7. Democratic National Convention postponed
- Originally planned for July 13-16, the Democratic National Convention will now be pushed back to the week of August 17 due to concerns of the coronavirus.
- Democratic National Convention Committee CEO Joe Solmonese said this decision was made “to monitor how this situation unfolds so we can best position our party for a safe and successful convention.” Just a day before this was announced, former Vice President Joe Biden said he expected the convention to be postponed until August.
6. Prisons on a two-week lockdown
- The Alabama Department of Corrections has noted that they have zero coronavirus cases, but federally there are 37 workers and 57 inmates who have tested positive so, in an attempt to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has ordered that all facilities be on lockdown for the next two weeks.
- This shutdown includes three federal prisons in Alabama. A worker at the Talladega prison has tested positive for the coronavirus. During the lockdown, inmates will be confined to “their assigned cells/quarters to decrease the spread of the virus.”
5. There’s a new House committee for the coronavirus
- A new committee is being created to oversee actions taken against the coronavirus. The committee will have subpoena powers to get information from President Donald Trump, which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said, “It’s no use having a committee unless you have subpoena power.”
- Pelosi said that subpoenas wouldn’t be about “investigation of the administration,” which no one believes, but it’s about the coronavirus response. The House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis will be chaired by U.S. Representative James Clyburn (D-SC).
4. Trump wants Sessions to stop mentioning him
- According to a report published by the New York Times, President Donald Trump’s campaign COO Michael Glassner sent a letter to former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ 2020 U.S. Senate campaign requesting that Sessions stop tying himself to Trump. Glassner said it was a “delusional assertion” for Sessions to claim he’s Trump’s number one supporter.
- The letter also accused the campaign of trying to confuse voters with Sessions’ support of Trump actually supporting Sessions, saying, “Nothing could be further from the truth.” In response, Sessions campaign spokesperson John Rogers has released a statement emphasizing how well Sessions would represent the people of Alabama and once again calling for former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville to debate.
3. Brooks wants to see people get back to work
- U.S. Representative Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) has co-authored a letter with U.S. Representatives Bill Foster (D-IL) and Ami Bera (D-CA) that asks the federal government to push “coronavirus antibody testing since it tells us who can safely return to work.”
- U.S. Representatives Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham) and Robert Aderholt (R-Haleyville) have both signed the letter. A main argument in the letter is that many people who were “young and minimally symptomatic” have already built up an immunity to the virus. Brooks would like to see the government “deploy these antibody tests rapidly and widely to help America’s medical profession acquire another weapon in the fight against COVID-19.”
2. There are more than 1 million coronavirus cases worldwide
- The number of coronavirus cases across the globe has surpassed 1 million, and there are more than 51,300 deaths worldwide, with 500,000 of those cases being added within the last week. Alabama currently has almost 1,300 cases and 17 confirmed deaths from the illness.
- The United States has the most cases reported in one country with at least 234,462 cases, which has been credited to the level of widespread testing that’s occurred. And while China has reported the fifth-highest number of cases and deaths, U.S. intelligence officials have said this is due to them purposely underreporting their coronavirus cases and deaths.
1. Ivey holds question and answer session, discusses shelter-in-place
- President Donald Trump’s coronavirus task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci has repeatedly called for a national shelter-in-place order, but Governor Kay Ivey continues to resist. She was asked again during a Twitter Q&A session about why she is yet to order Alabamians to shelter-in-place, especially when a majority of the country has already done so, to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
- Ivey responded to these questions by saying, “All health care options are being considered.” The governor added that she’s “in communication with local, state & federal officials on a daily basis. We are taking a measured approach to keep Alabamians healthy, safe & working, wherever possible.”
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