Coronavirus: Evening update as families of NHS staff who die get compensation
Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus outbreak this Monday evening. We'll have another update on Tuesday morning.
1. Families to get compensation for NHS staff deaths
Health Secretary Matt Hancock, giving the daily No 10 briefing, has said families of front-line NHS and social care staff who die with coronavirus will receive a £60,000 payment. Mr Hancock announced the "life assurance scheme" as he confirmed 82 NHS staff and 16 care workers have died. There will be a minute's silence across the UK at 11:00 BST on Tuesday to remember key workers who have lost their lives. It comes as the number of hospital deaths from coronavirus in the UK rose by 360 to 21,092.
2. UK at moment of maximum risk - PM
Boris Johnson has urged the public not to lose patience with the lockdown, saying the UK is at "the moment of maximum risk" in the coronavirus outbreak. The PM, who spoke outside No 10 for the first time since recovering from the virus, said he refused to "throw away" people's "effort and sacrifice" by relaxing restrictions too soon. BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg called the speech "serious", but "largely designed to hold the line".
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Media captionWatch again: Boris Johnson's full statement outside 10 Downing Street 3. Urgent alert as rare syndrome seen in children
GPs have been told to look out for a rare but dangerous reaction in children that may be linked to coronavirus. An urgent alert issued by NHS England said there was "growing concern" that a coronavirus-related inflammatory syndrome was emerging in children in the UK. It is unclear how many have been diagnosed, although the numbers will be low. Symptoms can include a high temperature, low blood pressure, a rash and difficulty breathing. But experts stress that very few children become severely ill with coronavirus.
Image copyright Getty Images 4. Small firms to get 100% state-backed loans
Small firms are to get access to 100% taxpayer-backed loans after they raised concerns about slow access to existing coronavirus rescue schemes. Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the scheme would start next week, offering firms loans up to £50,000 within days of applying. It comes as the chairman of the retail firm Timpson warned that some High Street shops won't survive the lockdown. Meanwhile, Greggs is to become the latest food retailer to reopen some of its outlets despite the restrictions.
Image copyright PA Media 5. Girl aims for 7.1m keepy-uppies
A football-mad 10-year-old girl has urged people to help her do 7.1 million keepy-uppies, one for each UK key worker, to raise money for charities. Imogen Papworth-Heidel, whose parents work for the NHS, said she was inspired after seeing war veteran Captain Tom Moore, 99, doing laps of his garden to raise millions for the NHS. She hopes to raise £1,300 by keeping her football up in the air as many times as she can.
Image copyright Karl Heidel
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If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in.Herbert George Wells classic novel and its science fiction movie versions, “The War of the Worlds,” those invading aliens who are ravaging planet Earth are finally done in not by guns, tanks, the combined armies of all the countries of the world, or even nuclear bombs. Instead the savior was a microscopic infectious virus for which the mighty aliens have no immunity. One of the smallest organisms in the world saved us.
Today, our financial system and the global economy are getting clubbed by a tiny infectious strain of virus. Amazingly, this virus has liquidated some $10 trillion of wealth in stock market losses across the globe and potentially trillions of dollars more in lost output. The vulnerabilities we never even think of that can come in and wreak international havoc are stunning. Here are a few ways to help inoculate the country and yourself from the path of economic destruction fueled by coronavirus.
First, do not sell stocks in a down market. This is not to say that we have not hit the end of the selloff. It is probably not over. But it is long past the point of selling stocks, and the high likelihood is that, two, five, or 10 years from now, stocks will be a good deal higher than they are today. In every past health scare, from ebola to severe acute respiratory syndrome, once the virus is contained, the market and economy roar back to life.
Second, thank God we do not have a government run health care system in America. In China, the Communist Party controls the medical system across that land of one billion people, and it has bungled everything. The government has lied, panicked, and treated its own citizens like cattle exposed to mad cow disease. Communists have no regard for individual human life, and it shows in China. This is the second largest economy in the world, but you can be sure that the cure or vaccine will not be coming out of China. Think about this the next time you hear Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren pitching “Medicare for All” on the campaign trail.
