Tag Archives: lockdown

Some U.S. states inch toward easing coronavirus curbs after Trump unveils guidelines

By Maria Caspani

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Some U.S. states were expected on Friday to announce timetables for lifting restrictions aimed at blunting the coronavirus pandemic, a day after President Donald Trump outlined guidelines for a phased reopening of the devastated U.S. economy.

In Texas and Florida, Republican governors were expected to outline plans for a gradual reopening, according to media reports, and the city of Jacksonville, Florida, will allow beaches and parks to reopen with some restrictions.

“Reopening will take time and be done in thoughtful measured steps,” Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry wrote on Twitter. “As we open areas it is important for folks to practice social distancing. Let’s get the beach and park openings with limitations right. Keep moving. No large groups.”

The Republican Trump, seeking a second term in a Nov. 3 election against presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, on Thursday laid out new staggered, three-stage guidelines for U.S. states meant to revive the economy even as the country goes on fighting the pandemic.

In heavily industrial Michigan, Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer said on Friday she hoped to begin re-engaging parts of the economy on May 1. Michigan, a state that Trump narrowly won in 2016, has faced one of the fastest growing infection rates, but residents have pressed to reopen the state’s economy, some even taking to the streets in protest.

Mississippi’s Republican Governor Tate Reeves said he would extend by a week a stay-at-home order that was set to expire on Monday while easing some restrictions early next week.

Beaches and lakes can reopen on Monday for fishing and relaxing, while non-essential businesses can sell products for drive-through pick-up or delivery, he said.

“We are easing the brakes on ‘non-essential’ businesses,” Reeves said. “I wanted to announce that we can all ease up and re-open today, but we can’t. We are still in the eye of the storm.”

The United States has reported more coronavirus infections than any other country, with nearly 670,000 cases and at least 33,300 deaths. The infections and casualties are spread unevenly across the country, with more densely populated places such as New York and New Jersey suffering the most.

On Friday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio canceled permitted city events through May, extending the cancellation by a month. He said events for June were under review. He said New York has to set a “high bar” for restarting large group events.

A FIRST PHASEStates that have met the federal criteria can move into the first phase of re-opening on Friday, Trump said on Thursday.

“You have very different states. If you look at Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, that’s a lot different than New York, a lot different than New Jersey,” he said.

Rural Montana has reported 415 cases and 7 deaths and Wyoming 296 cases and 2 deaths, while New York state has 14,776 casualties, nearly half the national total.

Democrats such as Biden and U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized Trump’s plan.

The guidance “does nothing to make up for the president’s failure to listen to the scientists and produce and distribute national rapid testing,” Pelosi said.

The extraordinary measures to control the novel coronavirus outbreak have battered the U.S. economy – a record 22 million Americans have sought unemployment benefits over the past month, almost wiping out all the job gains since the Great Recession.

Trump’s plan is a set of recommendations for state governors, some of whom Trump has clashed with during the coronavirus crisis. It marks a retreat by the president, who on Monday insisted he had total authority to direct states to reopen or remain closed.

With the onus on governors, Trump is giving himself political cover if anything fails. He played down the seriousness of the threat posed by the coronavirus in the early weeks of the outbreak.

New York and six other Northeastern states on Thursday extended coronavirus stay-at-home orders to May 15.

In Utah, Lieutenant Governor Spencer Cox told CNN parts of the state economy may reopen cautiously in the next couple of weeks. The state is “ramping up testing,” Cox said.

“We can’t just turn the faucet all the way back on. It’s not a sledgehammer, it’s surgical.”

(Reporting by Maria Caspani,Susan Heavey and Lisa Lambert; Writing by Grant McCool; Editing by Howard Goller)

Despite coronavirus, Americans fight for their right to a birthday party

By Barbara Goldberg

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (Reuters) – Reuben Goodman’s parents had to think fast and get creative when the COVID-19 pandemic scuppered their plans to throw a New Jersey bowling party to celebrate their son’s fifth birthday.

Emily and Dan Goodman instead decided to combine a variety of coronavirus-safe activities for their son, an avid Star Wars fan. The day includes a social-distancing treasure hunt of sorts; dancing in the streets in his Storm Trooper costume, with friends kept at a contagion-proof distance; and a virtual Zoom party featuring treats delivered to the homes of Reuben’s playmates and left outside their front doors.

Reuben Goodman dressed as Star War Trooper dances outside of his house on his 5th birthday party during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in South Orange, New Jersey U.S., April 14, 2020. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

Their aim was to make their pre-schooler feel like the center of the universe on his special day, even though he was unable to have a traditional party this year.

