Remembering Ubani Chima’s Role In Making Of June 12 An Historic Day In Nigeria

Chima Ubani

BY NKEM EKEOPARA

June 12 is now officially Democracy Day in Nigeria. It’s a day Nigerians remember the annulment of an election in which Nigerians buried their differences to elect two Musilims as their president and vice president on June 12,1993. The winner of the election Chief MKO Abiola is a Yoruba from Ogun State; South-western Nigeria. Baba Gana Kingibe, who was his opponent in the primary, was his running mate. Kingibe is a Kanuri from Borno State, Northeast of Nigeria. They ran on the platform of Social Democratic Party (SDP). They contested against the National Republican Party whose presidential candidate was Bashir Tofa, an Hausa-Fulani from Kano, North-western part of Nigeria. Tofa’s running mate Sylvester Ugo is an Igbo from South-eastern Nigeria. Yet, Nigerians did not pander to the primordial factors that had held them down for too long.

Notwithstanding this progressive march, the election was annulled by the then self-styled military president, General Ibrahim B. Babangida under whom Professor Humphrey Nwosu used his creative option A4 to conduct what international observers adjudged the freest election ever in Nigeria.

Presently, Babangida is saying that the fear of being killed by certain persons and groups made him to annul the election. This makes one wonder the kind of soldier he was when we know that a soldier’s duty is to die at his post, especially in pursuit of noble causes. If Babaginda wasn’t afraid to die during the unjust war Nigeria waged against Biafra why should he be afraid to uphold the will of the people? One of the persons that Babangida named as those that threatened to shoot him and the President-elect Chief Abiola is David Mark. David Mark a retired Brigadier-General had since become a two-term Senate President of Nigeria’s Legislative Arm, thus benefitting from the torture and imprisonment that Ubani and others went through in the fight for a democratic Nigeria. Some pro-democracy activists even paid the supreme sacrifice.

If a hierarchy of those, who made June 12 historic, is to be objectively drawn, Ubani Chima will be among the first three. Ubani was born on March 22, 1963, in present day Abia State, South-eastern Nigeria to a Seventh Day Adventist pastor. He lived his life fighting for the downtrodden. Courageous, charismatic, highly intelligent and a matchless mobilizer, Chima started full activism at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) when he was elected the President of the Students Union of the University 1986-1987. As the Students Union President, he provided radical leadership that kept the University authorities on their toes in meeting students’ welfare. When in 1986 some students were killed at Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Ubani Chima led UNN students to protest the killings, and to demand the removal of the then Vice-Chancellor of ABU, Prof. Ango Abdullahi.

Also, he was in the forefront of the fight for the restoration of students’ unionism after the dictatorship of Ibrahim Babangida banned students’ unionism. This was done, using a clindestine body called the Association of Patriotic Students (APS). For his role in the restoration of students’ unionism, he was expelled from the university together with nine other activists, and a tribunal was set up by the Federal Military Government of Babaginda to try them.

However, on the day the tribunal was to sit in Enugu, owing largely to Ubani Chima’s popularity, the students mobilized and occupied the venue of the sitting thus, preventing the activists from being tried, and eventually they were recalled to complete their programs. It should be recalled that Aka Bashorun was onground to offer free representation to the accused..

Ubani Chima was a very brilliant and hardworking student. He narrowly missed graduating with a First Class. Nonetheless, his Second Class Upper in his discipline, Crop Science, was good enough to attract the interest of the high-paying and career-fulfilling Ibadan-based International Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA).He was offered the position of a researcher by IITA. Ubani Chima turned down the offer. Rather, he moved to Lagos, and joined the flagship human rights organization in Nigeria, the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) as a researcher. If all Ubani Chima craved for was good life, he would not have turned down the offer by IITA. And today, predictably, he would have become a scientist of global renown if he had joined IITA. But he chose to serve humanity through activism, and he did a good job of it!

His role in making June 12 historic cannot be overemphsised. In 1993, Ubani clobbered together many human rights groups into Campaign for Democracy (CD), and became its Secretary-General. The CD well-organised and sustained protests compelled Babangida to ‘step aside’ after he annulled the June 12 1993 Presidential election presumably won by Chief MKO Abiola as earlier observed.

Also, Ubani Chima joined Ogoni-born writer and environmental activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa and others to campaign against oil companies in the Niger Delta damaging their environment.

In February 1994, Ubani co-documented the prison experience of children and women in Nigerian prisons. However, this report didn’t see the light of the day as his house and office were raided by security agents, and the report was seized.

Luckily, the security goons whose primary order was to capture Ubani failed in their first raid. He went into hiding, but was arrested and imprisoned in 1995. Amnesty International declared him a political prisoner, and took up his case. In 1996, he was released. He travelled to Britain for medical treatment. On return to Nigeria, Ubani was actively involved in the transition program following the death of General Sani Abacha. But he was greatly disappointed when the transition yielded Olusegun Obasanjo as President in 1999. He criticized Obasanjo for running a corrupt government, and one that had no respect for human rights.

In July 2000, Ubani wrote his name into law books as his long campaign against in a decree that allowed state security agents to detain people indefinitely was abrogated. Ubani Chima was campaigner against extra-judicial killings by the Nigerian police, and the use of capital punishment.

Also, he was the Secretary-General of Democratic Alternative and in 2003, he became the Executive Director of Civil Liberties Organization. As Executive Director of CLO, he was part of a national coalition of Labour Movement and Civil Society that organized a nationwide protest against the hike in fuel price by Olusegun Obasanjo’s regime in 2005.

Eventfully, he died in an auto-crash along Maiduguri-Potiskum Road on his way back to Abuja after addressing a rally in Maiduguri with Adams Oshimole the then President of Nigeria Labour Congress.

Aside from the degree in Crop Science from UNN in 1988, Ubani Chima took an MA in Mass Communication at Leicester University in 2002. In spite of being so eminently qualified, he did not deploy his qualifications and competences to acquiring material things.

If Ubani Chima were to be alive, he would have galvanized the civil society to challenge the anomalies going on in Nigeria as governance, today. This docility among the civil society would not have persisted. Sadly when he died on September 21, 2005 at age 42, he left nothing for his wife, Ochuwa, and their four children.

The Lagos State Government in appreciation of his pro-democracy credentials gave the family a 3-bedroom apartment. Ubani Chima’s wife chose to live in dignity and not on hand-outs after he died. So, she decided to use the apartment as collateral to borrow money from a bank for her business.

Unfortunately, she was involved in an accident that kept her in the hospital for seven months. The accident coupled with the depreciation of naira made it difficult for her to repay the loan. Now, the bank wants to take over the apartment. So, Ubani Chima’s family as I write is at the verge of losing their shelter, one of the basic necessities of life.

And the traumatic loss of a father affected the health of the children. This has added to the burden being borne by the widow, Ochuwa. They need help! And they need it fast so that they don’t lose their home.

As Nations Reopen, Warning Emerges About Virus Tracing Voids

BY JIM MUSTIAN, CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY, LORI HINNANT

NEW YORK (AP) — A top world health official Monday warned that countries are essentially driving blind in reopening their economies without setting up strong contact tracing to beat back flare-ups of the coronavirus.

The warning came as France and Belgium emerged from lockdowns, the Netherlands sent children back to school, and many U.S. states pressed ahead by lifting business restrictions. In California, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced the company’s 10,000-worker electric car factory near San Francisco was operating Monday in defiance of coronavirus health orders that closed nonessential businesses.

Authorities have cautioned that the scourge could come back with a vengeance without widespread testing and tracing of infected people’s contacts with others.

