Many people now have extra time on their hands as they stay home and comply with social distancing measures. To pass the time, some of people are baking,while others are taking advantage of free virtual tours.

If you feel motivated to learn a new skill, you can use this time to try out the plethora of free courses currently available online. Universities like Harvard and Yale have given free access to some of their courses, and websites like edX, Future Learn and Courseraalso offer free online classes from various universities.

Whether you want to polish up your project planning skills, learn how to negotiate successfully or dip your toes into basic Mandarin, CNBC Make It rounded up 10 courses for those interested in improving their skills in business management, entrepreneurship, personal finance and more.

These classes are free, but you may have to pay in order to obtain a certificate proving your completion of the course. Prices vary depending on the class.

1.Collaborative Working in a Remote Team

Many businesses have had to shift to remote work in order to comply with social distancing measures. But for some business managers, this is their first time managing remote teams. This course will help you learn to navigate the ups and downs of remote work and how to effectively manage remote workers.

2. Fundamentals of Project Planning and Management

This course teaches the basics of project planning to ensure your future projects run smoothly. Some of the topics the class covers include:

3.Becoming an Entrepreneur

If you have ever been curious about founding your own company, but do not know where to start or lack an idea, check out this course from MIT. The class, taught by Laurie Stach, founder and director of LaunchX, and Martin Culpepper,professor of mechanical engineering, lays out the basic elements of starting a new business, including market research, identifying business opportunities and pitching ideas.

Want to learn more about the basics of entrepreneurship? Entrepreneurship 101 from MIT is also available on edX.

4.Financing Innovative Ventures

Raising funds for a new business can be a challenge of its own. This class from the University of Maryland guides aspiring entrepreneurs through how to develop investor pitches, figure out fundraising options and perform company valuations, as well as other aspects of financing your own company.

5.Personaland Family Financial Planning

It is never too late to organize your personal finances. This course can help you learn "prudent habits" to implement in your finances, including managing income taxes and how to build and maintain good credit.

6.Financial Planning for Young Adults

Aimed at young adults, this course introduces the basic concepts of financial planning, including how to assess your finances, budgeting, saving, setting financial goals and more. If you are interested in pursuing a career in financial planning, this course also includes video interviews with professionals working in the field.

7.Successful Negotiation: Essential Strategies and Skills

At some point in your career, negotiation skills will likely be necessary. You may want to negotiate a higher salary or a job offer. Through this course from the University of Michigan, you will learn the four basic steps for a successful negotiation.

8.Critical ThinkingandProblem Solving

Critical thinking and problem solving are two of the most sought after qualities in employees and business leaders. If you'd like to improve on those skills, this course may help to "demystify, discuss and provide application techniques for critical thinking and problem solving in a business context."

9.Public Speaking

Another attractive quality in a leader is confidence in public speaking. Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, has credited a public speaking course as a source of his success.

But for many people, public speaking is terrifying. This class from Rochester Institute of Technology can be a step to overcome the fear. It covers several tools and methods to overcoming public speaking anxiety once and for all.

10.Mandarin Chinese Level 1

Five years ago, Bill Gates admitted in a Reddit Q&A he felt "pretty stupid" for not being fluent in any foreign languages. In contrast, Mark Zuckerberg impressed Chinese university students by showing off his Mandarin skills at a Q&A panel.

Studies have shown the benefits of bilingualism, including the ability to outperform monolinguals in conflict resolution. Also, you can impress employers by knowing multiple languages. If you have excess free time right now, you may want to try learning a popular language such as Mandarin orSpanish.

Check out:The best credit cards of 2020 could earn you over $1,000 in 5 years

Don't miss:5 tips for effectively working from home during the coronavirus outbreak, when you have kids

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10 free online classes that will help you gain new skills to succeed in your career - CNBC

The University of St. Thomas in Houston will reopen its campus in the fall and will resume in-person classes, officials said Wednesday.

In addition, the college is offering free tuition to students in three new online associate degree programs.

Our faculty, staff and students have risen to the challenge of online delivery through the summer, but now were looking forward to getting our community back together on campus, St. Thomas President Richard Ludwick said Wednesday.

The announcement comes after colleges and universities around the country closed campuses and resumed classes online in March due to efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Amid uncertainties during the pandemic, many colleges are continuing classes online through the summer while weighing options for the fall. The University of Texas at Austin announced earlier this month that it will make decision about the fall semester in late June and will continue to plan for all possibilities in the meantime.

Baylor University is already making plans to resume classes and residential life on campus this fall, but the plans are dependent on the continued decline in COVID-10 cases within the Waco area and guidance from government and public health officials, President Linda Livingstone wrote in a letter to the community Monday.

A reopening, however, will not be a normal start, the president said. The university will be required to adapt its models for instruction, residential life, and on-campus activities and will apply a five-phase strategy to reopening campus, starting on June 1 with staff and faculty who are involved in critical infrastructure and research support and then continuing gradually throughout the summer.

COLLEGES RESPOND TO PANDEMIC: Texas colleges cut budgets in response to economic impact of COVID-19

Ludwick said St. Thomas has consulted with students, faculty and staff along with world-class experts, who have attended board meetings and spoken with university officials.

