The IRS late Friday announced a May 5 deadline for recipients of Supplemental Security Income and Veterans Affairs benefits to submit information to the agency if they want to receive extra money for children in their household to be included in the coronavirus relief payments.
Payments of $1,200 will be issued to people who receive these benefits and aren’t required to file 2018 or 2019 tax returns. The agency said it needs information on people’s dependents by May 5 to include the extra $500 per child in their payments. For those who don’t normally file taxes, the IRS encourages them to provide their information by using the agency’s web tool for non-filers. Go to irs.gov for more information.
OUR COMMUNITY
Detroit health care worker Deborah Gatewood has died after being denied a coronavirus test by her employer four times.
Kaila Corrothers, the daughter of Gatewood, said her mother started experiencing symptoms in mid-March.
“They said she wasn’t severe enough and that they weren’t going to test her,” said Corrothers, Gatewood’s only child. “They told her to just go home and rest.” Her symptoms got progressively worse until she was admitted to the hospital with a fever of 106 degrees.
Beaumont Hospital, where Gatewood was a phlebotomist for thirty years, did not respond to requests for a comment.
THE PANDEMIC
Two million chickens on several farms in Delaware and Maryland will be humanely killed due to a lack of staff at chicken processing plant. According to a statement by Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc., the reduction in employee attendance stems from an increase in the number of coronavirus cases, testing and people staying home if they are sick. [READ MORE]
Coronavirus Task Force Dr. Anthony Fauci says the U.S. should drastically expand its testing over the next several weeks. Fauci added that contact tracing, identification and isolation of those infected are also key to helping slow the outbreak.
NBA players will soon be allowed to return to their teams’ training facilities if they reside in states with no statewide stay-at-home orders in place. Group practices would not be allowed yet, however, and teams will not be allowed to organize in-person workouts.
STATES
Californians took advantage of the summer-like weather this past weekend and headed to beaches despite stay-at-home orders. Some counties in the state reopened beaches to swimmers and sunbathers but warned people to practice social distancing.
Last weekend, Florida and South Carolina also reopened beaches despite an increase in confirmed coronavirus cases.
Louisiana Tony Spell of Life Tabernacle Church held church services this weekend, again defying a state stay-at-home mandate. Spell was arrested earlier this month for violating the order and was fitted with an ankle bracelet and placed under house arrest. Spell was also charged with assault last week for allegedly backing up his church bus dangerously close to a protester outside the church.
During a press conference on Saturday, Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he is “not in a rush” to lift social distancing restrictions, despite nationwide protests urging a swift reopening of states. DeSantis added that sports events will not resume in May and that his plan to reopen the state mirrors the strategy laid out by the White House.
POLITICS
After close to 50 coronavirus press briefings in March and April, White House leaders are considering scaling back Trump’s participation in the daily press conferences. Reportedly, aides and allies are expressing concern that the daily media coverage is backfiring politically. This concern was heightened Thursday when Trump suggested that injecting household disinfectants could kill the coronavirus. In the days after the Thursday press conference, health officials across the country reported an increase in the number of calls and health emergencies of people ingesting bleach and disinfectants.
