The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a challenge to a New York City law restricting the rights of handgun owners to carry their weapons outside the home.The 6-3 decision sends the case back to the lower courts — a move that pleases gun control advocates who were afraid that the conservative-majority court would rule against them.The case centered on the New York City gun licenses that let handgun owners carry their locked and unloaded weapons only from their homes to several shooting ranges within city limits.Attorneys for the city argued that the law was a matter of public safety and did not infringe on the Second Amendment right to bear arms.A group of gun owners, backed by Trump administration lawyers, challenged the law, arguing that it was too restrictive.But after the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, New York amended the law to allow people to carry their guns to places outside the city, including second homes, gun clubs, target shooting ranges and where hunting is allowed.The court decided not to hear the case Monday, saying the changes to the law makes the challenge moot, and sent it back to the lower court for any further challenges and arguments.Three conservative justices — Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas — dissented.”Petitioners got most, but not all, of the prospective relief they wanted,” Alito wrote, saying gun owners can still seek damages.Gun control advocates are pleased the court decided not to rule on the case.“Today’s decision rejects the NRA’s invitation to use a moot case to enact its extreme agenda aimed at gutting gun safety laws supported by a majority of Americans,” said Hannah Shearer, litigation director at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.But the National Rifle Association, the country’s premier gun rights group, said the court Monday accepted what the NRA calls New York City’s “surrender” and admission of wrongdoing. It calls on the city to reimburse the plaintiffs’ legal fees.Affordable Care Act rulingIn another case, the court ruled 8-1 Monday in favor of health insurance companies seeking $12 billion from provisions in the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” that allows them to collect losses incurred by offering coverage to uninsured Americans.The court threw out a lower court decision that ruled Congress had suspended the payment provision.Writing for the majority, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said denying payment to the insurance companies would be a “bait and switch.”“The government should honor its obligations,” Sotomayor wrote.Alito was the only dissenter, writing that paying off “has the effect of providing a massive bailout for insurance companies that took a calculated risk and lost.”The provision that would reimburse insurance companies for losses was in effect under the Affordable Care Act from 2014 until 2016.
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Month: April 2020
COVID Link Suspected in Children’s Inflammatory Disease
Doctors in Britain, Italy, Portugal and Spain are exploring a possible link between a severe inflammatory disease in children and the coronavirus. A growing number of children of various ages in several European countries have been admitted to hospitals with high fever and heart issues. Some also have suffered from gastrointestinal problems, such as vomiting and diarrhea. The children appear to be suffering from Kawasaki disease, which is more common in parts of Asia where it afflicts children younger than 5. Symptoms include skin rashes, gland swelling and in severe cases inflammation of the heart and blood vessels. The cause of the illness is not clear. COVID-19, a disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus, is rare in children. But an unusual spike in the number of children suffering from Kawasaki-type symptoms at the time of the coronavirus pandemic has put health authorities in Europe on alert. After hearing from pediatricians, British National Health System issued a warning saying: “Over the last three weeks there has been an apparent rise in the number of children of all ages presenting with a multisystem inflammatory state requiring intensive care across London and also in other regions of the U.K.” Some of the children have tested positive for coronavirus, but not all, suggesting that another pathogen could be responsible. Their blood tests revealed severe inflammation, similar to the blood tests in adults with severe COVID-19 infections. Britain’s national medical director for England, Stephen Powis, said it was “too early to say” whether the Kawasaki-like disease and coronavirus could be linked. But at a briefing Monday he said, “I’ve asked the national clinical director for children and young people to look into this as a matter of urgency.” A press coronavirus briefing at Downing Street with Business Secretary Alok Sharma, right, and Medical Director Professor Stephen Powis, during a Digital Press Conference in London, Saturday March 28, 2020.British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he was “very worried” by the reports. Doctors treating the sick children say the symptoms indicate that their bodies could be suffering from some form of a toxic shock. Many had to be treated in intensive care. British health authorities emphasized that children are unlikely to become seriously ill with COVID-19, but parents should seek help from a health professional if their child gets seriously ill. They also asked physicians examining children with fever and abdominal pain to include blood tests for any signs of inflammatory issues. Italian heart specialist Matteo Ciuffreda told Reuters that doctors in the northern city of Bergamo have seen at least 20 children younger than 9 with severe vascular inflammation since the end of March, six times more than they would expect to see in a year. He said children’s cardiologists in Madrid and Lisbon had told him they had seen similar cases. But he said only a few of the children tested positive for coronavirus. Ciuffreda said more study is needed to determine what causes the spike in Kawasaki-like symptoms in children in Europe. American pediatricians have not reported similar cases in the United States.
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Trump Says He Has Good Idea How North Korea’s Kim is Doing
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he has a good idea how Kim Jong Un is doing and hopes he is fine, after days of speculation over the North Korean leader’s health. Kim’s whereabouts and whether he had a heart procedure have been a subject of intense speculation in recent weeks. Daily NK, a Seoul-based website, reported last week that Kim was recovering after undergoing a cardiovascular procedure on April 12, citing one unnamed source in North Korea. Reuters has not been able to confirm the report. A special train possibly belonging to Kim was spotted last week at the North Korean resort town of Wonsan, according to satellite images reviewed by 38 North, a Washington-based North Korea monitoring project. “I can’t tell you exactly,” Trump said when asked about Kim’s condition at a White House news conference. “Yes, I do have a very good idea, but I can’t talk about it now. I just wish him well.” Trump suggested the mystery would be solved soon. “I hope he’s fine. I do know how he’s doing relatively speaking. We will see – you’ll probably be hearing in the not too distant future,” Trump said.
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Supreme Court Refuses Challenge to New York Gun Law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a challenge to a New York City law restricting the rights of handgun owners to carry their weapons outside the home.The 6-3 decision sends the case back to the lower courts — a move that pleases gun control advocates who were afraid that the conservative-majority court would rule against them.The case centered on the New York City gun licenses that let handgun owners carry their locked and unloaded weapons only from their homes to several shooting ranges within city limits.Attorneys for the city argued that the law was a matter of public safety and did not infringe on the Second Amendment right to bear arms.A group of gun owners, backed by Trump administration lawyers, challenged the law, arguing that it was too restrictive.But after the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, New York amended the law to allow people to carry their guns to places outside the city, including second homes, gun clubs, target shooting ranges and where hunting is allowed.The court decided not to hear the case Monday, saying the changes to the law makes the challenge moot, and sent it back to the lower court for any further challenges and arguments.Three conservative justices — Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas — dissented.”Petitioners got most, but not all, of the prospective relief they wanted,” Alito wrote, saying gun owners can still seek damages.Gun control advocates are pleased the court decided not to rule on the case.“Today’s decision rejects the NRA’s invitation to use a moot case to enact its extreme agenda aimed at gutting gun safety laws supported by a majority of Americans,” said Hannah Shearer, litigation director at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.But the National Rifle Association, the country’s premier gun rights group, said the court Monday accepted what the NRA calls New York City’s “surrender” and admission of wrongdoing. It calls on the city to reimburse the plaintiffs’ legal fees.Affordable Care Act rulingIn another case, the court ruled 8-1 Monday in favor of health insurance companies seeking $12 billion from provisions in the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare,” that allows them to collect losses incurred by offering coverage to uninsured Americans.The court threw out a lower court decision that ruled Congress had suspended the payment provision.Writing for the majority, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said denying payment to the insurance companies would be a “bait and switch.”“The government should honor its obligations,” Sotomayor wrote.Alito was the only dissenter, writing that paying off “has the effect of providing a massive bailout for insurance companies that took a calculated risk and lost.”The provision that would reimburse insurance companies for losses was in effect under the Affordable Care Act from 2014 until 2016.