Fears of infection spikes in countries that have loosened up came true in recent days in Germany, where new clusters were linked to three slaughterhouses; in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the crisis started; and in South Korea, where a single nightclub customer was linked to 85 new cases.

The World Health Organization’s emergencies chief, Dr. Michael Ryan, said that robust contact tracing measures adopted by Germany and South Korea provide hope that those countries can detect and stop virus clusters before they get out of control.

But he said other nations exiting lockdowns have not effectively employed contact tracing investigators who contact people who test positive, track down their contacts and get them into quarantine before they can spread the virus. The coronavirus can spread before people feel sick, making it important to act quickly. Ryan declined to name specific countries.

“Shutting your eyes and trying to drive through this blind is about as silly an equation as I’ve seen,” Ryan said. “And I’m really concerned that certain countries are setting themselves up for some seriously blind driving over the next few months.”

At the White House, President Donald Trump declared: “We have met the moment, and we have prevailed.” He said later that he was referring to virus testing and insisted all Americans who want tests can get them even though experts say that capacity does not exist.

Only on Monday did his administration say it believed it had enough tests for a nationwide testing campaign to address significant death rates in nursing homes and other senior care facilities.

Worldwide, the virus has infected a confirmed 4.1 million people and killed more than 280,000, including over 150,000 in Europe and about 80,000 in the U.S., according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. Experts believe those numbers understate the outbreak’s true toll.

More than 10,000 people are involved in contact tracing in Germany, a country of 83 million, or about one-quarter the size of the United States.

Britain abandoned an initial contact-tracing effort in March when the virus’s rapid spread made it impossible. Now it is recruiting 18,000 people.

France’s health minister has promised robust contact tracing and pledged the country would test 700,000 people weekly. On Monday, with progress unclear, the nation’s highest court ordered the government to take extreme care in protecting privacy rights, casting doubt on how to proceed.

In the U.S., where health officials will watch closely in coming days for any resurgence of the virus two weeks after states began gradually reopening, contact tracing is a patchwork of approaches and readiness levels. States are hiring and tracing contact tracers, and experts say hundreds of thousands will be needed across the country.

Apple, Google, some U.S. states and European countries are developing contact-tracing apps that show whether someone crossed paths with an infected person. But the technology supplements and does not replace labor-intensive human work, experts say.

Massachusetts is training more than 1,000 contact tracers aided by software. In the hardest-hit corner of the U.S., New York, contact tracers began online training Monday. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said some upstate areas can ease restrictions after Friday.

Meantime, a new study indicates that New York City’s death toll from the coronavirus may be thousands of fatalities more than the official tally.

Between mid-March and early May, about 24,000 more people died in the city than researchers would ordinarily expect that time of year, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analysis said. That’s about 5,300 more deaths than previously attributed to the virus for the period.

The “excess deaths” could have been caused indirectly by the outbreak, in some cases by swamping the health care system and delaying lifesaving care for other health problems, the report said.

Another new CDC report showed how difficult and time-consuming it is to track virus cases. The analysis of California efforts in the early days of the U.S. outbreak found that contacting travelers from China and Iran consumed nearly 1,700 hours of time by local authorities and still didn’t stop the virus from entering the state.

In loosening up their country’s lockdown, German authorities have spelled out a specific level of infection that could lead to the reimposition of local area restrictions. Other countries — and U.S. states — have been vague about what would be enough to trigger another clampdown.

With Monday’s partial reopening in France, crowds formed at some Paris Metro stations, but the city’s notorious traffic jams were absent. Half the stores on the Champs-Elysees were open.

Parisian hairdressers planned to charge a fee for the disposable protective gear they must give customers. Walk-ins will be a thing of the past, said Brigitte L’Hoste, manager of the Hair de Beauté salon.

“The face of beauty will change, meaning clients won’t come here to relax. Clients will come because they need to,” said Aurelie Bollini, a beautician at the salon. “They will come and aim at getting the maximum done in the shortest time possible.”

Hair salons in Florida contended with tight regulations and pent-up demand as they reopened across much of the state. The Fringe Salon in Naples was booked for the entire week, its capacity limited by social-distancing rules.

“It’s just pure chaos. Everybody’s excited about getting their haircut,” said owner Trish Boettcher.

Quarantines reached into the offices of two U.S. governors. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker joined his entire staff in working from home after a top aide tested positive for COVID-19. The state recorded nearly 800 deaths in the seven days ending Sunday, making it Illinois’ deadliest week yet. Iowa’s Gov. Kim Reynolds began a partial quarantine.

In South Korea, the government clamped down again, halting school reopenings planned for this week and reimposing restrictions on nightclubs and bars. It is trying to track down 5,500 patrons of a Seoul nightlife district through credit-card transactions, cellphone records and security footage.

Roughly half of Spain’s 47 million people shifted into looser restrictions, beginning to socialize, shop in small stores and sit outdoors at restaurants. Madrid and Barcelona remained under lockdown.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a modest easing of the country’s lockdown but urged citizens not to squander progress. Some were confused as the government shifted its slogan from “Stay at Home” to “Stay Alert.” Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland stuck with the old motto.

Some of the globe’s premier sports leagues were taking steps to resume competition, with men’s Bundesliga soccer in Germany set to start Saturday and U.S. NASCAR racing on Sunday in South Carolina — without fans at the sites.

Major League Baseball owners approved making a proposal to the players’ union that could lead to the season starting around the Fourth of July weekend in ballparks without fans.

Hinnant reported from Paris, Cassidy from Atlanta. Associated Press Writer Ron Blum in New York and AP journalists around the world contributed.

Follow AP pandemic coverage at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

Masked crowds fill Wuhan’s streets, trains as lockdown ends

A police officer wearing a face mask to protect against the spread of new coronavirus stands guard at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, Wednesday, April 8, 2020. Within hours of China lifting an 11-week lockdown on the central city of Wuhan early Wednesday, tens of thousands people had left the city by train and plane alone, according to local media reports. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

BY SAM MCNEIL

WUHAN, CHINA (AP) — Amid streets newly bustling with cars and pedestrians, Wang Chun celebrated the lifting of a virus lockdown on her hometown of Wuhan on Wednesday with a dance outdoors after 2 1/2 months largely cooped up at home.

“I’m so happy Wuhan has defeated the virus,” Wang said after recording a K-Pop-inspired duet with a male partner for posting on the internet. Neither of them wore face masks, at least for a brief few minutes.

After she put on the mask again, Wang confronted the question many of the city’s 11 million residents are asking themselves: When will they be going back to work?

“That’s a very good question,” Wang responded with a giggle.

Wuhan ended its 76-day lockdown Wednesday morning, allowing residents to again travel in and out of the city without special authorization through the use of a mandatory smartphone app powered by a mix of data-tracking and government surveillance showing they are healthy and have not been in recent contact with anyone confirmed to have the virus.

Long lines formed at the airport and train and bus stations as thousands streamed out of the city to return to their homes and jobs elsewhere. Yellow barriers that had blocked off some streets were gone, although the gates to residential compounds remained guarded.

After more than two months indoors, Wuhan resident Tong Zhengkun was one of millions of enjoying a renewed sense of freedom.

“Being indoors for so long drove me crazy,” an emotional Tong said as he watched a celebratory midnight light display from a bridge across the broad Yangtze River flowing through the city, where the coronavirus outbreak began late last year.

Tong said his apartment complex was shut down after residents were found to have contracted the coronavirus. Neighborhood workers delivered groceries to his door.

Such measures won’t be entirely abandoned following the end of Wuhan’s closure, which began on Jan. 23 as the virus raged through the city and overwhelmed hospitals. Schools are still closed, people are still checked for fevers when they enter buildings, and masks are strongly encouraged. City leaders say they want to simultaneously bring back social and commercial life while avoiding a second wave of infections.

