Thread by @undarkmag

Some of the latest #Covid19 updates from the publications, journalists, and experts Undark is following. Wednesday, April 15, 2020, 5:30 p.m. (EDT). 🧵#UndarkCovid19

The head of the WHO today expressed “regret” that President Trump intends to cut off U.S. funding to the agency over its handling of the #Covid19 pandemic and stressed the importance of global unity. (By @HelenBranswell for @statnews) (1/17)

statnews.com/2020/04/15/who…

A draft State Department memo says cutting U.S. funding to the WHO would “cede ground” to China and hobble the global response to the coronavirus pandemic. (By @yjtorbati for @propublica) (2/17)

propublica.org/article/trump-…

According to health officials, South Africa might start by unlocking transport hubs in low-transmission areas while asking vulnerable groups to continue to stay home. (By @lindanordling for @newsfromscience) (3/17)

sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/s…

A $349 billion federal pandemic relief program for U.S. small businesses is expected to run out of money this afternoon, according to officials familiar with the situation. (By @elwasson, @JenniferJJacobs, and @mniquette for @business) (4/17)

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

The Chinese government appears to have quietly introduced policies that require scientists studying #Covid19 to get approval to publish or publicize results, according to documents seen by Nature. (By @asilver360 and @Cyranoski for @naturenews) (5/17)

nature.com/articles/d4158…

The situation highlights a conflict between the Trump administration’s stance then on the use of masks and the race behind the scenes to obtain them for White House personnel. (By @CarolLeonnig, @lizzadwoskin, and @John_Hudson for @washingtonpost) (6/17)

washingtonpost.com/politics/as-us…

The spread of SARS-CoV-2 is affecting the way we manufacture all sorts of products, and the way we get those products to where they’re needed. (By @maggiekb1 for @FiveThirtyEight) (7/17)

fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-c…

For some transgender students, campus closures have sent them back to homes where they aren’t safe or don’t have access to health care. Others couldn’t go home at all. (By @mollyhc for @buzzfeednews) (8/17)

buzzfeednews.com/article/mollyh…

A Baltimore nursing home is reporting 129 cases of coronavirus among its residents and 41 positive tests among its staff in one of the largest outbreaks of #Covid19 in the U.S. (By @ssdance for @baltimoresun) (9/17)

baltimoresun.com/coronavirus/bs…

Compared with other big news stories, the pandemic presents a particularly difficult challenge for professional fact-checkers. The situation is uncertain and fast-evolving, and misinformation can be deadly. (By @ElaheIzadi for @washingtonpost) (10/17)

washingtonpost.com/media/2020/04/…

Even as efforts ramp up to collect plasma from survivors, one’s chances of procuring the still-unproven treatment appear to depend on accidents of geography, social-media savvy, and the willingness of physicians. (By @JoNel_Aleccia for @KHNews) (11/17)

khn.org/news/a-despera…

Researchers are working furiously to identify medications to combat the novel coronavirus that causes #Covid19. Here’s a rundown of some of the trials now underway. (By @TeresaRCarr for @ConsumerReports) (12/17)

consumerreports.org/medical-treatm…

Boston city councilors are calling for local hospitals and health authorities to consider how systemic racism causes public health disparities, a reality that has taken on added urgency during the pandemic. (By @Danny__McDonald for @BostonGlobe) (13/17)

bostonglobe.com/2020/04/15/nat…

A third Transportation Security Administration employee has died from #Covid19, according to the agency, and 405 officers have tested positive at 51 airports. (By @tatecurtis for @USATODAY) (14/17)

usatoday.com/story/travel/2…

The tents, operated by the evangelical Christian relief group Samaritan’s Purse, have the look of an Ebola treatment unit in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where some of its staff have previously been deployed. (By @sherifink for @nytimes) (15/17)

nytimes.com/2020/04/15/nyr…

Conservative critics have attacked the modeling behind #Covid19 responses, and they claim — despite evidence to the contrary — that the flaws also prove the limits of climate change forecasts. (@scottpwaldman for @EENewsUpdates, @newsfromscience) (16/17)

sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/u…

More than a quadrillion quadrillion individual viruses exist on Earth, but most are not poised to hop into humans. Can we find the ones that are? (By @KatherineJWu for @SmithsonianMag) (17/17)

nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/0…

Correction on item 17^ should read @KatherineJWu for @NatGeo.