The Full Belmonte, 4/19/2022
An aerial view taken yesterday shows residential buildings damaged in the southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine.
“The battle for control over the Donbas region is currently underway, and the outcome may define Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion after his forces suffered costly failures in Kyiv and across central and northern Ukraine. In eastern Ukraine, Russian forces have completed the regrouping of troops to launch an offensive to establish full control over the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, a Ukrainian defense ministry spokesperson said. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces need weapons quickly, pushing back against concerns from US and NATO officials that his military would need significant training before receiving advanced weapons from other countries. Separately, US Customs and Border Protection officials said they encountered about 5,000 Ukrainians in March, including 3,274 along the US southern border, according to newly released agency data.” Read more at CNN
“The U.S. will soon train Ukrainian troops to operate the howitzers that Washington is sending.” Read more at New York Times
“Russia will use only conventional weapons in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in response to a question about the possible deployment of nuclear arms in an interview with India Today television.” Read more at Bloomberg
“Washington backed further away from suggestions its officials would boycott Group of 20 meetings if their Russian counterparts attend.” Read more at Bloomberg
“A federal judge in Florida appointed by former President Trump on Monday struck down the U.S. mask mandate for travelers, which had been extended by the federal government into May but is no longer in force.
The ruling sparked confusion as flight attendants asked Americans air travelers for patience, the White House urged public passengers to continue wearing face coverings even as the Transportation Security Administration said mask wearing won’t be enforced for the time being and a legal appeal remained possible (The Hill).
The five largest U.S. carriers — American Airlines Group Inc., Alaska Air Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc., Southwest Airlines Co. and United Airlines Holdings Inc. — said they dropped their mandates effective immediately. Use of masks will be optional for both passengers and staff, they said (The Boston Globe).
The Metro subway system in the nation’s capital also went mask-optional on Monday for passengers and employees. ‘Our mask mandate has been based on federal guidance,’ said Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority General Manager and Chief Executive Officer Paul Wiedefeld in a statement. ‘We will continue to monitor this situation as it unfolds, but masks will be optional on Metro property until further notice.’
The United States is indisputably a patchwork of COVID-19 risk evaluation and attention to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention authority, which has been issued, reevaluated and modified since 2020 to reduce the spread of the highly transmissible variants of the coronavirus, including during this year’s spring surge of infections caused by omicron’s viral cousins. President Biden’s federal say-so amid a public health crisis has been challenged in court for federal employees, private businesses and public transportation.
Monday’s judicial decision hinged on the CDC’s federal authority under existing law to require individual behavior during a public health emergency. It’s a legal arena that will play an important role during the next pandemic. And public health experts predict there will be more.
The Associated Press: Cheers, fear greet judge’s ruling on masks for U.S. travel. Directives could still vary from city to city.
Late on Monday, the Biden administration said the judge’s ruling was under review. But for now, ‘public transportation masking’ is no longer in force.
The New York Times: Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle voided the mandate applied to airplanes, airports, trains, train stations and other public transit and transportation hubs on several grounds, including an argument that the government exceeded its power under the Public Health Services Act of 1944.
The business community — which early in the pandemic begged the government to impose some nationwide requirements rather than bow to the whims of 50 states and various cities — gradually yielded to the idea that federal mandates, masks included, were deeply unpopular among many Americans. The U.S. travel industry has been arguing this year that declining COVID-19 infection rates and fatalities, the benefits of available vaccines and treatments, market pressures and common sense now shape traveler choices.
Minutes before the judge’s ruling was announced, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said he wanted the mask mandate to end. ‘We’re all hoping coming May 3 the mandate expires and the government puts it on individuals,’ he said at a Washington Post Live event. ‘In other sectors of the economy, there are no masks. It just doesn’t make sense’ (Politico).
The Wall Street Journal: Currently, the U.S. has no countries on its ‘do not travel’ list warning of high COVID-19 infection risks.
The Hill: The White House will co-host a virtual global COVID-19 summit on May 12.
