It's possible there will never be a vaccine . . .  In this outcome, the public's hopes are repeatedly raised and then dashed, as various proposed solutions fall before the final hurdle. Instead of wiping out Covid-19, societies may instead learn to live with it. Cities would slowly open and some freedoms will be returned, but on a short leash, if experts' recommendations are followed. Treatments may be developed -- but outbreaks of the disease could still occur each year, and the global death toll would continue to tick upwards. But the possibility is taken very seriously by many experts -- because it's happened before. Several times. "There are some viruses that we still do not have vaccines against," says Dr. David Nabarro, a professor of global health at Imperial College London, who also serves as a special envoy to the World Health Organization on Covid-19. CNN

 

 

Trump is "confident" there will be a vaccine by the end of the year . . . President Trump predicted there would be a vaccine for the coronavirus within a matter of months. “We are very confident that we’re going to have a vaccine at the end of the year, by the end of the year,” Trump told Fox News during a town hall on Sunday. “We think we’re going to have a vaccine by the end of this year, and we’re pushing very hard.” Trump’s prediction was more optimistic than health officials, who have said the process would likely take at least a year to 18 months. Moving faster than usual on vaccine development would require human trials earlier in the process, which Trump said he had no concerns about. Washington Examiner

 

Dozens of New Yorkers ticketed for bending social distancing rules . . . New Yorkers got out to enjoy another day of balmy spring weather Sunday — and plenty are starting to bend social-distancing rules. After weeks of mostly staying indoors, thousands emerged into the sunlight this weekend to enjoy temperatures in the mid-70s. They were met with stepped-up enforcement by authorities who handed out dozens of citations for getting too close to one another or failing to wear face masks. Marvin Monzon, 28, looked surprised when told he could get a ticket for being too close to others on the East River esplanade in midtown Manhattan. “If you take precautions you should be fine,” Monzon said. “If you’re wearing a mask then you should be OK.” New York Daily News

 

 

Trump: some states not moving fast enough to reopen . . . President Donald Trump prodded an anxious nation to reopen for business with a combination of optimism and grievance, seeking to move past the pandemic that has killed more than 67,000 Americans and imperiled his odds of a second term. In a virtual town hall staged symbolically at the Lincoln Memorial Sunday evening, Trump said he hopes to return to his raucous political rallies in packed arenas in the final months of his campaign for re-election. He complained that some states “aren’t going fast enough” to ease public health restrictions.

“We have to go back,” Trump said during the made-for-TV event on Fox News. “It’s going to pass.” But polls show are more fearful of the virus than the economic fallout. Bloomberg

 

 

 

 

Michigan Gov. Whitmer says armed protested display "worst racism" . . . Whitmer slammed the protesters who gathered inside the state's Capitol building on Thursday to demand she rescind her stay-at-home orders, saying they represented the "worst racism and awful parts" of  U.S. history. "There were swastikas and Confederate flags and nooses and people with assault rifles," Whitmer said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." Fox News

 

 

DHS report says China covered up coronavirus to hoard supplies . . . U.S. officials believe China covered up the extent of the coronavirus outbreak — and how contagious the disease is — to stock up on medical supplies needed to respond to it, intelligence documents show. The DHS analysis states that, while downplaying the severity of the coronavirus, China increased imports and decreased exports of medical supplies. It attempted to cover up doing so by “denying there were export restrictions and obfuscating and delaying provision of its trade data,” the analysis states. The report also says China held off informing the World Health Organization that the coronavirus “was a contagion” for much of January so it could order medical supplies from abroad — and that its imports of face masks and surgical gowns and gloves increased sharply. Associated Press

 

And now they are pretending to try to help the world by handing out supplies.

 

Government surveillance spreading with the virus . . . To the feelings of fear, restlessness, insecurity and sorrow taking hold around the globe, the pandemic era has added another certainty: being watched. In a matter of months, tens of millions of people in dozens of countries have been placed under surveillance. Governments, private companies and researchers observe the health, habits and movements of citizens, often without their consent. It is a massive effort, aimed at enforcing quarantine rules or tracing the spread of the coronavirus. A group of researchers and privacy advocates say there is not enough debate over the consequences and utility of the new surveillance tools, and no indication how long the scrutiny will last. Washington Post

 

Ohio Gov. DeWine admits overreach . . . Mike DeWine said Sunday that his order requiring state residents to wear face masks went “too far.” DeWine announced April 27 that face masks must be worn in stores — but after some Ohioans found the order “offensive,” he reversed himself the next day. “It became clear to me that that was just a bridge too far. People were not going to accept the government telling them what to do,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.” Politico 

 