What weve decided from all of that is that we should get back to campus, and the fall seems to be the time to do that, said Ludwick, who noted that students will continue to face technology issues with online and remote learning and that reopening will help mitigate that digital divide.

Underscoring all of that is the need to operate safely for our people and to use the best guidance that comes from our civic, state and federal leaders, and certainly the CDC. Those kinds of policymakers will give us the rubric.

St. Thomas officials will use the time before the August reopening to determine exactly what returning to campus will look like, especially given that pandemic rules and guidelines can change daily, Ludwick said.

The private Catholic university will be preparing for every contingency, including accommodations for those who may not feel ready to return to classroom instruction, Ludwick said. Our community can rest-assured that when we return, we will be following strict expert advice on cleaning practices, social distancing and contact tracing.

So far, Ludwick said officials are considering having classes available online and in-person, but possibly reformatting the traditional classroom, opting instead for learning spaces that might resemble a gymnasium or considering tented outdoor locations that allow the community to learn while social distancing, Ludwick said.

COLLEGE IN THE FALL?: UT to decide fate of fall classes at the end of June

The university will also open its micro campus in Conroe in fall with two locations the planned nursing facility that will offer up an accelerated bachelors of science program and a campus in downtown Conroe, east of the courthouse, which is still under construction. The university also remains on course to add softball and mens and womens track and field to its 12 existing sports, presuming students are back on campus in the fall.

St. Thomas will also roll out a number of initiatives, including the three new tuition-free degrees, to help students and offset some of the effects of the pandemic, a university release said.

Online 60-hour associate degree programs in cybersecurity, networking technology and electronic technology fields in which officials say jobs are high in demand and offer higher salaries have been developed. The UST microcampus in Conroe will serve as a physical space for students in those programs to connect and meet.

This city has helped support St. Thomas for almost 75 years and at this moment while many are struggling, the university wants to accelerate the way it gives back, Ludwick said. This tuition-free semester is one way to help and provide many people in hard hit sectors a chance to reskill in industries that are thriving.

The school has hired an expert in online delivery to expand its digital offerings and has assigned a personal success coach for each undergraduate student.

brittany.britto@chron.com

Brittany Britto covers higher education at the Houston Chronicle.

Previously, she was a general assignment features blogger and reporter for The Baltimore Sun, where she wrote about arts, entertainment, local notables, and culture.

She has been recognized for her cultural coverage by the Society for Features Journalism. In 2018, she was named a Penny Bender Fuchs Diversity Fellow for the national features organization and won four awards a tie for the most won in one year in recent SFJ history -- for her diverse portfolio and noteworthy features on Baltimores distinct culture.

Brittany is a two-time graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, with a masters in multiplatform journalism and a bachelors in English.

Send your tips and stories to brittany.britto@chron.com, and follow her on Twitter to keep up with the latest.

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Baylor, University of St. Thomas to reopen in the fall - Houston Chronicle

The 2020 NFL Draft was supposed to be hosted in Las Vegas, but the coronavirus pandemic forced the league to hold a virtual draft instead. Players, head coaches and general managers were forced to stay in their homes with cameras on the scene for the large majority of the first round on Thursday night.

On Friday's installment of "Nothing Personal with David Samson," David Samson weighed in on the 2020 NFL Draft and believed that -- despite the circumstances -- it was an overall success.

"What we've seen is that the NFL is an industry leader in connecting with fans," Samson said. "Now they've got the product to do it because everyone is so interested in the draft. It's always such a huge event to begin with. The NFL did it and I was proud of it."

The NFL Draft is always a product that fans are interested in and even attend as the league ushers in their next generation of stars. People want to know who their favorite teams are going to draft and it was more entertaining than ever.

In the wake of COVID-19, fans needed a distraction from the fact that the majority of the population is quarantined and there haven't been any sports. Samson believes the league held a heartfelt tribute for coronavirus victims at the start of the event and it was all a successful production for sports fans.

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Samson: Why the virtual NFL Draft was a success - CBS Sports

Martin Lewis spoke about his website's meteoric rise in a 2015 interview with the Financial Times, in which he revealed why he thinks Money Saving Expert became a go-to source for financial advice. The website has amassed millions of regular visitors, which Mr Lewis credits to the move to take finance journalism and focus it on everyday spending. The journalist has become well-known for advice on how to get good deals on specific products, from credit cards to mortgages and retail items. Another key aspect of the site, as explained in the FT interview, is that all of the research is done by him and his team of journalists.

He also realised that the only thing people want is answers, and that nobody wants to know about the issues".

He added: "They want to be told what to do, and I tell them. Thats the difference.

Another feature of the Money Saving Expert's success is the personalised advice, with Mr Lewis's face at the centre of its articles accompanied by his television appearances.

He said: Finance is a personal thing and you want to see the whites of someones eyes.

"Thankfully, our research shows there are a lot more people who like than dislike me its about an 85/15.

His research also shows that when his face comes off the site in March, people will still go on visiting, and the site will go on raking in the money.

The business model comprises of no advertising and no subscriptions, all revenue comes from paid-for links.

In the interview, Mr Lewis estimated that he has saved the British public billions thanks to his advice.

