Paramedics are rushing to save lives, including their own | Morning Newsletter
Plus, why Dr. Fauci is cautiously optimistic about a COVID-19 drug.
The Morning Newsletter
Start your day with the Philly news you need and the stories you want all in one easy-to-read newsletter
The federal government will not be extending its social distancing guidelines when they expire today, the last day of April, President Trump said. That means it’ll be up to state governments to ease or strengthen restrictions. For example, New Jersey’s state and county parks, along with golf courses, can reopen at sunrise on Saturday. Philly is also reopening golf courses but on Friday.
— Josh Rosenblat (@joshrosenblat, morningnewsletter@inquirer.com)
My colleagues Jessica Griffin and Wendy Ruderman observed for 10 days the work of paramedics at Narberth Ambulance, which serves Philadelphia’s Main Line communities. They stand at the leading edge of the health-care workers saving coronavirus patients.
Narberth Ambulance’s 50 paid staffers and roughly 80 volunteers sleep, cook, and eat together. Because of the coronavirus, they’ve become a tight-knit family. But where they’ve discovered that newfound joy, they’ve also found a deep fear for the lives of their patients and themselves.
It’s looking likely that Center City will bear the economic brunt of the virus in Philly. People might be finding fewer reasons to actually make the trip downtown, meaning that it might not remain the meeting ground it always has been, writes architecture critic Inga Saffron.
Right now, Walnut Street’s shopping corridor has several stores without merchandise, leaving empty display cases and boarded-up windows. And, after talking to experts, Saffron is skeptical if those stores and restaurants will ever be the same, potentially bringing profound change to Philly’s downtown.
The drug remdesivir appears to help patients recover faster from the coronavirus, according to study results the U.S. government announced yesterday. Except, maybe not, according to a study also published yesterday in a British medical journal.
Is that a contradiction? If you follow clinical trials for a living (and who doesn’t), you’ll know it’s not. When taken together, the two studies appear to conclude that the drug has a modest benefit but is far from a cure. Neither study found the drug improved a person’s chance for survival.
So why is Dr. Fauci cautiously optimistic?
What you need to know today
This Chester County doctor has seen it all, from AIDS to the coronavirus.
Pennsylvania will set benchmarks for coronavirus testing and contact tracing just days before gradual reopening is set to begin. But, both Pennsylvania and New Jersey need more contact tracers to handle the coronavirus.
People on probation are still being jailed during the coronavirus pandemic even though probation is closed in Philly.
Trump, Biden, and their allies are spending millions on Pennsylvania airwaves. But you won’t see their ads in Philly.
Bad flushing habits during the coronavirus lockdown has taken a toll on the city’s water infrastructure. Here’s what that looks like (if you’re currently eating breakfast, be warned). And, here’s a guide to what you can actually flush.
We could see flooding and 50 mph wind gusts.
Through your eyes | #OurPhilly
👽Whoa, that’s cool. Thanks for sharing this shot, @strangerphilly.
Tag your Instagram posts or tweets with #OurPhilly and we’ll pick our favorite each day to feature in this newsletter and give you a shout out!
That’s interesting
👎Far-right trolls are spamming Pennsylvania’s online form to report people who violate social-distancing orders.
🦅So, why did the Eagles draft Jalen Hurts? Because Carson hurts, writes columnist Bob Ford.
🤔A Chester County woman is being held prisoner by a pair of nesting geese. Well, sort of.
💰The NCAA is pushing ahead with opening up endorsement deals for college athletes. Columnist Mike Jensen spoke with some local former college stars about what that could mean.
🎡The coronavirus is canceling county fairs — a rite of summer in rural Pennsylvania.
✨How to clean and disinfect your home, according to the EPA.
Opinions
“Charity is essential right now. But the perception that donors have — and the ways they typically spend their charity — often means that this county of 567,000 is not among the first, or the last, to get charitable checks.” — writes columnist Maria Panaritis writes about an emergency fund helping to feed the newly needy in Delco.
Crowded public places will prolong the coronavirus pandemic, The Inquirer Editorial Board writes.
Jules Lipoff writes about what it’s like for a doctor to call patients with their COVID-19 test results.
What you’re listening to
Today’s recommendation comes from Victoria Alfred-Levow. Victoria has had a chance to catch up on the Bon Appétit Foodcast and was a fan of a recent podcast episode about recipe testing from home because it offered “a window into a hyper-specific job culture and one media company’s creative responses to quarantine parameters.”
Thanks for sharing, Victoria. I’ve been working with some of BA’s recipes for a while now (food pics here) and their YouTube channel can bring some much-needed brightness to your day.
Keep those recommendations coming. Send 'em to morningnewsletter@inquirer.com.
Your Daily Dose of | Dogs vs. COVID-19
Dogs’ keen sense of smell could help screen humans for the coronavirus. A new study at Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine has researchers enlisting the help of Labrador Retrievers, who are being exposed to COVID-19-positive saliva and urine samples. The goal is to see if the dogs can discriminate between COVID-19-positive and COVID-19-negative samples and, eventually, if they can identify the virus in infected people, including people who are asymptomatic.