Nebraska mall plans to reopen despite rise in coronavirus cases
A Nebraska outlet mall plans to reopen as the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise in the state.
The Nebraska Crossing Outlets, located about halfway between Lincoln and Omaha, announced that it aims to reopen on April 24 — when health officials predict cases to peak in the state.
Outlet owner Rod Yates said the mall would hold a “soft opening” and could serve as a test site for how businesses can best go about reopening during the pandemic.
“We’re looking at the great opportunity to set some best practices and help our retailers open their portfolios across the country,” Yates told the Omaha World-Herald.
Nebraska is among a select few states that still allow malls to remain open even if most businesses are closed because of the restrictions on gatherings.
The state had documented more than 890 coronavirus cases as of Tuesday night, alongside 20 related deaths, after recording its first patient back on March 6.
Gov. Pete Ricketts, a Republican, has urged residents to only shop once a week and to do so alone, though he hasn’t issued any formal restrictions beyond the state’s gathering limit.
Ricketts said the mall and other stores are free to open as long as they follow the social-distancing order.
“We didn’t ask them to close, and we didn’t ask them to open,” he said at a coronavirus news briefing.
“If companies are looking to be able to get prepared for some point down the road when those restrictions are loosened, that’s OK, but anybody who’s operating still needs to continue to follow all the guidelines.”
Local health experts sounded the alarm that the opening could undo any positive containment that has come from people staying home.
But representatives from the mall said they’re taking precautions. The mall has purchased 100 thermometers for each store to use to check employees at the start of each day. They also will install 200 plastic shields at registers to separate shoppers and workers.
Both shoppers and employees will be encouraged to wear masks and gloves.
“Anything we do is going to be very controlled,” Yates said. “We’re not going to do any mass events that attract hundreds of people. We’re going to slowly ease ourselves into the process of getting ourselves open.”
The open-air mall features stores from Coach, Nike, Kate Spade and others.
Mall officials already pushed back its soft opening once, from a planned April 18 date, and could do so again if cases spike, according to Johanna Boston, the chief strategy officer for Nebraska Crossing.
“If tomorrow our numbers jump and we have a conversation with the governor, it could change,” she told the World-Herald.
“But right now, we’re doing what we’ve been asked to do, which is to start getting people back to work in the safest environment we can create.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/15/nebraska-mall-plans-to-reopen-amid-coronavirus-pandemic/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
US officials raised alarms about Wuhan coronaviruses lab in 2018
A lab that researches bat coronaviruses in Wuhan, China had come under scrutiny by US officials two years before the current global outbreak, a report said Thursday.
Diplomats sent two “sensitive but unclassified” cables to Washington in 2018, sounding the alarm about the Wuhan Institute of Virology and asking for assistance to help the lab tighten its safety protocols, the Washington Post reported.
“The cable was a warning shot,” a US official told the paper. “They were begging people to pay attention to what was going on.”
One of the cables warned that the lab’s work on bat coronaviruses and their potential human transmission represented a risk of a new SARS-like pandemic.
In recent months, the cables have recirculated inside the US government and sparked a discussion about whether the novel coronavirus could have originated at the lab or another in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, according to the report.
A senior Trump administration official said the cables support the theory that the pandemic was sparked by a lab accident in Wuhan.
“The idea that it was just a totally natural occurrence is circumstantial. The evidence it leaked from the lab is circumstantial. Right now, the ledger on the side of it leaking from the lab is packed with bullet points and there’s almost nothing on the other side,” the unnamed official told the paper.
The intelligence community has provided no evidence to confirm that the virus originated in a lab, according to The New York Times. The Chinese government claims it emerged from a fresh-food market in Wuhan.
Scientists largely agree the virus came from animals. But the newly reported cables show officials were worried about the lab’s research posing a public health risk.
“The cable tells us that there have long been concerns about the possibility of the threat to public health that came from this lab’s research, if it was not being adequately conducted and protected,” Xiao Qiang, a research scientist at the School of Information at the University of California at Berkeley, told The Post.
There are similar concerns about the nearby Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention lab, Xiao said.
No extra assistance was provided by the US government to the labs in response to the cables.
Shi Zhengli, the head of the research project at WIV, and other scientists at the lab have denied that the virus originated there. Her team was the first to publicly report on Feb. 3 that the novel coronavirus was bat-derived.
The Chinese government must be transparent and answer questions about the Wuhan labs, Xiao said.
“I don’t think it’s a conspiracy theory. I think it’s a legitimate question that needs to be investigated and answered,” he said.
“To understand exactly how this originated is critical knowledge for preventing this from happening in the future.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/14/us-officials-raised-alarms-about-wuhan-coronaviruses-lab-in-2018/
Photo Credit: OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP
Florida man freed from jail over coronavirus allegedly murdered someone the next day
A Florida man released from jail last month to help limit coronavirus outbreaks in county lockups was arrested again Monday — accused of murdering a man the day after his release, a report said.