The economic costs of the outbreak in Wuhan and across China have yet to be calculated but are expected to be severe. Estimates of job losses range into the tens of millions, with the government offering aid to small and medium size businesses that furnish the most employment.

The ability to travel again is a huge relief, however, and about 65,000 people were expected to depart Wednesday by plane and train. It didn’t take long for traffic to begin moving swiftly through reopened bridges, tunnels and highway toll booths. Nearly 1,000 vehicles went through a toll booth at Wuhan’s border between midnight — when barricades were lifted — and 7 a.m., according to Yan Xiangsheng, a district police chief.

According to airport official Lou Guowei, the first flight left Wuhan Tianhe International Airport at 7:25 a.m. for Sanya, a coastal city in Hainan province known for its beaches.

“The crew will wear goggles, masks, and gloves throughout the flight,” chief flight attendant Guo Binxue was quoted as saying by China’s official Xinhua News Agency. “It will be very smooth because we have made much preparation for this flight


Xiao Yonghong had found herself stuck in Wuhan after returning to her hometown on Jan. 17 to spend the Lunar New Year with her husband, son and parents-in-law.

“We were too excited to fall asleep last night. I was looking forward to the lockdown lift very much. I set up an alert to remind myself. I was very happy,” said Xiao, who was waiting for her train outside Hankou station with her son and husband, all three of them wearing masks and gloves.

At the airport, Chen Yating took personal protection a step further, wearing white coveralls, gloves, a mask and a baseball cap. She was waiting to catch a flight to the southern Chinese business hub of Guangzhou.

“We are living in a good era,” Chen said. “It is not easy to have today’s achievement.”

The end of Wuhan’s lockdown came one day after Japan declared a state of emergency for Tokyo, Osaka and five other prefectures to try to stem the spread of the virus. India and much of Europe and the U.S. have also issued stay-at-home orders, although not nearly to the same extreme as Wuhan.

Restrictions in the city where most of China’s more than 82,000 virus cases and over 3,300 deaths from COVID-19 were reported have been gradually eased as cases declined. The government reported no new cases in the city on Wednesday, but said 62 had been recorded elsewhere — 59 of them coming from abroad. That underscores the government’s new emphasis on preventing new infections from overseas as well as a second wave of domestic cases, particularly among those who might have the virus but are not showing symptoms.

In most cases, the virus causes mild to moderate symptoms such as fever, cough and sore throat. But for some older adults and the infirm, it can cause pneumonia and lead to death. Over 307,000 people have recovered.

While there are questions about the veracity of China’s count, the unprecedented lockdown of Wuhan and Hubei province, where the city is located, have been successful enough that other countries adopted similar measures.

“The people in Wuhan paid out a lot and bore a lot mentally and psychologically,” resident Zhang Xiang said. “Wuhan people are historically famous for their strong will.”

During the lockdown, Wuhan residents could leave their homes only to buy food or attend to other tasks deemed absolutely necessary. Some were allowed to leave the city, but only if they had paperwork showing they were not a health risk and a letter attesting to where they were going and why. Even then, authorities could turn them back on a technicality such as missing a stamp, preventing thousands from returning to their jobs outside the city.

Residents of other parts of Hubei were allowed to leave the province starting about three weeks ago, as long as they could provide a clean bill of health. People leaving the city still face numerous hurdles at their final destinations, such as 14-day quarantines and nucleic acid tests.

Wuhan is a major center for heavy industry, particularly autos, and while major plants have restarted, the small and midsize businesses that employ the most people are still hurting from both a lack of workers and demand. Measures are being instituted to get them back on their feet, including 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) in preferential loans, according to the city government.

The exact source of the virus remains under investigation, though many of the first COVID-19 patients were linked to an outdoor food market in the city.

Associated Press producer Olivia Zhang in Wuhan, China, and writer Yanan Wang in Toronto contributed.

Follow AP coverage of the coronavirus at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak

Americans Brace For 'Hardest, Saddest' Week Of Their Lives

BY JIM MUSTIAN, FRANCES D'EMILIO

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans braced for what the nation’s top doctor warned Sunday would be “the hardest and saddest week” of their lives while Britain assumed the unwelcome mantle of deadliest coronavirus hotspot in Europe after a record 24-hour jump in deaths that surpassed even hard-hit Italy.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was hospitalized, 10 days after testing positive for COVID-19. His office described the move as a “precautionary step” and said the 55-year-old Conservative would undergo tests.
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams offered a stark warning about the expected wave of virus deaths.
“This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment,” he told “Fox News Sunday.”

New York City, the U.S. epicenter of the pandemic, saw a glimmer of hope, with Gov. Andrew Cuomo saying that daily deaths had dropped slightly, along with intensive care admissions and the number of patients who needed breathing tubes inserted. Still, he warned that it was “too early to tell” the significance of those numbers.

Italy and Spain also got some encouraging news. Italy registered its lowest day-to-day increase in deaths in more than two weeks — 525, said Angelo Borrelli, the head of the national Civil Protection agency.

The pace of infection also seemed to be slowing. The country recorded 4,316 new cases Sunday. Earlier in the outbreak, daily increases topped 6,000.

Even so, Borrelli warned, “This good news shouldn’t make us drop our guard.”

Confirmed infections fell in Spain too, and new deaths declined for the third straight day, dropping to 674 — the first time daily deaths have fallen below 800 in the past week.

“We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said.

The outlook remained bleak in Britain, which recorded 708 new coronavirus deaths Saturday compared with Italy’s 631 deaths. With 600-plus more deaths reported Sunday, Britain has recorded more than 4,900 virus deaths overall among nearly 48,000 cases. Italy still has by far the world’s highest coronavirus death toll — almost 16,000 out of nearly 130,000 confirmed cases.

There are wide fears that Johnson’s government did not take the virus seriously enough at first and that spring weather will tempt Britons and others to break social distancing rules.

In a rare televised address to the nation, Queen Elizabeth II appealed to Britons to exercise self-discipline in “an increasingly challenging time.” The 93-year-old monarch said the pandemic had caused enormous disruptions, bringing grief, financial difficulties and daunting challenges to everybody. It was only the fourth time since her reign began in 1953 that she has given such an address.

“I hope in the years to come, everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge,” she said. “And those who come after us will say that the Britons of this generation were as strong as any.”

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said sunbathing in public places was not allowed and the U.K. might even ban outdoor exercise if people still ’’flout the rules.″

“The vast majority of people are following the public health advice, which is absolutely critical, and staying at home,” Hancock told Sky TV. “But there are a small minority of people who are still not doing that — it’s quite unbelievable, frankly, to see that.”

As the numbers of infections rose, the deputy head of Britain’s National Health Service Providers said the agency needed to focus on quickly increasing ventilator capacity and getting more protective equipment for health care workers.

“I think that we are just a week away from the surge of this,” Saffron Cordery told Sky TV.

Italians have not been immune to lure of the good weather either. Top Italian officials took to national television after photos were published showing huge crowds out shopping in Naples, Rome, Genoa and even the hard-hit Veneto city of Padua. Lombardy Vice Gov. Fabrizio Sala said cellphone data showed 38% of the region’s people were out and about — the highest figure since March 20.

Health Minister Roberto Speranza told RAI state television that all the sacrifices Italians have made since the nationwide lockdown began on March 10 risked being reversed.

Restrictions on movement vary from country to country. In Germany and Britain, residents can get out to exercise and walk their dogs, as well as go to the supermarket, the post office and other essential tasks. Yet in Serbia and South Africa, dog walking is not allowed.

