https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/10/peter-navarro-what-trumps-covid-19-tsar-lacks-in-expertise-he-makes-up

Green activist turned China hawk shares president’s brittle traits and wrote books quoting expert who turned out to be fictitious version of himself

The rise of Peter Navarro – the man put in charge of marshalling emergency US production of medical equipment in the midst of a pandemic – is in many ways a classic story of the Trump era.

The 70-year-old White House trade adviser was first recruited by Trump because he wrote a string of books about the Chinese strategic threat – one called Death by China – despite having spent almost no time in the country and having no grasp of the language.

Five of Navarro’s books cited a China hand with a particularly pithy turn of phrase called Ron Vara, who turned out not to exist. The name is an anagram of Navarro and the imaginary expert operated as an alter ego, confirming the author’s views.

Navarro made headlines in the past week by challenging Dr Anthony Fauci – the nation’s leading immunologist and the public face of the US scientific community’s race to contain Covid-19 – in a showdown in the White House situation room over the merits of an experimental drug.

When asked later why he thought he was qualified to start recommending pharmaceuticals to the nation, Navarro replied: “My qualifications in terms of looking at the science is that I’m a social scientist. I have a PhD. And I understand how to read statistical studies, whether it’s in medicine, the law, economics or whatever.”

https://www.ecowatch.com/coal-miners-black-lung-coronavirus-2645657102.html

In some states like West Virginia, coal mines have been classified as essential services and are staying open during the COVID-19 pandemic, even though the close quarters miners work in and the known risks to respiratory health put miners in harm's way during the spread of the coronavirus.

In Appalachia, miners with pneumoconiosis, or black lung disease, are at particularly high risk of coronavirus, according to HuffPost. Official statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put the number of underground coal miners with black lung disease at one in 10, though experts estimate the number could be 20 percent or higher.

When someone has black lung disease, scarring in the respiratory tract makes breathing labored. The notion of adding exposure to a severe respiratory illness like COVID-19 has some workers terrified, according to HuffPost. Furthermore, the communities where coal miners live tend to have higher than average comorbidities like obesity and diabetes.

Appalachians, for example are more likely than other Americans to have ailments such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes, due in part to smoking and a more sedentary lifestyle, according to the Appalachian Regional Commission, all of which could complicate the effects of COVID-19.

"Nobody knows what this virus is going to do when it gets to this area," said Jimmy Moore, a 74-year-old black lung patient in Shelby Gap, Kentucky, to HuffPost. "It's probably just going to wipe us out."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/coronavirus-doctors-nurses-attack-mexico-ivory-coast/2020/04/08/545896a0-7835-11ea-a311-adb1344719a9_story.html

It’s hard enough being a doctor in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. But Sanjibani Panigrahi, a psychiatrist at a government hospital in western India, now finds her own neighbors turning against her.

“We are sure you have corona,” one woman recently shrieked at her, she says, — part of a torrent of abuse from residents at her apartment complex. “We will not allow you in the building.”

In some cities, health-care workers are earning standing ovations for the long, life-risking hours they’re putting in to battle the coronavirus. But in others, they’re facing discrimination and even attacks.

In Mexico, Colombia, India, the Philippines, Australia and other countries, people terrified by the highly infectious virus are lashing out at medical professionals — kicking them off buses, evicting them from apartments, even dousing them with water mixed with chlorine.

The culprits are a minority of the population. But Mexican state authorities are so worried that they’ve arranged special buses for nurses. In parts of Australia, hospitals are urging nurses not to wear their uniforms in public, to avoid attacks.

Last week, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered police to protect health workers after reports of assaults — including one in which someone splashed bleach in a hospital employee’s face.

https://dc.eater.com/2020/4/7/21211857/nationals-park-community-kitchen-jose-andres-world-central-kitchen

World Central Kitchen will prepare thousands of free meals at Nationals Park

The Washington Nationals have teamed up with chef José Andrés’s global nonprofit to utilize D.C.’s empty professional baseball stadium as a place to cook and distribute thousands of free meals to residents in need during the novel coronavirus crisis.

Under its city-owned lease, Nationals Park is supposed to be used for sports and entertainment only, but the city signed off on a plan led by World Central Kitchen and the team’s newly established charity arm, Nationals Philanthropies (formerly the Dream Foundation).

Two large kitchens at the park will be used to prepare hot meals that will be delivered to communities by Uber Eats drivers. One facility is typically reserved for suites, catering, and concessions. The other, PNC Diamond Club kitchen, normally makes food for big-ticket fans. It’s outfitted with six-burner ranges and all the culinary bells and whistles.

Nationals Philanthropies will work with its community partners to get dinners to public housing in the Navy Yard and Southwest Waterfront neighborhoods as well as the Nationals Youth Baseball Academy in Fort Dupont. The recipient list is expected to grow with the help of Southwest Waterfront BID, along with people in underserved Ward 7 and Ward 8, and homeless populations from around the city.

https://www.boredpanda.com/animals-roam-streets-coronavirus-quarantine/

As we've seen already, animals seem to be pouring into the city streets as people retreat to their shelters amidst the COVID-19 lockdown. And while at first it was only deer, boars, horses, and sheep taking over the civilized world, now it seems like countless others have joined the cause all around the world. And this time, even dangerous predators like bears, mountain lions, and wild pumas are prowling in the streets.

We reached out to one man who witnessed a gator casually strolling in Myrtle Beach in broad daylight to get a first-hand report of the events. "When I first saw the gator, I didn’t think it was real. I thought somebody was playing a practical joke on me," Clifford Sosis told Bored Panda. "I like to take dangerous hikes in interesting places with my dog Daisy, hikes where I might be bitten by snakes and gators," the man explained and also added that recently, his expeditions have grown fewer and fewer since the birth of his son.

Clifford is a philosophy lecturer at Coastal Carolina University who runs a website featuring autobiographical interviews with philosophers.

"On the day I took the gator video, I went to Barefoot Landing because I was trying to avoid danger! Shortly after I took this video, I was watching the gator, and a security guard, the only other person in Barefoot Landing at the time, didn’t see it and almost ran into it," Sosis revealed. "When I told him to watch his step, he was shocked! He said he thought there were no longer gators in the area." The man also added that some people on the internet have reported seeing gators in the area as well. "I’ve been living in Myrtle Beach for 6 years and I’ve never seen a gator in Barefoot Landing. Definitely not in the parking lot!" Sosis concluded.

https://www.businessinsider.com/sneezing-not-common-coronavirus-symptom-2020-3

Sneezing and runny noses are not common symptoms of COVID-19, the disease the coronavirus causes.
It's a misconception that nasal symptoms are common — instead, the most common symptoms are fever and a dry cough.
The virus has infected more than 417,000 people and killed more than 18,500.

If you see someone coughing or sneezing on the street and are scared they might have the coronavirus, remember: Sneezing is not a common symptom of COVID-19.

Instead, the primary signs of COVID-19 are fever and a dry cough. Other symptoms include fatigue, nausea, body aches, coughing, shortness of breath, and gastrointestinal issues.

Here are the symptoms associated with COVID-19 and how they compare with symptoms of the common cold, the flu, and allergies:

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