Influencers in the time of coronavirus: Fewer yoga retreats, more yoga pants
This time last year, Devon Windsor was preparing for the launch of her eponymous swimwear collection. Stylized photos on her Instagram feed featured her decked out in luxe designer gowns and pantsuits on the streets of New York City.
Things look different this May.
The thousand-dollar dresses have been swapped out for clothes that fit the homebound reality created by the COVID-19 pandemic: loungewear, workout clothes and swimsuits. The content of her posts has gone from still photos to more videos given the amount of time she now has at home. Her husband of six months makes regular cameos in cooking tutorials and yoga pose challenges.
Robots run coffee shop for socially-distancing South Koreans
Robotic baristas and waiters serve drinks to human customers in Daejeon, as South Korea gets used to a new type of normal.
‘An ego trip’: Pelosi blasts Trump’s insistence that Republican convention occur
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday slammed President Donald Trump’s insistence that the Republican National Convention occur as planned despite the pandemic, and suggested neither party had any business holding its massive quadrennial gathering given the risks to public health.
“I don’t think there’s anyone who would say at this point that tens of thousands of people should come together for a political convention, no matter how great an ego trip it is for somebody,” Pelosi, D-Calif., said during a press conference with other Democratic House leaders in response to a question about whether the two major political conventions should be held this summer.
Her comments came just days after Trump threatened to move the Republican convention from Charlotte, North Carolina, if there is a chance the venue might not be filled there later this summer due to coronavirus-related restrictions.
The GOP convention is currently scheduled for Aug. 24-27 in a state which recently reported its highest number of new cases in a single day. North Carolina entered the second phase of its reopening last week, but gatherings of groups over 10 people indoors, and 25 people outdoors, are still prohibited.
Louisiana parents sue to get children out of juvenile detention as coronavirus spreads
A group of senators is pressing the Department of Justice to explain what it’s doing to protect youth in juvenile detention facilities from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
In a letter sent Tuesday, the senators raised concerns that parents of incarcerated youth in several states are not receiving information about their child’s health, or being told about the spread of the coronavirus in these facilities.
The senators requested that the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, part of the Justice Department, publicly disclose the measures it has taken to ensure the health and safety of youth in detention during the coronavirus pandemic.
History in the making as House is poised for proxy voting
It’s a day that’s shaping up as one for the history books: For the first time, House lawmakers intend to vote by proxy, a move to avoid the risk of travel to Washington during the pandemic.
To mark Wednesday’s history-making moment, House Republicans sued to stop the majority party from going ahead.
The House, with 432 current members and three vacancies, is trying to strike a balance between working from home during the coronavirus outbreak and honoring the Constitution’s requirement to be “present” and voting.
The House rules change is fast becoming a political test on party lines. Dozens of Democrats signed up to have colleagues cast their vote by proxy. Twenty Republicans joined in the leaders’ lawsuit against that move, which House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy of California says is unconstitutional.
How do you get Americans to wear masks on vacation? Gentle persuasion.
Where’s your face mask?
That is the question that everybody from security workers guarding major venues like Walt Disney World to the proprietors of shops in tourist towns are already asking visitors as they descend on vacation venues that had been shuttered by the coronavirus.
And it’s a question that some quarantine-weary vacationers are already rebelling against.
“It’s been a big shock to the system ‘cause we have found that a sizeable number of folks coming and visiting aren’t taking the mask wearing as seriously as folks here locally are,” Ben Sproul, mayor of the scenic Kill Devil Hills on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, told MSNBC recently. “We’re in the vacation business here, so we hope that we can communicate that we really want everybody to come and have fun but also be as safe as possible.”
These simple financial tweaks can help you survive — and even thrive — during the pandemic
We are all getting back to the basics.
While it might feel good to bake bread, the best way to get through the coronavirus pandemic could be to stock your emergency fund and learn to “do-it-yourself” with household chores so you can save on expenses.
One bright spot: You might have more time on your hands.
Think optimistically. You can learn to DIY, sock away cash and set a disaster budget for tough times.
If you’ve been putting off thinking about money, now’s the time to dedicate those extra hours in the week — no more commuting, no more rushed work mornings — to shoring up your finances.
Iconic Berlin theater looks very different with seats removed for social distancing
When the famous Berliner Ensemble theater company in Berlin reopens in September, the auditorium will look much different than before the coronavirus pandemic. In order to follow social distancing rules, the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, the historic building where the theater company performs, will have only 200 of its usual 700 seats.
Berliner Ensemble artistic director Oliver Reese called the temporary seating arrangement a “creative solution” to allow theatergoers to access their seats while also keeping a safe distance from others. “It is not only our primary mission and obligation as a public theatre but also our heartfelt wish to get back on stage,” wrote Reese in an email. “We are all longing for normality. But I am absolutely sure that our ensemble will perform with at least the same energy for 200 than for 700 people.”
The theater has suffered a massive financial hardship as a result of canceling tours and shows, and this new seating plan allows them to resume performances as well as renovate the theater’s seats. The theater was built in 1892 and has housed Bertolt Brecht’s famous theater company since 1954.
“I am positive that this will allow actors and audience to connect in a different way with the perspective of creating a new intimacy between the auditorium and the stage,” wrote Reese.
Asymptomatic COVID-19 cases may be more common than suspected
New estimates of the number of asymptomatic people with the coronavirus suggest that “silent” COVID-19 is much more prevalent than once thought — but these individuals may not spread the virus for as long as symptomatic patients do, a study from China suggests.
The report, based on 78 people in Wuhan, China, was published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Network Open. All of the patients were confirmed to have COVID-19; a little more than half of the patients (58 percent) had symptoms, while 42 percent did not.
