Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 09, 2020, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A18 A 18 SATURDAY, MAY 9, 2020 ? WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COMNEWS I COVID-19 PANDEMIC MANITOBA PHILANTHROPY AWARDS Award categories: . Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy . Emerging Leader in Philanthropy . Outstanding Professional Fundraiser . Outstanding Philanthropist . Outstanding Foundation or Philanthropic Group (new) . Outstanding Corporation (new) . Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser Deadline for Nominations now open until: Monday, May 30th, 2020 Please submit your candidates today! Find out more at MBPhilanthropyAwards.ca or email info@afpmanitoba.org Celebrate generosity in our province by nominating someone for a Manitoba Philanthropy Award WASHINGTON - U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence's press secretary has the coronavirus, the White House said Friday, making her the second person who works at the White House complex known to test positive for the virus this week. President Donald Trump, who publicly identified the af- fected Pence aide, said he was "not worried" about the virus spreading in the White House. Nonetheless, officials said they were stepping up safety protocols for the complex. Pence spokeswoman Katie Miller, who tested positive Fri- day, had been in recent contact with Pence but not with the president. She is married to Stephen Miller, a top Trump advis- er. The White House had no immediate comment on whether Stephen Miller had been tested or if he was still working out of the White House. Katie Miller had tested negative Thursday, a day before her positive result. "This is why the whole concept of tests aren't necessarily great," Trump said. "The tests are perfect but something can hap- pen between a test where it's good and then something happens." The positive test for the senior Pence aide came one day after White House officials confirmed that a member of the military serving as one of Trump's valets had tested positive for COVID-19. Six people who had been in contact with Miller were sched- uled to fly with Pence on Friday to Des Moines, Iowa, on Air Force Two. They were removed from the flight just before it took off, according to a senior administration official. None of those people were exhibiting symptoms, but were asked to deplane so they could be tested "out of an abundance of cau- tion," a senior administration official told reporters travelling with Pence. All six later tested negative, the White House said. The official said staff in the West Wing are tested regular- ly but much of Pence's staff - which works next door in the Executive Office Building - are tested less frequently. Katie Miller was not on the plane and had not been scheduled to be on the trip. Pence, who is tested on a regular basis, was tested Friday. Miller tweeted she was "doing well" and looked forward to get- ting back to work. White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said the admin- istration was stepping up mitigation efforts already recom- mended by public health experts and taking other unspecified precautions to ensure the safety of the president. Meadows said the White House was "probably the safest place that you can come," but he was reviewing further steps to keep Trump and Pence safe. The White House requires daily temperature checks of anyone who enters the White House complex and has encour- aged social distancing among those working in the building. The administration has also directed regular deep cleaning of all work spaces. Anyone who comes in close proximity to the president and vice-president is tested daily for COVID-19. "We've already put in a few protocols that we're looking at, obviously, to make sure that the president and his immediate staff stay safe. But it's not just the president, it's all the work- ers that are here. on a daily basis," Meadows said. Trump's valet's case marked the first known instance where a person who has come in close proximity to the president has tested positive since several people present at his private Flor- ida club were diagnosed with COVID-19 in early March. The valet tested positive Wednesday. The White House was moving to shore up its protection protocols to protect the nation's political leaders. Trump said some staffers who interact with him closely would now be tested daily. Pence told reporters Thursday that both he and Trump would now be tested daily as well. - The Associated Press Pence's press secretary tests positive for virus DARLENE SUPERVILLE AND AAMER MADHANI WASHINGTON - Federal investigators have found "reasonable grounds" that a govern- ment whistleblower was punished for speak- ing out against widespread use of an unproven drug U.S. President Donald Trump touted as a remedy for COVID-19, his lawyers said Friday. Dr. Rick Bright headed the Biomedical Ad- vanced Research and Development Authority, a unit of Department of Health and Human Services that focuses on countermeasures to infectious diseases and bioterrorism. He had received a job performance review of