Pelosi, Maloney Joined by 173 House Democrats in Calling on Postmaster General to Reverse Assault on Postal Service | Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Source: Pelosi, Maloney Joined by 173 House Democrats in Calling on Postmaster General to Reverse Assault on Postal Service | Speaker Nancy Pelosi

New Zealand scrambles to trace cluster, reporting 13 new coronavirus cases

Dr Bloomfield raised the possibility on Wednesday that the virus had arrived in New Zealand via freight, given one of the infected family members works in a cool store that takes imported frozen goods from overseas.

On Thursday, he said that was considered “a low possibility”, but did not detail other potential sources.

Ms Ardern said it was a positive sign that all the new 13 cases were linked back to the infected family, either via work or broader family connections. All were being transferred into quarantine facilities.

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WELLINGTON (REUTERS) – New Zealand officials were scrambling to trace the source of an outbreak of the coronavirus, reporting 13 new cases on Thursday (Aug 13), as long queues of people formed to escape a renewed lockdown in the country’s biggest city and be tested.

The discovery of four infected family members in Auckland two days ago shocked a country that had not recorded a case of Covid-19 for more than three months, raising some criticism of the government’s handling of the crisis.

New Zealand announced on Thursday that there were 13 new cases in the community,  and one overseas arrival who was in quarantine, bringing the total number of active cases to 36.

“We can see the seriousness of the situation we are in,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a televised media conference. “It’s being dealt with in an urgent but calm and methodical way.”

Ms Ardern reimposed tight movement restrictions in Auckland and social distancing measures across the rest of the country on Wednesday, echoing her early response to the pandemic, which was praised for its apparent effectiveness. 

Ms Ardern noted that experience showed “things will get worse before they get better”, and more cases were likely to be reported in coming days. 

“Once again we are reminded of how tricky this virus is and how easily it can spread,” she said. “Going hard and early is still the best course of action.”

However, doubts over the origin of the latest cases have raised some questions about that strategy.

Officials reported on Thursday that three more people at a refrigerator storage facility, where one of the family members worked, had tested positive.

Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said health officials were getting “closer every hour” to finding the patient zero of the outbreak.

“We are working flat out to do the contact-tracing we need to do and trace back to find out what the source of this infection is,” Dr Bloomfield told Newstalk ZB radio.

Dr Bloomfield raised the possibility on Wednesday that the virus had arrived in New Zealand via freight, given one of the infected family members works in a cool store that takes imported frozen goods from overseas.

On Thursday, he said that was considered “a low possibility”, but did not detail other potential sources.

Ms Ardern said it was a positive sign that all the new 13 cases were linked back to the infected family, either via work or broader family connections. All were being transferred into quarantine facilities.

Some prominent local health experts suggested it was more likely the virus had been quietly spreading in Auckland for weeks, infecting potentially dozens of people.

Residents of Auckland, home to around 1.7 million people, were given just hours to prepare for the return to level 3 restrictions on Wednesday, requiring people to stay at home unless for essential trips.

People in the city reported waiting hours to be tested for the virus, according to local media, and there was a rush to supermarkets to stock up on essentials.

The rest of the country was placed back into slightly looser level 2 restrictions. The restrictions will initially remain in place until Friday, when Ms Ardern will announce the next steps.

With an election scheduled just weeks away, Ms Ardern was facing criticism from the major opposition party for the decision to resume lockdown measures.

The NZ National Party also wants the September election to be pushed back to November. Ms Ardern has said she will make a decision on the poll before Monday.

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‘Leftists for Bibi’? Deepfake pro-Netanyahu propaganda exposed

Sharon Epstein used to be a left winger. She believed in peace and giving back the occupied territories to the Palestinians. But then the anti-Netanyahu protests began and something changed. Fed up with the alleged incitement against the prime minister, Sharon Epstein became, in her own words, a “Bibi-ist” — a supporter of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Epstein, whose Facebook profile picture showed a young woman with brown hair and blue eyes, shared her transition from leftist to Netanyahu supporter on a Facebook page called “Zionist Spring.” Except that the story was missing one crucial detail: Sharon Epstein does not exist. Rather, she was a fictional character created as part of a political campaign.

