Friday on Fox News Channel's "Your World," Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) argued when determining how and whether or not China was responsible for coronavirus global pandemic, it was undeniable China allowed the virus to spread beyond its borders.

Pressure is increasing on Gov. Tom Wolf (D) to reopen Pennsylvania, even among Democrats, as it is revealed that the vast majority of recent coronavirus deaths in the state occurred at nursing homes or personal care facilities, the Morning Call revealed this week.

Mexican health officials admitted to surpassing 3,100 COVID-19 related-deaths as cases continue to rise nationwide. The reports come despite repeated accusations of the government downplaying the true scope of the coronavirus pandemic

Kenya's regional governors are calling on national authorities to close the country's borders as illegal migration from surrounding countries has caused an increase in imported coronavirus cases, Kenyan newspaper the Nation reported on Thursday.

LONDON (AP) - From resounding applause to ostracization and isolation. That's essentially the journey Lt. Cmdr. Robert Embleton, who served 34 years in Britain's Royal Navy...

Data released from the California Departments of Health and Social Services on Friday show that nursing home deaths represent almost half of the coronavirus fatalities in the state.

Physician and Rep. Gregory Murphy said on SiriusXM’s Breitbart News Daily that “draconian” lockdowns are no longer needed in many places.

Nearly three-fourths of U.S. adults say China bears responsibility for American coronavirus deaths, a Morning Consult tracker poll released Friday revealed.

(United States Ninth Circuit) - In a copyright dispute arising out of photographs posted online on defendant's social media website, the district court's summary judgment that defendant was entitled protected by the safe harbor of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act is reversed where: 1) the safe harbor set forth in 17 U.S.C. section 512(c) would apply if the photographs were posted at the direction of users; 2) defendant posted the photographs after a team of volunteer moderators, led by an employee of the defendant, reviewed and approved them; 3) the common law of agency applied to the defendant's safe harbor defense; and 4) there were genuine factual disputes regarding whether the moderators were the defendant's agents.

(United States Second Circuit) - Rejected an objecting class member's challenge to the amount of attorney fees awarded to a law firm that represented the class in a shareholder lawsuit. Raising what the court described as a novel issue, the objector contended that the lodestar fee must be unenhanced because the action was initiated under a statute with a fee‐shifting provision.

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirmed. Plaintiff brought a class action against Defendant alleging Insurance Code violations and unfair business practices for the insurance rates Defendant charged in its car rental business. The trial court found no illegal or fraudulent business practice or any economic injury. Judgment was entered in favor of the Defendant.

(United States Second Circuit) - Questions on appeal concern cross-jurisdictional tolling of a class action. Because the appeal presents state law questions that New York’s courts have yet to address, the court certifies the case to the New York Court of Appeals.

Fred Nice, The Oxford, MS Native Has Officially Signed An Exclusive Record Deal With NJ-based NuWave Records

Singing Songwriter Ahmad Formally "thisisjavon" Is Ready To Strike A Pose For The Camera And Get Sexy For A Same-Sex Bachelors

New Upcoming Artist LittleT Has Got The Attention Of Some Industry Pros

Radio Debut On Rap Station Radio

(United States Fifth Circuit) - Affirmed. An insurer was not liable for contractual and statutory violations arising from the denial of a commercial property insurance claim. The suit was untimely because re-investigation by the insurer did not toll the accrual of the cause of action.

The Bermuda Police Service continues to seek the public’s help in locating 26-year-old Chavelle Dillon-Burgess, which was last seen over the...

By Rob Stein, Carmel Wroth, Alyson Hurt

To safely phase out social distancing measures, the U.S. needs more diagnostic testing for the coronavirus, experts say. But how much more?

The Trump administration said on April 27 that the U.S. will soon have enough capacity to conduct double the current amount of testing for active infections. The country has done nearly 248,000 tests daily on average in the past seven days, according to the nonprofit COVID Tracking Project. Doubling that would mean doing about 496,000 a day.

Will that be enough? What benchmark should states try to hit?

One prominent research group, Harvard's Global Health Institute, proposes that the U.S. should be doing more than 900,000 tests per day as a country. This projection, released Thursday, is a big jump from its earlier projection of testing need, which had been between 500,000 and 600,000 daily.

Harvard's testing estimate increased, says Ashish Jha, director of the Global Health Institute, because the latest modeling shows that the outbreak in the United States is worse than projected earlier.

"Just in the last few weeks, all of the models have converged on many more people getting infected and many more people [dying]," he says.

But each state's specific need for testing varies depending on the size of its outbreak, explains Jha. The bigger the outbreak, the more testing is needed.

On Thursday, Jha's group at Harvard published a simulation that estimates the amount of testing needed in each state by May 15. In the graphic below, we compare these estimates with the average numbers of daily tests states are currently doing.