Boris Johnson says doctors prepared to announce his death . . . U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said his condition deteriorated so rapidly from the coronavirus that his doctors were preparing how to explain his death. “The bad moment came when it was 50-50 whether they were going to have to put a tube down my windpipe,” the premier said. “It was a tough old moment, I won’t deny it. They had a strategy to deal with a ‘death of Stalin’-type scenario.” Johnson spent three days in the critical unit at St Thomas’s Hospital in London and was given oxygen treatment to help him breathe. He said later it could have gone either way and thanked the medicals pros for saving his life. Bloomberg 

 

South Korea: Kim Jong Un never had surgery at all . . . North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not undergo surgery or any other medical procedure, a South Korean official said Sunday, amid speculation about his health that continues to linger even after he reappeared publicly in recent days. North Korea had said Saturday that Kim attended the completion of a fertilizer factory near Pyongyang on Friday, in his first public appearance in about 20 days. While Kim’s reemergence, captured on video footage released by North Korean state media, quelled intense rumors that he might be gravely ill or even have died, some media outlets and observers still raised questions about Kim’s health, citing moments when his walking looked a bit stiff at the factory. Politico

 

 

Rohingya survivors tell of misery and death at sea with hudnres still adrift . . . Rohingya refugee Shahab Uddin thought the wooden trawler he boarded in February would be his ticket out of a camp in Bangladesh to a better life in Malaysia. Instead, the voyage nearly killed him. The 20-year-old was among almost 400 survivors pulled from the water, starving, emaciated and traumatized after the boat failed to reach Malaysia and spent weeks adrift before returning to Bangladesh in mid-April. Hundreds more refugees are stranded on at least two other trawlers, rights groups say, as Southeast Asian governments tighten borders to keep out the new coronavirus, threatening a repeat of a 2015 boat crisis when hundreds of people died. Reuters

 

J. Crew files for bankruptcy . . . J. Crew Group Inc filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday with a plan to hand over control to lenders, adding to a list of brick-and-mortar retailers pushed to the brink by widespread store closures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The New York-based chain, known for preppy clothing at times worn by former first lady Michelle Obama, filed for bankruptcy in a Virginia federal court with an agreement to eliminate its roughly $1.65 billion of debt in exchange for ceding ownership to creditors. It is the first big retailer to fail during the pandemic. Reuters

 

Americans take to hunting as meat shortages take hold . . . An increase in hunting licenses and permit applications have been reported by game and fish agencies in multiple states this spring. A resurgence is expected with meat shelves at grocery stores noticeably empty for the first time during the last two months, said Hank Forester of the Quality Deer Management Association. “People are starting to consider self-reliance and where their food comes from,” Forester told the news organization. “We’re all born hunters.” Nina Stafford, 42, a building contractor in Georgia killed her first deer back in January, which gave her confidence she could find her next meal amid potential food shortages. Fox News

 

Harvard canceled event as its president met with Chinese leader Xi . . . Harvard University canceled a panel discussion on Hong Kong protests because the event coincided with the university president's meet-and-greet with Chinese president Xi Jinping, according to a former university scholar. Teng Biao, a former fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's human rights center, attempted to host a panel discussion on Chinese human rights issues in 2015. A vice dean at Harvard Law School, however, ordered him in February of that year to cancel the event because it would have been "embarrassing" for the university, according to Teng. Washington Free Beacon

 

"Murder hornets" arrive in the United States . . . With queens that can grow to two inches long, Asian giant hornets can use mandibles shaped like spiked shark fins to wipe out a honeybee hive in a matter of hours, decapitating the bees and flying away with the thoraxes to feed their young. For larger targets, the hornet’s potent venom and stinger — long enough to puncture a beekeeping suit — make for an excruciating combination that victims have likened to hot metal driving into their skin. In Japan, the hornets kill up to 50 people a year. Now, for the first time, they have arrived in the United States. New York Times

 

Georgia city councilman arrested for stealing beef . . . A Georgia city councilman was charged after he allegedly stole a beef tenderloin from a grocery store. Georgia Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Nelly Miles told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Clifford Henry Jiles was accused of swapping the price tag of a beef tenderloin with a cheaper pork tenderloin at a Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Franklin on Sunday. Miles said the beef retailed for over $83, while the pork was about $12. Associated Press

 

Texas ranger telling people to social distance is thrown into a lake . . . A Texas park ranger cautioned a group about coronavirus social distancing - only to get pushed into a lake. A recording of the incident shows the Commons Ford Metropolitan Park ranger asking a group gathered on the docks of Lake Austin to “disperse” because people were not standing six feet apart. The group was unlawfully drinking and smoking in the public park, as well. Just after someone tells the ranger “I got you,” a man runs up and pushes the ranger into the water. The man fell in as well, but he managed to climb out first and flee. Fox News