AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT
Is Brazil the next big hot spot as other nations ease up?
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil is emerging as potentially the next big hot spot for the coronavirus amid President Jair Bolsonaro’s insistence that it is just a "little flu” and that there is no need for the sharp restrictions that have slowed the infection’s spread in Europe and the U.S.
As some U.S. states and European countries moved gradually Monday to ease their limits on movement and commerce, the intensifying outbreak in Brazil — Latin America's biggest country, with 211 million people — pushed some hospitals to the breaking point, with signs that a growing number of victims are now dying at home.
“We have all the conditions here for the pandemic to become much more serious," said Paulo Brandão, a virologist at the University of Sao Paulo.
Brazil officially reported about 4,500 deaths and almost 67,000 confirmed infections. But the true numbers there, as in many other countries, are believed to be vastly higher given the lack of testing and the many people without severe symptoms who haven’t sought hospital care.
Some scientists said over 1 million in Brazil are probably infected. And the crisis could escalate as the country heads into winter, which can worsen respiratory illnesses.
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What you need to know today about the virus outbreak
Brazil is emerging as potentially the next big hot spot for the new coronavirus amid President Jair Bolsonaro’s insistence that it is just a “little flu.”
The intensifying outbreak in Brazil — Latin America’s biggest country, with 211 million people — pushed hospitals to the breaking point, leaving victims to die at home.
Here are some of AP’s top stories Monday on the world’s coronavirus pandemic. Follow APNews.com/VirusOutbreak for updates through the day and APNews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak for stories explaining some of its complexities.
WHAT’S HAPPENING TODAY:
— Brazil is emerging as potentially the next big hot spot for the new coronavirus amid President Jair Bolsonaro’s insistence that there's no need for the sharp restrictions that have slowed the infection’s spread in Europe and the U.S.
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Riots, escapes and fear as coronavirus hits juvenile centers
Nicole Hingle wasn’t surprised when the call came. Frustrations had been building inside juvenile detention centers nationwide as the number of coronavirus cases continued to climb. Now, her 17-year-old son Jace, was on the phone telling her around 40 kids had rioted at his facility in Louisiana — the same state where more than a dozen youths escaped during two breakouts at another site this month.
Hingle said her son described whirring helicopters above the Bridge City facility just outside New Orleans. Juveniles kicked down their doors, a SWAT team swarmed in, kids were pepper-sprayed and a staffer was injured during the melee.
“It’s a real mess,” the teen told his mother. “Everything is destroyed.”
Due to coronavirus lockdown measures, it’s been more than two months since Hingle has been able to visit her son. She has accused administrators of keeping her in the dark, and said she was growing increasingly upset by the lack of a clear plan to protect or release those held inside. Ten youths have tested positive at Bridge City in recent weeks.
“This could be life or death for my child,” said Hingle, adding that her son was among a group transferred to the Acadiana Center for Youth after the brawl, where they were pepper-sprayed twice over the weekend by parole officers brought in to help due to short staffing.
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Small business loan program restarts, runs into snags
NEW YORK (AP) — The second round of loan applications for the government's small business relief program has been slowed by computer issues at the Small Business Administration.
Lenders complained Monday that they couldn't get their applications into the SBA system known as ETran that processes and approves loans. The agency said it notified lenders Sunday that it was limiting the number of applications any lender could submit at once.
The SBA began accepting applications at 10:30 a.m. Eastern time for $310 billion in funding. The program's initial $349 billion was exhausted in less than two weeks after more than 1.7 million loans were approved. That first round was also slowed by computer issues at the SBA,
Banks had thousands of applications ready to go Monday. Richard Hunt, president of the trade group Consumer Bankers Association, said the SBA's change was too last-minute — bankers had already sent large batches of applications to the agency, not knowing that a new procedure was being planned.
“We learned at the 11th hour that SBA had changed its process. They could have told us well ahead of time," Hunt said. He said the agency's computers weren't able to accept even the reduced number of applications per hour that it had planned.
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Virus spreads fear through Latin America's unruly prisons
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — The spreading specter of the new coronavirus is shaking Latin America’s notoriously overcrowded, unruly prisons, threatening to turn them into an inferno.
The Puente Alto prison in downtown Santiago, Chile, had the largest of Latin America’s largest prison virus outbreaks so far, with more than 300 reported cases. The prison’s 1,100 inmates are terrified. Social distancing is hard to practice in jail.
“They are all in contact with each other,” said prison nurse Ximena Graniffo.
Latin America’s prisons hold 1.5 million inmates, and the facilities are often quasi-ruled by prisoners themselves because of corruption, intimidation and inadequate guard staffs. Low budgets also create ideal conditions for the virus to spread: There is often little soap and water and cell blocks are crowded.
So far, national officials have reported close to 1,400 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among inmates and prison staff. The worst hit has been Peru, with 613 cases and at least 13 deaths, though the extent of testing to determine the full scale of infections differs from country to country. When the Dominican Republic tested more than 5,500 inmates at the La Victoria prison, which has been producing protective face masks for the public, officials reported at least 239 tested postive.
