California Walks Back Reopening as Coronavirus Cases and Hospitalizations Surge
9h
Health + Wellness
People enjoy outdoor dining along Pier Ave. in Hermosa Beach, California on July 8, 2020. Keith Birmingham / MediaNews Group / Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images
California is reversing its reopening plans amidst a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations.
<p>Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday that businesses like restaurants, wineries, movie theaters, cardrooms, zoos and museums must no longer welcome people inside and bars must close altogether, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/13/890602390/california-closes-indoor-businesses-statewide-as-covid-19-cases-surge" target="_blank">NPR reported</a>. In addition, gyms, places of worship, hair and nail salons, malls and non-essential offices must close in 29 counties representing 80 percent of the state's population, <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-13/newsom-california-county-rollback-reopening-coronavirus" target="_blank">the Los Angeles Times reported</a>.</p><p>"We're going back into modification mode of our original stay at home order," Newsom said, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/13/world/coronavirus-updates.html#link-1acfaa7f" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>. "This continues to be a deadly disease."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NEW: <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> cases continue to spread at alarming rates.<br> <br>CA is now closing indoor operations STATEWIDE for:<br><br>-Restaurants<br>-Wineries<br>-Movie theaters, family entertainment<br>-Zoos, museums<br>-Cardrooms<br><br>Bars must close ALL operations.</p>— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) <a href="https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1282752861835649024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>The news comes as coronavirus infections have been rising in about 40 of 50 U.S. states, according to <a href="https://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUKKCN24E23E" target="_blank">Reuters</a>. California has emerged as one of the epicenters of the U.S. outbreak, along with Arizona, Florida and Texas. As of Sunday, California has been averaging more than 8,000 new cases a day, more than two times its daily average last month, The New York Times reported. In total California has seen 331,626 cases, the second highest caseload in the nation, according to New York Times figures. More than 7,000 Californians have died of the new disease.</p><p>California began its reopening process in early May and saw cases begin to rise in June, mostly due to a surge in Los Angeles County, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/13/890602390/california-closes-indoor-businesses-statewide-as-covid-19-cases-surge" target="_blank">NPR </a>reported. Newsom first responded by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/california-face-masks-mandatory-2646207535.html" target="_self">requiring face masks in public</a> from June 18 and then by shuttering bars and other indoor venues in 19 counties July 1.</p>
<p>Newsom said his decision Monday was informed by a rise in hospitalizations, people in intensive care units (ICUs) and the rate of positive test results. Over the last two weeks, the number of people hospitalized has increased 27.8 percent while the number of people in the ICU has increased 19.9 percent, state hospitals said Monday.</p><p>"We're seeing an increase in the spread of the virus, so that's why it's incumbent upon all of us to recognize soberly that COVID-19 is not going away any time soon until there is a vaccine or an effective therapy," Newsom said Monday, as the Los Angeles Times reported.</p><p>Counties currently subject to increased restrictions include some of the state's most populous.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NEW: As <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19</a> cases and hospitalizations continue to rise, 30 counties will now be required to CLOSE INDOOR OPERATIONS for:<br><br>-Fitness Centers<br>-Places of Worship<br>-Offices for Non-Critical Sectors<br>-Personal Care Services<br>-Hair Salons and Barbershops<br>-Malls</p>— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) <a href="https://twitter.com/GavinNewsom/status/1282753656983449600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Counties are added to a watch list if they see rising hospitalizations, community spread or decreasing hospital capacity for three days in a row. The idea is for counties to be added or removed from the list as local conditions change, allowing the state to flexibly adjust restrictions like a "dimmer switch," Newsom explained. But some business owners found the constant readjustments hard to cope with.</p><p>"Everyone is frustrated with the on/off switch in their personal and professional lives," Los Angeles-based public affairs firm President Fiona Hutton told the Los Angeles Times.</p>
<p>Still, some California businesses and localities have voluntarily adopted restrictions, NPR pointed out. Disney said it would keep its Southern California parks closed for the foreseeable future, and the public school districts of Los Angeles and San Diego said Monday they would start the year entirely remotely.</p><p>This puts them at odds with the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump-administration" target="_self">Trump administration</a>, which has pushed for schools nationwide to open as normal in the fall.</p><p>"Schools should be opened," President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> said in response, as The New York Times reported. "You're losing a lot of lives by keeping things closed."</p><p>The Times noted it is unclear what Trump meant because the virus tends to spread in poorly-ventilated, indoor areas like schools, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> experts have said.</p><p>The Los Angeles teachers union, meanwhile, applauded its district's decision.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Full statement👉🏼<a href="https://t.co/QKrhYxAZLK">https://t.co/QKrhYxAZLK</a> <a href="https://t.co/MXkvkRBnzC">pic.twitter.com/MXkvkRBnzC</a></p>— United Teachers Los Angeles (@UTLAnow) <a href="https://twitter.com/UTLAnow/status/1282780635359133696?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 13, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>"In the face of the alarming spike in COVID cases, the lack of necessary funding from the government to open schools safely and the outsized threat of death faced by working-class communities of color, there really is no other choice that doesn't put thousands of lives at risk," United Teachers Los Angeles said in a statement reported by Reuters.</p>
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Supporters cheer before Trump arrives for a rally at the BOK Center on June 20, 2020 in Tulsa, OK. Jabin Botsford / The Washington Post via Getty Images
On Monday and Tuesday of the week that President Donald Trump held his first rally since March in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the county reported 76 and 96 new coronavirus cases respectively, according to POLITICO. This week, the county broke its new case record Monday with 261 cases and reported a further 206 cases on Tuesday. Now, Tulsa's top public health official thinks the rally and counterprotest "likely contributed" to the surge.
