Alabama Now Provides Negative Coronavirus Testing Data

Alabama is now providing aggregated data for the coronavirus pandemic, state officials told The Michigan Star earlier this week.

Per Section 1702 of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requires states to provide “aggregated data on testing and results from State and local public health departments.” Aggregated data includes both positive and negative test results.

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Ohio Governor DeWine Orders State Hiring Freeze, Dodges Abortion Questions

In his daily press briefing Monday, Governor Mike DeWine declared a hiring freeze for State of Ohio employees to, in part, deal with the revenues shortfall caused by the statewide “Stay at Home” shutdown due to the Chinese Virus outbreak.

“State revenue will continue to go down dramatically and it’s important as governor that we take action now and not wait,” DeWine said.

In addition to new hires, the governor halted pay increases and promotions for state of Ohio unclassified and exempt staff and a freeze on new contract services for the state of Ohio – with the exception for those services that are necessary for the emergency response.

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Dr. Manny Sethi Weighs in On Current State Shutdowns and Legislation, Assures ‘We Will Get Through This’

At the top of the second hour of on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy, Dr. Manny Sethi said he believed that the main issue right now is testing and reporting on negative testing in order to help track the coronavirus. He did, however, advise listeners that we can’t let fear rule our decisions and that he believes in his heart that we will as a nation make it through this.

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Gov. Walz Self-Quarantines After Contact with COVID-19 Patient

  Gov. Tim Walz announced Monday morning that he is in self-quarantine at the Governor’s Residence after contacting someone with the coronavirus. “After learning I had contact with someone who has COVID-19, I plan to lead by example and work from home. I currently have no symptoms and will continue working tirelessly to combat the spread of COVID-19,” Walz said on Twitter. After learning I had contact with someone who has COVID-19, I plan to lead by example and work from home. I currently have no symptoms and will continue working tirelessly to combat the spread of COVID-19. #StayHomeMN — Governor Tim Walz (@GovTimWalz) March 23, 2020 He later revealed that a member of his “dedicated” security detail tested positive for COVID-19 late Sunday night. “He did everything exactly right. I had been with him a few days prior, so according to the CDC and Minnesota Department of Health regulations, I am self-quarantined with my family here. We are operating everything as normal,” the governor said in a video message later in the day. This isn’t a typical Monday morning but we’re still hard at work to combat the #COVIDー19 crisis. Minnesotans have been through long winters before, we’ll get…

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Klobuchar’s Husband Hospitalized After Testing Positive for COVID-19

Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Monday that her husband (pictured right) has been hospitalized after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Klobuchar said her family received the test results early Monday morning and said her husband, John, is currently “cut off from all visitors.”

He started to feel sick when the senator was in Minnesota and he was in Washington, D.C. for his teaching job. According to Klobuchar, her husband was “checked into a hospital in Virginia” after he “started coughing up blood.”

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Commentary: Giddy Democrats Exploit the Economic Crisis to Hurt Trump

President Trump’s policies have brought this country historic levels of prosperity, but Democrats have been predicting an imminent economic crisis from virtually the moment he was elected. Now, as the novel coronavirus sows panic in the markets, the president’s opponents are hoping they’ve finally found a way to hamstring the strong and growing American economy.

The Democratic presidential candidates, for instance, quickly began stoking fears of a possible recession caused by the coronavirus, preemptively asserting that it would be the president’s fault.

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More Than 500 Tennesseans Have Coronavirus, Health Officials Say

Tennessee had more than 500 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Sunday night, according to the Tennessee Department of Health’s website.

Davidson County continued to have the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases by far at 179. But, as of Sunday night, Shelby County overtook Williamson County and ranked as having the second highest number of confirmed cases, according to TDH.

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Judson Phillips Commentary: Lessons in the Time of the Chinese Virus

The first quarter of the year is not yet over, and we have gone from an almost record stock market to a nation that is all but economically shut down.  Some alarmists warn that over two million Americans will die from the Chinese Virus.  Others say this will be less problematic than the flu.