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Census Says Restart to Field Operations Will Be in Phases
The U.S. Census Bureau’s return to field operations for the 2020 national head count will take place in phases based on a region’s lockdown orders and the availability of protective gear against the new coronavirus, bureau officials told lawmakers late last week. Census Bureau officials told members of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform last Friday that there would be a phased start to the resumption of field operations on June 1. The spreading virus, and subsequent stay-at-home orders, forced the bureau in mid-March to halt field operations such as hiring and training, reaching out to college students in off-campus housing and dropping off paper questionnaires to households without traditional addresses. The bulk of the field operations in which hundreds of thousands of census takers knock on the doors of homes where people haven’t yet answered the questionnaire isn’t starting until August, after the pandemic forced a delay from a May start. FILE – Advertising for the U.S. Census Bureau’s outreach campaign for the 2020 Census is displayed at the Arena Stage in Washington, Jan. 14, 2020.The briefing with lawmakers comes as the Census Bureau is asking Congress for permission to push back timetables for releasing data used by states to draw congressional and legislative districts. Census Bureau director Steven Dillingham had been scheduled to update lawmakers a week ago but canceled at the last minute, according to lawmakers, upsetting some Democrats on the committee who wanted further details about the request. The 2020 count will be used to determine how many congressional seats each state gets and the distribution of $1 billion in federal funding. On Monday, during a conference call to motivate New Yorkers to participate in the 2020 census, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the chair of the oversight committee, said she was on board with the request but wanted a written plan from the bureau before moving ahead. The needed legislation authorizing the deadline changes will either be a stand-alone bill or a part of another round of coronavirus relief, she said. “It’s necessary, given what we are confronted with,” said Maloney, a Democrat from New York. Because the coronavirus has caused the cancellation of in-person outreach efforts, the Census Bureau is increasing the paid media budget from $240 million to $320 million, expanding the number of languages in paid media from 14 to 40 languages, and launching “hyper local” media outreach, Ali Ahmad, associate director for communications, told lawmakers. The bureau also pushed back the deadline for finishing the once-a-decade head count from the end of July to the end of October. But further delays in field operations haven’t been ruled out, bureau officials told lawmakers. Bureau officials also told lawmakers that fewer people than expected are answering the census questionnaire by telephone — just 0.6% compared to the expected 6.8%. The bureau has acknowledged increased call wait times because of the need to socially distance at call centers set up to help people fill out the form. As of Sunday, 53% of households had responded to the 2020 census, mostly via the internet. Earlier this month, those who haven’t yet responded were mailed paper questionnaires.
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Ugandan HIV-Positive Volunteer Goes Distance to Deliver ARVs
Amid a three-week suspension of public and private transport in Uganda due to the coronavirus, some HIV-positive Ugandans have struggled to get hold of needed antiretroviral medications. Noticing a higher risk for HIV patients with compromised immune systems, health worker Simon Bukenya jumped on his bicycle and began making home deliveries, even going long distances to do it.Simon Peter Bukenya has been living with HIV for 30 years and understands the importance of taking antiretroviral drugs. A lockdown due to the coronavirus has stranded Ugandans in need of medical attention, including people who are HIV-positive. Bukenya says on a daily basis, he bicycles more than 80 kilometers to deliver medications to those who need them. He says he started with three patients, and word of his services spread after he posted a notice on Facebook.“There’s even a client that called me and sent me a WhatsApp, when she had gotten herpes zoster, and she’s home,” said Bukenya. “She’s breastfeeding, she has a two-months-old baby and she’s going through a lot. So, that’s what really motivated me; that’s how I started.”Bukenya says so far, he has reached 200 patients. He says he doesn’t get paid for his services; he simply wanted to fill a gap for HIV patients in need.His service is independent of one run by Uganda’s Ministry of Health which recently set up a program to allow community health workers to collect HIV pills for patients. Dr. Kaggwa Mugaga, the head of HIV for WHO in Uganda, admits the ministry’s service has limits, especially when it comes to supplies of key medicines. “We have people who volunteer to pick up drugs on behalf of others in the same community where they have openly shared their status,” said Mugaga. “This has closed the gap of people missing pills. NMS (National Medical Stores) has been able to deliver what it has, but there are medicines which were at low stock levels, Lopinavir, Ritonavir, for the children.”The pharmaceutical division revealed that the order for pediatric antiretrovirals is expected to arrive in May.UNAIDS says about 6 percent of Ugandans are HIV-positive, one of the highest rates in East Africa.Among these is William Matovu, who was born with HIV and will be 26 in July. He previously did not make his status publicly known, fearing discrimination and the stigma associated with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. For him, Bukenya comes in handy. “I was running out of my medication. I had to call him and he assists me. Due to the ban of public transport in this COVID-19 era, I could not move to my facility,” said Matovu. “It’s like 15 kilometers away from my home. When I contacted him, he asked me my details, So, when I gave him my details, he went to my facility and picked up the medication for me and brought it to my doorstep.”Uganda has so far recorded 74 COVID-19 cases, but no deaths.The government’s travel restrictions are currently due to expire on May 3.
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Who is Kim Jong Un’s Sister?