Third, temporary tax cuts and government spending will have no impact. Temporary tax cuts, like payroll tax cuts, will not have any real benefit. Keynesian stimulus plans have never stimulated the economy. Just ask former President Obama about his $830 billion debt bomb that failed to create a single net new job, according to his own administration.
Fourth, the Federal Reserve should inject the economy with dollar liquidity to quell a dollar shortage. Prices of things like commodities, from cotton to copper and silver to lumber, are down about 12 percent since the reign of terror of coronavirus began. Meanwhile, the 30 year Treasury bill selling at a 1.7 percent interest rate means that investors are betting there will be no hint of inflation for decades. Falling prices can be contractionary, and swift action by the Federal Reserve is advisable to keep the economy from collapsing. Its critical decision to cut interest rates today is a start.
Fifth, politicians should stop attacking pharmaceutical companies. It is not just Sanders or Warren who attack “Big Pharma” for their “obscene profits,” but even Republicans, including President Trump Donald John TrumpAs Biden surges, GOP Ukraine probe moves to the forefront Republicans, rooting for Sanders, see Biden wins as setback Trump says Biden Ukraine dealings will be a 'major' campaign issue MORE. We all want lower drug prices, and we should address the government policies that drive up drug prices. However, it is moments like this that remind us of the benefits of lifesaving drugs and vaccines. Anything that makes new drug development less rewarding, such as imposing price controls, slows the race for cures. Think about this question. How much would you be willing to pay for a vaccine that would inoculate you from the coronavirus?
Sixth, the fatuous attacks that Trump caused this virus to spread because of budget cuts are a new low in politics. It took the liberals at CNN and the New York Times about 15 minutes to find a way to blame the coronavirus on the president. The New York Times called the coronavirus the “Trump virus” because of some supposed budget cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at the National Institutes of Health.
The fact is that we are spending more on public health and on disease control and prevention than ever before in history. We will find effective treatments, as well as a vaccine, and it will most likely come from private companies in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health. Perhaps if so many tens of billions of dollars had not been diverted to such wasteful climate change research and away from preventing diseases, we would be closer to having treatments to new killer viruses like this one. This is just something to think about as our leaders work hard to contain it.
Every resident in San Francisco's Mission neighborhood offered test for coronavirus
Emiliano Garcia, 4 watches third year UCSF medical student Natalie Kucirek prick his mother's finger during an antibody test for COVID-19 during UCSF's mass testing study at Garfield Square. A comprehensive study of the virus's spread held by UC San Francisco researchers in partnership with San Francisco Department of Public Health and Zuckerberg General, mass testing is provided free of charge for the 5700 residents in a one mile square radius of the Mission district.
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Emiliano Garcia, 4 watches third year UCSF medical student Natalie Kucirek prick his mother's finger during an antibody test for COVID-19 during UCSF's mass testing study at Garfield Square. A comprehensive
... more Photo: Mike Kai Chen
Emiliano Garcia, 4 watches third year UCSF medical student Natalie Kucirek prick his mother's finger during an antibody test for COVID-19 during UCSF's mass testing study at Garfield Square. A comprehensive study of the virus's spread held by UC San Francisco researchers in partnership with San Francisco Department of Public Health and Zuckerberg General, mass testing is provided free of charge for the 5700 residents in a one mile square radius of the Mission district.
less
Emiliano Garcia, 4 watches third year UCSF medical student Natalie Kucirek prick his mother's finger during an antibody test for COVID-19 during UCSF's mass testing study at Garfield Square. A comprehensive
... more Photo: Mike Kai Chen
Every resident in San Francisco's Mission neighborhood offered test for coronavirus
For more coverage, visit our complete coronavirus section here.
