Today's News (2020/6/5): COVID-19 Edition
Jun. 5th, 2020 04:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solarbirdNot much here today, but that's good.
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Law Enforcement Seizes Masks Meant To Protect Anti-Racist Protesters From COVID-19
The masks, reading “Stop killing Black people,” were meant to quell the spread of the coronavirus, which has disproportionately affected Black Americans.
By Ryan J. Reilly
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/black-lives-matter-coronavirus-protest-masks_n_5ed9a69bc5b68bc1a40159b9?k9
[EDITOR: Yes, this is also in the Police Violence edition. It would also be in the "genocide" and "cartoonish supervillainy" editions, if we had those.]
WASHINGTON ― Law enforcement agents have seized hundreds of cloth masks that read “Stop killing Black people” and “Defund police” that a Black Lives Matter-affiliated organization sent to cities around the country to protect demonstrators against the spread of COVID-19, a disease that has had a disparate impact on Black communities.
The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) spent tens of thousands of dollars on the masks they had planned to send all over the country. The first four boxes, each containing 500 masks, were mailed from Oakland, California, and were destined for Washington, St. Louis, New York City and Minneapolis, where on May 25 a white police officer killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old handcuffed Black man, setting off a wave of protests across the country.
But the items never left the state. The U.S. Postal Service tracking numbers for the packages indicate they were “Seized by Law Enforcement” and urge the mailer to “contact the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for further information.”
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
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Weijia Jiang
twitter.com/weijia
5 June 2020
https://twitter.com/weijia/status/1268942582970810376
During the President’s speech, he suggested that it was our choice to sit closer together. We sit in the seats the White House sets up for us.
In this case, the ones they RE-set:
[QUOTED TWEET]
Jim Acosta
twitter.com/Acosta
5 June 2020
The news conference was initially set up for social distancing. Then the WH rearranged the chairs. Before and after pics from ourabdallahcnn
[EMBEDDED IMAGES: on left, chairs at 6' distant spacing. On right, chairs at pre-pandemic spacing, filled with reporters.]
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With more test supplies on hand, Inslee announces expanded testing for new coronavirus
June 4, 2020
By Joseph O’Sullivan
Seattle Times staff reporter
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/with-more-test-supplies-on-hand-inslee-announces-expanded-testing-for-new-coronavirus/
OLYMPIA — The city of Seattle and the state of Washington are expanding testing for the coronavirus, the governor and mayor’s office announced Thursday.
The state now has enough supplies for COVID-19 tests that it would expand testing to new populations, Gov. Jay Inslee said Thursday.
In a news conference, Inslee said the shift marked a “significant broadening of our testing strategy” that could better detect the new coronavirus around Washington.
The expansion also would allow health officials to better monitor Washington’s 39 counties as they lift restrictions on businesses and activities under his four-part reopening plan, the governor said.
The first part of that expansion, Inslee said, is strong encouragement for people with even mild symptoms to get tested for the new coronavirus.
“If you think you’re sick, please get tested,” Inslee said. “We strongly encourage people to do this, even if people are mildly symptomatic.”
Second, household members of people who either suspect they have COVID-19 or have been in close contact with someone who may have the virus should also get tested, Inslee said.
The third group of people are those in large “congregate settings” like meatpacking plants, agricultural sites, long-term-care facilities, low-income housing and homeless shelters.
“And similar situations where the risk of infection is high,” Inslee said.
The city of Seattle and UW Medicine will offer free testing for the new coronavirus at two locations, an announcement that comes as public health officials encourage people who have been out protesting to be tested if they have been in contact with others ill with COVID-19 or if they are experiencing symptoms.
The two drive-thru sites, one in Sodo and the other in North Seattle, could expand the number of tests, which will be processed at the UW Medicine Virology Lab, by about 1,600 a day.
- Law Enforcement Seizes Masks Meant To Protect Anti-Racist Protesters From COVID-19
- White House moves press conference chairs together from social-distance spacing in last minute reset, claims reporters wanted it. (That was a lie.)
