99-year-old's fundraiser for Britain's NHS nets nearly $20 million
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Tom Moore, 99, a retired British army captain, walks to raise money for health workers, by attempting to walk the length of his garden 100 times before his 100th birthday this month as the spread of the coronavirus disease continues, in Marston Moretaine, Britain, on April 15, 2020.
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But Moore’s goal wasn’t just for recreation. He is also raising money for Britain’s national health service, or NHS. He wanted to say thank you for the care he received while recovering from skin cancer and a broken hip.
Moore started with a goal to raise 1,000 British pounds, or about $1,200. As of Thursday afternoon, he’d raised more than 16 million British pounds, or nearly $20 million.
“I think we must say ‘Well done, National Health Service’.”
Tom Moore, 99-year-old World War II veteran
“The patience and the kindness that I’ve got from all of them from top to bottom was absolutely amazing. So, anybody who is helping with me and the National Health Service, I’d be very pleased, because they’ve done so well for me and they’re doing so well for everybody else at the moment,” he told the BBC on Thursday. “I think we must say ‘Well done, National Health Service.’”
His daughter, Hannah Ingram-Moore, says a celebration for his centennial birthday will be in order.
“We were planning a big party with a singer, a hog roast from the local butcher, the works,” she told the BBC. “Sadly, of course, we cannot do that. So, we will have a much more low key party and unfortunately, it’s up to me to make the cake, but we’ll do the best we can.”
Rohingya women are traditionally kept out of leadership roles. Will the coronavirus change that?
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Rupa Shenoy
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Rohingya refugees walk along the road in the evening at Balukhali camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, Nov. 16, 2018.
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While cases of COVID-19 in Bangladesh have surpassed 1,200, none so far have been reported in overcrowded Rohingya refugee camps. Still, one refugee there, a mother named Chekufa Ra, speaking through an interpreter, described a feeling of overwhelming dread about what happens if there’s an outbreak.
Ra said clinics and schools have closed, and many volunteers are gone. It’s difficult to find food. And fear is rampant. The internet has been blocked, so many people don’t have basic information about the disease. There have been lots of rumors and misinformation about how the virus is spread.
Related: Racing to develop a drug to fight COVID-19
If there is an outbreak, the success of the response may depend in part on the status of women in the camps. That’s because women are the main caregivers when people fall ill — but they don’t usually have leadership roles in their communities.
“Within the overall structures in the camps, women are often not in decision-making positions. There are only 10 women police in the whole camp. But then at the same time, we see that there can be disproportionate impacts on women and girls.”
Marie Sophie Pettersson, United Nations Women
“And for that, we’re particularly concerned because the Rohingya community as a whole is quite conservative and patriarchal,” said Marie Sophie Pettersson of United Nations Women. “Within the overall structures in the camps, women are often not in decision-making positions. There are only 10 women police in the whole camp. But then at the same time, we see that there can be disproportionate impacts on women and girls.”
Even before the coronavirus, she said, girls and women were trafficked and forced into marriage. Since the lockdown, levels of domestic violence have spiked. And now, because women are the caregivers, they’ll likely be among the first infected.
“This COVID-19 crisis could have devastating impacts if we don’t prevent or mitigate the risks,” Pettersson said.
Related: Bolsonaro’s denial of coronavirus puts the country at risk
Genocide forced Rohingya to flee Myanmar in 2017. Nearly 900,000 people are packed into camps across Bangladesh. Ra was pregnant when she and her 4-year-old daughter walked for days to reach the camps in neighboring Bangladesh. She’s lived there now for three years with her husband and two daughters.
Ra said that before the genocide, many people in her family served as social workers and government officals, and she learned how to organize from them. Now, those skills have helped her take matters into her own hands. She’s leading a grassroots response to the COVID-19 crisis, building a network of 400 refugee women who are going door to door to educate people about the virus, and recruiting more women to help.
They’ve put together makeshift health clinics, and arranged transportation for people who might get sick. If an outbreak hits, Ra said, her group of women will be prepared to respond, no matter what the men say.
Related: Mutual aid groups respond to double threat of coronavirus and climate change
Humanitarian workers are also working to frantically produce videos and podcasts about how the infection spreads. Louise Donovan, of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangladesh, explained, “Not everybody is literate and there isn’t a written Rohingya language, also — so, it’s quite challenging.”
She said they’re also expanding medical and isolation facilities as much as possible, and taking steps to improve hygiene. “So, just huge distributions of soap across the camps, establishing hand-washing facilities at all distribution centers and every communal facility in the camp.”
“Everybody is looking for additional capacities and resources at the moment. I think at this time, it’s very clear that this is a global problem and no population can be excluded from that.”
Louise Donovan, spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Bangladesh
There’s some capacity for COVID-19 testing, Donovan said, but more medical equipment and resources are needed. “Everybody is looking for additional capacities and resources at the moment,” she said. “I think at this time, it’s very clear that this is a global problem and no population can be excluded from that.”
This researcher finds hope in ‘bright spots’ among coral reefs
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Anna Kusmer
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Corals grow in the shallow waters around a small island in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea.
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Tane Sinclair-Taylor
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Australia’s Great Barrier Reef — one of the natural wonders of the world — is experiencing its third major summer bleaching event in the last five years. New aerial surveys show more than half of the reef system has lost some of its vibrant colors.
Bleaching is caused partly by warming oceans and climate change and can eventually kill a coral reef. This year, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology recorded the highest ocean surface temperatures around the reefs since measurements started in 1900.
Australian social scientist and reef researcher Joshua Cinner is a research fellow at the ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies at James Cook University Townsville. Cinner looks for “bright spots,” or reefs that are doing better than expected, to glean lessons for the rest of the world.
For this week’s installment of The Big Fix, the World’s climate solutions segment, Cinner speaks to host Marco Werman about solutions for the world’s reefs.
Related: What can COVID-19 teach us about the world’s climate crisis?
Marco Werman: How do human activities impact the world’s coral reefs?
Joshua Cinner: Climate change is only one of the drivers of change on coral reefs. Even if we solved climate change tomorrow, many of the world’s coral reefs would still be overfished and suffering from pollution. And so, we need to be thinking about how we can build resilience in coral reefs themselves, but also in the coastal communities whose livelihoods depend on the beauty and bounty of coral reefs.
What attributes make some coral reefs fare better than others? And what can we learn from those reefs that might help sustain other reefs?
That actually speaks directly to a study I did a couple of years ago. We conducted over 6,000 reef surveys across 46 countries and looked for places that for all intents and purposes should have been degraded, but weren’t, and we called those our “bright spots.” Bright spots aren’t necessarily pristine reefs, but rather reefs that are doing better than they should be, given the pressures that they face. They’re reefs that are kind of punching above their weight.
We found that bright spots were associated with having high levels of dependence on fishing. This seems kind of counterintuitive, but decades of research into common property institutions found that where people’s livelihoods depend on resources, they’re willing to develop and invest in creative solutions to environmental problems. We also found strong local traditions with the sea and high levels of participation in management by the local communities.
I would guess you spend a good amount of time in reefs. Remind us of the variety of colors we should see among living coral species and how that contrasts with reefs that are bleached out.
When you dive on an intact reef system, the colors are extraordinary. I mean, the color palette some of these individual fish have, you know, they seem like a Picasso painting. There’s this large mosaic of gorgeous textures with tons of fish swimming everywhere.
Now, if you contrast that, typically degraded reefs get taken over by algae rather than this mosaic of colors and textures. You see a kind of brown or green algal mat. The structural complexity, which provides home to coral reef fish, that breaks down so the texture of it becomes much flatter. It’s one of the sadder things I’ve seen, and unfortunately, that’s a story that’s being repeated throughout the world.
You have a new study out today in the journal Science looking at reef management in 41 different countries. What did you learn in that study about what works and what doesn’t in terms of how people manage the health of coral?
Our study of nearly 1,800 tropical coral reefs identified the reefs that “have it all.” They were like the Hollywood A-listers of the coral reef world. And in short, we wanted to find out how local management efforts such as no-fishing marine reserves could help reefs get on the A-list.
I think there’s two important results from our study. The first is that A-listers are rare, but geographically widespread. The second important result is: location, location, location. Local management efforts can help core reefs sustain multiple goals, but only if they’re placed in the right location. We found that marine reserves can make the biggest difference in locations with low human pressure. However, local management doesn’t make much of a difference where human pressure is most extreme. So, I think these results are important to help determine how managers can maximize certain conservation goals and where they might be wasting their time.
I know that as you move forward, you’re auditing all your previous work, looking for what you call “exceptional responders.” What does that mean?
We’re taking a page from medicine. In oncology, there’s a small minority of patients that have remarkable responses to drug therapy, and these are called the “exceptional responders.” Well, we’re planning to do something analogous with coral reefs to find out which reefs are recovering remarkably, and which are doing worse, and why?
Three weeks ago, one of your colleagues, Terry Hughes, tweeted that bearing witness to the coral bleaching, it made him feel like “an art lover wandering through the Louvre as it burns to the ground.” How does focusing on solutions help you cope personally as the metaphoric museum burns to the ground?
It’s kind of in my veins. I’ve always been drawn to looking for solutions to hard environmental problems. But I also think that finding solutions is much more intellectually interesting than simply pointing out problems. As a social scientist, I think that many of the solutions to environmental problems are decidedly social in nature, and issues such as getting people to cooperate and act collectively are intellectually exciting and very challenging. That’s kind of what keeps me going.
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
'No fast track' to normal when it comes to reopening economies
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Elana Gordon
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A customer pays in the book store “Buchhandlung Lerchenfeld” after the Austrian government loosened its lockdown restrictions during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Vienna, Austria, April 14, 2020.
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Leonhard Foeger/Reuters
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The United Kingdom has announced it would continue its lockdown for at least three more weeks. Meanwhile, on Thursday evening, US President Donald Trump is slated to lay out his plan and guidelines for when places in the US can get back to work. Though Trump falsely claimed he had “absolute authority” as president to make that call, the power to reopen is largely vested in the states.
There’s no simple transition for countries looking to ease restrictions, said Dr. Hans Henri Kluge, director of the World Health Organization’s regional office in Europe, during a press briefing Thursday.
“Ultimately, the behavior of each of us will determine the behavior of the virus. This will take perseverance and patience. There is no fast track back to normal.”
Dr. Hans Henri Kluge, WHO
“Ultimately, the behavior of each of us will determine the behavior of the virus,” he said. “This will take perseverance and patience. There is no fast track back to normal.”
Health researchers such as Caroline Buckee, associate director of the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, are wrestling with how to understand the best way to ease restrictions to limit the future spread of COVID-19 and prevent even more harm down the road. For her, critical pieces of this puzzle are still missing.
“In many areas we don’t really know where we are with the epidemic because of the lack of testing,” Buckee told The World during a Facebook Live discussion co-produced with the Forum at Harvard’s Chan School. “So I’d say it’s very variable, geographically, and in terms of timing.”
Related: COVID-19: The latest from The World
Understanding this variability is important, Buckee said, because the pandemic is playing out differently across the globe, depending on where you live and how well those health systems are able to care for patients who are sick with COVID-19.
More than 2 million cases of the disease have been documented. Some parts of the world are just at the beginning of their outbreak, while places like China and Singapore are on the other side of their major peak. The situation is even more unclear in communities that lack necessary testing.
Buckee said in the United States, another important aspect of the pandemic that needs to be understood is how many people have already been infected, and how people who are asymptomatic spread the virus.
To know whether someone has had the new coronavirus requires a specific kind of antibody test that has yet to be fully rolled out in the US. It is also unclear if and how long a person who has had COVID-19 is immune to the disease in the future.
“It gives a clearer picture of how far along a community is in the epidemic, when it’s sensible to restart economies and go back to work,” Buckee said.