Total U.S. coronavirus deaths reported as of this morning, according to Johns Hopkins University: 988,912. Current average U.S. COVID-19 daily deaths are 373, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Read more at The Hill
“WASHINGTON—The U.S. has made more than a million arrests at the U.S.-Mexico border since October, the fastest pace of illegal border crossings in at least the last two decades, according to new data released Monday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Border agents made 209,906 arrests along the border in March, making it the busiest month in two decades. Another 11,397 migrants were permitted to enter the country to seek humanitarian protection at land border crossings, according to the data. The numbers cover a period from the beginning of the fiscal year to the end of March.
The numbers included a sharp rise in migrants from Cuba and Ukraine. About 32,271 Cubans crossed illegally at the border in March alone—almost as high as the 38,390 Cubans who crossed in all of the last fiscal year. So far this year, 79,377 Cubans have crossed the border illegally.
Nearly 5,000 Ukrainians were allowed to enter the country on temporary humanitarian grounds, primarily at a border checkpoint near San Diego.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“The U.S. Postal Service said Monday that it would slow delivery times for nearly a third of all first-class packages as part of its effort to lower costs and reduce its reliance on air transportation.
The new service standards, scheduled to go into effect May 1, will add up to one or two days to some packages traveling long distances. Most package delivery times will be unaffected, and a small amount will arrive one day sooner.
The longer delivery times are part of the Postal Service’s plan to reduce more than $160 billion in projected losses over the next decade Postmaster General Louis DeJoy introduced the plan last year, which broadly called for slower delivery times, higher shipping rates and pivoting the Postal Service to deliver more packages.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
Bald eagles were removed from the federal list of endangered species in 2007.PHOTO: ROBIN LOZNAK/ZUMA PRESS
“Bald eagles are among the millions of birds nationwide being infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza, a viral disease with a high mortality rate for birds like chickens and raptors.
Since February, at least 36 bald eagles have died from the bird flu across the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The escalating bird-flu outbreak is one of the worst in the U.S. in several years, according to the Agriculture Department, spreading along Florida, up the East Coast and as far west as Colorado and the Dakotas. The highly contagious disease is also hitting egg-laying flocks of chickens, as well as commercially raised turkeys, leading to a surge in egg and turkey breast prices.
For the bald eagle, the outbreak comes as the population faces another deadly problem: a high incidence of lead poisoning. A study published in February found population growth rates for bald eagles are being suppressed by 3.8% because of lead exposure. Lead, a neurotoxin, has many sublethal effects on eagles that affect their health and ability to defend their territory and produce eggs.” Read more at Wall Street Journal
“Twitter has indicated that it is not interested in being bought by Elon Musk without a fight. After the Tesla and SpaceX CEO offered to buy Twitter last week, the company's board implemented a shareholder rights plan, known as a ‘poison pill,’ that would make it harder and more expensive for Musk (or any other would-be buyer) to acquire the company without the board's approval. Now, eyes are back on Musk to see how he might respond to the board's defensive measure. Musk, who currently owns around 9% of shares in the company, could decide to withdraw his bid, or he could sit tight and exercise the still-significant influence he'd have at the company as one of its largest shareholders. Musk said last week that he has a ‘Plan B’ if his bid falls through, although he declined to elaborate on what it is.” Read more at CNN
“Lawyers for the family of Patrick Lyoya, an unarmed Black man killed by police in Grand Rapids, Michigan, said they will release results from an independent autopsy Tuesday. Details emerged last week about Lyoya after police released video of the fatal traffic stop , which occurred April 4. It shows Lyoya was shot by a white police officer after a struggle. Despite the Lyoya family asking for police to release the name of the officer, the department has not done so and no charges have been issued. The official autopsy report is being shared with state police and won't immediately be released to the public. But a separate autopsy was performed by Dr. Werner Spitz, a 95-year-old forensic pathologist who worked on investigations following the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., among other high-profile cases. One of the lawyers representing Lyoya's family is Ben Crump, who represented the families of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and many others.” Read more at USA Today