READ MORE:Martin Lewis explains 12 furlough need-to-knows for employees & firms

In the 12 years prior to 2015 he calculated that he had saved people tens of billions of pounds.

Mr Lewis added: You can argue theres over 20billion been paid out in PPI and we reckon were over 25 percent of that, so theres five billion to start with.

In another 2015 interview with the Telegraph, Mr Lewis said his website was the "cleverest thing he has ever done".

He said: "I spent 80 to set up a website in 2003. Its called moneysavingexpert.com. It was built by a chap in Uzbekistan, off-the-peg, with forums, and in only two weeks.

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"It was the cleverest thing I did, but I didnt know it was clever. My friend said it wouldnt work, he said I needed to have adverts on the website and that 'no one puts a face on a financial website'.

"I set it up because I thought the information should be out there, not to make money. It was only when the server costs became too expensive that I thought I should look at that.

"In the end, its turned 80 into more than nine figures, after tax. You also have to factor in the 90-hour weeks and the huge amounts of stress.

"Now people make the mistake of saying youre rich now that youve sold the website. But they dont realise I was lucky, Id already made a lot before that."

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Martin Lewis: Money Saving Expert's secret to success revealed It made the difference!' - Express

A couple of months ago, there might have been mornings when you didnt feel like getting out of bed, putting yourself together, and spending eight hours at work surrounded by coworkers...but maybe now it doesnt sound so bad? If its still going to be a little while before you return to your desk, maybe these office comedies can help you feel like youre back at your office, drinking the crappy free coffee and dreading the meeting that could have been an email.

Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson) is the host of a long-running late-night talk show that may be on its last legs creatively, and is steadily losing its audience. Molly Patel (Mindy Kaling, who also wrote the screenplay) is hired to the writing staff despite her lack of experience, helping to revitalize the show, though network pressure to replace Katherine with a hotter young male comedian (Ike Barinholtz) still looms.

Ex-30 Rock writer Tracey Wigfield created this sitcom about Katie (Briga Heelan), a segment producer at middling newsmagazine show The Breakdown, whose work life is upended when her worshipful yet intrusive mother, Carol (Andrea Martin), is hired as an intern. Nicole Richie kills the little screen time she gets as Portia, The Breakdowns glossy cohost.

Before changing comedy on I Think You Should Leave, Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin cocreated this sitcom (with Joe Kelly and Sam Richardson). After inheriting a successful local Detroit ad agency from his father, Tim (Robinson) partners with his best friend Sam (Richardson) to continue making commercials, though the two are frequently hampered by bad ideas, overconfidence, and drunkenness.

Richard (Thomas Middleditch) has a good job as a programmer at Hooli, a gigantic Bay Area tech company. On the side hes developed a data-compression algorithm, which he successfully pitches to a venture capitalist so that he can start his own company. Richard and his friends then spend the next several years learning how the tech world really workswhen hes not accidentally causing scandals or making himself sick from the stress.

Veridian Dynamics is a large global conglomerate that employs scientists, generally to research and develop technologies Veridian will be able to sell to the military for billions of dollars. Divorced single dad Ted (Jay Harrington) liaises between the researchers and the suits, trying to curb the worst impulses of his soulless boss, Veronica (Portia de Rossi), while also flirting with his colleague Linda (Andrea Anders).

Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), harried creator and head writer of The Girlie Show on NBC, is aghast when Jack Donaghy (Alec Baldwin) comes over from GE to run programming, and orders her to add a new performer to her cast: the famously unstable and unpredictable Tracy Jordan (Tracy Morgan).

Before cocreating Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Aline Brosh McKenna adapted the best-selling novel of the same name into this beloved film. New grad Andy (Anne Hathaway), despite a disdain for style, ends up as second assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep, who earned an Oscar nomination for her performance), the powerful and terrifying editor of a legendary fashion magazine.

Though Armando Iannucci is best known in the U.S. for creating Veep, one of his most treasured series in his native U.K. is The Thick of It. A savage satire of British government, the star of the series is Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), a spectacularly profane fixer whose ruthlessness in preserving his partys power knows no limits.

Dan (Dennis Quaid), the middle-aged head of ad sales for a successful sports magazine, has his career stalled when a corporation called Globecom acquires his publication and installs Tyler (Topher Grace), an MBA half Dans age, as his boss. Dan does his best to maintain friendly relations with Tyler, including inviting him over for dinner, where Tyler takes a liking to Dans daughter, college freshman Alex (Scarlett Johansson).

In this dark romantic comedy, Lee (Maggie Gyllenhaal) recovers from in-patient treatment for self-harm and takes a job as the assistant to attorney Edward (James Spader). Edward is an extremely strict taskmaster, punishing Lee for every typo, and she eventually figures out that he is drawn to her submissiveness and enthusiastically enters into BDSM play with him.