Robust contact tracing is also key in preventing future spikes, as communities seek to scale back social distancing. Transition policies, said Buckee, must also take into account how to limit coronavirus exposure to those who may be most likely to experience complications, such as the elderly and those with chronic health conditions.
Documenting the toll of coronavirus on New York City's Chinatown
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April Peavey
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A person crosses a street in the neighborhood of Chinatown on March, 20, 2020, following the outbreak of COVID-19 in New York City.
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Trump's WHO funding cut harms 'fragile' health systems, organization's Africa head says
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Lucy Martirosyan
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A health care worker who volunteered in the Ebola response decontaminates his colleague after he entered the house of a woman suspected of dying of Ebola, in the eastern Congolese town of Beni in the Democratic Republic of Congo, October 2019.
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Zohra Bensemra/Reuters
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Germany and China are denouncing the president’s plan, as are all the 55 member states of the African Union.
WHO support is critical in many parts of Africa — including countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is not only dealing with the coronavirus outbreak, but with Ebola.
Dr. Michel Yao is WHO’s program manager for emergency response for Africa. He spoke to The World’s host Marco Werman about what it’s like to deal with a pandemic and an epidemic at a time when WHO is overstretched.
Related: COVID-19: The latest from The World
Marco Werman: Dr. Yao, what do you make of Trump’s call to stop US donations to the WHO?
Dr. Michel Yao: I think we acknowledge the support received from the US so far in many different public health interventions. And based on this support, we had many achievements. The comment that I can make is that it’s quite unfortunate that it’s happened at this moment where we need most of the members around us. We are appealing really for more solidarity and being together for this unprecedented crisis.
Related: In Senegal, COVID-19 safety measures conflict with cultural traditions
We’re thinking a lot about the coronavirus, but I know at the beginning of this week, the DR Congo was hoping that it could declare itself Ebola-free. And yet, two people died from Ebola. That’s got to be really disappointing for health workers. What does it mean for the country’s ability to effectively deal with two epidemics at the same time?
In a fragile health system, like the one we have in DR Congo, it means that the resources will be overstretched. You have to deal with Ebola — that is absorbing a lot of resources. If we want to control it, it’s going to require dedicated attention. At the same time, you have another disease that also spreads faster than Ebola. So, it will mean that the resources have to deal with two challenges, and there would be more of a stretch. So, there is a need for our different partners to remain on board and around.
Related: As coronavirus spreads, poor communities in Kenya are left vulnerable
When the Ebola outbreak started in DR Congo in August of 2018 — so nearly two years ago — many people didn’t believe it was real. In fact, as you know, militias shot and killed health workers over it — colleagues of yours. How are people in DR Congo reacting to COVID-19? Are they taking it more seriously?
It’s the same in DR Congo as well as in many countries. You see, this deadly virus has a lot of rumors. So, it’s like in many communicable diseases, it requires a lot of awareness. So, I think we learned a lot from Ebola that we need to share the right information. We need to also engage communities to be on board, to assign them tasks for them to own their response. And that’s what we are doing. Learning from Ebola, we are building on what we did. But these rumors are always there.
Related: What the US can learn from West Africa to slow the spread of coronavirus
With your background, Dr. Yao, in emergency responses to epidemics, how does COVID-19 compare? Is it too soon to compare it to other outbreaks you’ve been through?
COVID-19 is, I think from my experience, it’s one of the things that I’ve never seen, the way it affects many countries at the same time. So, you find all the worldwide resources absorbed by this outbreak, and it leaves less for support for the weakest.
I’m in charge of emergency operations for WHO Africa. And in my experience, we deal with few countries. Major outbreaks never affect more than 10 countries at once. But this time, we have in our region — we cover 47 countries — we have 45 of them in crisis. So, this is what makes it totally different from what we saw in the past.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Court blocks oil drilling in Peruvian Amazon
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Adam Wernick
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El Cono is a 1,500-foot inactive volcano in Sierra del Divisor, one of the most important national parks in Peru.
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Diego Perez, Ministerio del Ambiente/Flickr, CC BY NC ND 2.0
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A judge in Peru has blocked a proposed oil drilling project in the Peruvian Amazon that threatened to damage the ecosystem and the health of isolated Indigenous peoples.
The Sierra del Divisor was set aside as a national park in 2016, but the national oil company, Perupetro, planned to exploit the area for oil extraction. An Indigenous coalition went to court to try to block the project, and they recently won the lawsuit. The suit was filed by the Regional Organization of Indigenous People of the East, or ORPIO.
Sierra del Divisor National Park covers a vast area of the Peru-Brazil border and is one of the most important protected areas in the country, said Beatriz Huertas, an anthropology consultant for Rainforest Foundation Norway.
“This region of the Amazonian rainforest is home to Indigenous groups living in voluntary isolation. … They decided to isolate themselves in order to keep safe from things like disease and aggression, which were brought forth by people exploiting the forest for latex.”
Beatriz Huertas, anthropologist, Rainforest Foundation Norway
“This region of the Amazonian rainforest is home to Indigenous groups living in voluntary isolation,” Huertas said. “They decided to isolate themselves in order to keep safe from things like disease and aggression, which were brought forth by people exploiting the forest for latex.”
The national park also contains enormous biodiversity of mammals, primates and birds, and the fauna is extremely diverse and characteristic of the Amazonian region, Huertas said.
Related: ‘Our wealth is the forest’: Indigenous tribes are the last best hope for the Amazon
The area has already felt the impact of fossil fuel exploration, Huertas said. Reflection seismology studies, the clearing of forests for roadways and installation of heavy equipment have already begun in one section of Sierra del Divisor. And although Sierra del Divisor has as yet seen only exploration, not extraction, oil spills in the future are a real fear.
“In the northern part of the Peruvian jungle, the Selva Norte, oil spills happen all the time, causing a lot of contamination in the rivers, the land and the surrounding environment,” Huertas said. “The impacts are quite horrible, affecting the flora and the fauna in the forest, killing animals, plants and degrading water resources.”
Related: Saving the planet depends on saving its tropical forests. Can we do it?
An extremely sensitive area known as Lot 135, located on the edge of the River Yaquerana, is of particular concern. “It regulates the flow of the whole river,” Huertas said, “but that hasn’t been taken into consideration by the Peruvian government or considered important when it comes to making decisions about exploiting natural resources in the forest.”
Should petroleum extraction begin, the isolated Indigenous communities who live in the national park could face infection from diseases introduced by oil extraction company workers.
“That could result in a massive outbreak of deadly illnesses for Indigenous people,” Huertas said. “They don’t have the immunological defenses that people living in cities and talents have developed throughout the years. And degrading the forest for exploitation would basically damage their main source of subsistence. They don’t depend on mass-produced agriculture, like people in cities. They basically live off the land. … They depend exclusively on the forest and rivers in Sierra del Divisor to keep them alive. The health of the forest could be considered an indicator of their livelihood.”
Since the Indigenous groups living in isolation don’t have any social relationship to the Peruvian people, ORPIO, the Regional Organization of Indigenous People of the East, took on the responsibility of defending and protecting them, Huertas said. In 2016, ORPIO filed a lawsuit against the Peruvian government for violating the communities’ fundamental rights to health and subsistence. The judge handed down the verdict, which Huertas called “extremely favorable,” in December of 2019.
Related: Colombian high court grants personhood to Amazon rainforest in case against country’s government
“It’s the first ruling of its kind in Peru. … The judge said that zoning for oil extraction in Sierra del Divisor must be changed to respect the areas inhabited by Indigenous groups in isolation, and that permits for oil extraction in these areas should never be granted again.”
Beatriz Huertas, anthropologist, Rainforest Foundation Norway
“It’s the first ruling of its kind in Peru,” she said. “The judge said that zoning for oil extraction in Sierra del Divisor must be changed to respect the areas inhabited by Indigenous groups in isolation, and that permits for oil extraction in these areas should never be granted again. It is creating favorable precedents for the rights of Indigenous groups in isolation [and] establishing respect for their subsistence and livelihood above money and economic interest.”
“But we also have to consider that this is the first ruling so far and that the defendants, in this case, have appealed,” Huertas said. “We have to work very hard and keep fighting in order to obtain the same verdict in the second ruling.”
This article is based on an interview by Bobby Bascomb that aired on Living on Earth from PRX.
Denmark reopens schools as experts advise caution globally; IMF warns of second Great Depression; Racing to develop a drug to fight COVID-19
Parents with their children stand in a line waiting to get inside Stengaard School following the coronavirus outbreak north of Copenhagen, Denmark, April 15, 2020.
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Credit: Ritzau Scanpix/Bo Amstrup/via Reuters
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Top of The World — our morning news round up written by editors at The World. Subscribe here.
Denmark’s youngsters are returning to schools this week. The country was among the first in Europe to set restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus and has been praised for its swift action. But critics warn that reopening schools is a risky strategy, and some parents refuse to let their children be “guinea pigs.”
US President Donald Trump intends to announce plans Thursday to reopen the American economy. But public health officials and the business leaders the Trump administration haphazardly assembled into advisory groups say that testing in the US is nowhere near the capacity needed to allow people to safely return to work.
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has announced some lockdown rollbacks, but urged “extreme caution.” Merkel, who has a doctorate in physics, was also able to clearly explain how the disease transmission works, highlighting the value of politicians who understand science when creating policy.
From The World: Madeleine Albright: ‘Globalization is not a four-letter word’
And: COVID-19: Making sense of all the numbers
IMF warns of second Great Depression
The International Monetary Fund warned the global economy could contract by 3% this year and $9 trillion in output could be lost over two years, according to the organization’s 2020 World Economic Outlook, issued this week. Some experts speculate it’s the end of the world economy as we know it.
Economists estimate that China, the world’s second-largest economy, may have shrunk by 6% in the first quarter. It would be the first quarterly economic contraction for the country since records began. Manufacturers slowly reopening are going to extreme lengths to fend off a resurgence of the virus.
And: California is giving 150,000 undocumented adults $500 each
Also: Japan’s Abe to give blanket cash handouts in coronavirus
Millions of South Korean voters head to the polls amid COVID-19 pandemic
After winning praise from across the globe for mitigating the spread of the novel coronavirus, South Korea has held parliamentary elections despite concerns that rolling back distancing and quarantine measures could expose voters to the disease.
On Wednesday, at least 29 million South Koreans lined up at polling places to cast ballots for the 300-seat National Assembly — a vote that was widely seen as a measure of public support for the government’s response to the pandemic.
Every 30 Seconds: Young Latino voters in Seattle view November election through lens of pandemic
Racing to develop a drug to fight COVID-19
Doctors in China and the US have transfused antibodies from recovered patients directly into the blood of people with severe cases of COVID-19. Dr. Mario Ostrowski and his collaborators want to identify the genes that encode these antibodies and use them to mass produce lab-grown versions — to turn into a drug to treat the infection.
And: India hospital segregates Muslim and Hindu coronavirus patients
A history of the drug that conquered the world
With little evidence, US President Donald Trump has touted chloroquine’s potential for treating the novel coronavirus, and the clamor for the drug has alarmed leading scientists. But the race for chloroquine is far from new. This remedy and its natural derivative, the cinchona plant, have defined world powers and symbolized hope for cures to destructive diseases for centuries.
And: How an anti-malarial drug has become a tool of India’s diplomacy
In a new MoMA audio guide, security guards are the art experts
Museum of Modern Art security guards pose outside the museum with artist Chemi Rosado-Seijo, far right, creator of an audio guide where the guards explain their favorite works of art.
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Catalyst Program, The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Beatriz Meseguer/onwhitewall.com. © 2020 The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum visitors usually don’t acknowledge security guards. But they’re often incredibly knowledgable about the art they keep watch over — and may even be artists themselves. A new MoMA audio guide puts the guards front and center. In a series of 20 audio essays, the guards each choose a piece of art and speak about it.
