Good morning and thanks for joining the Brisbane Times team as we take you through today’s key developments on the COVID-19 front.
We expect updated Queensland figures later today but here is where we stand at this point: 166,877 tests, 1058 cases, 1040 recovered, 12 “active” cases including four in hospital, and 6 deaths.
During the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal initiative established a series of government programs and agencies that put thousands of Americans back to work, building large-scale infrastructure and conservation projects.
On Thursday, Senate Democrats proposed a similar program designed to employ those who have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic, which this week numbered more than 38 million people.
The Jobs to Fight COVID-19 Act of 2020, introduced by Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii, would give states and localities $100 billion in grants to hire and train newly unemployed workers to perform pandemic response work, including contact tracing, surveillance, mitigation and cleaning services.
“With nearly 40 million people unemployed, we need solutions that meet the scale of the problem,†Schatz said in a statement. “Our bill will put people back to work and provide the workforce we need to stop the spread of the coronavirus and help us safely reopen.â€
Senators who co-sponsored the measure included Democrats Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey.
Contact tracing is a critical tool in fighting highly infectious diseases. It’s been used to fight other viruses, including Ebola. Countries such as South Korea have used it and other surveillance methods to bring their coronavirus caseloads close to zero.
Without federal guidance on contact tracing, states have pushed forward with their own plans to hire armies of contact tracers in an effort to curb coronavirus spread.
California is planning on fielding a force of 10,000 state employees to track those who have been infected with the virus, for example. Other states — such as Washington, West Virginia, Iowa, North Dakota and Rhode Island — are using National Guard personnel to trace contacts.
Still, not every state government has the resources to marshal huge cadres of people dedicated to tracking the spread of coronavirus. Many states and localities are already facing severe shortages in tax revenue because of stalled economies, a problem that is threatening essential services such as police, fire and sanitation.
The idea of a federal jobs program on the scale of those seen during the Great Depression has barely been discussed in Washington, D.C. Congress has instead focused on other measures to provide relief to Americans ― such as increased unemployment benefits, payroll support and direct checks from the federal government.
Billionaire businessman and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been one of the most prominent voices calling on the government to create a program like the one that Democrats proposed on Thursday. His tweets pushing the idea caught the attention of freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“Totally agree,†the New York Democrat tweeted in response on Sunday. “It’s time for a Federal Jobs Guarantee.â€
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A shooting at a Texas naval air station that wounded a sailor and left the gunman dead is being investigated as “terrorism-related,†the FBI said Thursday.
The shooting began around 6:15 a.m. Thursday at Naval Air Station-Corpus Christi.
The shooter tried to speed through a gate at the base in a vehicle, but security personnel put up a barrier in time to stop the shooting, U.S. officials told The Associated Press. The man then got out of the car and opened fire, striking and wounding a Navy sailor who is a member of the security force at the base. During the exchange of gunfire, the shooter was killed by security personnel, the officials said.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details about an ongoing investigation.
The FBI is investigating the shooting as “terrorism-related,†FBI Special Agent Leah Greeves said at a news conference Thursday afternoon, and investigators were working to determine whether a second person of interest was at large in the community.
“We have determined that the incident this morning at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi is terrorism related,†Greeves said. “We are working diligently with our state, local and federal partners on this investigation, which is fluid and evolving.â€
Greeves did not elaborate on a potential motive or specify what led investigators to believe the shooting is related to terrorism. Federal investigators also did not provide any information about the “potential second related person of interest at large in the community†or why they believe that is the case.
Officials were still working to process the crime scene, Greeves said.
The FBI’s field office in Houston has taken the lead on the investigation and neither investigators nor the Navy provided details on the shooter or a possible motive.
Attorney General William Barr was briefed on the shooting, a Justice Department spokeswoman said.
The facility was on lockdown for about five hours Thursday morning, but that was lifted shortly before noon.
