This supporter then relayed what had happened to Mr. Buttigieg’s campaign, which contacted J. Ann Selzer, a respected Iowa-based pollster whose company conducts the poll, about it. But the Buttigieg aide, who requested anonymity to discuss a private conversation, said the pollster offered little information about how many surveys the one-time Iowa front-runner was left off.
Carol Hunter, the executive editor of The Des Moines Register, said the newspaper could not confirm “with certainty” that the polling irregularities were limited to one respondent.
“It is imperative whenever an Iowa Poll is released that there is confidence that the data accurately reflects Iowans’ opinions,” she wrote, in a statement on the paper’s website.
Iowans typically finalize their choice late in the campaign, often deciding in the days before the caucuses occur. The late-breaking nature of the state’s political culture lends the poll outsized influence, with the power to fuel a last-minute surge in the state or can be an early dirge for candidates struggling.
Ms. Selzer called the cancellation “heart-wrenching.”
“Because of the stellar reputation of the poll, and the wish to always be thought of that way, the heart-wrenching decision was made not to release the poll,” she said in a statement on Saturday night. “The decision was made with the highest integrity in mind.”
Recent surveys have shown a fluid race, with Senator Bernie Sanders gaining momentum as other leading candidates trail close behind.
The poll was scheduled to be released as the leading candidates were making the final push toward Monday’s caucuses, the beginning of the nominating process to select the Democratic nominee. Candidates crisscrossed the state Saturday, several of them targeting Mr. Sanders, who was leading in the last Register poll several weeks ago and also recently topped a New York Times/Siena College poll last week.
Image caption
Rashida Tlaib, left, said she let Hillary Clinton’s recent comments about Bernie Sanders “get the best of me”
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib says she regrets booing 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton at an event in Iowa.
It follows some criticism after footage of Friday’s event was posted on Twitter by an audience member.
Ms Tlaib, also a Democrat, led the booing in response to Ms Clinton saying in a documentary that “nobody likes” presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders.
Ms Tlaib later said that she had allowed her feelings about Ms Clinton’s remarks “to get the best of me”.
“I know what is at stake if we don’t unify over one candidate to beat [President Donald] Trump and I intend to do everything possible to ensure that Trump does not win in 2020,” she tweeted.
“In this instance, I allowed my disappointment with Secretary Clinton’s latest comments about Senator Sanders and his supporters get the best of me. You all, my sisters-in-service on stage, and our movement deserve better.”
The Michigan representative was taking part in a panel event with fellow Democratic congresswomen Pramila Jayapal and Ilhan Omar, held at a folk music concert in Iowa on Friday.
When the moderator Dionna Langford brought up the escalating feud between Ms Clinton and Senator Sanders, members of the audience began to boo.
Ms Langford interrupted and said: “We’re not going to boo, we’re classy here.”
At this point Ms Tlaib interjected: “No no, I’ll boo.”
As Ms Jayapal and Ms Omar laughed, Ms Tlaib added: “You all know I can’t be quiet. No, we’re going to boo. That’s alright, the haters will shut up on Monday when we win.”
Monday’s caucuses will be the first formal test this year of Democratic voters’ preferences. Senator Sanders is the frontrunner, with a slight lead ahead of his nearest rival, former Vice President Joe Biden.
Image copyright Reuters
Image caption
Bernie Sanders has a slight lead over Vice President Joe Biden
Ms Tlaib’s booing attracted a mixed reaction online.
Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, said that it reminded her of President Trump’s supporters chanting “Lock Her Up” in 2016.
Others said the booing was justified, with left-wing writer Annie Shields responding that Ms Clinton “should stop publicly criticising one of the Dem front runners in the interest of party unity”. Filmmaker Michael Moore said he was “so proud” of Ms Tlaib.
“It is a sad day for America to see Senator McConnell humiliate the Chief Justice of the United States into presiding over a vote which rejected our nation’s judicial norms, precedents and institutions which uphold the Constitution and the rule of law,” Pelosi tweeted Saturday.
It is a sad day for America to see Senator McConnell humiliate the Chief Justice of the United States into presiding over a vote which rejected our nation’s judicial norms, precedents and institutions which uphold the Constitution and the rule of law.
Senate Republicans on Friday voted 51-49, against a resolution that would have allowed witnesses to testify and additional documents introduced into the trial.
It is unclear if the question was meant as a dig at Roberts or at Senate Republicans.
“At a time when large majorities of Americans have lost faith in government, does the fact that the chief justice is presiding over an impeachment trial in which Republican senators have thus far refused to allow witnesses or evidence contribute to the loss of legitimacy of the chief justice, the Supreme Court, and the Constitution?” Warren’s question read.
After blocking the Democrats’ witnesses resolution, Senate Republicans later adopted a resolution to reconvene on Monday, with House impeachment managers and Trump’s lawyers able to deliver closing arguments and a final vote on the articles expected on Wednesday.
Fox News contributors Byron York and Marie Harf offer insight and analysis on the outcome of the caucuses and what they’ll mean moving forward in the primaries.
