LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s unemployment claims have fallen from their recent record highs but were still far above average last week.

 The U.S. Department of Labor reports that Nebraska residents filed 16,391 new claims during the week that ended April 11, down from around 27,000 the week prior.

 Nebraska set record highs for three straight weeks as state officials imposed new social-distancing restrictions on business and residents hunkered down at home to keep the virus from spreading.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska’s unemployment claims have fallen from their recent record highs but were still far above average last week. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that Nebraska residents filed 16,391 new claims during the week that ended April 11, down from around 27,000 the week prior. Nebraska set record highs for three straight weeks as state officials imposed new social-distancing restrictions on business and residents hunkered down at home to keep the virus from spreading.

Nebraska jobless claims drop, but still far above average

BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas ranchers eager to prepare their land for cattle grazing have mostly brushed off the plea from state health officials to voluntarily cut back this spring’s prairie burning so as to reduce air pollution during the coronavirus pandemic.

 Air quality monitors this past week have picked up “significantly high readings” downwind from Kansas in the Lincoln and Omaha areas of Nebraska, with smoke from Kansas reaching as far north as South Dakota. 

Rick Brunetti, director of the Bureau of Air at at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, says they are seeing very little, if any, reduction in the amount of burning in Kansas.

BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas ranchers eager to prepare their land for cattle grazing have mostly brushed off the plea from state health officials to voluntarily cut back this spring’s prairie burning so as to reduce air pollution during the coronavirus pandemic. Air quality monitors this past week have picked up “significantly high readings” downwind from Kansas in the Lincoln and Omaha areas of Nebraska, with smoke from Kansas reaching as far north as South Dakota. Rick Brunetti, director of the Bureau of Air at at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, says they are seeing very little, if any, reduction in the amount of burning in Kansas.

Kansas ranchers burn land despite plea from health officials

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Residents in Nebraska and Iowa are bracing for a spring snow storm that could drop three-quarters of a foot of snow in some places. 

Snow began falling overnight in western Nebraska, and is expected to continue throughout Thursday as the storm moves east across the state into Iowa. 

The National Weather Service has issued weather advisories for most of Nebraska until 7 p.m., and for the southern half of Iowa until 7 a.m. Friday. 

The service says a swath from Scottsbluff to Omaha could see up to 6 inches of snow, while Lincoln could get up to 8 inches.

 In Iowa, the service says some parts of southern Iowa could get up to 9 inches.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Residents in Nebraska and Iowa are bracing for a spring snow storm that could drop three-quarters of a foot of snow in some places. Snow began falling overnight in western Nebraska, and is expected to continue throughout Thursday as the storm moves east across the state into Iowa. The National Weather Service has issued weather advisories for most of Nebraska until 7 p.m., and for the southern half of Iowa until 7 a.m. Friday. The service says a swath from Scottsbluff to Omaha could see up to 6 inches of snow, while Lincoln could get up to 8 inches. In Iowa, the service says some parts of southern Iowa could get up to 9 inches.

Spring snow storm set to bring winter back to Nebraska, Iowa

News Release (NE Dept. of Energy and Environmental Quality)

News Release (NE Dept. of Energy and Environmental Quality)<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1587038335195.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure><figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1587038352661.png" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>

Nebraska issues guidance for indoor, outdoor pools during COVID-19 outbreak

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he’s prepared to announce new guidelines allowing some states to quickly ease up on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/fa1fda126fe191425abc20ab461dfbe7">social distancing</a>&nbsp;even as business leaders told him they need more&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/c335958b1f8f6a37b19b421bc7759722">coronavirus testing</a>&nbsp;and personal protective equipment before people can safely go back to work.

The industry executives cautioned Trump that the return to normalcy will be anything but swift.

The new guidelines, expected to be announced Thursday, are aimed at clearing the way for an easing of restrictions in areas with low transmission of the coronavirus, while keeping them in place in harder-hit places. The ultimate decisions will remain with governors.

“We’ll be opening some states much sooner than others,” Trump said Wednesday.

But in a round of calls with business leaders earlier in the day, Trump was warned that a dramatic increasing in testing and wider availability of protective equipment will be necessary for the safe restoration of their operations.

The new guidelines come as the federal government envisions a gradual recovery from the virus, in which disruptive mitigation measures may be needed in some places at least until&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/76b614811eef32955180c8260188bc24">a vaccine</a>&nbsp;is available — a milestone unlikely to be reached until next year.

Trump said at his daily briefing that data indicates the U.S. is “past the peak” of the COVID-19 epidemic, clearing the way for his plans to roll out guidelines to begin to “reopen” the country.

He called the latest data “encouraging,” saying the numbers have “put us in a very strong position to finalize guidelines for states on reopening the country.”

<a href="https://apnews.com/ad29c4d8fd12aeb00bd05ad96708f325">Dr. Deborah Birx</a>, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, added that data from across the country showed the nation “improving” but that Americans had to recommit to social distancing to keep up the positive momentum.

She said nine states have fewer than 1,000 cases and just a few dozen new cases per day. She said those would likely be the first to see a lifting in social distancing restrictions at the direction of their governors under the guidelines set to be released Thursday.

Birx said the White House was particularly concerned about Rhode Island, noting it is now seeing a surge in cases from the Boston metro area after seeing a spike several weeks ago from cases from New York.

Trump consulted dozens of high-profile CEOs, union officials and other executives via conference calls Wednesday.

He received a mixed message from the industry leaders. They, too, said they want to get the economy going but had worries about how to safely do so.

In a tweet midway through Trump’s round of conference calls with the executives, the president said the participants were “all-in on getting America back to work, and soon.”

But participants in a morning call that included dozens of leading American companies raised concerns about the testing issue, according to one participant who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private discussion.

Another person who participated in Wednesday’s calls said it was stressed to Trump that expansion of testing and contact tracing was crucial, as well as guidelines for best practices on reopening businesses in phases or in one fell swoop.

The participant said those on the call noted to the administration that there was about to be a massive rush on personal protective equipment. Many businesses that are now shuttered will need the protective equipment to keep their employees and customers safe.

Trump was told “the economy will look very different and operations will look very different,” one participant said.

Mark Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, was among several representatives from major sports leagues to speak with Trump. During a Fox News Channel interview ahead of the calls, he credited the president with gathering some of the “best of the best” to help shape his approach on reopening the economy. Still, Cuban did not embrace Trump’s push to reopen parts of the economy May 1.

“This is such a moving target that I think the biggest mistake we can make is rush to a decision,” said Cuban, who previously had been critical of Trump’s response to the pandemic. “But I’m going to help him in every way I can, whatever he needs me to do.”

The panel, which Trump dubbed the new Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups, also could help give Trump a measure of cover. If cases surge once restrictions are lifted, as many experts have warned, Trump will be able to tell the public he didn’t act alone and the nation’s top minds — from manufacturing to defense to technology — helped shape the plan.

Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, who participated in one of the calls with Trump, said there was also discussion about tax relief as well as “making sure that people are optimistic about the economy and they feel safe coming back to work.”

“I think you’ll see steps to reopen the country at different rates in different states in the not too distant future,” Nolan said.

The launch of the council was not without hiccups.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka didn’t know until he heard his name announced in the Rose Garden on Tuesday that he would be part of the advisory group, according to Carolyn Bobb, a spokeswoman for the union.

“We were not asked,” Bobb said in an email. It was “just announced.”

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Trump has appointed some “smart people” to his task force who could offer state leaders helpful guidelines as they negotiate the way forward.