As the United States assesses reports on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s health, officials and experts say Washington will continue its sanctions and pressure campaign against Pyongyang. “We continue to call on North Korea to avoid provocations, abide by obligations under U.N. Security Council Resolutions, and return to sustained and substantive negotiations to do its part to achieve complete denuclearization,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA on Monday. FILE- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves at parade participants at the Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, May 16, 2016.While South Korea has refuted numerous reports speculating about Kim’s possible death and insisted there are “no unusual movements” in North Korea, analysts are taking interest in the profile of Kim Yo Jong, Kim’s younger sister who is described as one of Kim’s most trusted advisers. “Ms. Kim, clearly over the last few years, has slowly been groomed for something bigger,” says Harry Kazianis, senior director for Korean Studies at the conservative think-tank Center for the National Interest. Who is Kim Yo Jong? And why is she seen by some as the most likely successor if Kim Jong Un’s health deteriorates? The supreme leader’s sister was recently promoted as an alternate member of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party’s powerful Central Committee Politburo, continuing her ascent in the country’s leadership hierarchy. Diplomatic sources took note of Kim Yo Jong’s March statement on U.S.-North Korean ties after U.S. President Donald Trump sent a personal letter to Kim Jong Un, seeking to maintain communication and offering cooperation to help the country fight the COVID-19 outbreak. She praised Trump for sending the letter at a time when “big difficulties and challenges lie ahead in the way of developing ties” between the two countries, according to the Associated Press, which quoted North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency. The statement is seen by some as a sign of Kim Yo Jong’s growing role in U.S.-North Korea relations. FILE – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, rides a horse as he visits battle sites at Mount Paektu, Ryanggang, in this undated picture released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Dec. 4, 2019.North Korea says Kim’s grandfather and father, Kim Jong Il, were born at Mount Paektu, a centerpiece of the North’s idolization and propaganda campaign to highlight the allegedly sacred bloodline of the ruling Kim family. “Ms. Kim is clearly moving up the ranks over the last few years – adding more and more top-tier positions to her DPRK leadership resume, something needed if she was to ever take the reins of power,” added Center for National Interest’s Kazianis. But “regardless of who assumes power, there are no indications that a successor would pursue different domestic or foreign policies,” says Bruce Klingner, with the conservative think-tank Heritage Foundation. “The regime has long emphasized the centrality of nuclear weapons to its national security, and its resistance to negotiating them away,” says the Heritage senior fellow. “A successor may be more deft in reaching out to foreign countries, as Kim Jong Un was, but the underlying objectives and policies would remain constant.” FILE – U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, North Korea’s nominal head of state Kim Yong Nam, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea, February 9, 2018.Kim Yo Jong has held numerous high-ranking positions, including first vice director of the Korean Workers’ Party Central Committee, and the first vice director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department. She garnered international attention when photographed sitting near U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, during the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. She is the first member of the ruling Kim family to visit South Korea since the division of Korea at the end of World War II.
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Chinese Human Rights Lawyer Returns Home after Tortuous Journey
Chinese authorities allowed a leading human rights lawyer to reunite with his family late Monday, ending more than four years of detention, most of it without communications with his friends and family.Quanzhang Wang returned home to his wife and son in the capital, Beijing. They burst into tears as a friend recorded the reunion.一个等待5年的拥抱！ pic.twitter.com/B6rZXWcWsH
— Suyutong 🎗️ (@Suyutong) April 27, 2020Wang had been released from jail earlier this month, following a four-and-a-half year sentence for “subversion” that the U.S. had called “unjust.”Right before the long overdue reunion, Wang told VOA that he was very happy to be back in Beijing. He said, “I really want to hold my son. I was always imagining that moment when I was in jail. When they visited me in jail, we could only talk across the glass. Now I can finally hug my wife and son.”He also told VOA that this time he’s not temporarily visiting but permanently back in Beijing. Release delayed by quarantineWang was one of more than 200 lawyers and activists detained in a notorious crackdown on Chinese civil rights lawyers starting in July 2015. The government argued that rights lawyers had exploited some cases to enrich themselves.Rights activists say the campaign was a hallmark of China’s President Xi Jinping’s tightening grip on power. Wang had defended political campaigners and victims of land seizures as well as followers of the Falun Gong movement, a banned spiritual group in China.Prosecutors accused him of “subversion of state power.” During the trial, journalists and foreign diplomats were barred from the courthouse.After serving his time, Wang was scheduled to be released April 5. However, instead he was sent to Jinan, a city that is 400 kilometers away from his home, for a mandatory quarantine required by the Chinese authorities. The authorities told him that he would be freed after the 14-day quarantine, but they made him wait a third week before allowing him to go back to Beijing Monday.A day before his scheduled return, on April 26, his wife was hospitalized with an acute appendicitis. Wang tried to meet with her but was stopped on the way home by the police. He argued it’s his basic human right and responsibility to reunite with and take care of his family.He told VOA that the authorities also prohibited him from talking with the press.The U.S. State Department released a statement last week calling for the Chinese government to allow Wang’s “freedom of movement, including the ability to join his family in Beijing.”The Chinese Foreign Ministry replied that the Chinese government objects to interference in its “domestic affairs” by any country.
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Ukraine Continues Fighting Fires Near Defunct Chernobyl Nuclear Plant
Firefighters in Ukraine continue to battle a series of fires near the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant nearly a month after they broke out.The State Service for Emergency Situations said on April 27 that brigades were still working to extinguish fires in the Lubyanskiy, Paryshivskiy, Dytyatkivskiy, and Denysovytskiy forest districts in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.”The main efforts are focused on the localization of two fire sites, smoldering stumps, wood segments, and peat-boggy soil,” the service said, adding that radiation in the area does not exceed permissible levels.The fires began on April 3 in the western part of the uninhabited exclusion zone before spreading to nearby forests.Ukrainian officials have said they have extinguished the fires several times, but new fires continue appearing in the area.The National Police has said it has detained two people suspected of setting the initial fire.The reactor meltdown and explosion at the Chernobyl plant in 1986 sent clouds of nuclear material across much of Europe. It is considered the worst nuclear disaster in history.
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New York Nixes Democratic Presidential Primary Due to Virus
In an unprecedented move, New York has canceled its Democratic presidential primary that was scheduled for June 23 amid the coronavirus pandemic. The Democratic members of the State’s Board of Elections voted Monday to nix the primary. New York will still hold its congressional and state-level primaries on June 23. Commissioner Andrew Spano said he had pondered at length, reaching a decision just Monday morning. He said he worried about potentially forcing voters and poll workers to choose between their democratic duty and their health. While there will still be other offices on the ballot, Spano reasoned it made sense to give voters an opportunity to choose in contested races but not to “have anyone on the ballot just for the purposes of issues at a convention.”FILE – New York State Board of Elections Commissioner Andrew Spano speaks during a meeting in Albany, N.Y., April 16, 2015.New York Democratic Party chair Jay Jacobs has said that the cancellation of the state’s presidential primary would mean a lower expected turnout and a reduced need for polling places.”It just makes so much sense given the extraordinary nature of the challenge,” Jacobs said last week.Local election officials and voting groups have called on the state to use federal funds to purchase cleaning supplies and protective gear, and boost staff ahead of 2020 elections.Both the state’s Democratic Party and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have said they didn’t ask election commissioners to make the change, which is allowed thanks to a little-known provision in the recently passed