C&C Coffee and Kitchen on Mother’s Day 2020 during COVID-19 pandemic (screen capture) From Colorado Community Media:
A Castle Rock restaurant reopened its doors to full dine-in service May 10, allowing dozens of customers inside despite public health orders put in place in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
C&C Coffee and Kitchen, a breakfast and Korean kitchen at 4284 Trail Boss Drive, had a line out the door about 10 a.m. Mother’s Day. Families of all sizes filed in past a “bouncer” with a visible sidearm. Every seat was taken as folks dined in. The floor was packed with people standing, waiting for coffee or take-out orders. One person could be seen wearing a mask inside the building.
“I expected it to be busy. I never expected this,” owner April Arellano said. “I’m so happy so many people came out to support the Constitution and stand up for what is right. We did our time. We did our two weeks. We did more than two weeks…and we were failing. We had to do something.”
The Tri-County Health Department says it received four complaints about the reopening. The Denver Post reports the restaurant has now lost its license to operate.
State health officials on Monday suspended the license of a Castle Rock restaurant that opened to large Mother’s Day crowds, a warning to other Colorado eateries that might also consider defying the statewide public health order that limits restaurants to take-out and delivery services.
C&C Coffee and Kitchen presents an “immediate health hazard,” Gov. Jared Polis said at a news conference, and its business license will be suspended until it no longer creates a threat to public health — likely for at least 30 days.
L-R Chris Weaver, DJ Alec Brian (screen captures) Two attendees of last week’s now-infamous ‘Rona Rave’ in New York City have posted statements to the community at large admitting attending the shindig was a mistake, but also denouncing social media’s ‘cancel culture’ for the attacks the party-goers have experienced online. As I reported last week, videos of the party were posted by adult entertainment performer Ian Frost to his Instagram Story during the event. And when I say ‘videos,’ I mean some 31 videos were shared tagging many of the attendees with their Instagram handles. In the clips, you can see the 30+ party-goers were not of a mind to keep ‘social distancing’ practices in place, nor was anyone seen wearing a face mask amid the purple/pink party light. Twitter user Phillip Henry downloaded some of the clips and shared them to his followers, and quickly news of the event went viral.
People are fucking dying left and right and the gays are having full on house parties on a Monday night in NYC. JAIL pic.twitter.com/6f8Q2YzAJf
Many were angry that, with New York City being THE hotspot in the U.S. for COVID-19, the party seemed reckless and dismissive of the efforts of frontline workers. Chris Weaver, who performs drag under the stage name Nedra Belle and is a past contestant on NBC’s The Voice, began his video message on Facebook saying that he respects all those medical and essential workers. In fact, he shares he has friends “serving on the front lines,” and he’s “reached out to a couple of them to let them know that if they need anything, I’m there and would love to help in any way I can.” He then segues into the social media “dragging” aimed at the party-goers and adds that there’s now a “call for us to be ‘canceled.'” “I’m a human,” says Weaver. “I make mistakes just like you make mistakes. It’s life.” “I fully understand that I have to deal with the repercussions of what I did and that it’s just a reality that we have to face,” he adds. “But, I won’t be scared or run into a hole or a box because you don’t agree. Okay?”
Admitting that attending the party was ‘dumb,’ Weaver says in hindsight, “If I had to do it all over again, would I have attended the event? I would have not.” “Everybody’s all up in arms and so upset – that I can understand,” he continues. “There are thousands and thousands of people who have perished from this, and that is unfortunate.” “But I didn’t go out with the intent to hurt anyone,” explains the singer. “I didn’t go out with the intent to say, ‘Oh I’m gonna go out to this party and not wear a mask to get the virus and to spread the virus.’ That’s not what I did, that’s not what I plan on doing and that’s not who I am.” Weaver also shares that he’s suffered a personal loss during the COVID-19 health threat as his 31-year-old cousin succumbed to the disease last week. “So, for all these negative comments, let me tell you something about the gay community, the LGBTQ+ community. What we do is we are so good at building each other up. But we’re even better at tearing each other down. And the problem with that is, we can drag and drag and drag folks all day and all night, but there’s never a chance – where is the chance for redemption? Where’s the chance for somebody to make up for their mistakes or to get it right? We don’t give that, but we wanna cancel folks.” “Some people are going to look at this video and say… that’s the thing, people can issue an apology and people are never satisfied,” he continues, although there’s no apology in the 11-minute video. “People just want something to attack people on. If you want to cancel me, cancel me, I mean that’s, it is what it is. And I’m hoping that you open up your hearts, not just for me but for those who you have attacked. Please know that your reaction causes reaction. Think about the person on the other side.” “And so I love you all,” he says concluding his message. “And for those of you who are still on this train with me, thank you. For those of you who aren’t, I’ll see ya.” He then sings an a cappella “Let There Be Peace on Earth” and signs off with a call to keep practicing social distancing. “It’s hard, I know. I just needed a moment, y’all.” The DJ who was captured in one of the videos, Alec Brian, also posted a Facebook video with similar sentiments saying he regrets accepting the gig, he took the job on the spur of the moment, and since then he says he’s been attacked on social media by people who didn’t bother to learn the “whole story.” Again, there was no ‘apology’ to anyone but he does say he used the money he earned at the party to buy 300 face masks that will be donated to those that need them.