Regardless, as of now, the country is mostly shutdown and the economy is in free fall.  Economists from Goldman Sachs predict that the economy will shrink by an unprecedented twenty four percent in the second quarter.  The good news is the economy is expected to grow by twelve percent and ten percent in the third and fourth quarters.

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Mayo Clinic Says It Can Now Perform Up to 4,000 COVID-19 Tests Daily

Mayo Clinic announced last week that it can now test up to 4,000 clinical samples for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, on a daily basis.

Mayo officials said they now have the capacity to process COVID-19 test samples at all Mayo Clinic sites and have started processing test samples from their clients across the state, including eight major health systems.

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Coders Building Database Need Health Care Workers to Report Coronavirus Testing Sites So They Can Provide Data to Officials Battling Disease

A coalition of computer coders and medical experts is looking for volunteers — including from the Volunteer State — to help provide better information on COVID-19 coronavirus testing sites.

TechCrunch reported on the one-week-old Coders Against Covid project, which is building a database of testing sites. The team of about 15 developers includes Andrew Kemendo of KesselRun, an Air Force software developer, and Dr. Jorge A. Caballero, a clinical instructor of Anesthesia at Stanford University. The goal is to inform officials tracking the disease and to better distribute the tests where they are needed.

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Vox Scrubs China Reference from Title of Coronavirus Video

Liberal media outlet Vox removed a reference to China from the title of a video it published about the role that wildlife markets there play in the spread of infectious disease like coronavirus.

Vox’s video, which has more than 18 million views, was initially titled “Why new diseases keep appearing in China.” It is now titled: “How wildlife trade is linked to coronavirus.”

Vox acknowledged the edit in a description of the video on YouTube.

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Photo of President Trump’s Briefing Notes Show ‘Corona’ Crossed Out and Replaced with ‘Chinese’

Despite a massive media outcry, President Trump has continued to go out of his way to pin the blame for the COVID-19 pandemic on communist China.

A photo of the president’s notes taken during Thursday’s press briefing with the coronavirus task force, underscores that effort.

“Close up of President @realDonaldTrump notes is seen where he crossed out ‘Corona’ and replaced it with ‘Chinese’ Virus as he speaks with his coronavirus task force today at the White House,” Jabin Botsford, a staff photographer at The Washington Post, tweeted.

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Pakistani Doctor Arrested in MN, Charged with Attempting to Provide Material Support to ISIS

  The US Attorney for the District of Minnesota today announced charges against a former Rochester MN doctor for allegedly providing material support to ISIS. Muhammad Masood, 28, was taken into custody on Thursday atthe Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, according to the Dept. of Justice press release. According to the allegations in the complaint, Masood, who is a licensed medical doctor in Pakistan, was formerly employed as a research coordinator for a medical clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, under an H-1B Visa. Between January 2020 and March 2020, Masood made several statements to others, including pledging his allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) and its leader, and expressing his desire to travel to Syria to fight for ISIS. Masood also expressed his desire to conduct “lone wolf” terrorist attacks in the United States. On Feb. 21, 2020, Masood purchased a plane ticket from Chicago, Illinois to Amman, Jordan, and from there planned to travel to Syria. On March 16, 2020, Masood’s travel plans changed because Jordan closed its borders to incoming travel due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Masood made a new plan to fly from Minneapolis to Los Angeles to meet up with an individual who he…

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Ohio Dems Call Attorney General ‘Opportunistic’ and ‘Despicable’ for Telling Abortion Clinics to Close

Ohio Democrats called Attorney General Dave Yost “opportunistic” for urging abortion clinics to close during the coronavirus pandemic.

Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Department of Health issued an executive order Tuesday that required health providers to cancel all non-essential or elective surgeries that utilize personal protective equipment (PPE).

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Senator Rand Paul Tests Positive for Coronavirus

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a statement his staff released on his social media accounts Sunday afternoon.

“He is feeling fine and is in quarantine. He is asymptomatic and was tested out of an abundance of caution due to his extensive travel and events. He was not aware of any direct contact with any infected person,” according to the statement.

“He expects to be back in the Senate after his quarantine period ends and will continue to work for the people of Kentucky at this difficult time. Ten days ago, our D.C. office began operating remotely, hence virtually no staff has had contact with Senator Rand Paul.”