“There are certain roles that only the federal government can play and should play, but I think the governors are going to make their own decisions within those recommended guidelines,” Hogan said.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1587031848543.png" alt="President Trump and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue during Wednesday's Coronavirus Task Force briefing in the White House Rose Garden." />
 <figcaption>President Trump and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue during Wednesday's Coronavirus Task Force briefing in the White House Rose Garden.</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said he’s prepared to announce new guidelines allowing some states to quickly ease up on&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/fa1fda126fe191425abc20ab461dfbe7">social distancing</a>&nbsp;even as business leaders told him they need more&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/c335958b1f8f6a37b19b421bc7759722">coronavirus testing</a>&nbsp;and personal protective equipment before people can safely go back to work.The industry executives cautioned Trump that the return to normalcy will be anything but swift.The new guidelines, expected to be announced Thursday, are aimed at clearing the way for an easing of restrictions in areas with low transmission of the coronavirus, while keeping them in place in harder-hit places. The ultimate decisions will remain with governors.“We’ll be opening some states much sooner than others,” Trump said Wednesday.But in a round of calls with business leaders earlier in the day, Trump was warned that a dramatic increasing in testing and wider availability of protective equipment will be necessary for the safe restoration of their operations.The new guidelines come as the federal government envisions a gradual recovery from the virus, in which disruptive mitigation measures may be needed in some places at least until&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/76b614811eef32955180c8260188bc24">a vaccine</a>&nbsp;is available — a milestone unlikely to be reached until next year.Trump said at his daily briefing that data indicates the U.S. is “past the peak” of the COVID-19 epidemic, clearing the way for his plans to roll out guidelines to begin to “reopen” the country.He called the latest data “encouraging,” saying the numbers have “put us in a very strong position to finalize guidelines for states on reopening the country.”<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1586989213442.png" alt="Dr. Deborah Birx, the Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator answered questions at Wednesday's briefing in the White House rose garden." />
 <figcaption>Dr. Deborah Birx, the Coronavirus Task Force Coordinator answered questions at Wednesday's briefing in the White House rose garden.</figcaption>
 </figure><a href="https://apnews.com/ad29c4d8fd12aeb00bd05ad96708f325">Dr. Deborah Birx</a>, the White House coronavirus task force coordinator, added that data from across the country showed the nation “improving” but that Americans had to recommit to social distancing to keep up the positive momentum.She said nine states have fewer than 1,000 cases and just a few dozen new cases per day. She said those would likely be the first to see a lifting in social distancing restrictions at the direction of their governors under the guidelines set to be released Thursday.Birx said the White House was particularly concerned about Rhode Island, noting it is now seeing a surge in cases from the Boston metro area after seeing a spike several weeks ago from cases from New York.Trump consulted dozens of high-profile CEOs, union officials and other executives via conference calls Wednesday.He received a mixed message from the industry leaders. They, too, said they want to get the economy going but had worries about how to safely do so.In a tweet midway through Trump’s round of conference calls with the executives, the president said the participants were “all-in on getting America back to work, and soon.”But participants in a morning call that included dozens of leading American companies raised concerns about the testing issue, according to one participant who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private discussion.Another person who participated in Wednesday’s calls said it was stressed to Trump that expansion of testing and contact tracing was crucial, as well as guidelines for best practices on reopening businesses in phases or in one fell swoop.The participant said those on the call noted to the administration that there was about to be a massive rush on personal protective equipment. Many businesses that are now shuttered will need the protective equipment to keep their employees and customers safe.Trump was told “the economy will look very different and operations will look very different,” one participant said.Mark Cuban, the billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, was among several representatives from major sports leagues to speak with Trump. During a Fox News Channel interview ahead of the calls, he credited the president with gathering some of the “best of the best” to help shape his approach on reopening the economy. Still, Cuban did not embrace Trump’s push to reopen parts of the economy May 1.“This is such a moving target that I think the biggest mistake we can make is rush to a decision,” said Cuban, who previously had been critical of Trump’s response to the pandemic. “But I’m going to help him in every way I can, whatever he needs me to do.”The panel, which Trump dubbed the new Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups, also could help give Trump a measure of cover. If cases surge once restrictions are lifted, as many experts have warned, Trump will be able to tell the public he didn’t act alone and the nation’s top minds — from manufacturing to defense to technology — helped shape the plan.Rich Nolan, president and CEO of the National Mining Association, who participated in one of the calls with Trump, said there was also discussion about tax relief as well as “making sure that people are optimistic about the economy and they feel safe coming back to work.”“I think you’ll see steps to reopen the country at different rates in different states in the not too distant future,” Nolan said.The launch of the council was not without hiccups.AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka didn’t know until he heard his name announced in the Rose Garden on Tuesday that he would be part of the advisory group, according to Carolyn Bobb, a spokeswoman for the union.“We were not asked,” Bobb said in an email. It was “just announced.”Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said Trump has appointed some “smart people” to his task force who could offer state leaders helpful guidelines as they negotiate the way forward.“There are certain roles that only the federal government can play and should play, but I think the governors are going to make their own decisions within those recommended guidelines,” Hogan said.___

Trump says new guidelines aim to lift some restrictions

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Thousands of flag-waving, honking protesters drove past the Michigan Capitol to show their displeasure with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. 

They don’t like her orders to keep people at home and businesses locked during the coronavirus outbreak. 

The protest, called “Operation Gridlock,” was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition. 

Coalition member Meshawn Maddock said Whitmer’s orders are “just a disaster.” 

The governor said the rally threatened public health because protesters were close together without masks. 

Whitmer said the stay-at-home restrictions are necessary to stop the spread of the coronavirus. 

Michigan’s cases rose about 4% to 28,059. 

Deaths from COVID-19 increased by 153 to 1,921.&nbsp;

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Thousands of flag-waving, honking protesters drove past the Michigan Capitol to show their displeasure with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. They don’t like her orders to keep people at home and businesses locked during the coronavirus outbreak. The protest, called “Operation Gridlock,” was organized by the Michigan Conservative Coalition. Coalition member Meshawn Maddock said Whitmer’s orders are “just a disaster.” The governor said the rally threatened public health because protesters were close together without masks. Whitmer said the stay-at-home restrictions are necessary to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Michigan’s cases rose about 4% to 28,059. Deaths from COVID-19 increased by 153 to 1,921.&nbsp;

Thousands protest Michigan governor's social distance order

In the six days after top Chinese officials secretly determined they likely were facing a pandemic from a new coronavirus, the city of Wuhan at the epicenter of the disease hosted a mass banquet for tens of thousands of people; millions began traveling through for Lunar New Year celebrations.

President Xi Jinping warned the public on the seventh day, Jan. 20. But by that time, more than 3,000 people had been infected during almost a week of public silence, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press and expert estimates based on&nbsp;<a href="http://weekly.chinacdc.cn/en/article/id/e53946e2-c6c4-41e9-9a9b-fea8db1a8f51" target="_blank">retrospective infection data</a>.

That delay from Jan. 14 to Jan. 20 was neither the first mistake made by Chinese officials at all levels in confronting the outbreak, nor the longest lag, as governments around the world have dragged their feet for weeks and even months in addressing the virus.

But the delay by the first country to face the new coronavirus came at a critical time — the beginning of the outbreak. China’s attempt to walk a line between alerting the public and avoiding panic set the stage for a pandemic that has infected almost 2 million people and taken more than 126,000 lives.

“This is tremendous,” said Zuo-Feng Zhang, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “If they took action six days earlier, there would have been much fewer patients and medical facilities would have been sufficient. We might have avoided the collapse of Wuhan’s medical system.”