<p>"The past two days we've had almost 500 cases, and we know we had several large events a little over two weeks ago, which is about right," Tulsa Health Department Dr. Bruce Dart said in a press conference Wednesday, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/08/us/politics/coronavirus-tulsa-trump-rally.html#referrer=https://www.google.com" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>. "So I guess we just connect the dots."</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dce63f86a91daa2c577e22980bb7c3ad"><div class="fb-video" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1931137487193380" data-allowfullscreen="true"></div></div>
<p>Trump held his rally June 20, and it can take about two weeks for an increased infection rate to show up in new case tallies because of the disease's incubation period.</p><p>Trump's rally made headlines in mid-June when it was revealed that, in order to attend, rally goers had to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-rally-coronavirus-risk-2646170476.html" target="_self">agree not to sue</a> the campaign if they contracted COVID-19. Dart had urged the campaign to cancel the rally before it took place.</p><p>"It's the perfect storm of potential over-the-top disease transmission," Dart said, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-rally.html" target="_blank">The New York Times reported at the time</a>. "It's a perfect storm that we can't afford to have."</p>
<p>Administration and campaign officials pushed back on the idea that the rally had led to a surge in cases. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said she had "no data to indicate" this was the case, as <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/trump-rally-contributed-surge-covd-19-cases-tulsa/story?id=71680180" target="_blank">ABC News reported</a>.</p><p>And campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh defended the rally's safety precautions.</p><p>"There were literally no health precautions to speak of as thousands looted, rioted, and protested in the streets and the media reported that it did not lead to a rise in coronavirus cases. Meanwhile, the President's rally was 18 days ago, all attendees had their temperature checked, everyone was provided a mask, and there was plenty of hand sanitizer available for all. It's obvious that the media's concern about large gatherings begins and ends with Trump rallies," he said in a widely reported statement.</p><p>While the campaign did conduct temperature checks and distribute masks and hand sanitizer, it did not enforce social distancing inside the arena and most participants did not wear masks, ABC News pointed out.</p>
<p>The rally was much smaller than anticipated, however. Around 6,200 people from across the country attended, but the venue, the BOK Center arena, can seat 19,000, POLITICO reported.</p><p>Tulsa county contract tracers could not confirm whether they had linked any specific cases to the rally because the Tulsa Health Department "will not publicly identify any individual or facility at risk of exposure, or where transmission occurred," spokesperson Leanne Stephens said, according to The New York Times.</p><p>One sign that does point to the rally as an infection source is the fact that cases have increased in rural parts of Oklahoma, Tulsa county commissioner Karen Keith told The New York Times.</p><p>Some high-profile people have tested positive for COVID-19 after attending the rally, ABC reported, including former 2012 presidential candidate Herman Cain and national chair of the Trump Victory Finance Committee Kimberly Guilfoyle. At least eight Trump campaign staffers in Tulsa have also tested positive, and two of them attended the event.</p>
<p>Tulsa is not the only part of Oklahoma seeing a surge in cases. The entire state reported 858 new cases Tuesday and 673 Wednesday.</p><p>"We continue to go up and are at a new peak," lead COVID-19 officer at the University of Oklahoma Dr. Dale Bratzler told ABC News Monday.</p><p>The next Trump rally is scheduled to take place in Portsmouth, New Hampshire Saturday. Once again, attendees will have to promise not to sue if they fall ill. They will have their temperatures checked and be offered masks and hand sanitizer, but mask wearing and social distancing will not be required.</p>
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro meets Ronaldo Caiado, governor of the state of Goiás on June 5, 2020. Palácio do Planalto / CC BY 2.0
Far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has presided over the world's second worst coronavirus outbreak after the U.S., said Tuesday that he had tested positive for the virus.
<p>The news comes after Bolsonaro has repeatedly dismissed the risk posed by the virus both to himself and others and argued against social distancing measures as a threat to the economy.</p><p>"In my particular case, because of my history as an athlete, in case I were contaminated by the virus I wouldn't need to worry. I wouldn't feel anything or it would be, at most, similar to a little flu, or a little cold," he said during a national television address March 24, as <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/ap-explains-bolsonaro-downplayed-virus-fears-months-71663418" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>.</p>
<p>His approach has earned him protests at home and worldwide criticism for allowing the virus to spread in his country, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/world/americas/brazil-bolsonaro-coronavirus.html?auth=login-googl" target="_blank">The New York Times reported</a>. He fired one health minister in April over disagreements about how to respond to the pandemic and forced a second to quit less than a month later. The current health minister is an active-duty general with no medical experience. Brazil has now reported more than 1.6 million confirmed cases and more than 65,000 deaths, falling second only to the U.S. in both categories.</p><p>Bolsonaro took a test for the virus Monday after falling ill with fatigue, muscle pain and a fever. His illness occurred two days after he attended a Fourth of July lunch at the home of Brazil's U.S. Ambassador Todd Chapman, where Bolsonaro and other attendees were pictured sitting side by side without masks. The ambassador and his wife have since tested negative for the virus but are remaining in quarantine.</p>
<div id="30022" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="9e5f6f78f46c6841b83cc759e8840506"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1279475037574176768" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Na Embaixada dos EUA, celebrando o 4 de julho, dia da independência americana. https://t.co/CqtgUNxiSL</div> — Ernesto Araújo (@Ernesto Araújo)<a href="https://twitter.com/ernestofaraujo/statuses/1279475037574176768">1593885595.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>So far, Bolsonaro's diagnosis has not changed his tone. As he announced his test results, he continued to focus on the importance of reopening Brazil's economy.</p><p>"You can't just talk about the consequences of the virus that you have to worry about. Life goes on. Brazil needs to produce. You need to get the economy in gear,″ he said, according to The Associated Press.</p><p>He was also widely criticized on social media for taking off his mask while speaking to reporters about his diagnosis, <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/trending/trending-globally/brazilian-president-takes-off-mask-after-announcing-he-tested-positive-for-covid-19-6495517/" target="_blank">The Indian Express reported</a>.</p>
<div id="4ed4f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="512bc5e4d7e023188c02f9b493b51c16"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280543922331123713" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Bolsonaro, who has tested positive for coronavirus, just exposed every journalist to the virus, in case you were wo… https://t.co/cuTpNEwiMd</div> — Brian Tyler Cohen (@Brian Tyler Cohen)<a href="https://twitter.com/briantylercohen/statuses/1280543922331123713">1594140437.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Bolsonaro is an ally of U.S. President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/07/07/888137097/brazilian-president-jair-bolsonaro-tests-positive-for-coronavirus" target="_blank">NPR reported</a>, who has also been <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/us-coronavirus-death-toll-2646357716.html" target="_self">criticized</a> for dismissing the severity of the pandemic. Like Trump, Bolsonaro has touted the benefits of hydroxychloroquine for treating the coronavirus, an anti-malaria drug that the Food and Drug Administration <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-malaria-drugs-2646183392.html" target="_self">has warned</a> against taking for COVID-19.</p><p>But Bolsonaro said his medical team was treating him with the drug on Tuesday and that he was feeling "very well," according to The New York Times.</p><p>Politicians and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> experts said that Bolsonaro's diagnosis was unlikely to change Brazil's approach to the virus unless he grew seriously ill. The country is currently in the process of reopening.</p>
<p>"My concern is that he will use this to say, 'See, I'm fine, if you catch this you will survive,'" Rio de Janeiro community activist Day Medeiros told The New York Times. "Everything that happens to him has real repercussions in how people behave here. This is really serious."</p><p>But one analyst thought the diagnosis would ultimately harm Bolsoarno's political career.</p><p>"Despite publicly shrugging off his positive test for Covid-19, it marks the beginning of the end of his administration," Robert Muggah, director of Rio-based think tank the Igarape Institute, told <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/08/coronavirus-bolsonaros-diagnosis-marks-beginning-of-the-end-for-his-administration.html" target="_blank">CNBC in an email</a>. "It is yet another visible expression of his recklessness and ineptitude."</p>
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‘Among the Most Ruinous Presidential Decisions in Recent History’: Trump Begins WHO Withdrawal
08 July
Health + Wellness
Trump sits during a meeting about safely reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic on July 7, 2020, in Washington, DC. JIM WATSON / AFP via Getty Images
The Trump administration began the formal process of withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO), a White House official said Tuesday, even as coronavirus cases continue to surge in the country.
