struck down. Hardship bringing people together: Alliance of Neo-Nazis, QAnon nuts, and radical Vegans unite to protest Coronavirus lockdown in Germany. 113-year-old María Branyas, believed to be the oldest woman in Spain, is reported to have successfully recovered from the coronavirus. Nearly a week after slightly easing up the social distancing guidelines, South Korea is facing a new spike in covid-19 infections Medics in Henan province in central China are further investigating whether COVID-19, like Ebola, could also be sexually transmittable, after discovering the virus in samples of semen taken from a small sample of infected men. After consulting with druid and pagan groups, English Heritage has decided that summer solstice celebrations at Stonehenge have to be cancelled this year. Elon Musk defies a local ban on factories operating to reopen his electric-car plant in California. Nigerian hotels that stay open during the pandemic get demolished. Vladimir Putin says that the "non-working period" is over but insists that "danger remains" and urges people to follow "strict sanitation demands". If someone shares that ‘Plandemic’ video — or other conspiracy theories about the coronavirus — The Atlantic has some tips on how to respond. [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52615733 Shops and schools reopen in France and people no longer need written permission in order to leave their homes. Lockdown similarly continues to ease in Belgium, the Netherlands, (parts of) Spain and Switzerland.] Boris Johnson unveils conditional plans for a staged reopening of society in England, starting with encouraging many people who can't work from home to return to work and allowing people to spend as much time outside as they like. Lockdown is not set to ease so much in Scotland and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has stressed that people should stay at home. UPDATE: [http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-52624048 The Northern Ireland Executive publishes a five-point plan for easing the lockdown. Unlike the plans for England,there is no timetable.] In a private conference call, Barack Obama has strongly criticized Donald Trump's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, calling it, "an absolute chaotic disaster". Portugal's covid-19 related deaths have been in "consistent decline" for nearly a month In a bid to whiten South Dakota and win the West once and for all, Governor Noem orders natives to remove coronavirus checkpoints. In Colorado, Democrats listen to health care industry lobbyists and abandon public option. San Francisco's mayor has been accused of abandoning the homeless during the pandemic. [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-52597749 Officially, there has still not been a single confirmed case of Covid-19 in North Korea. Not that anyone really believes that.] Behind closed doors, the season has started for South Korea's K-League soccer. The professional game is about to start being played again in the Faroe Islands too. Just about everyone arriving in the UK from any other country (apart from the Republic of Ireland) will have to spend 14 days in quarantine. UPDATE: Arrivals from France will also be exempt. [http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-52584690 Unlike in the rest of the UK, people in Wales are to be allowed out more than once a day to exercise. Otherwise, not much is set to change.] Katie Miller, the spokesperson for Vice-President Pence and the wife of presidential aide Stephen Miller has tested positive for COVID-19. That makes her the most senior person in the White House to have the condition. Judy Mikovits' antivaxx conspiracy video about COVID "Plandemic" is banned from some social media Former Australian prime minister and sinologist Kevin Rudd has said the parroting of the conspiracy that COVID-19 came from a lab in Wuhan rather then a wet market in the Murdoch media empire exists for one reason, to get Trump re-elected. He also compares the conspiracy to the dodgy dossier on Iraq, which led to the Iraq War. [https://nltimes.nl/2020/05/06/roadmap-reopen-netherlands-unveiled-economic-assistance-planned The Netherlands has unveiled a roadmap to gradually reopen the economy over the next few months, with extra safety measures being placed on businesses that intend to reopen and cannot work from home. The dates on the roadmap are subject to change, and measures that are being rolled back may be reimplemented if the pressure on the intensive care ends up rising too much.] [https://chinapost.nownews.com/20200506-1234058 Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center has given the green light to allowing up to a thousand spectators to attend professional baseball games, that have been played in empty stadiums since April. Fans will, however, have to follow social distancing rules, stay in their designated seats and keep masks on throughout the game.] [http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/52557699 The German Football League season is set to resume on 15th May. Games will be played behind closed doors.] [http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-52553229 Professor Neil Ferguson, whose advice to the prime minister was instrumental in setting up the UK lockdown, has quit his role as a government adviser on the coronavirus after admitting that his actions undermined the message of said lockdown. It has been reported that he flouted social distancing rules by letting his lover, a woman married to someone else, continue to visit his house.] Irish send money to Native American community to repay for aid during the It appears coronavirus may have been in Europe far earlier than previously thought. It has come to light that a French man hospitalised in late December with breathing trouble likely had coronavirus. He had not recently travelled abroad. The White House is looking to 'wind down' the coronavirus task force. Because the states are reopening too soon, a model favored by the White House for the coronavirus pandemic shifts to dramatically predict more deaths while another model developed by John Hopkins predicts 3,000 deaths per day by June. Cruise company Carnival has said it will start sailing its cruises from the beginning of August from Miami, Florida and Galveston, Texas. [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-guernsey-52506645 As part of a phased easing of lockdown on the island of Guernsey, each household can choose to pair with one other household. The people that live in the two places can then interact freely with each other in each other's houses and outside. This puts many families in the difficult position of choosing which set of grandparents their children can visit.] Churches reopen in Germany but with several measures in place to try to stop the spread of the virus, including a ban on singing. The state of emergency in Portugal is officially over. Michigan protesters add blackface to their arsenal of adorable, child-friendly activities. With 30 million unemployed Americans having lost their health insurance, House Democrats unveil bill for emergency expansion of Medicare and Medicaid. Three federal prisons, which as a whole have become a center of the pandemic, took email and phone rights from thousands of inmates A week after children under 14 were first allowed outside their homes since lockdown began, older teenagers and adults in Spain are now allowed to go out to exercise for the first time in seven weeks. [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52509390 Lockdown will ease a little in Ireland. People over 70 will be allowed out of their homes. The limit on how far people are allowed to go from their homes to exercise will also be increased a bit.] May Day was a bit weird this year. David Icke has been banned from Facebook for spreading "health misinformation that could cause physical harm". UPDATE: David Icke's YouTube channel has been deleted as a result of his continued violation of the site's policies about denying the existence and transmission of Covid-19. Donald Trump [http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52496098 insists there's no doubt that the coronavirus originated in a lab in Wuhan. This goes against what the US national intelligence director's office have already said, that the origins of the virus are still uncertain but it definitely wasn't manmade or genetically modified.] New cars are being marketed in China as providing the same level of protection as wearing a face mask. The pharmacy chain Boots will provide special safe spaces in its stores for victims of domestic abuse during the lockdown.