Dorcas Lyoya, the biological mother of Patrick Lyoya, a 26-year old Black man who was shot and killed by a white Grand Rapids police officer following a traffic stop, and Patrick's father Peter Lyoya, both cry at a press conference held to respond to the videos of their son's killing on April 14, 2022 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.Bill Pugliano, Getty Images
“Following the death last month of a 14-year-old boy who fell from an amusement park ride in Orlando, Florida, a forensic engineering firm hired to investigate the incident found the ride's operator made manual adjustments to two seats. Those adjustments were made ‘presumably, to allow for larger riders, which should not have happened based on the manufacturer's guidelines,’ State Rep. Geraldine Thompson said in a news update yesterday. According to the report, the harness on one of the seats was manually loosened to to allow a restraint opening of near 7 inches -- about 4 inches more than the normal opening range for the restraints. The FreeFall drop tower manufacturer's guidelines also puts a rider's weight limit at 250 pounds; Tyre Sampson -- the teen who died -- weighed approximately 340 pounds, his family told CNN. Authorities said they are working to conclude the investigation before assessing what penalties may come.” Read more at CNN
“The right-wing conspiracy outlet Infowars has filed for bankruptcy protection as its founder Alex Jones faces several defamation lawsuits. The move, which could pause civil litigation against the companies, comes after Jones was found legally responsible for damages in three defamation lawsuits related to false claims he made about the 2012 Sandy Hook mass shooting. In the aftermath of the shooting, in which 26 people were killed, Jones baselessly said the incident was staged. He later swore in a deposition that a ‘form of psychosis’ caused him at the time to believe it was staged. The documents filed on Sunday sought bankruptcy protection for Infowars and Prison Planet, another one of Jones' right-wing outlets. Jones also sought bankruptcy protection for Infowars Health, a store from which Jones has hawked nutritional supplements and other products.” Read more at CNN
“A federal judge says Georgia voters can proceed with a challenge to Marjorie Taylor Greene's reelection. The group alleges she helped facilitate the Jan. 6 insurrection, which would make her ineligible.” Read more at NPR
“Florida rejected more than 40 math textbooks that contained social and emotional concepts. Officials did not share the specific content.” Read more at New York Times
“The Supreme Court turned away an appeal from a Black death row inmate who said his jury had been tainted by racial bias.” Read more at New York Times
“Lawyers for Donald Trump are still trying to ‘decertify’ the 2020 vote based on the lie that Trump won the election.” Read more at New York Times
“In early January, Jorge Diaz-Johnston’s body was discovered in a landfill some 87 miles from where he was last seen in Tallahassee. The body was wrapped in bed linens, and an autopsy later concluded Diaz-Johnston died by strangulation.
His death sent shock waves throughout Florida. Not only was Diaz-Johnston the younger brother of Miami’s former mayor Manny Diaz, the 54-year-old was also a plaintiff in a historic lawsuit that cleared the way for same-sex couples to marry in Miami-Dade County.
‘It’s an unspeakable tragedy,’ Cathy Pareto, another plaintiff in the marriage lawsuit, told the Tallahassee Democrat in January, adding: ‘I can’t comprehend who would ever hurt this poor man.’
Now, a grand jury has indicted Diaz-Johnston’s roommate, 36-year-old Steven Yinger, on charges of first-degree murder, tampering with evidence, theft of Diaz-Johnston’s possessions and fraudulently using Diaz-Johnston’s personal information. The indictment, filed Thursday, charges that Yinger strangled Diaz, moved his body and stole his BMW and iPhone. Yinger is being held without bail.” Read more at Washington Post
“South Africa declared a national disaster and will seek Parliament’s approval for funds to repair billions of rands of damage caused by the nation’s worst-ever flooding. At least 444 people died and thousands of homes were destroyed after some weather stations last week reported the heaviest rainfall in at least six decades in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province. The deluge triggered landslides that washed away roads, bridges and shut the nation’s biggest port.” Read more at Bloomberg
Residents and police search for missing people in KwaNdengezi township outside Durban on April 15. Photographer: Phill Magakoe/AFP/Getty Images
Dr Miranda Ruiz pictured in Tartagal, Argentina. She still faces charges for performing an abortion. Photograph: Javier Corbalan/AP
“Doctor Miranda Ruiz went to work one Friday in September knowing she was likely to be arrested.
The prosecutor of Tartagal, a city in Argentina’s province of Salta, had announced his intentions the day before: that Ruiz, 34, would be detained for administering an abortion – in a country that had legalised the procedure less than a year earlier.