<p>President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> first began attacking the WHO's handling of the new coronavirus in April, when he made the decision to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-who-funding-coronavirus-2645722550.html" target="_self">halt funding</a>. But <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> experts and Congresspeople from both sides of the aisle say leaving the organization will make Americans, and people around the world, less safe in the midst of a pandemic that has sickened more than 11 million people and killed more than 544,000, according to Wednesday morning <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">figures from Johns Hopkins University</a>.</p><p>Lawrence Gostin, who directs the WHO's Collaborating Center on National & Global Health Law, said the withdrawal was "among the most ruinous presidential decisions in recent history," according to a statement reported by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/world/coronavirus-updates.html?smtyp=cur&smid=fb-#link-7536f61f" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>"It will make Americans less safe during an unprecedented global health crisis," Gostin, who cosigned a <a href="https://oneill.law.georgetown.edu/letter-to-congress-on-who-withdrawal-from-public-health-law-and-international-relations-leaders/" target="_blank">letter</a> to Congress from 750 health and legal experts opposing withdrawal, said. "And it will significantly weaken U.S. influence on W.H.O. reform and international health diplomacy."</p>
<div id="9153d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2369a1a33aa73794a885ae5aaa19ad92"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280600975867289601" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Thread explains why US w/drawal from @WHO is unlawful & unethical, among most ruinous presidential decisions in his… https://t.co/BK4SsmPARP</div> — Lawrence Gostin (@Lawrence Gostin)<a href="https://twitter.com/LawrenceGostin/statuses/1280600975867289601">1594154039.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Trump first announced he would pull the U.S. from the organization May 29, arguing that it had responded too slowly to the pandemic and was under the "total control" of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/china" target="_self">China</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/07/07/888186158/trump-sets-date-to-end-who-membership-over-its-handling-of-virus" target="_blank">NPR reported</a>. But the organization issued its first warning about the new virus Jan. 4, just five days after the first announcement from local health authorities in Wuhan, China, The New York Times pointed out. It had completed a detailed report by the next day.</p><p>In order to withdraw from the WHO, the U.S. must pay any unpaid dues — which stood at $198 million as of June 30 — and give a year's notice, NPR explained. The UN confirmed to reporters that it had received that notice and was checking with the WHO if all the conditions for withdrawal had been met.</p><p>"On 6 July 2020, the United States of America notified the Secretary-General ... of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, effective on 6 July 2021," UN Secretary-General António Guterres's spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric wrote in an email to reporters.</p>
<p>The yearlong delay means the withdrawal might not go into effect at all if Trump loses to Democratic rival and former Vice President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/joe-biden" target="_self">Joe Biden</a> in November's Presidential election.</p><p>"Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health," Biden tweeted in response to the news. "On my first day as President, I will rejoin the<a href="https://twitter.com/WHO" target="_blank"> @WHO</a> and restore our leadership on the world stage."</p>
<div id="bb485" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="eb75831d048b6be5b5be8d58a106cd3e"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280603719831359489" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health. On my first day as President, I will re… https://t.co/qNgyOKHOlE</div> — Joe Biden (@Joe Biden)<a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/statuses/1280603719831359489">1594154693.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>But it isn't only Democrats speaking out against Trump's withdrawal.</p><p>"I disagree with the president's decision," Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a statement reported by <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-administration-gives-formal-notice-withdrawal-who-n1233100" target="_blank">NBC News</a>. "Certainly there needs to be a good, hard look at mistakes the World Health Organization might have made in connection with coronavirus, but the time to do that is after the crisis has been dealt with, not in the middle of it. Withdrawing U.S. membership could, among other things, interfere with clinical trials that are essential to the development of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vaccines" target="_self">vaccines</a>, which citizens of the United States as well as others in the world need. And withdrawing could make it harder to work with other countries to stop viruses before they get to the United States."</p><p>Public health experts agreed with Alexander's assessment of the risk. In their letter to Congress, the 750 health and legal experts wrote that, by leaving the organization, the U.S. would lose access to the WHO's system for sharing data and vaccines. The U.S. also contributes more funds than anywhere else to the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, which means withdrawal will cost the whole world funds for contact tracing and vaccine development.</p><p>The U.S. historically has contributed around 15 percent of the WHO's overall budget, or $450 million a year. Beyond COVID-19, that money helps fund programs fighting health concerns like polio, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.</p><p>"Pulling funding could reverse hard-won progress and erode the ability of the U.S. to shape and lead policy," the letter writers said.</p>
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Refrigerated trucks function as temporary morgues at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal on May 06, 2020 in New York City. As of July, the states where COVID-19 cases are rising are mostly in the West and South. Justin Heiman / Getty Images
The official number of people in the U.S. who have lost their lives to the new coronavirus has now passed 130,000, according to tallies from The New York Times, Reuters and Johns Hopkins University.