“If there is anything that can unite Democrats and I would argue some independents, people that helped us win the House in 2013, it is Donald Trump, particularly after this impeachment process where it has been clear how dangerous he is in office for most Democrats,” Harf told host Ed Henry.
Saturday, Warren called on Democrats to unify against Trump.
“We will and we must come together as a party to beat Donald Trump, and I’ve got a plan for that,” Warren said.
York also commented on Sanders’ chances as his campaign surges, saying his supporters are holding a “grudge” that dates back to 2016.
“It’s not that they’re not taking him seriously. They clearly are because he has such a troublemaking capacity,” York said of Sanders and reaction to him from some in the Democratic Party. “But there are all these voters out there and they’ve been remarkably loyal to him for four years and they have a grudge, four years old.”
Harf and York also reacted to former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton once again criticizing Sanders, this time when asked if he could unify the party.
“Well, he can do it, for one,” Clinton said on “Your Primary Playlist” podcast, laughing aloud and criticizing Sanders and his supporters for not getting behind her nomination in 2016.
“I’m mad that Hillary lost. I’m mad at Bernie, didn’t help her more,” Harf said, reacting to the comments. “What we need to focus on right now is 2020 and not 2016. And I feel pretty strongly about that.”
York criticized Clinton for jumping in the fray.
“She lost. She’s not going to run again,” York said. “She’s been out of this for a while. She really doesn’t need to publicly complain about this.”
During an unscheduled campaign stop Thursday in Iowa, an emergency room doctor confronted Vice President Mike Pence about Medicaid cuts and said they will put his patients’ lives at risk.
Dr. Rob Davidson, who is from Michigan, asked the vice president about cuts to Medicaid that were announced Thursday and how they would affect patients. “I’m an emergency doctor. I’m worried about plans they talked about last week about maybe cutting Medicare and then the rollout today of cutting Medicaid,” he said.
“I work in one of the poorest counties in Michigan, and my patients depend on expanded Medicaid. So how’s that going to affect my patients?” Davidson asked.
Davidson, who is the executive director of the Committee to Protect Medicare, was referring to the Healthy Adult Opportunity, which was announced by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). According to a press release, the initiative is “designed to give states unprecedented tools to design innovative health coverage programs tailored to the unique needs of adult beneficiaries, while holding states accountable for results and maintaining strong protections for our most at risk populations.”
Eagan Kemp, a health care policy advocate for Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, called the initiative a “nefarious program.”
“Even after promising numerous times not to cut Medicaid, Trump’s plan will ensure that many working families who are currently covered by Medicaid will face cuts to their services, wait lists for needed care, and the risk of medical debt and bankruptcy from trying to pay for illness,” Kemp said in a statement.
In their encounter in Des Moines, the vice president told Davidson he hadn’t heard about the plan. The doctor later tweeted: “When I told him he is putting my patients’ lives at risk, @VP deflected and denied knowledge of the policy.”
“The head of CMS announced the plan to let states file for waivers so they can get block grants,” Davidson replied to Pence. “So that would essentially cut the amount of money going to the states. So it would cut federal Medicaid funding. Is that a good idea?”
Pence said that the Obama administration gave Indiana a grant when he was governor to expand Medicaid coverage.
“Right, but now they’re talking about scaling back the Medicaid expansion that we got with the Affordable Care Act, and 680,000 Michiganders, 600,000 in Iowa, a lot of people got health care,” Davidson said.
When Pence said he thought Davidson was oversimplifying things, Davidson responded that whether his patients can get coverage is what matters most. “People I see in the emergency department that can’t get primary care doctors—once they got Medicaid, they can get primary care doctors. They stay out of the ER,” he said. “They actually work more. They actually contributed to our community more. Now, if a couple people telling you, ‘You can’t get your health care,’ that’s going to be a real negative in their lives.”
In another video, Pence suggests following a model that he used when governor of Indiana. “We expanded coverage. We used consumer-directed health care. People were able to take more ownership of their own health care and expand it,” he said. He also said that Medicaid has a lot of problems that need to be improved.
Speaking of Medicaid, Davidson told Pence, “It’s been a godsend to the patients I serve in one of the poorest counties in the state of Michigan. It’s their lifeline.”
“I think our provision is for state-based innovation and reform to improve opportunities,” the vice president responded.
“Reform and innovation in the setting of cuts equals less people with health care,” Davidson said, but Pence disagreed. The doctor told him, “I encourage you to make sure we don’t cut those folks off of Medicaid, because they need it.”
Davidson told Newsweek that he wanted to tell the vice president what kind of impact he saw these changes having on his patients.
“Anytime you take money out of a system upon which so many people depend, you have to wonder, if no one is making up the difference, you’re either going to cut people from the rolls of Medicaid or you’re just going to have more cost-sharing for those individuals,” Davidson told Newsweek.
He continued: “The folks I take care of are folks [like] a mom who brought her kid in at 3 in the morning with an ear infection, because they have one vehicle between three families and that was the only time it was available. These are folks living so much on the margin, and a difference of 50 to 100 bucks for them equals not having access to any health care. I wanted to make sure he understood what these kind of changes mean.”