You can listen online even though the museum is closed as part of countrywide stay-at-home orders to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Morning meme
Conservationists in Vietnam recently got some good news: A species feared extinct, the Vietnamese silver-backed mouse-deer, was documented for the first time in nearly 30 years.
The silver-backed chevrotain lives in the scrubby forests of Vietnam’s coast. These animals, also known as mouse-deer, are the world’s smallest ungulates, or hooved animals. This photo is the first documentation of its existence in nearly 30 years.
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Courtesy of SIE/GWC / Leibniz-IZW/NCNP
In case you missed it:Listen: Outcry over Trump’s WHO funding cut order
US President Donald Trump addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing at the White House, April 14, 2020.
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Leah Millis/Reuters
President Donald Trump says he’s halting funding for the World Health Organization pending a review. How would the funding cut affect the WHO’s work? And, there’s a global backlash against Trump’s WHO announcement, especially in places where the organization is vital like in Democratic Republic of Congo, where they are not only dealing with COVID-19 but also Ebola. Also, a priest in Vancouver, Canada, has a social distancing solution for confessionals for his congregation: a drive-through option.
Don’t forget to subscribe to The World’s Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, RSS.
Trump to push for reopening US as millions more seek unemployment aid
US President Donald Trump addresses the daily coronavirus task force briefing at the White House, April 15, 2020.
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Leah Millis/Reuters
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Despite concerns from health experts, governors and business leaders about a resurgence in cases without more testing and protocols in place, US President Donald Trump is expected to announce new guidelines to reopen the economy after a monthlong shutdown over the coronavirus outbreak.
Trump announced his decision to push states to lift stay-at-home and other restrictions that were imposed last month to halt the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus as the number of deaths in the United States approached 31,000 on Wednesday — more than any other nation.
States’ orders have also crushed the nation’s economy to levels not seen since the Great Depression nearly a century ago as a record more than 20 million Americans have sought unemployment benefits amid shuttered stores and restaurants, including another 5.2 million who filed for aid in the past week, pushing the US unemployment rate to 8.2%.
The president is scheduled to hold a call with the nation’s governors at 3 p.m. and said he would announce his plan at a news conference later on Thursday. The White House coronavirus task force is scheduled to hold its daily public briefing at 5 p.m.
Thursday’s unemployment data comes on the heels of retail data one day earlier showing a record drop in sales and the lowest factory output since the end of the Second World War, further pressuring Trump, who had staked his re-election in November on the strength of the US economy.
Discussion: Coronavirus conversations — taking your questions to the experts
On Wednesday, Trump said data suggested new cases have peaked and that industry leaders in a round of calls offered him good insights into how to safely restart the economy. But the head of a major union warned the president not to reopen unless worker safety can be ensured, and chief executives from some of the nation’s biggest companies told Trump more testing was needed to guarantee safety, according to multiple media reports.
“We’re in a strong place, and I can assure you that the guidance being put out today is in line with what the experts are saying, it’s in line with what the data is showing and it’s a plan to put this economy back on track,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told Fox News on Thursday.
Related: Racing to develop a drug to fight COVID-19
More than 635,000 total US cases have been reported across all 50 states. But not all states have been struck equally, as New York and others have been hit particularly hard. Even within states disparities are being seen in more urban and poorer areas.
That divide has inflamed political divisions as political leaders debate how and when to begin unwinding unprecedented lockdowns and prompting protests organized by conservative and pro-Trump groups against some state leaders who opted to keep residents at home.
Earlier this week, Trump said he had the power to override state governors who did not move to restart activity, before later saying he would work with them on their efforts to reopen.
States meanwhile are seeking $500 billion more in immediate fiscal relief from Congress to help fight the pandemic as lawmakers weigh a potential fourth coronavirus spending bill.
By Susan Heavey/Reuters
Discussion: On the front lines of the coronavirus crisis
Updated:
April 17, 2020 · 3:00 PM EDT
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US President Donald Trump is expected to announce new guidelines to reopen the economy after a monthlong shutdown over the coronavirus outbreak, while leaders elsewhere are more cautious.
The United Kingdom’s Health Minister Matt Hancock said on Thursday the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country is starting to peak, but it is too early to lift the lockdown because the virus would “run rampant” if the government eased social distancing measures.
And Spain on Thursday reported a rise in its national toll of deaths from the coronavirus in the past day, but figures from the region of Catalonia indicated the real total so far could be several thousand more.
Spain has been one of the countries worst hit by the global epidemic, but it has tentatively started to ease a lockdown imposed on March 14.
Related: Racing to develop a drug to fight COVID-19
As health experts, heads of state and business leaders debate easing restrictions, hospital workers remain under intense pressure trying to combat COVID-19.
What are the challenges facing our medical responders during this unprecedented time?
As part of our weekly series with Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, The World’s Jonathan Dyer moderated a discussion with Dr. Paul Biddinger, director of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Center for Disaster Medicine.
Biddinger, offered a firsthand account of what it’s like to be on the hospital front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic as deaths surge.
Racing to develop a drug to fight COVID-19
By
Ari Daniel
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A team of researchers at the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center selects lead antibody candidates for further screening.
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Rachel Nargi
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Back in early March in Toronto, André Valleteau went out for drinks with his friends over the weekend. On that Sunday, he spent the day at a work event. But by Monday morning, he was feeling exhausted.
On Tuesday, “I was starting to have a bit of itching at the back of my throat,” Valleteau said. “And then, I got a call from public health just letting me know I was in contact with someone who had tested positive” for the coronavirus.
Related: Millions of South Korean voters head to the polls amid COVID-19 pandemic
Valleteau immediately self-quarantined. His fatigue continued, and he developed a persistent cough and a migraine. The most difficult part of the experience was the isolation.
“In my case, I live alone,” he said. “So, it’s not like I have people that I can talk to in person.”
André Valleteau, self-quarantined in Toronto after being exposed to someone diagnosed with COVID-19
“In my case, I live alone,” he said. “So, it’s not like I have people that I can talk to in person.”
Valleteau turned 27 during his quarantine. He celebrated alone, but his aunt and uncle and some friends dropped off two full cakes for him. (Nearly a month later, he still has cake in his fridge.)
One of the two cakes that André Valleteau received for his birthday as he fought off COVID-19 alone in his apartment. The other was chocolate.
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Courtesy of André Valleteau
Gradually, Valleteau made a full recovery and ended his quarantine, though Toronto has been under lockdown since mid-March. His thoughts then turned from his own care to something bigger — as someone in the health care field, he wondered whether there were any researchers in need of blood from people who had successfully defeated COVID-19.
“I really wanted to be able to play my part in this,” he said, “and just help in any way that I possibly could.”
Valleteau didn’t have to go far. Just across town, at the University of Toronto, a research effort led by Mario Ostrowski, an infectious disease doctor, was underway. After a person recovers from a COVID-19 infection, their immune system has likely produced enough antibodies to protect them from subsequent infections.
“And if we can harness these antibodies,” Ostrowski said, “you might be able to use them as an immunotherapy and neutralize the virus.”
Related: COVID-19 Cyber Threat Intelligence League fights cybercrime amid pandemic
Doctors in China and the US have transfused antibodies from recovered patients directly into the blood of people with severe cases of COVID-19. But Ostrowski is talking about something different. He and his collaborators want to identify the genes that encode these antibodies and use them to mass produce lab-grown versions. Those would then be turned into a drug to treat the infection.
This elegant idea has a history. The first Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded in 1901 for the use of antibodies made in a horse to treat diphtheria in humans. Today, antibodies synthesized in the lab are used in Ebola and cancer treatments, and — if Ostrowski has anything to say about it — they could help win the fight against the coronavirus. But the first step is collecting the right antibodies.
Inside Ostrowski’s research facility a couple of weeks ago, nurse Megan Buchholz scanned André Valleteau’s arm for the right vein.
“So I’ll put it in here,” she said, “so give me one second, just bend your arm.”
Related: Top scientist says he quit research council over poor European response to COVID-19
An intravenous tube draws blood from one arm, routes it into a machine with a tiny centrifuge that removes white blood cells and other immune cells, and then snakes the remaining blood back to the other arm, Ostrowski explained. This procedure, called leukapheresis, is a way of extracting only the immune cells.
André Valleteau undergoes a leukapheresis procedure where several billion of his immune cells are extracted.
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Courtesy of André Valleteau
“Just a really quick pinch,” Buchholz said. “This is like if you’re donating blood.”
And just like that, the two-hour procedure began. By the end of it, Valleteau had contributed about five tablespoons of plasma, and several billion immune cells. “Because there’s so many,” Ostrowski explained, “we can distribute them to labs all over the world and they can do very extensive analyses on those samples.”
“Your body makes tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of antibodies to a virus. And typically, they do work in concert — it’s almost like a musical orchestra or ensemble.”
Dr. James Crowe, Vanderbilt Vaccine Center
One of those labs is the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center in Nashville, Tennessee. “Your body makes tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of antibodies to a virus,” said Dr. James Crowe, who directs the center. “And typically, they do work in concert — it’s almost like a musical orchestra or ensemble.”
Crowe and his team sifted through several thousand antibodies isolated from the blood of four patients in Toronto, Canada, Seattle, Washington, and Madison, Wisconsin. It’s like searching through an orchestra of thousands of instruments for the one playing just the right melody — one powerful enough that it could be made into a drug to treat COVID-19 by itself.
“What we really want,” Crowe said, “is just one or two antibodies that in and of themselves can do everything needed to prevent infection, and then it’s game over for the virus. We need the antibodies not just to find the virus, but they need to interrupt some part of that virus life cycle.”
Related: Mutual aid groups respond to double threat of coronavirus and climate change
The antibody Crowe is after might block the coronavirus from docking to our cells in the first place. Or even if the virus does manage to attach, the antibody might prevent it from penetrating the cells and replicating. This approach is just one of roughly 200 efforts across the globe to develop drugs or vaccines to thwart COVID-19, which includes everything from the novel RNA vaccine that entered clinical trials last month to more traditional approaches involving inactivated viral particles.
Wendy Wobeser is an infectious disease specialist at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. She’s a colleague of Ostrowski, but isn’t involved in the antibody research.
“Whether this will directly result in a therapeutic, I think it’s a bit early for most people. I’d be cautiously optimistic that it will give some benefit. It’s going to be a challenge to actually get it rolled out.”
Wendy Wobeser, Queen’s University
“Whether this will directly result in a therapeutic, I think it’s a bit early for most people,” she said. “I’d be cautiously optimistic that it will give some benefit. It’s going to be a challenge to actually get it rolled out.”
André Valleteau undergoes a leukapheresis procedure where several billion of his immune cells are extracted.
Credit:
Courtesy of André Valleteau
And that’s because only a small number of research efforts like this one actually clear all the hurdles to become an approved drug.
But at Vanderbilt, Crowe has already found a few promising antibodies that his partners are currently preparing for clinical testing. He and his research team should know if one of these antibodies is safe in humans within six to eight months, which is really fast. The people doing this work are moving at a breathtaking pace.
“It’s not even a choice. It’s something that I have to do,” Ostrowski said. “I feel this is a duty to society to use my talents to help solve this [pandemic].”
Young Latino voters in Seattle view November election through lens of pandemic
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Delia Ramirez, a restaurant worker, hangs aprons to dry at her home in the Bella-B Mobile Home Park, where the owner decreased rents by $225, or about 27%, to help residents in difficult economic situations due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Seattle, April 6, 2020.
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David Ryder/Reuters
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Across the United States, people of color are likeliest to be considered “essential workers” and must still go to work despite stay-at-home orders. Blacks and Latinos are likelier than whites to be diagnosed with COVID-19 — and to die of the disease.