<p>The grim news comes amidst a surge in U.S. cases. <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-cases-us-2646324392.html" target="_self">More than 50,000</a> new cases a day were reported several times over the past week, The New York Times pointed out. And the country still has the world's worst outbreak with nearly three million cases, double the world's second-highest caseload in <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/brazil" target="_self">Brazil</a>, Reuters reported.</p><p>In an interview streamed Monday with National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Francis Collins, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said the U.S. had never successfully exited the first wave of the pandemic.</p><p>"I would say this would not be considered a wave," Dr. Fauci said, as The New York Times reported. "It was a surge, or a resurgence of infections superimposed upon a baseline that really never got down to where we wanted to go."</p>
<div id="12c0d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a04ea6b6f3c7247987a538fb52521a0d"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280207832512466945" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">https://t.co/MjUNsLdMXN</div> — NIH (@NIH)<a href="https://twitter.com/NIH/statuses/1280207832512466945">1594060307.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>In the interview, Fauci said the surge could perhaps be attributed to cities and states reopening too soon.</p><p>"The European Union as an entity, it went up and then came down to baseline," Fauci said, <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/07/06/anthony-fauci-us-coronavirus-surge-really-not-good/5388472002/" target="_blank">according to USA TODAY</a>. "Now they're having little blips, as you might expect, as they try to reopen. We went up, never came down to baseline, and now it's surging back up. So it's a serious situation that we have to address immediately."</p><p>At least 32 states are reporting higher rates of new cases this week compared to last, according to Johns Hopkins data reported by USA TODAY.</p><p>The states where cases are rising are mostly in the West and South, according to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-usa-trends-graphic-idUSKBN2472PZ?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1NBZZ_Vv5bv5ozfxVZzZrw47Ma_U3AOJfBjCa0CRJ9e0taYOiovQqKXeM" target="_blank">Reuters</a>, while cases continue to fall in the Northeast.</p>
<p>Arizona surpassed 100,000 cases Monday, according to New York Times data, and cases there have doubled in the past two and a half weeks. Both Idaho and Texas broke records for the most new cases reported in a single day Monday, at more than 400 and more than 8,800 new cases respectively.</p><p>"The situation is that we are experiencing rampant community spread," chief Dallas County elected official Clay Jenkins tweeted.</p>
<div id="83d55" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="eeaabe613386ceea4e2ed191f16b77d5"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1279885904623079425" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">.@DCHHS reports 1,062 cases. Today we are fortunate to report no new deaths; however, we do have over 1,000 new cas… https://t.co/FMefsIWFx6</div> — Clay Jenkins (@Clay Jenkins)<a href="https://twitter.com/JudgeClayJ/statuses/1279885904623079425">1593983553.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Despite Monday's grim milestone of 130,000 deaths, the rate of increase of deaths in the country has continued to decline, Reuters reported. However, a surge in deaths can come weeks or even months after a surge in cases, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> experts said. And at least five states have seen their death rates rise, including Arizona, which reported 449 deaths in the last two weeks of June compared to 259 in the first two weeks. As of July 3, intensive care units in the state were at 91 percent capacity, an all-time high, <a href="https://apnews.com/46a23bcf72b624dc25d7703dc269c727" target="_blank">The Associated Press reported</a>.</p><p>The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) predicts that the U.S. death toll will climb to between 140,000 and 160,000 by July 25, according to Reuters. It further projects that deaths will rise in Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.</p>
<p>The surge in cases has drawn critical attention to President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a>'s handling of the crisis. Throughout the pandemic, he has made misleading statements about the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-infections-trump-2645393552.html" target="_self">risks</a> of the new disease and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-coronavirus-medicine-science-2645823308.html" target="_self">effectiveness of various treatments</a>. During a speech on the Fourth of July, he said that 99 percent of COVID-19 cases were "totally harmless," as USA TODAY reported.</p><p>New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo called the president out for the statement on Monday.</p><p>"He is facilitating the virus," Cuomo said, as <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/506019-cuomo-trump-enabling-the-virus" target="_blank">The Hill reported</a>. "He is enabling the virus by statements like that. And you're seeing the infection rate go up, and you're seeing the economy suffer, and he is part of that current debacle that we are in."</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4b34761608130288432c12a3d5848879"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4UmVfSRC9a8?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>To fight the surge in cases, Fauci urged Americans to keep up the social distancing, since new outbreaks had been linked to large indoor gatherings.</p><p>"Avoid crowds," he said, as The New York Times reported. "If you're going to have a social function, maybe a single couple or two — do it outside if you're going to do it. Those are fundamental, and everybody can do that right now."</p>
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President Trump's claim last September that Hurricane Dorian was headed for Alabama's gulf coast was quickly refuted by employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). An independent investigation found that NOAA's chief violated the agency's ethics when he backed Trump's warning and doctored map that used a Sharpie to alter the storm's path, as EcoWatch reported.