‘I couldn’t believe it, it was very surreal,’ said Ruiz. ‘It’s crazy to jail a doctor who performed a legal abortion when there is a national law that permits it.’
Ruiz had been working in a drop-in clinic in Tartagal when a 21-year-old came in. A team of doctors assessed the woman, who was 22 weeks pregnant, and determined she met the criteria for a late-stage abortion – her health was at risk. Ruiz prescribed misoprostol, a drug that induces miscarriage, and admitted the woman.. Days later the woman’s family filed a criminal complaint.
Ruiz was released a few hours after her arrest, but the charges against her have since been broadened to include providing an abortion without consent – something she denies.
‘The person puts pills under her tongue for half an hour, and then swallows. That procedure is repeated every three hours. No one can force someone to abort in those circumstances,’ says Ruiz, one of just a handful of doctors to provide abortions in Tartagal.
In December 2020, Argentina legalised all abortion up to 14 weeks, and in later stages of pregnancy if life or health is at risk, or in rape cases.
It was a victory for reproductive rights campaigners. But feminists, human rights groups and government officials say Ruiz’s case is an example of the battles still being waged in Argentina. The minister of women, gender and diversity, Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, has called the charges an attempt to ‘discipline’ doctors who are guaranteeing a right.” Read more at The Guardian
“East Timor votes. East Timor’s incumbent President Francisco Guterres faces off against ex-President and Nobel laureate Jose Ramos-Horta today in the country’s presidential runoff vote. Ramos-Horta is tipped to win, having garnered 46.5 percent of votes in last month’s first round contest. A Ramos-Horta victory will likely spell more political upheaval for the country, as he has hinted at using presidential powers to dissolve parliament and hold early legislative elections.” Read more at Foreign Policy
“Israel-Palestine tensions. The Israeli military shot down a rocketfired from the Gaza Strip on Monday and responded with airstrikes on Hamas positions in Gaza as tensions escalate following more clashes at the the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem’s old city over the weekend, where 152 Palestinians were wounded in altercations with Israeli police inside the mosque compound. On Monday, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said that U.S. officials were engaged with Israeli, Palestinian, and Arab representatives in an attempt to calm the situation.” Read more at Foreign Policy
A coronavirus testing site in Brooklyn.Spencer Platt/Getty Images
‘Big screaming headlines’
“A couple of weeks ago, the news was full of stories about high-profile people contracting Covid-19. The list included Attorney General Merrick Garland, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, other members of Congress (like Joaquin Castro, Susan Collins, Adam Schiff and Raphael Warnock), New York Mayor Eric Adams and several Broadway stars (like Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick and Daniel Craig).
Some of these infected celebrities were not exactly young. Collins and Garland are both 69. Pelosi is 82.
So far, however, none of their cases appears to be severe. As David Weigel, a Washington Post reporter, noted yesterday:
These anecdotes are part of a trend. In several places where the number of cases has risen in recent weeks, hospitalizations have stayed flat. (In past Covid waves, by contrast, hospitalizations began rising about a week after cases did.)
Consider New York:
Charts show 7-day averages. | Source: New York Times database
Or Washington:
Charts show 7-day daily averages. | Source: New York Times database
Similar patterns are evident in Chicago and Seattle, as well.
How could this be? As is often the case with Covid, the answer is not completely clear. But at least some of it reflects the changing nature of the pandemic, many experts believe. The share of cases that turn into severe illnesses seems to be declining, for three main reasons:
Vaccines and booster shots are effective and universally available to Americans who are at least 12. (Covid continues to be overwhelmingly mild among children).
Treatments — like Evusheld for the immunocompromised and Paxlovid for vulnerable people who get infected — are increasingly available.
Tens of millions of Americans have already been infected with the virus, providing them with at least some immunity.
To be clear, these trends will not eliminate severe Covid. The number of nationwide hospitalizations will probably rise in coming weeks, especially if cases continue to rise. The official number of cases has already increased 43 percent in the past two weeks, and hospitalizations have risen in a small number of states, like Vermont. Nationally, though, hospitalizations have not yet risen, probably for the same three reasons I listed above.