Those experiences are shaping how people from those groups will vote in the November presidential election.
Seventeen-year-old Michelle Aguilar Ramirez is a first-time voter and US citizen of Guatemalan descent who lives in Seattle. She worries how the pandemic will affect her family — particularly her mother, who is undocumented.
“I’m first generation, and obviously like — sometimes it’s hard because my mom is a single mom,” Aguilar Ramirez said. “She can barely get ends meet, even though she works and works … over time, she still can’t figure it out. And I feel like my mom is not the only person struggling with that.”
Related: Every 30 seconds, a young Latino in the US turns 18. Their votes count more than ever.
Washington was the first place in the US to see a major outbreak of the coronavirus. Gov. Jay Inslee declared a state of emergency in February as the first patients started dying. The state reports about 10,000 confirmed cases so far.
Like many young Latinos in Seattle, Aguilar Ramirez leans Democrat. But she said she feels disenchanted by the presumed Democratic presidential candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden, as well as his challenger Sen. Bernie Sanders, who recently dropped out of the race. Aguilar Ramirez said the issues most important to her are climate change and immigration. The coronavirus pandemic has only underscored the positive changes she wants to see for her family.
The World’s host Marco Werman spoke to Esmy Jimenez, an immigration reporter with KUOW in Seattle, about how the coronavirus is shaping the political views and voting decisions of young Latinos in Washington. Jimenez is working with The World on “Every 30 Seconds,” a yearlong series exploring the Latino youth vote.
Listen to the full story above.
How researchers hope to restore the unique sound of Notre Dame
By
Emma Jacobs
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People listen to Notre Dame Cathedral’s great bell ringing — a mark of the building’s resilience one year after a devastating fire — during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in France, April 15, 2020.
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Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
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Vincent Dubois, one of Notre Dame’s three official organists, was in Strasbourg when he learned that the cathedral in Paris had caught fire one year ago.
Related: No sign of arson in Notre-Dame blaze as nation grieves
“It’s like one of the closest members of your family, your husband or your partner, or your brother or sister, was burning beside you,” he recalled, “and there was nothing you could do.” He and his fellow organists assumed that the instrument — parts of which date to the 18th century — was lost. He learned it had survived by text message at around 6 a.m. the next morning.
The French government, which owns the cathedral, has pledged to reconstruct it. But Notre Dame was not just a landmark building; it was a concert hall with a unique sound, even among cathedrals, according to Dubois.
Related: Notre-Dame remembered as a gathering point for The World
“The resonance is unlike anywhere else. It’s both precise while at the same time, lasting in the way the sound reverberates,” Dubois said.
Acoustics researcher Brian Katz could hear that difference when he was able to enter Notre Dame last July. Sunlight streamed through the now open roof.
“The fact that there’s these holes in the roof, the reverberation time has dropped significantly, so you don’t feel like you’re walking into a cathedral acoustically anymore,” he said.
But Katz has an acoustic map of Notre Dame that was made by his research team at the National Center for Scientific Research at the Sorbonne University in Paris. After the fire last April, he realized these sound measurements could inform Notre Dame’s reconstruction.
“The measurements that we did in 2013 were after [a] concert that we recorded. So it was, I think between 10 o’clock and midnight, or maybe one o’clock in the morning. … There were about 10 of us, moving microphones around.”
Brian Katz, acoustic researcher, National Center for Scientific Research
“The measurements that we did in 2013 were after [a] concert that we recorded. So, it was, I think between 10 o’clock and midnight, or maybe 1 o’clock in the morning,” Katz explained. There were about 10 of us moving microphones around.”
These measurements helped Katz and his team document how sound is transformed within the cathedral. Later analysis of the recordings allowed them to create a computer model of the cathedral’s acoustic landscape.
Together with a set of recordings the same lab made in the 1980s, these are the only measurements of the cathedral’s acoustics taken before the fire.
Intended as a proof of concept, Katz’s team used the recordings to create a virtual reality simulation that lets the user hear how the music of a concert is transformed while flying around Notre Dame on a magic carpet.
“It was not planned to be as important as it was — as it has turned out to be,” Katz said.
All cathedrals have lots of big, flat, reflective surfaces and even small modifications can change the resonance of the space, Katz said — it’s like changing a painting or cleaning the stone.
“Acoustics is an effect of the choices of all the other disciplines … the structural engineers and the stonemasons and the architectural finishes. All those choices of details are what creates the acoustics of a space,” Katz said.
With the measurements and the type of modeling software used to design concert halls, Katz hopes he can guide all the necessary choices in the restoration of Notre Dame that can add up to something that sounds like its original state.
“The earlier … acoustics is thought of and considered … the more integrated it can be in the design,” Katz said, “and important decisions can be made at the right time as opposed to later in the project, when it’s more difficult to change things.”
Katz’s team planned to take new measurements in the cathedral this spring with help from a robot to reach areas off-limits because of safety concerns. That trip got postponed when Paris shut down the site as part of the measures to counter the spread of the new coronavirus.
Even when the multiyear restoration effort is eventually completed, organist Dubois thinks it will take a few more years for Notre Dame to sound like it once did.
“It’s also the dust of the space, simply put. It’s a place in which there is so much foot traffic. There are many candles to be burned, so lots of soot, of which a little bit ends up all over everything.”
The only thing that can restore that, he thinks, is time — a short time, really, in the life of the centuries-old cathedral.
Madeleine Albright: ‘Globalization is not a four-letter word’
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Joyce Hackel
Former Secretary of State Madeline Albright takes the stage during the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 26, 2016.
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Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
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Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spent years representing the US in multilateral institutions.
A World War II refugee from Czechoslovakia, Albright became the first woman to serve as US secretary of state in 1997, appointed to the role by then-President Bill Clinton. Before that, she served as US ambassador to the United Nations.
Related: Madeleine Albright thinks it’s time to set the alarm on fascism
In her newly published book, “Hell and Other Destinations: A 21st Century Memoir,” Albright reflects on life after her tenure in the State Department. But the former Secretary of State remains a beacon of American statecraft and advocate of multilateral diplomacy. And she said she is concerned about US President Donald Trump’s recent actions to halt funding to the World Health Organization.
“I think it is the most counterproductive move he possibly could have made. Clearly, there were problems and problems the Chinese are going to have to answer for at some point,” Albright told The World. “But, having been at the UN, I can tell you there is no way to have your views taken seriously or call for reform if you’re not being supportive. And it’s definitely taking yourself out of a situation instead of really trying to deal with the problem. The UN is 75 years old. They do need some help in fixing these organizations, but we can’t do it from the outside.”
Related: Trump cuts WHO funding
Albright spoke with The World’s Marco Werman about Trump’s recent WHO decision and the impact on multilateralism.
Marco Werman: What sort of reform do you think the WHO needs?
Sec. Madeleine Albright: The WHO did provide warnings, but I think that there are, obviously, issues in every organization about how they function internally, the bureaucratic aspects, their relationships. But we have to be at the table and we have to contribute and support it and not create additional problems by all of a sudden going around its back.
Related: Is coronavirus reshuffling the global power deck?
I don’t want to do an audit of the WHO in the middle of a pandemic. But specifically, where do you think the reform should happen?
The United Nations, many of the organizations, are actually very dependent on getting intelligence from the outside. And that’s probably a good idea to try to sort out when and how they get their information. But it’s unfair just to accuse them of having screwed everything up and blaming them for something that we need to take some responsibility for, and the Chinese obviously do.
Related: Madeleine Albright: ‘Many of the best diplomats are women’
So as far as Trump’s announcement regarding funding for the WHO, do you see it as theater and an effort to scapegoat? And what message does it send to the rest of the world?
I think that it sends a very difficult message that the United States doesn’t have to cooperate with international organizations. That the president of the United States can go to the General Assembly session and talk only about how important our country is and sovereignty without understanding that in the 21st century there are issues that can only be handled by more than one country.
And obviously, disease knows no borders. Globalization is not a four-letter word. It is the interconnectedness of the world in the 21st century. He has not explained, frankly, what he is going to do, where he’s going to put money. Or is he going to go through some other organization? Just kind of standing up and saying, “I’m canceling” or “I’m not going to contribute” without explaining what is going to happen, I think, is a grandstand.
Related: Leon Panetta on coronavirus: ‘We’re paying the price’ of ignoring intelligence reports
Multilateral diplomacy is all but dead. So what comes next on the world stage, in terms of power relations?
Americans don’t like the word multilateralism. It has too many syllables and it ends in an “-ism.” But it’s just about partnership and a recognition that you need partners in solving problems. Trade and aid are obviously tools. But in order for us to have a good trade policy, which I believe we need to do, there need to be people that are healthy enough to buy our things.
I’m very worried about what I’m reading that’s happening in the developing world, where the virus is also hitting. They don’t have anywhere near the health situation that they can distance from each other. And who do we expect to buy all the things that we’re exporting? How are we going to deal with supply chains? So there’s an awful lot that’s interconnected that requires some kind of an active cooperation. Given what’s going on in the 21st century, we are interdependent. There’s just no question.
Related: Pandemic threatens global stability, says Susan Rice
Sec. Albright, it’s no secret you’re known for wearing brooches that convey historical moments that you’re living through. Do you have a broach for this moment?
I do, actually. It’s a V, and I’ll tell you where it comes from. I do also write about the fact that — I was just a child — but we spent World War II in London during the Blitz. My father was with the Czechoslovak government in exile and he spoke over BBC to Czechoslovakia. And every BBC broadcast would begin with a kettle drum and the notes from Beethoven’s Fifth, which is basically Morse code for victory. And so I have a V pin. We need a victory over the virus.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
The chloroquine chronicles: A history of the drug that conquered the world
By
Elana Gordon
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The gathering and drying of cinchona bark in a Peruvian forest. Wood engraving, by C. Leplante, c. 1867, after Faguet.
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Wellcome Library/Creative Commons
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An old drug is getting a lot of new attention around the world: chloroquine.
In the United States, President Donald Trump has talked about the drug’s potential for treating the novel coronavirus, though there’s little evidence. Primarily used to treat malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, chloroquine’s link to COVID-19 has prompted a global rush on the drug — and led to shortages.
But the clamor for the drug leaves leading scientists alarmed. The hopeful claims are unsubstantiated at this point, they say, even as scientists rush to set up trials to catch the research up to the hype.
Related: Trump’s medical advice triggers run on malaria drugs in Mexico
A historic pandemic and sought-after plant
Colored lithograph after M. A. Burnett, circa 1842, of the cinchona plant’s (Cinchona officinalis) flowering stem and floral segments.
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Wellcome Library/Creative Commons
The race for chloroquine is far from new. This remedy and its natural derivative, the cinchona plant, have defined world powers and symbolized hope for cures to destructive diseases for centuries.
“There are such clear parallels between what is happening now and what happened in the 17th century,” said Fiammetta Rocco, author of “The Miraculous Fever-Tree,” referring to a malaria pandemic that hit Italy especially hard in the 1600s.
Many thought the illness, with its spiked fevers and shaking chills, came from noxious fumes. Instead, it was the parasite-carrying mosquitoes populating Rome’s many marshes that spread the disease. Malaria — Italian for “bad air” — killed the Pope in 1623. The Vatican shut down, and 10 of 55 cardinals died, said Rocco, who is also a culture correspondent for The Economist.
Related: Climate change will make animal-borne diseases more challenging
Looking for a treatment for the disease, priests from the Jesuit Roman Catholic order set out on a scientific expedition and mission, traveling as far as the Andean region of South America. It was there that they found the cinchona plant.
“You have to imagine … these huge, sort of botanical creations through which very little light even passes into the ground, they’re so huge,” said Rohan Deb Roy, a historian at the University of Reading in the UK and author of “Malarial Subjects.”