Davidson said the block grant plan gives states much leeway to cut people from their Medicaid rolls, to increase co-pays or to get rid of transportation for non-emergency-type visits, such as those for chemotherapy or physical therapy. “It just has honest-to-goodness real world impact on the front lines where I work,” he said.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Health officials said he is recovering well and is checking in regularly by phone with public health nurses. He is not sick enough to require hospitalization, and doctors decided that transferring him to a hospital for isolation would put other patients at risk of infection. The student will stay in isolation until he is “cleared,” but officials don’t know how long that would take or how they will determine that he is no longer contagious.
The student had close contact with a small number of other people and did not participate in any university activities since his return from China, officials said. His contacts are being monitored for symptoms.
Health officials did not provide details of the student’s whereabouts before he was isolated, but noted the disease is not transmitted through casual contact. “This kind of spread requires close face-to-face contact over a period of time,” said Dr. Larry Madoff, medical director of the state health department’s Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences.
The Boston man is the eighth case of coronavirus reported in the United States; the others include three people in California, two in Illinois, and one each in Washington state and Arizona. In New York City Saturday, officials said they are investigating whether a patient at Bellevue Hospital Center has the virus.
Advertisement
By Saturday afternoon, China reported nearly 12,000 cases and 259 deaths. Outside China, the numbers are much lower, but growing, with nearly two dozen countries reporting cases, most in people who had traveled to China. Of the eight cases in the United States, seven picked up the virus in China. The other patient is the husband of one of those travelers.
Even before the first case in Massachusetts arose, health officials had been girding for the possibility the virus, known as 2019-nCoV, would make its way here.
Hospitals have been updating disaster plans, checking supplies, and retraining staff. The Department of Public Health Friday launched a website for public information, activated an incident command structure to manage the flow of information among agencies, and issued guidance to hospitals, other providers, and local boards of health. Nationally, the Pentagon on Saturday approved the use of US military facilities to accommodate as many as 1,000 people who may have to be quarantined upon arrival from overseas.
Health officials emphasized this new case doesn’t change their belief that the risk to the public in Massachusetts, and the United States, is very low right now.
But as the ground shifts daily with new facts and uncertainties, few are willing to predict the extent of the threat.
“It’s too soon to say whether this will be a real epidemic in Massachusetts, or in the United States,” Madoff said.
Advertisement
Among the unknowns are exactly how the virus is transmitted and how severe it will be.
“It’s challenging to figure out exactly what this is going to ultimately mean for the health care community,” said Dr. Paul Biddinger, director of the Center for Disaster Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.
For now, officials take heart in evidence that, outside of China, coronavirus so far has caused only mild illness and has not spread widely. In China, most of those who have died were elderly or already ill.
But a report from Germany on Thursday raised new questions about how coronavirus spreads. Doctors learned that a woman from Shanghai without symptoms had infected a man at a business meeting; she didn’t get sick until she was on her way back to China.
China had reported instances of asymptomatic transmission, but this was the first carefully documented case. And it raised the specter of a virus that could be easily transmitted by people who had no idea they were carrying it.
“This has very important implications for how to control the spread of the outbreak. It may not be possible to contain it if this data pans out,” Biddinger said.
But Madoff said one case doesn’t mean such transmissions occur routinely. “We know people coughing and sneezing and shedding this virus actively are the real drivers of outbreaks,” he said.
Dr. David Hamer, an infectious diseases physician at Boston Medical Center and a professor at Boston University School of Public Health and School of Medicine, said asymptomatic transmission could mean screening efforts will miss some cases.
Advertisement
“You’re still going to catch many of the cases,” Hamer said in an interview before the first Massachusetts case was reported. But, “you’re going to have a net that’s got holes in it.”
Even with some asymptomatic transmission, Hamer believes that Western countries will be able to prevent onward transmission of the virus. He sees a greater risk to countries in Africa, where China has a huge business presence but public health resources are limited.
In the United States, he said, “Most hospitals have mobilized and have rapidly developed plans on how to address these patients.” Boston Medical Center, for example, has been holding regular meetings and produces a daily bulletin about preparedness efforts.
While the virus is new and its course unpredictable, local hospitals have faced similar challenges in the past — from the Boston Marathon bombing to the Ebola scare to the occasional bad flu season.
“For the last five years, we’ve really been training for this possibility,” Biddinger said. In 2015, Mass. General was designated as one of 10 regional treatment centers for Ebola and other special pathogens. Mass. General is sharing its plans and training protocols with other hospitals, he said
Biddinger said supplies of protective equipment that prevent caregivers from getting infected, such as masks and gowns, are adequate, and Mass. General has an emergency cache of equipment for extraordinary situations.
Advertisement
Even as hospitals and health departments ramp up their efforts, a former Massachusetts public health commissioner worries that resources will prove inadequate.