Two ways to assess whether testing is adequate

To make their state-by-state estimates, the Harvard Global Health Institute group started from a model of future case counts. It calculated how much testing would be needed for a state to test all infected people and any close contacts they may have exposed to the virus. (The simulation estimates testing 10 contacts on average.)

"Testing is outbreak control 101, because what testing lets you do is figure out who's infected and who's not," Jha says. "And that lets you separate out the infected people from the noninfected people and bring the disease under control."

This approach is how communities can prevent outbreaks from flaring up. First, test all symptomatic people, then reach out to their close contacts and test them, and finally ask those who are infected or exposed to isolate themselves.

Our chart also shows another testing benchmark for each state: the ratio of tests conducted that come back positive. Communities that see about 10% or fewer positives among their test results are probably testing enough, the World Health Organization advises. If the rate is higher, they're likely missing a lot of active infections.

What is apparent from the data we present below is that many states are far from both the Harvard estimates and the 10% positive benchmark.

Just nine states are near or have exceeded the testing minimums estimated by Harvard; they are mostly larger, less populous states: Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Several states with large outbreaks — New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, among others — are very far from the minimum testing target. Some states that are already relaxing their social distancing restrictions, such as Georgia, Texas and Colorado, are far from the target too.

Jha offers several caveats about his group's estimates.

Estimates are directional, not literal

Researchers at the Global Health Initiative at Harvard considered three different models of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak as a starting point for their testing estimates. They found that while there was significant variation in the projections of outbreak sizes, all of the models tend to point in the same direction, i.e., if one model showed that a state needed significantly more testing, the others generally did too.

The model they used to create these estimates is the Youyang Gu COVID-19 Forecasts, which they say has tracked closely with what's actually happened on the ground. Still, the researchers caution, these numbers are not meant to be taken literally but as a guide.

Can't see this visual? Click here.

If social distancing is relaxed, testing needs may grow

The Harvard testing estimates are built on a model that assumes that states continue social distancing through May 15. And about half of states have already started lifting some of those.

Jha says that without the right measures in place to contain spread, easing up could quickly lead to new cases.

"The moment you relax, the number of cases will start climbing. And therefore, the number of tests you need to keep your society, your state from having large outbreaks will also start climbing," warns Jha.

Testing alone is not enough

A community can't base the decision that it's safe to open up on testing data alone. States should also see a consistent decline in the number of cases, of two weeks at least, according to White House guidance. If their cases are instead increasing, they should assume the number of tests they need will increase too.

And, Jha warns, testing is step one, but it won't contain an outbreak by itself. It needs to be part of "a much broader set of strategies and plans the states need to have in place" when they begin to reopen.

In fact, his group's model is built on the assumption that states are doing contact tracing and have plans to support isolation for infected or exposed people.

"I don't want anybody to just look at the number and say, we meet it and we're good to go," he says. "What this really is, is testing capacity in the context of having a really effective workforce of contact tracers."

The targets are floors, not goals

States that have reached the estimated target should think of that as a starting point.

"We've always built these as the floor, the bare minimum," Jha says. More testing would be even better, allowing states to more rapidly tamp down case surges.

In fact, other experts have proposed that the U.S. do even more testing. Paul Romer, a professor of economics at New York University, proposed in a recent white paper that if the U.S. tested every resident, every two weeks, isolating those who test positive, it could stop the pandemic in its tracks.

Jha warns that without sufficient testing, and the infrastructure in place to trace and isolate contacts, there's a real risk that states — even those with few cases now — will see new large outbreaks. "I think what people have to remember is that the virus isn't gone. The disease isn't gone. And it's going to be with us for a while," he says.

Can't see this visual? Click here.

Daniel Wood contributed to this report.

(California Court of Appeal) - In a debt collection action, the court found that Defendant was liable for the debt, but found that the trial court erred by awarding Plaintiff attorney fees related to the defense of counterclaims.

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirmed. Plaintiff brought a qui tam action alleging that Defendant violated the False Claims Act in its billings to Medi-Cal. The trial court sustained a demurrer and entered a judgment of dismissal of the complaint. The appeals court held that Defendant did not violate any requirement under law as to its billings to Medi-Cal.

The best of faith, family, disability, and culture as I say goodbye to blogging.

One of the wonderful aspects of blogging is that I get to write about pretty much anything that is on my mind and might connect with readers. Over the past 15 months of blogging for Christianity Today, I've written or edited nearly 200 posts. As I wrote last week, many posts soar to the top of the charts for predictable reasons (i.e., the word sex is in the title or it relates to pop culture). In highlighting the "best" posts of this blog, I didn't only pay attention to the number of pageviews they garnered, but also to the ideas contained within. Here are my nine favorites posts:

The Problem with Quiet Times

As a mother of three small children, when I stopped having disciplined set apart time with God, my faith grew.