This British mockumentary, set in the Slough office of a paper company, revolves around David Brent (Ricky Gervais, who cocreated the series with Stephen Merchant), the regional manager whose oblivious idiocy is an exhausting trial for his employees. Against all odds, a flirtation endures between office pals Dawn (Lucy Davis) and Tim (Martin Freeman), despite Dawns long-term fianc, who works in the warehouse. The format spawned remakes in several countries, including...

this U.S. adaptation, set in Scranton. This time the cloddish regional manager is Michael Scott (Steve Carell), abetted by sycophantic assistant to the regional manager Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson); flirty receptionist Pam (Jenna Fischer) and salesman Jim (John Krasinski) fill out the main cast.

Peter (Ron Livingston) toils as a programmer at a company called Initech, harassed by friendly check-ins from his many managers. When his girlfriend takes him to a hypnotherapist to try to get him to change his antipathy toward his job, the hypnotherapist dies mid-session, and Peter never snaps back into his old mindset, returning to work with a new laissez-faire attitude that makes him look like a confident, relaxed go-getter and sets him on a path to successgreat news until he learns that layoffs are coming and his best friends wont be spared.

At news station WNYX, news director Dave Nelson (Dave Foley) has to manage the big personalities of his on-air talent (Phil Hartman and Khandi Alexander), the stations eccentric owner (Stephen Root), and Lisa (Maura Tierney), a producer whos both Daves girlfriend and pretty sure she could do his job better than he can.

Joel and Ethan Coens take on a 40s screwball comedy! Hudsucker Industries president Waring Hudsucker (Charles Durning) throws himself through a window during a meeting and dies. Sidney J. Mussburger (Paul Newman), knowing this means the companys stock shares will be available to the public, hatches a scheme to tank the stock price by hiring Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins), a boob from the mailroom, as Hudsuckers replacement. Journalist Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Leigh), smelling a story, gets herself hired as Norvilles secretary, but ends up developing tender feelings for him in the process.

While Larry (Garry Shandling) is the star of the successful network talk show The Larry Sanders Show, making the show requires countless hardworking staffers in the office: talent booker Paula (Janeane Garofalo); Larrys personal assistant, Beverly (Penny Johnson); and especially executive producer Artie (Rip Torn), who has to keep stress from touching Larry, or at least try to, which generally means running interference between Larry and his annoying sidekick, Hank (Jeffrey Tambor).

Jane (Holly Hunter) is a producer on a national nightly news broadcast; correspondent Aaron (Albert Brooks) has a crush on her that only rarely makes things awkward in their friendship. When Tom (William Hurt) is hired on from sports to be groomed as a new anchor despite his lack of knowledge or curiosity, Aaron is hurt that Jane would waste any time trying to coach him just because shes attracted to him.

Newly single Judy (Jane Fonda) starts work as a secretary at a large, busy office headed by Franklin Hart Jr. (Dabney Coleman). Though office supervisor Violet (Lily Tomlin) reflexively warns Judy away from Harts secretary, Doralee (Dolly Parton), on the basis of her fooling around with Hart, when the three actually talk, it turns out Hart invented the affair, and has also routinely taken credit for Violets good ideas. Together they decide to imprison Hart in his home, send his executive assistant on a long trip, and start remaking the office so that it becomes a better place for women to work.

Following a broken engagement, Mary Richards (Mary Tyler Moore) starts over in Minneapolis, taking a job as a producer on the nightly news. Marys work life with mensch newswriter Murray Slaughter (Gavin MacLeod), blowhard anchor Ted Baxter (Ted Knight), and grouchy boss Lou Grant (Ed Asner) is balanced by her cozy hangouts with her neighbor and best friend, Rhoda Morgenstern (Valerie Harper).

Adapted from the Broadway musical, the film follows J. Pierrepont Finch (Robert Morse) as he acts on the steps in the self-help book How to Succeed in Business and works his way up from window cleaner to vice president in charge of advertising at the World Wide Wicket Company, generally by scumbagging everyone who crosses his path.

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Comedies That Will Bring You Back to Office Life - Vanity Fair

"We will get Florida back on its feet by using an approach that is safe, smart, and step by step," DeSantis said on Wednesday.

DeSantis said restaurants and retail spaces could let customers inside, but only at 25% capacity, and people must adhere to social distancing guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Restaurants can offer outdoor seating if tables are 6 feet apart.

"Outdoor transmission, as far as we've seen, has been more difficult than the indoor climate controlled transition," the governor said, adding that medical officials recommended the outdoor seating change.

Movie theaters can't reopen yet. The governor said it wouldn't be prudent, and it would be difficult to maintain social distancing. Bars, fitness centers and places that offer personal services, likes hair styling, also will open later.

People can schedule non-urgent surgeries again, he said, though it depends on a hospital's ability to handle surges in cases and availability of protective equipment.

The governor on Tuesday lauded the state's success in tackling the outbreak. He slammed the media for its prediction -- which he said was "wrong" -- that Florida's hospital system would be overwhelmed with almost a half million or more Covid-19 hospitalizations.

"Everyone in the media was saying Florida was going to be like New York or Italy, and that has not happened," he said. "We had a tailored and measured approach that not only helped our numbers be way below what anybody predicted, but also did less damage to our state going forward."

DeSantis largely credits Florida's reportedly low infection numbers to his own office's swift action, which included issuing a safer-at-home order that went into effect April 3.