In France, heat-seeking drones have been whizzing over Fontainebleau forest to identify rule-breakers after the former royal estate in the Paris suburbs was closed to the public. That high-tech measure has been coupled with more traditional police patrols on horseback and roadblocks that turn back the cars of those seeking to escape urban areas.

In Sweden, authorities have advised the public to practice social distancing, but schools, bars and restaurants are still open.

At the Vatican, Pope Francis celebrated Mass and blessed palms for Palm Sunday in a near-empty St. Peter’s Basilica. Usually tens of thousands of faithful would have crowded the square outside to attend a papal Mass.

Holy Thursday and Easter services will be held the same way. In the pope’s native Argentina, the faithful were using plants at home for a “virtual” blessing during a livestream of the Palm Sunday service.

Worldwide, more than 1.2 million people have been confirmed infected and more than 65,000 have died, according to Johns Hopkins University. The true numbers are certainly much higher, due to limited testing, different ways nations count the dead and deliberate under-reporting by some governments.

The vast majority of infected people recover from the virus, which is spread by microscopic droplets from coughs or sneezes. For most people, the virus causes mild to moderate symptoms such as fever and cough. But for some, especially older adults and the infirm, it can cause pneumonia and lead to death. The World Health Organization says 95% of the known coronavirus deaths in Europe have been in people over 60.

The rapid spread of the virus in the United States has prompted a chaotic scramble for medical equipment and protective gear. The result has been intense squabbling between the states and the federal government.

An Associated Press review of federal purchasing contracts showed that federal agencies largely waited until mid-March — more than two months after the first warnings of a potential pandemic — to begin placing bulk orders of N95 respirator masks, mechanical ventilators and other equipment needed by front-line health care workers.

By that time, hospitals in several states were treating thousands of infected patients without adequate equipment and pleading for shipments from the national stockpile. Now that stockpile is nearly drained just as the numbers of patients requiring critical care is surging.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Sunday that he hoped the pace of new infections would plateau soon, but that the virus is unlikely to be completely eradicated this year. That means the U.S. could see the a resurgence during the next flu season, he said.

Speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Fauci said the prospect of a resurgence is why the U.S. is working so hard to be better prepared, including working to develop a vaccine and conducting clinical trials on therapeutic interventions.

D’Emilio reported from Rome. Associated Press writers around the world contributed to this report.

Follow AP news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic at http://apnews.com/VirusOutbreak and

Intrigues That Foiled Awolowo, Azikiwe’s Alliance In 1983

BY CLIFFORD NDUJIHE

…How Yoruba delegation’s indecision denied Awolowo joint presidential ticket

…COVID-19 pandemic lock-down without palliatives inhuman …We must devise our survival strategy

On President Muhammadu Buhari’s broadcast and the lock-down of Lagos, Ogun and FCT, Abuja 

General Buhari cannot just lock down Lagos and Ogun without the necessary palliatives, funding or food-wise in a secure situation. He is dealing with human beings and not animals. 

They should also put on their caps instead of face masks as the virus does not segregate or discriminate or avoid prestigious locations. We must have existential and strategic equations as a fair remedy for all.

I am concerned about further two weeks lock-down of Lagos and Ogun states without real Federal Government palliatives while threats of insecurity persist. 

Now, Boko Haram has threatened to attack the South-East. We must remain vigilant and not take things for granted. We should critically study the ongoing economic and biochemical clashes between the Western and Eastern nations. 

From the millennial creation of humans and animals it has been wars and bickering everywhere and survival of the fittest in the name of civilisation. 

Cannibalism is a natural strategy for survival. We have to adumbrate our own survival strategy. 

His take on the origins and upsurge of COVID-19 pandemic 

Wuhan City today is very different from what it was 50 years ago. I am one of the oldest surviving Nigerian visitors to Ancient China. 

I am now 83 years old. As a student leader and President of the iconic West African Students Union, WASU, in London in succession to our illustrious son, Aka Bashorun, I was invited by Chinese Students Association to lead a six-delegate team of West African Students in London in 1963 on a historic visit to mainland China under the Regime of Chairman Mao tse Tung for a period of six weeks at a time The Republic of China was totally locked to foreign visitors, particularly from the West due to the bitter cold war between the West and the East.

It was a revealing journey and spectacle. We Africans were more non-aligned in our approach to the rivalries between the two contenders as we had been under the Colonial and Imperial structure for centuries and even up till now. 

The Republic of China realised the dominance of the Imperial Power and plotted its own survival strategy in the acrimonious and existential circumstances. 

It decided it would not fight an open war which may again subject it to an imperial subjugation. It decided to acquire knowledge which is a Universal instrument for accelerated development. 

Knowledge has no boundaries . It can be copied stolen or acquired materially or in any other way in the dire circumstances at any time. It became a state instrument for many decades. 

They made mistakes internally in revolutionary ways and mended their ways. They had a Communist Philosophy which bonded them with the Soviet Blocs but still ensured their own national pedestal till today. 

They saved their economy by not fighting any external war till date and concentrated on quality education, scientific research and advancement as their main dialectics for internal and external survival. 

Wuhan of recent decades was just a village impoverished location when we visited. Imagine the difference today. China today is a combination of Communism and Capitalism. 

For them, their existential priorities are anchored on the theory or philosophy of the survival of the fittest which must be internally adumbrated and in their own national interest. 

They have now risen to a strategic supersonic dimension which pits them mainly against the biggest continental super power which is the USA with whom they have been at economic, scientific and galactic loggerheads in the last two decades. 

Donald Trumps’ USA had to take the bull by the horn in the race for economic and scientific dominance in the past three years through trade tariffs, ICT, Intellectual properties and other spheres like the 4G and now 5G spectre and outer space endeavours for galactic dominance. 

China is superior to the USA in infrastructure development buildings like skyscrapers, roads vehicles, trains and other existential developmental activities, financial, treasury and stock investments. 

With the recent Coronavirus syndrome they seem to have out-manoeuvred the Western World in the dire quest of rivalry for the survival of the fittest which has always been a Millennial Instrument of Dominance in which all tools for superiority are deployed which include Biological Tools of War. 

Is it the USA or China that has deployed it’s highest and strategic instrument to realign the World Order? The answer is still not clear but there is an ongoing rivalry for the survival of the fittest. 

How does the Third World South of the equator mainly in Africa and South America fit into their equation as their prebendal practices show we have been experimental species for a millennia? Nigeria was just 13 years younger than China at Independence but imaging the difference today. 

In the last decade China has extended more financial aid to all the developing countries than USA and the West, which also comes with its dominant strategic interests. What are we doing about it except with our citadel of kleptomaniac and lootocratic audacious tendencies even in this age of catastrophic climate change. Woe betide us as we are in denial of our existential rights. 

On comments that Nigeria would have been on the right pedestal but for the inability of the late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr Nnamdi to forge an alliance and allow one of them emerge as president 

Some of us lived through many parts of it and are still charting our ways through the very murky waters of present day fixations. 

As the Chairman of the Nigerian People’s Party in old Anambra State, Governor Jim Nwobodo and our party executive and local governments with Governor Sam Mbakwe and Imo NPP under Chief R B K Okafor agreed after a joint caucus to heal the political cleavages between the Igbo and Yoruba and to unite Zik and Awo with other ethnic nationalities to form a common front for a purposeful platform that would move Nigeria forward from its degeneration. 

Quest for Awolowo, Azikiwe’s united political front 

We met Zik at Nsukka and Awo in Apapa, Lagos. Our team included statesmen like Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya. Dr Abubakar Rimi. Chief Solomon Lar. We agreed to have a common united political front to stop the domineering Fulani jihadist tactics in Nigeria. 