Joseph Edwards Williams was facing drug charges when he and 163 other inmates — considered low level offenders — were sprung from Hillsborough County Jail on March 19, according to WFLA, citing the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities believe that Williams was the triggerman who fatally shot a man the next day in the Progress Village area, the report said.
Williams was arrested on a warrant Monday in Gibsonton.
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister slammed Williams, claiming “he took advantage” of the administrative order to free inmates amid the coronavirus pandemic to “commit crimes.”
“As a result, I call on the State Attorney to prosecute this defendant to the fullest extent of the law,” Chronister said.
Williams was arraigned via video appearance Tuesday and ordered held on a more than $250,000 bond, WFLA reported.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/14/florida-inmate-freed-from-jail-over-coronavirus-allegedly-murders-man/
Photo Credit: Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office
The Suprising Truth About Sanitizing Your Groceries
You can always overdo something. For items I think like cans salad bottles, jars etc should be lightly disinfected with Clorox wipes but that’s it. BEFORE coronavirus I washed my tops from my condiments off with soap and water. And took the rag and wipe the outside of the jar or bottle of ketchup etc. that simple
March 2020 was the first March without a school shooting in the U.S. since 2002
March 2020 was apparently the first March in nearly two decades without a school shooting in the U.S. Schools across America have been shut down since early March as a prevention measure to slow the spread of coronavirus. Since then, kids of all ages have adjusted to homeschooling and online classes — a new normal that could extend through the rest of the school year.
For most of those students, this is one of the longest stretches in their lifetimes without a school shooting. As first reported on Twitter by Washington Post reporter Robert Klemko, there hasn’t been a March without a school shooting since 2002 — the year most current high school seniors were born.
Data from the National School Safety Center and National School Safety and Security Services confirm that there have been school shootings every March since 2002. That year, a 13-year-old student brought a gun and a hit list to school but was subdued by a school resource officer deputy before he could pull the trigger.
In March 2020, there were several instances of shootings on school campuses — but none that fit the typical description of a school shooting.
According to Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization that tracks gun violence in the U.S., there were a total of seven shootings that took place on school campuses in March 2020. Four of those shootings were classified as unintentional discharges, one took place between adults on a high school football field over the weekend and two occurred on college campuses but involved no students.
According to a 2018 paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, firearms are the second-leading cause of death among youths in the U.S., behind motor vehicle crashes. Everytown calls the problem “uniquely American.”
While school shootings are down, gun dealers around the country said they are seeing record numbers of customers. One store manager told CBS News that the main reasons customers said they were buying firearms is for protection during quarantine and fear of the unknown.
Given the spike in sales, gun safety advocates fear students are not only facing more dangerous situations at home, but could also face a major increase in shootings when they return to school.
“When this pandemic ends and we emerge from this physical distancing reality, the guns will remain,” said Guns Down America executive director Igor Volsky. “Will there be increased mass shootings, school shootings, shootings at home, at work, at concerts?”
Photo Credit: cbsnews.com
‘He kept saying ‘I’m fine’ – Mother hasn’t spoken to son since walking him to ambulance two weeks ago
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – A north St. Louis County mother fears she may never see her son again. She said he was put on a ventilator hours after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
Anna Williams hasn’t seen or talked to her 25-year-old son, Kaleb Williams, since April 1. Kaleb was in acting school in New York, pursuing dreams of being on Broadway.
His mom called him last month.
“I said, ‘Maybe you should come home with family because we don’t have any other family in New York.’ He was like, ‘No mom, because if I get sick your health is not as good as mine. I don’t want to come there,’” she said. “I said, ‘I’m really concerned, I’d rather you be here with family than to sit there alone. Please come home and we got him a flight the same day.”
That was March 20. Nine days later, Anna said her son got a fever, lower back pain, and then began vomiting blood. She took him to the Christian Northeast Hospital emergency room.
“I stayed on Facetime with him for seven hours as a virtual visit to make sure I was by his side to comfort him,” she said.
Williams said he was tested for COVID-19, diagnosed with pneumonia, and sent home with antibiotics. She said she watched him closely because her son is asthmatic and suffers from sleep apnea. She said his fever continued rising and she called 911.
“He kept saying, ‘I’m fine. I’m fine.’ He didn’t look in distress,” Williams said. “He walked to the ambulance. He was walking; the last time I saw my son.”
That was Wednesday, April 1. She said the COVID-19 test then came back positive. She said Kaleb was put on a ventilator at Missouri Baptist Hospital and she hasn’t spoken to him since. For more than a week, she’s relied on phone call updates from nurses and the doctor.
“(The doctor) told me he was going to try all he could to bring him back but he couldn’t make any promises,” she said.
“I love him so much and please just pull through. We don’t know what’s going on and if mommy could save you, I’ve tried everything. We’re praying that you pull through. We love him.”
Photo Credit: fox2now.com
McDonald’s China apologizes for banning black people from a store
New York (CNN Business)McDonald’s is in damage control mode after a restaurant in China displayed a sign banning black people from the premises.The sign, which recently circulated on social media, said the McDonald’s location in Guangzhou has “been informed that from now on black people are not allowed to enter the restaurant.”