Critics hammered DeSantis for his alleged inaction before the order was issued. The governor has said he decided to take action April 1 after noticing Trump's change of demeanor during a news conference the previous day. Trump urged Americans to prepare "for the hard days that lie ahead" during that appearance.

The governor's office provided CNN with graphs and charts that it said show how Florida fared better than several states in metrics such as hospitalization, intensive care admissions and per capita deaths. CNN has not independently confirmed the data.

Some local actions included:

DeSantis also took credit for protecting the state's older population, pointing to Florida suspending visitation and mandating staff screenings at long-term care facilities, as well as the mobile response team deployed to conduct testing at the facilities.

CNN's Erica Henry contributed to this report.

See the article here:
Florida will start to reopen May 4, but for now Miami-Dade and two other counties won't be included - CNN

If experiencing and risk-taking have to happen remotely, so be it. (Photo: Pexels)

By external measures, Im probably crushing it in quarantine. Ive gotten dressed every day. I schedule calls and check-ins with friends. I turn in my homework several days early. I am even one of the lucky few who has found an internship since social distancing began. COVID-19, by all accounts, has been kind to me.

Yet, I have never felt less fulfilled in college. I am lucky to be safe and secure in my home, but like many, I am grappling with conceptions of success and self in these new circumstances.

Since entering college, I have defined success by my ability to seek happiness in moments, and I structure my days around maximizing memorable experiences. I take three classes per quarter to minimize time spent on coursework; I focus on strengthening relationships and building memories; I give myself the free time I need to chase spontaneity and be creative. By leaving my calendar sparse, I have found space to attend countless performances, talks and film screenings, try theatre for the first time, impulsively start a blog and take unplanned trips off campus, exploring and deepening both my interests and friendships. I fundamentally believe the unstructured time I carve out has rewarded me with more memories, stories and growth than the rest of my life combined.

And to that end, I have failed in social distance. For the first time since entering college, I have been unable to seek happiness with the same approach, and I feel, above all else, stagnant. How can I be building meaningful experiences if every few days, I find myself crying about missing adventures with friends or wake up uninterested in engaging with the world? I like to pride myself on chasing whims and creating for the sake of creating, but in my room all day, I feel devoid of inspiration.

Today, without the ability to seek new experiences in the way I did before, I am searching for new ways to grow. I joined The Grind to be inspired and pursue deeper introspection in a time when video calls are inadequate replacements for the experiences I would have on campus. I am also writing to become more vulnerable.

Sharing my personal writing has always been a mental block something that should be effortless but that I often struggle with. I was recently on a Zoom call with my boyfriend (such are the times). While I was sharing my screen, he spotted a document titled Love @ Stanford on my desktop. This was a New York Times Modern Love-esque piece that I started and very quickly abandoned. Out of instinct, I refused to let him read it, despite there being nothing incriminating only 10 fractured, disconnected sentences.

When my writing is personal, I become self-conscious. Are my experiences worth sharing? Do I really have anything insightful to share? I often think of writing as my process of thinking; my thoughts start jumbled, and I rely on writing to sort and structure them into coherent beliefs. But even if I physically cringe when thinking about some of my peers reading my writing, I believe in the value of vulnerability so I am writing for The Grind to seek growth. If experiencing and risk-taking have to happen remotely, so be it.In these strange times, to write, I hope, is to experience.

Contact Lena Han at lahan at stanford.edu.

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Social stagnation (and why I'm writing for The Grind) - The Stanford Daily

It has certainly been an eventful week for Boris Johnson personally, who returned to work earlier this week after contracting Covid-19. However, the second Prime Ministers Questions for the new Labour leader Keir Starmer saw him face off against the First Secretary of State, as Dominic Raab deputised for the PM again. It had been unclear whether the Johnson would be up for the questions session today, but with the birth of his son this morning it became clear that he would not be appearing. It was left to Raab to defend the governments position, in a week which has seen the UK pass the grim 20,000 milestone for coronavirus deaths. In a perhaps less concise and punchy outing than his first this was a much longer session, in which we got a lot more by way of a preamble to each question we saw the Labour leader put questions to Raab on reporting, deaths in care homes, the provision of personal protective equipment and an exit strategy.

Beginning by adding yesterdays figures from the ONS and the Care Quality Commission to those of the daily recorded hospital deaths, the new Labour leader calculated a stark total of 27,241 deaths from Covid-19, warning that would probably be an underestimate because of the time lag in reporting. The UK is currently on track for one of the worst death rates in Europe, declared Starmer. And the rebuttal from Raab was an odd one, to say the least. It is far too early to make international comparisons. A particularly unconvincing argument, considering that every evening a minister is rolled out with a helpful graphic mapping the progress of the UK against other countries.

What happened to keeping below 20,000 deaths? The Labour leader asked. A benchmark that the chief scientific officer set out last month. The answer from Raab? This is an unprecedented pandemic and we should not criticise the attempt at a forecast it would be nice to know exactly when this turned from a target to a prediction. And why are deaths going up in care homes? Starmer asked. Why did Raab say that care sector Covid-19 deaths were falling on The Andrew Marr Show on Sunday? There is a challenge in the care sector, Raab admitted one caused by the decentralised nature of care homes, he said, and the inability of the government to control the ebb and flow of people into the care settings. He refused to be drawn on his Sunday appearance, saying only that there were positive signs in care homes and that the figures are within the margin of error.

