Week In The News: Coronavirus, Super Tuesday, Tennessee Tornadoes
The Democratic race for president reconfigured. Stepped up urgency on coronavirus. Tornadoes in Tennessee. The news roundtable is here.
Guests
Emily Siner, news director for Nashville Public Radio. (@SinerSays)
Errin Haines, editor-at-large for The 19th. (@emarvelous)
Julie Pace, Washington bureau chief for the Associated Press. (@jpaceDC)
From The Reading List
NPR: “Coronavirus Deaths In Washington State And California, Where Gov. Declares Emergency” — “The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 has risen to 11 people, after officials reported fatalities in California and Washington state on Wednesday. The most recent death is connected to a cruise ship that traveled from the U.S. to Mexico.
“Officials in Placer County, Calif., announced that an elderly resident has become the first person to die from the illness in California. The patient, who was not identified, had underlying health conditions, according to the county.
“The patient tested positive for the coronavirus illness on Tuesday and “was likely exposed during international travel from Feb. 11-21 on a Princess cruise ship that departed from San Francisco to Mexico,” according to a statement published on Placer County’s website.”
USA Today: “Coronavirus death rate is 3.4%, World Health Organization says, Trump says ‘hunch’ tells him that’s wrong” — “The World Health Organization reported Wednesday that the death rate for the coronavirus increased to 3.4% and is more lethal than the flu, which kills tens of thousands of Americans each year.
But President Donald Trump, citing only a ‘hunch,’ called the number provided by world health leaders ‘false.’
“Asked about the WHO’s coronavirus fatality rate findings during an interview Wednesday, Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity: ‘Well, I think the 3.4% is really a false number.’
“He added, ‘now, this is just my hunch … based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this, because a lot of people will have this, and it’s very mild.’
Trump later put the number at less than 1%.”
The Washington Post: “Female activists set their sights on the No. 2 spot: They want a woman as vice president” — “Alicia Garza woke up angry Wednesday morning as she saw Elizabeth Warren, the candidate she has endorsed in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, with a narrowing path to the nomination and the White House.
“’I was mad because of how hard it’s been for Elizabeth Warren and how dismissive people are of that,’ said Garza, an activist and founder of the Black to the Future Action Fund, an organization focused on mobilizing black voters. ‘The reality is, women voters are an incredibly important constituency in this upcoming election. It’s going to be really interesting trying to figure out, for women, who to vote for in November.’
“Although she wants the senator from Massachusetts to stay in the race and stick to a strategy that could help her win at this summer’s Democratic National Convention, as reality sets in, Garza said she’s considering an alternative scenario: Warren as the vice-presidential running mate for the man who could become the nominee.”
This article was originally published on WBUR.org. [Copyright 2020 NPR]
