During a media briefing in Geneva on Monday, the Director-General of the World Health Organization encouraged all protesters to protect themselves and others as they rally against racial injustice.
“WHO fully supports equality and the global movement against racism. We reject discrimination of all kinds,” Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
Safety guidelines for protesters include wearing a mask, washing your hands, covering your cough or sneeze, and staying home if you are sick. He added guidelines for countries where protests have been held.
“We also encourage countries to strengthen the fundamental public health measures that remain the basis of the response: Find, isolate, test and care for every case, and trace and quarantine every contact,” Tedros said. “Contact tracing remains an essential element of the response.”
MORE ON THE PANDEMIC
The U.S. government’s current supply of remdesivir will run out at the end of the month, U.S. health officials say. Gilead Sciences, the company that makes the drug, is ramping up to make more, but it’s unclear how much will be available this summer. Remdesivir is currently the only drug known to work against Covid-19. Although it’s not a cure, recent studies show remdesivir reduces a patient’s hospital stay from 15 to 11 days.
Professors at the University of Pennsylvania are warning that Trump may push for a release of a coronavirus vaccine prematurely to bolster his reelection chances later this year. In the opinion piece published in The New York Times on yesterday, the professors say that Trump has “perpetually postponed effective public health interventions and made poor therapeutic recommendations.”
“We must be on alert to prevent him from corrupting the rigorous assessment of safety and effectiveness of Covid-19 vaccines in order to pull an October vaccine surprise to try to win re-election,” professors Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel and Dr. Paul Offit wrote.
As New York City, the hard-hit epicenter of the pandemic, shows a slow in coronavirus spread, four states – California, Texas, Florida and Illinois – are now outpacing New York state in their averages of daily new coronavirus cases. Coronavirus cases in the U.S. are close to 2 million, and almost 111,000 people have died of the virus.
Bouncing back from the pandemic, Dunkin’ coffee chain is looking to hire 25,000 employees as part of its reopening schedule. The chain, along with others in the fast food industry, are hoping to take advantage of the summer months, which typically experiences a boost in hiring and increased consumer spending.
Even as businesses begin hiring and states continue to reopen, many U.S. economists believe a second wave of infections could imperil a rebound and become the biggest danger to America’s economy this year.
This weekend, more than 400,000 people flew, the most air travel since the coronavirus pandemic caused the industry to stop this spring. This number still lags behind the number of travelers in the air during the same time last year. The 441,000 travelers on Sunday was only 17% of the same Sunday in 2019, according to TSA figures.