“Parents are trying very hard to create positive birthday memories,” said Emily Goodman, a communications executive who has been working at home in self-quarantine since mid-March under orders of her office in New Jersey. “He knows we can’t be close to our friends because of the invisible germs.”

The Goodmans are not the only Americans who have had to adapt to restrictions on social life in the wake of the pandemic, which has forced the cancellation of traditional birthday bashes for both young and old.

U.S. deaths from the novel coronavirus have topped 25,400, doubling in one week, according to a Reuters tally, as officials debate how to reopen the economy without reigniting the outbreak.

Despite the outbreak, Americans are still finding ways to have fun. In many small towns across the country, local police and fire departments are staging parades in front of children’s’ homes on their birthdays, complete with flashing lights and sirens.

Friends and families are using Zoom video conferencing to throw virtual parties, featuring renditions of “Happy Birthday,” a song that has become a coronavirus anthem. (Health experts say a thorough hand-washing takes 20 seconds, about the time it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” twice.)

In San Diego, California, when a former U.S. Marine couldn’t go anywhere for her 104th birthday, her friends brought the party to her front lawn.

“Well, I can’t believe it. It’s amazing,” Ruth Gallivan gasped, as honking cars festooned with birthday decorations drove by at a safe distance.

Anxiety around birthdays is spiking for children struggling with the concept of social distancing, Anthony Field, founder of the Wiggles, a popular Australian musical act, told Reuters in an email.

“Parents have told us their child is worried that if no one can come to their party, ‘Does it mean (I) still turn 4?'” said Field, better known as the Blue Wiggle.

In a new “Social Distancing” song, with more than 540,000 views since it went online March 29, the Wiggles assure fans that a video party counts as a genuine celebration, Field said.

In New Jersey, Reuben’s mother invited more than 20 neighbors to post drawings of Star Wars heroes and villains in their front windows, where her son could see them during a social-distancing walk on Tuesday, his fifth birthday.

Neighbors young and old agreed to dress up in futuristic costumes and join Reuben, wearing a new Storm Trooper outfit, as he danced on his front lawn. Adults would make sure everyone stayed at least the recommended six feet apart from one another.

Later, his friends were set to join him in a Zoom party that would feature a children’s musician strumming “Happy Birthday” and enjoy party goodie bags with toys that Reuben ordered from a local store and custom Star Wars cookies ordered from a local bakery. Reuben’s mother, wearing a face bandana and disposable gloves, planned to drop them off at his friends’ front doors, wiping down each one with disinfectant.

Reuben said he had another present for all the party-goers, who are presumably as tired of being separated from friends as he was. His special treat? “To look at me,” he said.

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Alistair Bell)

Protect women from domestic violence during coronavirus lockdowns: pope

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Francis said on Monday society had to stand behind women victims of domestic violence, as abuse increased around the world during coronavirus lockdowns.

Francis praised women in frontline roles in helping society weather the crisis, mentioning doctors, nurses, police officers, prison guards and sales staff in stores selling essential goods.

The pope, speaking on a religious and national holiday in Italy and other countries, also praised the many women at home helping children, the elderly and the disabled.

But, speaking from his official library rather than from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, Francis said: “Sometimes they (women) risk being victims of violence in a cohabitation that they bear like a weight that is far too heavy.”

“Let us pray for them, so the Lord grants them strength and that our communities support them along with their families,” he said.

Domestic violence has risen as many countries imposed tougher restrictions on people leaving their homes to halt the spread of the coronavirus.

Domestic violence programs across the United States have cited increases in calls for help. The YWCA of Northern New Jersey said domestic violence calls have risen by up to 24%.

In Spain, calls to a helpline for victims of violence increased by 12.4% in the first two weeks of the lockdown compared to the same fortnight last year. Online consultations of the helpline’s website grew by 270%, the Equality Ministry said.

Gun control advocates in the United States, where gun stores have been allowed to remain open, have said they feared increased ownership of firearms during the pandemic could lead to more domestic violence.

In Italy, support groups said they were concerned that a sharp fall in official reports of domestic violence was a signal that women risked being even more exposed to control and aggression by a partner because victims have more difficulty communicating during a lockdown.

Because of restrictions against gatherings, all of Francis’ Holy Week services that culminated on Easter Sunday were held without public participation in either St. Peter’s Basilica or St. Peter’s Square.

Nearly 19,500 people have died of the coronavirus as of Sunday in Italy, the second-highest toll behind the United States.

