WASHINGTON - Between 70 to 150 million people in the United States could eventually be infected with the novel coronavirus, according to a projection shared with Congress, a lawmaker said Thursday.
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib made the remarks during a hearing of the House of Representatives with members of the president's coronavirus task force, confirming earlier reports by US media outlets including Axios and NBC News.
"Congress's attending physician told the Senate that he expects between 70 to 150 million people to eventually contract the coronavirus in the United States," Tlaib said.
Axios had reported that doctor Brian Monahan conveyed the projection to Senate senior staff on Tuesday, telling them they should prepare for the worst and offering advice on how to remain healthy.
The upper end of the projection is about 46 percent of the US population of 327 million people. By comparison German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned this week that up to 70 percent of her country's population could get the virus.
Asked by Tlaib whether he believed the projection was accurate, Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), told the hearing: "We really need to be careful with those kinds of predictions because that's based on a model."
He added that "all models are as good as the assumptions that you put into the model" and that with containment and mitigation the upper end of the projection could be avoided.
About 80 percent of coronavirus cases are mild, and the overall mortality rate is around one percent, according to the latest estimate provided by Fauci to Congress on Wednesday.
At the low end of the projection this would mean about 700,000 deaths. At the high end it would mean 1.5 million deaths.
Heart disease was the leading cause of death for Americans in 2018, with just over 650,000 deaths in 2018. The flu and pneumonia caused around 60,000 deaths.
As of Thursday, there had been more than 1,300 cases and 38 deaths, according to a tracker maintained by Johns Hopkins University.
Risk from coronavirus starts to increase for people who are over 60 and is heightened more for those over 80, as well as for people with conditions like diabetes, heart disease or lung disease, or whose immune systems are compromised.
Fauci noted that a 2014 model by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) projected the African Ebola outbreak could affect more than a million people. But this was eventually not the case and the final number was under 30,000.
- 'Failing' on access to tests -
Fauci also responded to a query about people having difficulty getting access to tests, for which US authorities have come under severe criticism.
"The system is not really geared to what we need right now, what you are asking for. That is a failing," said Fauci. "Let's admit it."
"The idea of anybody getting it easily, the way people in other countries are doing it, we're not set up for that. Do I think we should be? Yes, but we're not."
Vice President Mike Pence, the White House's pointman for the crisis, claimed earlier this week that "a million tests are in the field" and four million would be going out soon.
But the CDC's director Robert Redfield said that the kits were not operational because there was a shortage of substances that activated them, called re-agents, and they also required more nasal swabs and trained staff.
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Agence France-Presse
* Women had planned visit to Jerusalem, West Bank
* Both back pro-Palestinian movement to boycott Israel
* Israeli law allows banning entry of boycott supporters
* Trump had urged Israel to bar visit
JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday barred U.S. Democratic congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from making a planned trip to Israel, shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump called on his ally not to let them in.
Tlaib and Omar, the first two Muslim women elected to Congress, are members of their party's progressive wing and sharp critics both of Trump and of Israel's policy toward the Palestinians.
The moves, which were immediately condemned by many Democratic leaders in the United States as well as Palestinians, could help whip up support among Trump and Netanyahu's conservative voter bases as they head into election campaigns.
Israel holds a national election on Sept. 17 and Trump faces re-election in November 2020.
Tlaib and Omar have voiced support for the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement over Israel's policies toward Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Under Israeli law, BDS backers can be denied entry to Israel.
Omar called Thursday's decision an "affront" and "an insult to democratic values."
Israel had initially chosen to allow the visit. A source who took part in consultations Netanyahu held with cabinet members and advisers on Wednesday told Reuters that Israel backtracked due to pressure from Trump. The pressure was reported by the Axios news site on Saturday but denied by the White House.
"In a discussion held two weeks ago all the officials were in favor of letting them in but, after Trump's pressure, they reversed the decision," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
In a tweet on Thursday, Trump wrote: "It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib to visit ... They are a disgrace!"
Asked if he had spoken to Netanyahu about the planned visit, Trump told reporters: "I don't want to comment about who I spoke to, but I think my social media statement pretty well speaks for itself."
"But I did speak to people over there," he added.
