Year: 2020

The world’s democracies are suffering under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new Freedom House report.     The report, titled Democracy Under Lockdown, says “the COVID-19 pandemic has deepened a crisis for democracy around the world, providing cover for governments to disrupt elections, silence critics and the press, and undermine the accountability needed to protect human rights, as well as public health.”   A possible bright spot, the report says, is “the persistence of public protests, under every type of regime.”   Freedom House President Michael J. Abramowitz said, “Governments in every part of the world have abused their powers in the name of public health, seizing the opportunity to undermine democracy and human rights.”   The report contains a section about the U.S. presidential election, noting that many experts have expressed concern about whether election authorities around the country are fully prepared for the polls, given the surge in voting by mail and the controversy over last-minute changes in election rules.     It came out before U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for coronavirus late Thursday.   The report identifies four problems that have emerged to threaten democracies during the pandemic:  government transparency and information on the coronavirus; corruption, lack of protection for vulnerable populations, and government abuses of power.   Abuses also have extended into elections, with authorities delaying or disrupting national elections in at least nine countries.     “The erosion of political rights and civil liberties …

It’s impossible to tell without a test. Influenza and COVID-19 have such similar symptoms, you may need to get tested to know what’s making you miserable.   Body aches, sore throat, fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue and headaches are symptoms shared by the two. One difference? People with the flu typically feel sickest during the first week of illness. With COVID-19, people may feel the worst during the second or third week, and they may be sicker for a longer period. Another difference: COVID-19 is more likely than the flu to cause a loss of taste or smell. But not everyone experiences that symptom, so it’s not a reliable way to tell the viruses apart. That leaves testing, which will become more important as flu season ramps up this fall in the Northern Hemisphere. Doctors will need to know test results to determine the best treatment.   It’s also possible to be infected with both viruses at the same time, said Dr. Daniel Solomon, an infectious diseases expert at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston. Whether you get tested for one or both viruses may depend on how available tests are and which viruses are circulating where you live, he said. “Right now we are not seeing community transmission of influenza, so widespread testing for the flu is not yet recommended,” Solomon said. Both the flu and coronavirus spread through droplets from the nose and mouth. Both can spread before people know they are sick. …

 White House Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows said Friday U.S. President Donald Trump is experiencing mild effects of the coronavirus after he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19.“The president does have mild symptoms and as we look to try to make sure that not only his health and safety and welfare is good, we continue to look at that for all of the American people,” Meadows said as he spoke to reporters at the White House.Trump’s chief of staff said the president is “not only in good spirits, but very energetic” and remains “committed to working very hard on behalf of the American people.”    White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows speaks to the media after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he and U.S. first lady Melania Trump have both tested positive for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Washington, Oct, 2, 2020.In the early morning hours on Friday (04:54 UTC), Trump tweeted: “Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!”Tonight, @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately. We will get through this TOGETHER!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2020Minutes later, the White House released a memorandum from the 74-year-old president’s physician, Dr. Sean Conley, confirming the positive tests for the Trumps. “The President and First Lady are both well at this time, and they plan to remain at home within the White House during their convalescence,” Conley said. He added that he expects the president “to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering, and I will keep you posted on …

A flight carrying NASA’s new $23 million titanium space toilet, designed as a better fit for female astronauts, failed to launch late Thursday and has another window Friday night. NASA tweeted late Thursday the launch was canceled about 2 minutes before liftoff “due to an unknown problem with a component of ground support equipment.”To recap: Tonight’s launch attempt for FILE – Northrup Grumman’s Antares rocket is poised for launch at the NASA Wallops test flight facility in Wallops Island, Va., Oct. 1, 2020.At barely 100 pounds and 28 inches tall, the new toilet is approximately half as big as the two Russian-built ones at the space station. Its small size makes it a perfect fit for the NASA Orion capsules that will carry astronauts to the moon in a few years. The new toilet is to be used alongside the old one on the U.S. side of the ISS. Like earlier space commodes, air suction, rather than water and gravity, removes the waste. Urine collected by the new toilet will be routed into NASA’s long-standing recycling system to produce water for drinking and cooking. Titanium and other tough alloys were chosen for the new toilet to withstand all the acid in the urine pretreatment. More toilets will be needed as SpaceX launches astronauts to the space station and Boeing stays on course to send up its first crew in less than a year. The typical space station population will go from six to seven with the next SpaceX flight, and even more when nonprofessionals like …

