Live updates: As schools struggle to return, UNC-Chapel Hill suspends classes one week in
Here are some significant developments:
August 17, 2020 at 7:22 PM EDT
Perspective: Vacation shaming during the pandemic is the new hate sportThose sandy toes stretching out to aqua blue water? The Maine lobster roll? Mouse ears in front of Cinderella’s Castle?
It’s August, people! Where are all the travel pix?
Oh, wait. We’re in a pandemic. And a recession. So no one’s traveling, everyone’s locked down and making bread still, right?
Not really, though. Last Thursday, 761,821 of y’all passed through airport security checkpoints in America. Sure, it’s about a third of the travelers who got patted down on the same day last year, but it’s far above the 87,534 passengers who took off on April 14, when pandemic restrictions were new.
And nearly 7 million Americans road-tripped it, according to AAA’s numbers. One company said RV rentals are nearly double what they were last year. You’re still traveling, America. But now it’s just in stealth mode.
By Petula Dvorak
August 17, 2020 at 6:56 PM EDT
First U.S. cases of coronavirus in minks found at Utah fur farmsMinks at two Utah fur farms have tested positive for the virus that causes covid-19 in humans, the Department of Agriculture said Monday, announcing the first U.S. cases in a species that has been widely culled in Europe following outbreaks there.
Employees at the farms in Utah, the second-largest producer of mink pelts used for coats and other luxury items, also tested positive for the coronavirus, the USDA said. Dean Taylor, Utah’s state veterinarian, told reporters Monday that state and federal agencies are conducting additional testing to determine whether the minks were infected by humans or vice versa, and whether minks at other farms are sick.
Minks were discovered to be susceptible to the virus in April, when the Netherlands reported outbreaks at several farms, and mink farms in Denmark and Spain were later affected. The three countries have since killed more than a million of the animals, according to the Associated Press, but the spread has continued: As of this month, at least 27 Dutch farms have been hit. Minks are related to ferrets, which laboratory experiments have shown are highly vulnerable to the virus.
By Karin Brulliard
August 17, 2020 at 6:26 PM EDT
Working parents face tough decisions as schools reopenAmanda Hickerson had been agonizing over the decision for weeks. Should she and her husband keep their first- and third-graders at home for a virtual start to the school year? Or should they opt for a hybrid choice that would let the children attend classes at school two days a week?
The choice for Hickerson wasn’t just about her children’s education. As with many Americans facing decisions about school reopening plans, it was also about her career. The mental health therapist from Smithfield, Va., had to cut back on seeing patients this spring when the coronavirus closed school and her kids moved to online learning. Hickerson’s husband wasn’t able to work from home, so that meant she had little time for video counseling of clients.
“As a counselor, I can’t afford to have those cute little YouTube moments where the kids come in and interrupt a meeting,” Hickerson, 41, said in an interview. “That violates the ethics of our profession, so it’s literally me locking myself in a room during a session.”
That sense of frustration and uncertainty is shared by parents of school-age children across the country as schools reopen their doors — or their portals — for the beginning of classes.
By Joe Heim and Scott Clement
August 17, 2020 at 5:50 PM EDT
What it’s like to be a flight attendant during the pandemicFlight attendants have always had unique occupational hazards, from managing bad behavior onboard to balancing perpetual jet lag. But the pandemic has brought even more (and tougher) challenges for the essential workers.
They’ve faced backlash as the enforcers of airlines’ tightening mask policies. They’ve worried for the health and safety of their family members, colleagues and themselves. And like many during this global health and economic crisis, their jobs are more at risk than ever.
We spoke with four flight attendants about their experiences working during the pandemic.
By Natalie Compton
August 17, 2020 at 5:14 PM EDT
Italy shutters nightclubs, mandates masks as coronavirus case numbers rise againROME — With daily coronavirus case numbers rising, Italy on Monday imposed its first new restrictions on daily life since coming out of lockdown nearly four months ago, ordering the closure of nightclubs and mandating mask-wearing, even outdoors, in areas with nightlife.
The new measures come as Italy faces its most precarious moment of the summer. School is due to start in less than a month, Italians are moving en masse for their August holidays, and tourists are coming in from other European countries that have seen even greater increases.
Although the Italian restrictions are modest, they amount to a test of whether a country can keep the virus at bay without resorting to the blunt-force lockdown strategy used earlier in the pandemic. Italy’s government is specifically targeting nightclubs and evening socializing as cases are increasingly detected among the young.
By Chico Harlan and Stefano Pitrelli
August 17, 2020 at 4:39 PM EDT
Trump says he’s ‘stopping evictions.’ Here’s why they’re still happening.But across the country, evictions are continuing.
In New Orleans, city courts have received more than 500 eviction complaints since late mid-June when a state eviction ban was lifted. There are no signs of it slowing down after Trump’s action, local officials say.
In Milwaukee, where thousands of people are still waiting for unemployment benefits, legal aid attorneys discussed presenting Trump’s executive order to judges in the hope of stopping the recent spike in local evictions but determined it would not work.
By Renae Merle
ટિપ્પણીઓ
ટિપ્પણી પોસ્ટ કરો