Doctors Rank Activities Posing Greatest Risks for Contracting Coronavirus; Coronavirus May Technically Be ‘Airborne,’ but That May Not Matter for Preventing Its Spread

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By Fox News. With the coronavirus spiking in a number of states, a group of Texas doctors has released a ranked list on how risky certain activities are when it comes to contracting COVID-19.

The Texas Medical Association’s COVID-19 Task Force and Committee on Infectious Diseases ranked 37 activities on a scale of 1-10.

Opening the mail? The lowest risk activity, with a score of 1. Going to a bar? High risk – scoring a 9.

The group’s president, Dr. Diana Fite, has been urging residents to maintain good hand-washing hygiene, avoid going out as often as possible, follow social distancing guidelines and wear face masks in public.

Joining going to a bar as the riskiest activities are attending a large concert, going to a sports stadium and attending a religious service with more than 500 worshipers. (Read more from “Doctors Rank Activities Posing Greatest Risks for Contracting Coronavirus” HERE)

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Coronavirus May Technically Be ‘Airborne,’ but That May Not Matter for Preventing Its Spread

By Live Science. Experts agree that the novel coronavirus behind COVID-19 spreads through direct contact and large droplets that, once sneezed or coughed out, often fall harmlessly to the ground. But a recent letter signed by 239 scientists suggests that the virus may also spread by airborne transmission, lingering in the air for hours within lighter “microdroplets.” The letter challenges the most recent guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO), urging the institution to recognize airborne transmission as a significant route of COVID-19 infection, and plan accordingly.

“We need to be attentive and mindful of all the important transmission pathways to make progress” with COVID-19, William Nazaroff, contributing author of the letter and professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California Berkeley, told Live Science.

On Tuesday (July 7), WHO said it is reviewing new evidence on whether COVID-19 can spread through airborne transmission, and would provide an update on the topic in the coming days, according to CNBC.

But epidemiologists and infectious disease experts are wary of the limited evidence for airborne transmission, and concerned that recent media reports on this letter will do more harm than good. “It is a shame that they felt the need to publish,” Paul Hunter, a professor at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom and a member of WHO’s infection prevention committee, told Live Science. What’s more, even if COVID-19 can spread via the airborne route, it’s likely this happens only in limited circumstances and doesn’t require additional precautions in most cases, experts said.

“Given the ample evidence that reducing droplet transmission works [to reduce COVID-19 spread], throwing other things into the mix only confuses people and undermines the World Health Organization at a critical time,” Hunter said. (Read more from “Coronavirus May Technically Be ‘Airborne,’ but That May Not Matter for Preventing Its Spread” HERE)

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Electors Must Vote for Their State’s Preferred Candidate, Supreme Court Rules

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The Supreme Court unanimously ruled Monday that states can require members of the Electoral College to vote for the same presidential candidate as their respective state.

The ruling puts an end to the occasional so-called faithless electors, who vote for a candidate different than that of the state they are representing. Though many states already have laws in place that require electors to vote for the winner of their state’s popular vote, electors have at times failed to do so.

“Today, we consider whether a State may also penalize an elector for breaking his pledge and voting for someone other than the presidential candidate who won his State’s popular vote. We hold that a State may do so,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote in the court’s majority opinion for the case Chiafalo v. Washington.

Though rare, as few as 10 faithless electors could have changed the outcomes of five of the previous 58 presidential elections, The New York Times reported. . .

In 2019, the Washington State Supreme Court upheld $1,000 fines on electors who had voted for Colin Powell instead of Hillary Clinton, saying that the Constitution allowed for states to insist that their electors vote according to their respective popular votes, according to The New York Times. The electors appealed to the Supreme Court after the decision, setting the foundation for the Monday decision on Chiafalo v. Washington. (Read more from “Electors Must Vote for Their State’s Preferred Candidate, Supreme Court Rules” HERE)

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Job Numbers Show Why Congress Shouldn’t Rush to Pass Another Massive Stimulus Package

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For a second month in a row, the U.S. economy gained a record number of jobs.