UCSF launched an effort over the weekend to offer free, voluntary COVID-19 testing to every resident in a densely populated section of the Mission District, a neighborhood with among the highest number of coronavirus cases in San Francisco.
UCSF had tested 1,734 individuals in the neighborhood as of Monday morning and that number is growing.
The study is meant to reveal the invisible spread of the virus and help inform future testing efforts in other communities.
“All our public health decisions, including when it will be possible to relax regional and statewide shelter-in-place orders, are driven by rough assumptions about how this virus behaves based on very limited data,” said Dr. Bryan Greenhouse, an associate professor of medicine at UCSF, in a statement.
Greenhouse said studying the spread in detail will give researchers "crucial data points that we can extrapolate to better predict how to control the virus in similar communities nationwide.” UCSF is implementing a similar effort in Bolinas.
Testing began in the Mission District on April 25 and will continue through April 28. Testing at pop-up sites is available to approximately 5,200 residents in a 16-block area running from Cesar Chavez to 23rd Street and South Van Ness to Harrison Street (see a map in the gallery above). Find out if your address is eligible at unidosensalud.org.
COVID-19 Precautions After The Economy Re-Opens
Question: I would like to come in for a consultation and some treatments. I worry for my safety and the risk of going places, especially due to my age. Doctor’s offices have busy waiting rooms with many staff. Is there a way to have my rejuvenation treatments without the risk of such exposure?
Answer: Your concerns are very natural. While we can’t stay locked down forever, I too have concerns about resuming activities especially at restaurants, hair salons and gyms where social distancing and the wearing of masks are challenging. You just can’t control how other people may behave.
It doesn’t help to hear of some states opening their economies before they are ready. While I hope that our state officials will make wise choices on how and when to open Florida safely, I am instituting additional safety precautions above and beyond what our public officials may recommend.
During lockdown, I’ve had time to think about how some patients may be scared about visiting a doctor’s office. So I’ve put in place the kind of measures that would make me feel safe if I were a patient visiting a plastic surgeon’s office. I also invite you to email me at drmandal@comcast.net to let me know what other precautions you would like to see instituted in order for you to feel safe and comfortable visiting my office.
COVID-19 Safety Precautions:
• Contactless digital thermometers to check temperatures prior to allowing patients beyond the waiting room. 99% of COVID symptomatic people have elevated temperature.
• Patient evaluations by phone the day prior to appointments. Those suspected of a history of exposure or COVID19 symptoms must postpone their appointments.
• In addition to pre-visit phone screening, all patients must complete a questionnaire on arrival to the office and will not be seen if suspected of a history of exposure to or have COVID19 symptoms.
• Only one patient will be allowed in the office waiting room at a time.
• Only one patient allowed in back office at a time.
• Reduced staff to control risk of exposure.
• Patient primarily interacts with doctor during office visit.
• Disinfection of exposed surfaces with disinfectants and Ultraviolet C germicidal devices between patients.
• Patients must bring their own pen to then office.
• Patients will be required to wear masks at all times except during actual treatment or evaluation.
• I or any staff member interacting with patients will wear N95 masks and wash hands between patients. Unlike regular medical/surgical masks, N95 masks can reduce the risk of exposure to very small virus particles by 95% or more. Such masks can significantly reduce my risk of contracting the virus from asymptomatic patients and can, in turn, prevent me from passing it onto another patient.
• All patient credit cards and patient paper work is handled by my office with gloves.
• Glass protective shields are present at check in and check out to protect patients.
• All delivery and non-patient services use back door to avoid contact with patients.
• Cleaning services, AC services, etc. are not permitted entry into office without protective masks and gloves and only at times not interfering with patient flow.
• In the early stages of re-opening, the focus will be non-invasive and less invasive rejuvenation treatments until I feel it is safe to resume surgery.