President Donald Trump’s age and weight put him at higher risk of a severe case of COVID-19, but beyond that his prognosis is hard to gauge, experts say.  Trump’s doctor, Sean Conley, confirmed in a statement early Friday that the president and first lady Melania Trump had tested positive for the coronavirus. He said they “are both well at this time.”  “I expect the President to continue carrying out his duties without disruption while recovering,” he added. Trump is 74 years old, and hospitalization rates rise steadily with age. People his age are hospitalized at a rate five times higher than 18-to-29-year-olds, according to the The White House’s Brady press briefing room is almost empty in Washington, Oct. 2, 2020.According to results from his most recent medical exam, Trump is 1.9 meters tall or 6-foot-3 and weighs just under 111 kilos or 244 pounds. That puts his body mass index at the low end of obese.  That triples his risk of hospitalization, according to the CDC. “In general, somebody with those demographics you would have to watch very closely,” said Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease physician and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.  “But it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are likely to have a severe case,” he added.  “This virus has a different trajectory in each person,” Adalja said. COVID-19 infections run the gamut from asymptomatic to lethal. “We don’t know enough about why some people, even if they’re in a high-risk group, have a mild illness …

A little more than a month before the U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump announced early Friday via Twitter that he and first lady Melania Trump have tested positive for the coronavirus and have begun quarantining themselves. In response, Vice President Mike Pence tweeted: “Karen and I send our love and prayers to our dear friends President @realDonaldTrump and @FLOTUS Melania Trump. We join millions across America praying for their full and swift recovery. God bless you President Trump & our wonderful First Lady Melania.”Karen and I send our love and prayers to our dear friends President A woman walks past an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo Friday, Oct. 2, 2020. U.S. stock futures and Asian shares have fallen after U.S. President Donald Trump said he and first lady Melania Trump…Global markets fell following the news of Trump’s diagnosis.Naoya Oshikubo, a senior economist with Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management in Tokyo, told Reuters he was worried that Trump would “become even more aggressive against China” after contracting the virus.  Oshikubo added, “I got the impression that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has become more anti-China after he had COVID-19.” The coronavirus first emerged in China late last year. Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro of Texas expressed concern, tweeting: “It’s not just a matter of the President’s personal health; it’s a matter of national security. This virus has claimed over 200k American lives in 6 months.”If @realdonaldtrump tests positive for COVID-19, the White House needs to be honest with the American people. It’s not just a matter of the President’s personal health; it’s a matter of national security. This virus has claimed over 200k American lives …

Italian scientists this week showed evidence of Martian salt water, raising hopes of finding tiny Martian life swimming in it. NASA says an air leak aboard the International Space Station does not threaten the crew.  And SpaceX’s next batch of StarLink satellites will need to find another ride into orbit. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has the Week in Space. …

New research suggests that the collision of space objects that created Earth’s moon may have robbed it of 10% to 60% of its original atmosphere. Most scientists believe that about 4 billion years ago when Earth was still developing, a massive object the size of Mars hit the planet, sending vaporized particles from the collision into space, which were then bound together through gravity to form Earth’s moon. The so-called “impact hypothesis” is one of three key theories of the moon’s formation. The others suggest the moon was either formed at the same time as Earth, or that it was captured by Earth’s gravitational field as it traveled through space. In the new study published Wednesday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers focused on the impact theory, and ran more than 300 computer simulations of massive object collisions with rocky planets with thin atmospheres like Earth. The scientists factored in the angle at which the objects hit the planet, the speed of the impact, as well as the size and mass of the colliding object. FILE – This image, called “Earthrise,” is the first photograph of a distant blue Earth above the moon, taken by the Apollo 8 crew on Dec. 24, 1968.Previous research suggested impact collisions during the late stages of a planet’s formation period can affect its atmosphere. Expanding on this idea, the simulations in this study revealed that a collision like the one that could have created the moon would have cost the Earth a significant portion of its atmosphere. Lead researcher on …