<p><br/></p>
<p>Questions linger as to why NOAA officials decided to support Trump's inaccurate warnings. Apparently, the U.S. Department of Commerce, which oversees NOAA, does not want the public to know. The Commerce Department has impeded an inspector general's investigation into whether or not the administration coerced officials into supporting a false narrative and is blocking a release of the report, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/climate/trump-dorian-noaa-investigation.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.oig.doc.gov/OIGPublications/2020-07-01_IG_Memorandum_to_Secretary_Ross_re_OIG-20-031-I_%28SECURED%29.pdf" target="_blank">memo </a>from Inspector General Peggy Gustafson to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, she takes the rare step of publicly airing a dispute between an agency inspector general and a cabinet secretary, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/07/02/commerce-ig-sharpiegate-dispute/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>. In the memo, she claims that Ross' office "thwarted" the publication of her report. She claims that the Commerce Department has claimed that portions of the report cannot be made public, but they have not specified which portions, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/climate/trump-dorian-noaa-investigation.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>The department's refusal to cooperate with the release of the investigation "appears to be directly linked to the content of our report and the findings of responsibility of the high-level individuals involved," Gustafson wrote, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/climate/trump-dorian-noaa-investigation.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p>
<p>The full report has not been released, but on Monday, a <a href="https://www.oig.doc.gov/OIGPublications/OIG-20-032-I.pdf" target="_blank">summary</a> was posted that said that the department led a "flawed process that discounted NOAA participation," and also "required NOAA to issue a Statement that did not further NOAA's or [National Weather Service's (NWS)] interests," as <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/505246-commerce-department-led-flawed-process-on-sharpiegate-watchdog" target="_blank">The Hill</a> reported.</p><p>That summary also said that NOAA "failed to account for the public safety intent of the NWS Birmingham tweet and the distinction between physical science and social science messaging."</p><p>That failure to account for public safety came from NOAA's officials walking back a tweet from the NWS Birmingham's office that said "Alabama will NOT see any impacts from Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane Dorian will be felt across Alabama."</p>
<p>It turns out the unsigned statement that contradicted NWS Birmingham's tweet was the result of pressure from the White House on Secretary Ross, who oversees NOAA and who threatened to fire the political staff at NOAA unless the contradiction of Mr. Trump was addressed, as The New York Times reported.</p><p>The full report was supposed to be released on Tuesday, but it has yet to be released, which prompted the unusual memo from Gustafson. As The Washington Post reported, Senator Maria Cantwell, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said: "This situation has gone from bad to worse. Secretary Ross must immediately cease this campaign to keep the public in the dark. The Inspector General is doing their job and the public deserves to see the report. Release the report now, Mr. Secretary."</p>
<p>The Washington Post also noted that this year NOAA's credibility is particularly important as forecasters are predicting an active <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/hurricanes">hurricane</a> season amidst the coronavirus pandemic, which is seeing a surge in vulnerable states like Florida and Texas. The need to social distance will pose unprecedented challenges for storm preparation, evacuation and response. That means NOAA's forecasts and advice need to have ironclad credibility since they are integral to public safety.</p>
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No Social Distancing or Mask Requirement at Trump's Mt. Rushmore Fireworks Event
01 July
Health + Wellness
A crowd awaits the evening lighting ceremony at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota on June 23, 2012. Mindy / Flickr
Fire experts have already criticized President Trump's planned fireworks event for this Friday at Mt. Rushmore National Memorial as a dangerous idea. Now, it turns out the event may be socially irresponsible too as distancing guidelines and mask wearing will not be enforced at the event, according to CNN.
<p>The fireworks event at the iconic monument in South Dakota will be the first in more than a decade, and it will bring together thousands of supporters who will be crammed together in a fenced-in area for a view of the display. The event is happening as coronavirus cases are surging across the country, amidst a <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought" target="_self">drought</a> in South Dakota that makes the surrounding trees flammable, and during a national conversation about rethinking monuments with racist histories.</p><p>South Dakota's Republican Governor Kristi Noem said the people who attend the celebration will be asked to choose their own comfort level with social distancing and mask wearing. While masks will be handed out to anyone who wants them, they will not be required, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/s-dakota-gov-noem-says-we-will-not-be-social-n1232507" target="_blank">NBC News</a>.</p>
<p>"We will have a large event at July 3rd. We told those folks that have concerns that they can stay home, but those who want to come and join us, we'll be giving out free face masks, if they choose to wear one. But we will not be social distancing," Noem said on Fox News on Monday night, as NBC News reported. "We're asking them to come, be ready to celebrate, to enjoy the freedoms and the liberties that we have in this country."</p><p>She added that state officials have asked the people of South Dakota to practice personal responsibility. "Every one of them has the opportunity to make a decision that they're comfortable with," she said, as NBC News reported.</p>
<p>The unwillingness to mandate that people follow <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/visitors.html" target="_blank">CDC guidelines</a> and practice social distancing has drawn criticism from the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/indigenous-peoples" target="_self">Native American</a> community, which has suffered disproportionately from the coronavirus. Several groups led by Native American activists are planning protests for Trump's visit on Friday.</p><p>"Trump coming here is a safety concern not just for my people inside and outside the reservation, but for people in the Great Plains. We have such limited resources in Black Hills, and we're already seeing infections rising," said Oglala Sioux President Julian Bear Runner in an interview with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/01/mount-rushmore-donald-trump-sioux" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p><p>"It's going to cause an uproar if he comes here. People are going to want to exercise their First Amendment rights to protest and we do not want to see anyone get hurt or the lands be destroyed," added Bear Runner.</p>
<p>Mt. Rushmore, which is carved into the Black Hills Forest, is still considered sacred land by the Sioux. Its construction and the visit from the U.S. president stand in clear violation of treaties that the Sioux people signed with the U.S. government, according to Bear Runner.</p><p>The land was granted to the Sioux in perpetuity, but the U.S. reneged on the deal when gold was discovered in the Black Hills in the late 1800s.</p><p>"The lands on which that mountain is carved and the lands he's about to visit belong to the Great Sioux nation under a treaty signed in 1851 and the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 and I have to tell him he doesn't have permission from its original sovereign owners to enter the territory at this time," Bear Runner told The Guardian.</p>
<p>Trump, who has repeatedly refused to wear a face mask and encouraged states to reopen early before the virus was under control, tends to provoke the same behavior in his fans. The refusal to mandate social distancing guidelines stands in stark contrast to South Dakota's Department of Health <a href="https://doh.sd.gov/news/coronavirus.aspx#Avoid" target="_blank">website</a>, which says that in order to avoid the illness, people should "avoid close contact with people ... stay at home as much as possible," and "put distance between yourself and other people." It also says, "everyone should wear a cloth face cover when they have to go out in public," as <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/s-dakota-gov-noem-says-we-will-not-be-social-n1232507" target="_blank">NBC News</a> reported.</p>
<p>Asked to reconcile the difference between the governor of South Dakota and the guidelines from the CDC and the states' health department, Noem spokesman Ian Fury told CNN, "We're not anticipating that folks will be maintaining six feet of social distancing. We are encouraging attendees to follow CDC guidelines, extensive safety signage will be posted at the event, and masks will be available, but attendees will be exercising their personal responsibility in choosing to attend."</p>
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Trump Administration Buys up Nearly All the World's Supply of Coronavirus Drug Remdesivir
01 July
Politics
Vice President Mike Pence, Gilead Sciences Chairman and CEO Daniel O'Day and President Donald Trump announce the U.S. approval of remdesivir as a coronavirus treatment on May 1, 2020. Erin Schaff-Pool / Getty Images
The U.S. has bought up almost all of the world's supply of remdesivir, one of only two drugs shown to work against the new coronavirus.
