WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY
> Experts remain concerned protests could lead to spikes in coronavirus cases
> Trump shrinks back amid protests; many calling for president to address anxious nation
> Senate returns to Washington as protests roil DC, cities across the country
> Trump urges governors to ‘dominate,’ arrest protesters
> Eli Lilly begins world’s first human study of potential antibody treatment
> Russians claim to have effective treatment for virus; hospitals set to deploy drug this month
> US sends 2 million doses of hydroxychloroquine to Brazil as countries embark on joint research into drug’s effectiveness
> Former Rep. John Delaney says Trump is spewing venom when he should be leading, says we need a sea change in how we think about race, proposes using Amazon to help test Americans
The weekend that was. A nation in pain. Since the coronavirus pandemic took hold and the country was thrown into lockdown, most days have been a bit different. But this Monday, for so many Americans, is the worst yet — scarier, fiercer, darker. Last night, the nation’s capital, along with major cities throughout the U.S., bore witness to massive protests over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. In some cities, the protests turned violent. Iconic D.C. monuments were vandalized and aerial footage showed fires blazing and smoke rising throughout the National Mall.
Even under normal circumstances, this weekend’s protests would have marked a dark period in our nation’s history. The outpouring of civil unrest that manifested throughout the country this weekend also took place during a critical moment in our fight against the coronavirus — just as many businesses were beginning to reopen. The looting and property destruction that took place this weekend are another painful blow to the nation’s business owners. As a result of the “protests,” retailers and other businesses in cities across the U.S., including the District of Columbia, New York, Atlanta, Philadelphia and Minneapolis, experienced broken windows, thefts and violence. The actions prompted a number of businesses to shut their doors and raised questions about how exactly the actions relate to the protesters, many of whom were peaceful. Walmart on Sunday closed several hundred stores due to potential protests. Amazon said it had adjusted routes or scaled back delivery operations in some cities, while Apple closed an unspecified number of stores on Sunday. Target said it temporarily closed six stores in California, Minnesota, Illinois and Pennsylvania. On top of it all, health officials remain concerned that the mass gatherings will lead to new outbreaks of the coronavirus — just as many of our metropolises were making serious ground in their fight against COVID-19.
America is sick. 1,797,457 have contracted coronavirus and 104,484 have died in the U.S. from the virus. America is divided — perhaps more than ever before. More than 40 million Americans are out of work as a result of the pandemic. And now, our cities have been put up in flames, our streets vandalized.
We hear so much about the “soul of the nation” — what has made America the greatest country in the history of the world. But where on earth do we go from here? Americans are sick and they are sick of the status quo of white police officers murdering unarmed black men. George Floyd’s last words were, “I can’t breathe.” America needs to take a collective breath. Our “new normal” is here. We all have a role to play in working to make the days ahead brighter than what we saw this weekend.
Where was President Trump you ask? The president was moved to the White House’s underground bunker to shelter in place for a brief period of time as the protest grew outside the people’s house.
THE INTERVIEW
Former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.)
Former Rep. John Delaney (D-Md.), who ran for president in 2020, says Trump is spewing venom when he should be leading, says we need a sea change in how we think about race, proposes using Amazon to help more Americans get tested, says facts and data can move the nation forward with health-smart reopening, adds the government should pass a “We Need it in America Act” that would annually review manufacturing needs for the security of the country like active agents for key pharmaceutical production.
Watch the full interview here.
THE HILL’S CORONAVIRUS REPORT
Welcome to The Hill’s Coronavirus Report. It’s Monday, June 1.
Editor’s Note.
* Updated to reflect that Anton Black died in Caroline County, Maryland.
I don’t know Paul LA Tue III, but I intend to get to know him. He made an impact on me speaking at a vigil noting society’s open, bleeding ulcer of yet another black person murdered, this time George Floyd. But he said before we think about Floyd’s name, and before Ahmaud Arbery’s name, and Sandra Bland’s name, and a long list of other black men and women harassed and killed in our own neighborhood, there was the case of Anton Black, a resident of Kent County possibly killed in neighboring Caroline County, MD, a young man who died under suspicious circumstances — and I didn’t know about it.
Tue spoke about counseling his son not to live life “apologetically black,” but rather “unapologetically black.” He told the white attendees of the more than 400 who showed up at the vigil, masked and socially distant, in a park to not stand in front of, or behind blacks, but stand with them. He said he was sick and tired of being sick and tired of these kinds of moments but predicted there would be more. He called for an alliance of people to do things to break down the distance between communities as a key step in robbing from the police, or harassers, any sense of permission they think they have to behave the way so many have.