Francis said he was praying for all countries affected by the pandemic but particularly for those with many victims, mentioning the United States, Italy, Spain and France before stopping himself, saying “the list is long”.

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)

With 20,500 coronavirus deaths, U.S. spends Easter Sunday on lockdown

(Reuters) – Americans spent Sunday on lockdown as the U.S. toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic surpassed 20,500 deaths and more than half a million confirmed cases over the Easter weekend.

With most of the country under stay-at-home orders to curb the spread of the disease, many turned to online church services to mark the holiest day in the Christian calendar.

“Future generations will look back on this as the long Lent of 2020, a time when disease and death suddenly darkened the whole earth,” Archbishop Jose Gomez of Los Angeles wrote to priests and parishioners nationwide, urging them to hold steadfast. “Our churches may be closed but Christ is not quarantined and his Gospel is not in chains.”

A few people take to the plaza at the Lincoln Memorial during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, where normally thousands of Christians would gather for worship at Easter sunrise, in Washington, U.S. April 12, 2020. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

The United States has seen its highest death tolls to date from the COVID-19 disease caused by the coronavirus, with roughly 2,000 deaths a day reported for the last four days in a row, the largest number in and around New York City. Even that is viewed as understated, as New York is still figuring out how best to include a surge in deaths at home in its official statistics.

As the death toll has mounted, President Donald Trump mulled over when the country might begin to see a return to normality.

His administration sees May 1 as a target date for relaxing the stay-at-home restrictions, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said on Sunday. But he cautioned that it was still too early to say that target would be met.

“We see light at the end of the tunnel,” Hahn told ABC’s “This Week,” adding, “Public safety and the welfare of the American people has to come first. That has to ultimately drive these decisions”

The top U.S. infectious disease expert said he was cautiously optimistic that some of the country is starting to see a turnaround in the fight against the outbreak.

Dr. Anthony Fauci pointed to the New York metropolitan area, which had its highest daily death toll last week alongside a decrease in hospitalizations, intensive care admissions and the need to intubate critically ill patients.

“Not only is it flat, it’s starting to turn the corner,” Fauci said on Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“Once you turn that corner, hopefully you’ll see a very sharp decline and then you can start thinking about how we can keep it that way and prevent it from resurging,” he said.

The Trump administration renewed talk of quickly reopening the economy after an influential university research model cut its U.S. mortality forecasts to 60,000 deaths by Aug. 4, down from at least 100,000, assuming social-distancing measures stay.

However, new government data shows a summer surge in infections if stay-at-home orders are lifted after only 30 days, according to projections first reported by the New York Times and confirmed by a Department of Homeland Security official.

https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS-USA/0100B5K8423/index.html

(Reporting by Barbara Goldberg, Doina Chiacu, Ross Colvin and Christopher Bing; Writing by Daniel Wallis; editing by Diane Craft)

Sign of the times: Mile-long line of cars outside California grocery giveaway

By Lucy Nicholson

VAN NUYS, Calif. (Reuters) – A pop-up food pantry in Southern California on Thursday drew so many people that the line of cars waiting for free groceries stretched about a mile (1.6 km), a haunting sign of how the coronavirus pandemic has hurt the working poor.

Hundreds of other people, many wearing trash bags to shelter from the rain, arrived at the one-day grocery giveaway on foot, forming a blocks-long queue in Van Nuys, in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles.

People pick up fresh food at a Los Angeles Regional Food Bank giveaway of 2,000 boxes of groceries, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in Los Angeles, California, U.S., April 9, 2020. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

Organizers said they had enough groceries to hand out to more than 2,500 families, with each receiving a 36-pound (16-kg) box of rice, lentils and other staples as well as frozen chicken, oranges and other foods.

“I have six kids and it’s difficult to eat. My husband was working in construction but now we can’t pay the rent,” said Juana Gomez, 50, of North Hollywood, as she waited for her turn.

The COVID-19 pandemic has shut down nonessential businesses across the United States, with more than 90% of Americans under some kind of stay-at-home order, depriving millions of a paycheck.

The northeast part of Los Angeles, home to many working poor Latino families, has been especially hard hit.

LA Regional Food Bank supplied the food donated outside Van Nuys City Hall. Its president, Michael Flood, said such giveaways were becoming an increasingly important way to help feed people in need, with “one or two a day” being held in different locations in Los Angeles County.

Thursday’s food giveaway — coordinated by Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez in partnership with the Los Angeles Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and Labor Community Services — was open to anyone in need.