Aggressively maintaining your safety as well as mine is one of the best ways to significantly reduce risk of exposure to the virus and is of the utmost importance in reopening of the economy. I prefer to use more stringent safety protocols than what state and local authorities recommend.
Again, I invite you to email me at drmandal@comcast.net to share your opinion on any other safety measures that may be of help to assure your safety in my office.
During COVID19 lockdown, I am offering virtual consultations which can be done from the comfort of your home. Please contact my office at 561-238-0040 if you would like to schedule a virtual consultation. For the first 5 new patients who call to schedule and complete a virtual consultation, they will receive a $250 gift certificate towards a service in my office (assuming, of course, that they are eligible and a candidate for the procedure). This certificate can be used when the lockdown is lifted and you visit my office in person. It will not expire for 2 years.
Dr. Anita Mandal is a double Board Certified Facial Plastic Surgeon practicing since 1998. She exclusively specializes in facial rejuvenation and non-invasive body contouring. In addition to being on the medical staff at Jupiter Medical Center, her offices house both surgical and laser suites. Dr. Mandal is committed to giving her patients the most natural looking results.
Researchers are conducting two types of tests to identify those individuals who are currently infected and those who previously had the virus. The diagnostic tests for active COVID-19 are implemented by collecting samples with nasal swabs while the antibody test is done with a finger-prick to collect a blood sample. Results are available within 72 hours.
People who test positive will get immediate follow-up calls from UCSF infectious disease experts while those who test negative will be expected to continue to following the shelter-in-place order "because of the possibility of false negative test results and a general lack of information about the potential for reinfection with the disease," according to a statement from UCSF.
"The COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately affecting the Latinx community in San Francisco, both in terms of infection rates and economic hardship, and we have been partnering very closely with the Latino Task Force for COVID-19 to support this community by working to disrupt transmission of the disease,” said Dr. Carina Marquez, an assistant professor of medicine at UCSF.
Study results are expected to be available as early as late May.
WASHINGTON, Mo. (AP) — Some businesses near St. Louis are reopening with some safety measures in place, after local officials lifted restrictions meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The relaxation of the Franklin County order allowed golf courses, movie theaters, concert halls, gyms, fitness studios, tanning salons, bowling alleys and skating rinks to reopen Saturday as long as they adhere to social-distancing guidelines, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported
At Anytime Fitness in Washington, business was running at about 20% of a normal Saturday because of the statewide limit keeping gatherings to 10 or fewer people at a time, said Sean Leslie, one of the owners. Classes haven't resumed because it would put the gym over the limit.
Leslie said he wasn't charging customers because it didn’t feel right when he couldn’t open fully. He said the business opened because, “This makes the members happy.”
Kia Herbst, one of those members, said, “It’s like a part of you is missing.” Hebrst, who is 16 weeks pregnant, said her family knows how important working out is for her mental and physical well-being.
The businesses had been closed since March 24, and Franklin County Commissioner Tim Brinker said the reaction to the changes has been positive.
Several gyms said that they would wait until May 4, when Gov. Mike Parson said he would allow most businesses to reopen. Parson said rules governing that reopening would be released Monday.
The Nothing Fancy skating rink near Union was dark on Saturday afternoon.
Two county movie theaters both cited the state’s 10-person limit, adding that they also lacked new movies to show. After most states shuttered movie theaters, many new releases were diverted to on-demand and streaming services.
Washington Mayor Sandy Lucy said in an email to the newspaper that the majority of city businesses would be waiting until May 4 to reopen, although a few gyms planned to do so before then.
As of Sunday, health officials reported that 274 people in Missouri had died of COVID-19 and that there had been 6,997 confirmed cases of the disease. The actual number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested and studies suggest that people can be infected without feeling sick.
Experts worry politics will guide voters’ virus precautions
WASHINGTON (AP) — Laura Herd says she sleeps better because her state’s governor, Michigan Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, imposed one of the nation’s strictest stay-at-home orders to combat the coronavirus pandemic. President Donald Trump’s actions are another story.