state budget that allows the New York board of elections to remove names of any candidates who have suspended or terminated their campaign from the ballot.The decision to cancel a Democratic primary is left up to Democratic state election commissioners.Former Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders announced earlier this month that he had suspended his campaign. In a Sunday letter, a lawyer for the Sanders campaign asked the commissioners not to cancel the primary.FILE – Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders speaks to supporters during a rally, in New York, Oct. 19, 2019.”Senator Sanders has collaborated with state parties, the national party and the Biden campaign, to strengthen the Democrats by aligning the party’s progressive and moderate wings. His removal from the ballot would hamper those efforts, to the detriment of the party in the general election,” the lawyer, Malcolm Seymour, wrote in a letter obtained by The Wall Street Journal.Board Co-Chairman Douglas Kellner said the primary cancellation was a “very difficult decision,” but noted state law allows for removing candidates from the ballot when they have suspended their campaigns, as Sanders has done and, further, endorsed presumptive nominee Joe Biden.”That has effectively ended the real contest for the presidential nomination,” Kellner said. “And what the Sanders supporters want is essentially a beauty contest that, given the situation with the public health emergency that exists now, seems to be unnecessary and, indeed, frivolous.”New York voters can now choose to vote with an absentee ballot in the June primaries under a Cuomo executive order that adds the risk of acquiring COVID-19 as a reason to vote absentee. Cuomo also recently announced the state is sending mail-in ballots to voters.Here are the latest coronavirus-related developments in New York:Regional re-openingsStay-at-home restrictions could be eased in mid-May for parts of New York state where the coronavirus outbreak is less severe, Cuomo said Monday.Cuomo outlined re-opening parameters as hospitalization rates and deaths continue to decline from peaks earlier this month. The 337 deaths recorded statewide Sunday was the lowest daily tally this month and down from a high of 799 on April 8. More than 17,000 people have died in New York since the start of the outbreak.A U.S. military personnel wearing a face mask walks outside the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which was converted into a hospital during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New York City, April 27, 2020.Cuomo said at his daily news briefing that statewide restrictions set to expire May 15 will likely be extended in many parts of the state.”But in some parts of the state, some regions, you could make the case that we should un-pause on May 15,” said Cuomo, who likened it to turning a valve a bit at a time.The governor laid out a series of conditions to reopen individual regions that included decreasing hospitalization rates, robust testing and tracing, places to isolate positive cases and enough hospital capacity if cases surge again.Preliminary results of antibody tests, which check for substances the immune system makes to fight the virus, suggest the coronavirus is far less prevalent in some upstate areas compared New York City, a pandemic hotspot.While almost a quarter of people in New York City tested positive, the rate was below 2% in northern and central New York, according to preliminary estimates.Self-swab testsNew York City-run health clinics will soon take a new tack on coronavirus testing, using a procedure that lets people collect samples themselves at a health care worker’s direction, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday.FILE – Mayor Bill de Blasio wears a mask while honoring health care workers at Brooklyn’s Kings County Hospital Center during the coronavirus pandemic, in New York, April 24, 2020.He said the “self-swab” tests would allow for more and easier testing and make it safer for test-seekers and health care workers alike.”This is something we’re going to start using aggressively because it will be better for everyone,” the Democrat said.Up to this point, testing has mainly been done by health care workers inserting a swab deep into a person’s nostrils. The feeling often makes someone sneeze or cough while the health care professional is right there, city Health and Hospitals President Dr. Mitchell Katz said.The new method is set to start within the next few days at eight community testing sites around the city. The process will work like this: A health care worker will explain how to administer the test, and then the person would take a nasal swab, with a health professional watching via a mirror to offer guidance, Katz said. The person getting tested then will spit into a cup for a second sample for cross-checking. The samples will then be given to a health care worker and tested.De Blasio said the method would allow health care workers and test-seekers to keep more distance; reduce the need to devote health care workers to administering tests; and allow the clinics to administer as many as 20 tests and hour, instead of 15.So far, more than 5,000 people have been tested at the city-run community sites since April 17.The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.
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British Health Secretary Says Nation ‘Coming Through Peak’ of COVID-19 OutbreakÂ
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock expressed cautious optimism Monday about the COVID-19 outbreak in that country, but said the government is sticking with its lockdown restrictions to continue “flattening the curve.” Speaking at a news briefing in London, Hancock said the nation is coming through a peak in the outbreak but said it would “count for nothing if we let things slip now and risk a second peak.” He urged citizens to have the resolve to see it through. Hancock reported Britain had recorded 4,310 new cases since Sunday, and 360 fatalities, bringing the total number of COVID-19 deaths to 21,092. While that is the lowest daily death toll in a month, it makes Britain the fifth country in the world to surpass 20,000 deaths. Britain’s Chief Medical officer Chris Whitty offered more caution at the briefing, saying the pandemic “has got a very long way to run,” and things “could go in a lot of different ways.”
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Health Officials Ready New Guidelines As Restrictions Ease
The Trump administration is reviewing proposed new guidelines for how restaurants, schools, churches and businesses can safely reopen as states look to gradually lift their coronavirus restrictions.
The draft guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been sent to Washington but still could be revised before being released to the public. The recommendations were obtained from a federal official who was not authorized to release them publicly.
The guidelines include suggestions such as closing break rooms at offices, using disposable menus in restaurants and having students eat lunch in their classrooms.
The CDC put together so-called “decision trees” for at least seven types of organizations: schools, camps, childcare centers, religious facilities, mass transit systems, workplaces, and bars/restaurants.
White House officials previously released a three-phase reopening plan for the nation that mentioned schools and other organizations that come back on line at different points. But it hadn’t previously offered more specific how-to guidelines for each kind of entity with specific steps they can take.
The new guidance still amounts to little more than advice. State and local officials will be the ones to adopt and enforce them. Some state and local government have already put rules in places for businesses that are operating. For example, Michigan requires businesses to limit how many customers can be in a store at one time.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday said that each business that wants to reopen will have to submit a plan to the state on how to do that.
The new guidance could offer some unified federal guidance that local officials can lean on, said Lindsay Wiley, an American University public health law expert.
“Federal guidance provides cover to the states for those regulations if they’re challenged in the courts,” she said. “It allows the state to say ‘well the CDC said to do it this way,’ and the judge then is very happy to say ‘well yes you consulted CDC and that’s the appropriate body,’ and then uphold the restrictions and say they’re appropriately evidence based.”
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AFRICOM Says 2 Civilians Killed in Somalia Airstrike
Jilib SomaliaSeven incidents of potential civilian casualties are still under review, including one posed to the command by VOA about a strike in Jilib, Somalia, on Feb. 24, 2020. An official with Somali telecommunication company Hormuud Telecom told VOA Somali that one of the company’s employees was killed in that strike and claimed the employee was not involved with al-Shabab. Amnesty International called the report a “welcome glimmer of transparency in more than a decade of deadly military operations.” The rights group urged AFRICOM to offer reparations to the families of the civilian victims and asked the command to look at strikes earlier than the report’s start date of Feb. 1, 2019. AFRICOM made its first acknowledgment of civilian casualties from U.S. airstrikes in Somalia on April 5, 2019. New information revealed that a woman and child were killed, along with four al-Shabab militants, in a U.S. airstrike near the town of El Burr in central Somalia on April 1, 2018. Harun Maruf contributed to this report.