Other experts noted that the Chinese government may have waited on warning the public to stave off hysteria, and that it did act quickly in private during that time.

But the six-day delay by China’s leaders in Beijing came on top of almost two weeks during which the national Center for Disease Control did not register any cases from local officials, internal bulletins obtained by the AP confirm. Yet during that time, from Jan. 5 to Jan. 17, hundreds of patients were appearing in hospitals not just in Wuhan but across the country.

It’s uncertain whether it was local officials who failed to report cases or national officials who failed to record them. It’s also not clear exactly what officials knew at the time in Wuhan, which only opened back up last week with restrictions after its quarantine.

But what is clear, experts say, is that China’s rigid controls on information, bureaucratic hurdles and a reluctance to send bad news up the chain of command muffled early warnings.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/6f2e666485e9abae4bb112251eca77be">The punishment of eight doctors for “rumor-mongering,”</a>&nbsp;broadcast on national television on Jan. 2, sent a chill through the city’s hospitals.

“Doctors in Wuhan were afraid,” said Dali Yang, a professor of Chinese politics at the University of Chicago. “It was truly intimidation of an entire profession.”

Without these internal reports, it took the first case outside China, in Thailand on Jan. 13, to galvanize leaders in Beijing into recognizing the possible pandemic before them. It was only then that they launched a nationwide plan to find cases — distributing CDC-sanctioned test kits, easing the criteria for confirming cases and ordering health officials to screen patients, all without telling the public.

The Chinese government has repeatedly denied suppressing information in the early days, saying it immediately reported the outbreak to the World Health Organization.

“Those accusing China of lacking transparency and openness are unfair,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Wednesday when asked about the AP story.

The documents show that the head of China’s National Health Commission, Ma Xiaowei, laid out a grim assessment of the situation on Jan. 14 in a confidential teleconference with provincial health officials. A memo states that the teleconference was held to convey instructions on the coronavirus from President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, but does not specify what those instructions were.

“The epidemic situation is still severe and complex, the most severe challenge since SARS in 2003, and is likely to develop into a major public health event,” the memo cites Ma as saying.

The National Health Commission is the top medical agency in the country. In a faxed statement, the Commission said it had organized the teleconference because of the case reported in Thailand and the possibility of the virus spreading during New Year travel. It added that China had published information on the outbreak in an “open, transparent, responsible and timely manner,” in accordance with “important instructions” repeatedly issued by President Xi.

The documents come from an anonymous source in the medical field who did not want to be named for fear of retribution. The AP confirmed the contents with two other sources in public health familiar with the teleconference. Some of the memo’s contents also appeared in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nhc.gov.cn/xcs/fkdt/202002/e5e8a132ef8b42d484e6df53d4d110c1.shtml" target="_blank">a public notice about the teleconference</a>, stripped of key details and published in February.

Under a section titled “sober understanding of the situation,” the memo said that “clustered cases suggest that human-to-human transmission is possible.” It singled out the case in Thailand, saying that the situation had “changed significantly” because of the possible spread of the virus abroad.

“With the coming of the Spring Festival, many people will be traveling, and the risk of transmission and spread is high,” the memo continued. “All localities must prepare for and respond to a pandemic.”

In the memo, Ma demanded officials unite around Xi and made clear that political considerations and social stability were key priorities during the long lead-up to China’s two biggest political meetings of the year in March. While the documents do not spell out why Chinese leaders waited six days to make their concerns public, the meetings may be one reason.

“The imperatives for social stability, for not rocking the boat before these important Party congresses is pretty strong,” says Daniel Mattingly, a scholar of Chinese politics at Yale. “My guess is, they wanted to let it play out a little more and see what happened.”

In response to the teleconference, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing initiated the highest-level emergency response internally, level one, on Jan. 15. It assigned top CDC leaders to 14 working groups tasked with getting funds, training health workers, collecting data, doing field investigations and supervising laboratories, an internal CDC notice shows. The memo directed Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, to begin temperature checks at airports, bus and train stations, and cut down on large public gatherings.

The National Health Commission also distributed a 63-page set of instructions to provincial health officials, obtained by the AP. The instructions ordered health officials nationwide to identify suspected cases, hospitals to open fever clinics, and doctors and nurses to don protective gear. They were marked “internal” — “not to be spread on the internet,” “not to be publicly disclosed.”

In public, however, officials continued to downplay the threat, pointing to the 41 cases public at the time.

“We have reached the latest understanding that the risk of sustained human-to-human transmission is low,” Li Qun, the head of the China CDC’s emergency center,&nbsp;<a href="http://tv.cctv.com/2020/01/15/VIDEVPaxZBFtDLGUA6mk5PW2200115.shtml" target="_blank">told Chinese state television on Jan. 15</a>. That was the same day Li was appointed leader of a group preparing emergency plans for the level one response, a CDC notice shows.

On Jan. 20, President Xi issued his first public comments on the virus, saying the outbreak “must be taken seriously” and every possible measure pursued. A leading Chinese epidemiologist, Zhong Nanshan,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/14d7dcffa205d9022fa9ea593bb2a8c5">announced for the first time that the virus was transmissible from person to person on national television.</a>

If the public had been warned a week earlier to take actions such as social distancing, mask wearing and travel restrictions, cases could have been cut by up to two-thirds,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.03.20029843v3.full.pdf" target="_blank">one paper later found</a>. An earlier warning could have saved lives, said Zhang, the doctor in Los Angeles.

However, other health experts said the government took decisive action in private given the information available to them.

“They may not have said the right thing, but they were doing the right thing,” said Ray Yip, the retired founding head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s office in China. “On the 20th, they sounded the alarm for the whole country, which is not an unreasonable delay.”

If health officials raise the alarm prematurely, it can damage their credibility — “like crying wolf” —and cripple their ability to mobilize the public, said Benjamin Cowley, an epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong.

The delay may support accusations by President Donald Trump that the Chinese government’s secrecy held back the world’s response to the virus. However, even the public announcement on Jan. 20 left the U.S. nearly two months to prepare for the pandemic.

During those months,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/6a8f85aad99607f313cca6ab1398e04d">Trump ignored the warnings of his own staff and dismissed the disease as nothing to worry about</a>, while the government&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/090600c299a8cf07f5b44d92534856bc">failed to bolster medical supplies</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/c335958b1f8f6a37b19b421bc7759722">deployed flawed testing kits</a>. Leaders across the world turned a blind eye to the outbreak, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling for a strategy of “herd immunity” —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/193a0cfe074685144ade169084a68255">before falling ill himself.</a>&nbsp;Brazilian President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/b21a296383694c6726d03e027134daf1">Jair Bolsonaro sneered at what he called “a little cold.”</a>

The early story of the pandemic in China shows missed opportunities at every step, the documents and AP interviews reveal. Under Xi, China’s most authoritarian leader in decades, increasing political repression has made officials more hesitant to report cases without a clear green light from the top.

“It really increased the stakes for officials, which made them reluctant to step out of line,” said Mattingly, the Yale professor. “It made it harder for people at the local level to report bad information.”

Doctors and nurses in Wuhan&nbsp;<a href="http://archive.vn/OLdHs#selection-871.108-890.0" target="_blank">told Chinese media</a>&nbsp;there were plenty of signs that the coronavirus could be transmitted between people as early as late December. Patients who had never been to the suspected source of the virus, the Huanan Seafood Market, were infected. Medical workers started falling ill.