Charts show 7-day averages. | Source: New York Times database
Even if hospitalizations do rise in coming weeks, a declining share of coronavirus cases that result in serious illness would be very good news, Dr. Craig Spencer, director of global health in emergency medicine at Columbia University, has pointed out.
‘I haven’t seen a Covid patient in the E.R. in weeks and go to work now expecting not to,’ Spencer told me, ‘despite a swirl of Covid in the community.’
Among other things, a decoupling of cases and severe illness would mean that hospitals were less likely to become overwhelmed during future Covid surges. When hospitals avoid getting swamped, they can provide care to every patient who needs it — which becomes another factor that reduces bad health outcomes.
‘Misleading’
Going forward, this newsletter will begin to pay less attention to statistics on coronavirus cases and more attention to statistics on hospitalizations. ‘Looking at the data in the same way we’ve been accustomed over the past two years can be misleading,’ Spencer said.
We won’t completely ignore the case numbers, because they still have some relevance. But the cases data has become both less reliable and less meaningful than earlier in the pandemic.
It is less reliable because of the recent closure of many testing clinics and the shift toward at-home testing. The data on Covid hospitalizations and deaths doesn’t suffer from these problems and appears to be as accurate as it was earlier in the pandemic.
The cases data is less meaningful than it used to be because vaccines are universally available to U.S. adults — and vaccines tend to turn Covid into an illness of similar severity to a flu, including for the elderly and the immunocompromised. More recent treatments like Paxlovid play a role, too.
One telling comparison: In the county that includes Seattle (which keeps detailed data), the daily Covid death rate for boosted elderly people has recently hovered around two per million. That’s higher than the national flu death rate during a mild influenza season and somewhat lower than the rate during a heavy influenza season.
For boosted people (and children), the odds of severe Covid really do resemble the odds of severe influenza. And you don’t tend to see news stories every time a member of Congress or a Broadway star contracts the flu.
I understand why the country is still treating Covid as a much bigger deal. For one thing, the large number of unvaccinated people means that Covid is still killing about 500 Americans a day. For another, Covid has dominated life for more than two years, and we can’t simply flip a switch and return to our 2019 habits.
But nor would it be rational to treat the 2022 version of Covid as if it were identical to the 2020 version. It isn’t. Vaccines, treatments and even natural immunity have transformed the impact of the virus, especially for Americans who have chosen to protect themselves.” Read more at New York Times
“The Supreme Court said the Pentagon could punish an Air Force Reserve lieutenant colonel who refused to get vaccinated.” Read more at New York Times
“President Biden and the first lady hosted the first White House Easter Egg Roll since the pandemic began.” Read more at New York Times
Anthony Devlin/AFP via Getty Images
“Professional soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo says his newborn son has died. He says the birth of his son's twin sister has given him strength to live with ‘some hope and happiness.’” Read more at NPR
“Kenyan runners swept the Boston Marathon: Peres Jepchirchir won the women’s race, and Evans Chebet won the men’s.” Read more at New York Times
“Lives Lived: DJ Kay Slay, the New York D.J. for Hot 97, broke artists and stoked beefs that gave fuel to the careers of Nas, Jay-Z, 50 Cent and others. Slay died at 55.” Read more at New York Times
Yuka, 3, goes shopping by herself on the show.Netflix/Nippon TV
Little kids in the big world
“Netflix’s latest hit seems designed to turn American parents into nervous wrecks. ‘Old Enough!,’ a Japanese series, follows young children, between 2 and 5, as they leave home for their first solo journey to run an errand.
The show is a delight, with each episode running around 10 minutes. Kids pick up groceries, visit grandma’s house or fetch a cabbage from a farm. They often forget their instructions or get distracted by the big world around them. Camera crews and safety teams covertly follow along, and a narrator provides excited commentary.
While ‘Old Enough!’ is new to U.S. audiences, it has been airing in Japan since the 1990s. Its popularity there reflects Japan’s parenting culture, which views independence as a central part of a child’s life, Hisako Ueno and Mike Ives write in The Times. ‘It’s a rite of passage,’ one filmmaker explained. ‘These errands have been a very symbolic mission for decades.’ — Tom Wright-Piersanti, a Morning editor Read more at New York Times