Both Zik and Awo gave us their blessing and we organized the biggest party conference for the public in Enugu, which was attended by both leaders and their executives in the East and West. 

Awolowo led Action Group, AG leaders like Pa Ajasin. Cicero Esa-Oke Bola Ige, Alhaji Lateef Jakande etc to attend and address the teaming multitude in Enugu. 

We all returned to Lagos and formed a Strategic Committee with Governor Jakande as chairman. Apart from our Northern eminent brothers the Yoruba members in the committee included Senator Abraham Adesanya and Chief Ayo Adebanjo. 

We had our think-tank intellectuals in the committee whose aim was to have a formidable alliance for Zik or Awo to vie for the Presidential Election against Alhaji Shehu Shagari who was seeking a second tenure. 

Sharing of positions 

The committee shared all the distributable portfolios and board positions among the parties in the coalition. There were about 2000 of such positions which were satisfactorily shared. 

What was left was the Presidency and Party Chairman. Awolowo’s group insisted the would have the first choice since they had five states and Ziks group had 3 states. The unresolved issue was the party platform and Chairmanship. 

We adjourned for a few days for consultations with our leaders. Zik said he would abide by our consensual decision as a democrat. Chief RBK Okafor and Omenife Ikokwu were mandated by Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya to find an agreeable synthesis. 

Awolowo to choose post before Azikiwe 

We consulted and I proposed a solution of compromise to suite all. Awolowo was to make the first choice as they had insisted. In such a situation Awolowo would be the Presidential Candidate against Shehu Shagari. 

We then proposed that if the coalition party was the Nigerian Peoples Party the party Chairman would be Zik and the party would be supreme on policy matters to move the country forward. 

So Zik as NPP party Chairman would take Awo round the nation during the elections as presidential candidate; and vice visa if the Unity Party of Nigeria emerged as coalition party. 

Our chairman, Jakande, when we resumed requested a brief adjournment for their (Yoruba) response after consultations. All other members in the Strategy Committee agreed with our proposals except Awolowo s group which was split. 

The press and the world media awaited the final results at the lawns of the Governor’s Lodge at the Marina. 

Members of the Unity Party of Nigeria Youth Wing under then youthful Ebenezer Babatope were chanting Awo! Awo ! that in their party constitution there is no cleavage between the Executive and the Party. 

They are one and no form of Coalition would work as being proposed. 

We all met after in-house discussions and phone calls. The Chairman, Jakande then said there will be no press conferences on the matters and if there was no meeting in the next week all the parties would field their presidential candidates and cooperate where desirable in the other elective offices. 

So that was how the parties contested against each other and the election was rigged for Shehu Shagari. And Zik made his famous speech that history will vindicate the just and the wicked shall not go unpunished. 

Some Nigerians say that Zik did not lift that curse on Nigeria before he died. He lived to a very ripe age seeing people and exchanging pleasantries with his two new wise kid sons with whom he shared his wisdom of ages. 

Chief Awolowo did not like the state of the polity thereafter and as a sage who had written ominously on our contemporary issues, he felt very disconsolate as he was betrayed by some of his followers and the military junta who had ruined the nation. 

Awolowo was dogged and astute but did learn much of human frailties and the way and manner he was used during the civil war. V

ery few Nigerians really know how and why he died. He was betrayed unexpectedly by his closest confidant who is still alive now. 

So, do you now see how the wheels of fate have turned? Chief Ayo Adebanjo was at that strategic meetings and remembers it all till date. 

He had agreed to our proposal which may have made Awolowo the first truly elected leader which may have altered some of our Nigerian inanities one way or the other and possibly not degenerating into the infamy of the World Poverty Capital. 

At 91years of age with blessed digital memory my good friend Ayo Adebanjo deserves our accolade as a front line leader of the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum, SMBLF, in which we have friends from the Afenifere Yoruba group like Prof Banji Akintoye, Chief Amos Akingba, Chief Olu Falae, Chief Supo Shonibare and Mr. Yinka Odumakin as a dedicated secretary. 

The current widened pedestal of the SMBLF is now a wider national group including the Middle Belt, the South- East, the South-West, the South-South, Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, and some members of the core North who are all dedicated to the task of moving Nigeria forward with justice, equity and good governance for a better development of our nation with reduced acrimony and insecurity and true federalism, resource control with devolution of powers which has the same ambience as the proposed coalition of Zik and Awo of ages past.

SOURCE: VANGUARD

Best-Selling Novel Exposes Life Of Child Slaves In Nigeria

Abi Dare. Image: Ellie Smith via The New York Times.

BY NELLIE PEYTON

DAKAR, SENEGAL(THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION) - Writer Abi Dare grew up in a part of Lagos, Nigeria where most families, including hers, had maids as young as eight years old who worked all day, were often beaten and did not go to school.

It was only as an adult that she realised these so-called "house girls" were essentially slaves.

"I did have questions growing up but they weren't questions I necessarily voiced because it was the norm. It still is happening," the 38-year-old told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone from her home in London.

Dare's debut novel, "The Girl with the Louding Voice", imagines life through the eyes of one of these house girls, a 14-year-old named Adunni who dreams of going to school.

Released in February, it was critically acclaimed and made the New York Times Top 10 best-seller list within three weeks. More importantly for Dare, it has sparked conversations in Nigeria.

"I feel that maybe if we are able to humanise (Adunni) and see her as a girl that has feelings and thoughts and opinions and dreams... it might cause a bit of a reflection in our society, and cause us to maybe change," Dare said.

Despite laws against it, child labour is widespread in Nigeria and the employment of girls as domestic servants is one of the most common forms, according to the U.N. Children's Agency (UNICEF).

Countless "house girls" work for upper- and middle-class families in cities across the nation, far from their own homes in rural Nigeria or neighbouring countries such as Benin.

The practice is deeply engrained in Nigerian culture, and little data exists on the number of victims. Many girls are sent away by their parents who cannot afford to feed or school them, while others provide for their families.

Dare sometimes heard people beating their maids when she was a child. When she started researching it she found widespread reports of physical and sexual abuse of house girls in newspapers and on social media.

The scenes where her character Adunni is beaten were the hardest to write, she said, and she tried to balance them by making the protagonist funny and optimistic.

"She does go through some horrendous stuff... but I wrote that believing that I had to get the story out," said Dare.

She was worried about what Nigerians would think of the book, but drew confidence from discussions on social media where the issue has become a growing topic of debate, she said.

"I expected a bit of reluctance to accept the story, but I've seen quite the opposite."

(Reporting by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Claire Cozens. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Our New Global Village

Alvin Kevin Walton King. Ehirim Files

BY ALVIN KEVIN WALTON KING

THE WEEKLY ORACLE
I first heard the term, Global Village, more than 20 years ago here in Los Angeles. It was the name given by host Sergio Mielniczenko to maybe my favorite music and cultural programs of all time. The Brazilian host would start in Rio, and then go to Sao Paolo, or Bahia, but like a conductor who warms up a symphony orchestra by testing all the tones before soaring into the program, he was getting us listeners ready for a sonic journey which could take us to Memphis, Dakar, London, or Kingston in a heartbeat. I loved the show and still do. But for most of my life the concept was limited to my Pacifica Radio Dial.

Lo and behold we are actually living in a global village today. I guess It was just a matter of time. A world without borders and boundaries, like the iconic view of our world from space, where you don’t see all the barriers we have created, you see one beautiful deep blue world sitting atop a marvelous background of space.

