AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT
'I miss mommy': Families shattered by COVID forge new paths
Just four months had passed since Ramon Ramirez buried his wife and now, here he was, hospitalized himself with COVID-19. The prognosis was dire, and the fate of his younger children consumed him. Before ending his final video call with his oldest, a 29-year-old single mother of two, he had one final request: “Take care of your brothers.”
Before long, he was added to the rolls of the pandemic’s dead, and his daughter, Marlene Torres, was handed the crushing task of making good on her promise. Overnight, her home ballooned, with her four siblings, ages 11 to 19, joining her own two children, 2 and 8.
The emotional and financial demands are so overwhelming that Torres finds herself pleading to the heavens. “Please help me,” she begs her parents. “Guide me.”
As the U.S. approaches the milestone of 200,000 pandemic deaths, the pain repeats: An Ohio boy, too young for words of his own, who plants a kiss on a photo of his dead mother. A New Jersey toddler, months ago the center of a joyous, balloon-filled birthday, now in therapy over the loss of her father. Three siblings who lost both mom and dad, thrusting the oldest child, a 21 year old, into the role of parent to his sisters.
With eight in 10 American virus victims age 65 and older, it’s easy to view the young as having been spared its wrath. But among the dead are an untold number of parents who’ve left behind children that constitute another kind of victim.
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Ginsburg's death exposes fragility of health law protection
WASHINGTON (AP) — With COVID-19 the newest preexisting condition, the Obama-era health law that protects Americans from insurance discrimination is more fragile following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
A week after the presidential election, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on an effort backed by President Donald Trump to strike down the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, in its entirety. Former President Barack Obama's landmark law bars insurers from turning away people with health problems, or charging them more.
With Ginsburg on the court, there seemed to be little chance the lawsuit championed by conservative-led states could succeed, given that she and four other justices had twice previously voted to uphold important parts of the health law. But that 5-4 majority is gone following Ginsburg's death last Friday from complications of metastatic cancer of the pancreas.
Yet it is not at all clear what the court will do. A narrow ruling might leave most of the law intact, sparing protections for people with preexisting conditions, Medicaid expansion, health insurance subsidies and other core elements. In that case Ginsburg’s death might not turn out to be a crucial difference in the court’s consideration.
Nonetheless, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has accused Trump of wanting to rush a conservative replacement for Ginsburg through Senate confirmation partly so he can accomplish his unfilled vow to repeal “Obamacare.” A new justice could be seated in time for the Nov. 10 arguments.
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Closing time: UK pubs must shut early as COVID cases surge
LONDON (AP) — British pubs will have to close early and people who fail to obey quarantine rules will face stiff fines under new lockdown restrictions to curb a surging wave of new coronavirus infections.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to announce the new measures Tuesday, a day after the U.K.'s chief medical officers raised the nation’s COVID-19 alert level, saying the virus is in general circulation and spreading fast. Other top medical experts said Britain's number of daily new infections — which stood Monday at 4,300 — could rise as high as 50,000 a day in October if immediate action is not taken.
The prime minister's office said starting Thursday, pubs, bars and other hospitality venues will be restricted to table service only and will have to close at 10 p.m.
Johnson is due to update Parliament on the coronavirus situation Tuesday after meetings of his Cabinet and the government's crisis committee, COBRA. He will also make a televised address to the nation about efforts to combat the virus.
The U.K. has gradually been increasing restrictions as cases rise, with people barred from meeting in large groups. But the measures are far less stringent than a nationwide lockdown imposed in March that saw restrictions on movement and most businesses closed. It was eased starting in June as cases began to fall, but that trend has now been reversed.
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CDC changes, then retracts, its take on coronavirus spread
NEW YORK (AP) — The top U.S. public health agency has stirred confusion by posting — and then taking down — an apparent change in its position on how easily the coronavirus can spread from person to person on small droplets in the air.
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the virus spreads primarily through small airborne droplets, like those that fly through the air when someone coughs or sneezes. Most CDC guidance about social distancing is built around that idea, saying that 6 feet is a safe buffer between people who are not wearing masks.