John Auerbach, now chief executive of Trust for America’s Health, a nonprofit concerned with preventing illness and injury, said the United States may find its response hampered by the “fraying” of public health funding for emergency preparedness efforts.
“Those are limiting factors in terms of the ability to really address what might be coming,” he said.
Although the new coronavirus resembles the flu in its chief symptoms — fever, cough, shortness of breath — and the way it spreads through respiratory droplets, there are no antiviral drugs known to treat it, nor is there a vaccine for it. And it seems to move faster through the population than the flu, and possibly with a higher death rate.
These trends have convinced Michael T. Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, that 2019-nCoV cannot be contained.
“We have every reason to expect that what is playing out in China will play out elsewhere,” Osterholm said.
Not everyone agrees. A top official of the World Health Organization told STAT on Saturday that he believed epidemic could still be contained.
And Dr. Robert W. Amler, dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice at New York Medical College and a former CDC medical officer, advises being “vigilant and concerned, but not alarmed.”
“If you want to protect yourself, we already know how to do that,” Amler said. It’s familiar advice: Stay away from sick people and stay home if you’re sick; cover your coughs and sneezes; and especially, wash your hands often with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds.
“It’s quite surprising,” Amler said, “how effective handwashing can be.”
John Hilliard of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Sign up: Want to understand what’s happening in the campaign? Sign up for The Trailer and get insights and news from around the country in your inbox every day through the New Hampshire primary and three days a week after that.
Image caption
The US issued more than 8,000 immigration visas to Nigerians in 2018
The US has announced it is expanding its curbs on immigration to include six more countries, including Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation.
Citizens from Nigeria, Eritrea, Sudan, Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar will now be blocked from obtaining certain types of visas.
People from those countries will still be able to visit the US as tourists.
In 2018 the US issued twice as many immigration visas to Nigeria than to the other five nations combined.
An official said the new measures were the result of failures by the six countries to meet US security and information-sharing standards.
“These countries, for the most part, want to be helpful but for a variety of different reasons simply failed to meet those minimum requirements that we laid out,” acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told reporters on Friday.
He said officials would work with the countries on bolstering their security requirements to help them get off the list.
US President Donald Trump first introduced a travel ban in 2017. It currently closes US borders to citizens from seven countries, most of them with Muslim majorities.
In 2018 the US issued more than 8,000 immigration visas to citizens of Nigeria. That same year, just over 2,000 were issued to Sudanese nationals, 290 to Tanzanians, and just 31 to Eritreans.
The US had previously announced a ban on certain types of visas for Eritreans in 2017.
What are the new rules?
The US said it would suspend the issuance of visas that can lead to permanent residency for nationals of Nigeria, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, and Myanmar.
Sudanese and Tanzanian nationals will no longer be allowed to apply for “diversity visas”, which are available by lottery for applicants from countries with low rates of immigration to the US.
Mr Wolf said non-immigrant visas given to people for temporary stays – including visitors, those doing business or people seeking medical treatment – would not be impacted by the new rules.
Of the new nationalities facing visa restrictions, Nigerians account for the most immigration to the US.
According to US government statistics, the State Department issued 8,018 immigrant visas to Nigerians in the fiscal year 2018.
Kyrgyzstan and Sudan have large Muslim majorities, while around 50% of people in Nigeria and Eritrea are Muslim. Tanzania also has a sizable Muslim community.
What is the travel ban?
Mr Trump signed a controversial travel ban just seven days after taking office in January 2017, arguing it was vital to protect Americans.
The ban initially excluded people from seven majority-Muslim countries but the list was modified following a series of court challenges.
It now restricts citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Venezuela and North Korea.
While the government has suspended most immigrant and non-immigrant visas to applicants from those countries, exceptions are available for students and those with “significant contacts” in the US.
Media caption‘We trust President Trump on travel ban’
WASHINGTON — Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., denounced Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for the Senate vote that rejected witnesses in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
“It is a sad day for America to see Senator McConnell humiliate the Chief Justice of the United States into presiding over a vote which rejected our nation’s judicial norms, precedents and institutions which uphold the Constitution and the rule of law,” Pelosi said Saturday on Twitter.
The Republican-controlled Senate on Friday voted down the motion to hear from witnesses, including Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, by a 51-49 vote. Just two Republicans, Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine, joined Democrats in their votes for witnesses. The Senate vote made this the first presidential impeachment trial not to hear from witnesses.
Democrats were pushing for enough Republican senators to tip the vote in favor of calling witnesses such as Bolton, who was expected to give testimony contradicting Trump’s defense. The New York Times reported that Bolton wrote in his forthcoming book that Trump told him nearly $400 million in withheld military aid was tied to Ukraine pursuing investigations into Trump’s political rivals.
Republicans and Trump’s impeachment defense team argued that it was not up to the Senate to call additional witnesses, and that the Democrats leading the House impeachment inquiry could have pursued subpoenas of witnesses they wanted through the courts.
Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski was considered a potential swing vote on witnesses until she announced Friday she was a “no.” She also indicated she had Roberts on her mind, saying she would “not stand for or support” efforts to “drag the Supreme Court into the fray.”
