As hospitals across the United States brace for a difficult six months — with the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic still raging and concerns about a second wave in the fall — some are acutely short-staffed because of an ill-timed change to immigration policy and its inconsistent implementation.

A proclamation issued by President Donald Trump on June 22, barring the entry of most immigrants on work visas, came right as hospitals were expecting a new class of medical residents. Hundreds of young doctors were unable to start their residencies on time.

Trump’s order included the H1-B visa for highly skilled workers, which is used by some practicing doctors abroad who get U.S. residency slots. The proclamation stated that doctors “involved with the provision of medical care to individuals who have contracted COVID-19 and are currently hospitalized” should be exempt from the ban, but it delegated the issuing of guidance to the departments of State and Homeland Security. That guidance has been slow and inconsistent.

Navarro’s response echoed comments made to other news outlets in recent days. We felt it was newsworthy because it expanded on those comments, put an on-the-record name to the attacks on Fauci, and contradicted White House denials of an anti-Fauci campaign.

However, several of Navarro’s criticisms of Fauci — on the China travel restrictions, the risk from the coronavirus and falling mortality rates — were misleading or lacked context. As such, Navarro’s op-ed did not meet USA TODAY’s fact-checking standards.

— Bill Sternberg, USA TODAY editorial page editor

Fauci has consistently agreed with the travel decision. Indeed, a wide variety of reporting and his public statements make clear he was an early advocate for such restrictions in internal government coronavirus discussions. Based on all available information, Trump was not accurate to say that Fauci criticized the president’s decision to restrict travel with China.

San Quentin is California’s most famous, most picturesque, most aged, most poorly designed and most lethal state prison. Its parking lot, down the hill from twin gothic towers (built in the 1850s) and high walls, offers a stunning view of San Francisco Bay and the Bay Bridge — when not threatened by winter storm waves. The perspective is different inside the gates, where cellblocks surround an open atrium-like space designed to give guards a view of each inmate. With the windows to the outside closed off and with prisoners and guards all breathing the same poorly circulated air, it’s the perfect place to transmit a virus, quickly and mercilessly. In such an environment, social distancing is irrelevant.

In other words, it's not a good place to send inmates to shield them from COVID-19.

This was going to happen, one way or another. Prisons, like cruise ships and nursing homes, are virus breeding grounds and human death traps. Two thirds of inmates at the federal prison at Terminal Island, across the shipping channel from San Pedro, were infected by May. Nearly 70% of inmates at the federal prison in Lompoc tested positive. COVID-19 infections ripped through prisons in New York, Chicago, Ohio. California’s 35 state prisons suffered just a few infections, but were living and breathing on borrowed time.

The only way to decrease the risk is to decrease the inmate population, and the state made only the most modest effort at that earlier this year, halting new admissions for a few weeks and moving up the departure dates slightly for about 3,500 home-bound prisoners.

With India’s caseload on course to hit one million on Friday or Saturday -- and fatalities approaching 25,000 -- authorities across the country are reimposing restrictions that have only recently been lifted. Bihar went into a 15-day lockdown at midnight, a day after IT hub Bangalore -- home to 13 million people -- shut down for a week.
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Chief minister Pramod Sawant said too many people were “stepping out to meet people at parties” and that there was a low level of “awareness and sensitivity”. “We have more than 40,000 people fined for not wearing masks, plus there are many who are detained for flouting rules, but they continue to loiter,” Sawant told local media. “This only establishes that people only understand the language of the law.”
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The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said that the entire region is fast becoming the next epicentre for the coronavirus. “While the world’s attention has been focused on the unfolding crisis in the United States and South America, a concurrent human tragedy is fast emerging in South Asia,” the organisation said.

“Covid-19 is spreading at an alarming rate in South Asia, home to a quarter of humanity.” While India has reported almost 970,000 cases, the pandemic is also still raging in Pakistan and Bangladesh with almost 260,000 and 195,000 cases respectively.

A majority of Louisville school board members say Kentucky's largest school district should forgo in-person classes and begin the new school year with remote instruction.

Six of the seven members of the Jefferson County Board of Education told The Courier Journal they will vote Tuesday for nontraditional instruction, or NTI, to start the school year, saying it is the only way to keep students and staff safe amid surging coronavirus cases.

"None of us want to be in that situation where we have to send letters to families because we've lost a staff member or we've lost a student or it spread from a student to a grandmother or a mom or a dad," said Joe Marshall, representing District 4 in southwest Jefferson County.

"There's too many variables right now. And what we can control is not allowing more traffic into buildings and not allowing this to spread."

Kroger News @KrogerNews

With the increase in #COVID19 cases across the country, we are committed to doing our part to help reduce the spread of the virus. Starting July 22, we will require all customers in all locations to wear a mask, joining our associates who continue to wear masks.

4:18 PM · Jul 15, 2020

Walmart @Walmart

To best serve our communities and protect the health and safety of our shoppers and associates, face coverings will be required in all stores beginning Monday, July 20. For more on our decision and policy, please see here: https://bit.ly/3h34FNK

11:12 AM · Jul 15, 2020

Asha Rangappa @AshaRangappa_

OK. I’m done with Mary Trump’s book. Basically the President is, psychologically-speaking, a Frankenstein-like amalgamation of Idi Amin, John Gotti, Bernie Madoff, and Nell (the jungle-child character played by Jodie Foster). I need a drink
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For those asking whether you should read the book, even though the above might be obvious — read the book. Seeing these qualities played out in the context of ordinary family interactions and dramas — dinners, weddings, births and funerals — is uniquely horrifying and educational

7:18 PM · Jul 14, 2020