Following job gains of 2.7 million in May, the economy added 4.8 million more jobs in June.

And even as the labor force grew by 1.7 million workers, the unemployment rate fell by 2.2 percentage points, from 13.3% to 11.1%.

While unemployment is still high, the faster-than-expected turnaround and record gains show the resiliency of the American economy and prove that this is not another Great Recession.

The American economy just added more jobs in two months than it did in the 46 months after the height of unemployment during the Great Recession.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans have shown their willingness and desire to return to work, to stores, to religious services, and to medical appointments.

Moreover, the report indicates that Americans are weaning off of federal supports such as Paycheck Protection Program loans, paid family leave, and unemployment insurance benefits.

That’s a good thing, because federal programs cannot maintain people’s livelihoods indefinitely.

As Congress returns from its July Fourth recess, one of lawmakers’ top priorities will be crafting a Phase 4 coronavirus recovery package.

As businesses are already reopening and Americans are returning to work, that package should not be another massive stimulus bill, but rather a highly targeted response, taking into account new information and data to fix past mistakes and to foster the recovery that’s already underway.

Any additional federal unemployment supports must focus first on providing work opportunities. And policymakers should address still-high unemployment with targeted supports that end existing unemployment incentives.

Unemployment should never pay more than work.

Under the CARES Act’s additional $600 per week bonus unemployment benefit, about 70% of unemployed workers are receiving more from unemployment benefits than from their usual paychecks.

Not only is that unfair to essential workers who have remained on the job and unfair to taxpayers who will pay for those benefits, but it’s also unfair to lower-income workers to incentivize them (with up to thousands of dollars in additional income) to remain unemployed when doing so increases their risks of physical, mental, and long-term financial consequences.

And it has hurt the recovery by preventing some businesses from being able to reopen as soon as they would have liked because some workers would be taking a pay cut by going back to work.

Yet, liberal lawmakers passed a bill to extend the $600 bonus unemployment benefits through January 2021 (with possible extensions through March 2021).

The Congressional Budget Office said that doing so would reduce employment and output in 2021 and lead to more permanent business closures.

You cannot aid the recovery or help individuals and families by increasing unemployment.

That’s why Congress should replace the $600 bonus unemployment benefit with a temporary partial federal match to state benefits.

If Congress provided a 40% match to state-based benefits, someone who receives a 50% percent state benefit would end up with 70%, including the federal match. The match could decline by 10% per month through December 2021.

Such a match could also help workers who are able to find work, but with fewer hours and lower incomes than before, by boosting “short-time” or partial benefits in states that offer such programs.

As the CBO analysis of unemployment benefits explained of such proportional wage-based benefits:

[T]he effects on output and employment would probably be more positive, because a proportional benefit would not create especially weak incentives to work for people with low potential earnings.

While targeted unemployment supports can alleviate the symptoms of unemployment, the only cure is work opportunities.

Federal and state policymakers should seek to replace rigidity with flexibility and to help open doors to income and work opportunities for all Americans.

Policymakers can reduce barriers to employment by allowing safe reopenings of society, providing limited liability for workers and businesses that follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, respecting individuals’ right to work, repealing wage restrictions that reduce jobs, and ending restrictions that limit workplace flexibility.

These are the types of policies that led to a 50-year record-low unemployment rate as recently as February, and they are the same policies that will help America return there. (For more from the author of “Job Numbers Show Why Congress Shouldn’t Rush to Pass Another Massive Stimulus Package” please click HERE)

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Fauci Downplays Lower Coronavirus Death Rate as ‘False Narrative’

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Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Tuesday that taking comfort in news of declining coronavirus death rates is a”false narrative” encouraging “complacency.”

Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci downplayed the apparent low death rate of the novel coronavirus pandemic in a press conference with Democrat Alabama Senator Doug Jones on Tuesday. He also emphasized that there was still a “window of opportunity” for the state to respond proactively to the outbreak.

