Free Republic

...Lancet Global Health scientists conclude that contact tracing will work when “less than 1 percent of transmission occurred before the onset of symptoms.” That’s the opposite of the coronavirus: Victims are most contagious before or just as their symptoms begin, research indicates. By the time they are diagnosed and asked for contacts, those contacts are already infecting others. Oxford University scientists also caution that the coronavirus spreads by too many mechanisms “to be contained by manual contact tracing.”...

(Catholic Caucus) [Barf Alert] Bishops of Georgia respond to Governor Kemp’s April 20 order Dear Friends in Christ,Knowing how much Catholics everywhere are yearning to return to the Eucharist and to gather once again in our churches, we must communicate that, having struggled with our decision, we believe that we must yet maintain the current practice of sheltering in place. With input and support from the priests of both the Archdiocese of Atlanta and the Diocese of Savannah, we are, for the safety of all Georgia residents, not authorizing the return to congregating at churches or making our churches available...

SANTA FE – With New Mexico’s coronavirus infection rates showing signs of flattening and the state’s testing capacity increasing, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Wednesday that state officials can begin gradually easing up on business restrictions. But the governor said that New Mexicans should not let up on social distancing and that she will soon be extending a statewide stay-at-home order through May 15. The order is now scheduled to expire May 1. Lujan Grisham also said that a 15-member Economic Recovery Council will provide the Governor’s Office with advice about the slow reopening of the state’s economy and that...

For a moment Tuesday, everything was wonderfully normal during a quick run to our Woodbridge office for supplies. The lights in the entryway danced off our three Pulitzer prizes, there was a sign on a broken coffee machine and my mailbox was overflowing with letters and magazines. It felt like any other day in the office until I turned a corner and walked into our newsroom. That’s when it hit me: The place was empty and dark. It has been the same at our offices in Trenton, Mullica Hill and Jersey City for more than six weeks now. Ditto for...

The country’s nearly half a million undocumented students won’t be able to access any of the coronavirus emergency relief colleges and universities are receiving to help their students. The Trump administration on Tuesday barred undocumented college students from receiving emergency cash assistance from the new stimulus law that could help with living expenses, such as food, child care and housing.

A Yale psychiatrist who repeatedly has issued long-distance diagnoses of President Trump without having met him, now is going after Trump supporters. Bandy Lee says they resemble "child soldiers" and easily could turn into "armed troops in the streets" if the president doesn't win re-election in the fall. Salon reports Lee, a forensic psychiatrist at the Yale School of Medicine, claimed the "armed protests" are a natural evolution of the loyalty Trump "demands from his supporters." She previously urged the House Judiciary Committee to interview "mental health experts" during the Democrats' impeachment of Trump.

The Supreme Court is making it harder for noncitizens who are authorized to live permanently in the United States to argue they should be allowed to stay in the country if they've committed crimes. The decision Thursday split the court 5-4 along ideological lines. The decision came in the case of Andre Barton, a Jamaican national and green card holder. In 1996, when he was a teenager, he was present when a friend fired a gun at the home of Barton's ex-girlfriend in Georgia. And in 2007 and 2008, he was convicted of drug possession in the state. His crimes...

The COVID-19 outbreak has spurred not just a health crisis, but also an economic one. With millions of Americans now out of work and countless small businesses shut down, a large number of U.S. adults are already scrambling to pay their bills.While emergency savings can be a lifeline in situations like the one we're facing, 50% of Americans expect that their savings will run out by the end of April, according to a new survey by real estate service Clever. And given that the crisis is showing no signs of letting up in the near future, that's extremely troubling.Americans are feeling the crunch Unemployment...

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo revealed Thursday that preliminary results from a coronavirus antibody study show the statewide infection rate is 13.9 percent, which would mean around 2.7 million residents could have carried the disease. The 3,000 samples were collected from 40 sites in 19 counties, according to Cuomo, and suggested the infection rate is as high as 21.2 percent in places like New York City. “These are people who were infected and who developed the antibodies to fight the infection,” Cuomo said. “They had the virus, they developed the antibodies and they are now ‘recovered’.” The governor says the...