“This food saves me money because my little income goes to my rent,” said Daniel Jimenez, 40, an independent contractor for golf tournaments whose young children joined him to pick up food.

“I haven’t been working for three weeks. I have a little money saved but I’m paying rent, gas, and cellphone bills. I don’t even know when we’re going back to work,” he said.

As he spoke, volunteers shouted constant reminders to those who walked up to maintain social distancing.

“For a lot of people, they are new to the situation of needing help and not knowing where to turn,” Flood said, noting many people were now suddenly filing for unemployment and government food assistance programs.

“But that may take some time for them to get those benefits. We want to do what we can to get food in the hands of families, just so they can eat,” he said.

(Writing by Barbara Goldberg in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty and Tom Brown)

Death stalks French nursing home, where corpses lie in rooms

By Lucien Libert

PARIS (Reuters) – In a nursing home in Paris, bodies have been left decomposing in bedrooms and the smell of death seeps under doors after the coronavirus spread through the overwhelmed facility, according to a care worker there.

The employee at the Jardin des Plantes home, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject, told Reuters some 30 residents – about a third of all the elderly being cared for at the facility – had died since the outbreak struck.

With the city’s undertakers swamped by the wave of COVID-19 deaths sweeping the capital, some corpses had laid in body bags for several days, the care worker said.

“The smell passes under the doors and permeates through the walls,” the care worker said.

“Families would call in the morning, and we’d tell them things were fine. By the evening their relative would be dead and we wouldn’t even have had the time to inform them,” the care worker added, describing how staff had been overrun.

The nursing home is run by Paris City Hall. A spokesman confirmed that the number of deaths had risen above the 21 initially reported on April 7, but could not give a precise figure.

City Hall had been alerted that some corpses were festering inside bedrooms, the spokesman said. Immediate measures had been taken “to limit as far as possible this situation”, he added.

The nursing home declined to comment.

All of France’s care homes are locked down, their 1 million residents in isolation on government orders and cut off from their families.

From Italy to the United States, such homes have emerged as a vulnerable frontline in the global pandemic, with COVID-19 most lethal to the elderly.

PARTIAL DATA

In France, nursing homes do not have to relay data on COVID-19 deaths to the health authorities.

The country’s death count has surged after it began including numbers supplied voluntarily from homes last week, with a third of the 12,210 COVID-19 fatalities nationwide occurring in nursing homes.

A spokeswoman for the regional ARS health authority in the greater Paris area said Jardin des Plantes was among the 40% of France’s 7,400 homes that had not passed on the information.

The care worker said that the home’s 80 staff had lacked face masks, gloves, gowns and shoe covers when the coronavirus first hit. High levels of absenteeism left workers overstretched before reinforcements arrived, including student nurses.

The nursing home declined to respond to questions about protective gear, which has been in short supply in many medical facilities and care homes across the world, particularly in the early stages of the coronavirus crisis.

The Paris City Hall spokesman said the municipality provided all its staff, including those working in homes, with masks.

Earlier this week, as the death toll inside the home rose, all of its surviving residents and staff were tested for COVID-19 after the health ministry changed its protocol.

Previously, as France ramped up testing capacity, the guidance was that the first two suspected cases be assessed.

Asked if the testing had come too late, the City Hall spokesman said the municipality was taking its cue from the ARS.

“We’re approaching the peak so this is a crucial time,” he said. “We’re not too late.”

(Additional reporting and writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Mike Collett-White)

In global war on coronavirus, some fear civil rights are collateral damage

By Luke Baker, Matthew Tostevin and Devjyot Ghoshal

LONDON/BANGKOK/DELHI (Reuters) – In Armenia, journalists must by law include information from the government in their stories about COVID-19. In the Philippines, the president has told security forces that if anyone violates the lockdown they should “shoot them dead”. In Hungary, the premier can rule by decree indefinitely.

Across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Africa and the Americas, governments have introduced states of emergency to combat the spread of the new coronavirus, imposing some of the most stringent restrictions on civil liberties since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, lawyers and human rights campaigners said.

While such experts agree extraordinary measures are needed to tackle the deadliest pandemic in a century, some are worried about an erosion of core rights, and the risk that sweeping measures will not be rolled back afterwards.

“In many ways, the virus risks replicating the reaction to Sept. 11,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, referring to the welter of security and surveillance legislation imposed around the world after the al Qaeda attacks on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people.

“People were fearful and asked governments to protect them. Many governments took advantage of that to undermine rights in ways that far outlasted the terrorist threat,” he told Reuters.