“You’re not there yet, so you have an opportunity, a window to get your arms around this and to prevent it from getting worse,” Dr. Fauci said. “It’s not to the point where it’s out of hand and you know, very difficult to control. So you have a window of opportunity here, that as a state, you should not, you should, you know, take advantage of that window of opportunity.”

Fauci further characterized taking comfort in news about declining mortality as an empty comfort, claiming, “It’s a false narrative to take comfort in a lower rate of death. There’s so many other things that are very dangerous and bad about this virus,” and warning the public not to “get yourself into false complacency.” (Read more from “Fauci Downplays Lower Coronavirus Death Rate as ‘False Narrative’” HERE)

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Arizona May Have to Send Coronavirus Patients to Other States Amid ICU Bed Shortage

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As some hospitals in Arizona deal with a sharp influx in coronavirus patients, one mayor is warning that the state might have to rely on neighboring states to help shoulder the rising numbers.

Tuscon Mayor Regina Romero told CNN on Tuesday that Arizona healthcare workers are just “days” away from moving patients out of Arizona because of a shortage of ICU beds.

“Any day, we’re going to have to be sending patients to other states because of our lack of capacity,” she said. (Read more from “Arizona May Have to Send Coronavirus Patients to Other States Amid ICU Bed Shortage” HERE)

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House GOP Under Pressure From Allies to Support Planks of Democratic Climate Plan

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GOP and business groups are pressing House Republicans to support components of a sweeping climate plan proposed by Democrats last week.

House Republicans have accused Democratic leaders of a special climate change committee that released the plan of violating committee rules by issuing the proposal on a partisan basis, without including GOP members as originally expected.

But GOP policy advocates and allied groups say House Republicans should not let bitterness get in the way of working with Democrats, even in an election year, on concepts such as promoting pre-disaster mitigation, spending and tax credits for clean energy technologies, and modernizing the electricity grid.

“I sure hope the well hasn’t been that poisoned,” said Marty Durbin, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute. “There is a lot in here you can find consensus between parties and the business community. An election year is no excuse for not getting things done.”

Democrats’ 500-plus page plan to “solve the climate crisis,” compiled over a year and a half, includes a grab bag of aggressive policies. The agenda is a response to Democratic voters who have rated climate change a top area of concern. (Read more from “House GOP Under Pressure From Allies to Support Planks of Democratic Climate Plan” HERE)

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Shootings and Killings Surge in Democrat-Run Cities Across the Country

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Last week, The Federalist reported on early signs of a coming violent crime wave in Atlanta, Georgia. “You ain’t seen nothing yet,” a resident stated following a murder near his home. It’s becoming clear now how predictive his statement was.

On Monday evening, Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency in Atlanta. A thousand National Guardsmen were deployed to quell surging violent crime across the state’s capital. The events followed the death of an eight-year-old girl in just one of 75 separate shootings across the city over the last few weeks. . .

Since June, shootings and murders have surged across many of the country’s major cities. Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Nashville, Chicago, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and New Orleans have all seen murders jump over 20 percent this year. The violence is heavily concentrated in the last few months, ever since protests have led to nationwide pressure on politicians to “defund” and “reimagine” policing.

Just as concerning is that these stats do not include data from the end of June and July. Data from New York and Chicago, recent data from which we do have, tells that the last few weeks have seen by far the worst of the violence. Murders and shootings in the Windy City are up about 80 percent, and New York has averaged at a 209 percent over these last weeks compared to the same times last year. It’s likely these disturbing numbers for the cities above only captures a fragment of the lives lost during unrest in which many protesters chant “Black Lives Matter.”

