Cut to the News
Cut through the clutter to today's top news
April 13, 2020
Good morning
Leading the News . . .
Trump retweets #firefauci tweet . . . President Trump sparked speculation about his relationship with the country's top disease expert Sunday night after he retweeted a post that called for the doctor's job. Trump used statements Dr. Anthony Fauci made in February as evidence that a
recent New York Times report that said he was slow to act on the coronavirus outbreak was "fake news." Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was asked about the report on CNN and admitted that earlier action could have saved more lives. The Times' report said Trump played down the seriousness of the virus throughout January. DeAnna Lorraine, a former Republican congressional candidate, called out Fauci in her own
tweet and said he told people in late February that "there was nothing to worry about and it posed no threat to the US public at large. Time to #FireFauci." Trump seized on Lorraine’s tweet as evidence of “fake news,” from the Times. Trump implied that if there were widespread concerns about the virus in the White House in January, surely Fauci would have known in late February. "Sorry Fake News, it's all on tape. I banned China long before people
spoke up," Trump tweeted. Fox News
WHO says 70 vaccines are in the works, with three leading candidates . . . There are 70 coronavirus vaccines in development globally, with three candidates already being tested in human trials, according to the World Health Organization, as drugmakers race to find a cure for the deadly pathogen. The
furthest along in the clinical process is an experimental vaccine developed by Hong Kong-listed CanSino Biologics Inc. and the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, which is in phase 2. The other two being tested in humans are treatments developed separately by U.S. drugmakers Moderna Inc. and Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc., according to a WHO document. Chinese Vaccine Approved for Human Testing at Virus Epicenter
Progress is occurring at unprecedented speed in developing vaccines as the infectious pathogen looks unlikely to be stamped out through containment measures alone. The drug industry is hoping to compress the time it takes to get a vaccine to market -- usually about 10 to 15 years -- to within the next year. Bloomberg
US close to coronavirus peak . . . Food and Drug Administration chief Stephen Hahn said Sunday the United States appears to be "very close" to its coronavirus peak. "The models do show that we are very close to the peak. So I think that information is accurate," the FDA
commissioner said Sunday. Hahn said May 1 'is a target' in terms of lifting the nationwide lockdowns but also warned: "This has been a really fast-moving outbreak, so we really have to take this day by day. I think the public safety and the welfare of the American people has to come first." Daily Mail
Smithfield shuts a U.S. pork plant, warns of meat shortage . . .
Smithfield Foods, the world’s biggest pork processor, said on Sunday it will shut a U.S. plant indefinitely due to a rash of coronavirus cases among employees and warned the country was moving “perilously close to the edge” in supplies for grocers. Slaughterhouse shutdowns are disrupting the U.S. food supply chain, crimping
availability of meat at retail stores and leaving farmers without outlets for their livestock. Smithfield extended the closure of its Sioux Falls, South Dakota, plant after initially saying it would idle temporarily for cleaning. The facility is one of the nation’s largest pork processing facilities, representing 4% to 5% of U.S. pork production, according to the company. Reuters
How to stay safe at the supermarket . . . While scientists have proven that you can get COVID-19 from surfaces, the most likely way one could contract the virus during trips to the supermarket would be from another shopper. "While it is possible to contract the virus [from contaminated surfaces], the
majority of transmission is probably going to be from respiratory droplets, which you're exposed to when you're around other people," Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health told NPR. She added that washing your hands thoroughly would leave your risk "very, very low" after touching certain objects. Fox News
Nursing home deaths soar past 3,300 . . . More than 3,300 deaths nationwide have been linked to coronavirus outbreaks in nursing homes and long-term care facilities, an alarming rise in just the past two week. The latest count of at least 3,323 deaths is up from about 450 deaths just 10 days ago. But
the true toll among the 1 million mostly frail and elderly people who live in such facilities is likely much higher, experts say, because most state counts don’t include those who died without ever being tested for COVID-19. Associated Press
Atlanta man arrested in $750 million face mask scam . . . An Atlanta man tried to scam the Department of Veterans Affairs by selling them millions of protective coronavirus masks that didn’t exist, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a release. He was arrested on Friday and charged with