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Wuhan Residents Skeptical of Claim City Has Zero Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients
Chinese officials said there are no coronavirus patients in hospitals across Hubei province, whose capital, Wuhan, was the epicenter of the global pandemic. Many residents and netizens from elsewhere, however, remain skeptical of the government’s claim about Wuhan.“Given the problem of information asymmetry we face, my gut feeling tells me that this zero-patient report is merely a political show after the authorities announced earlier that no treatment was necessary for recovered patients testing positive,” a Wuhan resident told VOA on Monday via a social messaging app.The resident asked to be identified only as “Mr. Yang” for safety reasons.A political show?China puts on the political show because “the harm from shutting down the factories has caused a worse impact on the ruling regime than that from the virus itself,” Yang added.Yang was referring to comments made by Jian Yahui, an official with China’s National Health Commission.Jian on Friday said that the number of patients in Wuhan then stood at 47, more than 30 of whom had shown no symptoms but continued to test positive in nucleic acid tests.These patients no longer need treatment, Jian said, according to a report in China’s state-run Global Times newspaper.The report then cited Yang Zhanqiu, deputy director of the Pathogen Biology Department at the Wuhan University, saying that these patients wouldn’t be allowed to leave the hospital until two successive negative test results are obtained – a national discharge standard to ease public concerns. But on Monday, health authorities in Wuhan and Hubei both claimed to have zero coronavirus patients.Medical personnel in protective suits wave hands to a patient who is discharged from the Leishenshan Hospital after recovering from the novel coronavirus, in Wuhan in Hubei province, China, March 1, 2020. (Credit: China Daily)Official statistics showed that, as of Sunday, the province had a total of 68,128 patients, 4,512 of whom died from the disease while the remaining patients were discharged. Among them were 3,869 from Wuhan who succumbed to the infection. The city claimed to have zero severe patients on Friday and that the last of its 46,464 patients left the hospital on Saturday.That triggered public concerns about those recovered patients who continued to test positive and whether they were infectious.On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblogging site, the majority of netizens heralded both the city’s achievements in treating COVID-19 patients and China’s claim of success in combating the virus.Wuhan residents skepticalWhile some Wuhan residents have voiced skepticism, others have raised concerns about whether asymptomatic patients and recovered patients who test positive can spread the virus.One user from Tibet wrote, “Please don’t play word game” and another from Shanghai said, “So soon?… Please reconfirm these figures. Don’t kick these patients out of the hospital just to show how good we are.”One user from Wuhan said that, in his neighborhood, one recovered patient tested positive again recently while another said that he was ordered to work from home after two people from his neighborhood tested positive on Sunday.Some netizens outside of Wuhan also voiced doubts.“Am I the only one who feels there is a coverup?” one user wrote. Another said, “There’s no patient if the government says so. The disease is preventable and controllable if the government said there is no human-to-human transmission.”Reports on the ground also ran contrary to the official figures.A patient’s daughter surnamed Ho told U.S.-based The Epoch Times on Sunday that her family has been denied access to her ailing father, who remains in the hospital’s intensive care unit. She said that the family was told about her father’s negative test results although no written test results were given to the family. Her father remains in an isolation ward for pneumonia-like symptoms. She also complained about the huge medical bill the hospital has asked the family to pay.A worker in protective suit disinfects the Wuhan No. 7 Hospital, once a designated hospital for the COVID-19 patients, to prepare it for the resumption of its normal service in Wuhan, Hubei province, China, March 19, 2020.Citizen journalist Zhang Zhan is from Shanghai and has been reporting from Wuhan since February 1. Zhang says she suspects the city’s claim to have zero hospitalized coronavirus patients is false.“I came cross a patient, who has tested negative nine times. But he keeps having a fever and his lungs continue to suffer from an inflammatory condition, according to his CT scan. What do you say about this? This zero-patient claim must be fake,” she said.Police coercionMeanwhile, a U.S.-based health rights campaigner says seven families who had loved ones die of COVID-19 had planned to file a lawsuit against the Wuhan government over its handling of the health crisis; but, Yang Zhanqing says two of the families called off their decision to pursue the legal action after local police’s repeated harassment and coercion.Yang Zhanqing is a co-founder of China’s Chang Sha Funeng non-profit organization. Yang has been working with the Wuhan families since early March, attempting to file a class action lawsuit against the local government.“Most victims have had no experience in upholding their [health] rights. They were not prepared or aware that the authorities would resort to gangster-like and cruel tactics to pressure them into giving up. So, when that happened, they got terribly frightened and just gave up like that in a very short span of time,” Yang, who currently lives in the United States, told VOA over the phone.The campaigner pledged to continue his fight for the remaining five families, which will now each file a lawsuit against the Wuhan government since a class action lawsuit in China requires at least a group of nine plaintiffs.Justice will prevail only when the rights of these families are upheld with compensation made so the city government is held accountable, Yang said.
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Defamation Trial Begins for Ex-South Korean President
Chun Doo-hwan, South Korea’s former authoritarian president, went on trial Monday for charges of slandering a late activist priest who gave an eyewitness account of a deadly military attack on pro-democracy demonstrators in 1980.The 89-year-old ex-president called the late Father Cho Chul-hyun “Satan in a mask” in his 2017 memoir, in response to allegations by Father Cho that he saw military helicopters firing on protesters in the city of Gwangju. More than 200 people were killed and about 1,800 others wounded, according to official figures.If Chun is convicted, he could face up to two years in prison or at least $4,000 in fines.Chun seized power in a military coup in 1979 after the assassination of President Park Chung-hee and ruled South Korea with an iron fist until he stepped down in 1988 in the face of mass demonstrations.He was convicted of treason in 1996 and sentenced to death, but South Korea’s highest court reduced the sentence to life imprisonment, and he was released the following year after being granted a presidential pardon.
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Sweden Says It Is Prepared to Fight COVID-19 for Long TermÂ
Swedish government officials said Monday they realize the COVID-19 pandemic is not going away anytime soon and their “lighter” approach to the crisis is designed for the long term. Unlike other Scandinavian and European nations, Sweden did not mandate a lockdown in the country, allowing business and schools to stay open, as long as they observed social distancing guidelines. The policy had been met with criticism among health officials in and outside of Sweden. At the news briefing in Stockholm Monday, though, officials say they are cracking down on certain bars and restaurants that failed to observe social distancing guidelines.Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lovin told reporters they have always been prepared to take new measures when needed, and when public health experts say activities are dangerous, they will close down those activities.Sweden has maintained that its approach to the virus is about “taking the right measures at the right time.” They used voluntary actions based on recommendations rather than enforcing a nation-wide lockdown.Swedish Foreign Minster Anne Linde told reporters they believe their method is will work better as the pandemic stretches on.As of Monday, Sweden reported 18,926 total coronavirus cases and 2,274 deaths.