It’s also worth noting that Atlanta appeared to lack this crime spike just a few weeks ago, according to the statistics released above. If it serves as a bellwether, then the cities that already had a surge at the time of recording are in deep water. The scale will likely become apparent over the next few weeks. (Read more from “Shootings and Killings Surge in Democrat-Run Cities Across the Country” HERE)

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The Feds Have Ghislaine Maxwell, Now Time to Get Clinton, Prince Andrew, and the Billionaires; Who’s Afraid of Ghislaine Maxwell? Everyone on This List; The Story of Robert Maxwell: Ghislaine’s Disgraced Media-Mogul Dad

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By Fox News. Rose McGowan is calling for Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton to be arrested next for their alleged ties to the late Jeffrey Epstein following the arrest of his alleged sex abuse accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

“Now get Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew,” McGowan tweeted on Friday, just one day after Maxwell was captured by the FBI and NYPD in a rural New Hampshire town where she was hiding out.

The actress’s tweet was accompanied by a photo of Harvey Weinstein, Epstein and Maxwell standing side-by-side with red x’s over their faces.

(Read more from “The Feds Have Ghislaine Maxwell, Now Time to Get Clinton, Prince Andrew, and the Billionaires” HERE)

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Who’s Afraid of Ghislaine Maxwell? Everyone on This List

By New York Post. Since no one was closer to the billionaire pedophile than Maxwell, whose network spanned from New York to France, Israel, Buckingham Palace and the Caribbean, those in the know are undoubtedly fretting over the dirt she could dish to keep herself out of jail.

Particularly after prosecutors vowed to “bring justice” to other potential enablers of Epstein’s sex abuse and trafficking.

And her friend, TV host Christopher Mason, said he believes she had access to videotapes from all of Epstein’s properties — and the footage has gone missing.

“I’m sure she has access to the videos,” Mason said. “A lot of powerful people will be more than a little worried.”

At the top of the list are the usual scandal magnets, Prince Andrew, Bill Clinton and Alan Dershowitz. They all hung around with Epstein, but each has a history of slithering out of jams. [But other] Epstein associates with less experience in the hot seat might start to squirm. (Read more from “Who’s Afraid of Ghislaine Maxwell? Everyone on This List” HERE)

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The Story of Robert Maxwell: Ghislaine’s Disgraced Media-Mogul Dad

By New York Post. Accused Jeffrey Epstein madam Ghislaine Maxwell is far from the only one in her family to have led an eccentric, troubled lifestyle.

Maxwell, the British socialite who was busted Thursday on charges she groomed underage women to have sex with the infamous pedophile, is the youngest daughter of flamboyant, disgraced late media mogul Robert Maxwell. . .

The newspaper giant was estimated to be worth $1.9 billion at the height of his career.

But the world learned after his death that he had been in severe financial straits and had been robbing his employees’ pension funds to prop up his crumbling empire. . .

Robert Maxwell’s publishing empire collapsed in the aftermath of his death, when it was discovered that he had completely emptied his employee pension funds to the tune of at least $900 million in the months prior. (Read more from “The Story of Robert Maxwell: Ghislaine’s Disgraced Media-Mogul Dad” HERE)

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State Bans Worship in Church

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California has banned singing in places of worship in the latest COVID-19 pandemic-related restriction. California’s Department of Health issued an order Wednesday that temporarily prohibits worshipers from singing and chanting in a church, synagogue, or mosque.

“Even with adherence to physical distancing, convening in a congregational setting of multiple different households to practice a personal faith carries a relatively higher risk for widespread transmission of the COVID-19 virus, and may result in increased rates of infection, hospitalization, and death, especially among more vulnerable populations,” the order states.

“In particular, activities such as singing and chanting negate the risk-reduction achieved through six feet of physical distancing,” the order adds. “Places of worship must therefore discontinue singing and chanting activities and limit indoor attendance to 25% of building capacity or a maximum of 100 attendees, whichever is lower.”

“Discontinue singing (in rehearsals, services, etc.), chanting, and other practices and performances where there is increased likelihood for transmission from contaminated exhaled droplets,” the order reads. (Read more from “State Bans Worship in Church” HERE)

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CDC Announces COVID-19 May No Longer Be an Epidemic; Coronavirus Expert Says Americans Will Be Wearing Masks for ‘Several Years’; Cities Acknowledge Riots Likely Caused New COVID-19 Cases

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By The Federalist. The United States now has so few deaths due to COVID-19 that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday it is approaching the threshold for dipping below the level of an epidemic.