But officials obstructed medical staff who tried to report such cases. They set tight criteria for confirming cases, where patients not only had to test positive, but samples had to be sent to Beijing and sequenced. They required staff to report to supervisors before sending information higher,&nbsp;<a href="https://archive.is/SYydC" target="_blank">Chinese media reports show.</a>&nbsp;And they punished doctors for warning about the disease.

As a result,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/b981ea744ee2a25f89c5abb0e8c1e92f">no new cases were reported for almost two weeks from Jan. 5</a>, even as officials gathered in Wuhan for Hubei province’s two biggest political meetings of the year, internal China CDC bulletins confirm.

During this period, teams of experts dispatched to Wuhan by Beijing said they failed to find clear signs of danger and human-to-human transmission.

“China has many years of disease control, there’s absolutely no chance that this will spread widely because of Spring Festival travel,” the head of the first expert team, Xu Jianguo,&nbsp;<a href="https://takungpao.com/news/232108/2020/0105/400593.html#10006-weixin-1-52626-6b3bffd01fdde4900130bc5a2751b6d1" target="_blank">told Takungpao, a Hong Kong paper,</a>&nbsp;on Jan. 6. He added there was “no evidence of human-to-human transmission” and that the threat from the virus was low.

The second expert team, dispatched on Jan. 8, similarly failed to unearth any clear signs of human-to-human transmission. Yet during their stay, more than half a dozen doctors and nurses had already fallen ill with the virus,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2001316" target="_blank">a retrospective China CDC study published in the New England Journal of Medicine would later show.</a>

The teams looked for patients with severe pneumonia, missing those with milder symptoms. They also narrowed the search to those who had visited the seafood market — which was in retrospect a mistake, said Cowling, the Hong Kong epidemiologist, who flew to Beijing to review the cases in late January.

In the weeks after the severity of the epidemic became clear, some experts accused Wuhan officials of intentionally hiding cases.

“I always suspected it was human-to-human transmissible,” said Wang Guangfa, the leader of the second expert team, in a Mar. 15 post on Weibo, the Chinese social media platform. He fell ill with the virus soon after returning to Beijing on Jan. 16.

Wuhan’s then-mayor, Zhou Xianwang, blamed national regulations for the secrecy.

“As a local government official, I could disclose information only after being authorized,” Zhou told state media in late January. “A lot of people didn’t understand this.”

As a result, top Chinese officials appear to have been left in the dark.

“The CDC acted sluggishly, assuming all was fine,” said a state health expert, who declined to be named out of fear of retribution. “If we started to do something a week or two earlier, things could have been so much different.”

It wasn’t just Wuhan. In Shenzhen in southern China, hundreds of miles away, a team led by microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung used their own test kits to confirm that six members of a family of seven had the virus on Jan. 12.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.caixinglobal.com/2020-03-09/exclusive-qa-with-hong-kongs-yuen-kwok-yung-who-helped-confirm-coronaviruss-human-spread-101526079.html" target="_blank">In an interview with Caixin</a>, a respected Chinese finance magazine, Yuen said he informed CDC branches “of all levels,” including Beijing. But internal CDC numbers did not reflect Yuen’s report, the bulletins show.

When the Thai case was reported, health authorities finally drew up an internal plan to systematically identify, isolate, test, and treat all cases of the new coronavirus nationwide.

Wuhan’s case count began to climb immediately — four on Jan. 17, then 17 the next day and 136 the day after. Across the country, dozens of cases began to surface, in some cases among patients who were infected earlier but had not yet been tested. In Zhejiang, for example,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.zjwjw.gov.cn/art/2020/1/21/art_1202101_41786033.html" target="_blank">a man hospitalized on Jan. 4 was only isolated on Jan. 17 and confirmed positive on Jan. 21.&nbsp;</a>In Shenzhen, the patients Yuen discovered on Jan. 12 were finally recorded as confirmed cases on Jan. 19.

The elite Peking Union Medical College Hospital held an emergency meeting on Jan. 18, instructing staff to adopt stringent isolation — still before Xi’s public warning. A health expert told AP that on Jan. 19, she toured a hospital built after the SARS outbreak, where medical workers had furiously prepared an entire building with hundreds of beds for pneumonia patients.

“Everybody in the country in the infectious disease field knew something was going on,” she said, declining to be named to avoid disrupting sensitive government consultations. “They were anticipating it.”

