Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will issue a stay-at-home order on Wednesday after mounting pressure to do so amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
Continue reading “Florida Gov. DeSantis Will Issue Stay-At-Home Order After Growing Pressure”
Pence Struggles To Respond To WH’s Projection Of 100,000 COVID-19 Fatalities
Vice President Mike Pence responded to the White House’s sobering projection of up to 240,000 fatalities from COVID-19 during an interview on CNN Wednesday. Continue reading “Pence Struggles To Respond To WH’s Projection Of 100,000 COVID-19 Fatalities”
At The Mercy Of The Unpredictable Coronavirus, States Gird For June Primaries
June 2 has become a late-breaking major voting day for the 2020 primary calendar, after six states pushed back their elections amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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More On the IHME Study
I wanted to add a bit more about that IHME study – some more perspective on what it is and isn’t telling us. Before I do, a quick point. Last night an exasperated TPM Reader FT wrote in saying in so many words all the debate about models is morbid. What are we accomplishing by debating technicalities about why a horrid number of Americans are going to die versus twice a horrid number? And if we’re saying it’s so bad in advance what incentive does anyone have to social distance?
First, this is all overwhelming stuff. I’m sitting here this morning with the news that the number of people who die in this calamity is likely to be counted in the hundreds of thousands. I’m simultaneously numbed and overwhelmed by it. We all have to pace ourselves. And we all have to be gentle with ourselves and others around us. One of those things is taking some breaks from the news when we need to.
Wimbledon Tennis Tournament Canceled For First Time Since WWII
Wimbledon was canceled on Wednesday because of the coronavirus pandemic, the first time since World War II that the oldest Grand Slam tennis tournament won’t be played.
The All England Club announced after an emergency meeting that the event it refers to simply as The Championships is being scrapped for 2020.
Wimbledon was scheduled to be played on the club’s grass courts on the outskirts of London from June 29 to July 12.
Instead, the next edition of the tournament will be June 28 to July 11, 2021.
Also Wednesday, the ATP and WTA announced that the men’s and women’s professional tennis tours would be suspended until at least July 13. They already had been on hold through June 7.
Wimbledon first was held in 1877 and has been contested every year since, with the exception of two stretches: from 1915-18 because of World War I, and from 1940-45 because of World War II.
“It has weighed heavily on our minds that the staging of The Championships has only been interrupted previously by World Wars,” club chairman Ian Hewitt said in a press release, “but, following thorough and extensive consideration of all scenarios, we believe that it is a measure of this global crisis that it is ultimately the right decision to cancel this year’s Championships, and instead concentrate on how we can use the breadth of Wimbledon’s resources to help those in our local communities and beyond.”
Wimbledon joins the growing list of sports events called off completely in 2020 because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
That includes the Tokyo Olympics — which have been pushed back 12 months — and the NCAA men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments.
Wimbledon is the first major tennis championship completely wiped out this year because of the coronavirus. The start of the French Open was postponed from late May to late September.
As of now, the U.S. Open is still scheduled to be played in New York from Aug. 31 to Sept. 13.
Wednesday’s decision means Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep will not get a chance to defend their Wimbledon titles from 2019.
The cancellation also takes away what might have been one of Roger Federer’s best chances to try to add to his 20 Grand Slam titles, including a record eight at Wimbledon, where he lost a fifth-set tiebreaker to Djokovic in the last final after holding a pair of championship points. Federer, who turns 39 in August, is currently recovering from knee surgery and planned to return in time for the grass-court circuit.
In a statement last week, the All England Club said that postponing the two-week event would not come “without significant risk and difficulty” because of the grass surface. The club also said then that it already had ruled out “playing behind closed doors” without spectators.
The tennis schedule already had been affected by the illness that has spread around the world, with about 20 tournaments postponed or canceled.
The French tennis federation announced March 17 that its Grand Slam tournament was being moved.
Hundreds of thousands of people have caught COVID-19, and thousands have died. For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, which can include fever and cough, but also milder cases of pneumonia, sometimes requiring hospitalization. The risk of death is greater for older adults and people with other health problems.
According to the World Health Organization, people with mild illness recover in about two weeks, while those with more severe illness may take three to six weeks to recover.
Regular day-to-day life has come to a halt in many ways in many parts of the world in recent weeks, and sports has reflected that.
The NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball are on hold indefinitely; the Kentucky Derby, Masters and Indianapolis 500 were pushed back several months until September; the European soccer championship — scheduled to end in London on the same day as the Wimbledon men’s final — was postponed from 2020 to 2021.
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Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at https://twitter.com/HowardFendrich
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More AP Tennis coverage: https://www.apnews.com/apf-Tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Where Things Stand: Trump Didn’t Take McConnell’s Political Out
The Senate majority leader tried to give him an out.
It’s hardly surprising that Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) would contort himself into a pretzel to offer President Trump some sort of excuse — especially one dripping in Trump’s favorite flavor of partisanship — for the administration’s botched handling of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. But the befuddling bit is Trump didn’t bite.
Continue reading “Where Things Stand: Trump Didn’t Take McConnell’s Political Out”
Surgeon General Argues WH Guidelines Are ‘National Stay At Home Order’
Surgeon General Jerome Adams wouldn’t give a direct answer when asked whether all states should issue a stay-at-home order, during an interview on the “TODAY Show” Wednesday morning. Continue reading “Surgeon General Argues WH Guidelines Are ‘National Stay At Home Order’”
Inside Louisiana’s Desperate Search For Ventilators
On the same day that Louisiana’s governor was announcing the state had seen its highest spike in COVID-19 deaths yet, the state’s former secretary of health was on the phone with her U.S. senator trying to obtain more ventilators.
Continue reading “Inside Louisiana’s Desperate Search For Ventilators”
Trump Allies Warn Against Feud With Michigan Governor
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — President Donald Trump’s allies are trying to contain a politically risky election year fight with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as he struggles to balance presidential politics with a global pandemic in one of the nation’s most important swing states.
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Biden Says It’s ‘Hard To Envision’ Democratic Convention Not Being Postponed
2020 Democratic candidate Joe Biden indicated late Tuesday that he isn’t feeling optimistic about the 2020 Democratic National Convention keeping its mid-July timetable amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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