“His goal is to get the economy back up so he stands a chance in November,” said Herd, 36, of Traverse City, Michigan, who works for an environmental news service. “But he’s not willing to listen to the experts about what that really means.”
Herd’s skepticism about Trump’s desire to push the country back toward normal isn’t uncommon, especially among her fellow Democrats and many independents. That’s prompting concern by public health professionals that voters will use partisan lenses to decide which policymakers they heed as communities consider easing restrictions that have smothered normal life — a potentially dangerous dynamic.
“You’ll get more people sick and run the risk of more people dying, because you’ll have such confusion because people won’t know what to do,” said Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, which represents professionals and organizations in the field. “They’ll selectively pick the advice that aligns with their ideology.”
Underscoring that people’s political views are already guiding opinions on state-imposed restrictions, MAGA hat-wearing Trump supporters, gun rights advocates and backers of right-wing causes have demonstrated outside governors’ mansions and state Capitols in several states, demanding that the curbs be eased.
In a remarkable action by a president, Trump fired out three tweets on Friday urging his followers to “LIBERATE” Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia. Each are states where conservative demonstrators have demanded that Democratic governors relax curbs they’ve imposed on families, business and travel.
Trump has wanted states to relax restrictions by May 1 and has inaccurately claimed “total” authority to decree how that happens. Many governors, mostly Democrats, have long made clear they’ll ease restrictions at their own pace.
Trump had seemed to retreat on Thursday, when the White House issued vague guidelines for gradually returning to normal activities that left final decisions to the states.
“From a public health point of view, you want a unified position from government regarding what’s the best way to protect people,” said Robert Blendon, a health policy professor at Harvard University’s School of Public Health.
AP interviews around the country found voters navigating the pandemic on their own and dubious about advice from the other party’s leaders. Many expressed confidence in top public health officials like Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, fixtures at Trump’s press briefings.
Fauci is the government’s top infectious disease expert and Birx is the White House coronavirus task force coordinator.
Ted Hill of Asheville, N.C., a Republican and retired accountant, praised Trump and said local officials’ restrictions have gone too far.
“Good Lord, if you go into a supermarket without a mask, they look at you like you have two heads,” he said. Hill said Trump “surrounds himself with good people” and gets good results.
Niki Waldron of Vallejo, Calif., said she’s glad Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom imposed an early stay-at-home order. But she worries about friends and family living in Trump-friendly areas and thinks advisers like Fauci and Birx must guard against angering Trump.
“I don’t feel like the rest of our federal government is necessarily basing their judgments on sound science,” Waldron said.
David Barr, 53, who said he usually votes Republican, said Whitmer’s restrictions were hurting businesses like golf courses that he said could operate safely.
“We don’t need a month to start reopening the economy,” said Barr, who works for a group of radio stations in northern Michigan. He said Whitmer’s “credibility is questionable.”
A confused public reaction to whether they should begin stepped up activities could do more than complicate efforts to keep people safe and revive the dormant economy. The question of whose advice voters follow — and whether it proves wise or disastrous — could be a major political battlefield for this November’s presidential and congressional elections.
Trump’s reelection prospects would be badly damaged if today’s Depression-era levels of unemployment and failed businesses don’t improve. He invited numerous congressional Republicans and Democrats to join a White House task force on rebooting the country, which he could use to shield himself from blame by arguing he is relying on bipartisan advice.
A fresh push by Trump to loosen restrictions would be especially potent in GOP-leaning states, where “there’ll be a lot of pressure on those states’ politicians to lighten up,” said Joseph Antos, a health policy expert at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.
“If there’s a big fight with the governors versus Trump, it would be really bad for public health,” said Drew Altman, president of the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation. “The public won’t know what to believe.”
Fact-checkers have documented thousands of falsehoods by Trump since he became president. Since the pandemic began, polls have underscored how poorly he’s trusted to handle the disease and how views of his competency are divided along party lines.