fraud. According to the criminal complaint, 39-year-old Christopher Parris promised the DVA that he could get 125 million face masks from domestic 3M factories which, along with other personal protective equipment, had a total value of $750 million. Face masks have been in short supply during the coronavirus pandemic, and are currently reserved for health care workers and medical first responders. NY Daily News
Amazon stops accepting new online customers . . . Amazon will begin to put new grocery delivery customers on a wait list and curtail shopping hours at some Whole Foods stores to prioritize
orders from existing customers buying food online during the coronavirus outbreak, the company said on Sunday. Many shoppers recently seeking to purchase groceries from the Seattle-based e-commerce company found they could not place orders due to a lack of available delivery slots. Amazon said it would have to relegate all new online grocery customers to a wait list starting Monday while working on adding capacity each week. Reuters
|
|
Trump approval rating dropping . . . President Donald Trump’s approval rating has slumped to a six-month low of 43 percent as the coronavirus crisis drags into its third month. A total of 56 percent of voters disapprove of Trump’s job performance in office, according to a
Friday Rasmussen Reports poll of 500 likely voters. Those latest numbers include 30 percent of likely voters who strongly approve of Trump’s job in office and 44 percent who strong disapprove, resulting in a presidential approval index rating of -14. On this day in 2012 when Barack Obama was in office, his approval rating was 49 percent. Trump hit his all time approval high of 47.3 on March 31, but that number has plummeted to 44.9 percent, according to a RealClear
Politics polling average. Daily Mail
|
|
Courts speed release of illegal immigrants, risking public safety . . . Jose Beltran-Araujo, an illegal immigrant, stands accused of beating his girlfriend’s head with a glass bottle, knocking her unconscious, in front of her three children. He had been sitting in an ICE detention facility in Massachusetts
awaiting a deportation decision — but on Friday a federal judge ordered him released, citing the coronavirus crisis. Same with Kevin Corleto, convicted of cocaine trafficking; Marvin Arreaga, arrested last year on charges of enticing a child, and assault and battery; and Carlos Carangui, an illegal immigrant ousted once before, who snuck back into the country and whom police say they caught stalking a woman. All of them are in good health and aren’t high-risk for COVID-19, U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement says. Yet all were ordered released on bail by Judge William G. Young, part of more than 40 releases he’s ordered so far as he works his way through nearly 150 detainees held at the Bristol County House of Corrections. Washington Times
China exports its model of virus management . . . Last month, six Chinese medical professionals stepped off an Air Serbia jet in Belgrade to a red-carpet welcome from President Aleksandar Vucic and an array of cabinet ministers. After elbow-bump greetings, Vucic kissed Serbia’s flag, then China’s. In Serbia, one of Beijing’s closest European allies, and a handful of other friendly countries, China is providing on-the-ground guidance to help
battle the coronavirus that has swept around the world. The outreach is part of a wider push by Beijing to assert global leadership in battling COVID-19 after facing criticism from Washington and elsewhere that it fumbled its early response to the outbreak, believed to have originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Reuters
|
|
Boris Johnson is better, but dark days ahead for Britain . . . The U.K. government's response has been called into question by many experts, with unfavorable comparisons drawn with other similar countries. Ministers have been dogged by criticisms that they failed to quickly ramp up testing capacity in late February and early March; that they introduced lockdown measures and social distancing too late; that politicians leading
Britain's response, including Johnson himself, appeared slow to recognize the seriousness of the threat. Even now there are numerous reports of frontline health workers not having adequate personal protective equipment. The task facing Johnson, when he takes full charge of the government again after a period of recuperation, will be to restore confidence in the U.K.'s ability to weather the crisis. Politico
Spain begins to allow some to return to work . . . Spain, one of the countries worst hit by the coronavirus, is beginning to ease strict lockdown measures that have brought its economy to a standstill. People in manufacturing, construction and some services are being allowed to return to work, but must stick to strict safety guidelines.
The rest of the population must still remain at home. Almost 17,500 people with Covid-19 have died in Spain, but the rate of new infections has been falling. BBC
Assange fathered two kids while stuck in London embassy . . .