Roth was speaking about legislation in countries including the United States, Britain and EU states which increased collection of visa and immigrant data and counter-terrorism powers.

Some measures imposed in response to a crisis can become normalised, such as longer security queues at airports as a trade-off for feeling safer flying. In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, similar trade-offs may become widely acceptable around issues such as surveillance, according to some political and social commentators.

South Korea’s use of mobile phone and other data to track potential carriers of the virus and impose quarantines has been a successful strategy and is a model that could be replicated around the world to guard against pandemics, they say.

Political consultant Bruno Macaes, a former Portuguese minister, said people’s obsession with privacy had made it harder to combat threats like pandemics, when technology to trace the virus could help.

“I am more and more convinced the greatest battle of our time is against the ‘religion of privacy’. It literally could get us all killed,” he added.

EXTRAORDINARY CRISIS

As the virus has spread from China across the world, with more than 1.4 million people infected and 82,000 dead, governments have passed laws and issued executive orders.

The first priority of the measures is to protect public health and limit the spread of the disease.

“It’s quite an extraordinary crisis, and I don’t really have trouble with a government doing sensible if extraordinary things to protect people,” said Clive Stafford-Smith, a leading civil rights lawyer.

The U.S.-headquartered International Center for Not-For-Profit Law has set up a database to track legislation and how it impinges on civic freedoms and human rights.

By its count, 68 countries have so far made emergency declarations, while nine have introduced measures that affect expression, 11 have ratcheted up surveillance and a total of 72 have imposed restrictions on assembly.

EXTRAORDINARY POWERS

In Hungary for example, Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose party dominates parliament, has been granted the right to rule by decree in order to fight the epidemic, with no time-limit on those powers and the ability to jail people for up to five years if they spread false information or hinder efforts to quell the virus.

The Hungarian government said the law empowered it to adopt only measures for “preventing, controlling and eliminating” the coronavirus. Spokesman Zolan Kovacs said nobody knew how long the pandemic would persist, but that parliament could revoke the extra powers.

In Cambodia, meanwhile, an emergency law has been drafted to give additional powers to Hun Sen, who has been in office for 35 years and has been condemned by Western countries for a crackdown on opponents, civil rights groups and the media. The law is for three months and can be extended if needed.

The Cambodian government did not respond to a request for comment. Hun Sen defended the law at a news conference this week, saying it was only required so that he could declare a state of emergency, if needed, to stop the virus and saving the economy.

Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former coup leader who kept power after a disputed election last year, has invoked emergency powers that allow him to return to governing by decree. The powers run to the end of the month, but also can be extended.

“The government is only using emergency power where it is necessary to contain the spread of the coronavirus,” said Thai government spokeswoman Narumon Pinyosinwat.

In the Philippines, the head of police said President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to shoot lockdown violators was a sign of his seriousness rather than indicating people would be shot.

Neither the presidential spokesman nor the cabinet secretary responded to a request for comment.

PUBLIC HEALTH

For Roth and other human rights advocates, the dangers are not only to fundamental freedoms but to public health. They say restrictions on the media could limit the dissemination of information helpful in curbing the virus’s spread, for instance.

Indian premier Narendra Modi, criticised in the media for a lack of preparedness including inadequate protective gear for health workers, has been accused by opponents of trying to muzzle the press by demanding that it get government clearance before publishing coronavirus news, a request rejected by India’s supreme court.

The Indian government did not respond to a request for comment, while the Armenian government said it had no immediate comment. Both have said they want to prevent the spread of misinformation, which could hamper efforts to control the outbreak.

Carl Dolan, head of advocacy at the Open Society European Policy Institute, warned about the tendency for some governments to keep extraordinary powers on their books long after the threat they were introduced to tackle has passed.

Dolan proposed a mandatory review of such measures at least every six months, warning otherwise of a risk of “a gradual slide into authoritarianism”.

(Additional reporting by Josh Smith in Seoul, Prak Chan Thul in Phnom Penh, Krisztina Than in Budapest, Nvard Hovhannisyan in Yerevan, Neil Jerome Morales in Manila, Panu Wongcha-Um in Bangkok, Linda Sieg in Tokyo, John Mair in Sydney, Ben Blanchard in Taipei, Aleksandar Vasovic in Belgrade and Tsvetelia Tsolova in Sofia; Editing by Pravin Char)

Israelis mark Passover, a celebration of freedom, in virtual isolation

Israelis mark Passover, a celebration of freedom, in virtual isolation
By Rami Ayyub

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The Jewish Passover holiday typically draws crowds of Israelis outside to burn heaps of leavened bread, commemorating the Biblical exodus from slavery in Egypt.