The station had a similar lockdown last December. In another incident at the base last year, a man pleaded guilty to destruction of U.S. government property and possession of a stolen firearm for ramming his truck into a barricade at the Corpus Christi station.
The shooting also comes months after a Saudi Air Force officer who was training at a Navy base in Pensacola, Florida, killed three U.S. sailors and wounded eight other people in a shooting that American officials described as an act of terrorism. The country’s top federal law enforcement officials said this week that the gunman in December’s attack, Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, had been in touch with al-Qaida operatives about planning and tactics in the months before the shooting. Alshamrani was killed by a sheriff’s deputy.
Associated Press writer Eric Tucker in Washington contributed to this report.
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But to no one’s surprise, the president was seen without a mask at the Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, even though Ford’s policy requires everyone to wear PPE at the facility to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Ford officials wore facial coverings while Trump, senior adviser Hope Hicks and chief of staff Mark Meadows went without masks for the public portion of the tour.
Trump claimed he wore a mask privately but took it off before appearing in public because he “didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it,†according to CNN reporter Manu Raju.
TMZ published a photo that purportedly shows Trump wearing a face mask at the plant, though the image’s origins were unclear.
The president had hinted to reporters on at least two occasions that he might cover his face during the visit. Ford officials initially said they would make the president follow the same rules as everyone else, but backpedaled and claimed they would defer to the White House’s own policies on mask-wearing.
CORRECTION:Â A previous version of this article included a tweet with a photo of Trump wearing a mask. The writer of the tweet could not verify the photo and has since removed it.
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As many of them found themselves struggling to make ends meet, 2009 CNN Hero Doc Hendley, a former bartender, wanted to do something to help.
Hendley and his team of volunteers started putting together care packages in his hometown of Boone, North Carolina. The group distributes the packages, which are filled with 40 meals and other household necessities, to laid off restaurant workers throughout the state.
“The problem is that revenue will still struggle for a lot of these places and many workers will still be out of the job since businesses will be trying to run extra lean,” Hendley said. “A lot of those workers are living paycheck to paycheck, or trying to pay their way through school, or a single mom trying to take care of kids.”
The boxes include fresh fruits and vegetables, coffee, fresh baked bread, and toilet paper, among other food and hygiene items. Hendley said their hope is to not only help people survive, but also to help them thrive during this time of uncertainly.
Since March, his organization has already given out more than 72,000 meals.
“These boxes have become really something that our community is really looking forward to each week,” Hendley said. “I saw a single mama come and pick up a box for her and her kids. And literally when she opened it up, she just started crying.”
Wine to Water has also reorganized its work internationally, filling a crucial gap in access and education for people in remote regions where clean, running water is scarce. The group is working in Tanzania, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Kenya, and Nepal.
“We were able to shift very quickly from our focus, which is generally on water and sanitation, and really focus on specifically hygiene related to hand washing and other things that would help reduce the spread of coronavirus,” Hendley said.
When the epidemic broke out, the organization’s water filter factories around the world began mass producing portable hand washing stations, which are placed in heavily trafficked areas such as police stations, health care clinics, and larger hospitals.
Wine to Water’s international Covid-19 response programs have so far reached more than 32,000 people.
“It’s been so inspiring to see how many people have gotten behind and supported our programs around the world,” Hendley said. “When the sun does come out after the storm’s over, I think that we as a people are going to come through this stronger and more together than we’ve ever been.”
The coronavirus pandemic has hit U.K. institutions hard, including the British Council, which faces collapse | Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images
Cultural and diplomatic institution depends on government cash injection to survive.
LONDON — The British Council is running out of cash due to the coronavirus lockdowns worldwide and is in talks with the U.K. government over long-term emergency funding.
The pandemic has forced the British Council to shut down 44 out of its 47 English language schools and 195 of 223 test centers around the world, according to a spokesperson for the organization. This has cut off its main source of income and created a substantial budget deficit.