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Governor DeWine Issues Statewide ‘Stay At Home’ Order to Combat COVID-19

Governor Mike DeWine – through Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton – announced Sunday that a two-week, statewide ‘Stay at Home’ order will be in effect beginning 11:59 p.m. Monday, March 23 and will last through April 6 at 11:59pm:

On Sunday, March 22th, under the direction of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Ohio Department of Health Director Amy Acton, M.D., MPH issued a director’s order to require all Ohioans to stay in their homes to prevent the further spread of COVID-19 beginning at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Monday, March 23, 2020 until 11:59 p.m. on April 6, 2020. This order prohibits holding gatherings of any size and closes all nonessential businesses. It does NOT prohibit essential activities like going to the grocery store, receiving medical care, or taking your pet for a walk. Residents can return home from out of state and can leave the state.

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Governor Bill Lee Orders Bars And Restaurants to Close

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee issued an executive action Sunday ordering the closure of bars, restaurants, and other places of public accommodation in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has created both an economic and a health crisis and our response must continue to address both aspects,” Lee said in a statement. “Our goal is to keep the public, especially vulnerable populations, safe while doing everything possible to keep Tennesseans in a financially stable position.”

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FDA Authorizes New 45 Minute Coronavirus Test for Release Next Week

A California-based molecular diagnostics company announced Saturday they will ship a point-of-care test next week that they say can detect SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing COVID-19 in 45 minutes.

Officials at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave that company, Cepheid, Emergency Use Authorization to do so, company officials said in a press release.

Called the Xpert Xpress SARS-CoV-2, the test is designed to operate on any of Cepheid’s more than 23,000 automated GeneXpert Systems worldwide, with a detection time of less than one hour.

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Mike Murray Commentary: A Military Option to Fight the COVID-19 Pandemic and Prevent an Economic Depression

The current national strategy for fighting COVID-19 will fail. And the failure will be catastrophic. It will impact you and those you love. Continuing on the current track, even for the next seven days, will seal our doom. The measure of failure will be massive economic collapse that places millions out of work and threatens internal peace and security.

This will be to the 2000s as the Great Depression (1929 – 1933) was to the 1900s. But it need not be.

In a real war – and this is a real war where our livelihoods and security are at risk – a Wartime President always employs the Military Option.

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Canadian Doctor Uses Detroit Physician’s Concept to Rig One Ventilator to Treat Up to Nine People

Ventilators across the world are in scarce supply as the number of coronavirus patients continues to rise, but a Detroit doctor has provided health care workers with an ingenious solution.

To make sure his hospital is prepared, Dr. Alain Gauthier, an anesthetist at the Perth and Smiths Falls District Hospital in Canada, rigged a single ventilator to treat up to as many as nine people at once.

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Davidson County Sheriff Reduces Jail Population During Coronavirus Emergency

Nashville-Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall announced he has initiated plans to reduce the number of inmates in sheriff’s office custody as the coronavirus emergency continues.

This, according to a press release Hall put out this week.

Those plans include expanding pre-trial release criteria and eliminating the work release program. PTR participants are expected to double over the next few days and all work release inmates are being furloughed immediately, the press release said.

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Judge Warren Commentary: Electronic Learning During the Times of the Coronavirus

With the coronavirus, schools across America are scrambling to put together a hodgepodge of solutions to continue teaching for learning while their buildings are closed.  Many are valiantly attempting to leverage technology to create on-line and virtual learning opportunities. Unfortunately, weaknesses in technological infrastructure, teacher preparation shortfalls, inequities among students, and ill-equipped students and parents are barriers to success.  The information highway has more than one virtual flat tire.

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Feds Waive Standardized Testing for Current School Year Because of Coronavirus

On Friday U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said the federal government would waive standardized testing for the 2019-2020 school year because of the ongoing coronavirus emergency.

U.S. Rep. Mark Green, (R-TN-07), in a press release, said he appreciated DeVos and U.S. Republican President Donald Trump for this action.

“The gravity of the situation our schools continue to face while navigating the COVID-19 outbreak would have created an undue burden for preparing and administering statewide assessments,” Green said.

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