Source: ‘Leftists for Bibi’? Deepfake pro-Netanyahu propaganda exposed

South Korea installs anti-virus bus shelters with temperature sensors and UV lamps | World news | The Guardian

South Korea has opened a high-tech new front in the battle against coronavirus, fortifying bus shelters in the capital with temperature-checking doors and ultraviolet disinfection lamps.

To enter, passengers must stand in front of an automated thermal-imaging camera, and the door will slide open only if their temperature is below 37.5C.

A separate camera is installed lower down to test children.

Inside the glass-walled booths – which cost about 100m won ($84,000) each – the air-conditioning systems have ultraviolet lamps installed to kill viruses at the same time as cooling the air. Free wifi is also included.

A dispenser provides hand sanitizer, and users are advised to wear face masks at all times, while keeping at least one metre apart from others.

Ten advanced facilities have been installed in a north-eastern district of Seoul, offering protection from monsoon rains and summer heat as well as Covid-19.

Source: South Korea installs anti-virus bus shelters with temperature sensors and UV lamps | World news | The Guardian

New Zealand eyes freight contamination as possible COVID-19 cluster source | CIDRAP

Following the detection of its first cases in 102 days, a 4-person family cluster, New Zealand officials are trying to pinpoint the virus source and are examining the possibility that it was imported by freight, Reuters reported. Surface testing is underway at a cold storage facility in Auckland where a man from the infected family was employed.

An official from the company that owns the cold storage unit said the man had been on sick leave for several days and all employees were sent home.

 

Source: New Zealand eyes freight contamination as possible COVID-19 cluster source | CIDRAP

COVID-19 surge moves to Midwest, as young people fuel US case rise

The summer decline in social distancing has triggered a spike in bar and restaurant outbreaks, as colleges brace for spread on campuses when students return.

restaurant COVID
Stephanie Soucheray | News Reporter | CIDRAP News
Aug 12, 2020

The summer decline in social distancing has triggered a spike in bar and restaurant outbreaks, as colleges brace for spread on campuses when students return.

This Billionaire Governor Keeps Firing Top Officials When He Has a Crisis

Does not know how to work the state, so he is firing it – this time, people will die from his lack of real leadership.

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by Ken Ward Jr.

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

In the midst of a billion-dollar road-building program last year, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice fired his transportation secretary. The two had disagreed about how to best spend the money.

A year earlier, while the state worked to recover from a major flood, Justice ousted his commerce secretary, the cabinet member who was leading much of the effort. The governor blamed him for delays in helping flood victims.

And as the COVID-19 pandemic raged this summer, Justice forced out his top public health officer. He faulted her for a lag in reporting how many virus patients had recovered.

“When something doesn’t go the way he wants, he finds somebody to blame and fires them,” said Woody Thrasher, the ousted commerce secretary.

ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they’re published.

All governors make staff changes, but West Virginia political observers said that Justice has been particularly aggressive in this regard, looking for others to fault when things go wrong. In many ways, his governing style mirrors that of President Donald Trump, who has also cycled through more cabinet secretaries and top advisers in his first term than many of his predecessors.

“There seems to be a pattern that if there is a crisis, someone has to take the fall for it,” said Robert Rupp, a longtime state political analyst who teaches at West Virginia Wesleyan College.

For both Justice and Trump, the path to public service ran through owning large businesses, where their authority and decision-making was unchallenged. Rupp and other historians said Justice’s actions reflect his long career in business and little experience in government. Justice, a Republican, is running for reelection in November.

Rupp said that Justice’s actions may appeal to some voters who like the idea of the government operating more like a business, even in the way top officials are hired or fired.

“The problem is that the government is not a business in many ways,” Rupp added. “The governor being seen as a CEO has some problems, because in many ways, our government doesn’t give a governor as much power as a CEO.”