The British Council is a public body funded by the Foreign Office and a charity that promotes the learning of English, funds research and training of English teachers and runs culture diplomacy events. It has already received £26 million of emergency funding from the government on top of its annual grant of £161 million, and has furloughed 18 percent of its roughly 1,175-strong U.K. workforce.
However, the Public and Commercial Services Union and parliamentarians have raised concerns that this will not fill the funding gap and reserves might run out by the end of May.
The organization is holding talks with officials over long-term emergency funding, but one said the government wants to wait until the full impact of the pandemic is clear before committing extra money.
A spokesperson for the British Council said, “COVID-19 has had a significant impact on our finances. We’re grateful for the short-term funding from the U.K. government and we are in constructive talks with the government to identify a long-term solution.â€
In the 2019-20 financial year, the British Council managed to increase its income to £1.33 billion from £1.25 billion the previous year, despite a 9.5 percent cut in the government’s grant.
Crossbench peer Jean Coussins, who co-chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Modern Languages, urged the government to rescue the British Council.
“Further support is essential before the end of May to ensure that the organization has a future,†she said. “If ever there was a case for a government bailout based on enlightened self-interest, it is this.”
“I hope the conversations [with government] pay off very rapidly because it is the end of May that is the crucial cut-off date for the British Council to know where it stands financially in order to know whether it can continue its work, so this is very urgent,†she added.
The PCS union, which has launched a campaign to save the British Council, fears mass redundancies and pay cuts might be looming. The British Council employs about 12,000 staff in more than 100 countries.
The University Council of Modern Languages, which represents modern languages scholars, has written to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, saying, “everything the Council undertakes across its many schemes and programs responds in a direct and concrete way to the government’s Global Britain strategy.â€
UCML’s chair Claire Gorrara said, “The British Council has been the biggest ambassador for British culture and values abroad through its English language teaching programs and cultural diplomacy. That would be a massive challenge for the U.K. higher education sector given that we are going to be facing a very, very big change in terms of Brexit and the loss of international partnerships.
“The British Council is one of the most trusted British institutions abroad with many, many years of experience and relationships, and it would in some extent undermine Global Britain’s strategy if one of its most effective and successful ambassadorial arms effectively is lost.â€
A spokesman for the Foreign Office said the government is helping the British Council in accessing job retention schemes to enable them to furlough staff, in addition to the £26 million of emergency funding.
“This will help it support its workforce, and those employed through its partners, who are normally funded through its commercial side. The British Council is a precious part of the [Foreign and Commonwealth Office] family, and we will continue to support it and help identify solutions,†the spokesman said.
A 13-year-old girl is in a stable condition in hospital after she was injured by a speeding car that slammed into a shop in Sydney’s west.
Police have released the 51-year old driver, who was taken to hospital in handcuffs after ploughing a four-wheel-drive into the shop.
The speeding car slammed into Hijab House, the incredible scene unfolding in front of panicked shoppers.
Shocked onlookers filmed as smoke billowed from the tyres of the Mitsubishi SUV as it revved its engine at a set of traffic lights and rammed the car in front before suddenly speeding through the intersection and into the shop.
Multiple videos show chaos as the car mounted the footpath and slammed into the shop, with mayhem following as people rushed to treat the injured.
9News understands the driver is a 51-year-old man who is known to police for other traffic offences.
He was taken in handcuffs to Liverpool Hospital for further assessment and also underwent mandatory testing, NSW Police said in a statement this morning.
“Upon his release from hospital, he was taken to Bankstown Police Station where he was interviewed by officers from the Crash Investigation Unit, and later released.”
Police are continuing to investigate and have called for witnesses, especially anyone with dashcam footage.
“Quite clearly from the footage, he’s pushing the vehicle in front of him quite hard in order to smoke the tyres like that,” Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell said last night.
“But what has caused that to happen, I can’t say.”
