1 Trump Signs Executive Order Keeping Meat Plants Open
Meat processing plants will be keeping their lights on. This, as President Trump has signed an executive order forcing the facilities to stay open amid the coronavirus pandemic. Analysts say that without it, meat production capacity could fall by as much as 80% across the country. Tyson Foods went public with claims that the ‘supply chain’ is breaking as it relates to meat products. A number of plants have been closed recently with workers falling ill, and those same workers are saying that the issue has been that meat companies aren’t doing enough to protect them. Trump’s order will fall under the Defense Production Act. Trump argues "any unnecessary closures can quickly have a large affect on the food supply chain."
2 Coronavirus Diagnoses Tops 1M In United States
As the number of COVID-19 diagnoses tops one-million, the number of deaths from the coronavirus in the U.S. is now more than the total number of Americans killed in the Vietnam War – as we’ve cross the threshold of more than 58-thousand dead from the virus. Still, those raw numbers don’t tell the complete story. As in, one-million cases doesn’t mean one-million people dying or even in the hospital. According to the CDC, the hospitalization rate remains at 4.6 per 100-thousand. The highest rates being in persons 50-64 years (7.4 per 100,000) and 65 years and older (13.8 per 100,000). Even so, optics are optics...and while Americans are being encouraged or mandated to cover their faces in public, Vice President Mike Pence isn't walking the walk. In fact, he’s being lambasted for not wearing a face mask or covering while visiting the Mayo Clinic yesterday. Touring the Rochester, Minnesota facility – and interfacing with COVID-positive patients – his decision to not wear a mask or covering goes against guidelines issued by the Mayo Clinic.
3 Oxford Develops Potential Coronavirus Vaccine
An experimental coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University has protected six monkeys from “heavy quantities” of the pathogen — a promising breakthrough in the worldwide race for a cure. Researchers at the National Institute of Health Rocky Mountain Laboratory injected the six rhesus macaque monkeys with the Oxford concoction, then exposed them to “heavy quantities” of COVID-19 — exposure that had consistently sickened other monkeys in the lab. But 28 days later, all the chimps were still healthy. “The rhesus macaque is pretty much the closest thing we have to humans,” Dr. Vincent Munster, who conducted the Oxford tests, told the Times. The vaccine is now set to undergo human trials, with tests scheduled for more than 6,000 people by the end of next month. If the trial proves safe and effective, the scientists are optimistic that with emergency approval from regulators, the first few million doses could be available by September, the outlet said. The British university has had a head start in trying to develop a coronavirus vaccine — the university’s Jenner Institute ran trials on an earlier strain of the virus last year, which proved harmless to humans.