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Italians Decry COVID-19 Reopening Plan as Chaotic, Illogical
Many Italians were displeased with the details provided by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte regarding an end to the total coronavirus lockdown. They feel the government’s concessions and measures that will characterize Phase Two are chaotic, lack logic, do not go far enough and will further cripple the economy.Restrictions on Italians due to the coronavirus pandemic will start to be eased on May 4 but very gradually as the government is still fearful that the number of infections could easily rise again. Addressing the nation on live television Sunday evening, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte appealed to Italians to maintain their sense of responsibility during Phase Two, in which the country must co-exist with the virus.During Phase Two, Conte said, it will be even more important to maintain social distancing and fundamental will be the responsible behavior of each person. If you care about Italy, he added, you must avoid the spread of infections.Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte delivers his message to the Lower House of Chambers of the Italian Parliament, in Rome, April 21, 2020.The prime minister said Italians will now be allowed to meet family members but only in small groups. They will still not be allowed to move from one Italian region to another unless they have a valid motivation, for work or health matters, and everyone will still be required to carry a form explaining the reason for their travel.Parks will reopen and Italians will no longer be obliged to stay within close range of their homes. Factories and construction sites will be able to resume their activities. But bars and restaurants will only be able to provide takeaway service for the time being. Conte said no one will be returning to school until September. Parents were left wondering what they will do with their children. Many Italians who have had enough of staying indoors for weeks voiced their dissatisfaction with the decisions taken by the government. They do not understand the logic behind the different dates provided for re-openings. Why can museums open their doors on May 18 but hairdressers not until June 1st? The prime minister stressed re-openings would require the full respect of security protocols.A man bakes a pizza at a restaurant, as Tuscany is the first Italian region to allow restaurants to open only for takeout in Castiglione della Pescaia, April 27, 2020.Italian right-wing politician Giorgia Meloni spoke shortly after the prime minister’s Sunday evening address to the nation on live television and echoed the feelings of many in this country. She said that like everyone else in Italy she waited with great trepidation for the prime minister’s details of Phase Two expecting important announcements only to discover there were hardly any changes at all.Meloni said there should be a logic and the logic cannot be the discrimination of certain sectors. Why are some being helped, and others left to die? She said Italians have for weeks accepted the government rules in the name of public health and to deal with this pandemic but now they feel many of their rights are being trodden on.Meloni said she did not agree that some cannot reopen for another month because this will mean that some will never reopen. The state, she insisted, has not provided valid reasons for their decisions or the required financial assistance.Italy has had the highest number of deaths from coronavirus in Europe with more than 26,000. There were 260 virus-related deaths in the last 24 hours, the lowest number in the past 6 weeks.
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Pelosi Formally Endorses Joe Biden for PresidentÂ
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has formally endorsed former U.S. vice president Joe Biden for the Democratic party’s presidential nomination. In a pre-recorded video statement released early Monday, she described Biden as “the personification of hope and courage. She cited his experience helping to pass the Affordable Care Act and implementing the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to argue that he is well positioned to lead the country amid a global pandemic. While her endorsement is not a surprise, Pelosi chose to stay neutral during the Democratic primary process, repeatedly cautioning the party to keep its eye on the ultimate prize of defeating President Donald Trump in November. FILE – Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks during the 11th Democratic candidates debate of the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign, held in CNN’s Washington studios, March 15, 2020.Although Biden remains about 600 pledged delegates short of the 1,991 needed to win the Democratic nomination, all of his rivals in the party have suspended their campaigns or endorsed him, making his coronation this summer a near certainty. In her video statement Monday, she made a plea for party unity, saying “With so much at stake, we need the enthusiasm, invigoration and participation of all Americans — up and down the ballot, and across the country.”
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After COVID-19: Anxious, Wary First Responders Back on Job
The new coronavirus doesn’t care about a blue uniform or a shiny badge. Police, firefighters, paramedics and corrections officers are just a 911 call away from contracting COVID-19 and spreading it.
With N95 masks hanging off their duty belts and disposable blue gloves stuffed in their back pockets, they respond to radio calls, make arrests and manage prisoners. But their training never covered something quite like this — what has been called an “invisible bullet.”
It’s sickened thousands of America’s first responders and killed dozens more.
But many have recovered, and they’re going back to work — back to the crime scene, back into the ambulance, back to the jail. Going back to this deadly pandemic’s front lines.
They go with a lingering cough and lost weight. They toss and turn at night, wondering if the claims of immunity are true. They fear that picking up extra overtime shifts may expose them, and their families, to additional risks.
And then they pull on their uniforms and go back to work.
Some of their stories: The RiskHOUSTON — In Deputy Ravin Washington’s squad car, risk rides shotgun. The threats she faces on her solo patrols are usually more immediate than reports of some new unseen virus.
On the beat in northwest Houston, Washington, 28, has been in fights and drawn her gun. In 2017, three months after she finished the police academy, her partner at the time was shot in the leg.
But last month, she was following up on a robbery call when it suddenly felt like someone was sitting on her chest. By the time she navigated her cruiser to her sister’s apartment, she could barely keep her hands on the wheel. She had no idea what was wrong.
Certainty came a few days later after a nasal swab that felt like it poked her brain. On March 25, Washington tested positive — one of the first of about 180 Harris County Sheriff’s Office employees to be sickened.
In lonely isolation, her temperature spiked. Her stomach roiled. She lost her sense of taste and could barely rise from bed for days.
“People don’t want to be around you,” she said. “People don’t want to touch you.”
When she finally healed, she worried about getting sick again — about whether her colleagues would want her back.
She returned to patrol this month and found the situation suddenly reversed. Her colleagues gave her hugs. “People feel like, ‘Hey, you have the antibodies. You’re the cure,'” she said.
Back on patrol, Washington has the familiar weight on her hips of a Taser, handcuffs and gun. But her safety also depends on gloves and a mask.
“It’s like you’re risking your life even more now.”
GuiltNEW YORK — Paramedic Alex Tull of the New York Fire Department feels out of breath after walking up a few flights of stairs and has a cough that just won’t quit. After some recent chest pains, an X-ray showed lingering inflammation in his lungs.
As he goes about his days treating coronavirus patients in the Bronx, he thinks about his own battle with the disease and his rush to return to duty late last month before he was fully healed.
At the height, about a quarter of the city’s 4,300 EMS workers were out sick. Nearly 700 fire department employees have tested positive for the coronavirus and eight have died, including three EMS workers.
Tull, 38, says he felt guilty convalescing at home for two weeks, flipping through Netflix and Hulu between naps as his colleagues risked their lives. He wondered: “Why did this have to happen to me? I want to be out there. I want to get out there and help.”
But it wasn’t just a matter of loyalty for the 10-year fire department veteran. A policy put in place as the virus ravaged the ranks mandated that personnel who no longer showed symptoms return to work as soon as possible.
“I definitely went back to work earlier than maybe I should have,” Tull said.
Without definitive proof that he’s immune from spreading or contracting the disease, Tull fears his nagging cough might infect his partner or their patients. And with little more than a face mask and gloves for protection, he worries he’ll come down with the virus again.
“Is my body ready for round two? I don’t know. It is scary,” Tull said.The Hotbox AURORA, Ill. — Chief Kristen Ziman spent hours in a cramped conference room strategizing on ways to keep her 306 police officers safe from the coronavirus.
Digital roll calls, solo squad cars, detectives running cases remotely — anything to keep them out of headquarters and away from each other.
Turns out, they needed to stay away from the chief.
Ziman, a patrol commander, her wife — a detective on the force — and Aurora’s mayor all contracted COVID-19 around the same time. They most likely passed the virus during those planning meetings.
The rank-and-file, however, is fine.
“If we had to be the sacrificial lambs,” Ziman said, “putting these plans in place to keep our officers safe, then I will gladly take it any day.”
The chief recorded videos from her home, sending them to the officers as part of routine operations plans. She wanted them to comprehend the pandemic’s reality on the streets of Illinois’ second-largest city.
“This wasn’t one of those abstract concepts that’s happening to someone else,” she said. It was happening to some of their own.
The officers responded with text messages of well-wishes, and a new nickname for the station’s third floor — the home of her office and the infamous conference room — that makes Ziman laugh even through all this.
