Written 6 May, 2020
Nothing from Shelley in New York except this despair:
As Threat of Virus Persists, Trump Administration Signals It Will Wind Down Task Force
Mr. Trump has stopped linking his news briefings on the virus to the task force’s meetings and no longer routinely arrays task force members around him in his public appearances.It is not clear whether any other group might replace the task force. But its gradual demise, which officials said might never be formally announced, would only intensify questions about whether the administration is adequately organized to address the complex, life-and-death decisions related to the virus and give adequate voice to scientists and public health experts in making policy.
Three people were charged in the killing of a dollar store security guard in Michigan who told a customer her child had to wear a face mask to enter.
Meat is scarcer at groceries and restaurants.
Bright, a federal scientist who says he was ousted from his job amid a dispute over an unproven malaria drug promoted by President Trump said on Tuesday that he was pressured to steer contracts to the clients of a well-connected consultant.
Sophie in Lennox Head sent a picture in case I’m in need of absurdity.
And my dear friend R, knowing how cold winter is here, has asked her old mother if we can huddle with her over June and July in her large, empty house in Coogee, near the sea and – I’m an environmentalist so i can’t believe i’m saying this- thank god it’s on the grid. Marg, 90 this year and as quaint and pretty as her daughter, rang me- she was brought up in Peak’s Hill and knows what it like with tank water- she remembers having to borrow a bucket of water from her neighbours. Now she sits on her porch and makes friends with every passer-by.
Come and stay tomorrow, she says.
What the world always like this?