The letter was heartbreaking as it recounted the death of an 88-year-old woman in a New York nursing home. But it was also angry and accurate about a strange New York policy that is ­fatally wrongheaded. “I am wondering who will hold Gov. Cuomo accountable for the deaths of so many older people due to his reckless decision to place covid19 patients in nursing and rehabilitation homes,” the letter began. “I am writing as a daughter who lost her beautiful 88 year old mother who was receiving physical therapy at one such facility.” The writer, Arlene Mullin, went on to...

In a 180-degree turn, Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones, a Democrat, said Thursday he will not resign because of the backlash from his endorsement of President Trump.

Passengers line up at Senen Train Station in Jakarta on Thursday to request refunds for their purchased tickets. The Transportation Ministry will restrict all passenger travel starting on Friday. The Transportation Ministry will restrict all passenger travel starting on Friday as the government attempts to prevent citizens from participating in the annual Idul Fitri tradition of mudik (exodus) to curb the spread of COVID-19. The ban will not apply to cargo transportation or to vehicles serving special purposes, such as ambulances and fire trucks. “The ban will apply to all types of public and private transportation by air, sea, land...

By now, the hours stuck at home to slow the spread of coronavirus are affecting most people, but teens seem to be really struggling. It's already a challenging time in the life of a teenager and being forced to spend so much of it with their family and not at school with friends makes them even more emotionally volatile. That was pretty evident in a recent video that showed one teen and his friend in England head to Asda, their local grocery store, and scream threats and abuse at the workers there. They also offended onlookers. When a woman chided...

Even for the execrable Nicolle Wallace — Trump-hater extraordinaire and Trump Derangement Syndrome sufferer — this was truly grotesque. Sure, tens of thousands of Americans have died, and the economy is in shambles. But hey, there's a "silver lining" to all the death and misery: Trump's alleged "lies" and sins" are hurting him politically. As Wallace put it Thursday afternoon on her MSNBC show Deadline: White House, "the things that we’ve been talking about for three years may be finally catching up with him." Translation: time and again, we've tried and failed to destroy Trump. But the virus is our...

Facebook is trying to prevent in-person gatherings, but there are too many posts to block. A spokesperson with Facebook had initially said hey received instructions by the state governments advising that in-person gatherings break lockdown and social distancing laws in place as a reaction to the coronavirus, and those events should be removed. Anti-quarantine posts have been removed for protests in California, Nebraska, and New York. Facebook faces issues enforcing the removal of posts and events that violating social distancing due to to the number of posts being made, and the differences in laws state-by-state. Anti-quarantine protests being organized through...

The commandant of the Marine Corps has banned the public display of the Confederate battle flag, a symbol that he said had the “power to inflame” division.

AUSTIN, Texas — An updated model now suggests that Texas is past the peak of deaths related to COVID-19. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, part of the University of Washington, projects that Texas' peak daily deaths happened on Sunday, April 19th.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WPTA21) - No dates have been announced, but General Motors has notified "a small number" of employees about a pending return to work at the Fort Wayne Assembly. A spokeswoman tells ABC21 that the notifications are part of a planning effort that will lead to an eventual resumption of operations at the plant, which has been shut down for about a month. Workers at other General Motors facilities in North America are also being prepared for recall. The COVID-19 outbreak brought production at all major automotive plants to a halt in March.

Iran using world attention on other issues to launch its first military satellite with North Korea's help. How ISIS has lost its territory but continues to come out of hiding in various places to cause trouble as the U.S. leaves only two bases in Iraq. Plummeting world oil prices may be quickening our approach to the Ezekiel war. And finally the coronavirus and how it has changed our world. Author and scholar Oklahoman Dr. Hitchcock gives a perspective on America and what the changes in society mean for us.

The House cleared a new small-business and healthcare spending package on Thursday that will provide $484 billion in funding that responds to the impact of the coronavirus. The measure now heads to President Trump, who is expected to sign it into law immediately. ... House Democrats, who are in the majority, said the measure will be followed by a much larger and more costly economic aid package along the lines of the $2.2 trillion measure Congress passed a month ago.