outstanding before he was summarily trans- ferred last month, with his agency email cut off without warning. Investigators with the Office of Special Counsel "made a threshold determination that HHS violated the Whistleblower Protection Act by removing Dr. Bright from his position because he made protected disclosures in the best interest of the American public," his lawyers Debra Katz and Lisa Banks said in a statement. The OSC is an agency that investi- gates allegations of egregious personnel prac- tices in government. The lawyers said investigators are request- ing Bright be temporarily reinstated for 45 days until they can complete their probe. OSC spokesman Zachary Kurz said his agency "cannot comment on or confirm the status of open investigations." HHS spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley said in a statement the department "strongly disagrees with the allegations and characterizations in the complaint" and that the whole issue is a "personnel matter that is currently under re- view." Trump shrugged off the preliminary ruling about Bright's complaint. "I don't know who he is, but to me, he's a dis- gruntled employee," Trump said. "If people are that unhappy, they shouldn't work. If you're unhappy with a company, you shouldn't work there. Go out and get something else. But to me, he's a disgruntled guy. And I hadn't heard great things about him either." The public will soon get a chance to size up Bright. He's been invited to testify before a House committee next week. Bright is a flu and infectious-disease expert with 10 years at the agency, which is known as BARDA. His particular focus was on vac- cine development. He was reassigned to the National Institutes of Health to work on devel- oping coronavirus testing. In a formal complaint his lawyers released this week, Bright described how tension built up within HHS as the coronavirus arrived in the U.S. and quickly defied Trump's assur- ances that it would be contained. Bright said his efforts to escalate prepared- ness "encountered resistance from HHS leadership, including Secretary (Alex) Azar, who appeared intent on downplaying this cat- astrophic event." Bright described a situation in which the Trump administration failed to prepare for the pandemic, then sought a quick fix by try- ing to rush a malaria drug to patients, though its effectiveness for COVID-19 was unproven. His complaint detailed a frustrating attempt to jump-start U.S. production of masks and a successful effort to secure importation of test- ing swabs from Italy. But his most high-profile allegations in- volved hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug Trump had promoted as a "game changer" with little evidence. He said the Trump administration wanted to "flood" hot spots in New York and New Jersey with the drug. "I witnessed government leadership rushing blindly into a potentially dangerous situation by bringing in a non-FDA approved chloro- quine from Pakistan and India, from facilities that had never been approved by the FDA," Bright said on a call with reporters earlier this week. "Their eagerness to push blindly for- ward without sufficient data to put this drug into the hands of Americans was alarming to me and my fellow scientists." He said he succeeded in limiting the use of the malaria drug to hospitalized patients. Last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Ad- ministration warned doctors against pre- scribing the drug except in hospitals and research studies. In an alert, regulators flagged reports of sometimes fatal heart side effects among coronavirus patients taking hydroxychloroquine or the related drug chloroquine. Bright felt officials had "refused to listen or take appropriate action to accurately inform the public" and spoke to a reporter about the drug. He said he had to tell the public about the lack of science backing up its use, despite hy- droxychloroquine being pushed by the presi- dent at press briefings. - The Associated Press Dr. Rick Bright has been invited to testify before a House committee next week. RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR Reinstatement of whistleblower urged A S coronavirus-induced economic pain grew around the world, some U.S. states moved forward Friday with plans to reopen their economies. Meanwhile, South Korea, seen as a model for containing COVID-19, ordered nightclubs closed for a month and considered delaying a school restart after an uptick in coronavirus cases. Friction arose where national governments disagreed with their local counterparts over business restrictions. In Italy, the government vowed legal action against a province seeking to ease restrictions faster than the country as a whole. In Brazil, the reverse happened as the country's president asked the high court to rein in local governments imposing more restrictions than he would like. A patchwork reopening in the United States included Texas allowing hair salons and barbershops to welcome back customers, while California took more modest steps to let retailers resume curbside operations with em- ployees in masks. The slow march toward reopening the econ- omy comes