The Jesuit missionaries and Spanish conquistadors first observed how locals used the bark of the plant — or “fever bark” — to treat malarial fevers, Deb Roy said. They then brought it back to Europe.
‘A tool of empire’
Wood-engraving of the planting of the first cinchona tree in a new plantation in the Nilgiris.
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Wellcome Libary/Creative Commons
“Whatever cured malaria should be understood not just as a medicine, but also as a military weapon,” Deb Roy said.
Malaria could kill more soldiers than bullets during war, and being able to fend off the disease became key to maintaining European colonies overseas.
“The cure for malaria would be then seen as a tool of empire,” Deb Roy said, “enabling soldiers to survive in these sort of unpredictable tropical colonial landscapes, which otherwise would be impossible for them.”
That led to a race among rising industrial powers to grow their own cinchona to lessen their dependency on Spain’s monopoly over the plant in the Americas. The Netherlands ultimately succeeded in the territory of Java, present-day Indonesia.
But how the bark actually worked remained a mystery until 1823, when two French researchers discovered the compound that made the bark effective against malaria: quinine.
Related: Lessons from Singapore and how it handled SARS
Quinine became the basis for many antimalarial drugs, though it took scientists another century to create a synthetic variation that would allow labs to manufacture the drug without any dependency on natural plants. Those research efforts picked up around World War I, when malaria posed a threat to all sides, including US soldiers training in the South.
“We often forget now that malaria was all over the place. All up through the Mississippi Valley there was malaria,” said Leo Slater, a chemist and author of “War and Disease: Biomedical Research on Malaria in the Twentieth Century.”
In the early 20th century, the natural version of quinine — from grinding the cinchona bark — was still the essential weapon against the malaria parasite. But when Japan took control of the Dutch East Indies during World War II, that natural supply was halted.
“When they do this, they cut off the rest of the world from the supply of quinine just as the war is coming,” Slater said.
The US significantly ramped up its own anti-malarial efforts during the war.
“They developed a large program, the largest of its kind and a model for post-war biomedicine to look for new drugs,” Slater said. “But the centerpiece of it was to test more than 14,000 compounds against malaria in one form or another.”
In the rush to arm US soldiers with anti-malaria medication, the military narrowed in on Atabrine, a drug that was effective, but incredibly toxic, causing soldiers intense nausea.
“They didn’t want to take it,” said Karen Masterson, a professor at Stony Brook University and author of “The Malaria Project: The US Government’s Secret Mission to Find a Miracle Cure.” “They were so resistant to it that the chain of command demanded that their unit commander put the pill in their mouth, close their jaw, and watch their Adam’s apple go up and down and swallow it.”
Related: Coronavirus most challenging crisis since World War II, UN says
During the war, Germany under Adolf Hitler had also put significant efforts into malaria research, including testing drugs on people in state hospitals, prisons and concentration camps, Masterson said. (The US also used non-consenting patients as test subjects in malaria drug experiments.)
By the end of the war, the US turned to a drug more tolerable than Atabrine. It had been developed, but not pursued, by German company Bayer, which had been pivotal in modern pharmaceutical practices and malaria drug experiments. The Bayer drug had also been used in experiments by a French doctor on residents of a German-occupied compound, Masterson said.
That drug was chloroquine.
A ‘miracle drug’
An image of an apparatus for making quinine pills from the Indonesian government publication “Know Indonesia … Know Your Friend,” circa 1951.
Credit:
Ministry of Information of Indonesia/via Wikimedia Commons
By the late 1940s and ’50s, chloroquine became “one of the miracle drugs,” said chemist Slater.
As the world entered a new era of peace, this “miracle drug” was promoted by the newly formed World Health Organization to help people across the world prevent and treat malaria.
Though chloroquine rose to fame quickly, its success didn’t last long, said Masterson. The so-called miracle drug was so widely promoted that malaria parasites developed a resistance, creating even more challenges in some communities where malaria was already endemic.
“It’s not a perfect drug, it’s not a magic bullet,” Masterson said.
Now, more than 50 years later, chloroquine, and its close relative, hydroxychloroquine, are in the spotlight again, as the world searches for a weapon against the new coronavirus threat.
“I’m not at all surprised that such a significant and major drug that is chloroquine is back in the news in the context of a global pandemic,” Deb Roy said.
COVID-19: The latest from The World
Today, chloroquine still has important medical uses, but it can have serious side effects — even death for some. In the fog of a fast moving pandemic, no one knows yet whether it’s actually useful against COVID-19.
Still, chloroquine — the product of magic plants, dead popes, and desperate hopes — has again come to represent a glimmer of light for some leaders today.
But Masterson cautioned that it represents something else, too.
“To me it’s a symbol of false hope,” she said.
In a new MoMA audio guide, security guards are the art experts
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Museum of Modern Art security guards pose outside the museum with artist Chemi Rosado-Seijo, far right, creator of an audio guide where the guards explain their favorite works of art.
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Catalyst Program, The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Beatriz Meseguer/onwhitewall.com. © 2020 The Museum of Modern Art, New York
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Kevin Reid typically spends eight hours per day in uniform, five days per week, standing in the galleries at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, keeping watch over the art.
Sometimes people ask him where to find the bathroom. But more often, they barely acknowledge him. It’s part of being a security guard, he said.
“Most people just come in here, ask us a question and just go,” he said. “You feel invisible.”
Visitors may not consider how those guards are often incredibly knowledgable about the art — and may even be artists themselves. In a new audio guide series for the museum called “Beyond the Uniform,” artist Chemi Rosado-Seijo turns the spotlight on Reid and nine other MoMA security guards. In a series of 20 audio essays, the guards each choose a piece of art and speak about it.
You can listen online even though the museum is closed as part of countrywide stay-at-home orders to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Related: 5 museums offering virtual art while you’re quarantined
Rosado-Seijo works in a field known as social practice, which is equal parts art and community activism. His projects usually feature marginalized communities.
When the museum’s education department asked him to come up with a project for MoMA, he said that he knew he wanted to work with security guards.
“Most of the guards are black or brown, as they call us. Puerto Ricans or Colombians or Dominicans,” he said. “They are the people who maintain or keep the structure of the museum together, but you’re not supposed to see them, in a way.”
And they don’t usually get asked about the art, even though they’re the ones who are living with it.
“A lot of the guards are artists themselves, too, and that’s a big reason why they work here.”
Chemi Rosado-Seijo, creator, Beyond the Uniform
“A lot of the guards are artists themselves, too, and that’s a big reason why they work here,” he said.
Reid is a recording artist. He goes by the name LuxuReid and estimates he’s written more than 100 songs. He said the job at the MoMA was “an opportunity to be around art. And expand my horizons.”
In the audio guide, security guard Kevin Reid explains his favorite work of art in the museum: “Untitled (policeman)” by Kerry James Marshall.
Credit:
Catalyst Program, The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Beatriz Meseguer/onwhitewall.com. © 2020 The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Reid even composed a rap for the audio guide. “Mr. Invisible doesn’t make sense to you, he raps. “People look through you but don’t see what’s in you.”
He was inspired by a 2015 painting called “Untitled (policeman)” by the African American artist Kerry James Marshall, which he also discusses in the guide. It’s a monumental portrait of a black police officer in uniform, sitting on the hood of his cruiser, staring off to the side.
“It’s a very provocative piece. … It connects so much. Black Lives Matter. The senseless police shootings, injustice, prejudice. African Americans in the police force as well. It’s a lot to take in.”
Kevin Reid, MoMA security guard and recording artist
“It’s a very provocative piece,” Reid says of the artwork. “It connects so much. Black Lives Matter. The senseless police shootings, injustice, prejudice. African Americans in the police force as well. It’s a lot to take in.”
Security guards’ contributions to the audio guide run the gamut. Joseph Tramantano, an actor, drummer and horror fan, discusses film stills from the 1931 version of “Frankenstein.” Eva Luisa Rodríguez does a spoken word performance in front of Frida Kahlo’s “Self-Portrait with Cropped Hair.” José Colon draws parallels between graffiti art and early 20th-century Italian sculpture.
Rabbila Konock explains that Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night,” which the artist painted during a stay in an asylum in the French countryside, reminds her of home. The night sky is roiling with swirling patterns. The stars, moon and planets glow in circles of yellow and white light. A sleepy little village lies beneath a turbulent sky.
In the audio guide, security guard Rabbila Konock explains how Vincent van Gogh’s famous painting, “Starry Night,” reminds her of her village in Bangladesh.
Credit:
Catalyst Program, The Museum of Modern Art. Photo: Beatriz Meseguer/onwhitewall.com. © 2020 The Museum of Modern Art, New York
“I am originally from Bangladesh. My village is similar to this painting,” she chuckles as she explains on the guide. “The night is more alive than the day. I believe he created [this painting] in early morning, before [sunrise]. So sometimes when I have to decide something, I wake up that time, I look outside from the window and [think].”
Chemi Rosado-Seijo hopes this audio project will be empowering to anyone who listens — especially if they aren’t art experts.
“I expect people will say, ‘Oh, the guards are talking about the artworks. I can talk about the artworks’.”
Chemi Rosado-Seijo, creator, Beyond the Uniform
“I expect people will say, ‘Oh, the guards are talking about the artworks. I can talk about the artworks’,” he said.
He says all too often, people will start talking about art and then censor themselves. They’ll say stuff like, “’I don’t know art! I shouldn’t be talking about it!”’ Rosado-Seijo said.
But he insists that art doesn’t have to be so intellectual and rarefied: “Your perspective is valid.”
Beyond the Uniform was conceived before the coronavirus outbreak and museum closure. Ideally, the listener would hear the audio while visiting the museum and standing in front of the works.
But Rosado-Seijo sees a silver lining.
“I actually don’t think [the coronavirus] changes the project at all,” he said. “If anything, it makes the message more urgent.”
Millions of South Korean voters head to the polls amid COVID-19 pandemic
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Voters in South Korea line up to cast their ballot in the election.
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After winning praise from across the globe for mitigating the spread of the novel coronavirus, South Korea has held parliamentary elections despite concerns that rolling back distancing and quarantine measures could expose voters to the disease.
The rising number of coronavirus infections and deaths worldwide has prompted dozens of nations to postpone scheduled elections. Other governments have faced criticism for putting citizens at risk by not calling off their polls — such as during the April 7 primary elections in Wisconsin.
Related: Is South Korea’s approach to containing coronavirus a model for the rest of the world?
On Wednesday, at least 29 million South Koreans lined up at polling places to cast ballots for the 300-seat National Assembly — a vote that was widely seen as a measure of public support for the government’s response to the pandemic.
While Seoul has not imposed shelter-in-place orders since the crisis began, a nationwide social distancing policy remains in place until April 19. But on election day, as well as two early voting days last week, some of the official guidance — such as maintaining six feet of space from others and avoiding crowded spaces — was eased to allow the election to take place.
Additional precautions were adopted to reduce the potential for infection. At polling locations, all voters were required to wear masks and stand just three feet apart from each other. Officials checked their temperatures and applied hand sanitizer on each voter before giving them disposable plastic gloves to handle the paper ballots.
At a polling station, two people prepare gloves and hand sanitizer for voters casting ballots amid the coronavirus outbreak in South Korea.
Credit:
Jason Strother/The World
Stations were also set up at medical centers to allow coronavirus patients to participate in the vote.
Walking underneath a row of blossoming trees alongside a high-rise apartment building, Lee Sa-rang and members of her family waited for about 45 minutes to enter their local polling place — a now-shuttered elementary school in Yongin, a city just south of Seoul.
Voters lined up inside a school to cast a ballot.