But on Wednesday, a coronavirus lockdown meant the streets of Jerusalem and other cities were nearly empty on the first day of the week-long holiday, when they would normally be dotted with fires and columns of smoke.

Israel this week imposed holiday restrictions to try to halt the spread of the disease.

Jews may only celebrate the traditional “seder” meal that kicks off the April 8-15 holiday season with immediate family. Travel between cities is banned until Friday.

A full curfew took effect on Wednesday, just before the seder begins, and will last until Thursday, prompting a dash for last-minute shopping, which saw long lines of Israelis wearing face masks outside grocery stores.

Police have thrown up roadblocks and will deploy drones and helicopters to enforce curbs on movement throughout the lockdown, a spokesman said.

But some areas found workarounds to keep festive traditions alive in a month that will also see Christians celebrate Easter and Muslims mark the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan.

The Jerusalem municipality on Wednesday collected leavened products from designated dumpsters outside peoples’ homes and took them away to be burned in a large open area on the city’s outskirts.

A rabbi accompanied by a firefighter tossed a long, fire-tipped stick onto a patch of flammable liquid leading to a pile of the leavened bread products, many still in plastic bags, engulfing the mound in smoke and flames.

LEAVENED BREAD

One Jerusalem man, Daniel Arusti, disposed of a paper bread box in one of the dumpsters outside his house, instead of gathering with his ultra-Orthodox community to burn it in public.

“Next year … when there will hopefully be no (coronavirus) threat, we’ll be able to come and redo public burning of chametz (leavened bread) together, as we should,” Arusti said.

Throughout Passover, Jews abide by special dietary laws which include eating unleavened bread known as matzo. The tradition marks a Book of Exodus tale that the Jews did not have time to prepare leavened bread before leaving for the promised land.

But in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighbourhood of Mea Shearim, some Israelis flouted the restrictions and gathered in small groups or by themselves to burn leaven alongside the district’s sandstone homes and concrete walls.

Some ultra-Orthodox have heeded rabbis who, distrusting the state, spurned Health Ministry restrictions.

Unable to gather in person, other Israelis plan to hold the seder with friends and extended family online by video conferencing platforms.

The holiday restrictions added to anti-virus measures that have seen Israelis largely confined to their homes, forcing many businesses to close and sending unemployment to 25%.

Israel has reported more than 9,400 cases and at least 71 deaths from COVID-19, according to Health Ministry data.

(Additional reporting by Suheir Sheikh; Editing by Alison Williams and Janet Lawrence)

Your COVID-19 questions, answered

There is a lot of misinformation circulating about the coronavirus, so we took to Instagram, Twitter and Reddit to see what questions have been bugging you, our readers.Below are answers from several healthcare experts who have been following the outbreak. Please note that there is much we still don’t know about the new virus, and you should reach out to your own healthcare provider with any personal health concerns.

LIVING UNDER LOCKDOWN

What are good ways to maintain your mental health?

I would recommend the following:

1. Maintain a normal schedule if possible

2. Exercise (go for walk or run, do an online video)

3. Maintain social connections via FaceTime, Skype or phone calls

4. Limit time spent on the Internet and connected to the news

5. Have “virtual” dates with family and friends.

— Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, infectious disease researcher

Here’s how it’s affecting young minds  and how millennials are adjusting to isolation.

How long will the U.S. really have to be on lockdown to successfully flatten the curve?

We’re still learning on a daily basis what the case count looks like in the U.S. We also need to consider that there could be a resurgence of cases once public health measures are loosened up.

— Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, infectious disease researcher

I defer to the epidemiologists here, but National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci recently said that he’s confident in a range of four to six weeks to 3 months.

— Dr. Angela Rasmussen, virologist at Columbia University

Do I actually need to wear a mask?

The WHO advises that if you’re healthy, you need to wear a mask only when caring for an infected person or if you’re coughing, sneezing or showing symptoms. More here

TRANSMISSION

Is it fair to assume every American will be exposed to the coronavirus this year?

No, which is one of the reasons we have these current public health measures in place. We are trying to prevent further onward transmission of the disease.

— Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, infectious disease researcher

Almost 100,000 cases have been reported in the U.S. and its territories, according to a Reuters tally of state and local government sources, mapped .

Is the coronavirus airborne in normal settings and if so, for how long?