The Labour leader turned next to personal protective equipment, citing a survey from the Royal College of Physicians that revealed that one in four doctors reported not having adequate PPE. We are now ten weeks on from when the Health Secretary declared that there was serious and imminent threat to life. You would hope that by now things would be getting better, not worse, Starmer said. What is going on? He asked. A global shortage, Raab responded. And what about an exit strategy? Starmer pointed out that we are falling behind the many other countries that have published a strategy in some form, including France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, New Zealand, Australia, Scotland and Wales. The government must tell the public what is happening, Starmer stated, in order to maintain their trust. But again the First Secretary refused to be drawn, saying that proposals will have to wait for SAGE to finish their analysis of the evidence, Raab said. While that sounds reasonable on face value, it obviously does not explain why our analysis seems to be behind those of other countries.

Returning to work earlier on Monday, Johnson had boldly said that there will be many people looking now at our apparent success in dealing with the crisis. Raab notably avoided making the same claim as his boss. This afternoon, we saw Starmer place the First Secretary in an awkward position as he reeled off a barrage of figures pointing at anything but success. Raab was forced to admit his horror at the numbers and those numbers are only set to get worse. With the government today beginning to add deaths in care homes to the daily reporting for the first time, as Labour has called for, the coming weeks could reveal a death toll far worse than those of our European neighbours. No wonder Raab was so determined to keep away from any international comparison.

LabourList has more readers than ever before - but we need your support. Our dedicated coverage of Labour's policies and personalities, internal debates, selections and elections relies on donations from our readers.

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PMQs: "We're on track to have one of Europe's worst death rates" - LabourList

Members of Coalition for Grassroots Human Rights Defenders Kenya distribute food to vulnerable families in the Mathare slum of Nairobi on April 25. Fredrik Lerneryd/AFP/Getty Images

The next time you react when your six-foot perimeter is violated at a grocery store or on the sidewalk, imagine how much worse it could be. For hundreds of millions of people who live in unplanned settlements, slums, and refugee camps around the world, anything approaching social distancing is a cruel impossibility.

Likewise, the next time you wash your hands, think of the 3 billion or so people who cannot do so within the safety of their own homes due to lack of running water.

If you wonder whether to call your doctor about a cough or fever, recall that Africa has less than one-tenth the number of doctors per capita as the United States and an even greater shortage of essential medical technology. (Sierra Leone has only a handful of ventilators for nearly 8 million people.)

Johns Hopkins Universitys global map tracking the coronavirus shows that it has barely reached sub-Saharan Africa yet, compared to most of the Northern Hemisphere. There are only 33,748 reported cases as of April 27, about 1 percent of all cases reported globally.

But any serious global strategy to deal with this pandemic must look at the horizon, where a brewing African catastrophe is taking shape.

If COVID-19 spreads across Africa, it would not only be a human catastrophe for the continent, but one that threatens the Northern Hemisphere with future outbreaks and further human and economic losses. What is true in the United States, where people in poor and minority neighborhoods are dying in disproportionate numbers, is true for the world as a whole: No one will be safe so long as anyone is at risk.

If the United States, Europe, and others succeed in containing the virus in the coming months, there is no way contagion throughout Africa could be contained there. A second wave rising in Africa would almost surely crash on U.S. shores. In this way, the coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the worlds interdependence; the future safety of every U.S. community therefore depends on the success of every community in Africa and elsewhere.

While giving priority to the fight here at home is essential, the time to help Africa fight the virus is now.

Its true that Africas population is younger than most, with a median age of only 19.7 years, and potentially less vulnerable. Its also true that African urban areas are generally farther apart and Africans travel from area to area less frequently than in many of the worlds most industrialized countries. And some countries, such as Nigeria, Liberia, Uganda, and others that have dealt with Ebola, have built on their hard-won achievements and put into place structures from dealing with previous contagions.

But throughout the continent there are crowded slums; challenged health systems; scarce medical resources; immune systems weakened by malnutrition, HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, and other diseases; and growing but vulnerable economies. These factors make the outlook grim.

That is why the World Health Organization (WHO) and leading advocates are calling for immediate attention to Africa.

As Americans have learned to their growing sorrow, a delayed start in responding fully to the pandemic means far more unnecessary deaths and greater economic loss than is necessary.

African leaders on the other hand have generally taken swift initial public health actions to combat COVID-19.

South Africa, for example, imposed a nationwide state of disaster on March 15, at a time when there were only 61 reported cases and no deaths. This bought time for training, preparing, and protecting more health care workers; scaling up testing facilities; opening pop-up clinics and employing contact tracing and isolation in high density areas. South Africas curve has flattened for now, and the country has far fewer cases (4,793) than initially predicted.

Some nations with strong community health programs and outreach workers, such as Rwanda and Ethiopia, are providing information and support through trusted community leaders to help deploy vast networks of contact tracing and community response. Their leadership in investing in community health worker programs provides a lesson for the United States, United Kingdom, and other high-income nations that are only now scrambling to develop a workforce capable of widespread contact tracing and community support before reopening the economy.