Credit:
Jason Strother/The World
Lee, who works in private education, says that as the number of COVID-19 cases here continues to decline, she feels it was safe enough as well as important to cast her vote now.
“Everyone is taking their vote very seriously,” the 32-year old said.
“Everyone is taking their vote very seriously. … Life needs to go on.”
Lee Sa-rang, private educator, Seoul, South Korea
“Life needs to go on,” Lee said, adding that voting signifies a return to “normalcy” for Korea and that the way in which the country’s leadership has confronted the coronavirus “reaffirmed” her support for the ruling party.
Voter turnout was at a 28-year high, according to media reports. South Korea, which experienced a large-scale COVID-19 outbreak in February, has since flattened the curve thanks in part to widely available diagnostic tests and a technological infrastructure that has allowed for rapid contact tracing of infections.
Related: South Korea flattened the curve. Now what?
Some observers say candidates affiliated with President Moon Jae-in’s Democratic Party, which recently adopted the slogan “We protect the people — we’re winning the battle against the coronavirus,” have campaigned on this success in order to win spots in the National Assembly.
“They’re saying we’ve handled this pandemic better than any other country in the world. … This public relations campaign will help the ruling party.”
Gi-wook Shin, director , Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University
“They’re saying we’ve handled this pandemic better than any other country in the world,” said Gi-wook Shin, director of the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University. “This public relations campaign will help the ruling party.”
Exit polls show the Democratic Party with a strong lead over the main conservative opposition. The final vote tally will be released on Thursday.
The Korea Centers for Disease Control reported on Wednesday that for the third consecutive day, new coronavirus cases slipped below 30, bringing the country’s total number of infections to 10,591. More than half of all patients have already been released from medical care, government data shows.
Deaths attributed to COVID-19 have reached 225, according to the KCDC. But officials are still concerned about cluster outbreaks inside churches and hospitals as well as infections linked to Koreans who have recently returned from abroad. Since April 1, all inbound travelers are required to self-quarantine for 14 days.
Before leaving the airport, new arrivals must install a smartphone health check app, which allows authorities to identify COVID-19 symptoms as well as track the movements of users.
On election day, quarantine restrictions were temporarily lifted and polling stations were kept open to allow some 13,000 recent returnees to briefly leave their homes and vote.
“It’s too hasty to conclude that the coronavirus is gone. … The election should have been postponed.”
Hwang Myung-jin, researcher, Korea University
These relaxed measures put the public in danger, said Hwang Myung-jin, who researches social policy at Korea University.
“It’s too hasty to conclude that the coronavirus is gone,” he said. “The election should have been postponed.”
Hwang fears that South Korea could see another spike in new coronavirus cases.
Surveys leading up to Wednesday’s polls showed strong approval for President Moon, which was not the case prior to the start of the pandemic, due in part to a sluggish economy.
For some voters, the election was a chance to show their frustration with his other policies.
“The cost of living has gone up too high under this administration,” Kim Hyeong- jun, a 60-year old businessman said after casting his vote in Yongin. “The government raised the minimum wage and that’s hurting the owners of small companies.”
Related: South Korea’s delivery workers face ‘unbearable’ pressures
The coronavirus has only exasperated some of South Korea’s pre-existing economic problems, with government figures showing a sharp rise in unemployment claims as well as a drop in new job creations.
Stanford’s Gi-wook Shin says these concerns could have cost the ruling party some seats in the National Assembly.
“The government may have been quite successful in containing the virus, but it doesn’t mean they have been successful in dealing with the economic situation,” he said.
Trump cuts WHO funding; online threats increase amid pandemic; deportations could be spreading COVID-19
US President Donald Trump arrives to address the daily coronavirus task force briefing at the White House, April 14, 2020.
Credit:
Leah Millis/Reuters
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Top of The World — our morning news round up written by editors at The World. Subscribe here.
In an attempt to deflect blame from his own ineffective handling of the novel coronavirus pandemic, US President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he would halt funding to the World Health Organization, pending a review. World leaders, including the United Nations, swiftly denounced the move. The WHO is at the helm of the COVID-19 crisis, which has infected nearly 2 million people worldwide, including more than 600,000 in the US. Trump has been widely criticized for his response to the public health crisis and for spreading disinformation from the bully pulpit.
And the AP reports China delayed informing the public of a potential pandemic from the novel coronavirus for six key days in January, which may have changed the trajectory of the disease.
From The World: Top scientist says he quit research council over poor European response to COVID-19
And: Bolsonaro’s denial of coronavirus puts the country at risk
Online threats increase amid pandemic
Computer games and apps have helped maintain connections as people remain self-isolated. But as screentime has increased, cybercrime has surged in recent weeks. Hospitals, companies and even individuals are targets. That’s where the COVID-19 Cyber Threat Intelligence League steps in. The group of over a thousand cybersecurity experts from around the world volunteer their time to help fend off attacks.
And: The Pentagon hasn’t fixed basic cybersecurity blind spots
Also: Do screen time rules still apply in lockdown?
Israel’s Arab citizens contemplate their future under Trump peace plan
Israel’s Arab citizens living in so-called “Triangle communities” may become citizens of Palestine under Trump’s “peace to prosperity” plan. If implemented, some 350,000 Arab Israeli citizens could lose their citizenship. They would not relocate, but they would become citizens of the Palestinian Authority. But not all of them are ready to give up their Israeli citizenship.
And: Scarce resources in Syria’s rebel-held areas amid COVID-19 fears: Only one machine to test samples available in area with over three million people.
US deportations could be spreading the virus
While many countries, including the US, have limited international commercial aviation because of the COVID-19 pandemic, planes deporting people from the US are still taking off. The flights not only put people in deportation proceedings at risk, but also threaten to spread the coronavirus to countries ill-equipped to deal with the disease. Guatemala’s health minister said that on one such flight arriving in the country, about 75% of those deported tested positive for the virus.
Also, “You Clap for Me Now,” a coronavirus poem featuring immigrants who are essential workers in Britain, hits on racism in the UK.
And: Canadian nurses who work in the United States are being made to pick a side
Joy in water: One family’s life in the Chinese mountains of Tianmushan
“The intelligent find joy in water. If Confucius is right, we must all be prodigies. We moved to this mountain village, a three-hour drive from our home in Shanghai, because of the water, because of the air, because the inner-city pollution was quite literally making us sick.”
Art historian Lindsay Shen writes about the refuge her family found in the cool, clear streams of the mountain village of Tianmushan, China, in Zhejiang Province.
Morning meme
Who knew squirrels had such good table manners?
Credit:
Screenshot from Twitter
In case you missed itListen: France stays under lockdown while other countries debate lifting restrictions
A man wearing protective suit and face mask leaves a supermarket after shopping in Nice, as a lockdown is extended to slow the rate of the coronavirus in France, April 14, 2020.
Credit:
Eric Gaillard/Reuters
While US President Donald Trump clashed with state governors over plans to reopen the economy, French President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday that France will remain under lockdown for four more weeks. And, earlier this month, top cybersecurity officials in the US and the UK issued a warning about COVID-19-related scams and phishing attempts. Also, in Calgary, Canada, high school students launched a hotline called Joy4All. Dial it, and you can hear local students share jokes, short stories and acts of kindness.
Don’t forget to subscribe to The World’s Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: RadioPublic, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, RSS.
Play this song
[Intro]
Man, I don’t know why I keep doin’ this shit to myself
Shit crazy
Stressful as a motherfucker
I wear my heart on my sleeve, nigga
Glass house
Fuck you talkin’ ’bout?
[Chorus]
On to the next
Already forgot ya like I never knew ya
Watch me pull up in that Phantom while I’m livin’ in Miami (Hey!)
Got my heart rollin’ dice in a centerfold
Should’ve listened when I told ya
Should have never played the games
‘Cause I been away too long (Too long)
And my fall back game too strong (Yeah!)
Now you blowin’ up my phone
Talkin’ all the shit I would have, but the moment’s gone
[Pre-Chorus]
And I’m down and my heart is made of stone, oh
Ooh, yeah
[Chorus]
Oh, look what you done
You gon’ make me pull up on you with the next bitch right now (Right now)
Ain’t no tellin’ what I might do from now (Oh-whoa)
Oh, and now we’re over and done (Done)
If you didn’t know I’m that nigga, bet you know now
If you didn’t know, bet you know now
[Post-Chorus]
Tired, playin’ same shit for ya
Done flexin’ on you
Oh-whoa, oh-oh
Tired, playin’ same shit for ya
Done flexin’ on you
Haha, yeah!
[Verse 2]
To my niggas said they had they way with you, way with you
You know that I don’t want it if another nigga on it now
I ain’t got no time to play no game with you (No)
Flooded out the Rollie just to drip it on you, drip it on you
Want me to be stressin’, but, girl, you know I’m not
Now you all in my Tumblr tryna see what I’m on
I thought I told you that my fall back game too strong
Talkin’ all the shit I would have, but the moment’s gone
[Pre-Chorus]
And I’m down and my heart is made of stone, oh
[Chorus]
Oh, look what you done (You done)
You gon’ make me pull up on you with the next bitch right now (Yeah)
Ain’t no tellin’ what I might do from now (Oh-whoa)
Oh, and now we’re over and done (Done)
If you didn’t know I’m that nigga, bet you know now
If you didn’t know, bet you know now
[Post-Chorus]
Tired, playin’ same shit for ya (Oh)
Done flexin’ on you
Oh-whoa (Oh, baby)
Tired, playin’ same shit for ya (Ooh-ooh)
Done flexin’ on you (Hee-hee-hee)
Hol’ up!
[Verse 3]
Bitch reckless tryna hang out with the enemies (Yeah)
Goin’ to another nigga, show up and he pull you out the club
Go ‘head with the ho-ass Tennessee’s (Oh)
You wanna fuck that nigga, go ‘head and fuck him ’cause I won’t hold you down
He gon’ let you go in a minute
And all these niggas wanna fuck my bitches because I’m winnin’
Nigga, let me know when you finished
‘Cause you ain’t gettin’ over, no, no
That’s what I call pimpin’
[Chorus]
Oh, look what you done
You gon’ make me pull up on you with the next bitch right now (Oh, hey)
Ain’t no tellin’ what I might do from now (Yeah)
Oh, and now we’re over and done (Oh)
If you didn’t know I’m that nigga, bet you know now (Bet you know now)
If you didn’t know, bet you know now (Bet)
[Post-Chorus]
Tired, playin’ same shit for ya (Oh)
Done flexin’ on you (Oh, oh!)
Tired, playin’ same shit for ya
Done flexin’ on you, oh
[Outro]
If you didn’t know I’m that nigga, bet you know now
If you didn’t know I’m that nigga, bet you know now
If you didn’t know, bet you know now
Play this song
[Intro]
Bangladesh
[Chorus]
Smooches, baby
She wanna kiss it
Smooches, baby
She wanna kiss it
Smooches, baby
She wanna kiss it
Smooches, baby
Seal it with a kiss
She wanna kiss down on me
She wanna put her lips on me
She wanna kiss down on me
She wanna put her lips on me
[Verse 1]
It’s dedicated to the girls around the world
Mr. Kiss Kiss, got a song for y’all
Look at my picture on your bedroom wall, wall
You know I can’t forget ya
[Pre-Chorus]
Swagger still the same, money never been a issue
And when I leave your city, you know that I’ma gonna miss ya
Wish I could kiss every one of y’all
Every one of y’all
Every one of y’all wanna give me
[Chorus]
Smooches, baby
She wanna kiss it
Smooches, baby
She wanna kiss it
Smooches, baby
She wanna kiss it
Smooches, baby
Seal it with a kiss
She wanna kiss down on me
She wanna put her lips on me
She wanna kiss down on me
She wanna put her lips on me
[Verse 2]
Now every single time, I gotta raise the bar
Give you another reason just to take me home
She whispered in my ear that the crib not far
And then I have to give her that, “Oh my God”
[Pre-Chorus]
Swagger still the same, money never been a issue
And when I leave your city, you know that I’ma gonna miss ya
Wish I could kiss every one of y’all
Every one of y’all
Every one of y’all wanna give me
[Chorus]
Smooches, baby
She wanna kiss it
Smooches, baby
She wanna kiss it
Smooches, baby
She wanna kiss it
Smooches, baby
Seal it with a kiss
She wanna kiss down on me
She wanna put her lips on me
She wanna kiss down on me
She wanna put her lips on me
[Outro]
Smooches, baby
Sm-Smooches, baby
Smooches, baby
Sm-Smooches, baby
Smooches, baby
Sm-Smooches, baby
Play this song
[Intro]
(Yuh)
Tell my young niggas to pour up
You know we doing that all day, you feel me?