Contrary to claims by Trump and some Republican allies, House Democrats did seek testimony from Bolton, but he declined to appear for his deposition under White House orders. The House did not issue a subpoena because, Democrats said, it would only prolong the process. Since then, Bolton has said he would be willing to testify in the Senate.
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., a vocal Trump supporter, accused Democrats of attacking “the legitimacy & credibility of everything in sight: the 2020 election, the Judiciary, & more.”
“First Sen. Warren, & now Speaker Pelosi question the legitimacy of Chief Justice Roberts & the Judicial Branch,” Biggs tweeted.
He was referring to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who submitted a question during the trial pointed at Roberts and his role in the process.
“At a time where large majorities of Americans have lost faith in government, does the fact that the chief justice is presiding over an impeachment trial in which Republican senators have thus far refused witnesses or evidence contribute to the loss of legitimacy of the chief justice, Supreme Court of the United States and Constitution?” Warren’s question read.
As it turned out, Roberts was able to keep out of the middle of a drawn-out tug of war. Republicans had the votes to reject witnesses, opening the door to a final vote on whether to convict or acquit Trump on Wednesday.
At least 259 people have reportedly died in China due to the coronavirus outbreak; Fox News correspondent Lauren Green reports.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Saturday approved Department of Defense (DoD) housing at four military bases for 1,000 people who may have to be quarantined as a result of the coronavirus, following the appearance of the eighth confirmed case of the disease in the U.S.
Assistant to the Secretary of Defense Jonathan Rath Hoffman made the announcement and said the program is designed for those returning from overseas.
“[Secretary Esper] has approved an RFA [request for application] from #HHS [Health and Human Services] for housing support for 1,000 people who may need to be quarantined upon arrival from overseas travel due to the novel #coronoravirus,” he said. “Under the request, DOD will only provide housing support.”
“The department’s primary responsibility is the safety of our force, our families and our base communities,” Hoffman continued. “DOD personnel will not be directly in contact with any potential evacuees and evacuees will not have access to any base location other than their assigned housing.”
Military installations in Colorado, California and Texas were selected to house the evacuees and will help to assist the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with the operation, if needed. They are the 168th Regiment Regional Training Institute in Fort Carson, Colo.; Travis Air Force Base in California; Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California.
This news comes after health officials said Saturday that a man in Massachusetts has been infected with the coronavirus after returning from a recent trip to China, bringing the overall reported cases in the United States to eight.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health received confirmation late Friday evening that a Boston man in his early 20s contracted the illness after returning from Wuhan, the Chinese city of more than 11 million people where the virus is believed to have originated from sometime in December. The patient is a student at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, according to multiple reports.
Officials said the man sought medical treatment soon after he returned to the U.S., although it was not immediately clear when this was. He has been isolated since and anyone who came in contact with him is also being monitored for symptoms.
“We are grateful that this young man is recovering and sought medical attention immediately,’’ Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner Monica Bharel said in a news release. “Massachusetts has been preparing for a possible case of this new coronavirus, and we were fortunate that astute clinicians took appropriate action quickly. Again, the risk to the public from the 2019 novel coronavirus remains low in Massachusetts.”
News of the latest case comes just one day after the seventh case of coronavirus was confirmed in the U.S.
Passengers wear masks to prevent an outbreak of a new coronavirus in a subway station, in Hong Kong, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020.(AP Photo/Kin Cheung) (AP)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a news release Friday that a California man was diagnosed with the illness after returning from Wuhan.
The adult male, a resident of Santa Clara County, was traveling to China where he visited Wuhan and Shanghai before returning to the U.S. on Jan. 24 where he became ill, KNTV reported.
Health officials say the man is in stable condition and is “self-isolating” at home where he has reportedly remained since feeling any symptoms – aside from leaving to seek medical care.
“We understand that this news may be concerning, but based on what we know today, the risk to residents of our community remains low,” Dr. Sara Cody, health officer with Santa Clara County, said.
“This news is not unexpected. Santa Clara County has the largest population in the Bay Area, and many of our residents travel for both personal and business reasons.”
Workers spray antiseptic solution on the arrival lobby amid rising public concerns over the possible spread of a new coronavirus at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020. (Suh Myung-geon/Yonhap via AP)
There are now seven confirmed cases in the U.S. with CDC officials awaiting the results of 121 other patients across 36 states. Washington, Illinois, Arizona and now California all have confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
The global situation is more serious with more than 11,900 cases reported worldwide – with 11,791 from China’s mainland alone. There have been 259 confirmed deaths, prompting the World Health Organization to issue a warning to world leaders to prepare for “domestic outbreak control.”
Americans returning from China will be allowed into the country, but will face screening and are required to undertake 14 days of self-screening. Those returning from China’s Hubei province will be subject to a 14-day quarantine.
Beginning Sunday, the United States will direct flights from China to seven major airports where passengers can be screened.
Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
If that happens, and Britain is able to establish a stable trading relationship with the European Union, Brexit’s champions may claim a measure of vindication. That is even more likely if, as many experts predict, the bloc enters a bumpy stretch economically.
