• Doctors everywhere agree: Please do not inject or ingest disinfectant
  • Congress approves $484 billion bill focused on small business and hospitals
  • Governor Baker asks to borrow $1.2 billion to cover unemployment benefits
  • Mass House passes data collection bill to investigate possible racial treatment disparities
  • Amtrak ridership down 95 percent; looks forward to post surge plans
  • Mysterious skin condition tied to suspected younger COVID-19 patients stuns physicians
  • Today’s bright spot: Quincy Emergency Room nurse who survived COVID vows to return to work

 

  1. President Trump seemingly endorsed injecting or swallowing bleach or other disinfectants to “clean” one’s body of the coronavirus. Not only are Trump’s statements baffling, they’re dangerous. Across the country, doctors stepped forward calling his comments irresponsible and extremely hazardous.

 

  1. Speaker Nancy Pelosi led the U.S. House of Representatives in overwhelmingly passing a new economic relief pack totaling $484 billion in spending. The bill approved, 388-5, would replenish the SBA Payroll Protection Program which ran out of funds amid unprecedented demand and directs funds to health care centers across the country. This comes just hours after the Labor Department announced more than 26 million Americans have filed for unemployment due to COIVD-19.

 

  1. Governor Baker has asked the federal government for a $1.2 billion loan to help the Commonwealth meet its unprecedented unemployment needs. The state’s unemployment insurance trust fund balance has dropped by more than half to $750 million since March. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is also seeking a federal loan to meet its urgent unemployment benefit needs. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell thinks states should seek bankruptcy protection rather than a federal loan, comments which drew criticism from both Democrats and Republicans.

 

  1. In response to concerns about gaps in Massachusetts’ COVID-19 data and racial disparities, the House of Representatives passed H4672 calling for daily data collection requirements from the Department of Public Health. The bill also creates a diversity task force charged with developing policy recommendations for the state’s COVID-19 response. The bill has been sent to the state Senate for consideration.

 

  1. Amtrak announced a $700 million loss amid the COVID-19 pandemic driven by an extreme plunge in ridership. With a 95 percent reduction in ridership, the company is focusing on the future and what recovery will look like. The MBTA has also been hard hit by the virus with its ridership plummeting 90 percent.

 

  1. A mysterious skin condition likely tied to the virus consisting of discoloration of toes and sometimes fingers is being called “COVID toes” by physicians across the country. Predominately presenting in patients in their teens and 20s, “COVID toes” occurs early on in the disease and those displaying this symptom should get tested.

 

  1. HOME OF THE BRAVE: Debora A. Buonopane, a Brigham and Woman’s Emergency Room nurse for 31 years who battled COVID-19, said she will be back in the ER just as soon as she tests negative for COVID-19 twice in a row. A navy veteran and breast cancer survivor, Bounopane left the hospital surrounded by her colleagues before getting a hero’s welcome ride home by the Quincy Police Department.