Americans more anxious about coronavirus as U.S. cases surge

CHRIS KAHN AND PETER SZEKELY

Jul 1st 2020 4:55PM

NEW YORK, July 1 (Reuters) - Americans' anxieties over the spread of the coronavirus are at the highest in more than a month, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Wednesday, as California recorded its biggest single-day spike in cases since the pandemic began.

With the U.S. death toll at more than 127,000, by far the highest in the world, the June 29-30 poll found that 81% of American adults said they are "very" or "somewhat" concerned about the pandemic, the most since a similar poll conducted May 11-12.

The epicenter of the U.S. pandemic has moved from the northeast to the west and south, especially California, Texas, Florida and Arizona.

Bill de Blasio, the mayor of hard-hit New York City, said on Wednesday he was not going ahead with a plan to allow indoor restaurant dining from July 6, citing the alarming situation elsewhere.

“We see a lot of problems and we particularly see problems revolving around people going back to bars and restaurants indoors, and indoors is the problem more and more,” de Blasio said at his daily briefing.

Public health officials believe the decision to reopen bars in many states was one of the main contributors to the sharp increases. Several states have since moved to re-close them.

Cases in California rose by 8,441 on Tuesday as the United States recorded it biggest one-day increase of nearly 48,000 new infections, a Reuters tally showed.

Concerns about the pandemic appear to be rising the most among members of President Donald Trump's Republican Party, according to the Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Republicans have generally been less enthusiastic about imposing and maintaining restrictions to stop the spread of the virus such as sheltering at home or wearing face masks, turning the public safety measures into a partisan issue.

About seven in 10 Republicans said they were personally concerned about the virus' spread, up from six in 10 Republicans in polls conducted over the past few weeks. About nine in 10 Democrats said they are similarly worried, a level of concern that has not changed over the past few weeks.

 

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In the Nov. 3 presidential election, Trump will face Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, who on Tuesday ratcheted up his attack on Trump's handling of the crisis.

COVID-19 cases more than doubled in June in at least 10 states, including Republican-led Texas and Florida, a Reuters tally showed.

Trump officials have blamed the surge in cases on increased testing, but the rise in the percentage of people testing positive and in hospitalizations are not linked to more tests being conducted.

Three states with at least 500 total deaths - Arizona, Louisiana and Texas - have seen the rate of fatalities increase for two weeks or more. Deaths in Arizona rose 63% in the week ended June 28, one of the largest increases in the country.

In parts of Texas and Arizona, hospital intensive care beds for COVID-19 patients are also in short supply.

With limited guidance from the White House, the pandemic fight has largely been left to local officials, and the pressure to re-open their economies has been enormous. Millions have lost their jobs as the economy contracted sharply in the first quarter and is expected to crater in the second.

But when asked in the latest poll about the "most important factor" determining their vote in November, 27% of respondents said it was the candidate's plan to help the nation recover from the coronavirus, compared with 21% who said it was the candidate's plan to create jobs and boost the economy.

Just weeks ago, it was the other way around. In a June 8-9 poll, 26% said they wanted a candidate who was strong on the economy and 21% said they were looking for someone who could handle the coronavirus.

(Reporting by Christine Chan, Chris Kahn, Lisa Shumaker in Chicago; Writing by Sonya Hepinstall; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

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Over 75,000 sign petition to have Marsha P. Johnson statue replace Columbus monument

SAKSHI VENKATRAMAN

Jul 1st 2020 2:37PM

When the transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson was alive, there were no murals created in her honor; there were no institutes in her name; and there were certainly no monuments recognizing her activism. In fact, according to historians, Johnson — now recognized as one of the most influential forces of the modern LGBTQ rights movement — was told to march in the back of New York City's first gay pride march in 1970. But while Johnson, who was found dead in 1992 under suspicious circumstances, was never celebrated during her lifetime, she has transcended to icon status in death.

Last year, New York City officials announced Johnson and her fellow trans activist Sylvia Rivera would be honored with a public monument in the city's Greenwich Village neighborhood; earlier this week, Google dedicated its Google Doodle to Johnson; and now, more than 75,000 people have signed on to a petition to have a statue of Johnson erected in her hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey, in place of its existing Christopher Columbus monument.

"We should commemorate Marsha P. Johnson for the incredible things she did in her lifetime and for the inspiration she is to members of the LGBT+ community worldwide, especially black trans women," the petition states.

Related: The actress and producer talked about her Netflix documentary, "Disclosure," and the inclusion of trans people in the Black Lives Matter movement.

