Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Magnifico, annetteboardman, jck, and Besame. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Man Oh Man, wader, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), Interceptor7, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw.
OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00 AM Eastern Time.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
Chicago Tribune: Gov. J.B. Pritzker to extend Illinois’ stay-at-home order, school closings through end of April by Dan Petrella and Jamie Munks
April is canceled too, Illinois.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday he’s extending his stay-at-home order through April 30 as part of the state’s effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, bringing Illinois in line with the federal government’s latest recommendations. The governor’s order will also keep schools closed until the end of the month.
A little more than a week into a new world of safe distancing and keeping up with family and friends through Zoom and FaceTime, Pritzker’s announcement drives home the reality that the crisis likely will only intensify before any sense of normalcy returns.
Acknowledging the missed paychecks and lost jobs that have resulted from his decision to close down “nonessential” businesses, Pritzker said he’s been guided by the advice of experts in his actions to slow the spread of COVID-19.
“Each step we have been forced to take by this pandemic has made things more challenging for our residents,” Pritzker said at his daily news conference. "The cascading consequences of these steps weigh on me every minute of every day.
Idaho Statesman: Earthquake shakes Boise with 6.5 magnitude that could be Idaho’s second-strongest ever
An earthquake shook Boise and the Treasure Valley at about 5:53 p.m. Tuesday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The shaking lasted for 20-30 seconds, with a small pause, at a home in East Boise and at the Idaho Statesman building on the Boise Bench.
The U.S. Geological Survey pegged the earthquake at 6.5 magnitude, with an epicenter in the mountains northwest of Stanley. The epicenter was 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Challis, the National Weather Service said.
There were at least 16 aftershocks, according to USGS, with a magnitude-4.6 tremor giving parts of Boise a strong, brief shake at 6:27 p.m. A 4.4 struck at 8:09 p.m.
Stanley Mayor Steve Botti told the Idaho Statesman about 8:45 p.m. that he hadn’t seen any damage but the town was “still surveying for damage.”
“Stuff was flying all over the place,” Botti said. “I was upstairs and I tried to walk down the steps and I couldn’t because it was shaking too much.”
Los Angeles Times: Coronavirus strikes skid row as Union Rescue Mission reports first confirmed case by Benjamin Oreskes and Doug Smith
In the first confirmed case on skid row, an employee of the Union Rescue Mission has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and is being treated at County USC Medical Center.
Chief Executive Officer Andy Bales said 95 residents and several employees have been quarantined on the mission’s third floor, which houses a live-in recovery program and is where the unnamed employee worked.
“We put entire third floor in isolation, delivering meals in full protective gear, hoping they don’t come down with symptoms,” Bales said.
Bales said the L.A. County Public Health Department is setting up tents in the mission’s courtyard to do triage on anyone else who may have been infected. The employee’s recent contacts also are being tracked down.
NOLA.com: Louisiana sees deadliest day from coronavirus yet, as state doubles beds at convention center by Sam Karlin
Louisiana experienced its deadliest day yet from the new coronavirus, confirming 54 new deaths Tuesday as officials ramped up efforts to alleviate a looming run on hospitals.
The state is doubling the number of beds at a temporary hospital under construction at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans and continuing to beat the drum for more life-saving equipment. Gov. John Bel Edwards said the state was adding 1,000 more beds to the convention center in response to worsening projections that the New Orleans area would run out of hospital beds soon – now as early as next Tuesday.
And while the rest of Louisiana has more time, officials plan to establish similar facilities in other parts of the state as the number of cases continues to grow outside of the New Orleans metro area. Northwest Louisiana has seen a sharp rise in cases in recent days. East Baton Rouge Parish has confirmed 228 cases and 12 deaths, and the number of confirmed cases in the Acadiana region jumped by 131 Tuesday.
“As you can all see from the numbers today we still have a long way to go,” Edwards said. “This is still going to get worse before it gets better.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune: Minnesota must contend in chaotic global market for crucial ventilators by Patrick Condon, Adam Belz, and Jim Spencer
Minnesota is scrambling against worldwide competition to line up the ventilators it needs to limit the death toll from a coming surge of patients critically ill with COVID-19.