“Boris Johnson’s argument is that 10, 15, or 20 years from now, we’ll look back and say, ‘Getting out was in our national interest,’” said Mujtaba Rahman, a managing director at the political risk consultancy Eurasia Group. “The jury is out on that, but if he can pull this off, there are reasons to think Britain will prosper.”
The Brexiteers are far less guarded. They speak of a “global Britain,” bursting with technological innovation, unencumbered by regulations — an agile free agent, ready to do business with the world. Britain, they said, would strike lucrative trade deals and become a magnet for foreign investment.
“It starts with free trade,” said Patrick Minford, an economist at Cardiff University. “Everyone talks about the E.U. as if it is a bastion of free trade, but it’s not. We want to trade freely with everybody, especially the United States.”
Professor Minford contends that Britain could add 8 percent to its gross domestic product over the next decade if it is able to strike down all trade barriers, and 4 percent if it is able only to eliminate a portion of them. There could be further gains from technological innovations in industries like artificial intelligence, he said.
Most mainstream studies, though, predict Brexit will cut the rate of Britain’s growth by depriving it of gains to gross domestic product it would otherwise have had. Those lost gains could amount to between 1.2 percent and 4.5 percent of its gross domestic product, depending on the terms of Britain’s exit from the European Union.
WASHINGTON — Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., denounced Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for the Senate vote that rejected witnesses in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.
“It is a sad day for America to see Senator McConnell humiliate the Chief Justice of the United States into presiding over a vote which rejected our nation’s judicial norms, precedents and institutions which uphold the Constitution and the rule of law,” Pelosi said Saturday on Twitter.
The Republican-controlled Senate on Friday voted down the motion to hear from witnesses, including Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, by a 51-49 vote. Just two Republicans, Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine, joined Democrats in their votes for witnesses. The Senate vote made this the first presidential impeachment trial not to hear from witnesses.
Democrats were pushing for enough Republican senators to tip the vote in favor of calling witnesses such as Bolton, who was expected to give testimony contradicting Trump’s defense. The New York Times reported that Bolton wrote in his forthcoming book that Trump told him nearly $400 million in withheld military aid was tied to Ukraine pursuing investigations into Trump’s political rivals.
Republicans and Trump’s impeachment defense team argued that it was not up to the Senate to call additional witnesses, and that the Democrats leading the House impeachment inquiry could have pursued subpoenas of witnesses they wanted through the courts.
Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski was considered a potential swing vote on witnesses until she announced Friday she was a “no.” She also indicated she had Roberts on her mind, saying she would “not stand for or support” efforts to “drag the Supreme Court into the fray.”
Contrary to claims by Trump and some Republican allies, House Democrats did seek testimony from Bolton, but he declined to appear for his deposition under White House orders. The House did not issue a subpoena because, Democrats said, it would only prolong the process. Since then, Bolton has said he would be willing to testify in the Senate.
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., a vocal Trump supporter, accused Democrats of attacking “the legitimacy & credibility of everything in sight: the 2020 election, the Judiciary, & more.”
“First Sen. Warren, & now Speaker Pelosi question the legitimacy of Chief Justice Roberts & the Judicial Branch,” Biggs tweeted.
He was referring to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who submitted a question during the trial pointed at Roberts and his role in the process.
“At a time where large majorities of Americans have lost faith in government, does the fact that the chief justice is presiding over an impeachment trial in which Republican senators have thus far refused witnesses or evidence contribute to the loss of legitimacy of the chief justice, Supreme Court of the United States and Constitution?” Warren’s question read.
As it turned out, Roberts was able to keep out of the middle of a drawn-out tug of war. Republicans had the votes to reject witnesses, opening the door to a final vote on whether to convict or acquit Trump on Wednesday.
BEIJING — China’s death toll from the rapidly-spreading coronavirus rose to 259 on Saturday and a World Health Organization official said other governments need to prepare for “domestic outbreak control” if the disease spreads in their countries.
The number of confirmed cases in China rose to 11,791 — surpassing the number in the big outbreak of SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, in 2002 and 2003. The coronavirus’ rapid spread during the past two months prompted the World Health Organization on Thursday to declare it a global emergency.
That declaration “flipped the switch” from a cautious attitude to recommending governments prepare for the possibility the virus might spread, said the WHO representative in Beijing, Gauden Galea. Most cases reported so far have been people who visited China or their family members.
The agency acted out of concern for poorer countries that might not be equipped to respond, Galea said. Such a declaration calls for a coordinated international response and can bring more money and resources.
WHO said it was especially concerned that some cases abroad involved human-to-human transmission.
“Countries need to get ready for possible importation in order to identify cases as early as possible and in order to be ready for a domestic outbreak control, if that happens,” Galea told The Associated Press.