Trump's request appeared to contravene a U.S. government policy that says the United States seeks "equal treatment and freedom to travel" for all U.S. citizens regardless of ethnicity. It says those denied entry should be given a written explanation by Israel.
Trump has in recent months accused Tlaib, Omar and two other first-term Democratic congresswomen of color - dubbed "the Squad" - of hostility to Israel in a barrage condemned by critics as racist and widely seen as a way to drum up votes for 2020.
Omar is a favorite target. At a recent rally in North Carolina, supporters chanted "send her back" after Trump falsely accused her of supporting al Qaeda.
The 37-year-old lawmaker who represents a Minnesota congressional district immigrated to the United States from Somalia as a child. U.S.-born Tlaib, 43, has roots in the West Bank.
Omar has been criticized for statements critical of Israel, including a 2012 tweet referring to the country’s "evil doings" and a tweet this year saying that support for Israel is all about money. Omar has apologized for such statements.
Israel's ambassador in the United States, Ron Dermer, had said last month that Tlaib and Omar would be let in, out of respect for the U.S. Congress and the U.S.-Israeli relationship.
Jeremy Ben-Ami, president of the liberal Jewish advocacy group J Street, said Trump's strategy was about appealing to his conservative base, which includes evangelicals hawkish on Israel.
"This not a strategy that is primarily aimed at the Jewish community," Ben-Ami said. "It’s become another culture war issue."
'DENY ISRAEL'S LEGITIMACY'
No date had been formally announced for the congresswomen's trip, but sources familiar with the planning said it could begin over the weekend. They had planned to tour East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, which Palestinians want for a state.
Netanyahu said that Israel had the utmost respect for Congress but that Tlaib and Omar were promoting legislation calling for boycotts against Israel.
"Only a few days ago, we received their itinerary for their visit in Israel, which revealed that they planned a visit whose sole objective is to strengthen the boycott against us and deny Israel’s legitimacy," Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu could easily feel he owes Trump a favor after some of the U.S. president's decisions, such as recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, withdrawing from the Iran nuclear accord and moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
However, denying entry to elected U.S. officials was likely to further strain relations between Netanyahu, who has highlighted his close ties with Trump in his current re-election campaign, and the Democratic leadership in Congress.
"Israel doesn't advance its case as a tolerant democracy or unwavering U.S. ally by barring elected members of Congress from visiting because of their political views. This would be a shameful, unprecedented move," Democratic presidential hopeful and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren said on Twitter.
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate's top Democrat, said in a statement: "Denying entry to members of the United States Congress is a sign of weakness, not strength. It will only hurt the U.S.-Israeli relationship and support for Israel in America."
Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official with the Palestine Liberation Organization and founder of Miftah, a West Bank-based nongovernmental organization that is co-sponsoring the trip, called the decision to block it "an affront to the American people and their representatives."
"This ban is a clear case of discrimination and hostility based on political views and ethnic background, deserving of moral indignation and unequivocal condemnation in Palestine and the United States," Ashrawi said in a statement.
The Palestinians have broken off diplomatic ties with the Trump administration over what they see as its heavily pro-Israel bias.
Tlaib's grandmother and extended family live in the Palestinian village of Beit Ur Al-Fauqa.
"We were surprised today that they banned Rashida. It is unfair and racist that they banned her from visiting her country Palestine and her family in Palestine," said her uncle, Bassam Tlaib.
Netanyahu said that if Tlaib submitted a request to visit family on humanitarian grounds, Israel would consider it as long as she promised not to promote a boycott against Israel.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump renewed his attacks Sunday on four Democratic congresswomen he launched xenophobic tweets against last week, demanding they apologize "for the horrible (hateful) things they have said."
"I don't believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our Country," Trump tweeted of ethnic-minority first-term Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley.
"They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said. They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!" the president tweeted.
The comments come a week after Trump sparked a firestorm of outrage when he attacked the left-leaning lawmakers in a series of tweets, saying they should "go back" to their countries of origin.
The group -- all American citizens, three of whom were born in the United States -- are of Hispanic, Arab, Somali and African-American descent.
In a rare move, Trump was rebuked by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives on Tuesday for "racist comments" against the women, who are known as the "Squad."