By Associated PressIn the six days after top Chinese officials secretly determined they likely were facing a pandemic from a new coronavirus, the city of Wuhan at the epicenter of the disease hosted a mass banquet for tens of thousands of people; millions began traveling through for Lunar New Year celebrations.President Xi Jinping warned the public on the seventh day, Jan. 20. But by that time, more than 3,000 people had been infected during almost a week of public silence, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press and expert estimates based on&nbsp;<a href="http://weekly.chinacdc.cn/en/article/id/e53946e2-c6c4-41e9-9a9b-fea8db1a8f51" target="_blank">retrospective infection data</a>.Six days.That delay from Jan. 14 to Jan. 20 was neither the first mistake made by Chinese officials at all levels in confronting the outbreak, nor the longest lag, as governments around the world have dragged their feet for weeks and even months in addressing the virus.But the delay by the first country to face the new coronavirus came at a critical time — the beginning of the outbreak. China’s attempt to walk a line between alerting the public and avoiding panic set the stage for a pandemic that has infected almost 2 million people and taken more than 126,000 lives.“This is tremendous,” said Zuo-Feng Zhang, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “If they took action six days earlier, there would have been much fewer patients and medical facilities would have been sufficient. We might have avoided the collapse of Wuhan’s medical system.”Other experts noted that the Chinese government may have waited on warning the public to stave off hysteria, and that it did act quickly in private during that time.But the six-day delay by China’s leaders in Beijing came on top of almost two weeks during which the national Center for Disease Control did not register any cases from local officials, internal bulletins obtained by the AP confirm. Yet during that time, from Jan. 5 to Jan. 17, hundreds of patients were appearing in hospitals not just in Wuhan but across the country.It’s uncertain whether it was local officials who failed to report cases or national officials who failed to record them. It’s also not clear exactly what officials knew at the time in Wuhan, which only opened back up last week with restrictions after its quarantine.But what is clear, experts say, is that China’s rigid controls on information, bureaucratic hurdles and a reluctance to send bad news up the chain of command muffled early warnings.&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/6f2e666485e9abae4bb112251eca77be">The punishment of eight doctors for “rumor-mongering,”</a>&nbsp;broadcast on national television on Jan. 2, sent a chill through the city’s hospitals.“Doctors in Wuhan were afraid,” said Dali Yang, a professor of Chinese politics at the University of Chicago. “It was truly intimidation of an entire profession.”Without these internal reports, it took the first case outside China, in Thailand on Jan. 13, to galvanize leaders in Beijing into recognizing the possible pandemic before them. It was only then that they launched a nationwide plan to find cases — distributing CDC-sanctioned test kits, easing the criteria for confirming cases and ordering health officials to screen patients, all without telling the public.The Chinese government has repeatedly denied suppressing information in the early days, saying it immediately reported the outbreak to the World Health Organization.“Those accusing China of lacking transparency and openness are unfair,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Wednesday when asked about the AP story.__The documents show that the head of China’s National Health Commission, Ma Xiaowei, laid out a grim assessment of the situation on Jan. 14 in a confidential teleconference with provincial health officials. A memo states that the teleconference was held to convey instructions on the coronavirus from President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and Vice Premier Sun Chunlan, but does not specify what those instructions were.“The epidemic situation is still severe and complex, the most severe challenge since SARS in 2003, and is likely to develop into a major public health event,” the memo cites Ma as saying.The National Health Commission is the top medical agency in the country. In a faxed statement, the Commission said it had organized the teleconference because of the case reported in Thailand and the possibility of the virus spreading during New Year travel. It added that China had published information on the outbreak in an “open, transparent, responsible and timely manner,” in accordance with “important instructions” repeatedly issued by President Xi.The documents come from an anonymous source in the medical field who did not want to be named for fear of retribution. The AP confirmed the contents with two other sources in public health familiar with the teleconference. Some of the memo’s contents also appeared in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.nhc.gov.cn/xcs/fkdt/202002/e5e8a132ef8b42d484e6df53d4d110c1.shtml" target="_blank">a public notice about the teleconference</a>, stripped of key details and published in February.Under a section titled “sober understanding of the situation,” the memo said that “clustered cases suggest that human-to-human transmission is possible.” It singled out the case in Thailand, saying that the situation had “changed significantly” because of the possible spread of the virus abroad.“With the coming of the Spring Festival, many people will be traveling, and the risk of transmission and spread is high,” the memo continued. “All localities must prepare for and respond to a pandemic.”In the memo, Ma demanded officials unite around Xi and made clear that political considerations and social stability were key priorities during the long lead-up to China’s two biggest political meetings of the year in March. While the documents do not spell out why Chinese leaders waited six days to make their concerns public, the meetings may be one reason.“The imperatives for social stability, for not rocking the boat before these important Party congresses is pretty strong,” says Daniel Mattingly, a scholar of Chinese politics at Yale. “My guess is, they wanted to let it play out a little more and see what happened.”In response to the teleconference, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing initiated the highest-level emergency response internally, level one, on Jan. 15. It assigned top CDC leaders to 14 working groups tasked with getting funds, training health workers, collecting data, doing field investigations and supervising laboratories, an internal CDC notice shows. The memo directed Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, to begin temperature checks at airports, bus and train stations, and cut down on large public gatherings.The National Health Commission also distributed a 63-page set of instructions to provincial health officials, obtained by the AP. The instructions ordered health officials nationwide to identify suspected cases, hospitals to open fever clinics, and doctors and nurses to don protective gear. They were marked “internal” — “not to be spread on the internet,” “not to be publicly disclosed.”In public, however, officials continued to downplay the threat, pointing to the 41 cases public at the time.“We have reached the latest understanding that the risk of sustained human-to-human transmission is low,” Li Qun, the head of the China CDC’s emergency center,&nbsp;<a href="http://tv.cctv.com/2020/01/15/VIDEVPaxZBFtDLGUA6mk5PW2200115.shtml" target="_blank">told Chinese state television on Jan. 15</a>. That was the same day Li was appointed leader of a group preparing emergency plans for the level one response, a CDC notice shows.On Jan. 20, President Xi issued his first public comments on the virus, saying the outbreak “must be taken seriously” and every possible measure pursued. A leading Chinese epidemiologist, Zhong Nanshan,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/14d7dcffa205d9022fa9ea593bb2a8c5">announced for the first time that the virus was transmissible from person to person on national television.</a>If the public had been warned a week earlier to take actions such as social distancing, mask wearing and travel restrictions, cases could have been cut by up to two-thirds,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.03.20029843v3.full.pdf" target="_blank">one paper later found</a>. An earlier warning could have saved lives, said Zhang, the doctor in Los Angeles.However, other health experts said the government took decisive action in private given the information available to them.“They may not have said the right thing, but they were doing the right thing,” said Ray Yip, the retired founding head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s office in China. “On the 20th, they sounded the alarm for the whole country, which is not an unreasonable delay.”If health officials raise the alarm prematurely, it can damage their credibility — “like crying wolf” —and cripple their ability to mobilize the public, said Benjamin Cowley, an epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong.The delay may support accusations by President Donald Trump that the Chinese government’s secrecy held back the world’s response to the virus. However, even the public announcement on Jan. 20 left the U.S. nearly two months to prepare for the pandemic.During those months,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/6a8f85aad99607f313cca6ab1398e04d">Trump ignored the warnings of his own staff and dismissed the disease as nothing to worry about</a>, while the government&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/090600c299a8cf07f5b44d92534856bc">failed to bolster medical supplies</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/c335958b1f8f6a37b19b421bc7759722">deployed flawed testing kits</a>. Leaders across the world turned a blind eye to the outbreak, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling for a strategy of “herd immunity” —&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/193a0cfe074685144ade169084a68255">before falling ill himself.</a>&nbsp;Brazilian President&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/b21a296383694c6726d03e027134daf1">Jair Bolsonaro sneered at what he called “a little cold.”</a>_________________________The early story of the pandemic in China shows missed opportunities at every step, the documents and AP interviews reveal. Under Xi, China’s most authoritarian leader in decades, increasing political repression has made officials more hesitant to report cases without a clear green light from the top.“It really increased the stakes for officials, which made them reluctant to step out of line,” said Mattingly, the Yale professor. “It made it harder for people at the local level to report bad information.”Doctors and nurses in Wuhan&nbsp;<a href="http://archive.vn/OLdHs#selection-871.108-890.0" target="_blank">told Chinese media</a>&nbsp;there were plenty of signs that the coronavirus could be transmitted between people as early as late December. Patients who had never been to the suspected source of the virus, the Huanan Seafood Market, were infected. Medical workers started falling ill.But officials obstructed medical staff who tried to report such cases. They set tight criteria for confirming cases, where patients not only had to test positive, but samples had to be sent to Beijing and sequenced. They required staff to report to supervisors before sending information higher,&nbsp;<a href="https://archive.is/SYydC" target="_blank">Chinese media reports show.</a>&nbsp;And they punished doctors for warning about the disease.As a result,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/b981ea744ee2a25f89c5abb0e8c1e92f">no new cases were reported for almost two weeks from Jan. 5</a>, even as officials gathered in Wuhan for Hubei province’s two biggest political meetings of the year, internal China CDC bulletins confirm.During this period, teams of experts dispatched to Wuhan by Beijing said they failed to find clear signs of danger and human-to-human transmission.“China has many years of disease control, there’s absolutely no chance that this will spread widely because of Spring Festival travel,” the head of the first expert team, Xu Jianguo,&nbsp;<a href="https://takungpao.com/news/232108/2020/0105/400593.html#10006-weixin-1-52626-6b3bffd01fdde4900130bc5a2751b6d1" target="_blank">told Takungpao, a Hong Kong paper,</a>&nbsp;on Jan. 6. He added there was “no evidence of human-to-human transmission” and that the threat from the virus was low.The second expert team, dispatched on Jan. 8, similarly failed to unearth any clear signs of human-to-human transmission. Yet during their stay, more than half a dozen doctors and nurses had already fallen ill with the virus,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2001316" target="_blank">a retrospective China CDC study published in the New England Journal of Medicine would later show.</a>The teams looked for patients with severe pneumonia, missing those with milder symptoms. They also narrowed the search to those who had visited the seafood market — which was in retrospect a mistake, said Cowling, the Hong Kong epidemiologist, who flew to Beijing to review the cases in late January.In the weeks after the severity of the epidemic became clear, some experts accused Wuhan officials of intentionally hiding cases.“I always suspected it was human-to-human transmissible,” said Wang Guangfa, the leader of the second expert team, in a Mar. 15 post on Weibo, the Chinese social media platform. He fell ill with the virus soon after returning to Beijing on Jan. 16.Wuhan’s then-mayor, Zhou Xianwang, blamed national regulations for the secrecy.“As a local government official, I could disclose information only after being authorized,” Zhou told state media in late January. “A lot of people didn’t understand this.”As a result, top Chinese officials appear to have been left in the dark.“The CDC acted sluggishly, assuming all was fine,” said a state health expert, who declined to be named out of fear of retribution. “If we started to do something a week or two earlier, things could have been so much different.”It wasn’t just Wuhan. In Shenzhen in southern China, hundreds of miles away, a team led by microbiologist Yuen Kwok-yung used their own test kits to confirm that six members of a family of seven had the virus on Jan. 12.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.caixinglobal.com/2020-03-09/exclusive-qa-with-hong-kongs-yuen-kwok-yung-who-helped-confirm-coronaviruss-human-spread-101526079.html" target="_blank">In an interview with Caixin</a>, a respected Chinese finance magazine, Yuen said he informed CDC branches “of all levels,” including Beijing. But internal CDC numbers did not reflect Yuen’s report, the bulletins show.When the Thai case was reported, health authorities finally drew up an internal plan to systematically identify, isolate, test, and treat all cases of the new coronavirus nationwide.Wuhan’s case count began to climb immediately — four on Jan. 17, then 17 the next day and 136 the day after. Across the country, dozens of cases began to surface, in some cases among patients who were infected earlier but had not yet been tested. In Zhejiang, for example,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.zjwjw.gov.cn/art/2020/1/21/art_1202101_41786033.html" target="_blank">a man hospitalized on Jan. 4 was only isolated on Jan. 17 and confirmed positive on Jan. 21.&nbsp;</a>In Shenzhen, the patients Yuen discovered on Jan. 12 were finally recorded as confirmed cases on Jan. 19.The elite Peking Union Medical College Hospital held an emergency meeting on Jan. 18, instructing staff to adopt stringent isolation — still before Xi’s public warning. A health expert told AP that on Jan. 19, she toured a hospital built after the SARS outbreak, where medical workers had furiously prepared an entire building with hundreds of beds for pneumonia patients.“Everybody in the country in the infectious disease field knew something was going on,” she said, declining to be named to avoid disrupting sensitive government consultations. “They were anticipating it.”