Bill Chen stands outside of customs at San Francisco International Airport on Jan. 29, after arriving on a flight from Shanghai, where he was conducting business and visiting family over the Lunar New Year holiday. Chen said his temperature was quickly screened at the Shanghai airport before he departed. He also filled out a health questionnaire.AP
China criticizes U.S. over travel ban
Beijing criticized Washington’s order barring entry to most foreigners who visited China in the past two weeks.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced similar measures Saturday, following Japan and Singapore.
South Korea and India flew hundreds of their citizens out of Wuhan, the city at the center of an area where some 50 million people are prevented from leaving in a sweeping anti-virus effort. The evacuees went into a two-week quarantine. Indonesia also sent a plane.
On Friday, the United States declared a public health emergency and President Donald Trump signed an order barring entry to foreign nationals who visited China within the last 14 days, which scientists say is the virus’ longest incubation period. The restrictions don’t apply to immediate family of American citizens and permanent residents.
China criticized the U.S. controls and “unfriendly comments” that Beijing was failing to cooperate.
“Just as the WHO recommended against travel restrictions, the U.S. rushed to go in the opposite way. Certainly not a gesture of goodwill,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.
WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that despite the emergency declaration, there is “no reason for measures that unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade.”
A girl wearing a face mask stands in the entrance to a shop in Wuhan in central China’s Hubei Province. The U.S. advised against all travel to China as the number of cases of a worrying new virus spiked more than tenfold in a week, including the highest death toll in a 24-hour period reported Friday.Arek Rataj / AP
Cities on lockdown
Meanwhile, the ruling Communist Party postponed the end of the Lunar New Year holiday in Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, for an unspecified “appropriate extent” and appealed to people there to stay home.
Another locked-down city in Hubei, Huanggang, on Saturday banned almost all residents from leaving their homes in the most stringent controls imposed yet. The government said only one person from each household would be allowed out to shop for food once every two days.
“Others are not allowed to go out except for medical treatment, to do epidemic prevention and control work or to work in supermarkets and pharmacies,” it said in an announcement.
China’s anti-disease controls started with the Jan. 23 suspension of plane, bus and train links to Wuhan, an industrial center of 11 million people. The lockdown has spread to surrounding cities.
The holiday, China’s busiest annual travel season, ends Sunday in the rest of the country following a three-day extension to postpone the return to factories and offices by hundreds of millions of workers. The official Xinhua News Agency said people in Hubei who work outside the province also were given an extended holiday.
The party decision “highlighted the importance of prevention and control of the epidemic among travelers,” Xinhua said.
Workers unload a shipment of protective suits from a cargo plane at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in Wuhan. Complicated logistics are part of a daily flow of food and other goods authorities say is sustaining Wuhan and surrounding cities with a total of 50 million people blocked from leaving.Cheng Min/Xinhua via AP
Flight restrictions
Americans returning from China will be allowed into the country, but will face screening. Those returning from Hubei province will be subject to a 14-day quarantine.
Beginning Sunday, the United States will direct flights from China to seven major airports where passengers can be screened.
Delta Air Lines said Saturday that it was accelerating plans to suspend fights between the United States and China. Delta’s last flight from China will leave Sunday, the airline said. It had planned to end flights on Thursday.
Other carriers including American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair and Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific also have canceled or cut back service to mainland China. Vietnam suspended all flights to China.
The U.S. order followed a travel advisory for Americans to consider leaving China. Japan and Germany also advised against nonessential travel to China. Britain did as well, except for Hong Kong and Macao.
A plane carrying Indians from Wuhan landed Saturday in New Delhi. The government said they would be quarantined in nearby Manesar. Sri Lanka also pulled out 33 more of its citizens and promised to bring back the remaining 204 students.
A special flight brought 312 Bangladeshis back from Wuhan, including eight who were hospitalized with high temperatures. The government says about 5,000 Bangladeshis study in China.
A Turkish military transport carrying 42 people left Wuhan for Ankara. They reportedly showed no signs of infection.
The Kremlin said Russia would use its air force planes to evacuate Russians from areas of China most seriously affected by the virus.
Germany’s defense minister said a plane taking 102 citizens back to Germany was refused permission to land and refuel in Moscow due to what the Russians said was lack of capacity and had to divert to Helsinki.
An EU evacuation flight from Wuhan was scheduled for Saturday.
South Korea’s second evacuation flight landed in Seoul with 330 people from Wuhan. They were to be screened for fever before being taken to two quarantine centers.
South Korea also reported its 12th virus case, which appeared to be a human-to-human transmission.
At least 24 countries have reported cases since China informed WHO about the new virus in late December.
The death rate in China is falling, but the number of confirmed cases will keep growing because thousands of specimens from suspected cases have yet to be tested, WHO’s Galea said.
“The case fatality ratio is settling out at a much lower level than we were reporting three, now four, weeks ago,” he said.
Two girls with face masks ride the subway in Hong Kong, Saturday, Feb, 1, 2020. China’s death toll from a new virus has risen to 259 and a World Health Organization official says other governments need to prepare for“domestic outbreak control” if the disease spreads.AP
New virus similar to SARS
Both the new virus and SARS are from the coronavirus family, which also includes those that cause the common cold.