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Barr to prosecutors: Look for unconstitutional virus rules
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr on Monday ordered federal prosecutors across the U.S. to identify coronavirus-related restrictions from state and local governments “that could be violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of individual citizens.”
The memo to U.S. attorneys directs the head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division and the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan to coordinate the department’s efforts to monitor state and local policies and take action if needed.
“If a state or local ordinance crosses the line from an appropriate exercise of authority to stop the spread of COVID-19 into an overbearing infringement of constitutional and statutory protections, the Department of Justice may have an obligation to address that overreach in federal court.”
Barr’s memo comes about two weeks after the Justice Department filed a statement of interest in a civil case in Mississippi, siding with a Christian church where local officials had tried to stop Holy Week services broadcast to congregants sitting in their cars in the parking lot.
The directive also comes as many stay-at-home orders are set to expire and governors eager to rescue their economies are moving to ease restrictions meant to control the spread of the coronavirus, even as new hot spots emerge and experts warn that moving too fast could prove disastrous.
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'You are a miracle': Home care is new front in virus fight
NEW YORK (AP) — Ruth Caballero paused outside an unfamiliar apartment door, preparing to meet her new patient.
She covered the knob with a plastic bag. Put on a surgical gown, then a heavy-duty N95 mask, a lighter surgical mask on top. Cap, face shield, shoe covers. Hand sanitizer between each step of the process. Finally, the nurse donned two sets of gloves and knocked on the door with her elbow, ready to care for her first coronavirus patient.
After about three weeks in a hospital, the man was home in his New York apartment but still so weak that sitting up in bed took some persuading.
“You made it out of the hospital, so you are a miracle,” Caballero told him. “Now let’s keep you out of the hospital.”
Home health care is becoming a new front in the national fight against COVID-19 as some patients come back from hospitals and others strive to stay out of them.
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Virus is expected to reduce meat selection and raise prices
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Meat isn't going to disappear from supermarkets because of outbreaks of the coronavirus among workers at U.S. slaughterhouses. But as the meat plants struggle to remain open, consumers could face less selection and slightly higher prices.
Industry leaders acknowledge that the U.S. food chain has rarely been so stressed and that no one is sure about the future, even as they try to dispel concerns about shortages.
On Sunday, the meat processing giant Tyson Foods ran a full-page advertisement in the New York Times and other newspapers outlining the difficulty of producing meat while keeping more than 100,000 workers safe and shutting some plants.
“This means one thing — the food supply chain is vulnerable,” the statement said. “As pork, beef and chicken plants are being forced to close, even for short periods of time, millions of pounds of meat will disappear from the supply chain.”
Company spokesman Gary Mickelson said the Tyson family thought it was important to explain their perspective.
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AP PHOTOS: A week of images from the coronavirus pandemic
When a COVID-19 patient went into cardiac arrest, doctors and nurses at a New York-area hospital took their hands off him just before hitting the man with an electric shock to restart his heart.
In an Associated Press photograph of the life-saving moment, the medical team stands with arms outstretched above the helpless figure on a gurney, whose own arms seem suspended in midair. He was successfully revived.
In other images from the coronavirus pandemic, the faithful sought to carry on with religious traditions. A Muslim man offered prayers on a lake shore on the second day of Ramadan in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Kashmiri shrines that would usually be packed during the holy month of Ramadan were deserted after authorities closed them to prevent the spread of the disease.
In Israel, ultra-Orthodox Jews observed social distancing during a morning prayer next to their houses. Synagogues were closed to fight the disease.
Mourning rituals went on in new ways. When relatives and friends could not attend Larry Hammond's funeral because of limits on gatherings of more than 10 people, Hammond's family waved as a line of cars passed their New Orleans home.
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VIRUS DIARY: My new life felt small. Then came coronavirus.
NEW YORK (AP) — “Home is wherever I’m with you,” the song rang out from the speaker. And the tears streamed down my face. In Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros’ jaunty tune lay my deepest pain. That after the end of my nearly seven-year relationship, I didn’t belong anywhere or to anyone anymore.
Have you noticed how this lockdown life has a way of holding up a magnifying glass to whatever you were dealing with before coronavirus?
In the B.C. era, I was lonely. Now isolation is mandated. My life felt small. Now I am largely confined to 500 square feet. I disliked New York. Now it's the only place I have.
When the relationship ended, I moved back to the United States after 10 years abroad. While it seemed wise to go “home,” it was not quite voluntary, and I struggled. I had truly enjoyed but also romanticized my life overseas. It felt expansive: new territories explored, new languages learned, the possibility of adventure around every corner, even (no, especially) at the grocery store.
Then I found myself trying to slot back in with old friends whose lives had spun in new directions. In the city of my birth, I often felt foreign.