According to our knowledge, it does not stay in the air in normal settings. Most evidence directs us to droplet transmission. Airborne precautions are required only for healthcare workers when undertaking aerosol producing procedures such as bronchoscopy/intubation.

— Dr. Muge Cevik, infectious diseases researcher at the University of St. Andrews

Is there potential exposure in elevators?

Coronavirus guidelines by the CDC are based on the fact that the virus is transmitted primarily via respiratory droplets, like a cough or sneeze. In droplet form, it’s airborne for a few seconds, but is only able to travel a short distance. In elevators, social distancing measures should be implemented with a max number of people inside at a time.

— Infectious Diseases Society of America

How worried should we be about fomite transmission?

We are still learning about fomite transmission. We know from an article in the New England Journal of Medicine that the virus is viable up to four hours on copper, 24 hours on cardboard, and two to three days on plastic and stainless steel.

— Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, infectious disease researcher

Can you spread the virus if you’re asymptomatic?

Yes, but it isn’t the main driver of transmission. This is also why it is extremely important to ensure you have washed hands before touching your face.

— Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, infectious disease researcher

What’s the typical timeline of symptoms?

From the time of exposure to symptoms it may take on average three to six days, which may be longer/shorter in some patients. Typically it starts with fever, dry cough, myalgia and flu-like illness, then progresses to shortness of breath and pneumonia in some patients.

— Dr. Muge Cevik, infectious diseases researcher at the University of St. Andrews

Is it possible that an infected person only has a mild cold before recovering?

Yes. The most common symptoms a person will have are fever, dry cough and muscle aches/fatigue.

— Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, infectious disease researcher

Should people be more concerned about eye protection?

We certainly use face shields to protect our eyes when in contact with patients.

— Dr. Isaac Bogoch, infectious disease researcher and scientist

Does getting vaccines increase your risk?

Getting any vaccines would not increase your risk for COVID-19. We’re recommending getting needed vaccines. We want people to get their influenza vaccines so they don’t end up with the flu and in the hospital.

— Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, infectious disease researcher

Do people have a natural immunity to this virus?

I am not aware of “natural immunity” since it is a new virus. We might find as serology testing is rolled out that people have been exposed and developed antibodies without having symptoms.

— Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, infectious disease researcher

Is it possible to get reinfected?

We’re not sure how immunity works or how long it lasts. The best guess is that people who are infected are likely to be protected over the short-to-medium term. We don’t know about longer yet.

— Dr. Eric Rubin, editor-in-chief, New England Journal of Medicine

There are a handful of cases of possible “reinfection” in recovered patients. But most scientists believe those are more likely to have been relapses.

TREATMENT

Is there a team working on an antibody test for the virus? If so, when might it be ready?

There are teams working on serological tests. Rolling out on a population scale will be an essential part of the long-term answer, but we need to get through the next month.

— Bill Hanage, associate professor at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health

When will a vaccine be ready?

Vaccine trials may take as long as 12 months. There are multiple clinical trials looking at different treatment options, but we currently don’t know whether this combination is effective and safe for patients.

— Dr. Muge Cevik, infectious diseases researcher at the University of St. Andrews

Scientists in Singapore are trying to fast-track the process.

What impact will warmer weather have on the spread?

I have yet to see convincing evidence on this, one way or the other. We are all hoping transmission will slow down with warmer weather in the northern hemisphere, and that warmer countries will be spared the worst. Not enough data yet to conclude.

— Dr. Suerie Moon, director of research at the Global Health Centre

Here’s what we know about seasonal features of disease outbreaks.

I’ve seen several news sources report that experts from Johns Hopkins and other medical colleges are saying the virus can become less deadly as it spreads. Can you explain this phenomenon?

Yes, one theory for why many viruses become weaker over time is that viruses that kill their host don’t get very far. This pattern of weakening is seen with flu viruses, and many others, but not all. We’re not there yet with the current outbreak. Whether it’s weaker three or 10 years from now doesn’t change anything about today’s situation.

— Christine Soares, medical editor at Reuters

(Reporting by Lauren Young, Jenna Zucker, Beatrix Lockwood, Nancy Lapid, Christine Soares)

Residents take coronavirus surveillance into their own hands

By Thin Lei Win and Beh Lih Yi

ROME/KUALA LUMPUR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – A week after Malaysia ordered a partial lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus, construction supervisor Hafi Nazhan saw residents in his affluent Kuala Lumpur neighbourhood jogging outside.

He took photos of people flouting the stay-at-home order and published them on Twitter, receiving hundreds of shares. Hafi’s followers informed the police, who subsequently arrested 11 joggers in his neighbourhood.