In a late March survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 44 percent overall approved of Trump’s handling of the outbreak. Those high marks came from around 8-in-10 Republicans, but less than 2-in-10 Democrats and about 4-in-10 independents.
Federal public health authorities like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state and local officials are more trusted than Trump for handling the outbreak, polls show.
And a poll this week by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that nearly two-thirds of people are more worried about states moving too quickly to lift restrictions, rather than too slowly. That sentiment was expressed more strongly by Democrats than Republicans.
Looking to maximize public faith as the economy reopens, business groups have urged the White House to make clear that its guidelines are endorsed by trusted authorities, not just Trump.
“People will be more comfortable if they see the advice is from public health officials,” said Neil Bradley, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s chief policy officer.
New York residents sue World Health Organization over coronavirus response
Residents of the New York's Westchester County on Monday sued the World Health Organization, accusing it of gross negligence in covering up and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Three residents of Westchester County accused the WHO of failing to quickly declare a pandemic, monitor China’s response to the original outbreak, provide treatment guidelines, advise members on how to respond including through travel restrictions, and coordinate a global response.
The lead plaintiffs in the suit — Richard Kling, a doctor, Steve Rotker, and Gennaro Purchia — claim they were “injured and damaged by WHO’s negligent conduct.”
President Trump last week had frozen funds to the United Nations health agency over "mismanaging" the crisis and not acting fast enough as the disease spread worldwide.
The US is the biggest single contributor to the United Nations' health agency. Trump had said the virus could have been contained if the WHO had accurately assessed the situation in China, where the virus broke out.
World Health Organization(WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,55, said that there "is nothing hidden from the US from day one" while adding that "there is no secret in WHO".
The US has been hit the hardest with the virus with 787,901 confirmed cases and over 42,364 deaths.
(With inputs from agencies)
Trump ‘looking into’ defunding pro-abortion World Health Organization over coronavirus response
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 8, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled that he is open to the idea of defunding the World Health Organization (WHO), a pro-abortion U.N. entity with suspicious ties to communist China.
“We‘re going to put a hold on money spent to the WHO. We’re going to put a very powerful hold on it, and we’re going to see,” Trump said early in yesterday’s conference.
Trump continued to criticize the WHO, saying the organization got “every aspect” of its response to the crisis wrong, but he was less definite in his statements about cutting funding when a reporter pressed him: “Is it time to freeze [U.S.] funding to the WHO during a pandemic?”
“No, maybe not. I am not saying that I am going to do it, but we are going to look at it,” Trump replied. “We are going to investigate it, we are going to look into it...but we will look at ending funding because you know what? They called it wrong, and if you look back over the years, even, they’re very much — everything seems to be very biased towards China. That's not right.”
The U.S. president repeatedly cited the WHO’s criticism of his decision in January to issue a travel ban on foreign nationals who had recently been in China, as well as suggesting that the WHO knew about the spread of the coronavirus in Wuhan early on in the outbreak and that it chose not to report it.
“How many factors seem to come down on the side of China?” Trump asked.
“Don’t close your borders to China, don’t do this. They don’t report what's really going on. They didn’t see it, and yet they were there. They didn’t see what was going on in Wuhan. They didn’t see it. How do you not see it? They didn’t see it. They didn’t report it if they did see. They must have seen it, but they didn’t report it,” he said.
“They seem to err always on the side of China, and we fund it, so I want to look into it.”
Trump’s press conference statements followed a tweet he posted earlier in the day yesterday criticizing the WHO.
“The W.H.O. really blew it. For some reason, funded largely by the United States, yet very China centric. We will be giving that a good look. Fortunately I rejected their advice on keeping our borders open to China early on. Why did they give us such a faulty recommendation?” Trump wrote.