According to the New York City Health Department, at the time of the party, there were 171,723 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the city; 43,383 hospitalized, 13,724 confirmed deaths and another 5,383 probable deaths. Today, those numbers have escalated to 178,766 confirmed cases. 44,812 hospitalizations, 14,753 confirmed deaths, and 5,178 probable deaths related to COVID-19.
During this morning’s episode of Fox & Friends, co-host Pete Hegseth wondered aloud if more testing might find more positive results, and if that would be a ‘good thing?’
“Data is a pesky thing too. Because what if we start testing more and as a result of more testing we find more positives? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
“And if the leaders say we have more positive tests, therefore, we need to delay even further — that doesn’t make sense to people. Maybe those are the same amount of people that had it before. We just weren’t testing.
“So data can be the type of thing that leaders can also manipulate as we try to get forward and past this.”
“Is that a good or a bad thing?” Well, Pete, adequate testing would help answer that question. But what would be really bad is go just close our eyes and hope for the best.
Speaking with previous members of his administration on a private call, former President Barack Obama called Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus a “chaotic disaster.” He also shared deep concerns about the Department of Justice’s announcement to drop charges against former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. “The news over the last 24 hours I think has been somewhat downplayed — about the Justice Department dropping charges against Michael Flynn,” said Obama in a recording obtained by Yahoo News. “And the fact that there is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free. That’s the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic — not just institutional norms — but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk.” Underscoring the importance of supporting former Vice President Joe Biden in the upcoming election, Obama referenced trends in politics today in which “selfish, being tribal, being divided, and seeing others as an enemy — that has become a stronger impulse in American life.” “And by the way, we’re seeing that internationally as well,” he added. “It’s part of the reason why the response to this global crisis has been so anemic and spotty.” “It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset — of ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘to heck with everybody else’ — when that mindset is operationalized in our government.” You can hear the recording at Yahoo News.
A new medical study published in the New England Journal of Medicine indicates that hydroxychloroquine, the malaria drug often touted by Donald Trump as a treatment for COVID-19, is not effective in treating patients with the disease. From CNBC:
The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and conducted by researchers at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City, looked at 1,376 consecutive patients who showed up at the emergency room with symptoms of coronavirus.
Nearly 60%, or 811 of the patients, received the drug within 48 hours and were found, on average, to be more severely ill than those who didn’t receive the drug, the researchers said. They said the study’s findings didn’t find any potential benefit or harm from the drug, adding a rigorous, randomized clinical trial is needed.
The new findings come two weeks after the Food and Drug Administration warned consumers against chloroquine or hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid-19 outside a hospital or formal clinical trial setting.
Researchers in multiple studies looking at the drug have noted serious heart rhythm issues in those treated with the medication. Two weeks ago a study conducted at Veterans Administration hospitals found patients on the drug fared worse than those who received just standard care. And, a study in Brazil ended abruptly after COVID-19 patients being given chloroquine, a medication used to create hydroxychloroquine, developed unusual heart rhythms, which led to death in some patients. As I recently reported, Gilead Sciences’ experimental drug remdesivir seems to be the front-runner in terms of a drug that may actually help COVID-19 patients.
Katie Miller, press secretary for Vice President Mike Pence (image via Twitter) Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, has reportedly tested positive for the coronavirus. From CNN:
President Donald Trump confirmed Friday that Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary, Katie Miller, tested positive for the coronavirus.