The Wikileaks founder — who’s currently in custody in London’s Belmarsh high-security prison as he fights extradition to the U.S. on over a dozen charges related to the leaking of classified documents — fathered two children while hiding out in London’s Ecuadorian Embassy for nearly seven years. That’s according to the mother
of those children, a member of Assange’s legal team named Stella Morris who’s pleading for his release because of the dangers that prisoners face from coronavirus. She says she met Assange in 2011, and that their relationship began about four years later. Having kids was a conscious choice, she said, to ''break down the walls around him” and “imagine a life beyond prison.” New York Daily News
|
|
Goldman Sachs says U.S. Stocks have likely bottomed out . . . U.S. stocks are unlikely to make fresh lows thanks to the “do whatever it takes” approach of policy makers, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. A combination of unprecedented policy support and a flattening viral curve has “dramatically” cut risks to both markets and the American economy, strategists including David Kostin wrote in a note Monday. If the U.S. doesn’t
have a second surge in infections after the economy reopens, equity markets are unlikely to make new lows, they said. “The Fed and Congress have precluded the prospect of a complete economic collapse,” the strategists wrote. “These policy actions mean our previous near-term downside of 2,000 is no longer likely” for the S&P 500 Index. Bloomberg
Agreement reached to cut oil output . . . Saudi Arabia, Russia and the U.S. agreed to lead a multinational coalition in major oil-production cuts after a drop in demand due to the coronavirus crisis and a Saudi-Russian feud devastated oil prices. The deal, sealed Sunday, came after President Trump intervened to help resolve a Saudi-Mexico standoff that jeopardized the broader pact. As part of the agreement, 23 countries committed to
withhold collectively 9.7 million barrels a day of oil from global markets. The deal, designed to address a mounting oil glut resulting from the pandemic’s erosion of demand, seeks to withhold a record amount of crude from markets—over 13% of world production. The U.S. has never been so active in forging a pact like this. On a hastily convened conference call with delegates from the 13-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and others, including Russia, participants raced
to strike a deal before oil markets opened Monday. They expected prices to crash without an accord. It was a diplomatic victory for Mr. Trump. Wall Street Journal
|
|
Deadly storms across South leave at least 14 dead . . . Severe storms that left at least 14 people dead and destroyed hundreds of structures in the South are moving north, with more than 150 million people under a wind advisory or warning. Mississippi was among the states hardest hit by Sunday's storms. At least five people in Murray County, Georgia, died from the storms moving through the state, Murray County Fire Chief
Dewayne Bain told CNN. Another Georgia man was killed in Cartersville Monday morning when a tree fell on a house, said Deputy Chief Ray King of the Cartersville Fire Department. CNN
Six shot at party attended by 400 in California . . . Around 400 people were at a party at an East Bakersfield apartment complex when dozens of shots rang out, wounding six people early Saturday morning, according to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office. Based on evidenced recovered at the scene, KCSO says, it appears at least one partygoer fired back at the suspects in a white sedan that fled the scene. One juvenile and five adults were wounded by
gunfire. All six were transported to a hospital with wounds that were described as non-life threatening. The victims were uncooperative and deputies have limited information to go on, a spokesperson said Saturday evening. KGET
|
|
Naked woman tries to book flight at New Orleans airport . . . Mariel Vergara, 27, of Pueblo, Colo., was completely nude when she walked into the airport and made her way to the Spirit Airlines ticket counter on Friday night, April 3, authorities said. A deputy dispatched to the scene noted that
Vergara had already put on a dress by the time he arrived. But she was still violating public decency laws because she had on no underwear, and the dress was too short to cover her genitals, the Sheriff's Office said. Airline officials told Vergara she wouldn't be able to travel due to her attire -- or lack thereof. Vergara ignored deputies' orders to leave the airport and scuffled with them as she was being taken into custody. New Orleans Times-Picayune
At least TSA wouldn't have had to ask her to remove her shoes
Ninety-three-year old woman's "I need more beer" sign goes viral . . . Olive Veronesi of Pittsburgh, who is quarantining herself at home amid the coronavirus pandemic, has garnered
widespread attention after she held a sign that reads “I Need More Beer!!” in her window. A photo showing Veronesi with the sign in one hand and a Coors Light in the other was recently shared by a relative, and then by local TV station KDKA. “I have a beer every
night,” Veronesi said during an interview with the Pittsburgh news outlet. “Something to relax, you know? I think it’s nice." New York Daily News
|
|
Have a great day.
Keith Koffler
If you enjoy this free newsletter, please help support it. Donate today.
Got this from a friend? Subscribe here and get Cut to the News sent to your Inbox every morning.
|
|
|