This was a peaceful vigil, a peaceful protest — but many protests around the nation have resulted in stores robbed, people hurt, property vandalized. In Washington, D.C., this morning, profane graffiti is everywhere near the White House, but also in other districts of the city, and I choked on the residual tear gas and smoke from fires and police clashes last night in Lafayette Square in front of the people’s White House. One question for folks to ponder is whether it took violence to get this on the national radar, to underscore how essential it is that the approach to race and inequality not be dealt with in such pathetically insignificant ways. Does anyone think that the climate in the country will improve with 42 million more unemployed because of the economic shutdown the country endured?
I open this Coronavirus Report today with these thoughts because it is inescapable that deep social tensions are being aggravated by a time of distance and fear and seclusion and exclusion — and that the inequalities and divides between socioeconomic status and race in America are demanding attention and solutions. The coronavirus will be solved, though vaccines and therapies or the implementation of health guidelines for working businesses will take some time. But they will come. In my view, the answers we need about healing and diminishing the divides in our society are not ones that should be low on our list of priorities. They should be up there with finding a cure. We need both sets of cures to assure America comes out better and stronger in the future so that Tue can stop being sick and tired of being sick and tired.
– Steve Clemons
Your Coronavirus Report team includes Steve Clemons, editor-at-large of The Hill, and researcher Andrew Wargofchik. Follow us on Twitter at @SCClemons and @a_wargofchik.
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THE HILL ‘VIRTUALLY’ LIVE
ICYMI: Catch up on last week’s programs
On May 21, The Hill hosted “A National Virtual Summit on Advancing America’s Economy,” a forum to discuss a responsible reopening of the U.S. economy anchored by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Watch the full program video here.
On May 20, The Hill hosted “The Vir[Tech]tual World of Tomorrow.” Watch the full program video here.
We want to hear from you! Follow us @TheHillEvents and keep the conversation going using #TheHillVirtuallyLive
CORONAVIRUS NUMBERS AT A GLANCE
There are 6,217,949 reported cases of coronavirus and 373,234 have died from COVID-19 throughout the world.
The U.S. is reporting 1,797,457 cases and 104,484 deaths as of the time of this newsletter. Brazil is reporting 514,849 cases. Russia 414,878. United Kingdom 276,156. Spain 239,638. Italy 233,197. India 193,854. France 189,010. Germany 183,594. Turkey 164,769. Peru 164,476. Iran 154,445. Chile 105,158. Canada 93,017. Bangladesh 49,534. Netherlands 46,749. Ecuador 39,098. Portugal 32,700. Kuwait 27,762. Afghanistan 15,750. Oman 12,223. Nigeria 10,162. Armenia, where the prime minister has tested positive for COVID-19, is reporting 9,492 cases.
New York is reporting 371,711 cases. New Jersey 160,445. Illinois 120,260. California 112,491. Massachusetts 96,965. Pennsylvania 76,129. Texas 64,652. Michian 57,537. Georgia 47,628. Virginia 45,398. Connecticut 42,201. Louisiana 40,341. North Carolina 29,399. Minnesota 25,208. Rhode Island 14,991. Missouri 13,438. District of Columbia 8,801.
16,936,891 coronavirus test results have been recorded in the U.S. and 444,758 have recovered from the virus.
WASHINGTON WATCH
As protests and violence spill over, Trump shrinks bank. The president spent Sunday out of sight, berating opponents on Twitter, even as some of his campaign advisers were recommending that he deliver a televised address to an anxious nation. (Washington Post)
This week: Senate reconvenes as protests roil nation amid pandemic. The Senate will return to Washington on Monday after days of protests have swept the country. Monday will mark the first day senators are back in the nation’s capital since protests started last week, providing, in some cases, their first encounter with reporters, and each other, about what Congress’s and the administration’s response should be. (The Hill)
Fauci says his meetings with Trump have “dramatically decreased.” Anthony Fauci said his meetings with President Trump have “dramatically decreased” in recent weeks. “We used to have task force meetings every single day, including Saturday and Sunday, and about 75 percent of the time after the task force meeting we’d meet with the president. So I was meeting with him four times a week back, a month or so ago,” Fauci said in an interview with STAT News published Monday. (The Hill)
LAWMAKERS TWEETS
Rep. Frank Palone Jr. (D-N.J.)
@FrankPallone With more than 100,000 Americans dead, we must quickly enact the solutions in the #HeroesAct, which will significantly expand testing & tracing. It is the only way we will be able to protect the American people, and safely and confidently reopen our communities. #FamiliesFirst
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)
@SenTomCotton George Floyd’s death is deeply disturbing, & I welcome quick action to get justice for him in accordance with law. And we should always respect the rights of peaceful protesters. But anarchy, looting, and rioting–we have zero tolerance for that, and it needs to end tonight.