They’re calling it “The Hotbox” — and avoiding it altogether.
On The SidelinesNEW YORK — Sgt. Cary Oliva was frustrated watching the news of his coronavirus-stricken city from his sick bed. The 31-year-old New York Police Department officer longed to be back at work helping with what was fast becoming one of the deadliest disasters in its history.
“I felt like I was on the sidelines,” he said. “I was pretty eager to come back as soon as possible, as long as it was safe.”
In all, more than 4,600 employees at the nation’s largest police department have tested positive for the coronavirus. Nearly 2,900 have recovered and returned to full duty. At least three dozen died.
Oliva went back April 6 and immersed himself in a new police mission: educating the public about social distancing measures that experts say are vital to reducing the spread of infection. Protective mask on his face and hand sanitizer nearby, Oliva spends his afternoons cruising by takeout restaurants and other businesses looking for gaps in social distancing protocols.
“I dove right back into it,” he said.
The LineLOS ANGELES — In jail-speak, it’s called “the line.”
For correction officers, it means any duty that requires working directly with inmates. Custody assistant Sonia Munoz’s line is a 184-bed inmate hospital ward at the Twin Towers jail, with its beige walls and powder blue doors. It’s where she most likely contracted the coronavirus. And passed it along to her younger sister and her father.
Right now, Munoz, 38, is safe. She’s 10 pounds lighter, her thick uniform belt is tightened to the last notch, but she’s been transferred to an office gig, where she can line up three bottles of hand sanitizer on her desk and work alone.
Still, the line is there.
Any overtime shift could bring Munoz back. Her mother, 3-year-old nephew and 94-year-old grandmother escaped illness last time, but they may not be so lucky again.
It’s something her 27-year-old partner, Christopher Lumpkin, worries about.
On March 18, he became the first member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, which oversees the nation’s largest jail system, to test positive for COVID-19. He likely passed it to Munoz and three other custody assistants. More than 60 sheriff’s personnel county-wide and at least 28 inmates have tested positive for the virus.
Using Facebook Messenger, Lumpkin and Munoz traded stories and symptoms, bedridden in their quarantined homes as the virus spread outside.
“I will pray for you guys as well,” Lumpkin wrote.
Now, Lumpkin is recovered and back on the line. He changes his gloves and sanitizes his hands each time he works with an inmate and keeps an extra mask hanging off his duty belt.
Munoz takes similar precautions in her office, separate from the inmates.
But she can’t avoid the line forever.
“I have to go back to the lion’s mouth.”
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Australians Race to Download COVID-19 Tracing App Despite Privacy Concerns
More than a million Australians have downloaded a coronavirus contact tracing app within hours of it being released by the government. Officials have said the technology would help Australia get back to normal and help lift restrictions, but it has been criticized by civil liberties groups. Australia has managed to control its coronavirus outbreak, but officials worry about the risk of another flareup. There are 6,713 confirmed Covid-19 infections in Australia. 83 people have died. The Australian government says the voluntary app will help to save lives. It is designed to enable health officials to trace people potentially exposed to COVID-19. Smartphone users who download the app will be notified if they have had contact with another user who has tested positive for coronavirus. It uses Bluetooth signals to log when people have been close to one another. Officials believe it could help to trace undiagnosed COVID-19 infections. They have insisted the data will only be used by state health authorities.
“No Australian should have any concerns about downloading this app. It is only for one purpose; to help contact tracing if someone becomes positive,” says Australia’s chief medical officer Brendan Murphy. “I think Australians will rise to the challenge because they have risen to the challenge of distancing, they have risen to the challenge of testing.” The CovidSafe app is based on software used in Singapore. But civil liberties campaigners say it is an invasion of privacy. Pauline Wright from the Law Council of Australia says data protection safeguards are needed. “If there are problems then people need to have the assurance that it will be overseen by an independent authority,” she said.
The government wants at least 40% of Australians — roughly 10 million people — to sign up to make the Covid-19 digital tracking measure effective.
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Cuban Doctors Arrive to Help South Africa Fight Coronavirus
More than 200 doctors from Cuba have arrived in South Africa to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The doctors, including community health and infectious disease specialists, arrived early Monday morning and were welcomed by military and health authorities.
South Africa requested assistance from the Cuban government, which is sending more than 1,000 doctors to 22 countries, including Togo, Cap Verde and Angola in Africa.
South Africa has reported the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in Africa, with at least 4,546 cases and 87 deaths.
Some of the Cuban doctors have been “in the frontline of fighting other outbreaks in the world such as cholera in Haiti in 2010, and Ebola in West Africa in 2013,” said South African health minister Zweli Mkhize.
Cuba’s government supported the African National Congress in its fight against South Africa’s apartheid system of racist minority rule. Now the ANC is South Africa’s ruling party and has good relations with Cuba.
South Africa’s first black president Nelson Mandela was known to be close to former Cuban leader Fidel Castro. The two countries cooperate in the health sector, with hundreds of South African medical students studying through scholarships in Cuba.
The Cuban medical personnel will stay in a two-week quarantine before starting work. They have arrived as South Africa is increasing community testing, especially in poor, crowded neighborhoods.
In the economic hub of Gauteng province, which includes South Africa’s largest city Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria, mass screening and testing is scheduled to take place throughout the week.
The screening and testing will also concentrate on the Western Cape province, which includes the city of Cape Town and which has largest number of COVID-19 cases.
South Africa has conducted nearly 170,000 tests. The country has 28,000 experienced community health workers who track contacts of people who test positive to help contain the spread of the disease.
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Rampant Rumors But Few Facts About Kim Jong Un’s Health Â
Where is North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and why has he been absent from public view for more than two weeks? It’s the question everyone seems to be asking. The problem is, everyone has a different answer. Depending on which rumor you prefer, Kim is missing because he suffered an ankle sprain, had a kidney malfunction, underwent failed heart surgery, went into lockdown to avoid the coronavirus, or sustained injuries during a botched missile test. And how is Kim now? According to the rumors, he is either in a coma and brain dead, actually dead, or walking around the eastern port city of Wonsan, where he has a private beach resort. Over the past week, both tabloid magazines and reputable news outlets around the globe have published a comically diverse smorgasbord of Kim rumors — none of which are verified. Though the rumors are abundant, and growing by the day, virtually nothing is known about the condition or whereabouts of Kim, who was last seen at a ruling party meeting in Pyongyang on April 11. Explosion of rumors Rumors began to simmer after Kim, an overweight 36-year-old cigarette smoker with a history of health problems, skipped public celebrations for his late grandfather, North Korea’s founding leader, whose birth anniversary on April 15 is a major holiday.Quoting an anonymous source, the Daily NK, a Seoul-based website, last Monday reported Kim underwent heart surgery on April 12 and was recovering at a villa outside Pyongyang. The rumors exploded after CNN the same day cited unnamed U.S. officials who said they were “monitoring intelligence” suggesting Kim is in “grave danger” after the surgery. By Saturday, TMZ, a celebrity gossip and entertainment news website, reported Kim had died, setting off countless Internet jokes about the portly young leader. North Korea quiet
North Korea has not responded to the rumors. Its state media have instead provided only passing indications — but no proof — that Kim is still conducting official business. While there are non-extreme possibilities that explain Kim’s absence, that has not stopped the rumors from spreading. For some observers, the sheer number of rumors combined with the lack of a North Korean response is enough to conclude that Kim is sick or dead.