The U.S. Health and Human Services Department announced a new funding opportunity Thursday for providers on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic Thursday.     The $20 billion relief fund will be provided through the Health Resources and Services Administration and will allow providers who previously have received Provider Relief Fund payments to apply for additional funding.     Under the Phase 3 General Distribution allocation program, financial losses and changes in operating expenses caused by the coronavirus that previously were not covered now will be considered.   Those who were previously ineligible, such as providers who began practicing in 2020, also will be able to apply. In addition, an expanded group of behavioral health providers confronting the mental health and substance abuse issues exacerbated by the pandemic will be able to receive relief benefits.     A recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that cases involving symptoms of anxiety disorders were triple the amount they were during the same period a year ago. The same report showed the prevalence of a depressive disorder has increased by four times since the second quarter of 2019.     To support mental health providers, the HHS partnered with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to increase their funding eligibility. As a result, addiction counseling centers, mental health counselors, and psychiatrists will be able to apply for benefits.     The package comes after HHS issued more than $100 billion in relief funding to providers. Many …

Britain’s primary environmental agency announced that beginning Thursday a ban on all “single-use” beverage straws is in effect, making it illegal for businesses to sell or supply them to individual customers.   The ban was passed and set to take effect in April, but the COVID-19 pandemic prompted law makers to postpone its implementation so as to not impose a further burden on businesses.   A statement Thursday from Britain’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural affairs says the ban includes plastic straws, stirrers and cotton swabs.   In a statement on its official web site, the agency says it is estimated Britain uses 4.7 billion plastic straws, 316 million plastic stirrers, and 1.8 billion plastic-stemmed cotton swabs annually, many of which find their way into the ocean.   In the statement, Britain’s Environment Secretary George Eustice said single-use plastics cause “real devastation to the environment” and the government is firmly committed to tackling the issue.   He said the ban on straws, stirrers and cotton swabs is just the next step in “our battle against plastic pollution and our pledge to protect our ocean and the environment for future generations.”   Exemptions to the ban include disabled persons or those who need them for medical purposes. Some catering businesses also will be allowed to use plastic straws or stirrers in certain circumstances, and businesses may sell some of the banned items to other businesses.  …

The two largest school districts in the U.S. are rolling out ambitious and costly plans to test students and staff for the coronavirus, bidding to help keep school buildings open amid a rise in infections among the nation’s school-age children.New York City is set to begin testing 10% to 20% of students and staff in every building monthly beginning Thursday, the same day the final wave of the district’s more than 1 million students began returning to brick-and-mortar classrooms for the first time in six months.”Every single school will have testing. It will be done every single month. It will be rigorous,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in announcing the plan as part of an agreement with the teachers union to avert a strike. At least 79 Department of Education employees have died from the virus.With an estimated 100,000-120,000 tests expected each month, each costing between $78 and $90, New York City’s school-based testing plan goes well beyond safety protocols seen in most other districts.Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Unified School District, has launched a similarly comprehensive, $150 million, testing program to help determine when it will be safe to resume in-person instruction. The district began the school year remotely in August for all 600,000 students. The New York and Los Angeles systems are respectively the nation’s largest and 2nd-largest school districts.Leaders in both cities say regular testing is needed in districts of their size and in areas of the country that previously witnessed unnerving surges of the …

British Health Minister Matt Hancock announced Thursday the government will broaden new COVID-19-related restrictions to Liverpool and other areas in northwest Britain after a surge in new cases in that region.Speaking to parliament, Hancock said the restrictions are being extended to Liverpool city region, Warrington, Hartlepool and Middlesbrough. The restrictions are the same as those imposed in the northeast on Wednesday: no social mixing between different households indoors.Hancock also recommended against spectators attending professional or amateur sports events.The health minister said the northwest has seen a recent surge in cases. “In Liverpool, the number of cases are 268 per 100,000 population, so together we need to act,” he said.Hancock said the government is providing about $9 million in aid to local governments to support their anti-COVID-19 efforts.He added that despite the quick spread of the virus in some parts of the country, there are early indications from the Imperial College of London that the “R number” — the rate of transmissions between people — is falling.On Wednesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson appealed to citizens to follow the rules not only to protect public health, but the economy as well. He also said he would not hesitate to impose new restrictions where necessary to stop or slow the spread of COVID-19.The disease has killed more than 42,000 people in the United Kingdom, according to the John Hopkins University COVID-19 Coronavirus Resource Center — more than in any other country in Europe.   …