And this reality which has been with us since the beginning just hit me this week. It hit me from watching clip after clip and expert after expert and analysis after analysis of the coronavirus. And one thing I noticed was that the coronavirus was creating a demographic revolution on our TV screens. We were bearing witness to our new Global Village. One expert of British extraction, another Pakistani, this one Vietnamese. Another’s parents are from Nigeria, but they now live in New York. The next of Mexican heritage. Just as our planet traverses through the solar system our digital world of connected communication is weaving its way through our global village.

We live in a Global Village and it seemed to happen overnight. Even in America where jingoism and xenophobia are not uncommon, I have not heard too much of a backlash against our increasingly global identity. I guess we realize in a pandemic there is literally no place to hide. And there is no barrier real or fictive that can keep us safe.

So, the prophets and poets and singers and visionaries have imagined a day like today. King, America’s Moses, said that he envisioned a day, and he said it more eloquently than I, when boys and girls of every hue and stripe and origin and circumstance, while under the watchful and prideful eye of their parents, would join hands with one another and march into a present of uncertainty with a faith and love born of unity.

I have often remarked that Dr. King had a dream, and now we get to embody it. And we have thought together with the dreamers when would that day arrive? And how would that day arrive? And it seems as though overnight, in the midst of a crisis, the dream has become a pregnant reality.

So now as the baby is coming to term, how are we to care for the dream and vision and our new delicate and resilient reality? How are we to live together? And struggle together? How do we choose one another? How do we say yes to each other? Listen to each other and feel each other and root for and encourage one another?

And in this time how can we heal one another? You see I have many more questions than answers. We have moved from objections, a legal or judicial move, to questions. That is a poetic move. And the move from questions to intention is the work of the singer. And the move from intention to drama and tension is the work of the playwright. And the move from drama and tension to actualization is the work of the actor. Places everyone.

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In Iran, False Belief A Poison Fights Virus Kills Hundreds

In this Monday, March 2, 2020 file photo, a man wearing a face mask, to help protect against the new coronavirus, speaks on his cellphone in downtown Tehran, Iran. Local media reported Thursday, March 26, 2020, that nearly 300 people have been killed and more than 1,000 sickened by ingesting toxic methanol across the Islamic Republic out of the false belief it kills the new coronavirus. That's as messages forwarded through social media on people surviving the virus by drinking whiskey and using alcohol-based hand sanitizer somehow saw people seek out bootleg liquor in Iran. (AP Photo Vahid Salemi, File)

BY NASSER KARIMI, JON GAMBRELL

TEHRAN, IRAN (AP) — Standing over the still body of an intubated 5-year-old boy wearing nothing but a plastic diaper, an Iranian health care worker in a hazmat suit and mask begged the public for just one thing: Stop drinking industrial alcohol over fears about the new coronavirus.

The boy, now blind after his parents gave him toxic methanol in the mistaken belief it protects against the virus, is just one of hundreds of victims of an epidemic inside the pandemic now gripping Iran.

Iranian media report nearly 300 people have been killed and more than 1,000 sickened so far by ingesting methanol across the Islamic Republic, where drinking alcohol is banned and where those who do rely on bootleggers. An Iranian doctor helping the country’s Health Ministry told The Associated Press on Friday the problem was even greater, giving a death toll of around 480 with 2,850 people sickened.

The poisonings come as fake remedies spread across social media in Iran, where people remain deeply suspicious of the government after it downplayed the crisis for days before it overwhelmed the country.

“Other countries have only one problem, which is the new coronavirus pandemic. But we are fighting on two fronts here,” said Dr. Hossein Hassanian, an adviser to Iran’s Health Ministry who gave the higher figures to the AP. “We have to both cure the people with alcohol poisoning and also fight the coronavirus.”

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.

The pandemic has swept across the world, overwhelming hospitals, crippling economies and forcing governments to restrict the movements of billions of people. Particularly hard hit has been Iran, home to 80 million people.

As of now, there is no known cure for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. Scientists and doctors continue to study the virus and search for effective medicines and a vaccine.

But in messages forwarded and forwarded again, Iranian social media accounts in Farsi falsely suggested a British school teacher and others cured themselves of the coronavirus with whiskey and honey, based on a tabloid story from early February. Mixed with messages about the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, some wrongly believed drinking high-proof alcohol would kill the virus in their bodies.

The Islamic Republic has reported over 29,000 confirmed cases and more than 2,200 deaths from the virus, the highest toll of any country in the Middle East. International experts also fear Iran may be under-reporting its cases, as officials for days played down the virus ahead of a parliamentary election.

That fear of the virus, coupled with poor education and internet rumors, saw dozens sickened by drinking bootleg alcohol containing methanol in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province and its southern city of Shiraz. Videos aired by Iranian media showed patients with IVs stuck in their arms, laying on beds otherwise needed for the fight against the coronavirus, including the intubated 5-year-old boy. Iranian media also reported cases in the cities of Karaj and Yazd.

In Iran, the government mandates that manufacturers of toxic methanol add an artificial color to their products so the public can tell it apart from ethanol, the kind of alcohol that can be used in cleaning wounds. Ethanol is also the kind of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, though its production is illegal in Iran.

Some bootleggers in Iran use methanol, adding a splash of bleach to mask the added color before selling it as drinkable. Sometimes it is mixed with consumable alcohol to stretch supply, other times it comes as methanol, falsely advertised as drinkable, Hovda said. Methanol also can contaminate traditionally fermented alcohol.

Methanol cannot be smelled or tasted in drinks. It causes delayed organ and brain damage. Symptoms include chest pain, nausea, hyperventilation, blindness and even coma.

Hassanian said his figures included reports from coroner’s offices around Iran also counting those who died outside of hospitals from the poisonings.

“Unfortunately in some provinces, including Khuzestan and Fars, deaths from drinking methanol has exceeded the number of deaths from the new coronavirus,” he said.

Dr. Knut Erik Hovda, a clinical toxicologist in Oslo, said to expect more methanol poisoning victims.

“The virus is spreading and people are just dying off, and I think they are even less aware of the fact that there are other dangers around,” Hovda said. “When they keep drinking this, there’s going to be more people poisoned.”

Even before the outbreak, methanol poisoning had taken a toll in Iran. One academic study found methanol poisoning sickened 768 people in Iran between September and October 2018 alone, killing 76.

Other Muslim nations that ban their citizens from drinking also see such methanol poisoning, although Iran appears to be the only one in the pandemic so far to turn toward it as a fake cure. In Buddhist Cambodia, police said they seized 4,200 liters (1,100 gallons) of methanol from a man who unwittingly planned to make toxic hand sanitizer because of the virus outbreak.

Muslim drinkers in Iran can be punished with cash fines and 80 lashes. However, minority Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians can drink alcoholic beverages in private.

While police occasionally announce alcohol busts, the trade in nontoxic alcohol also continues. Locally made Iranian arak from fermented raisins, known as Aragh sagi, sells for $10 for a 1.5-liter bottle. Imported vodka sells for $40 a bottle.
Full Coverage: Virus Outbreak

“Every year during Nowruz, or the Persian New Year holidays that begin March 21, my customers double,” said Rafik, an Iranian-Armenian who makes vodka in the basement of his Tehran home. He spoke on the condition that only his first name be used for fear of arrest. “This year, because of corona, it jumped up by four- or five-fold.”

Farhad, a self-described heavy drinker who lives in central Tehran, said alcohol remains easy to find for those looking for it.

“Even you can find it offered when you are walking down the street, “ he said.

Since 1979, Iran’s 40 alcohol factories have seen their production changed to pharmaceutical needs and sanitizers. Others had been left idle, like the abandoned Shams alcohol factory east of Tehran.