“I don’t know anything directly, but I’d be shocked if he’s not dead or in some incapacitated state,” Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham told Fox News on Sunday. “Because you don’t let rumors like this go forever or go unanswered in a closed society.” But that is not the way North Korea has behaved in the past, says Rachel Minyoung Lee, a Seoul-based North Korea analyst. “North Korea does not react to rumors about the leader’s health,” says Lee, a former U.S. government open-source intelligence analyst on North Korea. FILE – A man watches a TV news program showing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un using a cane during his first public appearance, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Oct. 14, 2014.For instance, rumors about Kim’s health also circulated in 2014, when he was absent from public view for 41 days. “North Korea did not issue any official reaction at the time, or in 2008, when [Kim’s father] Kim Jong Il was out for 51 days,” she says. Kim Jong Un eventually resurfaced in 2014 using a cane; state media cryptically referenced he had experienced “discomfort,” but did not elaborate. Breadcrumbs
This time around, North Korean state media have also not addressed Kim’s health directly. Instead, they have reported that Kim sent a series of personal notes to world leaders or groups of North Koreans. South Korea has refuted the reports about Kim’s health. On Monday, South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, who handles relations with Pyongyang, said Seoul has enough intelligence to confidently say there are “no unusual movements” in the North. “Our government position is firm,” Moon Chung-in, special adviser to South Korean President Moon Jae-in, told Fox News. “Kim Jong Un is alive and well. He has been staying in the Wonsan area since April 13. No suspicious movements have so far been detected.” Lending weight to those reports, satellite images from last week showed that a train “probably belonging to Kim” was parked at Wonsan at an area that services Kim’s nearby compound, according to 38 North, a U.S.-based group that monitors North Korea. Reuters reported last week that China recently sent a delegation, including medical professionals, to North Korea to advise on Kim. But on Monday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Beijing has no information to offer regarding Kim. Another piece of circumstantial evidence: North Korea’s capital saw a surge in panic buying for several days last week, especially of cleaning supplies and imported foods.A student wearing a face mask has his temperature checked as a precaution against a new coronavirus as their university reopened following vacation, at Kim Chaek University of Technology in Pyongyang, April 22, 2020.The surge began last Monday, according to a source in Pyongyang who spoke to VOA. But the panic buying may not have been related to the Kim rumors — the source added, citing talk of an extended coronavirus-related lockdown. North Korea has insisted it has no coronavirus cases, though experts almost unanimously say that is impossible. It is not clear if the rumors about Kim’s health have reached North Korea, one of the world’s most closed societies that has an extreme system of censorship. Experts stress caution
Without confirmation from Pyongyang, many longtime Korea watchers warn against any firm conclusions. FILE – North Korean women walk in front of portraits of North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung (L) and late leader Kim Jong-il at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang, in this photo provided by Kyodo, April 1, 2013.“Over the years, there have been many false reports exclaiming the declining health or death of Kim Jong-un, his father Kim Jong-Il, and his grandfather Kim Il-sung,” says Bruce Klingner, a North Korea specialist at the Heritage Foundation. “Kim Jong-un may be one chocolate wafer away from a heart attack — but there are no indications that he is checking out.” Andray Abrahamian, who focuses on North Korea as an adjunct senior fellow at the Hawaii-based Pacific Forum, says when it comes to news about North Korea, “demand is high and information from on the ground is always low.” “Did something happen with Kim Jong Un’s health this month? Probably. Do we know what that is? Not really,” he says. “Reasonable speculation about this has turned into a maelstrom of fake news, thinly sourced hyperbole and echo-chambers.”
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Economic Toll of the Pandemic: Source of More Tensions Among US Politicians
A few states have cautiously eased restrictions, opening retails stores and hair salons. More states will reopen their businesses in the coming weeks. Many state officials are feeling the strain the pandemic’s lockdown has placed on their economies and are looking to the federal government for funds in another stimulus package. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has the details.
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Dutch Students Complete Atlantic Crossing Forced by Virus
Greeted by relieved parents, pet dogs, flares and a cloud of orange smoke, a group of 25 Dutch high school students with very little sailing experience ended a trans-Atlantic voyage Sunday that was forced on them by coronavirus restrictions.The children, ages 14 to 17, watched over by 12 experienced crew members and three teachers, were on an educational cruise of the Caribbean when the pandemic forced them to radically change their plans for returning home in March.That gave one of the young sailors, 17-year-old Floor Hurkmans, one of the biggest lessons of her impromptu adventure.“Being flexible, because everything is changing all the time,” she said as she set foot on dry land again. “The arrival time changed like 100 times. Being flexible is really important.”Instead of flying back from Cuba as originally planned, the crew and students stocked up on supplies and warm clothes and set sail for the northern Dutch port of Harlingen, a five-week voyage of nearly 7,000 kilometers (4,350 miles), on board the 60-meter (200-foot) top sail schooner Wylde Swan.As they arrived home, the students hung up a self-made banner saying “Bucket List” with ticks in boxes for Atlantic Ocean crossing, mid-ocean swim and surviving the Bermuda triangle.The teens hugged and chanted each other’s names as they walked off the ship and into the arms of their families, who drove their cars alongside the yacht one by one to adhere to social distancing rules imposed to rein in the spread of the virus that forced the students into their long trip home.Aukje Wakkerman is the last to disembark from the Wylde Swan schooner carrying 25 Dutch teens who sailed home from the Caribbean across the Atlantic when coronavirus lockdowns prevented them flying arrived at the port of Harlingen, April 26, 2020.For Hurkmans, the impossibility of any kind of social distancing took some getting used to.“At home you just have some moments for yourself, but here you have to be social all the time to everyone because you’re sleeping with them, you’re eating with them you’re just doing everything with them so you can’t really just relax,” she said.Her mother, Renee Scholtemeijer, said she expects her daughter to miss life on the open sea once she encounters coronavirus containment measures in the Netherlands.“I think that after two days she’ll want to go back on the boat, because life is very boring back at home,” she said. “There’s nothing to do, she can’t visit friends, so it’s very boring.”The twin-masted Wylde Swan glided into Harlingen harbor late morning Sunday, its sails neatly stowed. Onlookers gathered on a sea wall to watch the arrival set off flares and a smoke grenade that sent an orange cloud drifting over the glassy water.Masterskip, the company that organized the cruise, runs five educational voyages for about 150 students in all each year. Crossing the Atlantic is nothing new for the Wylde Swan, which has made the trip about 20 times.The company’s director, Christophe Meijer, said the students were monitored for the coronavirus in March to ensure nobody was infected.He said he was pleased the students had adapted to life on board and kept up their education on the long voyage.“The children learned a lot about adaptivity, also about media attention, but also their normal school work,” he said. “So they are actually far ahead now of their Dutch school colleagues. They have made us very proud.”
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