Why We Still Go To Church

It's inconvenient and inefficient and sometimes doesn't even feel spiritual. But I'm glad we keep showing up.

Want a Better Devotional Life? Buy a Bird Feeder

What my grandfather and my son taught me about patience, love, and a gentle spirit.

The Serious Pleasure of Summer Reading

An argument for why reading matters, and a list of ten books—for kids and adults—to challenge and entertain.

How Christians Should Talk About Sex

"Although I want to hold out a biblical ideal of sex, I want to do so in very unbiblical terms." What Rolling Stone and Paul have taught me.

John Perkins: The Sin of Racism Made Ferguson Escalate So Quickly

In the wake of the events in Ferguson last summer, I had a chance to interview Christian civil rights leader John Perkins.

What Slowing Down Teaches You That Rushing Never Will

Although there have been a number of wonderful guest posts here, this is my very favorite: Elisa Fryling Stanford,mother of a ...

Continue reading...

Cloe Wilder Releases The Music Video For Her New Single.

“I AM,” Recorded By 15 Year-old Lily Kelly Just Months Before Her Untimely Passing, Is Available Now At All Major Digital Outlets, Including ITunes, Google Play And Spotify.

In November 2017, we here at Bandicoot Marketing acquired Themes By Bavotasan from Chris. It was great to meet Chris during the acquisition and hear about all of the hard…

The post Themes By Bavotasan Is Becoming Bandicoot Pro appeared first on bavotasan.com.

Ethereal Wave & Neo-Psychedelic World Beat Artist, Simrit, Set To Release Her Seventh Full Length Album, 'When We Return', In Early November 2019

They Tell International Life All About Their Passion For Disco, And Why They Are Producing A Disco Album For The Modern Generation

NIE Presents: The Hsu-nami, Fuck Your Birthday, NegativeHate, Stereobird @ Santos Party House

Their Debut Release, Firma Collective - Songs For Every Soul, Was Produced By Mgrdichian And Mixed By The Legendary Brian Reeves

(California Court of Appeal) - Affirmed the denial of a supermarket chain's motion to compel arbitration of three employees' claims. The issue concerned whether alleged violations of state anti-discrimination and retaliation statutes had to be arbitrated under the collective-bargaining agreement.

(California Court of Appeal) - Held that a store manager's claims against his former employer must be arbitrated. The arbitration agreement's choice-of-law clause did not alter this conclusion. Reversed the decision below in relevant part.

"‘Wish I Were Here' Is So Engaging, I Can Hardly Believe It's Their Debut"

We explore what antibody testing is and the potential it has against the coronavirus as UC Davis Health begins testing some of its healthcare workers. Local county leaders check in, and the results of the Next Generation Jazz Festival.

The latest developments in the coronavirus pandemic from weekend across the region. We check in with the mayors of Truckee and Chico on how their cities are managing, and a local photographer offers a window into the lives of her neighbors.

David Gilmour is streaming his 2016 film, 'Live At Pompeii', as the fourth and final installment in Pink Floyd's new weekly series

If you start your garden now, you'll be able to eat freshly grown salads in no time.

Denver Botanic Gardens' 2020 Spring Plant Sale is still happening despite the coronavirus outbreak throughout Colorado.

Groups that were planning to ask Colorado voters for money and new laws in November are seeking rule changes after the coronavirus brought their efforts to a screeching halt.

The Private Facility Has Installed A Pair Of Result6 Compact Nearfield Monitors To Complement Its Existing Range Of Recording And Mixing Equipment.

Cloe Wilder Releases The Music Video For Her New Single.

“I AM,” Recorded By 15 Year-old Lily Kelly Just Months Before Her Untimely Passing, Is Available Now At All Major Digital Outlets, Including ITunes, Google Play And Spotify.

Check out our latest review of avast! Internet Security 2014

A quick and easy way of making the avast! Internet Security Firewall much more effective.

While Ambrosetti Decided To Pursue His Family's Multi-million-dollar Business For Decades, He Never Put His Trumpet On The Shelf.

Mrs. Ingraham Is No Stranger To The Spotlight, Having Been Featured On Both TV And Radio Commercials, As Well As Credited In A Hollywood Feature.

Mrs. Ingraham Is No Stranger To The Spotlight, Having Been Featured On Both TV And Radio Commercials, As Well As Credited In A Hollywood Feature.

Mrs. Ingraham Is No Stranger To The Spotlight, Having Been Featured On Both TV And Radio Commercials, As Well As Credited In A Hollywood Feature.

As the coronavirus pandemic disrupts daily life and commerce in Colorado, many in the state’s marijuana industry believe it makes the case for allowing dispensaries to begin delivering to customers' homes now.