The stay-at-home order issued by Gov. Tim Walz last week is aimed at slowing the state’s rate of infection to buy time for Minnesota to prepare for a spike in serious illness. More mechanical ventilators, which keep people alive while their lungs are failing, are crucial. “We are working on procuring what we believe is going to be needed,” Walz said.
But governors and heads of state are battling for the machines in a chaotic global marketplace. No national or international entity is managing the shortage, leaving companies like Minnesota-based Medtronic to reluctantly decide who gets new ventilators rolling off the assembly line.
Leaders of Minnesota’s preparation efforts say they’ve had little success so far in increasing ventilator capacity. Many newly produced ventilators are going into a federal stockpile to which Minnesota has so far not had access, they said.
There’s this story out of Minnesota, as well.
The Buffalo News: At ECMC, shaken doctor shares lessons from the 'Covid floor' by Sean Kirst
Dr. Erik Jensen went to work Friday morning as an anesthesiologist in the everyday manner that he has followed for more than 20 years. He showered and threw on his clothes at his Orchard Park home, then said goodbye to his wife, Dorinda, their three sons and two dogs before driving to the Erie County Medical Center by the same route he always uses.
It was only when he returned that his family realized nothing was the same.
“My street clothes didn’t make it through the door,” Jensen said. He tore them off, threw them in the washer and ran for the shower in his boxers. Once he was finished, he stood in front of the mirror and shaved off a goatee he has worn for three decades, a change that now allows a protective mask to fit more snugly.
He finally emerged in the kitchen, where Dorinda and their oldest son, Connor – a medical student himself – looked at Jensen with both awe and alarm.
“I’ve never seen you like this,” Connor said, an observation intertwined with the reason Jensen agreed to this interview in the first place.
AlJazeera: Doctor's Note: Does coronavirus cause loss of smell and taste? by Dr. Amir Khan
We have all heard about some of the more common symptoms of coronavirus - a persistent, dry cough and a high temperature. If you have either of these symptoms, then you must stay at home and self-isolate for at least seven days.
But as time has gone on, we have learned a lot more about the virus and how it behaves; and it is clear that like most infections, different people exhibit different symptoms.
We know now that shortness of breath, headaches and sore throats can also form part of myriad symptoms, albeit in fewer patients.
Now, people are starting to report losing their sense of taste and smell. And it seems that a loss in some people's sense of smell (anosmia) or loss of sense of taste (ageusia) can be the only symptoms they have at all.
Countries such as China, Iran, Italy, Germany and France have all reported cases of COVID-19 where patients reported a temporary loss in their sense of smell and/or taste.
According to the British Association of Otorhinolaryngology (ENT UK), both of these symptoms have been found among "a number of patients" in the "absence of other symptoms".
My sense of smell and my body temperature are two hings that i check throughout the day constantly.
Buzzfeed: Their Trader Joe's Colleagues Got Sick. Their Stores Are Still Open. By Julia Reinstein
With their Hawaiian shirts, free samples, and friendly vibes, Trader Joe’s stores can seem more laid-back than other supermarkets.
But employees working during the coronavirus pandemic fear for their health and the safety of customers.
“People are generally scared. There’s a lot of people feeling that the company is not responding in a responsible fashion,” said one employee of the Trader Joe’s in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill neighborhood, who like several people in this article asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing his job.
More than half a dozen employees told BuzzFeed News that employees of at least four store locations in New York and Washington, DC, have tested positive for the coronavirus — but the locations have remained open with workers expected to come in as normal.
Like supermarkets across the country, Trader Joe’s stores are staying open as essential businesses to ensure people can still get food and supplies during the pandemic. But employees say guidelines around store safety have varied, with some stores bringing in professionals to deep clean after COVID-19 cases are discovered and others not doing so because of the amount of time that had passed since the sick staffer had worked.