The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday announced charges against 345 people for committing over $6 billion in medical fraud. Those charged include more than 100 doctors, nurses and other medical professionals who filed fraudulent claims to federal health care programs and private insurers, according to the Justice Department. The bulk of the fraud — $4.5 billion — was connected to telemedicine, which has surged during the pandemic. For example, the Cleveland Clinic went from averaging 5,000 telemedicine visits a month before the pandemic to 200,000 visits just in April, the Associated Press reported. “Telemedicine can foster efficient, high-quality care when practiced appropriately and lawfully. Unfortunately, bad actors attempt to abuse telemedicine services and leverage aggressive marketing techniques to mislead beneficiaries about their health care needs and bill the government for illegitimate services,” U.S. Health and Human Services Deputy Inspector General Gary Cantrell said in a statement. “Unfortunately, audacious schemes such as these are prevalent and often harmful.”  FILE – The U.S. Department of Justice headquarters building is seen in Washington, July 13, 2018.According to the Justice Department, some telemedicine company executives allegedly paid doctors and nurse practitioners to order unnecessary medical equipment, medical tests and pain medications without interacting with a patient or with only a brief telephone conversation with a patient they had never seen.  “Durable medical equipment companies, genetic testing laboratories, and pharmacies then purchased those orders in exchange for illegal kickbacks and bribes and submitted false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and other government insurers,” according to a statement from the …

After consulting with Germany’s 16 regional governors, German Chancellor Angela Merkel Wednesday announced new restrictions on the size of gatherings to prevent the country’s coronavirus infection figures from accelerating.At a Berlin news briefing following her virtual meeting with the governors, Merkel said she wants to act regionally and address the virus where it is surging rather than shut down the whole country, which she said should be avoided at all costs.  “In order to achieve this, we must have minimum standards for certain frequencies of infections,” said Merkel.The German chancellor said in places where there are more than 35 new infections per 100,000 residents recorded in a week, the number of people attending gatherings at public or rented facilities should be limited to 50 and no more than 25 should attend events in private homes.She said that where infections hit at least 50 per 100,000 residents, those figures should be cut to 25 and 10 respectively.Merkel said she expects the rate of infection to rise as the change in weather means more people will spend time inside in the coming months. She said the number of daily infections could rise to 19,200 in three months if the rate of infection continues as it has over the past three months.  “This underlines the urgency for us to act,” said Merkel.The chancellor also discouraged travel to high risk areas in Europe in the coming months, saying staying in Germany was a good option. She said low risk European nations such as Italy …

Zimbabwe parks authority officials say they suspect a bacterial disease called hemorrhagic septicemia is behind the recent deaths of at least 34 elephants in the northwestern part of the country.The elephant deaths, which began in late August, come soon after hundreds of elephants died in neighboring Botswana in mysterious circumstances. Authorities subsequently blamed the deaths on toxins produced by another type of bacterium.FILE – A combination photo shows dead elephants in Okavango Delta, Botswana, May-June, 2020. (Photographs obtained by Reuters)Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority Director-General Fulton Mangwanya said Tuesday they have discovered 34 dead elephants, but suspect more may be found.  The elephants were found lying on their stomachs, suggesting a sudden death.Mangwanya said the dead elephants were discovered in an area between the Hwange National Park and Victoria Falls in west-central Zimbabwe, suggesting to him the outbreak has been isolated.Mangwanya said postmortems on some of the elephants showed inflamed livers and other organs. Samples have been sent to the UK and South Africa to confirm the type of disease.Experts say that Zimbabwe’s current elephant population could be close to 90,000.Elephants in Botswana and parts of Zimbabwe are at historically high levels — roughly half of the continent’s 400,000 elephants, according to estimates — but elsewhere on the continent, especially in forested areas, many populations are severely depleted, researchers say.    …