The sign is “not representative of our inclusive values,” McDonald’s said in a statement. The sign was removed and the location was temporarily closed down. CNN has not yet been able to authenticate the video.The industrial city has been steeped in racial tensions between Africans and locals. Recent warnings from Chinese officials about the rising number of imported coronavirus cases have stoked anti-foreigner sentiment.Africans in the southern Chinese city have been evicted from their homes by landlords and turned away from hotels, despite many claiming to have no recent travel history or known contact with Covid-19 patients.
McDonald’s (MCD) said it will use the closure to “further educate managers and employees on our values, which includes serving all members of the communities in which we operate.”
Guangzhou has long had the largest African community in China. Because many Africans in the city have short-term business visas, they travel into China several times a year, making it difficult to calculate the size of the African population the city. But in 2017, approximately 320,000 Africans entered or left China through Guangzhou, according to Xinhua.This isn’t the first time McDonald’s garnered controversy overseas. Last November, it pulled an ad in Portugal that used the words “Sundae Bloody Sundae” to promote a Halloween dessert. Bloody Sunday is the name for the day in 1972 on which British soldiers shot unarmed protesters in Derry, Northern Ireland, during the Troubles — resulting in 14 deaths.The coronavirus has been detrimental McDonald’s business this year. Last week, it reported that sales at restaurants open at least a year plunged more than 22% in March, led by a nearly 35% decline in its internationally operated markets.–CNN’s Rory Sullivan, Jenni Marsh, Shawn Deng and Nectar Gan contributed to this report.
via: https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/14/business/mcdonalds-china-coronavirus-sign-trnd/index.html
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Are you a ‘doomscrolling’ junkie? The new, scary coronavirus habit
Ever find yourself glued to your phone screen, mindlessly thumbing through depressing news for hours on end?
Well, now there’s a word for that: “doomscrolling.”
The trendy new phrase — which has now joined the ranks of other coronavirus-inspired terms like “quarantini” and “zoombombing” — is making the rounds on Twitter to describe everyone’s incessant need to consume somber stories.
“Things I’m Doing a Lot More of Under Isolation: Cooking, Cleaning, Taking deep breaths while walking dogs, Doomscrolling, Sleep Meditations, Facetiming, Existential Crisising,” tweeted Anne Helen Petersen, a senior culture writer at BuzzFeedNews, on March 22.
“I’ve been reading easy junk just to keep me from doomscrolling lately, [and] it feels so good to exercise my brain with some substance,” admitted another user @BrainyMcSawface.
The apt expression has been picking up steam since it was included in a recent Los Angeles Times story about new terms entering our pandemic lexicons.
But some trailblazers have been throwing around the term ever since lockdown life began last month, including Quartz reporter Karen Ho.
She’s been doling out the moniker in posts to remind people to give themselves a break from the doom and gloom of COVID-19 news.
“It’s okay *not* to develop a new skill or side project during a pandemic, just like how it’s okay to set limits on how much you doomscroll at night,” she wrote in one tweet on April 3.
In another post that same day, she added: “you can keep doomscrolling tomorrow.”
Others are following suit.
“Today I’m grateful for baby naps, exercise and fresh air. Let’s all stop doomscrolling for a bit,” tweeted Kelsey Snell, a congressional correspondent at NPR.
Many are actually losing sleep over their doomscrolling habits.
“I am in bed but sleep is very far away. Everything is very difficult right now, isn’t it,” wrote user @Wangleberry in a post on April 7. “I should stop doomscrolling and just try to sleep.”
Errin Haines, an editor at The 19th news site, echoed the struggle, writing, “Me: Why am I so sleepy it’s only 10! [Devil emoji]: Remember? We stayed up until 3 doomscrolling and watching Netflix!”
It’s no wonder then that being stuck at home during the pandemic is leading to a rash of literal nightmares.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/04/14/are-you-a-doomscrolling-junkie-the-new-scary-coronavirus-habit/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Man expecting stimulus check discovers $8.2 million account balance on his bank receipt
(WGN/CNN) – A volunteer firefighter in Indiana said he got the surprise of a lifetime when he checked his bank account balance.
Charles Calvin said he withdrew $200 from his checking account at a convenience store ATM in New Chicago, Indiana, on Saturday. When he glanced at his receipt, he noticed the account balance was $8.2 million.
“I’m like what in the world is going on here?” Calvin said.
He said he put his debit card back in the ATM to double-check the balance, and it still showed millions in his account.
Calvin was expecting a $1,700 check from the stimulus payments going out to Americans amid the COVID-19 crisis.
By the time he called his bank to report it Monday morning, a representative said the large sum wasn’t in his account. It’s likely the ATM experienced a glitch.
“It kind of sucks,” Calvin said. “You go from being a millionaire one second then back to being broke again. But hey, once you’re poor, you don’t have anywhere else to go but up.”
Despite the glitch, Calvin said he still received his $1,700 stimulus check.
Photo Credit: kmov.com