ACROSS THE NATION
Health officials warn that nationwide protests could set off second wave of infections. U.S. public health officials are warning that the massive, countrywide demonstrations against police brutality, which show no sign of abating, could be followed by a sudden increase in novel coronavirus cases. “We still have pockets of spread in communities that aren’t under good control,” former Food and Drug Administration chief Scott Gottlieb said in a Sunday interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation.” Minnesota, the epicenter of the protests, has seen an uptick in new cases and hospitalizations in recent days, he said. (Washington Post)
Trump urges governors to “dominate,” arrest protesters on late-morning conference call. Trump repeatedly urged governors from across the country to “dominate” the protesters, arrest them and put them behind bars for a long time, according to an official familiar with the president’s remarks who spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose his private comments. (Washington Post)
WORLD VIEW
Russia claims to have an effective treatment for the coronavirus. Russia has approved an anti-influenza drug, Aviifavir, to treat COVID-19 and will start delivering it to hospitals this month, according to Russia’s sovereign wealth fund. The fund, RDIF, has provided money for Russia’s development and production of the drug which is based on favipiravir, an anti-influenza drug developed in Japan under the name Aviga. (CNBC)
Armenian prime minister and family test positive for COVID-19. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and his family have tested positive for COVID-19. The PM says he most likely contracted the virus during a working consultation. The prime minister will now self-isolate in his residence and will continue to work distantly. (Public Radio of Armenia)
SCIENCE
Eli Lilly gives patients first doses in trial of new coronavirus treatment. The drug company Eli Lilly announced Monday that it has administered the first doses of a possible new treatment for coronavirus patients as it begins a phase one clinical trial. (The Hill)
New coronavirus losing potency, top Italian doctor says. The new coronavirus is losing its potency and has become much less lethal, a senior Italian doctor said on Sunday. “In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy,” said Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan in the northern region of Lombardy, which has borne the brunt of Italy’s coronavirus contagion. (Reuters)
BUSINESS
Stocks seek direction after weekend riots; China cuts U.S. agriculture purchases. U.S. equity markets were little changed Monday after protests over the weekend left a trail of destruction across America and China ordered state-run companies to stop the purchases of some U.S. products. (Fox Business)
American Seafoods confirms 86 positive cases on vessel. Seafood processing company American Seafoods has confirmed that a further 85 crew members of one of its vessels have tested positive for COVID-19. The testing of the entire crew of the American Dynasty followed a positive test of one crew member while the vessel was in port at Bellingham, Wash. (CNBC)
ISSUES, CAUSES, PASSIONS
We need to trust each other to beat COVID-19. We need bold acts of personal responsibility to accelerate a return to normalcy. We need to trust contact tracers to maintain our privacy and confidentiality. Business owners must take actions that may not be in their own economic self-interest but will serve to protect broader public health. And all of us must be willing to sacrifice certain personal liberties for the larger goal of getting to the other side of this crisis. (Lyndon Haviland for The Hill)
COVID-19’s “politics of humiliation”: A chance for the US to lead — or to lose control. The opportunity available now to the United States is not about money or guns — the obvious tools that U.S. government officials seek to deploy around the world. The opportunity is about the ability to lead, the ability to define and the ability to inspire. The United States needs to be about something bigger than itself, and it needs to point toward a future to which billions of other people aspire, and also see a pathway to achieving. The United States is not seizing this opportunity, and if missed, the results will echo for decades to come. (Jon B. Alterman for The Hill)
GENEROUS SPIRITS
Emeril Lagasse Foundation donates $500,000 to coronavirus relief efforts. The Emeril Lagasse Foundation is donating $500,000 toward coronavirus relief efforts to support youth programs and families of hospitality industry workers in Louisiana, Nevada and Florida. “The need to support the youth in our community is a priority of Alden and I through the work of our Foundation. The need is more overwhelming than ever,” celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse said in a statement announcing the effort. (The Hill)
Read the powerful memo Tim Cook sent to Apple employees about the killing of George Floyd. “But together, we must do more. Today, Apple is making donations to a number of groups, including the Equal Justice Initiative, a non-profit committed to challenging racial injustice, ending mass incarceration, and protecting the human rights of the most vulnerable people in American society. For the month of June, and in honor of the Juneteenth holiday, we’ll also be matching two-for-one all employee donations via Benevity.” Read the full note here.
ICYMI: STEVE’S INTERVIEWS, 15 MINUTES EACH
> Steve interviews Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Director TOM INGLESBY
> Steve interviews CDC Director ROBERT REDFIELD
> Steve interviews Teva USA President and CEO BRENDAN O’GRADY
> Steve interviews US Surgeon General JEROME ADAMS
> Steve interviews former NIC Director GREG TREVERTON
> Steve interviews Topeka, Kan., Mayor MICHELLE DE LA ISLA
> Steve interviews Rep. RO KHANNA (D-Calif.)
Watch all Coronavirus Report interviews here.
YOUR WORLD, YOUR STORIES
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Send to YourStories@TheHill.com. Our thoughts are with you, our readers, and we hope and trust that no matter the weight of burdens on you now — and it’s not a good story for everyone we know — that we all stand together, resilient and confident, on the other side of this. There will be another side.
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