The following day chants of "Send her back!" broke out at the president's "Make America Great Again" rally in Greenville, North Carolina, when he again attacked the women.
Trump claimed falsely that Omar had said the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda made her "proud" and he described the congresswomen as "left-wing ideologues (who) see our nation as a force of evil."
SPEECH PAUSED FOR CHANTS
Trump later said there was "great energy" at the rally but claimed he was not pleased by the taunts.
"I was not happy when I heard that chant," he said. "I didn't like that they did it, and I started speaking quickly" to move on with his speech.
Television footage showed, however, that Trump let the chants continue for more than 13 seconds, only resuming speaking as they died down.
Analysts say the president's performance in Greenville demonstrated that without a Democratic presidential candidate to focus on yet, he plans to make inflammatory attacks on the Squad a centerpiece of his 2020 reelection strategy.
Two days after the rally he falsely accused the congresswomen of using the phrase "evil Jews," and Ocasio-Cortez in particular of calling Americans "garbage."
Several of the Democratic presidential hopefuls who plan to run against him and a few Republicans have urged Trump to tone down the rhetoric.
Ron Johnson, a Republican senator from Wisconsin and the chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said Sunday he didn't agree that the congresswomen were incapable of loving their country.
"I find it unfortunate so many parts of our public debate are getting stuck inside a racial framework when what I would like to see is us moving toward that color-blind society," he told CNN's "State of the Union."
'DIVIDE OUR COUNTRY'
But the president has made it clear -- despite the risk of inflaming racial tensions and widening the partisan divide -- that he believes he has latched onto a winning strategy.
Trump tapped into grievances among white blue-collar and rural Americans to eke out a narrow victory in 2016, winning 57 percent of white voters while his rival Hillary Clinton won 37 percent.
Democratic congressman Elijah Cummings, the African-American chairman of the House Oversight Committee, told ABC's "This Week" that the "send her back" chants reminded him of painful experiences fighting segregation in the 1960s.
"It's extremely divisive and I don't think this is becoming of the president of the United States of America, the leader of the entire world. We can do better than that."
He added that the congresswomen targeted by Trump "love their country" and work hard to move closer to the "perfect union that our founding fathers talked about."
He said he had "no doubt" Trump was a racist, a charge rejected by White House senior policy advisor Stephen Miller.
"I fundamentally disagree with the view that if you criticize somebody, and they happen to be a different color skin, that that makes it racial criticism," Miller told "Fox News Sunday."
Senator Corey Booker, a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, meanwhile told CBS's "Face the Nation" that he was accusing Trump of being "worse than" a racist.
"He is somebody that is using race like a weapon to divide our country against itself," Booker said.
ft/bbk/wd/mdl
source: news.abs-cbn.com
A Democratic congresswoman kicked off her term with an expletive-laced vow to impeach President Donald Trump, triggering Republican outrage and testing party discipline barely a day after Democrats regained the House.
As a clip of Michigan Democrat Rashida Tlaib's animated comments circulated widely on social media, Trump tartly dismissed the threat of impeachment on Twitter on Friday.
At an event following her swearing-in Thursday, Tlaib told a cheering crowd of supporters: "People love you. And you win."
"And when your son looks at you and says, 'Momma, look you won, bullies don't win.' And I said, 'Baby, they don't,' because we're gonna go in there and we're gonna impeach the motherf-----."
Tlaib is one of the first two Muslim women voted into Congress and made Trump's impeachment central to her campaign.
A long-time critic of the Republican leader, she was once arrested for heckling the then-candidate during his White House run.
The morning of her entry into Congress, Tlaib labeled Trump "a direct and serious threat to our country," in a co-authored op-ed published in the Detroit Free Press newspaper.
"We already have overwhelming evidence that the president has committed impeachable offenses," she said. "Each passing day brings new damage to the countless people hurt by this lawless president's actions. We cannot undo the trauma that he is causing to our people."
"The time for impeachment proceedings is now."
Democrats' new majority in the House of Representatives has marked a dramatic power shift on Capitol Hill less than two years before the Republican president's re-election bid, as Democrats intend to put a check on Trump's turbulent White House.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