Although scientists expect to see limited transmission of the virus between people with family or other close contact, they are concerned about cases of infection spreading to people who might have less exposure.
In Japan, a tour guide and bus driver became infected after escorting two groups from Wuhan. The country reported four new cases, including a woman in her 20s who worked on the same tour bus, and another person who was asymptomatic, for a total of 20.
In Germany, five employees of an auto parts supplier became ill after a Chinese colleague visited, including two who had no direct contact with the woman. She showed no symptoms until her flight back to China. On Friday, Germany confirmed a sixth case, a child of one of the people already infected.
The United Arab Emirates confirmed its fifth infection, Vietnam its sixth and Australia its ninth.
Spain reported its first case, a German man who had close contact with an infected person in Germany and then traveled to the Canary Islands with friends. Four friends who were hospitalized with him have not shown symptoms.
In the United States, health officials issued a two-week quarantine order for 195 Americans evacuated this week from Wuhan.
It was the first time a federal quarantine has been ordered since the 1960s, when one was enacted over concern about smallpox, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
None of the Americans being housed at a Southern California military base has shown signs of illness.
Sign up: Want to understand what’s happening in the campaign? Sign up for The Trailer and get insights and news from around the country in your inbox every day through the New Hampshire primary and three days a week after that.
The Pentagon is preparing military facilities to, if necessary, quarantine up to 1,000 people returning to the US from overseas to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China, the Department of Defense revealed Saturday.
The Pentagon, acting on a request from the Department of Health and Human Services, will provide access to multiple facilities capable of housing at least 250 people through Feb. 29.
As of Feb. 1, the coronavirus had killed 259 people and infected more than 12,000 people in China and in around two dozen other countries.
The Pentagon is preparing military installations to, if necessary, quarantine up to 1,000 people returning to the US from overseas to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China, the Department of Defense announced Saturday.
“On Feb. 1, Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark T. Esper approved a request for assistance from the Department of Health and Human Services for housing support for 1,000 people who may need to be quarantined upon arrival from overseas travel due to the novel coronavirus,” a Pentagon statement explained.
The Pentagon will provide access to multiple facilities capable of housing at least 250 people through Feb. 29.
The facilities selected are located at the 168th Regiment’s Regional Training Institute in Fort Carson, Colorado, Travis Air Force Base and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California, and Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.
The Department of Defense is only providing housing support, and US military personnel will not come in direct contact with any quarantined individuals, who will not have access to any areas on base other than the quarantine facilities. The Department of Health and Human Services will handle care, transportation, and security issues.
On Friday, Jan. 31, the US government declared the novel coronavirus a public health emergency. US citizens who were in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital city, within two weeks of their return to the US will be quarantined for 14 days.
Travelers returning from other locations in China will be screened at ports of entry.
Four people were shot, two of them fatally, following a funeral Saturday afternoon at a church in Riviera Beach, Florida, police said.
WPTV
The shooting was reported just after 2:30 p.m. at Victory City Church.
A 15-year-old boy and adult male were pronounced dead at the scene. A woman and a juvenile were also shot and taken to a hospital for treatment, Riviera Beach police said in a press release.
The church’s senior pastor, Tywuante D. Lupoe, said in a Facebook post that the congregation is mourning the loss of “two young black men to a senseless shooting.”
So far, no arrests have been made.
Riviera Beach is about six miles north of Palm Beach.
Sen. Ted Cruz is crediting Sen. Elizabeth Warren with helping sway senators to vote to acquit President Trump in his impeachment trial.
During the trial on Thursday, the Massachusetts Democrat, who is running for president, submitted a question to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts which questioned his credibility. The question was read aloud by Roberts.
“At a time when large majorities of Americans have lost faith in government, does the fact that the chief justice is presiding over an impeachment trial in which Republican senators have thus far refused to allow witnesses or evidence contribute to the loss of legitimacy of the chief justice, the Supreme Court, and the Constitution?” Warren, 70, asked.
Cruz, 49, said Warren tried to give her presidential campaign a boost ahead of the Iowa caucuses, but it backfired by driving Republicans to vote against calling additional witnesses to testify.
“Elizabeth Warren helped defeat the impeachment of the president of the United States,” the Texas Republican said on his podcast, The Verdict.
“That stunt helped deliver the votes of Lisa and Lamar,” he added, referring to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska Republican, and Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican.
Alexander, 79, said Thursday he would not support extending the trial to subpoena new witnesses and additional documents related to articles of impeachment against Trump.
The next day, Murkowski, 62, said she would join all but two of her Senate Republican colleagues in opposing witnesses, delivering a win to the White House.
In her statement, Murkowski said it had “become clear some of my colleagues intend to further politicize this process, and drag the Supreme Court into the fray, while attacking the Chief Justice.”
“I will not stand for nor support that effort. We have already degraded this institution for partisan political benefit, and I will not enable those who wish to pull down another,” she said.
This is a widget area - If you go to "Appearance" in your WP-Admin you can change the content of this box in "Widgets", or you can remove this box completely under "Theme Options"
