AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT
The Latest: White House bans travel to the US from Brazil
The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.
TOP OF THE HOUR:
— White House announces a ban on travel to the U.S. from Brazil due to the spread of coronavirus.
— Hospitalizations in France because of the virus rose slightly.
— Italy has 531 new infections in the past 24 hours.
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White House imposes coronavirus travel ban on Brazil
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Sunday broadened its travel ban against countries hard-hit by the coronavirus by denying admission to foreigners who have been in Brazil during the two-week period before they hoped to enter the U.S.
President Donald Trump had already banned travel from the United Kingdom, Europe and China. He said last week that he was considering similar restrictions for Brazil.
The U.S. leads the world in the number of confirmed cases, followed by Brazil, now Latin America's hardest-hit country. Third on the list is Russia.
Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany cast Trump's latest move as one designed to “protect our country.”
The ban on travel from Brazil takes effect late Thursday. As with the other bans, it does not apply to legal permanent residents. A spouse, parent or child of a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident also would be allowed to enter the country.
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Trump's pitch to voters: Trust me, economy will soar in 2021
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has a new pitch to voters for this fall: Trust me.
As the economy faces a once-in-a-century recession, with more than 38 million people out of work, Trump is increasingly talking up a future recovery that probably won't materialize until after the November election. He's asking voters to look past the pain being felt across the nation and give him another four-year term on the promise of an economic comeback in 2021.
“It’s a transition to greatness,” Trump says over and over, predicting a burgeoning economy come the fall. “You’re going to see some great numbers in the fourth quarter, and you’re going to end up doing a great year next year."
His chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, echoes the wait-until-next-year sentiment, holding out hope for a “big bang 2021.”
It's a delayed-reward tactic Trump was using long before the global pandemic gut-punched the country. He has turned to it with new urgency as the coronavirus has robbed him of the booming economy that was to be the core of his reelection message.
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Memorial Day weekend draws crowds and triggers warnings
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — The Memorial Day weekend marking the unofficial start of summer in the U.S. meant big crowds at beaches and warnings from authorities Sunday about people disregarding the coronavirus social-distancing rules and risking a resurgence of the scourge that has killed nearly 100,000 Americans.
Meanwhile, the White House announced a ban on travel to the U.S. from Brazil, which has been hard hit by the pandemic.
Sheriff's deputies and beach patrols tried to make sure people kept their distance from others as they soaked up the rays on the sand and at parks and other recreation sites around the country.
In the Tampa area along Florida's Gulf Coast, the crowds were so big that authorities took the extraordinary step of closing parking lots because they were full.
On the Sunday talk shows, Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, said she was “very concerned” about scenes of people crowding together over the weekend.
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White House goal on testing nursing homes unmet
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Nearly two weeks ago the White House urged governors to ensure that every nursing home resident and staff member be tested for the coronavirus within 14 days.
It’s not going to happen.
A review by The Associated Press found that at least half of the states are not going to meet White House’s deadline and some aren’t even bothering to try.
Only a handful of states, including West Virginia and Rhode Island, have said they’ve already tested every nursing home resident.
Many states said the logistics, costs and manpower needs are too great to test all residents and staff in a two-week window. Some say they need another week or so, while others say they need much more time. California, the most populous state, said it is still working to release a plan that would ensure testing capacity for all residents and staff at skilled nursing facilities statewide.
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US Muslims try to balance Eid rituals with virus concerns
WINTER PARK, Fla. (AP) — With no congregational prayers or family gatherings, Salsabiel Mujovic has been worried that this year’s Eid al-Fitr celebration will pale. Still, she’s determined to bring home holiday cheer amid the coronavirus gloom.
Her family can’t go to the mosque, but the 29-year-old New Jersey resident bought new outfits for herself and her daughters. They are praying at home and having a family photo session. The kids are decorating cookies in a virtual gathering, and popping balloons with money or candy inside -- a twist on a tradition of giving children cash gifts for the occasion.
“We’re used to, just like, easily going and seeing family, but now it’s just like there’s so much fear and anxiety,” she said. “Growing up, I always loved Eid. ... It’s like a Christmas for a Muslim.”
Like Mujovic, many Muslims in America are navigating balancing religious and social rituals with concerns over the virus as they look for ways to capture the Eid spirit this weekend.