China didn't warn public of likely pandemic for 6 key days

Unified Command provides additional details regarding Cheyenne County, Morrill County, and Scotts Bluff County positive cases announced on April 14, 2020. The investigation has occurred and all close contacts were notified.

In this continually evolving situation, we have updated guidance that exposure is defined as at least 10 minutes, less than six feet apart. With this updated information, there are no more additional community exposure locations to report or list on our website.

Total Tests Conducted in the Panhandle: 640

• One case has recovered and is out of isolation

• Nine have recovered and are out of isolation

• Three have recovered and are out of isolation

All Panhandle residents are encouraged to Stay Home, Stay Healthy, Stay Connected. What does this mean to you?

• Do not visit or host people who do not live with you.

• Keep at least 6 feet distance from anyone you don’t live with.

• Stay home if you are sick or if someone in your home is sick.

• Stay in touch with friends and loved ones

• Check in on people who may be alone or need help.

Panhandle Public Health District, Region 21, 22, and 23 Emergency Management, and Scotts Bluff County Health Department are working as a unified command on this evolving situation. Essential updates will be regularly communicated to the public and community partners.

For the most up to date information from the CDC, visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.

Panhandle Public Health District is working together to improve the health, safety, and quality of life for all who live, learn, work, and play in the Panhandle. Our vision is that we are a healthier and safer Panhandle Community. Visit our website www.pphd.org.

By PPHDUnified Command provides additional details regarding Cheyenne County, Morrill County, and Scotts Bluff County positive cases announced on April 14, 2020. The investigation has occurred and all close contacts were notified.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1586995008361.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>In this continually evolving situation, we have updated guidance that exposure is defined as at least 10 minutes, less than six feet apart. With this updated information, there are no more additional community exposure locations to report or list on our website.March 2-April 15, 2020Total Tests Conducted in the Panhandle: 640Positive: 32Recovered: 13• Box Butte County: 1 case• Cheyenne County: 3 cases• One case has recovered and is out of isolation• Kimball County: 10 Cases• Nine have recovered and are out of isolation• Morrill County: 1 Case• Scotts Bluff County: 17 Cases• Three have recovered and are out of isolationAll Panhandle residents are encouraged to Stay Home, Stay Healthy, Stay Connected. What does this mean to you?Stay Home• Stay home whenever possible.• Avoid gathering in any groups.• Do not visit or host people who do not live with you.Stay Healthy• Keep at least 6 feet distance from anyone you don’t live with.• Wash your hands• Stay home if you are sick or if someone in your home is sick.Stay Connected• Stay in touch with friends and loved ones• Check in on people who may be alone or need help.Panhandle Public Health District, Region 21, 22, and 23 Emergency Management, and Scotts Bluff County Health Department are working as a unified command on this evolving situation. Essential updates will be regularly communicated to the public and community partners.For the most up to date information from the CDC, visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.Panhandle Public Health District is working together to improve the health, safety, and quality of life for all who live, learn, work, and play in the Panhandle. Our vision is that we are a healthier and safer Panhandle Community. Visit our website www.pphd.org.

Investigation details released for Cheyenne, Morrill, Scotts Bluff Co. with positive cases

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A cluster of coronavirus cases at a South Dakota pork plant has highlighted the susceptibility of meat processing workers, who stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the line and congregate in crowded spaces. 

The Smithfield Foods plant has reported 518 infections in employees and another 126 in people connected to them. Because the workers who slaughter and pack the nation’s meat are vulnerable, so, too, is the supply of that meat. 

Union leaders wish more had been done sooner at the Smithfield plant. 

The company says difficulty in getting masks and thermal scanners led to delays in implementing safety measures. But it added hand-sanitizing stations and was scanning employee temperatures before the plant closed.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A cluster of coronavirus cases at a South Dakota pork plant has highlighted the susceptibility of meat processing workers, who stand shoulder-to-shoulder on the line and congregate in crowded spaces. The Smithfield Foods plant has reported 518 infections in employees and another 126 in people connected to them. Because the workers who slaughter and pack the nation’s meat are vulnerable, so, too, is the supply of that meat. Union leaders wish more had been done sooner at the Smithfield plant. The company says difficulty in getting masks and thermal scanners led to delays in implementing safety measures. But it added hand-sanitizing stations and was scanning employee temperatures before the plant closed.

For meat plant workers, virus makes a hard job perilous

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s enlisting advisers from nearly all sectors of American commerce, the medical field and elected office to help shape his plans to reopen the coronavirus-battered economy.

The panel of advisers, whom Trump said he will consult by phone, will operate separately from the White House task force that’s leading the administration’s public health strategy to contain and mitigate the pandemic, though there is expected to be some overlap.

The panel, which the White House has dubbed the Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups, includes more than 50 executives and leaders from agricultural, defense and financial service industries, as well as leaders from unions, professional sports, think tanks and more.

The list of executives includes Apple’s Tim Cook, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, all individuals with whom Trump has long-standing relationships. Trump also named some individuals who have been critical of him in the past, including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.

Trump added that he would likely announce on Wednesday the names of elected officials, including governors and members of Congress, whom he would also consult.

“I’m confident that these respected people ... will give us some great ideas in addition to what the governors have learned,” Trump said.

Trump has insisted that he has “total” authority to decide how and when to loosen restrictions in the country — although the Constitution largely delegates such matters to the states. The president added on Tuesday that he plans to take action “in conjunction with governors.”

He also signaled that he is ready to push for big swaths of the country to get back to business soon. He noted that some states have been less affected by the virus and will be ready to “open very very shortly, if not, almost immediately.” More than 25,000 Americans have been killed by the virus outbreak.