Staying lit, get high
(Yuh)
[Chorus]
Popping these pills the hard way
Everybody know i’m off a bean
Doing a lil’ molly, that’s OK
Got a lil’ white that’s all for me
I’mma do what I want
I don’t care what you think
Pop a couple pills, that’s all from me
I don’t give a fuck, i’m OK
Gimme them drugs
Gimme them drugs
Gimme them drugs
Pour me a cup
Pour me a cup
Pour me a cup
Gimme them drugs
Gimme them drugs
Gimme them drugs
Pour me a cup
Pour me a cup
Pour me a cup
[Verse 1]
I’mma keep whipping that crack
? Mall i’m serving that sack
Hilltop Mall i’m selling packs
Eastmont Mall i’m in the back
We in the parking lot, bro got the Uzi
You better strap up, I don’t give a fuck
Call me black ass, i’m funny as fuck (BasedGod)
You can just call me on my Nextel
Whatchu’ bitches need, I got them bags for sale
I don’t give a fuck, we ? the
Flipping a brick, fuck a pack
Like a plumber, I got crack
I’m doing numbers, I know math
Don’t think that we stupid
Put your ass down like cupid
All my bitches look like clueless
All my bitches naked
Selling that ? daily
Turning a 4 into an 80
Whipping that bird butt naked
[Chorus]
Popping these pills the hard way
Everybody know i’m off a bean
Doing a lil’ molly, that’s OK
Got a lil’ white that’s all for me
I’mma do what I want
I don’t care what you think
Pop a couple pills, that’s all from me
I don’t give a fuck, i’m OK
Gimme them drugs
Gimme them drugs
Gimme them drugs
Pour me a cup
Pour me a cup
Pour me a cup
Gimme them drugs
Gimme them drugs
Gimme them drugs
Pour me a cup
Pour me a cup
Pour me a cup
[Verse 2]
Molly and niggas want the Actavis
You sell candy, I sell crack bitch
You sell booty, I don’t
You sell booty on the Iphone
Whipping that crack like Jerry Springer
Serving these knocks, I’m serving pizzas
Selling cocaine out Toyota Prius
E-E-E-e i’m geeking (Aah)
Birdie and tweeking
Pour me a cup I need some Lean-Lean
Fuck my bitch butt naked
Turn a 4 into an 80
My Trap house look like Jumanji
Drive a Subaru and I might drive a Hyundai
Pouring up lean it look like Monday
Driving a Buick and it’s not funny
Pouring up lean looking like a driver
In Ohio i’m trying to get higher
In Detroit putting dope on the fire
Call me Bobby Brown because i’m trying to get higher
Call me Joe King I got birds on my back
I love Taylor Swift she look like crack
I got a lean belly i’m skinny – i’m fat
Never fuck a crackhead from the back
[Chorus]
Popping these pills the hard way
Everybody know i’m off a bean
Doing a lil’ molly, that’s OK
Got a lil’ white that’s all for me
I’mma do what I want
I don’t care what you think
Pop a couple pills, that’s all from me
I don’t give a fuck, i’m OK
Gimme them drugs
Gimme them drugs
Gimme them drugs
Pour me a cup
Pour me a cup
Pour me a cup
Gimme them drugs
Gimme them drugs
Gimme them drugs
Pour me a cup
Pour me a cup
Pour me a cup
Play this song
[Intro: Eric Bellinger & La’Myia, Both]
This is some new, ooh (Oh-oh-oh)
This is some new, ooh (Oh-oh)
This is some new, ooh (Oh)
[Verse 1: Eric Bellinger & La’Myia]
Why we be at each other? (Sheesh)
When we could be on each other (Yeah)
Why you be all on my head?
When I could be all your head, boy?
Instead of your screamin’ to blame
You should be screamin’ my name (Sheesh)
We could be bad, we could be good
Why we can’t be be on the same page?
[Pre-Chorus: Eric Bellinger & La’Myia]
I should be just as hard as you go when we fight
Every day, every night
And it could in your face, instead of me in your face
Every night, every day, yeah, yeah
[Chorus: Eric Bellinger & La’Myia, Both]
Will agree to disagree but can you meet halfway?
My way, my way, my way, now
Will agree to disagree but let’s agree just from waist down
Waist down, waist down, waist down, oh-oh-woah
Waist down
[Post-Chorus: Eric Bellinger, Both]
Since you wanna fight, let’s go round for round (Waist down)
Instead of turnin’ up, I’ma turn you out (Waist down)
Since you wanna fight, let’s go round for round (Waist down)
Instead of turnin’ up, I’ma turn you out
Let’s agree to disagree (Oh)
[Verse 2: Eric Bellinger & La’Myia]
How you expect me to miss you? (Miss)
When you always come with an issue (Issue)
I’m tryna push it up on you (On me)
But you too busy pushin’ my buttons, babe (Damn)
Why you be ridin’ my last name?
Why you ain’t ridin’ on my curves?
You get me up,I take you down
After I pour me some champagne
[Pre-Chorus: Eric Bellinger & La’Myia]
I should be just as hard as you go when we fight
Every day, every night
And it could in your face, instead of me in your face
Every night, every day, yeah, yeah
[Chorus: Eric Bellinger & La’Myia, Both]
Will agree to disagree but can you meet halfway?
My way, my way, my way, now
Will agree to disagree but let’s agree just from waist down
Waist down, waist down, waist down, oh-oh-woah
Waist down
[Post-Chorus: Eric Bellinger, Both]
Since you wanna fight, let’s go round for round (Waist down)
Instead of turnin’ up, I’ma turn you out (Waist down)
Since you wanna fight, let’s go round for round (Waist down)
Instead of turnin’ up, I’ma turn you out
Let’s agree to disagree (Oh)
[Bridge: Eric Bellinger, La’Myia & Both]
Problems, who don’t got ’em?
The differences we, keep on rockin’
On my mind (On my mind), oh
We gon’ make it (We gon’ make it)
The storms we be chasin’ (We be chasing ’em), oh
But can you stand the rain?
[Chorus: Eric Bellinger & La’Myia, Both]
Will agree to disagree but can you meet halfway? (Can you? Woah, oh-woah)
My way, my way, my way, now
Will agree to disagree but let’s agree just from waist down
Waist down, waist down, waist down, oh-oh-woah
Waist down
[Post-Chorus: Eric Bellinger, Both]
Since you wanna fight, let’s go round for round (Waist down)
Instead of turnin’ up, I’ma turn you out (Waist down)
Since you wanna fight, let’s go round for round (Waist down)
Instead of turnin’ up, I’ma turn you out
Let’s agree to disagree (Oh)
Play this song
[Intro]
B-B-B-Blaq Tuxedo
Yeah
[Verse 1]
I’m gon’ cry for what’s not mine no more
Hey, yeah, yeah
I fear too fly, girl, so I don’t try no more
Whoa-whoa-whoa
[Pre-Chorus]
I know how it feels out on the other side
I know the feeling now
I’m in the rain right now
It’s getting real
Dammit, I let you down
Got my whole world upside down
[Chorus]
Tell me, why did you leave me? Oh
Fighting with my heart, startin’ to take control
Baby, why did you leave me? Oh
I tried my best not to do you wrong
Baby, why did you leave me?
[Post-Chorus]
Who said it was easy? Oh
You know loving me never was easy, yeah, yeah
Who said it was easy?
You know loving me never was easy
Baby, why did you leave me? Oh no
Who said it was easy? Oh
You know loving me never was easy, ooh, yeah, yeah
Who said it was easy? Yeah
You know loving me never was easy, oh no
[Verse 2]
Apparently not, girl
I got everything, oh-whoa
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Your love burned bright, girl
And it’s deep in my soul, yeah
[Pre-Chorus]
I know how it feels out on the other side
I love the feeling high
Don’t wanna let it fade
It’s getting real
Dammit, I let you down
Got my whole world upside down
[Chorus]
Tell me, why did you leave me? Oh
Fighting with my heart, startin’ to take control
Baby, why did you leave me? Oh
I tried my best not to do you wrong
Baby, why did you leave me?
[Post-Chorus]
Who said it was easy? Oh
You know loving me never was easy, yeah, yeah
Who said it was easy?
You know loving me never was easy
Baby, why did you leave me? Oh no
Who said it was easy? Oh
You know loving me never was easy, ooh, yeah, yeah
Who said it was easy? Yeah
You know loving me never was easy, oh no
Who said it was easy?
You know loving me never was easy, yeah, yeah
Who said it was easy?
You know loving me never was easy, oh no
Who said it was easy?
You know loving me never was easy, yeah, yeah
Who said it was easy?
You know loving me never was easy
[Chorus]
Tell me, why did you leave me? Oh
Fighting with my heart, startin’ to take control
Baby, why did you leave me? Oh
I tried my best not to do you wrong
Baby, why did you leave me?
Play this song
[Verse 1]
Heartbreak, heartbreak is a motherfucker
I know, I know but I found a way to
Deal though, deal though, it took work to get the wheels are moving on, wheels are moving on
Can’t stay, can’t stay on a used lover
I know, I’ve been better off without it
You though, you thought it took work to get these feelings turning off, feelings turning off
[Chorus]
Oh, my, my, my, my, my
I see you moving side to side, side, side, side, side
Two hands on you that aren’t mine, mine, mine, mine, mine
You never know how much you’re on somebody ’til they’re on somebody else
So my, my, my, my, my
I wish my eyes knew how to lie, lie, lie, lie, lie
And tell my body I’ll be fine, fine, fine, fine, fine
You never know how much you’re on somebody ’til they’re on somebody else
[Verse 2]
Heartbreak, heartbreak is a motherfucker
Lay low, lay low, that’s how they tell you to
Let go, letting go went out the window
Soon as I saw you pull up from two
[Pre-Chorus]
I can feel the break of every wave crash into me (Crashing)
Wishing I went somewhere else and left you in my dreams
[Chorus]
Oh, my, my, my, my, my
I see you moving side to side, side, side, side, side
Two hands on you that aren’t mine, mine, mine, mine, mine
You never know how much you’re on somebody ’til they’re on somebody else
So my, my, my, my, my
I wish my eyes knew how to lie, lie, lie, lie, lie
And tell my body I’ll be fine, fine, fine, fine, fine
You never know how much you’re on somebody ’til they’re on somebody else
[Pre-Chorus]
I can feel the break of every wave crash into me
Wishing I went somewhere else and left you in my dreams (Haha)
[Chorus]
Oh, my, my, my, my, my
I see you moving side to side, side, side, side, side
Two hands on you that aren’t mine, mine, mine, mine, mine
You never know how much you’re on somebody ’til they’re on somebody else
So my, my, my, my, my
I wish eyes knew how to lie, lie, lie, lie, lie
And tell my body I’ll be fine, fine, fine, fine, fine
You never know how much you’re on somebody ’til they’re on somebody else
[Outro]
Oh, when you’re on somebody when you’re on somebody
(Oh, baby, on somebody else)
Oh, when you’re on somebody when you’re on somebody
‘Til they’re on somebody else
Play this song
[Chorus 1]
I found myself in this bar
Making mistakes and making new friends
Us growing up and nothing made sense
Buzzing all night like neon in the dark
I found myself in this
[Verse 1]
Couldn’t wait to turn 21
The day I did, I got too drunk
Spinning around dizzy on the patio
Found out real quick how to take it slow
Got whiskey bent on whiskey sours
Ran my mouth to an out-of-towner
Learned a big lesson when I met the bouncer
[Chorus 1]
I found myself in this bar
Making mistakes and making new friends
Us growing up and nothing made sense
Buzzing all night like neon in the dark
I found myself in this bar
[Post Chorus]
Ooh woah oh
Ooh woah oh
Ooh woah oh
I found myself in this bar
[Verse 2]
Saw her in the corner sippin’ something tall
Cracked a few jokes, we hit off
Get down the road I’m watching her
Walk through the door with some new jerk
And we had it good, and it hurts so bad
But I had to stand my ground
Chased my pride with another round
[Chorus 2]
I found myself in this bar
Making mistakes and making new friends
Us growing up and nothing made sense
Learning how to live with a broken heart
I found myself in this bar
[Post Chorus]
Ooh woah oh
Ooh woah oh
Ooh woah oh
[Bridge]
Those nights what I would give for one more Bud Light
Still kissing on the front porch
Didn’t even know what I was looking for
[Outro]
But I found myself in this bar
I found myself in this bar
I found myself in this bar
Ain’t it a stranger thing you keep tucked in your heart
I found myself in this bar
Play this song
[Intro]
Ayy, Ayy
[Verse 1: YP14]
Mama always said, “Pray for the best, expect the worst
Don’t make promises of you go back on your word
If you’re doing it wrong, you’ve got willing to work”
Hit a search and grab the dosh, gotta get to it first
See, I grew up in church
But I had devils in my ears saying “Fuck it!”