The government of Malawi is using predictive models previously developed for identifying hot spots for food insecurity and malaria risk to target assistance on areas likely to be hit the hardest by COVID-19 (due to age, co-morbidities, population movements, and flu-like illnesses).

In such countries, fast-moving efforts may help them stay ahead of the virus long enough to put into place high-volume testing, contact tracing, and isolation, as well as temporary intensive care facilities with respiratory support. But because so many are living on the edge of poverty, lockdowns are becoming extremely challenging to maintainas farmers are unable to transport their food, markets are closed, and those reliant on daily income from the informal labor market lose their means of sustenance, people run out of critical medicines, and pregnant women struggle to find timely transport before giving birth. And the absence in many areas of indoor running water and toilets makes it difficult or impossible to obey wash your hands public service announcements.

For many African countries, a delayed but still exponential growth of COVID-19 cases seems very likely. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has called COVID-19 an existential threat, and reported a 43 percent increase in new cases over one week in April. The WHO is warning that the continent could see 10 million cases. Despite their best efforts to prepare, health systems could quickly be overrun by a lack of health care workers, an inability to maintain lockdown, and a supply of personal protective equipment, test kits, and ventilators choked off by global competition.

This deadly mix must be addressed and ameliorated through massive, urgent global support. Unlike the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak, which focused on three countries in West Africa, COVID-19 infections have been confirmed in 52 African nations to date, including multiple countries with ongoing conflicts and substantial populations of internally displaced persons.

The U.S. government and other wealthy nations have an opportunity to play a positiveeven transformationalrole by supporting African governments and other actors. In coordination with United Nations agencies, the World Bank, the Africa CDC and the African Union, the African Development Bank and others, Washington can help vulnerable nations battle the virus and reduce future waves of infection on its own shores.

Congress should bolster the U.S. response to the global epidemican extension of the domestic responsethrough urgent, supplemental funding. Meeting needs such as prefabricated intensive-care units, bolstering food security and availability of water, sanitation, and hygiene, and supportive care through telemedicine will immediately save lives. In addition, financing is needed for the expansion of other essential elements of health security, such as laboratory strengthening, surveillance support, and personal protective equipment, which is in such short supply globally that the U.S. government has actually resorted to attempting to source supplies from countries that are recipients of U.S. aid.

Congress should also immediately increase support to U.S. global health programs already on the ground. Over the past 17 years, the U.S. Presidents Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) has spent $75 billion in the African region. Together with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, it has changed the trajectory of previously existing pandemics. The incidence of new HIV infections has declined 28 percent in the hard-hit regions of East and Southern Africa since 2010, with deaths declining by 44 percent there over the same period as millions of Africans gained access to antiretroviral therapy in Africa.

These successful health platforms offer the COVID-19 response established networks of data-driven public health leaders, extensive supply chain networks, nimble nongovernmental organizations and front-line health care workers who are already pivoting to support all elements of the coronavirus response on the continent. They are already gearing up their pooled procurement mechanisms to address inequitable distribution of critical supplies. And their involvement, as well as other U.S.-sponsored programs in maternal and child health and family planning, are essential to protecting the substantial gains in HIV, tuberculosis, malaria eradication, vaccination and family planning coverage during the pandemic.

The U.S. government should also provide further support for research and development of medicines and vaccines that can save lives in the United States and beyond. Investments in international partnerships such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations will help to meet global access needs while leveraging funding from other nations. Additional support for organizations such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance can help to ensure advance-purchase commitments are in place to help shape a healthy marketplace that ensures the ability to rapidly scale up production and distribution.

The WHOdespite U.S. President Donald Trumps threat to withdraw U.S. fundingmust continue to play an essential role in supporting coordinated and evidence-based public health action across African and other nations, and Congress should strongly protect its funding.

Bill and Melinda Gates have shown that private citizens can also have a transformational impact on Africas health infrastructure, and on April 16 they announced that they will more than double their foundations contribution to the WHO. Jack Dorsey, the chief executive of Twitter and Square, pledged to donate $1 billion to relief programs related to the virus. And wealthy celebrities, such as Charlize Theron, Rihanna and Jay-Z have contributed to fight the impact of COVID-19 in Africa.

The economic costs of shortchanging the continent would be high. At the end of 2019, the five fastest-growing economies globally were in Africa; now, sub-Saharan Africas gross domestic product is expected to contract by 1.6 percent this year, plunging the region into its first recession in 25 years, according to the International Monetary Fund. South Africas economy has already slid into recession and Nigeria and Angola are expected to follow suit. Tourisma sector that accounts for $40 billion in revenue annuallycould collapse. As many as 20 million jobs could be lost in the region, according to the African Union, and foreign investment could decline by 15 percent.

Africas cities, where nearly half of the continents population lives and where 50 percent of Sub-Saharan Africas GDP is generated, could be devastated. The social costs of increasing poverty in Africa will be felt for years as children lose access to schooling and will live with the consequences of early childhood deprivation.