<p>The move is in keeping with the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump-administration" target="_self">Trump administration</a>'s "America first" buzzword towards the global pandemic and raises concerns about what the administration will do if and when a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vaccines" target="_self">vaccine</a> is developed.</p><p>"Imagine this was a vaccine," Liverpool University senior visiting research fellow Dr. Andrew Hill told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/30/us-buys-up-world-stock-of-key-covid-19-drug" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. "That would be a firestorm. But perhaps this is a taste of things to come."</p>
<p>The U.S. has secured more than 500,000 treatment courses of the drug through September, the <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2020/06/29/trump-administration-secures-new-supplies-remdesivir-united-states.html?utm_source=TWITTER&utm_medium=TWITTER&utm_content=100001373345722&utm_campaign=Press+Releases+and+Policy+Announcements&linkId=100000013239452" target="_blank">Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Monday</a>. That amounts to 100 percent of drugmaker Gilead's production for July and 90 percent for August and September.</p><p>"President Trump has struck an amazing deal to ensure Americans have access to the first authorized therapeutic for COVID-19," HHS Secretary Alex Azar said in the announcement. "To the extent possible, we want to ensure that any American patient who needs remdesivir can get it. The Trump Administration is doing everything in our power to learn more about life-saving therapeutics for COVID-19 and secure access to these options for the American people."</p>
<div id="099cc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8b947dc3407c58c70dc1186e0cb82ee0"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1277608049839083523" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">NEWS: HHS has announced an agreement to secure large supplies of the drug remdesivir for the United States from Gil… https://t.co/C03DffP4LC</div> — HHS.gov (@HHS.gov)<a href="https://twitter.com/HHSGov/statuses/1277608049839083523">1593440470.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>But the administration's actions will make it harder for people in other countries to access the drug.</p><p>"They've got access to most of the drug supply [of remdesivir], so there's nothing for Europe," Hill told The Guardian.</p><p>Remdesivir was the first drug to be approved by U.S. licensing authorities to treat the new coronavirus. It is also the only drug currently approved by the European Medicines Agency to treat COVID-19, <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2020/07/01/us-buys-up-world-s-stock-of-key-covid-19-drug-remdesivir" target="_blank">EuroNews pointed out</a>. It has been shown to reduce the amount of time seriously ill coronavirus patients spend in the hospital from 15 to 11 days. It has not been shown to speed the recovery time of people with mild or moderate cases. There is also no evidence that it increases a patient's chance of surviving, according to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/remdesivir-coronavirus-drug-us-buy-world-supply-price-gilead-a9594781.html" target="_blank">The Independent</a>.</p>
<p>The only other drug shown to work against the virus is a cheap and widely available steroid called <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-drug-steroid-dexamethasone-2646190364.html" target="_self">dexamethasone</a>, which Oxford University researchers said had reduced the risk of death by a third in severely ill patients.</p><p>The administration's buy-up announcement came the same day that Gilead said it was <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/gilead-covid-2646296616.html" target="_self">pricing</a> remdesivir at $3,120 per treatment course. That announcement also earned the Trump administration criticism, this time for failing to push for a cheaper price for a drug whose development was partly publicly funded.</p><p>"Gilead did not make remdesivir alone," <a href="https://www.citizen.org/article/access-to-medicine-learn-more/#:~:text=Overview,based%20and%20other%20drug%20monopolies." target="_blank">Public Citizen's Access to Medicines Program</a> director Peter Maybarduk said. "Public funding was indispensable at each stage, and government scientists led the early drug discovery team. Allowing Gilead to set the terms during a pandemic represents a colossal failure of leadership by the Trump administration."</p>
<p>The decision to buy up most of the drug's supplies through September also follows a pattern of administration actions that have prioritized the U.S. over international cooperation in fighting the virus.</p><p>The German government criticized an alleged attempt in March by the U.S. to secure exclusive rights to a coronavirus vaccine being developed by German company CureVac, EuroNews reported.</p><p>Then, in May, French company Sanofi said the U.S. would have first access to its vaccine if it proved effective, until criticism from the French government prompted the company to reverse its stance, according to The Guardian.</p>
<p>The Trump administration also asked 3M not to sell N95 respirators to Canada, the company claimed in April, as <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/7127951/us-remdesivir-supply-coronavirus/" target="_blank">Global News reported</a>. The masks were eventually allowed to cross the border.</p><p>The U.S. continues to lead the world in both coronavirus deaths and cases, at more than 2.6 million cases and more than 127,000 deaths, according to Wednesday morning figures from <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">Johns Hopkins University</a>. Last week, the country broke its record with a daily tally of 40,000 new cases, according to The Guardian. Texas, Arizona, California and Florida have all been forced to reverse reopening plans.</p><p>"We are going in the wrong direction," National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci told the Senate, as The Guardian reported. "I would not be surprised if we go up to 100,000 a day if this does not turn around."</p>
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Trending
Medical workers hug each other in an isolation ward at a hospital in Zouping in China's easter Shandong province on Jan. 28, 2020. STR / AFP via Getty Images
The world passed two troubling milestones Sunday, as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases topped 10 million and the number of deaths surpassed 500,000.