Before Trump announced the people with whom he’d be consulting, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka stressed that the White House needed to make sure to include “voices of working people.” Trumka was among the union officials included on the list.

The global economy is projected to shrink by 3% during 2020, a falloff that would mark the steepest downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s, according to the International Monetary Fund.

With the country barreling toward a likely recession ahead of November’s election, Trump is eager to spur an economic revival, hoping to steady financial markets and restore some of the 16 million jobs already lost because of the pandemic. He originally hoped to have the country stirring again by Easter but now wants at least a partial reopening by the end of the month.

Many medical experts in the government, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, have cautioned that easing up on social distancing too soon could lead to a new wave of the disease that would require shuttering the economy again, with disastrous results.

Fauci said Tuesday that the U.S. does not yet have the critical testing and tracing procedures needed to begin reopening the economy.

Some ethics experts and participants in past councils created by Trump voiced concerns that the president may not be open to using the new panel to explore diverse viewpoints and hard truths about the best path forward.

“It doesn’t work if you bring in the hallelujah chorus,” said Thea Lee, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning Washington think tank. Lee served on a short-lived manufacturing council that Trump established early in his presidency.

Among the executives with whom Trump said he will consult are representatives from Cisco Systems, Tyson Foods, Archer Daniels Midland, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, US Bank, Morgan Stanley, Grand Rapids State Bank and Southern Bank Corp.

Trump said he would also consult with union leaders including the International Union of Operating Engineers president James Callahan, North America’s Building Trade Unions president Sean McGarvey, International Brotherhood of Teamsters president James Hoffa, and Trumka.

Among the sports world emissaries he said he planned to consult are the WWE’s Vince McMahon, NASCAR board chairperson Lesa Kennedy, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.

<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1586903031063.png" alt="President Trump during a Coronavirus Task Force briefing Tuesday in the White House Rose Garden&nbsp;" />
 <figcaption>President Trump during a Coronavirus Task Force briefing Tuesday in the White House Rose Garden&nbsp;</figcaption>
 </figure>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he’s enlisting advisers from nearly all sectors of American commerce, the medical field and elected office to help shape his plans to reopen the coronavirus-battered economy.The panel of advisers, whom Trump said he will consult by phone, will operate separately from the White House task force that’s leading the administration’s public health strategy to contain and mitigate the pandemic, though there is expected to be some overlap.The panel, which the White House has dubbed the Great American Economic Revival Industry Groups, includes more than 50 executives and leaders from agricultural, defense and financial service industries, as well as leaders from unions, professional sports, think tanks and more.The list of executives includes Apple’s Tim Cook, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and hedge fund manager Ken Griffin, all individuals with whom Trump has long-standing relationships. Trump also named some individuals who have been critical of him in the past, including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban.Trump added that he would likely announce on Wednesday the names of elected officials, including governors and members of Congress, whom he would also consult.“I’m confident that these respected people ... will give us some great ideas in addition to what the governors have learned,” Trump said.Trump has insisted that he has “total” authority to decide how and when to loosen restrictions in the country — although the Constitution largely delegates such matters to the states. The president added on Tuesday that he plans to take action “in conjunction with governors.”He also signaled that he is ready to push for big swaths of the country to get back to business soon. He noted that some states have been less affected by the virus and will be ready to “open very very shortly, if not, almost immediately.” More than 25,000 Americans have been killed by the virus outbreak.Before Trump announced the people with whom he’d be consulting, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka stressed that the White House needed to make sure to include “voices of working people.” Trumka was among the union officials included on the list.The global economy is projected to shrink by 3% during 2020, a falloff that would mark the steepest downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s, according to the International Monetary Fund.With the country barreling toward a likely recession ahead of November’s election, Trump is eager to spur an economic revival, hoping to steady financial markets and restore some of the 16 million jobs already lost because of the pandemic. He originally hoped to have the country stirring again by Easter but now wants at least a partial reopening by the end of the month.Many medical experts in the government, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, have cautioned that easing up on social distancing too soon could lead to a new wave of the disease that would require shuttering the economy again, with disastrous results.Fauci said Tuesday that the U.S. does not yet have the critical testing and tracing procedures needed to begin reopening the economy.Some ethics experts and participants in past councils created by Trump voiced concerns that the president may not be open to using the new panel to explore diverse viewpoints and hard truths about the best path forward.“It doesn’t work if you bring in the hallelujah chorus,” said Thea Lee, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning Washington think tank. Lee served on a short-lived manufacturing council that Trump established early in his presidency.Among the executives with whom Trump said he will consult are representatives from Cisco Systems, Tyson Foods, Archer Daniels Midland, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, US Bank, Morgan Stanley, Grand Rapids State Bank and Southern Bank Corp.Trump said he would also consult with union leaders including the International Union of Operating Engineers president James Callahan, North America’s Building Trade Unions president Sean McGarvey, International Brotherhood of Teamsters president James Hoffa, and Trumka.Among the sports world emissaries he said he planned to consult are the WWE’s Vince McMahon, NASCAR board chairperson Lesa Kennedy, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.___

New Trump advisory groups to consult on reopening US economy

By Tena L. Cook, CSC Marketing Coordinator

CHADRON – Establishing a daily routine, staying connected with friends, and remembering that everyone is feeling anxious and stressed are among the advice Chadron State College counselors are giving&nbsp;students who have moved home since CSC classes switched to remote delivery March 23 in response to COVID-19 concerns.

CSC counselors have been helping both on- and off-campus students deal with numerous life issues through video conference or telephone sessions to follow social distancing guidelines issued by Gov.&nbsp;Pete Ricketts.

Dealing with a temporary loss of independence and financial worries are among the common challenges facing Chadron State College students, according to counselors.

CSC Licensed Student Counselor Robin Bila said students are stressed about finances and those who have returned to homes in Colorado are living under lockdown conditions.

“They can't actively search for a job right now. When they were on campus they had work study jobs,” Bila said.

Sonja Dressel,&nbsp;Licensed Student Counselor&nbsp;with Project Strive TRiO, said being unexpectedly uprooted and living back under the same roof with siblings and parents can leave students feeling like they are losing their independence.

“Good communication is going to be essential to coexist for the next few months. Keep in mind that it is normal to grieve the loss of normal things we were doing without a second thought six weeks&nbsp;ago and that grief will manifest itself in different ways for everyone. When we encounter people acting rude, angry, or stressed out try to remember that what you are seeing may be their way of coping with COVID-19 anxiety,” Dressel said.

Almost all the students Bila has counseled via video conference are struggling to establish a daily routine.

“In our sessions, we focus on getting into a routine. I encourage them to spend time doing things they enjoy, learn a new craft or hobby, and stay connected with their friends and loved ones,” Bila&nbsp;said.

“My advice to students is to create a schedule that is as close to normal as possible. This includes setting an alarm and getting up at the same time each day, maintaining typical hygiene routines&nbsp;and making time for fresh air and exercise. A few weeks ago people were feeling pretty aspirational about their self-distancing lifestyles. It’s OK if you don’t find yourself in a place emotion-wise to learn a new language, train for a 10K or master French&nbsp;cuisine. Set three goals per day and be gentle rather than judgmental with yourself,” Dressel said.

Other concerns include worrying about a grandparent contracting the coronavirus and adapting to online classes, especially by those who had no experience with online classes previously. Some concerns&nbsp;such as anxiety and depression existed before COVID-19 and continue.

“Some are overwhelmed with the large amount of content they are having to learn on their own,” Bila said.