Eid al-Fitr -- the feast of breaking the fast -- marks the end of Ramadan, when Muslims abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset. Just like they did during Ramadan, many are resorting to at-home worship and relying on technology for online gatherings, sermons and, now, Eid entertainment.
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Coronavirus slams couple struggling to feed young daughter
WASHINGTON (AP) — The back door clicked shut behind him and he faced the brick walls of the alley. Roberto, one of tens of millions of newly laid off U.S. workers desperate to make ends meet in the pandemic, struggled with his emotions, upset at being steered to the clinic’s rear exit.
But then fear and sorrow overtook him as the doctor’s final words sank in.
“It’s possible you have the virus,” the doctor had said from under her mask, standing all the way across the room. “You have the symptoms.”
His mind turned to the hundreds of thousands of people already dead of the disease around the world. That may be me now, he thought.
Earlier this month, The Associated Press documented the plight of Roberto, a restaurant cook in his mid-30s, and his wife, Janeth, a restaurant worker in her mid-40s, a Honduran couple now finding it hard to put food on the table for their sunny 5-year-old daughter, Allison.
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Desperate Indian girl bikes 745 miles home with disabled dad
NEW DELHI (AP) — From her village in eastern India, 15-year-old Jyoti Kumari reflected on her desperate 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) bicycle journey home with her disabled father that has drawn international praise.
“I had no other option," she said Sunday. “We wouldn’t have survived if I hadn’t cycled to my village.”
Kumari said that she and her father risked starvation had they stayed in Gurugram, a suburb of New Delhi, with no income amid India's coronavirus lockdown.
Her father, whose injury in an accident left him unable to walk, had earned a living by driving an auto rickshaw. But with all nonessential travel banned, he found himself among millions of newly unemployed. Their landlord demanded rent they couldn’t pay and threatened to evict them, Kumari said.
So she decided to buy a bicycle and, like thousands of other Indian migrant workers have done since March, make her way home.
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SpaceX's 1st astronaut launch breaking new ground for style
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The first astronauts launched by SpaceX are breaking new ground for style with hip spacesuits, gull-wing Teslas and a sleek rocketship — all of it white with black trim.
The color coordinating is thanks to Elon Musk, the driving force behind both SpaceX and Tesla, and a big fan of flash and science fiction.
NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken like the fresh new look. They'll catch a ride to the launch pad in a Tesla Model X electric car.
“It is really neat, and I think the biggest testament to that is my 10-year-old son telling me how cool I am now,” Hurley told The Associated Press.
“SpaceX has gone all out" on the capsule's appearance, he said. "And they’ve worked equally as hard to make the innards and the displays and everything else in the vehicle work to perfection.”
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Seniors get diplomas on racetracks, chairlifts amid virus
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Immediately after giving his valedictorian speech, high school senior Philip Root, still clad in his cap and gown, climbed into a borrowed race car and drove up to the finish line at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
With the yellow tassel of his graduation cap flapping in the wind, Root leaned out the window and posed for a photo as he accepted his diploma — and then took off on a celebratory lap around the track.
Root gave his speech over the radio from the broadcasting booth, which the graduating class of Faith Lutheran High School listened to as they sat with family in individual cars decked out with signs, banners and balloons. Then, in front of the empty grandstands of the racetrack that’s been idled for months due to the coronavirus, Root led his classmates as they pulled up one-by-one to the waving checkered flag to get their certificate from administrators wearing face masks. To mark the milestone, the students and their families whooped and cheered and then hit the gas pedal.
The ceremony was part of a growing push by high schools across the country to find a way to hold in-person graduations and offer up some added pomp amid the coronavirus pandemic. The graduation ceremony is seen by many as salvaging a school year in which many haven’t seen classmates for months and missed out on traditional senior activities such as proms and end-of-school parties.
There are still many schools that have settled on virtual graduations — something that’s drawn online petitions from students and parents demanding traditional commencements be held later in the year if social distancing rules are eased. Some of those virtual events have attracted famous speakers, including President Barack Obama who gave a commencement address earlier this month. The television special featured other celebrities, including NBA star LeBron James, actress Yara Shahidi and actor and singer Ben Platt.