WASHINGTON — U.S. officials are seeking to determine whether extremist groups had infiltrated police brutality protests across the country and deliberately tipped largely peaceful demonstrations toward violence — and if foreign adversaries were behind a burgeoning disinformation campaign on social media. As demonstrations spread from Minneapolis to the White House,...
Mass Gatherings, Erosion of Trust Upend Coronavirus Control
NEW YORK — Protests erupting across the nation over the past week — and law enforcement's response to them — are threatening to upend efforts by health officials to track and contain the spread of coronavirus just as those efforts were finally getting underway. Health experts need newly infected people to remember and recount...
Antibody Tests Point To Lower Death Rate For The Coronavirus Than First Thought
[aggregation-styles] NPR Mounting evidence suggests the coronavirus is more common and less deadly than it first appeared. The evidence comes from tests that detect antibodies to the coronavirus in a person's blood rather than the virus itself. The tests are finding large numbers of people in the U.S. who were...
Virus Taking Hold in Rural, Old Plantation Region of Alabama
HAYNEVILLE, Ala. — Sparsely populated Lowndes County, deep in Alabama's old plantation country, has the sad distinction of having both the state’s highest rate of COVID-19 cases and its worst unemployment rate. Initially spared as the disease ravaged cities, the county and other rural areas in the state are now...
Mitch McConnell Stresses Need to Wear Face Masks in Public
Wading into a politically charged issue, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday preached the importance of wearing masks in public as the nation's economy reopens from the “cataclysmic" damage inflicted by the coronavirus pandemic. During a tour of hospitals this week in his home state of Kentucky, the Republican...
Community Medical Centers Says 2 Masks + 6 Feet Apart = No COVID-19 Exposure
The best way not to catch COVID-19? Community Medical Centers says it's when we all wear face masks and stay at least 6 feet apart from each other. CMC has released a graphic showing how the risk of infection is diminished with the use of face masks and social distancing....
Here’s One Sport That COVID-19 Couldn’t Stifle
Most high school sports came to a screeching halt in mid-March with the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic — cutting short the state basketball playoffs and pre-empting spring sports — but some students kept on playing. In eSports, social distancing is the rule, not the exception. Monday marks the start...
California Calls for Virus Testing at All Nursing Homes
SACRAMENTO — California is calling for all residents and health care workers at skilled nursing facilities to be tested for the new coronavirus to try to slow the spread of the illness. The state’s Department of Public Health issued a letter saying facilities should draft testing plans for all residents...
US Consumer Spending Sinks by Record 13.6% in Face of Virus
WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer spending plunged by a record-shattering 13.6% in April as the viral pandemic shuttered businesses, forced millions of layoffs and sent the economy into a deep recession. Last month's spending decline was far worse than the revised 6.9% drop in March, which itself had set a record...
AP-NORC Poll: Half of Americans Would Get a COVID-19 Vaccine
Only about half of Americans say they would get a COVID-19 vaccine if the scientists working furiously to create one succeed, a number that’s surprisingly low considering the effort going into the global race for a vaccine. But more people might eventually roll up their sleeves: The new poll from The Associated...