The employees need to wear masks. Temperature checks need to be done before they go to work stations. Stores where an employee has tested positive need to be deep cleaned before reopening. This isn’t hard.
Vanity Fair: “I Have No Ideology. My Ideology Is Health”: Dr. Anthony Fauci on the Tactics of Dealing With the Novel Coronavirus—And Trump by Gabriel Sherman
Since mid-January, when it became clear that the novel coronavirus had escaped from Wuhan and would make its way to the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci has been waging a war—a war of persuasion. He’s had to convince a diverse, federalist, hyper-partisan country to take the threat of the virus seriously. And in order to do that, he’s had to first convince President Donald Trump. This has posed certain challenges, and certain risks. “I take the tack that I will say what’s true and whatever happens, happens,” Fauci told me. And lately, that approach has been winning. On Sunday, Trump extended the national social-distancing guidelines for another 30 days after Fauci showed Trump models that projected 2.2 million Americans could die if nothing was done; Trump had proposed reopening the country for Easter. This morning, Vanity Fair spoke by phone with Fauci from his office at the National Institutes of Health as he raced between meetings. The interview has been edited for space and clarity.
***
Got it. I’ve read been reading history about the 1918 pandemic and a lot of people are now starting to talk about the quote “second wave” that could be coming our way in the fall. How prepared should we be? Some people have the notion that once the restrictions are lifted, whether it’s in May or June, that we’re going to be out of the woods. Is that true?
As I’ve said at the press conference at the White House yesterday [Monday], I feel that it is highly likely that we will have—I don’t know whether you want to call it a second wave—but we will have a return of infections as we get into the next season. I believe given the fact that we’ll be much, much better prepared, there will be a number of people who have already been infected so that they will be immune. The second iteration of this will very likely be much less severe. That’s for a number of reasons. So I don’t see this coming back and hitting us the way it hit us the first time around.
Washington Post: Abnormally warm Gulf of Mexico could intensify the upcoming tornado and hurricane seasons by Matthew Cappucci
Water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico are running more than three degrees above average, increasing the prospects for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes this spring and potentially stronger hurricane activity in the summer and fall.
The last time Gulf of Mexico waters were similarly warm in 2017, it coincided with an above-average tornado season through the spring, and then Category 4 Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas Gulf Coast at the end of summer.
The balmy gulf waters have already contributed to abnormal warmth across the Deep South, where virtually the entirety of the Interstate 10 corridor through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia is wrapping up one of its top five warmest Marches on record. Numerous records have toppled, with some cities soaring into the 90s.
New York Times: Border Wall Work in Arizona Speeds Up, Igniting Contagion Fears by Simon Romero
AJO, Ariz. — Motels, mobile home camps and Airbnbs in this small Arizona border town are full up. Work crews stream into eateries for takeout orders. License plates on trucks parked outside the crowded laundromat come from as far away as Alaska.
Around the country, some states have cut back on construction activity to curb the spread of the coronavirus, and hotels and restaurants in many cities have closed. But here in Arizona, the federal government is embarking on a frenetic new phase of construction of the border wall.
The Trump administration contends that the wall will help prevent the spread of the virus into the United States from Mexico, though epidemiologists and the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say such a barrier would not mitigate the outbreaks already occurring in every state.
The intensification of construction during the pandemic is raising fears among residents of Ajo, Ariz., and other nearby border communities that the growing influx of workers increases their risk of exposure. Some disease specialists in Arizona are warning that workers clustered in tight quarters along the border could spread the virus around the country when they return to their families.
/smdh
Christian Science Monitor: Democracy test: Hungary, Serbia leaders expand emergency powers by Dusan Stojanovic
Soldiers patrol the streets with their fingers on machine gun triggers. The army guards an exhibition center-turned-makeshift-hospital crowded with rows of metal beds for those infected with the coronavirus. And Serbia's president warns residents that Belgrade's graveyards won't be big enough to bury the dead if people ignore his government's lockdown orders.