<p>This means the death toll has doubled in less than two months, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/28/world/coronavirus-updates.html" target="_blank">The New York Times pointed out</a>, from 250,000 in early May. In April, it topped 100,000. The number of confirmed cases, meanwhile, has doubled in 40 days.</p><p>"It's a startling number," Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles chief medical officer Richard Riggs told <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-28/global-covid-19-cases-hit-10-million-as-pandemic-gains-momentum" target="_blank">Bloomberg News</a> of the 10 million caseload. "It seems like it's going to continue for quite some time."</p>
<div id="247b3" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2f78bfbbc0228338a03db0db4b37a7fc"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1277515684566765568" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">How the world reached 10 million coronavirus infections
https://t.co/4DenJ9J0Sq</div> — Alfons López Tena (@Alfons López Tena)<a href="https://twitter.com/alfonslopeztena/statuses/1277515684566765568">1593418448.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>The number of confirmed cases is likely well under the real tally, according to The New York Times. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data released last week found that the case load could be as much as ten times higher than reported in some regions, and New York Times investigations revealed an underreporting of the death toll in the U.S. and more than a dozen other countries, since inadequate testing makes it hard to confirm that patients died of COVID-19.</p>
<p>The U.S. continues to lead the world in both confirmed cases and deaths, with more than 2.5 million cases and more than 125,000 fatalities, according to data from <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">Johns Hopkins University</a>. Brazil follows with more than 1.3 million confirmed cases and 57,000 deaths. Both U.S. President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> and Brazilian President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/jair-bolsonaro" target="_self">Jair Bolsonaro</a> have been criticized for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-infections-trump-2645393552.html" target="_self">downplaying</a> the seriousness of the outbreak and undermining accurate scientific information about <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-coronavirus-medicine-science-2645823308.html" target="_self">its treatment</a> and <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/brazil-bolsonaro-coronavirus-death-statistics-2646163006.html" target="_self">spread</a>. Together, the two countries account for 49 percent of new infections, according to World Health Organization data reported by Bloomberg News.</p><p>The U.S. accounts for more than a quarter of all known deaths, according to The New York Times. And infections are increasing in 29 of 50 states, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/28/global-report-covid-19-cases-exceed-10m-as-anxieties-rise-over-us" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported. The country reported 44,000 new cases by 4 p.m. on Friday, the highest daily increase since the pandemic began. While the U.S. outbreak was initially centered in the Northeast, with New York City emerging as an early epicenter, cases have now shifted to states in the South and West, The New York Times reported. Texas, Arizona and Florida are especially hard-hit and have been forced to pause reopening plans, according to Bloomberg.</p>
<p>Administration officials including Vice President Mike Pence have attributed the surge in U.S. cases to an increase in testing, The New York Times reported, but <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health">public health</a> experts say this is not the case. One of the reasons is that the percentage of tests turning up positive results is also on the rise. The positivity rate in Los Angeles rose from 5.8 percent two weeks ago to nine percent Saturday, while the rate in Texas nearly doubled from seven percent two weeks ago to 13 percent Friday.</p><p>Worldwide, Brazil and India are both battling significant outbreaks, with each reporting more than 10,000 new cases a day, according to The Guardian. And China, where the outbreak began, has put a province near Beijing under strict lockdown to control an outbreak there.</p>
<p>The current global caseload dashes hopes that the outbreak would weaken in the summer, Bloomberg News pointed out, but health experts warn that things could still worsen in the fall, especially in Northern countries that will also have to contend with flu season.</p><p>"We haven't seen the end of Covid-19, and we haven't seen the full scope of it yet, either," professor of health metrics sciences at the University of Washington Ali Mokdad told Bloomberg News. "This will be as dangerous as the Spanish flu in many ways."</p>
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'Unfathomable Cruelty': Trump Admin Asks Supreme Court to Invalidate Affordable Care Act
26 June
Politics
President Barack Obama greets President-elect Donald Trump as he arrives on the platform at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, on Jan. 20, 2017, before his swearing-in ceremony. MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images
In a move that seems particularly cruel in the midst of the growing coronavirus pandemic, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, on Thursday, as CNN reported.
<p>If the move is successful, it would wipe out the landmark legislation that provided health insurance for 23 million Americans that would be otherwise unable to afford it, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/obamacare-trump-administration-supreme-court.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>The Trump administration snuck in the request literally at the eleventh hour, filing an 82-page brief with the court just one hour before the midnight deadline. The brief sides with Republican officials in Texas and 17 other states who claim that the 2017 move by a Republican-controlled Congress to zero out the tax penalty for not having insurance has made the law unconstitutional, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/obamacare-trump-administration-supreme-court.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported.</p>
<p>The filing made no mention of the coronavirus pandemic. It also came on the same day the government reported that close to half a million people who lost their health insurance amid the economic shutdown to slow the spread of COVID-19 have gotten coverage through HealthCare.gov, as <a href="https://apnews.com/918555243ce3f13c30deffb42ce31779" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> reported.</p><p>According to the<a href="https://www.cms.gov/CCIIO/Resources/Forms-Reports-and-Other-Resources/Downloads/SEP-Report-June-2020.pdf" target="_blank"> Thursday report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services</a>, 487,000 Americans took advantage of the special enrollment period on HealthCare.gov after losing their healthcare plans. The numbers mark a 46 percent increase from enrollments in April and May 2019, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/26/trump-obamacare-supreme-court-brief/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p>
<p>If the health insurance requirement is invalidated, "then it necessarily follows that the rest of the ACA must also fall," Solicitor General Noel Francisco wrote Thursday, according to <a href="https://apnews.com/918555243ce3f13c30deffb42ce31779" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a>.</p><p>The administration has taken various stances on which parts of the ACA might be kept, replaced or discarded. However, <a href="https://apnews.com/918555243ce3f13c30deffb42ce31779" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> noted that it has been always determined to overturn provisions that stop insurance companies from discriminating against people because of preexisting conditions.</p>
<p>Presidential candidate Joe Biden, who would like to see an expansion of the Affordable Care Act, pointed out that some COVID-19 survivors could lose their comprehensive healthcare coverage if the act was overturned.</p><p>"Those survivors, having struggled and won the fight of their lives, would have their peace of mind stolen away at the moment they need it most," Biden said, as The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/26/trump-obamacare-supreme-court-brief/" target="_blank">Washington Post</a> reported. "They would live their lives caught in a vise between Donald Trump's twin legacies: his failure to protect the American people from the coronavirus, and his heartless crusade to take health-care protections away from American families."</p>