as the U.S. reported a jobless rate of 14.7 per cent in April, a level not seen since the Great Depression. Among those whose finances were thrown into turmoil is Martin Brossman of Raleigh, N.C., who saw two-thirds of his income as a professional coach and speaker disappear since the pandemic. "I had thousands of dollars in keynote speaking go away overnight," Brossman said. He said he wasn't waiting for word on the un- employment benefit application he filed weeks ago. Instead, he is retooling his business for a world that will rely more on remote activities. "I don't think this is the last time that a problem like this occurs," he said, so "what- ever way we can do business. if this happens again, we have a new income stream." Here is a look at COVID-19 developments around the world. Moves to reopen In Texas, where the Republican governor was praised by U.S. President Donald Trump for loosening restrictions, hair salons and barber shops were allowed to reopen Friday, following earlier restarts of restaurants and retailers. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz flew up from Houston to get his hair cut at a Dallas salon that became a rallying cry for conservative protests against lockdown orders after the owner refused to shut down and was jailed. She was later ordered released. California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom im- posed the first statewide stay-home order in the U.S., was taking more modest steps. The Democrat allowed clothing stores, sporting goods shops, florists and other retailers to start operating curbside pickup Friday, with many employees required to wear masks. Pennsylvania announced 13 counties, includ- ing much of the Pittsburgh area, can loosen re- strictions next week, following a similar move for a swath of rural northern Pennsylvania. South Carolina restaurants can reopen with limited indoor dining service Monday, the same day as Mississippi barbershops, salons and gyms, while Chicago Mayor Lori Light- foot released a five-step reopening plan that includes some stricter standards than the state's. In contrast the city of Gallup, N.M., which serves tens of thousands of people living on and around the vast Navajo reservation, was under an extreme lockdown with police check- points keeping all but residents out. The moves came as the U.S. has recorded more than 1.28 million cases and more than 76,000 deaths. Massachusetts, with at least 73,000 cases and 4,500 deaths, and Illinois, with 70,000 cases and 3,000 deaths, are states where stay-home orders remain in effect until later this month. South Korean restrictions South Korea closed nightclubs for a month and indicated it may delay reopening schools after more than a dozen new infections were linked to a nightclub patron in Seoul. Schools were supposed to begin reopening next week, but fears of a resurgence came after 25 new infections were reported Friday, marking South Korea's first jump above 10 cases in five days. Before the uptick, improv- ing trends allowed officials to relax distan- cing guidelines and schedule a phased school reopening. Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, Aus- tralian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said there's no plan to welcome back international travellers for the foreseeable future, despite plans to reopen the economy in stages by July. Meanwhile, in a reflection of rising tensions between Washington and Beijing, the United States objected to a proposed UN resolution on the pandemic after diplomats said it had agreed to compromise language with China that didn't directly mention the World Health Organization. The objection leaves the UN's most power- ful body impotent on reacting to the greatest crisis facing the world - and unable to back Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' March 23 call for global ceasefires to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. New lockdowns Brazil's fifth-largest city, Fortaleza, on Fri- day became the nation's third metropolis and its most populous yet to start a virus-related lockdown, with the local measures prompting friction with the country's leader. President Jair Bolsonaro, who contends business shutdowns are more harmful than COVID-19 itself, asked the country's Supreme Court on Thursday to force states to roll back restrictive measures even as deaths and over- all case counts surge. The country has had over 140,000 cases and 9,600 deaths, accord- ing to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Meanwhile, the oil-rich nation of Kuwait is reimposing a full lockdown beginning Sunday that will last through May 30. A previous lock- down had been loosened amid the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. - The Associated Press JONATHAN DREW Virus restrictions reimposed amid patchwork reopenings MORGAN LEE / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS New Mexico state police officers screen cars for compliance with an emergency lock- down order that bans non-essential visitors and limits vehicle passengers to two people as they enter Gallup, N.M. A_18_May-09-20_FP_01.indd A18 2020-05-08 10:53 PM ;