In interviews, CDC officials have also acknowledged growing evidence that the virus can in some cases also spread via even smaller, aerosolized particles or droplets that spread over a wider area. That’s one of the reasons public health experts stress wearing a mask, which can stop or reduce contact with both larger droplets and aerosolized particles.
The CDC has maintained that the spread is mainly through the larger droplets. And for months the website said little about aerosolized particles. So the agency's position appeared to have changed when the CDC on Friday quietly posted an update that discussed aerosolized particles in more detail. The post added singing and breathing to the ways the virus can go airborne, and said the coronavirus can remain suspended in the air and drift more than 6 feet. It also emphasized the importance of ventilation indoors.
Federal health officials on Monday said the posting Friday was a mistake, put out before full editing and clearance was completed. They said the CDC is planning to clarify the agency's thinking, but it did not immediately release a statement or revision.
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Enormous California wildfire threatens desert homes near LA
LOS ANGELES (AP) — An enormous wildfire that churned through mountains northeast of Los Angeles and into the Mojave Desert was still threatening homes on Monday and was one of more than two dozen major fires burning across California.
Five of the largest wildfires in state history are currently burning and more than 5,600 square miles (14,500 square kilometers) have been charred, an area larger than the state of Connecticut, Gov. Gavin Newsom said.
At 165 square miles (427 square kilometers), the Bobcat Fire is one of the largest ever in Los Angeles County after burning for more than two weeks. It's just 15% contained.
Evacuation orders and warnings are in place for thousands of residents in foothill and desert areas, where semi-rural homes and a popular nature sanctuary have burned. Statewide, at least 23,000 people remain evacuated, Newsom said.
No injuries have been reported for the fire about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of downtown Los Angeles.
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Soaring wealth during pandemic highlights rising inequality
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans' household wealth rebounded last quarter to a record high as the stock market quickly recovered from a pandemic-induced plunge in March. Yet the gains flowed mainly to the most affluent households even as tens of millions of people endured job losses and shrunken incomes.
The Federal Reserve said Monday that American households' net worth jumped nearly 7% in the April-June quarter to $119 trillion. That figure had sunk to $111.3 trillion in the first quarter, when the coronavirus battered the economy and sent stock prices tumbling.
Since then, the S&P 500 stock index has regained its record high before losing some ground this month. It was up 2.8% for this year as of Friday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq has soared more than 20% this year.
The full recovery of wealth even while the economy has regained only about half the jobs lost to the pandemic recession underscores what many economists see as America's widening economic inequality. Data compiled by Opportunity Insights, a research group, show that the highest-paying one-third of jobs have almost fully recovered from the recession, while the lowest-paying one-third of jobs remain 16% below pre-pandemic levels.
The wealth data “highlights the inequalities in the recovery in the sense that high-income workers not only have jobs that for the most part have come back; they also have savings that have continued to grow,” said John Friedman, an economist at Brown University who is co-director of Opportunity Insights.
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Wall Street falls, S&P 500 down 1.2% as global markets swoon
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street slumped Monday as markets tumbled worldwide on worries about the pandemic’s economic pain, though the S&P 500 had pared its losses by the end of the day.
The drops began in Asia as soon as trading opened for the week, and they accelerated in Europe on worries about the possibility of tougher restrictions there to stem rising coronavirus counts. In the U.S., stocks and Treasury yields weakened, while prices sank for oil and other commodities that a healthy economy would demand.
The S&P 500 fell 38.41 points, or 1.2%, to 3,281.06. It extends the index’s losing streak to four days, its longest since stocks were selling off in February on recession worries. But a last-hour recovery helped the index more than halve its loss of 2.7% from earlier in the day.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 509.72, or 1.8%, to 27,147.70 after coming back from an earlier 942 point slide. The Nasdaq composite slipped 14.48, or 0.1%, to 10,778.80 after recovering from a 2.5% drop.