They were charged with violating the movement restriction order and each fined 1,000 ringgit ($230) in court.

“I was upset some people did not take this stay-at-home order seriously. These are well-educated people,” Hafi, 26, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, adding that police were spurred into taking action after his tweets went viral.

As governments around the world urge citizens to stay indoors to contain the deadly virus, concerned communities are taking surveillance matters into their own hands, reporting alleged breaches of quarantine and questioning anyone they deem suspicious.

The respiratory disease – which emerged in China late last year – has infected roughly 1.2 million people and killed about 65,000, according to a global tally by Johns Hopkins University.

In Singapore, a Facebook post by a man sharing a photo of himself enjoying a bowl of bak kut teh – pork rib soup – in a restaurant when he should be self-quarantining at home was so widely circulated that officials stepped in.

Singapore’s law minister ordered an investigation and the immigration authorities told local media the man was likely to be charged, although they did not respond to requests seeking comment.

In New Zealand, which is under a one-month shutdown, a police website set up to allow residents to report their neighbours who break isolation rules crashed hours after going live.

The website has received about 14,000 reports in less than a week since its March 29 launch, New Zealand police said in an email. They reportedly include people playing frisbee and holding parties.

In Italy, which has been under lockdown for weeks, fraying tempers have led to people being insulted from balconies or photographed and put on social media.

In Spain, locals have also begun posting videos of people going for a run, walking in the park, riding a bike – all prohibited activities – on social media.

HEALTH VS. PRIVACY

Such tip-offs and videos have sparked a debate over digital ethics with some arguing that normal privacy rules do not apply in a health emergency because the information is in the public interest.

“When we are all threatened with the risk of catching a lethal, incurable disease I see no reason why individuals should not report their legitimate concerns to the authorities,” said David Watts, former privacy commissioner for Australia’s Victoria state.

“There is not much point having privacy rights when you are dead,” added Watts, who now teaches information law and policy at Melbourne-based La Trobe University.

For David Lindsay, law professor at the University of Technology Sydney, privacy is “not an absolute right and must always be balanced against other rights and interests”.

“The balance struck obviously depends upon circumstances, and a global pandemic is an extreme event,” he said.

Still, both Watts and Lindsay said the balance between privacy and surveillance should be reset when the pandemic is over.

Others, like Joseph Cannataci, the United Nations special rapporteur on the right to privacy, fear surveillance measures ranging from facial recognition to phone tracking could outlast the current crisis.

“Dictatorships and authoritarian societies often start in the face of a threat,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation this week.

STIGMA AND FEAR

Community surveillance could also end up being used “in a malicious way, particularly to replicate prejudice or bias”, warned Raman Jit Singh Chima, Asia policy director at digital rights group Access Now.

“Often the people who might be reported on will be the least privileged, or might be belong to, in the case of India, lower caste communities or people who have to work outside,” he said.

Human rights experts worry that the tens of thousands of migrant workers who returned to Myanmar after a shutdown in neighbouring Thailand’s left them jobless will come under intense scrutiny.

In a village in central Myanmar, locals would not allow a young man who returned from Thailand to stay in his home, said Khin Zaw Win, a Yangon-based political analyst.

Foreigners have also been targeted on social media, with a Facebook video showing agitated residents in a neighbourhood in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second largest city, who described barging into a building after seeing Chinese visitors coughing.

Filmed Tuesday night, it has received more than 1 million views and 10,000 shares.

“The public is being very sensitive at the moment … when the key in this kind of situation is that you should help each other,” said Khin Zaw Win.

“Some of it have to do with the narrative that (coronavirus) was brought here from abroad. I think the panic is even scarier than the virus,” he added.

Myanmar so far has about 20 confirmed cases of the virus, with the health ministry warning of a “major outbreak” after the return of migrant workers from Thailand.

Officials have also reminded the public that failure to report people suspected of being infected could lead to jail sentences of up to a month.

“From the point of view of public health, surveillance and tracking is essential. The faster and the more effectively you can enforce it, the better,” said Sid Naing, Myanmar country director for health charity Marie Stopes International.

“But it should not be done in a way that breeds hatred and fear. It should be done based on understanding and support,” he said.

“At the moment, the state cannot provide full surveillance so people started doing it themselves because they are terrified … but there are stigma and discrimination behind the fear and those are the problems.”

(Reporting By Thin Lei Win @thinink and Beh Lih Yi @behlihyi, additional reporting from Sophie Davies in Barcelona, editing by Zoe Tabary. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org)