Social distancing is helping in Pennsylvania

We're not out of the woods, but some encouraging signs

• Joseph Darius Jaafari
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Joseph Darius Jaafari was a staff writer for the PA Post. His work covering crime, the military and LGBTQ issues has been featured in The Marshall Project, Rolling Stone Magazine, The Atlantic and The New York Times. He is a graduate of the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, and an award-winning documentary filmmaker who has produced for VICE and The New York Post. He is a native Arizonan and infamous for his love of tacos.

• A bump in numbers: We learned Saturday that Pennsylvania saw an increase of 533 new coronavirus cases on Friday, bringing the state’s total to 2,751. Though that’s a 25 percent increase, Dr. Rachel Levine, secretary for the state’s Health Department, offered a glimmer of hope in saying that the rate of change shows that the governor’s stay-at-home order might be working.

• Not so fast: Don’t get carried away with optimism. Pennsylvania remains in the thick of the outbreak. This morning, Gov. Tom Wolf announced that he has asked President Trump to issue a major disaster declaration for the state.

• Breaking from AP: “NIH’s Fauci projects possible ‘millions’ of US coronavirus cases, ‘100,000-200,000’ deaths.” Story here.

• Travel warning: President Trump on Saturday flirted with the idea of ordering a mandatory quarantine on three states where the coronavirus outbreak is particularly bad — New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Later in the day, however, he decided a non-binding travel advisory was all that was needed for now. The Inquirer has this short write-up.

• “We don’t have what we need”: Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney was on NPR this morning talking about the city’s preparations for the expected sure in coronavirus hospital cases. Listen here.

• Fiscal crisis: Spotlight PA reporter Charlotte Keith looks at how the coronavirus will likely impact Pennsylvania’s finances. The key challenge is that the state followed the federal government in shifting the tax filing deadline from April 15 to July. “The state typically collects a large chunk of income tax revenue in March and April as people file right before the deadline, [Pa. Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman] said. With the delay, actual and projected revenues will be ‘very difficult to know’ by the June 30 deadline for passing the budget,” Keith writes.

• Prison transparency: After consistent pressure to be transparent about positive coronavirus cases at state prisons, the Department of Corrections is maintaining a dashboard of “basic” information. It’s unclear, though, if the state will release specific numbers on the number of infections at specific facilities.  There still are no positive tests for the virus in any state facility. Matt McKinney over at Spotlight PA reported on how corrections officers’ union leaders are worried how continued transfers of inmates could put people at risk inside prisons.

• Hunger strikes: At least 180 immigrants within York County’s immigration detention center are on a hunger strike, demanding their release. Speaking through members of Movement of Immigration Leaders in Pennsylvania, an immigrant activist group, migrants held in the facility say they’re like “sitting ducks.” The Inquirer has the story here, and WHYY here. For a more nuanced and in-depth piece, The Atlantic has one woman’s story in a Seattle detention center.

• #Masks4All: U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R) posted a video to Twitter on Saturday urging Pennsylvanians to wear homemade or other non-medical-grade masks any time they go outside. He notes that coronavirus, like many viruses, is transmitted by coughs and sneezes. Toomey’s tweet came on the same day that rumors started spreading that the CDC would urge all Americans to wear masks anytime they leave the home. The CDC took to Twitter to knock that rumor down, as the news site Raw Story recounts here.

Other statewide reads:

• The Philadelphia Inquirer: A Chester County cop was exposed to coronavirus. A ‘first responder refuge’ helps him quarantine safely.

• The Patriot News/PennLive: ‘In harm’s way’: Home care workers on the frontline against COVID-19

• The Morning Call: Hawaiian cruise turns into coronavirus quarantine for Berks County couple

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Pet Tales: How you can help animal shelters, rescues and others during the pandemic

Best of the rest

• The scientist vs. social media: Anthony Fauci, the nation’s preeminent infectious disease expert and a key member of the federal government’s coronavirus task force, has become a symbol of distrust for those who support the president. A New York Times piece followed dozens of accounts that spread misinformation about Fauci (including high-profile Twitter users with followers ranging in the hundreds of thousands to millions). The newspaper found that these accounts push conspiracies that Fauci is trying to undermine the administration.

• “I’ll be the oversight”: The $2-trillion bailout package passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives and signed by Trump will have one key provision ignored: where business loans go to. Nearly $250 million in loans are supposed to be overseen by an independent investigator to track and report if the loans are misused, but Trump said he would not allow an independent prosecutor to oversee those loans. When asked, Trump told reporters, “I’ll be the oversight.” Quartz has the story.

• Age matters: A geriatric doctor at UC San Francisco penned this piece in The Atlantic on how the U.S.’s relationship with elder populations could partially be to blame for our lackadaisical response to containing the coronavirus’s spread. From the top of the piece: “Imagine that the death toll is highest among children and that, as of today, the United States had reported more than 104,000 confirmed cases and at least 1,700 deaths, mostly among middle schoolers…How would you react to a disease that was mostly killing young people planetwide?”

More notable reads: 

• Axios: 10 fact-based steps to a virus crisis

• ProPublica: What We Know — and Don’t Know — About Possible Coronavirus Treatments Promoted by Trump

• The Intelligencer:  A Conversation With Pete Buttigieg, Who’s Stuck at Home Like Everyone Else

• The City: Three out of four young NYC coronavirus fatalities had medical conditions

• The Hollywood Reporter: SAG-AFTRA Processing 100,000 Residuals Checks Weekly Even Amid Virus Crisis

• The Marshall Project: How Bill Barr’s COVID-19 Prisoner Release Plan Could Favor White People

• VICE: What to Do if You’re Drinking Way More During Self-Isolation

• The Verge: What happens when extreme heat collides with a pandemic?

---