Friday, April 17 coronavirus updates
Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth. It is Friday, April 17. We’ve made it through another week of COVID-19. Here are top news briefs.
President Trump tweeted a message of support for protesters against stay-at-home orders issued in Minnesota, Michigan, and Virginia. Trump said “LIBERATE MINNESOTA!” “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” “LIBERATE VIRGINIA, and save your great 2nd Amendment (right to bear arms). All three states have Democratic governors. This shows that President Trump is on the side of the protesters, who want the states’ economies reopened despite the high risk of spreading COVID-19 and causing more hospitalizations and deaths.
In Wuhan, China, officials added about 1,300 people to the numbers of coronavirus deaths. The city’s total is now 3,869. Chinese officials said hospital systems and disease organizations were overwhelmed with the initial outbreak and now the numbers are updated. This is an interesting time for China to update the numbers because President Trump recently announced the U.S. would cut off funds to the World Health Organization (WHO) and accused the WHO of accepting false information from China.
Michael Cohen, who used to be President Trump’s attorney, will be released early from his three-year prison sentence due to an outbreak of COVID-19 at a federal prison in Otisville, New York. ABC News reported that he will be allowed to finish his prison term at home.
CNN reported that about 80 million people received their stimulus payments this week, but there are 60 million people that are still waiting for the money. The IRS said those who already have direct deposit information with the iRS based on 2018 or 2019 federal tax returns would get the money the fastest.
Those who receive Social Security / SSI benefits with direct deposits would get the money “soon” if you have not yet received it. Some news reports said Social Security recipients will get the money later this month or in early May.
Remember, those who receive SSI benefits and have children who are 16 years old or under will need to go to IRS.gov and enter your payment information in the “Non-Filers” section to receive the $500 payments for children.
The Washington Post reported that those who use tax services such as H&R Block, TurboTax, or Jackson Hewitt might be delayed with stimulus payments because of a system in place where the IRS would send refund money to a “temporary bank account” before it goes through to their customers accounts. That seems to have caused an issue with the stimulus payments. The IRS said they are aware and working on it.
From reading news reports, I can see that there is still a lot of confusion and some errors with the checks being paid, so if you are feeling confused or frustrated, you’re not the only one. I hope that if you are qualified for the check you’ll get it sooner than later.
Two House Democrats want to provide another round of stimulus payments by providing $2,000 per month to Americans 16 or older who were affected by the pandemic for at least six months. The payments would continue until employment rates are back to pre-coronavirus levels. Married couples would get $4,000 per month. Children would get $500 each. This is only a proposal by two House Democrats so it’s nowhere near to being approved by Congress or President Trump, but we’ll see if a second round of payments becomes a popular idea and gains traction.
Now, here are two non-coronavirus news.
SpaceX and NASA said they have scheduled May 27 for a test flight launch with NASA astronauts at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This would be the first on U.S. soil in nine years and the first time SpaceX has sent humans in their spacecraft.
Land O’Lakes butter has changed their branding by removing the Native American woman from it. The woman was known as the “butter maiden.” The new packaging now just shows a lake scenery. Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who identifies as an Anishinaabekwe, tweeted that it was an important and needed change because “Native people are not mascots or logos. We are very much still here.”
That is all for this week. Keep on following “The Daily Moth” on Facebook and YouTube. Check out the upcoming Deaf News videos. Have a safe and healthy weekend and stay with the light!
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/04/17/trump-states-stay-at-home-orders-192386
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/coronavirus-china-announces-jump-death-toll-wuhan-china-n1186006
https://abcnews.go.com/US/michael-cohen-released-prison-early-covid-19/story?id=70200423
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/16/politics/why-didnt-i-get-my-stimulus-money/index.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/16/coronavirus-cares-stimulus-check/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2020/04/15/stimulus-bill-taxes-congress-refund/#2e7538b1c656