But now, in a time when even some mosques in Iran hand out high-proof alcohol as a sanitizer, officials plan to start work again at Shams to produce 22,000 liters of 99% alcohol a day.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Mehdi Fattahi in Tehran and Sopheng Cheang in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, contributed.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Lessons From The Suffering

Alvin Kevin Walton King. Image: Ehirim Files

BY ALVIN KEVIN WALTON KING

THE WEEKLY ORACLE

At this time, it occurs to me that what is need is a certain type of experience, the kind that does not readily show up on resumes or job descriptions. Folks with this type of experience, normally, we look down upon them, we pity them, discount them. Typically, we do not value them or their experience in life.

These are the folks that I have the privilege of seeing everyday as a psychotherapist. People to whom life has dealt a serious blow. They have trauma, distress, and have a hard time going on or going with flow. In fact, something has happened that has made it impossible for them to go on.

Maybe they have lost hope, or lost themselves, or lost meaning. Maybe they experienced a physical illness, a physical assault. An economic collapse. A natural calamity. A disability. A reversal of fortune. A death or loss of love.

And now they must start over. Life no longer makes sense. They don’t make sense. They now have the immense task of rediscovering who they are and who they can be. They may have to learn to walk again. Learn to talk again. Find a new way to make a livelihood. Learn how to trust again. Learn how to do relationships, in a way that works for them, maybe for the first time.

It is these people, from whom we rarely look to for advice, who have already been where we are now. They have experience with difficulty and trauma and distress. The have suffered and have learned to persevere and discover meaning and joy and a new identity and way of life. Isn’t it ironic that we would need to look to the bottom, to the end of the line, to find succor?

This notion of suffering and difficulty or distress is a prominent component of most if not all teachings of heft. Jesus and Buddha say pretty much the same thing, that suffering is part of life, but our human birthright is to be able to traverse through it. For the shaman and the hero therefore, suffering is an indispensable part of their training. It is not to be avoided, nor is it to be sought out necessarily, but if and when it arrives it is to be welcomed and embraced.

Is it not an interesting point that none of our sages state categorically that suffering is bad? What is bad is chronic or unending suffering. That is what they describe as a hell of torment. So, what can the sufferers tell us that can help us with our present distress.

First, they are able to help us understand the essence of life. That life is an eternal cycle. Birth, maturation, death then repeat. That is the blueprint. Life is generative, restorative, and transformative. We know then that this situation, this form, whether good or bad or in between, will come to an end. We suffer when we confuse the form, that is the circumstance in which we find ourselves, for the energy and essence of which it symbolizes, and then as the form dissolves and dies we die and suffer, with it.

This is the truth that comes with experience. The sages say test it out, see if your life does not come back again, after a great loss or setback, in the same that you come back to yourself in the morning after entering into the dream world at night. So too will your vitality and identity and purpose and joy return after you let it go and bless its essence.

So, if the lesson is that life is constantly transitioning and realigning itself, we can learn to do the same as well. If our identity is as a teacher and we love education. It matters not the shape or manner in which the learning takes place but that it does. The same is true if we are a healer, or artist, or skilled craftsperson, or government official.

One great thing that is happening as we speak is that a lot of our identities or attachments are also now fading away. They served us well in their time, and we can be grateful for that, but now they are less useful. So nowadays we hear scant attention paid to political parties, or economic philosophies, or religious affiliation, or ethnic or racial identity, or even gender. We are all turning our attention to the essence or the essential or true. Yes, life involves suffering. And the quicker that we learn how to face it the better we will all be. And yes, for that we must turn our attention and respect and gratitude to those who have. Your thoughts, resonances, and dissonances are greatly appreciated. And let’s continue to take good care of ourselves!

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'The Whole City Laid Off': US Jobless Claims Climb Sky HIgh

In this March 24, 2020, photo, Keisha Henry, right, and her business partner Erica Norwood pose for a portrait inside their lounge and catering business in New Orleans. Henry said she lost about $10,000 in revenue last week after three big functions she was slated to cater ended up canceling. Meanwhile, she still has expenses related to launching a bar and lounge six months ago. Henry said she regrettably had to lay off several employees. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

BY REBECCA SANTANA, DAVID A. LIEB

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Barely a week ago, David McGraw was cooking daily for hundreds of fine diners at one of New Orleans’ illustrious restaurants.

Today, he’s cooking for himself, at home — laid off along with hundreds of thousands of people across the U.S. in a massive economic upheaval spurred by efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

U.S. Department of Labor figures to be released Thursday are expected to shatter the old record for the greatest number of new unemployment claims filed in a single week. There are more suddenly jobless Americans than during the Great Recession — and more than in the aftermath of major natural disasters such as hurricanes, fires and floods.

But McGraw, and others like him, don’t need official numbers to understand the new realities of life in one of the nation’s hot spots for the virus that causes the COVID-19 disease.

“The whole city, laid off. Everybody,” said McGraw, using an exaggeration that didn’t seem like much of one. “Everybody who worked at a restaurant is laid off.”

Restaurants, hotels, airlines, automakers and entertainment venues all have been hit hard as cities, states and entire countries have ordered the closure of non-essential businesses and directed residents to remain at home.

The goal is to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. For most people, it causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. But for some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

Virus precautions have affected the worldwide economy. Companies in Europe are laying off workers at the fastest pace since the global financial crisis in 2009, according to surveys of business managers.

Official labor statistics for Europe are not yet out, but companies have been announcing tens of thousands of job cuts, both permanent and temporary. The rise in joblessness may not be as sharp as in the U.S., however, because it is harder to fire workers in Europe, where many governments are supporting companies financially to keep workers on partially paid leave.

Some economists project that the U.S. could see around 3 million new unemployment insurance claims when figures are released for the week of March 15-21. That would be around 12 times as many as the previous week.

“It’s going to be an astronomical increase,” said Constance Hunter, president of the National Association for Business Economists and chief economist at the accounting firm KPMG. “We don’t have any recorded history of anything like this.”

In Labor Department records dating to 1967, the largest seasonally adjusted one-week number of new unemployment insurance claims was 695,000 in October 1982, when the national unemployment rate was around 10%.

Before coronavirus concerns escalated this month, the U.S. unemployment rate had been at a 50-year-low of 3.5%

That is certain to rise as the number of laid-off workers soars.

In Louisiana alone, 71,000 people filed new unemployment applications last week, compared to the usual 1,400 or 1,500 people per week, said state labor secretary Ava Dejoie.

Louisiana has one of the highest per capita counts of coronavirus cases in the U.S. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards has ordered nonessential businesses to close, limited restaurants to takeout and delivery, banned gatherings over 10 people and directed residents to remain at home.

New Orleans restaurant owner and caterer Keisha Henry said she lost $10,000 in revenue last week after three big functions she was slated to cater ended up canceling. Meanwhile, she still has expenses related to launching a bar and lounge six months ago. Henry said she had to lay off several employees.

“I wish I could just keep them on and pay them, but being a small business, I don’t have enough capital to pay for the employees when we are not putting out a product,” she said.

Workers can seek unemployment benefits from their home state immediately after losing their jobs. But it typically takes two to three weeks before they receive any money, because state agencies first have to contact their former employers to verify their work history and then calculate the amount of their weekly benefits based on their previous wages.

That wait could last longer because of the sudden spike in unemployment claims. People should expect “that first benefit payments will take much longer than 21 days,” California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office warned earlier this week.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday that 1 million unemployment claims had been filed in his state since March 13, a span a little longer than the federal reporting period.