The U.S. is the largest contributor to the WHO’s annual budget. Last week, the United Nations secretary-general, António Guterres, announced he wants 100 billion USD for the organization as part of the attempt to combat the coronavirus.
Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe, responded to Trump’s remarks, saying: “We are still in the acute phase of a pandemic so now is not the time to cut back on funding.”
Dr. Bruce Aylward, senior adviser to the WHO director general, who made headlines recently for ignoring questions about Taiwan (whose sovereignty China denies), also defended the WHO’s work with China.
“It was absolutely critical in the early part of this outbreak to have full access to everything possible, to get on the ground and work with the Chinese to understand this," he said. “This is what we did with every other hard hit country like Spain and had nothing to do with China specifically.”
Steven Mosher, China expert and president of the Population Research Institute, has argued that in addition to helping create the pandemic by repeating the communist Chinese government’s false propaganda denying the health risks of COVID-19, the WHO’s long-term promotion of contraception and abortion has hindered the global response to the crisis.
“If the clinics in Third World countries had been stocked with medicine instead of abortifacients and contraceptives, they would be better able to cope with the current pandemic,” said Mosher. “In other words, population control programs cost lives.”
“The WHO, by parroting Chinese propaganda, helped to spread the pandemic. Even now, they are continuing to claim that China is a ‘model’ for how to contain the pandemic,” Mosher told LifeSite. “They are part of the problem, not part of the solution.”
Mosher said the U.S. should cut off funding to the WHO altogether unless its current head, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, resigns. In January, Ghebreyesus repeated the Chinese government’s false claim that COVID-19 is not transmissible to humans.
Mosher noted that the WHO receives more than 22% of its funding from the United States and that much of the money “goes towards the salary, benefits and perks of an inflated, dysfunctional bureaucracy. In other words, it is simply wasted.”
Maria Madise of Voice of the Family told LifeSiteNews that Trump cutting U.S. funding to the WHO would be a “most welcome and necessary move.”
“Apart from WHO’s scandalous delay in reporting on the extent of the outbreak of coronavirus in Wuhan, we keep hearing interventions by the representatives of WHO attacking the inviolable rights of life and the family under the guise of tackling the pandemic,” Madise said.
“Prompted by COVID-19, WHO is working on classifying abortion as an ‘essential health service’ so that abortion could go on under lockdown. Yesterday we learned from WHO’s executive director of emergencies programme that in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, officials may have to enter homes and remove family members who are sick,” she continued.
“Since WHO’s first director, Dr. Brock Chisholm, wrote in 1948: ‘Children have to be freed from ... religious and other cultural prejudices forced upon them by parents and religious authorities,’ WHO’s anti-life and anti-family track record has not improved. Policies against life and the family are inevitably policies against health and should not be funded by countries who value life and the family.”
Michael Robinson, director of parliamentary communications for U.K. pro-life group the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), told LifeSite that “the pro-life movement needs immediately to get behind President Trump to encourage him to continue to take this stand in defence of human life and in defence of the family.”
“The WHO is an immensely powerful international body which represents a major threat to the life and health of people worldwide. It is especially dangerous to human life and well-being at this time of pandemic for which they have been preparing themselves for years,” Robinson said.
“In 2012, for example, they published a policy brief titled “Integrating sexual and reproductive health into health emergency and disaster risk management”, which foresaw a Coronavirus-type crisis. And the WHO makes it clear again and again that abortion — killing the unborn — is an essential part of ‘reproductive health,’” he continued.
“In particular, the WHO is a threat to the moral welfare of our children. For the past 10 years they have been promoting in Europe and elsewhere so-called ‘Standards for Sexuality Education’ which contains a thinly-veiled warning to teachers not to obstruct children's so-called sexual rights or children's access to secret abortions without parental knowledge or consent; and which presents self-abuse as a human right.”
“Thank God for President Trump in taking this stand against the WHO, which in effect is a defence of all of us against their aggressive anti-life and anti-family policies.”
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