<p>The justices will not hear the case until next term, though it is unclear if they will hear them prior to the November election. It will be the third time the court has heard a significant challenge to the law. The case places a group of Democratic attorneys general led by California and the House of Representatives, which are defending the law, against the Trump administration and a group of red-state attorneys general led by Texas, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/25/politics/trump-administration-obamacare-supreme-court/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>"Now is not the time to rip away our best tool to address very real and very deadly health disparities in our communities," Attorney General Xavier Becerra of California said in a statement on Thursday, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/politics/obamacare-trump-administration-supreme-court.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a> reported. "This fight comes at the most crucial time. The death toll from the coronavirus today is greater than the death toll of the Vietnam War."</p><p>House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized the administration after the late-night filing.</p><p>"President Trump and the Republicans' campaign to rip away the protections and benefits of the Affordable Care Act in the middle of the coronavirus crisis is an act of unfathomable cruelty," she said in a <a href="https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/62520-3" target="_blank">statement</a> Thursday, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/25/politics/trump-administration-obamacare-supreme-court/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>"If President Trump gets his way," she added, "130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions will lose the A.C.A.'s lifesaving protections and 23 million Americans will lose their health coverage entirely."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxOTY1MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzMDA1OTA3MH0.S4Kp_XNkt-4OcBYQXlnP-1SJczhz1aNTNhRbOCay3Ek/img.jpg?width=980" id="326b8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d6669ab0306a25ac1d1f1222b2b5d5e4" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Around 250 healthcare justice activists and supporters rallied with speeches on the U.S. Capitol grounds to protest the impending Senate vote to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act on July 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. The ACA repeal would fail by a vote of 49-51. Republicans John McCain, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski joined with all of the Senate Democrats to defeat the measure, preserving Obamacare. Stephen Melkisethian / Flickr
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Trump's Fireworks Show at Mt. Rushmore Is a Dangerous Idea, Fire and Public Health Experts Say
25 June
Politics
A park ranger addresses the crowd at Mt. Rushmore in Pennington, South Dakota on Aug. 17, 2017. Steve Elliott / CC BY-SA 2.0
For the last decade, fireworks have been banned at Mt. Rushmore due to environmental concerns and public health concerns. President Trump, however, is not somebody who seems to care about either, so he's planning on going ahead with his fireworks show on July 3 at the iconic site.
<p>As <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/06/24/trump-mount-rushmore-fireworks/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported, the National Park Service stopped allowing fireworks shows at Mt. Rushmore in 2010, worried that the drought conditions could lead to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires">wildfires</a>. The monument, featuring the faces of four presidents, is surrounded by 1,200 acres of forested lands, including ponderosa pines, and lies next to the Black Hills National Forest's Black Elk Wilderness.</p><p>The ponderosa forest that surrounds the sculpture is a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/climax-ecology" target="_blank">climax community</a>, which is like the apex predator of plants, according to <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a32957973/mount-rushmore-fireworks/" target="_blank">Popular Mechanics</a>. It's an age-old biosphere that can only be taken down by a catastrophe.</p>
<p>Due to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a> shifts in precipitation, the conditions are ripe for a catastrophe. The Black Hills moisture level in April and May was 30 to 50 percent below its long-term average, the <a href="https://rapidcityjournal.com/fire/fire-expert-says-mount-rushmore-fireworks-ill-advised/article_9b42ba7a-fdcd-5cc0-b03e-95ed2f3bd932.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-1" target="_blank">Rapid City Journal</a> reported. June has been hotter and drier than normal and the long-range forecasts suggest those conditions will continue until July, as <a href="https://apnews.com/f091160cd9d56a6db67a3181c4a2efc5" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> reported.</p><p>Earlier this month, the U.S. Drought Monitor recently labeled nearly all of southwestern South Dakota, including most of the Black Hills, as "abnormally dry," according to <a href="https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2020/06/23/mount-rushmore-fireworks-display-ill-advised-fire-expert-says/3244196001/" target="_blank">South Dakota News Watch</a>.</p>
<p>"It's a bad idea based on the wildland fire risk, the impact to the water quality of the memorial, the fact that [it] is going to occur during a pandemic without social distancing guidelines and the emergency evacuation issues," said Cheryl Schreier, who served as the superintendent at Mount Rushmore National Park between September 2010 and May 2019, to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/06/24/trump-mount-rushmore-fireworks/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p><p>Bill Gabbert, the former fire management officer for Mount Rushmore and six other national parks in the region, told <a href="https://apnews.com/f091160cd9d56a6db67a3181c4a2efc5" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a> that shooting fireworks over the extremely flammable ponderosa pine forest should not be done.</p><p>"Burning debris, the burning embers and unexploded shells fall into a ponderosa pine forest and ponderosa pine is extremely flammable," said Gabbert.</p><p>He also told <a href="https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2020/06/23/mount-rushmore-fireworks-display-ill-advised-fire-expert-says/3244196001/" target="_blank">South Dakota News Watch</a> that "shooting fireworks over a ponderosa pine forest, or any flammable vegetation, is ill advised and should not be done. Period."</p>
<p>Dry conditions like the ones facing South Dakota have historically been a driving force behind increased fire activity in the region, according to Darren Clabo, South Dakota state wildfire meteorologist, who spoke to <a href="https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2020/06/23/mount-rushmore-fireworks-display-ill-advised-fire-expert-says/3244196001/" target="_blank">South Dakota News Watch</a>.</p><p>"The critical thing is, this is the time of the year when we get most of our rain. And so when we're starting to see precipitation deficits during the time period when we get all the rain, it does become quite concerning looking forward to our fire season," Clabo said.</p>
<p>Trump has wanted to have a fireworks show at Mt. Rushmore since 2018, but advisers had successfully steered him away from that idea, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/06/24/trump-mount-rushmore-fireworks/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p><p>And yet, when he was asked about the risk of wildfire earlier this year, Trump failed to see the large picture of the surrounding forest.</p><p>"What can burn? It's stone," he said in January, as <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/a32957973/mount-rushmore-fireworks/" target="_blank">Popular Mechanics</a> reported.</p><p>The state authority distributed 7,500 tickets to the event through an online lottery. While coronavirus cases are surging throughout the country, there is no social distancing requirement for the July 3 event at Mt. Rushmore. Instead, the Interior Department will post signs throughout the park urging visitors to wear a cloth face covering when it is impossible to keep six feet away from others, and it will provide face coverings for all of its employees, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/06/24/trump-mount-rushmore-fireworks/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p>
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A view of Mt. Rushmore at night on July 4, 2018. Rick Schwartz / Flickr
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