Wall Street has been shaky this month, and the S&P 500 has dropped 8.4% since hitting a record Sept. 2 amid a long list of worries for investors. Chief among them is fear that stocks got too expensive when coronavirus counts are still worsening, Congress is unable to deliver more aid for the economy, U.S.-China tensions are rising and a contentious U.S. election is approaching.
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Cuban-American judge from Florida on Trump high court list
MIAMI (AP) — A daughter of Cuban exiles who has had a swift rise as a lawyer and judge is on President Donald Trump's short list to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the U.S. Supreme Court.
The president said Monday that he does not personally know Barbara Lagoa, but praised her as “terrific.” Barely veiled was the fact that, as a Cuban-American from South Florida’s city of Hialeah, her selection could benefit Trump in the Nov. 3 election, when Florida could be the ultimate kingmaker. Lagoa grew up in a heavily Hispanic suburb of Miami.
“She’s excellent. She’s Hispanic. She’s a terrific woman from everything I know. I don’t know her. Florida. We love Florida. So she’s got a lot of things — very smart,” Trump said in a call-in interview with “Fox and Friends.”
Asked whether politics would play a role in the decision, Trump responded: “I try not to say so. I think probably automatically it is. Even if you’re not wanting to do that it becomes a little automatic.”
Speaking to reporters at the White House later Monday, Trump said he might meet Lagoa when he travels to Florida on Thursday for a campaign rally in Jacksonville. “She has a lot of support,” said Trump, who added he held calls on Sunday and Monday with some of the candidates he's considering. “I don't know her but I hear she is outstanding."
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Biggest unknown with Beta is how much rain it will bring
HOUSTON (AP) — As Tropical Storm Beta neared the Texas coast Monday, the biggest unknown was how much rainfall it could produce in areas that have already seen their share of damaging weather during a busy hurricane season.
Beta’s winds were weakening as it got closer to making landfall sometime Monday evening and the storm was not expected to strengthen into a hurricane. But its path along the Texas coast over the next couple of days once it gets inland could produce bands of showers with heavy rainfall, forecasters said. Rain from Beta was already coming down Monday in the Houston area.
“This still is probably the most uncertain part of the forecast,” Dan Reilly, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in the Houston-Galveston office, said about rainfall from Beta.
Earlier predictions of up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) in some areas were downgraded Monday to up to 15 inches (38 centimeters). Texas coastal counties were most likely to see 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters) with 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) farther inland, Reilly said.
Forecasters and officials reassured residents Beta was not expected to be another Hurricane Harvey or Tropical Storm Imelda. Harvey in 2017 dumped more than 50 inches (127 centimeters) of rain on Houston, causing $125 billion in damage in Texas. Imelda, which hit Southeast Texas last year, was one of the wettest cyclones on record.
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Virtual UN meeting saps NYC of yearly hubbub, cash infusion
NEW YORK (AP) — In a normal September, leaders of nations big and small would converge on New York this week, giving the United States’ largest city a chance to show itself off as a crossroads of the world.
But this year, the usual lineup of presidents, premiers, monarchs and other dignitaries won’t be sweeping into the city for the U.N. General Assembly’s annual top-level meeting and the conferences, high-stakes sit-downs and hobnobbing that surround it. The assembly has moved online because of the coronavirus, compounding the pandemic’s blows to the city’s economy and worldly esprit.
“We are a cosmopolitan city. You know, we are the melting pot of the world, And to not have the world come to us this way is chipping away at this beautiful city that we had pre-COVID,” says restaurateur Philippe Massoud.
Ordinarily, he would be looking forward to one of the best weeks of the year at ilili, his Lebanese-Mediterranean restaurant. It’s about a mile (1.6 km) from the U.N. and has drawn a number of prominent figures, particularly during the annual assembly summits, he says.
“We’re a great place for diplomatic first dates,” Massoud explains. The eatery's mezze —- small dishes meant for sharing — serve as icebreakers, he says: “Mezze and diplomacy go hand-in-hand.” Those tete-a-tetes aren’t on the menu during this assembly, which comes as ilili and other New York restaurants are already straining from a monthslong ban this spring on dining out, continuing limitations on table service, and worries about the city’s overall path to recovery.