A total of fourteen people were treated at the scene before being taken to Liverpool, Bankstown, and Canterbury hospitals for a range of non-life-threatening injuries.
The injuries included fractures, and all are “lucky to be alive”, NSW Ambulance spokeswoman Caitlin Murphy told 9News.
She said there was a large crowd of people at the crash site and several were treated for shock and distress.
Multiple people were carried from the shop on stretchers, some wearing neck braces.
Video also showed multiple clothing racks pulled out on the footpath to make room for emergency services.
Dozens of emergency crews were called to the area and a police crime scene has been established.
U.S. President Donald Trump | Alex Wong/Getty Images
The White House, however, has maintained that Russia has violated the treaty and that it no longer serves its purpose.
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to pull out of an international treaty designed to bring more transparency to military activities set off an uproar on Thursday, including claims the abrupt move may violate the law.
The Open Skies Treaty, which was first proposed by President Dwight Eisenhower and signed by President George H.W. Bush, permits reciprocal flights over military facilities and has long been considered a stabilizing force, especially for nations that lack spy satellites or other high-tech means to monitor military facilities.
The treaty has been signed by more than 30 nations, including Russia, and went into effect in 2002. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the U.S. on Friday will notify the various parties that it’s withdrawing, which will take effect in six months.
“The Administration’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Open Skies Treaty is a slap in the face to our allies in Europe, leaves our deployed forces in the region at risk, and is in blatant violation of the law,” said Representative Adam Smith (D-Wash.), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. “This decision weakens our national security interests, isolates the United States since the Treaty will continue without us, and abandons a useful tool to hold Russia accountable.”
“What’s more, this decision has been made without any consultation with Congress,” Smith added, pointing out that the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act requires a minimum of 120 days’ notice of withdrawal.
House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel also accused Trump of “knowingly breaking the law.”
“President Trump and his appointees have again shown disdain for arms control, lack of respect for Congress and its Constitutional authority, and disregard for the rule of law,” said Engel in a statement.
The decision was also seen by other lawmakers as a betrayal of U.S. allies who depend on the treaty and fueled new fears Trump could also let the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia expire early next year.
“The dangerous and misguided decision to abandon this international agreement cripples our ability to conduct aerial surveillance of Russia, while allowing Russian reconnaissance flights over U.S. bases in Europe to continue,” said Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat and member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees.
“The administration’s decision to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty — and the uncertainty surrounding its commitment to New START — is very alarming. It betrays the transatlantic alliance,” she added.
The Trump administration, however, has maintained that Russia has violated Open Skies and that it no longer serves its purpose.
Critics of the pact also insist that widely available commercial satellite imagery can now be used to collect the same intelligence data as the flights permitted by Open Skies.
Trump’s decision to inform Moscow on Friday of the withdrawal decision was first reported by The New York Times. It would add to a growing list of treaties the president has walked away from, including the nuclear deal with Iran, the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia, and the Paris climate agreement.
Trump expanded on his plans on Thursday, telling reporters at the White House that “Russia didn’t adhere to the treaty, so until they adhere, we will pull out.”
For some hawks, the move is long overdue. Senator Tom Cotton, a Trump ally, lauded the development, calling withdrawal from the treaty “another positive step to end America’s dependence on dysfunctional and broken treaties.”
“The Open Skies Treaty started life as a good-faith agreement between major powers and died an asset of Russian intelligence,” he added in a statement.
The Associated Press reported that U.S. allies have already been informed of the impending move.
“They asked us not to leave,” said Alexandra Bell, a former State Department official who is now senior policy director for the Council for a Livable World. “The problems of the treaty are minor. They were fixable.”
Others warned Trump is doing more damage to alliances for no gain.
“A unilateral U.S. exit from Open Skies would undermine our security and that of our European allies, all of whom strongly support the treaty,†said Thomas Countryman, the former acting undersecretary of state for arms control and international security who is now chair of the board of the Arms Control Association.