Until last week, many state unemployment agencies had been staffed to handle a comparative trickle of claims. Now they are scrambling to add workers to handle the influx.

“Nobody can ramp up that fast without a little bit of a hiccup,” said Michele Evermore, a senior policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project, a New York-based group that advocates for low-wage workers and the unemployed.

Legislation signed last week by President Donald Trump could distribute $1 billion among states to help with the administration of unemployment claims. But it could take a while for that money to reach the states.

Under legislation pending Wednesday in Congress, unemployed workers would get whatever amount a state usually provides for jobless benefits, plus a $600 per week add-on funded by the federal government. That boost could last up to four months.

Though the extra money could help, it may not eliminate the uneasiness among the newly unemployed.

“I think we are putting a lot of hope that the system will return to business as usual in the coming weeks, and I just don’t believe that to be true,” said Ian Smith, who was laid off from his job as a server at an Atlanta-area restaurant. “The biggest thing keeping many of us up at night is what will the new normal look like?”

Many recently unemployed workers have reported frustrations with jammed phone lines and overloaded internet sites as they try to apply for unemployment aid.

Corey Rickmers, of Rockville, Maryland, was furloughed last week from his job as a digital engagement manager for a publishing company. This was his first time filing for unemployment benefits, and his claim was complicated by the fact he had previously worked out of state.

Rickmers said it took several hours of phone calls on Monday before he finally reached a person who could help him at the state’s labor department.

“The process is frustrating,” he said. “I can only imagine what millions of people around the country ... are having to fight for right now.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said a recent survey of more than 6,600 businesses in his state showed more than half have laid off employees. Normally, the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity receives between 250 and 1,000 unemployment claims a day. But DeSantis said the agency received 21,000 claims on Monday.

“We are working on getting them the relief,” DeSantis said. “But, man, that’s not only going to have an economic cost, that will have a health cost unless we work hard to remedy that as soon as possible.”

Rene Morgan, a web developer who lives in Davie, Florida, is among those filing new claims.

He had been working for only a couple of weeks at a biotechnology startup when he was let go earlier this month after the company’s supply chain from China was disrupted by the coronavirus crisis. He is putting his collection of iconic typewriters for sale on eBay to make money to pay rent while he waits to receive unemployment benefits from the state.

“I check back every day, and it keeps saying that my application is being processed,” Morgan sa

Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri.

Associated Press writers Michael Kunzelman in Silver Spring, Maryland; Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami; Carlo Piovano in London; Christopher Rugaber in Washington; Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee; and Angie Wang in Atlanta contributed to this report.

As Offerings Dwindle, Some Churches Fear For Their Future

The Rev. Alvin J. Gwynn Sr., of Friendship Baptist Church in Baltimore, sits in his church's sanctuary, Thursday, March 19, 2020. He bucked the cancellation trend by holding services the previous Sunday. But attendance was down by about 50%, and Gwynn said the day’s offering netted about $5,000 compared to a normal intake of about $15,000. “It cuts into our ministry,” he said. “If this keeps up, we can’t fund all our outreach to help other people.” (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)

BY DAVID CRARY

NEW YORK (AP) — As in-person worship services are canceled or downsized amid the coronavirus outbreak, some churches across the U.S. are bracing for a painful drop in weekly contributions and possible cutbacks in programs and staff.

One church leader, Bishop Paul Egensteiner of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s Metropolitan New York Synod, said some of the 190 churches in his region were unlikely to survive because of a two-pronged financial hit. Their offerings are dwindling, and they are losing income from tenants such as preschools which can no longer afford to rent church venues.

“As much as I’d like to help them, everybody’s reserves are taking a hit because of the stock market,” Egensteiner said,

At Friendship Baptist Church in Baltimore, a mostly African American congregation of about 1,100, the Rev. Alvin Gwynn Sr. bucked the cancellation trend by holding services last Sunday. But attendance was down by about 50%, and Gwynn said the day’s offering netted about $5,000 compared to a normal intake of about $15,000.

“It cuts into our ministry,” he said. “If this keeps up, we can’t fund all our outreach to help other people.”

There was a brighter outcome at the Church of the Resurrection, a large United Methodist Church congregation that operates out of five locations in the Kansas City area.

Cathy Bien, the church’s communications director, said about 25,700 people logged in to join online worship last Sunday after in-person services were canceled. That compared to normal Sunday participation of 14,000 worshippers -– 8,000 in person and 6,000 online.

“It blew our minds,” Bien said. “They were coming from all over the country -– a lot of Methodists from other churches.”

The huge turnout didn’t translate into a larger than normal offering, although the church is still processing checks that were sent by some of the worshippers, Bien said. She expressed hope that financial support will remain robust as the church stresses the need to bolster food pantries and other community programs in the face of COVID-19.

At Trinity Presbyterian Church in Charlottesville, Virginia, giving was down modestly last weekend as the church cancelled in-person worship and made the service available online.

The pastor, Walter Kim, said some of his roughly 1,000 congregants have grown accustomed to online giving in recent years, but many worshippers still give in person at the services - an option not available for now.

“We’ll be asking them to sign up (for online giving) or mail a check,” said Kim. He will be urging congregants to bolster the church’s “mercy fund” for use assisting hard-up members of the community as job losses multiply.

In addition to his pastoral duties Kim is president of the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents more than 45,000 evangelical churches. The NAE will be co-hosting a two-day digital summit next week featuring videos from church leaders advising other pastors nationwide how to respond creatively and effectively to the virus outbreak.

The co-host is the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College in Illinois, which already has offered resources to churches in response to COVID-19.

“Some changes are going to be required,” Kim said. “The church is a very creative institution. In the end it will find ways of fulfilling its mission.”

In Western Massachusetts, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield has indefinitely cancelled all public Masses, and recently rescinded permission for parishioners to pray individually at their churches.

Funeral Masses were still allowed with a maximum attendance of 25; the diocese said the times of those Masses were not to be shared in the media,

“Lack of access to the churches and Eucharist is particularly difficult for many older parishioners whose entire daily routine is built around getting up, out of the house, and going to Mass,” said the Rev. Mark Stelzer, who has served in the diocese as a parish priest and college chaplain.

The Rev. William Tourigny, pastor of Ste. Rose de Lima Church in Chicopee, Massachusetts, said his parish had a solid financial foundation and expected it could maintain all programs and staff payroll for the time being.

“For smaller faith-based communities with little or no reserved funds, difficult decisions will need to be made,” he said.

Joe Wright, executive director of the Bivocational and Small Church Leadership Network in Nashville said many pastors in the network have been holding regular in-person services, while monitoring the spread of the virus.

“Once the coronavirus rises to the level where it starts hitting smaller groups, then we’ll see even the smaller groups back away and seek ways to gather, probably electronically,” he said.

When that happens, Wright said, financial giving will depend on the church, especially the age of the congregations.

“Some churches with older congregations do not give electronically so the transition to that will be a little bit harder,” he said.

Ron Klassen, executive director of Rural Home Missionary Association, said it’s too early to say how the rural churches he represents are being impacted.

“My sense is that in the past, people rise up and, if anything, the giving might increase,” he said. “People are going to give. They’ll take care of their church and their community.”

In Baltimore, pastor Gwynn worries that tensions might rise past the point that church outreach programs can help.

“With all the uncertainty, I’m afraid this could turn into anarchy,” he said. “Not everybody’s patient. Not everybody’s law abiding.”

He even envisioned the possibility of a stampede toward the goods being doled out after church’s annual food drive.

“My biggest fear right now is what’s happening to the minds of our people,” Gwynn said. “How long can we hold them together?’

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AP Religion Editor Gary Fields contributed.