Since President Aleksandar Vucic announced an open-ended state of emergency on March 15, parliament has been sidelined, borders shut, a 12-hour police-enforced curfew imposed and people over 65 banned from leaving their homes – some of Europe's strictest measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Serbian leader, who makes dramatic daily appearances issuing new decrees, has assumed full power, prompting an outcry from opponents who say he has seized control of the state in an unconstitutional manner.
Rodoljub Sabic, a former state commissioner for personal data protection, says by proclaiming a state of emergency, Mr. Vucic has assumed "full supremacy" over decision-making during the crisis, although his constitutional role is only ceremonial.
"He issues orders which are automatically accepted by the government," Mr. Sabic said. "No checks and balances."
Hindustan Times: Covid-19 update: Genesis of India’s biggest coronavirus hot spot by Anonna Dutt
On March 25 as Indians woke up to the first day of a three-week lockdown to stave off the Covid-19 epidemic, disease surveillance officials in the national capital had just begun uncovering a problem that would soon turn into an epidemiological headache spanning 19 states: hundreds of members of a religious sect may have already taken the infection to far reaches of the country, sharing flights, buses, trains and community events even before the country could be shut down.
Tips about an infection hotspot at the Tablighi Jamaat’s Nizamuddin headquarters began trickling in to the Delhi Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme office that week, leading the district surveillance officer (DSO) to dispatch a team on March 26. Six people were found with symptoms at the building, isolated and sent for testing.
On March 29, the six were confirmed as having Covid-19. A day later, the number grew to 24. The reports of the 441 people from the Markaz suspected to have the disease are still awaited.
The origin of the infection in the sect possibly goes back to February 27, when 16,000 members began a congregation at the Sri Petaling mosque in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Over four days, hundreds of worshippers prayed shoulder-to-shoulder inside a mosque complex similar to the one in Nizamuddin, while some guests posted selfies as they shared food, social posts from the event would later show.
Washington Post: ‘I am so afraid’: Coronavirus isolation brings grave new hardships for the world’s poor by Shibani Mahtani, Regine Cabano, and Tiffany Liang
HONG KONG — For some, sheltering in place and social distancing mean home workouts in front of large-screen smart televisions, cooking up a storm with groceries ordered online and more time in their backyards.
Elsewhere, it means confining a family of four in a 110-square-foot space while children struggle with e-learning on a poor Internet connection. It means a devastating loss of income for families who now forage through trash, and crippling loneliness for those already on society’s fringes.
Barriers have risen around the world as governments sacrifice their economies and free mobility to stave off a pandemic that has already killed more than 31,000 people. But as these measures disproportionately affect the poor, doing one’s part to fight the coronavirus can mean dramatically different adjustments. Some are struggling to afford their next meal.
South China Morning Post: Coronavirus: Hong Kong residents unhappy with Covid-19 response – and surgical masks one big reason why, Post survey shows by Tony Cheung and Natalie Wong
An overwhelming majority of Hong Kong residents are convinced they will have only themselves to thank rather than their embattled government if the city wins its battle against the
Out of nearly 850 people polled, seven in 10 said they would credit the community response for beating the coronavirus, while more than half objected to the idea of
Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s administration being commended for it.
And while the survey, conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong, reflected broad displeasure with the government’s performance to date, the scarcity of surgical masks and personal protective equipment for ordinary residents as well as medical professionals was the biggest bone of contention.
Most respondents rated the issue more distressing than immigration control, disruption to school life or the designation of quarantine centres and clinics in their neighbourhoods.
Hong Kong remains a powder keg ready to explode.
And finally tonight…
Guardian: Is there a safe way for me to enjoy casual sex during the coronavirus crisis? By Pamela Stephenson Connolly
I enjoy casual sex and although it’s not always that easy to be safe, I believe I can do it safely enough to protect against sexually transmitted diseases. But Covid-19 is another story. Can I now have sex with strangers and avoid the risk of contracting coronavirus?
I’ll let you hit the link for the answer.
Everyone have a good evening and stay safe!
And forget what T.S. Eliot said!