Consider This from NPR - How To Stay Safe As States Reopen; The Latest on Masks

Episode Date: May 11, 2020

Democrats want another stimulus plan, but Treasury secretary Steve Mnuchin says the Trump administration wants to wait before providing any further aid. As more states ease stay-at-home orders, NPR's Allison Aubrey reports on ways to stay safe while seeing friends, going to church and returning to work. The CDC still recommends people wear masks. The coronavirus pandemic has had a disproportionately large effect on black Americans. Lawmakers and local officials are looking for ways to make sure the communities hit hardest are getting the right information about the virus.In Life Kit's latest episode, Sesame Street's Grover answers kids' questions about the coronavirus on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and NPR One. Find and support your local public radio stationSign up for 'The New Normal' newsletterThis episode was recorded and published as part of this podcast's former 'Coronavirus Daily' format.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Democrats want a new round of coronavirus relief, including more cash payments. The White House wants more time. Let's step back for a few weeks. Let's be very considerate, says Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. And what we do in the next round before we go consider spending another trillion dollars or more of taxpayer money. But the president is determined we'll do whatever we need to do. Coming up as some parts of the country move to open, some advice on how you can stay safe and the struggle to communicate the dangers of the virus to people most at risk. This is Coronavirus Daily from NPR. I'm Kelly McEvers. It's Monday, May 11th. Reopening so far is not going according to plan. The Trump administration has really not been following, and governors around the country have generally not been following their own

plan. And that's been a little bit concerning. Andy Slavitt was a top health care official in the Obama administration. He's also been advising the Trump administration on reopening. He says the emphasis on reopening is understandable for some governors in some parts of the country. But boy, it sure would be nice if when they were doing that, they could instantly test because the difference between learning after two days that you got it wrong and 10 days that you got it wrong. It's fairly dramatic. The hope by now was that cases would be lower. More testing and contact tracing would be in place to manage fewer and fewer cases. Here's Scott Gottlieb, who served as President Trump's FDA chief for two years. And so the reality is we're opening against a backdrop of much more spread than what we anticipated. He says in places that are opening now, testing and contact tracing of new cases is even more important. If we don't lean heavily on those interventions against a backdrop of a lot of spread right now,

and we reopen the economy in that environment, we're likely to see renewed outbreaks. Here's something that kind of says it all about the reopening story right now. Tuesday morning, there is a big hearing scheduled in the Senate. outbreaks. Here's something that kind of says it all about the reopening story right now. Tuesday morning, there is a big hearing scheduled in the Senate. Public health officials will testify on how we can safely return to work and school. But it's not safe for those people to be there in person. CDC Director Robert Redfield is in isolation after contact with a White House staffer who later tested positive. Anthony Fauci will also testify on video. So will FDA Chief Stephen Hahn. All three are members of the White House Task Force.

And while most of the Senate is back in D.C., the chair of the committee, Senator Lamar Alexander from Tennessee, reports he was exposed to someone with COVID-19 and will be remote too. We know from cell phone data that people in this country are going out more than they did before. Some southern states have ended their shelter-in-place rules. And in Michigan, which locked down tight, auto plants are starting up again, with the governor's approval. So if you are going out more often, Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep talked to NPR's Alison Aubrey about how to do that safely. Data suggests that prolonged indoor contact is the riskiest. Being outside is lower risk. So over the last week or so, we've seen several states

giving the green light to outdoor activities, exercising on the beach or in parks. We're also hearing more about small gatherings in people's yards. So a neighbor sets up chairs six feet apart, invites a few friends. Aaron Carroll, he's a physician and a health policy expert at Indiana University. He says this makes some sense. We're never going to get to risk zero. The goal is to minimize it as much as possible. And I think that, yes, if you're sitting in your backyard and you're wearing a mask and you're socially distanced from other people, then truly the likelihood of passing the infection from one person to another is incredibly, incredibly small.

So reassuring that if you're outside and you stay away from people, that can be a way that you can get face to face. But what are the risky areas or risky practices to avoid? Many cases are transmitted at home. So the more people who gather in a home, the more risk. I spoke to Jennifer Layden. She's the chief medical officer at the Chicago Department of Public Health. She points to one cluster of cases a few months back, just before social distancing began. It was linked to a family gathering for a funeral. It illustrated how when you have these large gatherings and there's close, prolonged contact, sitting right next to each other, sitting at a table, sharing food. Transmission can't happen.