- With more test supplies on hand, Inslee announces expanded testing for new coronavirus
----- 1 -----
Law Enforcement Seizes Masks Meant To Protect Anti-Racist Protesters From COVID-19
The masks, reading “Stop killing Black people,” were meant to quell the spread of the coronavirus, which has disproportionately affected Black Americans.
By Ryan J. Reilly
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/black-lives-matter-coronavirus-protest-masks_n_5ed9a69bc5b68bc1a40159b9?k9
[EDITOR: Yes, this is also in the Police Violence edition. It would also be in the "genocide" and "cartoonish supervillainy" editions, if we had those.]
WASHINGTON ― Law enforcement agents have seized hundreds of cloth masks that read “Stop killing Black people” and “Defund police” that a Black Lives Matter-affiliated organization sent to cities around the country to protect demonstrators against the spread of COVID-19, a disease that has had a disparate impact on Black communities.
The Movement for Black Lives (M4BL) spent tens of thousands of dollars on the masks they had planned to send all over the country. The first four boxes, each containing 500 masks, were mailed from Oakland, California, and were destined for Washington, St. Louis, New York City and Minneapolis, where on May 25 a white police officer killed George Floyd, a 46-year-old handcuffed Black man, setting off a wave of protests across the country.
But the items never left the state. The U.S. Postal Service tracking numbers for the packages indicate they were “Seized by Law Enforcement” and urge the mailer to “contact the U.S. Postal Inspection Service for further information.”
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
----- 2 -----
Weijia Jiang
twitter.com/weijia
5 June 2020
https://twitter.com/weijia/status/1268942582970810376
During the President’s speech, he suggested that it was our choice to sit closer together. We sit in the seats the White House sets up for us.
In this case, the ones they RE-set:
[QUOTED TWEET]
Jim Acosta
twitter.com/Acosta
5 June 2020
The news conference was initially set up for social distancing. Then the WH rearranged the chairs. Before and after pics from our
abdallahcnn[EMBEDDED IMAGES: on left, chairs at 6' distant spacing. On right, chairs at pre-pandemic spacing, filled with reporters.]
----- 3 -----
With more test supplies on hand, Inslee announces expanded testing for new coronavirus
June 4, 2020
By Joseph O’Sullivan
Seattle Times staff reporter
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/with-more-test-supplies-on-hand-inslee-announces-expanded-testing-for-new-coronavirus/
OLYMPIA — The city of Seattle and the state of Washington are expanding testing for the coronavirus, the governor and mayor’s office announced Thursday.
The state now has enough supplies for COVID-19 tests that it would expand testing to new populations, Gov. Jay Inslee said Thursday.
In a news conference, Inslee said the shift marked a “significant broadening of our testing strategy” that could better detect the new coronavirus around Washington.
The expansion also would allow health officials to better monitor Washington’s 39 counties as they lift restrictions on businesses and activities under his four-part reopening plan, the governor said.
The first part of that expansion, Inslee said, is strong encouragement for people with even mild symptoms to get tested for the new coronavirus.
“If you think you’re sick, please get tested,” Inslee said. “We strongly encourage people to do this, even if people are mildly symptomatic.”
Second, household members of people who either suspect they have COVID-19 or have been in close contact with someone who may have the virus should also get tested, Inslee said.
The third group of people are those in large “congregate settings” like meatpacking plants, agricultural sites, long-term-care facilities, low-income housing and homeless shelters.
“And similar situations where the risk of infection is high,” Inslee said.
The city of Seattle and UW Medicine will offer free testing for the new coronavirus at two locations, an announcement that comes as public health officials encourage people who have been out protesting to be tested if they have been in contact with others ill with COVID-19 or if they are experiencing symptoms.
The two drive-thru sites, one in Sodo and the other in North Seattle, could expand the number of tests, which will be processed at the UW Medicine Virology Lab, by about 1,600 a day.