The world recently reached a tragic milestone of one million known deaths linked to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.  Experts say more testing is key to combating the virus’s spread.  A biotech company in Taiwan has developed a robot capable of conducting thousands of COVID tests each day, making it possible to safely revive the economy.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more.Camera: Reuters Producer: Arash Arabasadi      …

Cancer experts in Ghana lament that little attention is paid to screening for colorectal cancer, leading to a high death rate for the disease, despite its relatively low occurrence. They hope the recent death of American actor Chadwick Boseman, the star of the Hollywood film “Black Panther,” might bring fresh awareness. Stacey Knott reports from Accra.By the time a patient comes to Dr. Clement Edusa with colon cancer, it is often too late. The medical director of the Sweden Ghana Medical Center will see cancer that has been misdiagnosed and spread, as the patient has sought out other treatments, including some from ill-equipped small clinics or herbalists. Edusa says while Ghana does not see many cases of colon cancer, as lifestyles change, he expects to see an increase, and there need to be systems in place to provide detection and affordable treatment. “Definitely, there is going to be an increase. But don’t forget that apart from that, you need to have a structure in place to do the screening,” said Edusa. “So, if you don’t have a national program which sort of pulls in the people to do the screening, you won’t get it early. So, you will have an increase in numbers and people coming late, and of course, more fatalities.” August 29th 2020 – Actor Chadwick Boseman has died at the age of 43. He was born on November 29th 1976 in Anderson, South Carolina and died of colon cancer on August 28th 2020 in Los Angeles, California.While fans have been mourning …

Cancer experts in Ghana lament that little attention is paid to screening for colorectal cancers, leading to a high death rate, despite the disease’s relatively low occurrence. The death from colon cancer of American actor Chadwick Boseman, who played the lead role in the Hollywood film Black Panther, might bring fresh awareness of the disease.  Stacey Knott reports from Accra  …

The COVID-19 death toll has climbed to more than one million people worldwide.  And because of a recent surge of infections in many countries including in Europe and the United States, more coronavirus deaths are expected in the coming months. But there are also signs that death rates are dropping and people who contract the virus now are faring better than those infected early on.  VOA correspondent Mariama Diallo has more.Produced by:  Bakhtiyar Zamanov    …

By the time a patient comes to Dr. Clement Edusa with colon cancer, it is often too late.The medical director of the Sweden Ghana Medical Center will see cancer that has been misdiagnosed and spread, as the patient has sought out other treatments, including some from ill-equipped small clinics or herbalists.Edusa said while Ghana does not see many cases of colon cancer, as lifestyles change, he expects to see an increase, and there need to be systems in place to provide detection and affordable treatment.“Definitely, there is going to be an increase,” Edusa said. “But don’t forget that apart from that, you need to have a structure in place to do the screening. So, if you don’t have a national program which sort of pulls in the people to do the screening, you won’t get it early. So, you will have an increase in numbers and people coming late, and of course, more fatalities.”FILE – Chadwick Boseman poses in the press room at the American Music Awards on Nov. 24, 2019, at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles.While fans have been mourning the loss of American actor Chadwick Boseman, who died of colon cancer a month ago, a beloved actor and preacher in Ghana also met this fate this year.Bernard Nyarko’s son Gideon said his dad’s illness was gradual. By the time he got his colon cancer diagnosis, doctors could do little, as it had spread.“He went to the hospital, but they were not able to diagnose the main source …

