7 Major Coronavirus Developments — Legal Challenges Brewing to COVID-19 Restrictions — May 14
GoLocalProv News Team
7 Major Coronavirus Developments — Legal Challenges Brewing to COVID-19 Restrictions — May 14
Wisconsin's highest court sided with Republican lawmakers in a decision that curbed the power of Democratic Evers.
In Rhode Island, no lawsuit has been filled, but the conservative think tank, The RI Center for Freedom and Prosperity, is threatening legal action.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTA six-page analysis, conducted by the Flanders Legal Center for Freedom, a new initiative of the Center, reviews the Rhode Island General Laws that vest emergency powers with the Governor. In examining the statutes under RI General Laws § 30-15, those powers are neither unlimited, unchecked, nor intended to be exercised with unbridled discretion, according to the Center.
"It is vital that a balance of power be maintained and that the General Assembly seriously consider its important role in preserving our rights," said Mike Stenhouse, the Center's CEO. "Many Rhode Islanders feel that the Governor prematurely shut-down our summer fun. She may also have done so illegally. The General Assembly can be heroes and give us our summer back."
The legal analysis was written by former Rhode Island State Supreme Court Judge Robert Flanders — who was a failed GOP candidate for the United States Senate — and questions the following as to whether Governor Gina Raimondo exceeded her legal authority in issuing executive orders and other edicts:
- Did the Governor exceed clear time limitations when she effectively shut down mid-to-large-sized summer events and activities?
- Did the Governor illegally reschedule the June Presidential Primary, with arbitrarily imposed new voting and voter-ID rules?
- Did the Governor infringe on religious rights by limiting church crowds, while allowing larger gatherings in other, secular settings?
- Do the Governor's arbitrary limitations on the number of people who are permitted to peaceably assemble violate our First Amendment rights?
7 Major Coronavirus Developments — May 14, 2020
Economic Warning
The World Health Organization cautioned that the virus might linger for a long time.
'It is important to put this on the table: This virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities, and this virus may never go away,' said Mike Ryan, the head of the W.H.O. emergency response team," reports the New York Times.
State to Provide Cleaning Materials
The state will be distributing 500,000 masks and disinfectant solution to Rhode Island businesses through chambers of commerce and industry associations.
These supplies will be available to small businesses with 50 or fewer employees, including retailers, restaurants, grocery stores, manufacturers, and others.
Starting next week, businesses will be able to pick up a month’s supply of face coverings as well as a voucher for a gallon of disinfectant that can be purchased from any Rhode Island Ocean State Job Lot store.
To obtain these supplies, businesses must show they’ve completed their COVID-19 Control Plan. Templates are available on ReopeningRI.com. For more information about supplies and to find a list of participating chambers and business associations, visit CommerceRI.com.
PHOTO: Lilly M. CC
SBA Refuses to Disclose Stimulus Information
GoLocal in April filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Small Business Administration and the agency has refused to provide the information.
Simultaneously, a number of national press organizations have filed a lawsuit.
Media Post reports:
Five news outlets, including The New York Times this week sued the U.S. Small Business Administration for more information about its Paycheck Protection Program. The lawsuit accuses the SBA of stonewalling their requests for greater disclosure, but it's more likely the federal agency is overwhelmed by a program quickly cobbled together amid a disastrous pandemic.
The Washington Post, ProPublica, Bloomberg and Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones are also plaintiffs in the suit. They claimed they requested SBA records to determine who received the more than $700 billion in public assistance through the controversial program.
The SBA violated the Freedom of Information Act, a law aimed at making the government more transparent, by denying their requests for records, the publications said.
“Plaintiffs submitted these FOIA requests and sought expedited processing of them because of the public interest in contemporaneously monitoring the disbursement of billions of taxpayer dollars," according to the suit. "The SBA has until now routinely provided such information about businesses that take out SBA loans.”
"Darkest Winter"
Rick Bright, former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority is scheduled to testify before Congress on Thursday.
Bright was reassigned by the Trump administration and he has turned whistleblower.
He has previewed his testimony and claims that the country faces the “darkest winter in modern history” if there is not a better federal response.
Is Plasma The Solution?
The Wall Street Journal is reporting on Thursday:
A study of thousands of COVID-19 patients who received blood plasma transfusions from recovered patients indicates the experimental therapy appears to be safe, paving the way for future studies and clinical trials.
A team of researchers at Mayo Clinic, Michigan State University and Johns Hopkins University examined health outcomes of 5,000 hospitalized patients around the U.S. who received convalescent plasma treatment, and found the transfusions resulted in few serious side effects and there wasn’t an excessive mortality rate.
The study, posted Thursday on a public server called Medrxiv, hasn’t undergone peer review or publication in a scientific journal. Researchers found serious adverse events occurred in fewer than 1% of the treated patients, and the mortality rate seven days after transfusion was 14.9%.
Numbers
11,835 Cases in Rhode Island
79,332 Cases in Massachusetts
462 Deaths in RI
5,141 Deaths in Massachusetts
1,408,745 Cases in the United States
83,449 Deaths in the United States
4,362,876 Global Cases
293,344 Global Deaths
1,613,326 Global Recoveries
GoLocal LIVE -- Thursday, May 14, 2020
12:00 PM - Dr. Michael Fine, Former RI Director of Health
1:00 PM - Governor Gina Raimondo Briefing
4:00 PM - Dr. Alyson McGregor of the Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University. She will discuss her new book, Sex Matters.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Gov. Raimondo has reversed her policy and is now allowing reporters to attend press conferences and directly ask questions. For more than 6 weeks she had blocked reporters from directly asking questions for the public to hear.
