The report focused on the possibility of an influenza pandemic but showed that Israel was not ready to fight any pandemic, including the novel coronavirus, while highlighting the country’s lack of strategic planning.
Israel’s inability to handle coronavirus known before pandemic arrived
Suspected Coronavirus Case Will Thin White House Press At Briefings
The daily press briefings of the White House coronavirus task force are about to become less crowded.
The White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) had already thinned out seats in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in order to comply with social distancing guidelines. Now, a suspected COVID-19 case among the White House press corps means there will be even fewer reporters in the room.
WHCA president Jonathan Karl of ABC News announced Monday that an unnamed reporter who attended four briefings earlier this month has a suspected case of the virus.
Trump weighs restarting economy despite warnings from U.S. public health officials
President Trump is weighing calls from some Republican lawmakers and White House advisers to scale back steps to contain the coronavirus despite the advice of federal health officials as a growing number of conservatives argue that the impact on the economy has become too severe, according to several people with knowledge of the internal deliberations.
Loosening restrictions on social distancing would override the internal warnings of senior U.S. health officials, including Anthony S. Fauci, who have said that the United States has not yet felt the worst of the pandemic.
“WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF,” Trump said in a tweet late Sunday. “AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!”
The 15-day period is set to end on March 30.
TVNL Comment: We believe Trump may soon fire Dr. Fauci and other health experts who are warning him against putting the dollar ahead of human life.
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Trump cannot block critics on Twitter, federal court affirms
A federal appeals court in New York on Monday let stand a ruling that prevents President Trump from blocking critical voices from the Twitter account he uses to communicate with the public.
The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit denied the Trump administration’s request to revisit an earlier holding that Trump violated the First Amendment when he blocked individual Twitter users who were critical of the president or his polices.
“Excluding people from an otherwise public forum such as this by blocking those who express views critical of a public official is, we concluded, unconstitutional,” wrote Judge Barrington D. Parker.
Elite hackers target WHO as coronavirus cyberattacks spike
Elite hackers tried to break into the World Health Organization earlier this month, sources told Reuters, part of what a senior agency official said was a more than two-fold increase in cyberattacks.
WHO Chief Information Security Officer Flavio Aggio said the identity of the hackers was unclear, but the effort was unsuccessful. He warned that hacking attempts against the agency and its partners have soared as they battle to contain the coronavirus, which has killed more than 15,000 worldwide.
The attempted break-in at the WHO was first flagged to Reuters by Alexander Urbelis, a cybersecurity expert and attorney with the New York-based Blackstone Law Group, which tracks suspicious internet domain registration activity.
Teens reportedly coughed near grocery store produce for video, Virginia police say
Police are warning parents to monitor their children's activity amid the coronavirus pandemic after two teens appeared to film themselves coughing on produce at a Virginia grocery store.
Employees from the Harris Teeter immediately threw out hundreds of dollars worth of produce and notified police, according to Lieutenant Barry A. Dufek of the Purcellville Police Department. Police notified the public of the incident last week and identified the juveniles involved using CCTV footage, notified their parents, and interviewed them.
The teens admitted to getting close to other patrons and coughing into their own sleeves, while filming on their phones, according to police.
Coronavirus has transformed policing in the US, as officers scramble to get tested, stay safe
After a reserve police officer in San Jose, California, tested positive for coronavirus last week, 20 of his colleagues were quarantined. Another 10 full-time employees from the police department’s family violence unit were also asked to stay home.
“You can imagine. Just this one incident could create an issue with regards to investigations of those real high-profile domestic violence, child abuse cases,” said Sgt. Paul Kelly, president of the San Jose Police Officers Association.
Cuban doctors head to Italy to battle coronavirus
Communist-run Cuba said it dispatched a brigade of doctors and nurses to Italy for the first time this weekend to help in the fight against the novel coronavirus at the request of the worst-affected region Lombardy.
The Caribbean island has sent its “armies of white robes” to disaster sites around the world largely in poor countries since its 1959 revolution. Its doctors were in the front lines in the fight against cholera in Haiti and against ebola in West Africa in the 2010s.
Yet with the 52-strong brigade, this is the first time Cuba has sent an emergency contingent to Italy, one of the world’s richest countries, demonstrating the reach of its medical diplomacy.
Desperate and angry state leaders push back on Trump admin claims of mass mask shipments
Governors, mayors and front-line health care workers confronting rising numbers of critically ill coronavirus patients said Sunday they have not received meaningful amounts of federal aid, including the shipments of desperately needed masks and other emergency equipment that administration officials say they have already dispatched.
As the crisis spreads, the Senate was moving forward with a rare Sunday procedural vote despite a breakdown in negotiations between Democrats and Republicans on a third coronavirus aid package. Among the points of contention: funding for hospitals and conditions on the billions of dollars that would flow to impacted corporations. The Senate wants to pass the bill containing both broad economic stimulus measures and direct help for American families as early as Monday.
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