The petitioners argued that Columbus, whose statue has been in the town for nearly 50 years, is "not a figure to be celebrated."

“Although it is widely taught that Columbus ‘discovered’ the Americas, he could not have ‘discovered’ land that was already occupied by indigenous groups,” the petition states. “Many believe celebrating Columbus is glorifying European colonialism."

The petition, started by 19-year-old Elizabeth resident Celine Da Silva, comes as anti-racism protesters across the country deface and tear down monuments of historical figures with racist pasts, including Confederate leaders and colonizers. Columbus statues have been torn down in Minnesota and Virginia and one was beheaded in Boston. Several statues of racist historical figures are slated to be officially removed.

'A radical vision'

Marsha P. Johnson, who identified as a transvestite before the term transgender was popularized, was best known for participating in the 1969 Stonewall uprising and for her work with poor, Black members of the LGBTQ community. Alongside Sylvia Rivera, Johnson co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries, a political collective that provided housing for queer youth and sex workers in lower Manhattan.

“She did represent a radical vision of what we’re now taking for granted 50 years later,” Steven G. Fullwood, a historian and a co-founder of the Nomadic Archivist Project, told NBC News. “More conservative and mainstream white gays weren’t interested in having her and Sylvia and other people like that represent the movement.”

Related: Amid LGBTQ Pride Month and anti-racism protests, activists, leaders and creators share their favorite books about the Black queer experience.

Fullwood said it was not until the widespread use of the internet in the early 2000s that Johnson started to get the recognition she never got while she was alive. He said he looks back on Johnson as “a beacon” and as someone who was always herself.

“Trans people have been at the vanguard of defining what freedom looks like in America and the world,” he said.

However, Fullwood noted that decades after Johnson's critical activism, there is still an epidemic of violence against the transgender community, particularly Black trans women. So far this year, at least 16 transgender and gender-nonconforming people have been killed violently, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

As Black Lives Matter and anti-racism protests continue across the United States and statues of racist historical figures come down, Fullwood said this is an ideal opportunity to reflect on Johnson's legacy.

“This is a really great moment to examine why America is celebrating a past that’s riddled with colonizers and killers and people who’ve oppressed other people for decades,” he said. “And then we have someone like a Marsha; we have an opportunity to reset and rethink what we think about freedom in this country.”

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Virus spike prompts big California about face on reopenings

ADAM BEAM

Jul 1st 2020 5:02PM

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday ordered bars and indoor dining at restaurants to close in most areas of the state for the next three weeks amid a troubling surge of new coronavirus cases throughout the state.

The revised stay-at-home order affects 19 counties where nearly three-quarters of the state’s roughly 40 million people live -- including Los Angeles County.

Newsom says indoor operations at restaurants, wineries and tasting rooms, family entertainment centers, movie theaters, zoos and museums and cardroom gambling businesses must close. Bars were ordered to close both indoor and outdoor operations.

“The bottom line is the spread of this virus continues at a rate that is particularly concerning,” Newsom said.

The order came just days ahead of what is expected to be a busy Fourth of July weekend for the state. That worried public health officials because people were expected to gather in larger numbers than they have for months after the state relaxed its stay-at-home order allowing more businesses to open.

Newsom did not order beaches to close, but said parking lots at all beaches in Southern California and the San Francisco Bay area would close to limit crowds. State parks — which include some beaches — will remain open, but with measures in place to reduce overcrowding.

 

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Newsom said the new business closure order applies to counties that have been on the state's monitoring list because of increasing coronavirus cases for three consecutive days: Contra Costa, Fresno, Glenn, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Merced, Orange, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Joaquin, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Solano, Stanislaus, Tulare and Ventura.

But enforcing the new rules will be difficult, Newsom said. He said seven state agencies with regulatory authority would target non-compliant businesses, including the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, the Department of Consumer Affairs and the California Highway Patrol.

And he suggested that state officials would first try to convince non-compliant businesses to cooperate instead of penalizing them.

“It's more education. I'm not coming out with a fist. We want not come out with an open heart, recognizing the magnitude of some of these modifications,” Newsom said.

Confirmed coronavirus cases in California have increased nearly 50% over the past two weeks. Of greater concern to officials is the steady growth in the state's COVID_19 hospitalizations — a 43% increase over the past two weeks.

Many local California governments have delayed reopening or have imposed extra restrictions as cases rose. Officials in Los Angeles County closed beaches for the Fourth of July weekend before Newsom announced his restrictions and Fresno County in the state's Central Valley agricultural heartland had already ordered all bars to close.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

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