You know, it's a reminder of why we all still need to be careful. Can people be careful and try to return to church? Well, there are some churches open. I spoke to William Foy. He's the pastor at the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Valparaiso, Indiana. He's now using SignUpGenius, so the first 10 people who sign up can come to the service. And he's holding many more services on Sundays to try to accommodate everybody. Every other pew, I put a rope across on both ends so nobody can sit in it. So there is six feet between you and the people in front of you and six feet between you and the people behind you. Now, some other pastors I spoke to say when they reopen, they'll have recorded music rather than a live choir and ask everyone to wear a mask. Oh, I'm glad you brought up masks because they've

been so divisive. Some people insist on them. Some people insist on not wearing them. There's protests. And there was even this episode in Michigan last week where authorities think a security guard was shot after telling a woman to wear a mask. Yes, but you know, there's very good reason we're being asked to wear masks. I spoke to Robert Winn. He's a physician at Virginia Commonwealth University. Now, he says it's impossible to say just how many infections that masks may prevent. Mostly the masks do help prevent the person wearing it

from spreading the virus. But as you say, some folks may see this as a symbol of the loss of personal liberty. For others, this sends a very different signal. When I see someone wearing a mask, it says two things to me. They care about the people around them and they care and respect themselves.

I know it's worth pointing out the CDC is recommending that we wear them and we'll continue to see this as more people go back to work and perhaps on public transport. NPR's Alison Aubrey with Morning Edition host, Steve Inskeep. This pandemic is hitting Black Americans much harder than white Americans. Black people in this country are more likely to get infected, be hospitalized, and die. Add to that generations of distrust between African Americans and medical experts, and the communications challenge in Black communities is urgent. NPR political reporter Juana Summers looked at how officials in one state are reaching out.

Every week, listeners can find Kansas City Mayor Quentin Lucas filing into KPRS, one of Kansas City's hip-hop and R&B stations. He's there to give an update on COVID-19. Got Mayor Quentin Lucas on the line. Lucas, who was elected last year, has been pushing his staff to prioritize appearances like this as part of his response to the pandemic, out of concern that some traditional modes of messaging may not be reaching Black people.

I'm like, get me in some forum where somebody who isn't actually usually seeking out perhaps news and information will catch what's going on. In Kansas City and across the country, public health experts and leaders are warning that there isn't enough communication about the coronavirus, even as data shows Black Americans facing alarming rates of infection. The reasons for the disparities are not hard to explain. Dr. Jeanette Berkley-Patton is a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and the director of its Health Equity Institute. For the African-American community, there are high rates of diabetes and heart disease

and many other health conditions and risks that really put the Black community at a disadvantage. And Black Americans are disproportionately a part of the workforce that cannot work from home. They're also fighting against a historic distrust in the health care system that spans decades. Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver is a former mayor of Kansas City. It's just an unsavory salad of misbeliefs and living circumstances that created this awful situation. That mistrust dates back to the infamous Tuskegee study, in which Black men with syphilis were unaware that they were intentionally not being treated over 40 years. It's also the result of racial health inequities that have persisted for

generations without being resolved by the government or U.S. health systems. Berkley-Patton says that when communicating during a public health crisis, a message must be tailored to individual communities. She also says that the messenger matters. We need to see these community leaders getting tested. We need to see faith leaders getting tested virtually, you know, in front of their congregations so that people can actually see this is what the testing process is going to look like. Many public health experts and community leaders say that the early misconceptions about the coronavirus remind them of the early years of the HIV epidemic. Pastor Eric Williams of Calvary Temple Baptist Church in Kansas City.

Back in the 80s, late 80s, early 90s, what our community heard was that HIV was a white gay male disease and that didn't fit into who we thought we were. And we held on to that misinformation to our detriment. Experts also point to data that shows African Americans were less likely to have gotten a seasonal flu shot than their white counterparts. The fear is that the same thing could happen when there is a vaccine for this virus. NPR's Juana Summers. Okay, so one more thing for the kids. Hello, all you children and mommies and daddies. I hope you are all safe and well right now.

Sesame Street recently teamed up with NPR's Life Kit for a conversation with Grover about how kids can stay busy and help out around the house and what he suggests doing during a break from the screen. I think it is very healthy for everybody to just take a moment and let their mind wander. I'd love to know, where does your mind go when you daydream, Grover? What's your happy place? Oh, I like to imagine that I am high on a mountain. I can see the whole world and all of my friends down below. And I wave to them all.

There's a link to Grover's full conversation with Corey Turner turner and anya kamenetz from the npr ed team it's in our episode notes there you can also find a link for more from andy slavitt and scott gottlieb both advising the trump administration on reopening they talked to host steve inskeep on morning edition for more on the coronavirus you can stay up to date with all the news on your local public radio station we'll be back with more tomorrow i'm kelly mckevers