Control it, my young mind like a puppet
Had me skipping school, ditching satties in the alley as a young’un
Never a boss, bruh, I was running
(Ayy) Tryna slang bud just to get paid
Now boys got beef, I had to run with a blade
See my bro’ got-got, and that’s when my heart changed
Took a couple L’s, but that’s part of the game
Live and learn, take how it comes
And if it kicks off, brother, don’t run
I was taught from young, that I’d be trapped in the system
Didn’t listen, and that’s how I got done
[Pre-Chorus: YP14]
See, I’m just trying to make to a living, lad, and just do me
See, I ain’t stopping ’til they set me free
(Uhh) We stand firm to the word “F-T-P!”
Praying for somebody to rescue me
(Ayy) Train hard, my brother, and stay staunch
Listen, don’t be another victim lost to the system
And you’ll be eetswa when they come to meet ya
We say, “My nigga, welcome to prison” (Ayy)
[Chorus]
Free my brothers in the yard and that
Can’t wait ’til they all come back, ’til they all come back
OneFour, part of the gang
2-7, where my heart is at, where my heart is at
We chop dogs too easy, got locked up too easy
And now I’m on T.V
I bet they’ll burn when they see me walk
They’d rather see me in between these walls
[Verse 2: JM14]
Expect the worst, hope for the best
Keep ’em close if you know they’re down for stretch
They call us ball runners with the utmost respect
We’re all known in the system, there’s not much of us left
You’re also called “The common snitch, biggest bitch
A dog that couldn’t take the pressure for what he did”
The lowest of lowest that you can get as a crim’
Having never met the rest of them down in protection
Separate from the rest of us
‘Cause our instincts always got the best of us
Paranoid, thinking now there’s no one left to trust
Don’t get me wrong, the boys in here just don’t give a fuck
But why he’s acting sus’
Heard them fellas over there, tryna take me for an Inner
Eetswa, I’m just gonna chill away
Fuck waiting another day
Pull up to his cell, give him hell
I want all you got
Put inside this pillowcase and don’t forget your dinner tray
[Pre-Chorus: JM14]
See, I’m just trying to make to a living, lad, and just do me
See, I ain’t stopping ’til they set me free
We stand firm to the word “F-T-P!”
Praying for somebody to rescue me
(Uhh) Train hard, my brother, and stay staunch
Listen, don’t be another victim lost to the system
And you’ll be eetswa when they come to meet ya
We say, “My nigga, welcome to prison” (Ayy)
[Chorus]
Free my brothers in the yard and that
Can’t wait ’til they all come back, ’til they all come back
OneFour, part of the gang
2-7, where my heart is at, where my heart is at
We chop dogs too easy, got locked up too easy
And now I’m on T.V
I bet they’ll burn when they see me walk
They’d rather see me in between these walls (Ayy)
Free my brothers in the yard and that
Can’t wait ’til they all come back, ’til they all come back
OneFour, part of the gang
2-7, where my heart is at, where my heart is at
We chop dogs too easy, got locked up too easy
And now I’m on T.V
I bet they’ll burn when they see me walk
They’d rather see me in between these walls (Ayy)
[Outro]
Free the fucking gang!
Free ’em!
Play this song
[Verse 1]
I don’t hate you
No, I couldn’t if I wanted to
I just hate all the hurt that you put me through
And that I blame myself for letting you
Did you know I already knew?
[Pre-Chorus]
Couldn’t even see you through the smoke
Lookin’ back I probably should have known
But I just wanted to believe that you were out sleepin’ alone
[Chorus]
Hurt me with your worst intentions
Didn’t even start to question
Every time you burn me down
Don’t know how, for a moment, it felt like heaven
Love me with your worst intentions
Painted us a happy ending
Every time you burn me down
Don’t know how, for a moment, it felt like heaven
[Post-Chorus]
And it’s so good, mention
Fallin’ in the wrong direction
[Verse 2]
On my tip-toes
But I still couldn’t reach your ego
Guess I was crazy to give you my body, my mind
Don’t know what I was thinkin’, too long
Everyone thinks that your somebody else
You even convinced yourself
[Pre-Chorus]
Couldn’t even see you through the smoke
Lookin’ back I probably should have known
But I just wanted to believe that you were out sleepin’ alone
[Chorus]
Hurt me with your worst intentions
Didn’t even start to question
Every time you burn me down
Don’t know how, for a moment, it felt like heaven
Love me with your worst intentions
Painted us a happy ending
Every time you burn me down
Don’t know how, for a moment, it felt like heaven
[Post-Chorus]
And it’s so good, mention (Ooh, ooh)
Fallin’ in the wrong direction (Ooh, ooh)
How did you sweep me off of my feet, baby, I can’t heal
Fallin’ in the wrong direction
How did you sweep me off of my feet, right off my feet
[Pre-Chorus]
Couldn’t even see you through the smoke
Lookin’ back I probably should have known
But I just wanted to believe that you were out sleepin’ alone
[Chorus]
Hurt me with your worst intentions
Didn’t even start to question (Oh no)
Every time you burn me down
Don’t know how, for a moment, it felt like heaven
Love me with your worst intentions
Painted us a happy ending
Every time you burn me down (Me down)
Don’t know how, for a moment, it felt like heaven
[Post-Chorus]
And it’s so good, mention
Fanllin’ in the wrong direction
Play this song
[Verse 1]
The dawn is breaking
A light shining through
You’re barely waking
And I’m tangled up in you, yeah
I’m open, you’re closed
Where I follow, you’ll go
I worry I won’t see your face
Light up again
[Chorus]
Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
I somehow find you and I collide
[Verse 2]
I’m quiet you know
You make a first impression
I’ve found I’m scared to know
I’m always on your mind
[Chorus]
Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the stars refuse to shine
Out of the back you fall in time
I somehow find you and I collide
[Bridge]
Don’t stop here
I lost my place
I’m close behind
[Chorus]
Even the best fall down sometimes
Even the wrong words seem to rhyme
Out of the doubt that fills my mind
I somehow find you and I collide
[Outro]
You finally find you and I collide
You finally find you and I collide
Play this song
[Intro]
Ayy, ayy, ayy, ayy
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ayy, ayy
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
[Verse 1]
Needless to say, I keep it in check
Things are all bad-bad, nevertheless (Yeah)
Callin’ it quits now, baby, I’m a wreck (Wreck)
Wreck at that place, baby, you’re a wreck (Wreck)
Needless to say, I’m keeping in check
Things are all bad-bad, nevertheless
Callin’ it quits now, baby, I’m a wreck
Wreck at that place, baby, you’re a wreck
Thinkin’ in a bad way, losin’ your grip
Screamin’ at my face, baby, don’t trip
Someone took a big L, don’t know how that felt
Lookin’ at you sideways, party on tilt
Ooh-ooh, some things you just can’t refuse
She wanna go off on a cruise and I’m not tryna lose
[Chorus]
Then you’re left in the dust, unless I stuck by ya
You’re a sunflower, I think your love would be too much
Or you’ll be left in the dust, unless I stuck by ya
You’re the sunflower, you’re the sunflower
[Verse 2]
Every time I’m leavin’ on ya
You don’t make it easy, no
Wish I could be there for ya
Give me a reason to, oh
Every time I’m walkin’ out
I can hear you tellin’ me to turn around
Fightin’ for my trust and you won’t back down
Even if we gotta risk it all right now, oh
I know you’re scared of the unknown
You don’t wanna be alone
I know I always come and go
But it’s out of my control
[Chorus]
And you’ll be left in the dust, unless I stuck by ya
You’re the sunflower, I think your love would be too much
Or you’ll be left in the dust, unless I stuck by ya
You’re the sunflower, you’re the sunflower
Play this song
[Verse 1]
We go together
Better than birds of a feather, you and me
We change the weather, yeah
I’m feelin’ heat in December when you’re ’round me
[Pre-Chorus]
I’ve been dancin’ on top of cars and stumblin’ really far
I follow you through the dark, can’t get enough
You’re the medicine and the pain, the tattoo inside my brain
And, baby, you know it’s obvious
[Chorus]
I’m a sucker for you
You say the word and I’ll go anywhere blindly
I’m a sucker for you, yeah
Any road you take, you know that you’ll find me
I’m a sucker for all the subliminal things
No one knows about you (About you), about you (About you)
And you’re makin’ the typical me break my typical rules
It’s true, I’m a sucker for you, yeah
[Verse 2]
Don’t complicate it (Yeah)
‘Cause I know you and you know everything about me
I can’t remember (Yeah) all of the nights
I don’t remember when you’re ’round me (Oh, yeah, yeah)
[Pre-Chorus]
I’ve been dancin’ on top of cars and stumblin’ really far
I follow you through the dark, can’t get enough
You’re the medicine and the pain, the tattoo inside my brain
And, baby, you know it’s obvious
[Chorus]
I’m a sucker for you
You say the word and I’ll go anywhere blindly
I’m a sucker for you, yeah
Any road you take, you know that you’ll find me
I’m a sucker for all the subliminal things
No one knows about you (About you), about you (About you)
And you’re makin’ the typical me break my typical rules
It’s true, I’m a sucker for you, yeah (Uh)
[Pre-Chorus]
(I’m a sucker for you)
I’ve been dancin’ on top of cars and stumblin’ really far
I follow you through the dark, can’t get enough
You’re the medicine and the pain, the tattoo inside my brain
And, baby, you know it’s obvious
[Chorus]
I’m a sucker for you, yeah
Say the word and I’ll go anywhere blindly
I’m a sucker for you, yeah
Any road you take, you know that you’ll find me
I’m a sucker for all the subliminal things
No one knows about you (About you), about you (About you)
And you’re makin’ the typical me break my typical rules
It’s true, I’m a sucker for you (Uh)
I’m a sucker for you