Miller is now the second White House staff member known to have tested positive for the coronavirus this week, after one of Trump’s personal valets tested positive on Thursday.
“She’s a wonderful young woman, Katie, she tested very good for a long period of time and then all of a sudden today she tested positive,” Trump said during a meeting with Republican members of Congress at the White House.
The President said that Miller has not come into contact with him but noted that she has been in contact with Pence.
Miller was frequently in contact with members of the press, and the White House is now making more coronavirus testing available to journalists, a White House official told CNN’s Jim Acosta.
Katie Miller is married to Stephen Miller, a top domestic adviser to Trump who writes many of his speeches and is credited as one of the architects of the administration’s anti-immigrant policies. In the report by CNN’s Jim Acosta below, he notes that the White House press corps has not seen many staffers at the White House wearing face masks. As Acosta says, “It appears they haven’t gotten ‘the memo.'”
BREAKING NEWS: CNN reports that Pence’s press secretary @VPPressSec, wife of Stephen Miller, has tested positive for the coronavirus. Photo source: Twitter. pic.twitter.com/wNSwSJPC5I
President Trump confirmed that Katie Miller, Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary, is the staffer who tested positive for coronavirus. She is married to Stephen Miller, one of President Trump’s top advisers. https://t.co/BGojifGem8pic.twitter.com/317Ak37j7R
There’s nothing funny about Mike Pence’s press sec Katie Miller, wife of top Trump staffer Stephen Miller, testing positive for Coronavirus. But irony abounds, considering these folks think the rest of us should sacrifice our lives for the economy.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak has announced Nevada will begin the process of opening on Saturday, May 9, which is sooner than the anticipated date of May 15th. Sisolak announced an overall decreasing trend since April 21 of COVID-19 hospitalizations and ICU hospitalizations. “Our cumulative test positivity rate reached 12.2 percent on April 24 and has since decreased to 11.2 percent as of yesterday,” tweeted Sisolak. “When it comes to confirmed COVID hospitalizations, we’ve seen an overall decreasing trend since April 21, a total of more than 14 days.” Allowed in Phase 1 of Reopening:
-Restaurants can open for dine-in, but employees must wear face coverings. Reservations must be required, spacing must be 6 feet apart, and bar areas will remain closed. People waiting to be seated must wait outside.
-Barbershops may open by appointment only with chairs 6 feet apart. Only one customer per stylist and partitions in between chairs are encouraged. Employees must wear face coverings.
-Retail stores may reopen but can only allow 50% capacity. Open-air malls may reopen, but indoor malls must remain closed although curbside pickup at indoor mall stores is allowed.
-Auto dealers can open, appointments encouraged. Showrooms can be open but only allow 50% capacity.
Our cumulative test positivity rate reached 12.2 percent on April 24 and has since decreased to 11.2 percent as of yesterday. When it comes to confirmed COVID hospitalizations, we’ve seen an overall decreasing trend since April 21, a total of more than 14 days. pic.twitter.com/iiSNrRHXyP
Now I’d like to go through what Nevada’s Phase 1 of our Roadmap to Recovery will look like. First off: businesses that will be reopening with strict social distancing requirements…
RESTAURANTS cont…Reservations should be required. Tables/booths must be spaced 6 ft apart. Bar tops/bar areas within restaurants remain CLOSED. If waiting to be seated, patron must wait outside.
BARBER SHOPS, HAIR SALONS & NAIL SALONS: – Partitions/walls between each work station are strongly encouraged. If not, must only use every other chair or ensure they are 6 ft apart. – Services must be provided through appointment ONLY. No walk-ins. – Face coverings required
RETAIL: Retail businesses are strongly encouraged to promote & continue online or call-in ordering, curbside, delivery, and/or pickup operations, but they may now reopen under strict social distancing requirements.