A British jet suit company has teamed with a paramedic service to test the flying suits’ capabilities for emergency use in Britain’s mountainous northern lake district.Gravity Industries released video Tuesday of a recent test of its jet suit in simulated rescue situations in northwest Britain’s vast Lake District National Park in Cumbria.The jet suit company teamed up with local paramedic team Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS), which says reaching walkers in distress is one of their biggest challenges.In one test simulation, a paramedic in a jet suit – which, in this case, was test pilot and Gravity Industries founder Richard Browning – was sent up a mountain in a scenario in which a 10-year-old girl had fallen from cliffs and sustained a serious leg injury.Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 14 MB480p | 20 MB540p | 29 MB720p | 72 MB1080p | 123 MBOriginal | 127 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioThe paramedic, following coordinates given for the location of the casualty, follows a hiking trial up the steep, rocky terrain, traveling at about 51 kilometers per hour (kph) and reaches the scene in 90 seconds, traveling a distance that might have taken a rescuer as long as 25-30 minutes on foot.GNAAS director Andy Mawson, who reached out to Gravity Industries about using their jet suit for emergency services, says its lifesaving potential “is just huge.”The suit has an altitude limit of 3,658 meters, …

A team of scientists studying data from a satellite orbiting Mars say they have discovered evidence of several lakes of what they believe is salty, liquid water beneath the surface of the planet’s south pole.The discovery, detailed in a study published Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy, expands upon a tentative finding in 2018, which was made using data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express satellite.A radar instrument known as the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS) produced evidence of what astronomers believed was a large saltwater lake under the ice at Mars’s south pole, a finding that was met with excitement and some skepticism at the time.Since then, the same group of scientists examined 10 years’ worth of radar images sent from the spacecraft and found not only more evidence confirming the original salt lake, but enough for at least three more lying underneath the Martian surface.Confirming the existence of liquid water on Mars is significant, in that it could provide a possible habitat for life.The new evidence came after researchers examined over 100 radar images taken by the satellite from 2010 through 2019. The scientists saw what seemed to be several subglacial liquid bodies ranging in size from just over 19 kilometers across to as small as just under 5 kilometers.The average temperature on Mars is around minus 26 degrees Celsius, far too cold for water to remain liquid at the surface. But the researchers believe the lakes maintain their liquid state due …

The number of people killed by COVID-19 has surpassed 1 million, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, which put the total number of infections worldwide at more than 33 million.    Lamenting what he called “an agonizing milestone,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the world to overcome the challenge presented by the pandemic and to learn from past mistakes made at the outset. “Responsible leadership matters,” Gutteres said. “Science matters. Cooperation matters — and misinformation kills.” COVID-19 is the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, which is believed to have originated in Wuhan, China, late last year. As the pandemic reached the grim milestone, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said the actual toll is probably higher.     FILE – Coffins with the bodies of victims of coronavirus are stored waiting for burial or cremation at the Collserola morgue in Barcelona, Spain, Apr. 2, 2020.”If anything, the numbers currently reported probably represent an underestimate of those individuals who have either contracted COVID-19 or died as a cause of it,” Mike Ryan, the WHO’s top emergencies expert, said at a briefing in Geneva.  The one million fatalities are among the more than 33.2 million people around the world who have been sickened by the disease, and there are growing signs that many nations are about to experience a second wave of the outbreak, especially the United States, which leads the world with over 7.1 million total cases, including over 205,000 deaths. FILE – A caution tape is put up around the playground at …

U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to distribute 150 million rapid coronavirus tests and urged governors to use them to reopen schools, amid reporting that a member of his coronavirus task force is concerned the president is receiving incorrect information about the pandemic.In a speech at the White House Rose Garden, Trump called the plan a “massive and groundbreaking expansion” of testing capability, “more than double the number of tests already performed.“Fifty million tests will go to protect the most vulnerable communities, which we’ve always promised to do, including 18 million for nursing homes, 15 million for assisted living facilities,10 million for home health and hospice care, hospice care agencies and nearly 1 million for historically black colleges and universities, and also tribal nation colleges,” Trump said.The administration is encouraging schools to use the rapid Abbott Laboratories tests, which deliver results in 15 minutes, to help restart and maintain in-person teaching so that parents can return to work.   “One hundred million rapid, point-of-care tests will be given to states and territories to support efforts to reopen their economies in schools immediately and fast as they can,” Trump said.   Last week Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden criticized Trump for not having a national standard to safely reopen schools and said that he had released a plan to do so in July.   Biden stressed that reopening schools should only be done with adequate protections including masks and sanitizing and based on health considerations such as the reinfection rate. “If it’s down below one then it’s rational that you can, with those protections, go ahead …