So. Much. Action. To say it’s hard to keep up with is … something of an understatement. But, of course, a lot of the current action is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overdue. Holding police departments to account and addressing the systemic racism that leads to law enforcement—and oh so many other—inequities is just the beginning, and here’s hoping this…
(NEW YORK) — With New York City poised to reopen after a more than two-month coronavirus shutdown, officials on Sunday lifted a curfew that was in place amid protests of police brutality and racial injustice. But they also urged that demonstrators be tested for COVID-19. “Get a test. Get a test,” New York Gov. Andrew…
(ROME) — Hundreds of demonstrators have gathered in Rome shunning masks to protest against the Italian government’s measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Members of a marginal political movement created last year by a retired Carabinieri general have emerged as a virus-denial camp in Italy, the first Western country to be hit by…
The same denial leading ridiculous numbers of people to ignore the reality that social distancing and mask-wearing protects everyone during a pandemic seems to be prevailing when it comes to a potential vaccine for the novel coronavirus. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll finds the only about half of Americans would get…
Donald Trump has a new testing plan, released in a report to Congress and called “COVID-19 Strategic Testing Plan.” It is, of course, neither strategic nor a plan. It’s telling the states to do it, and “holds individual states responsible for planning and carrying out all coronavirus testing.” Congressional Democratic leaders are not impressed. “After six…
On Friday, Donald Trump let it be known that he had something to say about the COVID-19 pandemic. But rather than his usual hours-long ramble in which he confesses to taking a dangerous off-label prescription, or encourages Americans to sip a Clorox cocktail, Trump stumped out to the stage for only two minutes flat. He was…
Impeached president Donald Trump’s buffet lunch with Republican senators Tuesday had a lot do to with his reelection and very little to do with the pandemic still raging across the nation. Or the urgent need for more relief. Or the budget crisis states and counties and cities and towns are facing. Or a persistent lack…
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said Monday that he is taking a malaria drug to lessen symptoms should he get the new coronavirus, even though the drug is unproven for fighting COVID-19. Trump told reporters he has been taking the drug, hydroxychloroquine, and a zinc supplement daily “for about a week and a half now.”…
As the COVID-19 pandemic has raged on around the country, Prism has been on the ground covering the stories that matter most to the communities at risk, and keeping a finger on the pulse of the other major news unfolding against the backdrop of the virus. In case you missed it, here’s a roundup of…
Does the Trump Administration believe the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) let the country down with its coronavirus response? It depends on who you ask. The CDC has faced mounting criticism during the pandemic for first delivering a test that failed to accurately detect the novel coronavirus, and then for the speed…
This past Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was a lying sack of crap. “They claim pandemics only happen once every hundred years but what if that’s no longer true? We want to be early, ready for the next one, because clearly the Obama administration did not leave to this administration any kind of game…
The same day that the nation’s top infectious-disease expert warned that reopening the economy too quickly could bring serious consequences, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner acknowledged that there is inherent “risk” in President Trump pushing Americans to get back to work. Speaking to TIME’s senior White House correspondent Brian Bennett as part of the…
In the wake of Donald Trump’s executive order demanding the reopening of the nation’s meat processing plants, a new Bloomberg News analysis shows that the COVID-19 pandemic is now spreading at “more than twice the national rate” in counties with major plants. COVID-19 infections are rose 19% in the week after Trump’s April 28 order….
As the world struggles to reopen and establish a new post-coronavirus normal, global travel is likely to be the last activity to go back to business as usual. Every country and territory in the world has imposed travel restrictions of some kind. In many places, particularly in Asia, where the pandemic hit first, travelers must…
As President during the global coronavirus pandemic, Donald Trump is leading by example— but perhaps not the example he was hoping to set. As members of the White House staff have been diagnosed with COVID-19 in recent days, Trump’s inner circle has become a cautionary tale for Americans of what can happen when guidance from…
While Kentucky’s senior senator, Republican Mitch McConnell, is drawing red lines over more assistance to the states trying to stay afloat in the coronavirus crisis, the governor, Democrat Andy Beshear, is making sure the state’s unemployed get all the assistance possible. That’s led to a third of Kentucky’s workforce filing for unemployment, the largest share of…
(WASHINGTON) — Some of President Donald Trump’s top economic advisers emphasized on Sunday the importance of states getting more businesses and offices open even as the pandemic makes its way to the White House complex, forcing three members of the administration’s coronavirus task force into self-quarantine. The president and governors who will decide when to…
The Trump White House is now a coronavirus hotspot. With the news of Mike Pence press secretary Katie Miller (wife of white nationalist Stephen Miller) and Donald Trump’s military-provided personal valet (read: Diet Coke deliverer) testing positive, as well as unidentified Secret Service members, that much seems clear. Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Stephen…
As Donald Trump declares victory, pushing for an end to pandemic control measures even while acknowledging it will cause many more Americans to die, and Republican governors declare victory, writing pompous self-laudatory editorials while COVID-19 deaths in their own states escalate, two things are now evident. One: The number of American deaths in the COVID-19…
(TEHRAN, Iran) — Iran says it is ready for unconditional prisoner swap talks with the United States because of fears that the coronavirus could put the lives of the prisoners at risk, Iranian media reported Sunday. An Iranian news website, Khabaronline.ir, quoted Cabinet spokesman Ali Rabiei as saying there is a “readiness for all prisoners”…