SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom loosened California'a stay-at-home order on Wednesday to let hospitals resume scheduled surgeries. It's the first step toward reopening the state — largely shut down for more than a month because of the cronavirus pandemic. Newsom gave no date for when businesses could reopen and people...
Few Americans Support Easing Virus Protections, Poll Shows
WASHINGTON — Despite pockets of attention-grabbing protests, a new survey finds Americans remain overwhelmingly in favor of stay-at-home orders and other efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus. A majority say it won’t be safe to lift such restrictions anytime soon, even as a handful of governors announce plans...
California Highway Patrol Bans Capitol Rallies Due to Coronavirus
SACRAMENTO — The California Highway Patrol said Wednesday that it is temporarily banning rallies at the state Capitol and other state facilities because of the pandemic. The change in policy came after hundreds of protesters gathered on the Capitol grounds in Sacramento on Monday, many without wearing masks or following...
Analysis: Pandemic Fallout Tracks Nation’s Political Divide
WASHINGTON — America’s entrenched political divide is now playing out over matters of life and death. Republican governors, urged on by President Donald Trump, are taking the first steps toward reopening parts of their states’ economies in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, and without adhering to the president's own guidelines....
The Secret to Germany’s COVID-19 Success: Angela Merkel Is a Scientist
[aggregation-styles] The Atlanic Subscription BERLIN—Today, we face the global outbreak of a disease that has the potential to catalyze what the historian Eva Schlotheuber terms a “pandemic of the mind.” As misinformation proliferates and lines between fact and fiction are routinely and nonchalantly crossed, world leaders must, now more than...
Coronavirus Clue? Most Cases Aboard US Aircraft Carrier Are Symptom-Free
[aggregation-styles] Reuters Sweeping testing of the entire crew of the coronavirus-stricken U.S. aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt may have revealed a clue about the pandemic: The majority of the positive cases so far are among sailors who are asymptomatic, officials say. The possibility that the coronavirus spreads in a mostly stealthy...
Instead of Just Flattening the COVID-19 Curve, Can We 'Crush' It?
[aggregation-styles] Live Science Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many Americans have embraced the idea of "flattening the curve," or slowing the spread of the virus over a number of months so that fewer people become infected and need health care at any given time. A key assumption of this strategy is...
As People Stay Home, Earth Turns Wilder and Cleaner
An unplanned grand experiment is changing Earth. As people across the globe stay home to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, the air has cleaned up, albeit temporarily. Smog stopped choking New Delhi, one of the most polluted cities in the world, and India’s getting views of sights not visible in...
Trump Immigration Ban Halts Green Cards, Not Temporary Visas
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced what he described as a “temporary suspension of immigration into the United States” on Tuesday. But he said the executive order he plans to sign as soon as Wednesday would apply only to those seeking permanent residency and not temporary workers. Trump said he...
Virus Misinformation Flourishes in Online Protest Groups
CHICAGO — Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of posts fly in the new Facebook groups daily. The coronavirus numbers are fake, some of the social media videos claim. “Social distancing is the new way to control you, your family and your behavior,” another commenter warns. Others say the pandemic is an overblown hoax. The...