Overnight Health Care: Marlins outbreak casts harsh light on US coronavirus response | Senate GOP’s COVID-19 response sets up battle over Medicaid | Virginia imposes new restrictions in part of state
Welcome to Tuesday’s Overnight Health Care.
The coronavirus problems facing Major League Baseball are a microcosm for the issues facing the country. President Trump promoted a video about hydroxychloroquine and a fake coronavirus cure, and Democratic leaders aren’t impressed with the Senate COVID-19 relief bill.
We’ll start with baseball:
Marlins outbreak casts harsh light on US coronavirus response
If Major League Baseball, with all its resources, is having trouble operating, what does that say about the wisdom of opening everything else back up?
MLB’s 2020 season has been upended just days after it began. Nearly 20 members of the Miami Marlins have tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the suspension of the team’s season and casting a harsh spotlight on the U.S. struggle to contain the pandemic.
The league announced Tuesday that Miami will not play again until next Tuesday at the earliest, putting the team’s season on pause after it played just three games. The decision – and that of the Marlins’ most recent opponents to call off its own games until Friday – created ripple effects across the league as schedules were quickly remade. But medical experts and league officials have remained cautiously optimistic the games can go on for now.
“This could put [the season] in danger,” Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious diseases expert, said on “Good Morning America.” “I don’t believe they need to stop. But we just need to follow this and see what happens with other teams on a day-by-day basis.”
President Trump last week embraced the return of live sports in the United States, calling it “a tremendous thing, psychologically, for our country.” And while many baseball fans celebrated the belated start of the season last Thursday, the rash of cases and cancellation of games have underscored the realities of attempting to bring back sports in the middle of a pandemic that is killing hundreds of Americans each day.
Senate GOP’s COVID-19 response sets up battle over Medicaid
The Senate didn’t include a funding increase for Medicaid in its COVID-19 response bill, ignoring pleas from both Democratic and Republican governors and teeing up a contentious fight with the House over spending on the health care program for the poor.
Governors facing massive budget shortfalls caused by the economic downturn have warned they will have to cut Medicaid and other programs if they don’t get more help from Congress, but those warnings did not sway Senate Republicans who have resisted what they say would be “bailouts” of state and local governments.
“At the end of the day, it’s got to be in there,” said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD).
“We’re in this perfect storm of hurt… The only way to get out of it — states are not able to get out of it because states can’t print money and states have to balance their budgets — the only way out of this is aggressive, concerted, federal, congressional action.”
Why it matters: Medicaid — which is jointly paid for by states and the federal government — covers about 70 million people but enrollment is expected to increase as people lose their jobs and become newly eligible for the program. During recessions, governors and state legislatures typically cut expensive programs like Medicaid to fill budget holes. The National Governors Association, NAMD and other groups say more help is needed from Congress to avoid cuts.
Pelosi, Schumer say GOP Senate coronavirus bill is ‘selling out working families’
The jockeying for a final package is getting underway now that Senate Republicans have their proposal.
Democratic leaders are accusing the GOP of “selling out” working Americans with its new coronavirus relief proposal just hours before they are set to reconvene with Republicans for negotiations.
The Democrats particularly criticized a cut in expanded federal unemployment insurance (UI) from $600 a week to $200 a week, the lack of an extension for a moratorium on evictions and the liability protection provided to employers against coronavirus-related lawsuits, among other things.
The statement came just over an hour before Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) are scheduled to meet with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who are heading up negotiations for the administration.
Virginia imposes new COVID-19 restrictions in eastern part of state
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) will impose new restrictions on restaurants and bars, but only in an eastern section of the state that’s experiencing a major surge of new coronavirus cases, he announced Tuesday.
Northam said bars in the Hampton Roads area will be prohibited from serving alcohol after 10 p.m., and that restaurants will have to close by midnight and will be reduced to 50 percent capacity for indoor dining.
“This will effectively shut down bars,” he said during a press conference.
In addition, Northam said all private and public gatherings in that region of the state, including Virginia Beach, will be limited to 50 people, down from the current statewide limit of 250.
The rest of the state will remain in Phase 3, with no restrictions on bars or indoor dining.
Social media giants pull viral video shared by Trump with false coronavirus claims
A viral video featuring doctors making false and misleading claims about coronavirus that was shared by President Trump was removed by Facebook, Twitter and YouTube this week.
The video spread like wildfire on social media platforms Monday, racking up millions of views before being taken down.
It especially picked up traction after being shared by right-wing site Breitbart News and the political group Tea Party Patriots.
Facebook took the video down in the evening, although other copies have popped up on the platform.
The video, produced by a group that calls itself “America’s Frontline Doctors,” says “you don’t need masks” to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and says studies showing hydroxychloroquine is ineffective for the treatment of the disease are “fake science” and sponsored by “fake pharma companies.”
Because he shared the video directly, Don Jr.’s Twitter account was limited
Twitter temporarily limited Donald Trump Jr.‘s account after the president’s son shared a video that broke the platform’s coronavirus misinformation policies, a spokesperson confirmed to The Hill on Tuesday.
Trump Jr. will have some functionality — like being able to tweet or retweet — limited for 12 hours.
He is not suspended from the platform, although his spokesperson claimed otherwise in a statement.
President Trump also shared the video, but because he retweeted it instead of tweeting it his account will not be affected, according to a Twitter spokesperson.
American Resilience: The Future of Small Business–Thursday, July 30
Small businesses are fundamental to the idea of America. What steps should be taken to ensure that businesses that really need the help are receiving aid, particularly minority-owned businesses that are often overlooked? On Thursday, July 30, The Hill Virtually Live hosts a discussion on public and private efforts to support America’s entrepreneurs featuring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Rep. Steve Chabot. RSVP today–link (smallbusinessresilience.
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