TribLive stories, Page 1905
Italy plans to reopen country after weeks of lockdownVideo
ROME — Italy is set to ease a number of coronavirus-related restrictions from May 4 onward, allowing citizens to do more outdoor sports and exercise near their homes, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Sunday. Conte made the announcement in Rome while presenting the government’s plan for the gradual reopening of...
People flock to California beaches again, bringing hand sanitizer and hopeVideo
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — A chilly breeze and cloudy skies didn’t deter hundreds of families, friends and couples from descending on Huntington Beach early Sunday. Couples lay on beach towels watching dozens of surfers ride the waves, as others played on the beach. A mother kept watch over young boys...
Gov. Cuomo outlines ‘Phase 1’ of reopening, to start with upstate New York regions
NEW YORK — Parts of upstate New York could begin “Phase 1” of reopening about the middle of May — provided covid-19 hospitalizations have declined for two straight weeks by then — Gov. Cuomo said Sunday, though he noted the Big Apple will require extra caution. “I don’t want to...
No more bodies on the streets. But coronavirus batters Ecuador with disproportionate forceVideo
QUITO, Ecuador — The grisly scenes of bodies left on the streets of the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil seemed dystopian even in the era of coronavirus. “This peaceful city received a bomb from the air, like Hiroshima,” Guayaquil Mayor Cynthia Viteri told a TV interviewer last week. The shocking images...
Lawmakers warn coronavirus contact-tracing ripe for abuse
WASHINGTON — It is a big promise from Silicon Valley to a nation looking for ways to be freed from home confinement: Smartphones could discreetly detect those who may have covid-19 and nudge them to quarantine, blunting renewed outbreaks as Americans start to venture out. But as tech firms lay...
Letter to the editor: Missing Western Pa.
My wife and I are nurses. My wife is from the Philippines. I promised her years ago that I would take her to Pittsburgh to see the leaves change and again to see the snow on the slopes of Seven Springs. In these times my thoughts take me back home,...
Letter to the editor: Advice for liquor store system
The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s phone-in order plan turned into a fiasco (“Pennsylvania liquor stores begin call-in orders with some confusion,” April 20, TribLIVE), just like the online process following the statewide liquor store closings. LCB spokesman Shawn Kelly said as the state tries to increase its capacity to sell...
Letter to the editor: A global approach to pandemic
As an EMT, I’m thrilled to hear that Pennsylvania is working toward getting its first responders full pay even if they have to stop working due to the coronavirus (“Pennsylvania bill would ensure full pay for first responders stricken with coronavirus,” April 13, TribLIVE). Just as the government is pushing...
Letter to the editor: Why the late Obama endorsement?
President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden worked together for eight years in the Oval Office. One would assume that both men grew to know each other intimately. Prior to the South Carolina primary, when the media had placed Biden’s campaign on life support, Obama did not endorse his former...
Letter to the editor: Trump administration’s actions commendable
I would like letter-writer Bob Grottenthaler (“Trump’s covid-19 response incompetent”) to point out why he thinks the Trump administration ignored the CDC pandemic plan from 2005. I went on the CDC website and read the plan. I understand President Trump’s committee may not have followed it to the letter, but...
Letter to the editor: Firefighters, police answer call for birthday boy
I would like to thank Pioneer Hose Co. and all the other local fire and police departments for putting on a special parade for my son’s second birthday April 19. He couldn’t have a normal birthday because of the virus, so I made one call to Pioneer Hose and the...
Letter to the editor: Dangers of Trump’s actions
In January 2016, when campaigning for the presidential nomination, Donald Trump boasted that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any voters. Now it seems to me that he doesn’t care that hundreds of thousands of Americans — quite possibly more — could die due to his...
Letter to the editor: Ask governor to let students have graduation
I am asking all superintendents and school boards to reach out to the governor and ask him not to cancel all 2020 graduation ceremonies. Hasn’t enough been taken away from our students and school staffs? The class of 2020 are the next teachers, medical professionals, chemists, engineers, etc. who will...
Letter to the editor: Mail-in voting will have consequences
“Your check’s in the mail.” Who remembers that one? Even if the check wasn’t in the mail, it neutralized the receiver. In some cases, the check was not mailed but the sender could blame it on the post office and delay payment. The Democratic Party plan to deal with the...
Letter to the editor: Thank health care workers
I am an attending physician at Loyalhanna Care Center, Latrobe, which was recently in the news due to covid-19. Despite the strong efforts of the administration, the virus was likely introduced into the facility by a patient transferred from a hospital outside our locale. Over the past month it has...
Letter to the editor: Covid-19 numbers don’t add up
I don’t pretend to be a statistician, and I understand the numbers I’m using are just raw data, but I’m concerned about the numbers being discussed during the covid-19 White House and state briefings. With our country having only 4% of the world’s population, we have 31% of the confirmed...
Letter to the editor: Destruction of life, liberty, happiness
Sun Tzu wrote “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” The Chinese military strategist is long dead but like-minded people of power still exist. America and the world are fighting an invisible enemy, and it’s not just the microscopic virus that we can’t see. We...
Editorial: Could PSU cuts show cost correction possibility?
Maybe the coronavirus pandemic can do something in Pennsylvania nothing else has been able to do. Maybe it will lead to reducing budgets at universities. On Friday, Penn State announced a series of moves to make the books balance in the face of a $100 million loss. The state’s largest...
How Pittsburgh’s polio vaccine triumph could shape race to end coronavirus pandemic
Peter Salk still remembers the trepidation he felt when his father came home from work one day in May 1953 and promptly began boiling a set of needles and syringes on the kitchen stove. With several years of research and promising results in monkeys fueling high hopes, Dr. Jonas Salk...
Letter to the editor: Using tax money to pick winners, losers
When the government decides the coronavirus crisis is over, rest assured that the politicians will review their response, find minor areas of improvement and ultimately pronounce a job well done. Our parents and grandparents gave the governor the authority to close businesses — and to choose which businesses must close....
Letter to the editor: Freedom & rallies to reopen
Well, President Trump is agitating against his own government. His tweets, with the help of Russian trolls, bring out people who do not understand “self-interest.” They are the usual set of “freedom lovers” who use “freedom” as a mask for their warped ideology. The “rallies” expose the people who care...
Letter to the editor: Conor Lamb, Joe Biden & fracking
As a resident of District 17 represented by U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, I’m troubled by his continued support of Joe Biden for president when he’s clearly against the shale industry here in Pennsylvania. I’m a natural gas industry employee, and we are an energy family in Lamb’s district. To hear...
Letter to the editor: Too early to reopen Pa.
Amid a pandemic, where social distancing is crucial to our survival, Pittsburghers are gathering outside to demand that Gov. Tom Wolf reopen businesses (“Protesters in Pittsburgh demand Gov. Wolf to reopen businesses amid coronavirus pandemic,” April 20, TribLIVE). This would be a tragic decision, as there are, as of April...
Letter to the editor: Nowhere to buy shoes
I have for two weeks been trying to find soccer shoes — not to play soccer, but for grass cutting. No stores that are open have them, and I have no internet to do online shopping. Because of covid-19 I can’t even get through when I try to call stores,...
Letter to the editor: How about a moratorium on income tax?
Left-wing politicians advocate using the pandemic to shape the country with liberal ideology. What would happen if right-wing politicians used the pandemic to shape the country with conservative ideology? Imagine if in addition to spending $2 trillion on a coronavirus emergency response bill, we also placed a one-year moratorium on...