It is understandable that at such a challenging moment, some Americans may want their government to stay focused solely on the COVID-19 crisis at home. This approach is understandable but shortsighted. Even those traditionally skeptical of U.S. engagement abroad must recognize the cascading costs for Americans of new contagions elsewhere. The costs for the United States and the rest of the world will be significant in new waves of migration, lost investments and crippled trading partners, lack of natural resources, interrupted supply chains, and pressure for still greater economic support in the future. Already, African finance ministers are requesting $100 billion for debt relief and economic stimulus.

Most importantly, human lives, in Africa and beyond, are at stake. The virus is attacking all of humanity. Humanitys response will not only be a test of our sense of collective self-interest, but also of our collective soul.

Excerpt from:
It's Time for Europe and the United States to Help Africa Fight the Coronavirus - Foreign Policy

Updated / Wednesday, 29 Apr 2020 22:47

Britain now has Europe's second-highest official death toll from the coronavirus pandemic, according to new figures that cover fatalities in all settings, including in nursing homes.

Public Health England has said that some 26,097 people died after testing positive for the virus.

It includes 765 deaths reported in the 24 hours to 5pm on Tuesday.

It is the first time data on the number of deaths in care homes and the wider community has been included in the Government's daily updates.

The new method of reporting includes an additional 3,811 deaths since the start of the outbreak.

Of these, around 70% were outside hospital settings and around 30% were in hospital.

PHE medical director Dr Yvonne Doyle said: "Every death from Covid-19 is a tragedy.

"Tracking the daily death count is vital to help us understand the impact of the disease.

"These more complete data will give us a fuller and more up-to-date picture of deaths in England and will inform the government's approach as we continue to protect the public.

"It will remain the case that ONS (Office for National Statistics) data, which publishes every week with data from 11 days ago, includes suspected cases where a test has not taken place.

"ONS figures will therefore continue to include more deaths than our daily series."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Labour leader Keir Starmer earlier had a "constructive" phone call, with both leaders agreeing to continue speaking about the national UK effort to defeat Covid-19.

A Downing Street spokesman said: "The Prime Minister spoke to Sir Keir Starmer on the phone this afternoon and updated him on the government's efforts to combat coronavirus.

"It was a constructive call and they agreed to continue speaking about the national effort to defeat the virus."

During Prime Minister's Questions today, Mr Starmer claimed that Britain's efforts to secure personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers were getting worse not better.

He asked the government to explain how long it will take to fix the issue, as he also warned the UK looks on course for one of the worst Covid-19 death rates in Europe.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab acknowledged there are "challenges on the frontline", but insisted there was a global supply shortage on PPE and the government was doing "absolutely everything we can" to improve the situation.

He was deputising for Mr Johnson after the prime minister's fiance Carrie Symonds gave birth to a baby boy.

Mr Starmer began by asking why deaths in care homes are still rising, to which the First Secretary of State replied by stating it is a "challenge that we must grip and can grip".

Mr Starmer went on: "Six weeks ago on March 17, the Government's chief scientific adviser (Sir Patrick Vallance) indicated the Government hoped to keep the overall number of deaths from coronavirus to below 20,000.

"He said that would be 'good' by which in fairness to him he meant successful in the circumstances. But we're clearly way above that number and we're only partway through this crisis and we're possibly on track to have one of the worst death rates in Europe.

"On Monday, the Prime Minister said in his short speech that many were looking at our apparent success in the UK. But does the First Secretary agree with me that far from success these latest figures are truly dreadful?"

Mr Raab replied: "This is an unprecedented pandemic, a global pandemic, and I think in fairness we shouldn't criticise either the CMO (chief medical officer) or the deputy CMO for trying to give some forecast in response to the questions that many in this chamber and many in the media are calling for."

Turning to PPE, Mr Starmer said: "I recognise the challenge the government faces on this, I recognise that getting the right piece of equipment to the right place every time is very difficult, but lives do depend on it.

"And it is ten weeks since the Health Secretary declared that there was a serious and imminent threat to life. You'd hope that by now, things would be getting better, not worse."

Mr Starmer added: "So can I ask the First Secretary, what is going on and how soon can it be fixed?"

Mr Raab replied: "I feel animated, inspired to do even better, but he needs to recognise on PPE that there is a global supply shortage and we're doing absolutely everything we can to make sure that those on the front line get the equipment that they need."

Mr Starmer went on to encourage the government to publish details about what happens in the next phase and on the exit strategy, with Mr Raab saying he could not offer a time frame.

The Labour leader said: "France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, New Zealand, Australia, Scotland and Wales have all published exit plans of one sort or another.

"(Mr Raab) said, 'well what are the proposals, what should they cover?'. If you look at those plans, as he's done and I've done, it's clear that there are common issues such as schools reopening, business sectors reopening.

"These are the issues that, if he wants me to put them on the table, I absolutely will."

He added: "Delay risks not only falling behind other countries, but also the successful four-nation approach so far."

Mr Raab responded: "The Scottish Government has not set out an exit strategy. I read through very carefully their 25-page document, it was eminently sensible and it was grounded in the five tests that I set out on April 16."

On testing, Mr Raab also said the Prime Minister's 250,000 tests a day target remains "an aspiration" but would not put a date on it.

Additional reporting PA

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