“It has the effect — and perhaps this is the intention — of signaling a diminished U.S. commitment to its NATO allies,” he added.
Greg Delawie, the former deputy assistant secretary of state for arms control who was responsible for the Open Skies Treaty from 2012 to 2015, predicted the U.S. will come to regret the decision.
“Open Skies works; its costs are minimal; and it is popular for its shared military and political value with allies,” he said. “If the treaty completely falls apart following a U.S. withdrawal, Russia will have greater freedom to make trouble in areas.
When talking about treatment plans with patients in the emergency department, as physicians we lay out our concerns, the pros and cons of different options, and why we recommend one over the other for the particular patient. We do not ask patients which antibiotic combination they would prefer.
Why is it different when we talk about resuscitation or end-of-life wishes? Why do we suddenly ask patients “what they want†with no context or recommendation? We sound like waiters: “Do you want shocks with that CPR?†“What about intubation or pressors?† Â
Discussing end-of-life options is a skill, like intubation or placing a central line, one that requires just as much preparation and practice. These options must be discussed in the context of the patient’s illness and his personal goals. Resuscitation should be discussed as an entity – not parsed out as individual selections. The only exception to this is in patients with a primary respiratory illness. In these cases, such as COPD patients, intubation may be discussed separately.
Physicians must think about this discussion as a fact-finding mission to uncover what the patient and family understand about three things: What is going on with your body? What do you understand about what the doctors are telling you? Â What is your understanding of resuscitation? We listen, and when they are finished, we educate, give a prognosis and outline our recommendations.
Our recommendations are based on two facts: Whether what brought them to the emergency department is reversible or not. If it is not clear, we can offer “time-limited trials†of aggressive interventions including intubation. The family should understand that if the patient’s condition does not improve over the next several days, then we would withdraw or stop the aggressive treatments. And second, we consider the patient’s trajectory of illness and his prognosis. This includes an assessment of his disease progression and functional status.
By exploring these questions with the patient and family you will most often come away from the conversation with a code status, without ever asking the specifics. Of course we clarify at the end of the discussion: “If, despite everything we are doing, you were to stop breathing or your heart was to stop and you were to die, we will allow you to die naturally and not attempt resuscitation.†If the conversation devolves, that usually means the patient is not ready and needs further intervention from a palliative care team.
Physicians are not there to judge the patient and family’s response, only to educate and support. We can make recommendations based on our workup and conversation, for example:
“From what you have described, your condition is worsening despite aggressive medical treatment. Your goal is to spend whatever time you have left with your family and be free of pain. I would recommend at this time to talk with hospice.†OR “It sounds like you are willing to continue treatment for reversible conditions, but if you were to die you would not want resuscitation.â€
Does this conversation take time? Yes. Is it time well spent? Yes. This is the heart of medicine – charting and other administrative tasks, while necessary; do not directly help the patient or your career longevity. Conversations like this will help the people who matter. We will have their trust from listening and then making clear to them their condition and its likely course. We will also have a clear plan and most likely a “code statusâ€. If we do not, we will have set the stage for future conversations.
Kate Aberger, MD, FACEP is the Director of the Palliative Care Division of Emergency Medicine at St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, New Jersey. She is also the Chair of the Palliative Medicine Section for the American College of Emergency Physicians.
The company will be reaching out to everyone who has not watched “anything on Netflix for a year since they joined,” Wu said. The company will do the same for anyone who has stopped watching for more than two years.
Netflix added it will start sending out emails or in app notifications this week.
Netflix noted the inactive accounts “represent less than half of one percent of our overall member base,” or “only a few hundred thousand.”
“We’ve always thought it should be easy to sign up and to cancel. So, as always, anyone who cancels their account and then rejoins within 10 months will still have their favorites, profiles, viewing preferences and account details just as they left them,” Wu said. “In the meantime, we hope this new approach saves people some hard-earned cash.”
The streaming company has 183 million subscribers worldwide.