The CDC defines an epidemic as an outbreak from which the number of deaths per week exceeds a given percentage of total deaths within the nation. The number of deaths from COVID-19 has steadily declined since hitting its peak in early May after it began spiking in the second week in March.

That threshold death rate for COVID-19 and other diseases such as influenza and pneumonia fluctuates, ranging typically from 5 to 7 percent at the height of flu season. The CDC said the Wuhan flu death rate had, during the last week in June, become equal to the epidemic threshold of 5.9 percent, reaching its lowest point since the end of last year.

The agency warned this is likely to change as more death certificates from recent weeks are processed, but it could mean hopeful news for the upcoming weeks. The total number of deaths due to COVID-19 has been declining for 10 straight weeks, concluding with week 26 that ended June 27. This suggests the United States could be on the verge of not being considered in an epidemic.

“Based on death certificate data, the percentage of deaths attributed to pneumonia, influenza or COVID-19 (PIC) decreased from 9.0% during week 25 to 5.9% during week 26, representing the tenth week of a declining percentage of deaths due to PIC,” according to the CDC’s website. (Read more from “CDC Announces COVID-19 May No Longer Be an Epidemic” HERE)

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Anti-Police Demonstrations May Have Sparked New Coronavirus Cases, Some Cities Now Acknowledge

By Fox News. Several big-city mayors and top officials are acknowledging that weeks of anti-police protests and riots may have contributed to surging coronavirus rates, weeks after Democrats and even some epidemiologists openly encouraged Black Lives Matter allies to demonstrate in the streets.

In public statements and interviews with Fox News this weekend, officials in Los Angeles, Seattle and Miami-Dade County, Fla., have indicated that some link between protests and new cases was at least possible. Still, many officials declined to comment when contacted by Fox News this weekend, and others – including New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office – disputed that the protests had caused any issue.

“Based on our health indicators, which measure hospital admissions, number of people in ICU and percentage of New Yorkers testing positive, we have seen no indication of an uptick in cases,” Avery Cohen, de Blasio’s deputy press secretary, told Fox News. . .

New York officials were previously less tolerant of mass gatherings — at least, for certain religious groups. In April, de Blasio told the Jewish community that “the time for warnings has passed” after he said a funeral gathering had violated social distancing guidelines.

New York’s current position differs markedly from assessments by officials in Los Angeles and elsewhere. Last Wednesday, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti acknowledged that public protests likely were causing a coronavirus spike, just two days after claiming there wasn’t “any conclusive evidence” showing a connection between the two. De Blasio, like Garcetti, has defended demonstrators, saying they were participating in a “historical moment.”

(Read more from “Anti-Police Demonstrations May Have Sparked New Coronavirus Cases, Some Cities Now Acknowledge” HERE)

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Coronavirus Expert Says Americans Will Be Wearing Masks for ‘Several Years’

By Fox News. Health experts won’t ask Americans to take off their masks any time soon.

That’s the take of Eric Toner, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. He has been preparing for an outbreak like the novel coronavirus as part of his work for years.

Johns Hopkins practices virus simulations as part of is preparedness protocol, with the goal of offering public health experts and policymakers a blueprint of what to do in a pandemic. One of those simulations took place in October 2019, when Toner and a team of researchers launched a coronavirus pandemic simulation in New York, running through various scenarios on how residents, governments and private businesses would hypothetically react to the threat.

One thing that stood out to him: Face coverings are a vital defense to stop the spread of the virus. He believes COVID-19 won’t slow down in the U.S. even as states start to slowly reopen. . .

“I think that mask wearing and some degree of social distancing, we will be living with — hopefully living with happily — for several years,” he said. “It’s actually pretty straightforward. If we cover our faces, and both you and anyone you’re interacting with are wearing a mask, the risk of transmission goes way down.” (Read more from “Coronavirus Expert Says Americans Will Be Wearing Masks for ‘Several Years’” HERE)

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