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Wuhan's wet markets return to life

QuickTake Tonight
Bloomberg

Greetings, QuickTake readers! In this edition: EU leaders agree on a rescue package, U.S. jobless claims soar for a third week, and how robocops are keeping Tunisians off the streets.

Wuhan's wet markets reopen

Wuhan's wet markets are buzzing again after the city emerged from lockdown. But even after the Huanan market, where coronavirus was first detected, was shut in January, some of the others never closed. Now, the markets, which sell butchered livestock and live fish and chickens, are at the center of a global debate over whether they should be open at all.

On one side:

  • Dr. Anthony Fauci said coronavirus was a "direct result" of unsanitary markets and it was "mind-boggling" that they remained open. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, sent a letter to Chinese officials, imploring the government to "cease their operation immediately."

On the other:

  • Shutting them down would be "impossible and destructive," said Dr. Zhenzhong Si, who studies food security in China. They're crucial to "urban residents' access to affordable food," and blaming markets "overshadows the true problem: the supply chain of wild animals."

Moving forward:

  • To keep wet markets open as China pushes for economic activity to resume, the challenge will be enforcing the rules against the slaughtering and selling of live animals as more shoppers return.

$ignificant figures

€540 billion. After weeks of wrangling, EU finance ministers agreed on a $590 billion package to help member states, home to 65% of the world's virus deaths, stave off an unprecedented recession.

16.8 million. That many in the U.S. are out of work after 6.6 million filed jobless claims last week, on top of 10 million two weeks ago, amid the global economic shutdown, dubbed the "most severe crisis" since WWII.

60,000. Fauci said that many deaths could occur in the U.S., about half as many estimated a week ago, even as both New York City and the state reported their highest daily fatality totals yet.

Highly quotable

"Early phase of his recovery." Boris Johnson was moved out of the ICU after three days but will continue to be monitored at a London hospital, a Downing Street spokesman said, adding "he is in extremely good spirits."

"Negative one day, positive another." Covid-19 may be "reactivating" in cured people, according to South Korea's CDC, who said 51 recovered patients tested positive again shortly after being released from quarantine.

"Firing nurses in the middle of a plague is absurd." Hospitals in the U.S. are putting employees in an "impossible position" by threatening suspensions for posting on social media about their working conditions.

This is not normal

Crisis point. The virus pandemic is pushing Africa's locust plague to new extremes, with 62 million acres of crops in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia imperiled by bigger, ruinous swarms that may target the Middle East next.

The future is now

"Show me your ID." Police in Tunisia are deploying robocops, equipped with infrared and thermal imaging cameras and an alarm system, to patrol the streets and call out suspected violators of the country's lockdown.

What's good

"We can all help." After having to lay off 95 workers, NYC restauranteur Luca Di Pietro enlisted his family to deliver free meals to medical workers, helping him "find a purpose in these crazy times"—and start rehiring staff.

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BTW: These very good dogs are in training to sniff out coronavirus—even in asymptomatic people. See how.

Thanks for reading!
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Andrew Mach

 

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