Justice’s office did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

Justice is ranked by Forbes as a billionaire and is West Virginia’s richest man. He owns a vast array of businesses, including coal mines, resort hotels and agricultural interests, many of them regulated by the state agencies that report to him. Though his children run the businesses day to day, Justice continues to guide his business holdings, despite promising to be a full-time governor.

“A business doesn’t function like a democracy,” said Chuck Keeney, a West Virginia historian who teaches at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College. “The owner of a business hires and fires whoever they want at their own whim, sometimes based on whoever tells them what they want to hear.”

“The Smartest One in the Room”

Thrasher, a wealthy engineering firm owner who like Justice worked with and then grew his father’s business, said that Justice doesn’t value advisers who disagree with him. “He has to be the smartest one in the room and doesn’t want to hear anything else.”

Two years ago, Thrasher resigned his state job at Justice’s request, when the governor blamed him for a broad mismanagement of the relief effort following a June 2016 flood that killed two dozen West Virginians. Investigations found plenty of blame to go around, and Thrasher made his firing an issue in an unsuccessful Republican primary bid to unseat Justice this year.

Justice replaced Thrasher with Ed Gaunch, a retired insurance company executive who had lost his bid for reelection as a Republican member of the state Senate.

In an interview about his experience leaving the Justice administration, Thrasher pointed to what happened the following year to then-Transportation Secretary Tom Smith.

Smith, an engineer and career highways official, thought the state should spend millions from a road bond issue on bigger, longer-term highway and bridge projects. But under intense political pressure over potholes and other local road damage, Justice wanted to funnel the bond money to smaller projects and more routine maintenance.

Smith balked, saying funding routine maintenance should be done on a pay-as-you-go basis, with vehicle license fees and the like, rather than through debt that the state would pay off over decades.

The governor fired Smith. Justice was clear about his reasons. “I want a new direction to be taken with our Department of Transportation, a return to the core mission of maintaining the quality of our secondary roads and bridges,” the governor said in a statement. Smith could not be reached for comment for this story.

Smith’s replacement? Byrd White, a longtime business associate of Justice’s and former officer of several Justice family companies.

A Change in the Midst of COVID-19

Justice’s most recent high-ranking appointee to depart was Dr. Cathy Slemp, the state’s top public health officer.

Compared with many other places, West Virginia has dodged the worst of the pandemic and its economy has reopened under Justice’s plan, called “West Virginia Strong: The Comeback.”

But in late June, new cases of infection began cropping up, increasingly linked to nursing homes, churches and residents returning from vacation trips to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Before the month ended, the state would end up on a list of hot spots for the virus.

During a live press briefing, Justice blamed Slemp for overstating West Virginia’s active virus cases, saying it made him unnecessarily scare state residents with inflated numbers.

“If you don’t want me on your hind end, you best better get your numbers right to me,” Justice said at the time.

Within hours, the governor’s office announced Health Secretary Bill Crouch had asked for and received Slemp’s resignation after the governor “expressed … his lack of confidence” in her leadership.

The move drew criticism from national and state public health experts. It also came amid complaints that the governor’s own luxury resort allegedly was not following the state’s guidance for reopening safely.

Dr. Michael Brumage, who served for a short time as the state’s drug policy chief in 2018, praised Slemp and said the sorts of data-reporting issues the governor complained about weren’t valid grounds for firing a qualified public health professional.

“It’s a tragedy for our state to lose such a talented and highly regarded voice of science and reason at such a critical moment,” Brumage said.

Slemp has not talked publicly about her departure but has said that some weaknesses in the state’s response to the pandemic were caused by years of funding cuts that left public health agencies with inadequate staff, technology and other resources.

“We are driving a great aunt’s Pinto when what you need is to be driving a Ferrari,” Slemp told The Associated Press and Kaiser Health News.

The day after Slemp was pushed out, three top officials at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University — where Slemp earned her master’s in public health — issued an unusual statement to say they were “stunned and troubled” by the governor’s action.

Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security, said in a later interview that it appeared Slemp was “thrown under the bus” for a relatively small lag in data reporting.

“Cathy Slemp is a really respected person in the field of public health preparedness,” Inglesby said. “When you see something like that happen it’s very concerning.”

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