Open air malls may open in accordance with the retail business standards I just mentioned. Indoor malls remain closed to the public, but may establish an outdoor curbside or pick-up operation to the extent practicable, following strict social distancing requirements
A shopper in Florida went totally cray-cray when he tried to enter a Publix grocery store located in Miami Beach but refused to wear a face mask due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. His profanity-laced rant was captured by a code enforcement officer’s body cam. “This is a false flag fake pandemic,” the man screams at the enforcement officer. “You are in violation of my f**king constitutional rights and my civil rights. I’ve already f**king warned you. F**king expect it. I’m filing a f**king class-action lawsuit. You can take your fake f**king global terroristic false flag attack and shove it up your motherf**king ass. You’re terrorists. You’re in violation of my constitutional and civil rights. Fuck you, motherf**ker. There’s no pandemic. I’m filing a f**king lawsuit. I have a right to buy groceries without being forced to participate in your f**king terrorism. F**k you.” “Excuse me – you need to wear a mask,” asked the officer as the man turned to go. “Do you understand that – to come in the store?” “You’re violating my constitutional rights,” shrieks the man. “Well, this is private property,” replied the officer. The idiot continued his conspiracy theory screed: “This private property has food. I have a right to buy food without being forced to participate in a fake global false flag pandemic. There’s no pandemic. F–k you. You motherf–kers are going to get f–kin’ mass arrested and f–kin’ executed for f–kin’ terrorism. F–k you!”
Man trying to shop at Miami Beach Publix without mask goes on profanity-laced rant about “false flag fake pandemic” at code enforcement officer #BecauseMiamipic.twitter.com/r3d5z59vIb
The local CBS affiliate spoke to Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber about people not following safety guidelines. “I get that people are getting antsy, frustrated. I’m sure there is economic burden also that is feeding that kind of frustration,” said Gelber. “But you should never just scream, curse.” “They’re only trying to keep communities safer by let people know what’s in their best interest to keep their families safer,” he said. “We shouldn’t be screaming, we should be thanking them, complying with these very clear regulations because they’re intended to save lives.”
As May is Mental Health Awareness Month AND we continue to face the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, it becomes more and more apparent that our well-being is closely tied to our mental health. For men, whose natural instinct is to take action, these times present unique challenges as most of us follow stay-at-home guidelines. With our regular routines interrupted and normal channels for processing stress – like heading to the gym or going out with friends – unavailable to us, thoughts and feelings can turn into anxiety and angst. In a new article for Healthline.com, Dan Doty, co-founder of EVRYMAN, offers some practical steps on how to help men’s mental health while coping with the stresses of isolation during the coronavirus pandemic. EVRYMAN is an online community that focuses on helping men act more productively on their emotions instead of burying or redirecting them thereby helping to build a more fulfilling life. Dan shares these four tips: • Feel Your Feelings – Taking proactive action for your mental health not only gets you the support you need, but it also helps break down the cultural stigma that can be a barrier to other men getting help. • Reach out to Connect – A call with your parents, a video chat with your co-workers, or a text message to a sibling can be invaluable right now. In order to make the best of these moments of connection, you can make them count by being more vulnerable and transparent. • Go Inside (yourself) – You don’t have to become a great meditator or world-class yogi to benefit from the amazing meditation apps that are out there. Don’t overthink it – try an exercise of setting a timer and writing for 10 minutes without stopping. Let go and write anything and everything that wants to come out. • Take Action – It might feel very tricky to take action right now, but a helpful strategy is to slow down and find small, manageable ways to move forward and orient ourselves to simple, practical actions. What may seem small and mundane at first glance can bring an air of progress and forward momentum. Click over to Healthline to read Dan’s full article. Note: EVRYMAN is currently offering free support to men all over the world via community calls and daily drop-in groups as a way for men from all walks of life to band together in support.
Legendary actress/singer/director Barbra Streisand has released a new video for her recording of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” created as a tribute to the medical staff, UPS drivers, grocery store clerks and essential workers who are risking their lives keeping the U.S. going through the COVID-19 crisis. “I sang this song almost 20 years ago after 9/11,” writes Streisand at the beginning of the video. “Today we face another crisis but I think the words still apply. With love and gratitude, Barbra.” I found myself tearing up in the first minute as I saw the slideshow of frontline workers in private, emotional moments. Not only because of their heroic efforts but at the other end of the spectrum I considered the selfish protesters showing up at various state capitols mad because they can’t get a haircut or go to a park. Every time one of them screams and yells without a face mask at a police officer they could be undoing all of those hours of sweat poured into trying to save lives by medical personnel and essential workers. Penned in 1945 for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel, Babs first recorded the song in 1997 for her 27th studio album, Higher Ground. She memorably performed the song live as a surprise finale at the 2001 Emmy Awards. Streisand closes the video with an appeal for donations to Direct Relief, which “supplies protective gear to all our heroes in the United States.”