For CSC students who need more advanced mental health services, Bila, Dressel, and counselor Christina Winters have worked together on continuing to provide telepsychiatry, or remote psychiatry. CSC&nbsp;contracts with the University of Nebraska Medical Center for psychiatric services for students via the Zoom video conferencing application. Bila said the UNMC psychiatrist, the student, and a CSC counselor can all be on Zoom together.

Dressel said the COVID-19 challenge is unique because counselors are experiencing the same anxieties as the students they are trying to help.

“As a mental health professional, no playbook exists when handling a worldwide pandemic. Although we frequently say, ‘We're in this together,’ this time we literally mean it,” Dressel said.

Ted Tewahade, Title IX Coordinator, said if students do not have a webcam or a confidential space for counseling, they can use a computer provided by Health Services in a Crites Hall conference room.&nbsp;Students may call&nbsp;<a href="tel:+13084326232">308-432-6232</a>&nbsp;or e-mail&nbsp;<a href="mailto:cbrennan@csc.edu">cbrennan@csc.edu</a>&nbsp;to schedule appointments.

By Tena L. Cook, CSC Marketing CoordinatorCHADRON – Establishing a daily routine, staying connected with friends, and remembering that everyone is feeling anxious and stressed are among the advice Chadron State College counselors are giving&nbsp;students who have moved home since CSC classes switched to remote delivery March 23 in response to COVID-19 concerns.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1586977130345.jpeg" alt="" />
 <figcaption></figcaption>
 </figure>CSC counselors have been helping both on- and off-campus students deal with numerous life issues through video conference or telephone sessions to follow social distancing guidelines issued by Gov.&nbsp;Pete Ricketts.Dealing with a temporary loss of independence and financial worries are among the common challenges facing Chadron State College students, according to counselors.CSC Licensed Student Counselor Robin Bila said students are stressed about finances and those who have returned to homes in Colorado are living under lockdown conditions.“They can't actively search for a job right now. When they were on campus they had work study jobs,” Bila said.Sonja Dressel,&nbsp;Licensed Student Counselor&nbsp;with Project Strive TRiO, said being unexpectedly uprooted and living back under the same roof with siblings and parents can leave students feeling like they are losing their independence.“Good communication is going to be essential to coexist for the next few months. Keep in mind that it is normal to grieve the loss of normal things we were doing without a second thought six weeks&nbsp;ago and that grief will manifest itself in different ways for everyone. When we encounter people acting rude, angry, or stressed out try to remember that what you are seeing may be their way of coping with COVID-19 anxiety,” Dressel said.Almost all the students Bila has counseled via video conference are struggling to establish a daily routine.“In our sessions, we focus on getting into a routine. I encourage them to spend time doing things they enjoy, learn a new craft or hobby, and stay connected with their friends and loved ones,” Bila&nbsp;said.Dressel gives students similar guidance.“My advice to students is to create a schedule that is as close to normal as possible. This includes setting an alarm and getting up at the same time each day, maintaining typical hygiene routines&nbsp;and making time for fresh air and exercise. A few weeks ago people were feeling pretty aspirational about their self-distancing lifestyles. It’s OK if you don’t find yourself in a place emotion-wise to learn a new language, train for a 10K or master French&nbsp;cuisine. Set three goals per day and be gentle rather than judgmental with yourself,” Dressel said.Other concerns include worrying about a grandparent contracting the coronavirus and adapting to online classes, especially by those who had no experience with online classes previously. Some concerns&nbsp;such as anxiety and depression existed before COVID-19 and continue.“Some are overwhelmed with the large amount of content they are having to learn on their own,” Bila said.For CSC students who need more advanced mental health services, Bila, Dressel, and counselor Christina Winters have worked together on continuing to provide telepsychiatry, or remote psychiatry. CSC&nbsp;contracts with the University of Nebraska Medical Center for psychiatric services for students via the Zoom video conferencing application. Bila said the UNMC psychiatrist, the student, and a CSC counselor can all be on Zoom together.Dressel said the COVID-19 challenge is unique because counselors are experiencing the same anxieties as the students they are trying to help.“As a mental health professional, no playbook exists when handling a worldwide pandemic. Although we frequently say, ‘We're in this together,’ this time we literally mean it,” Dressel said.Ted Tewahade, Title IX Coordinator, said if students do not have a webcam or a confidential space for counseling, they can use a computer provided by Health Services in a Crites Hall conference room.&nbsp;Students may call&nbsp;<a href="tel:+13084326232">308-432-6232</a>&nbsp;or e-mail&nbsp;<a href="mailto:cbrennan@csc.edu">cbrennan@csc.edu</a>&nbsp;to schedule appointments.

Chadron counselors help students cope with changes caused by COVID-19

LINCOLN - Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson today alerted creditors, debt collectors, and financial institutions that Nebraska law may exempt CARES&nbsp;Act stimulus checks from attachment, garnishment or execution for certain low-income consumers.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27 and provides emergency assistance for individuals, families,&nbsp;and businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the Act, eligible individuals and families can receive cash assistance including a one-time cash payment of up to $1,200 for each individual or $2,400 for eligible individuals filing a joint tax return,&nbsp;plus an additional $500 for each dependent child.

Nebraska law exempts certain income and property from execution and attachment by creditors and debt collectors. The purpose of these exemptions is to&nbsp;ensure individuals have enough income and property to provide for basic necessities like housing, food, and utilities.

According to the Attorney General, any attempt or threat by a creditor or a debt collector to garnish or attach funds provided through the CARES Act, if&nbsp;that property would have otherwise been exempt under Nebraska law, will be considered an unfair trade practice in violation of Nebraska’s Consumer Protection Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 59-1602.

Earlier this week, one of the largest debt collection industry groups, Receivables Management Association International, advised its members to “avoid&nbsp;seeking [CARES Act] funds as a potential source of payment on outstanding consumer obligations.”

However, the CARES Act does allow for stimulus checks to be garnished in cases where people are behind on child-support payments.

Attorney General Peterson reminds Nebraskans that he and his staff are diligently monitoring and investigating consumer complaints related to COVID-19.&nbsp;Consumers are encouraged to visit&nbsp;<a href="http://www.protectthegoodlife.nebraska.gov/">www.protectthegoodlife.nebraska.gov</a>&nbsp;for additional tips for protecting themselves during the COVID-19 crisis.

Consumers should file a&nbsp;<a href="https://protectthegoodlife.nebraska.gov/file-consumer-complaint">complaint</a>&nbsp;through the Attorney General’s website or send an email to&nbsp;<a href="mailto:ago.consumer@nebraska.gov">ago.consumer@nebraska.gov</a>&nbsp;if they experience aggressive debt collection during this crisis.

LINCOLN - Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson today alerted creditors, debt collectors, and financial institutions that Nebraska law may exempt CARES&nbsp;Act stimulus checks from attachment, garnishment or execution for certain low-income consumers.The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law on March 27 and provides emergency assistance for individuals, families,&nbsp;and businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the Act, eligible individuals and families can receive cash assistance including a one-time cash payment of up to $1,200 for each individual or $2,400 for eligible individuals filing a joint tax return,&nbsp;plus an additional $500 for each dependent child.Nebraska law exempts certain income and property from execution and attachment by creditors and debt collectors. The purpose of these exemptions is to&nbsp;ensure individuals have enough income and property to provide for basic necessities like housing, food, and utilities.According to the Attorney General, any attempt or threat by a creditor or a debt collector to garnish or attach funds provided through the CARES Act, if&nbsp;that property would have otherwise been exempt under Nebraska law, will be considered an unfair trade practice in violation of Nebraska’s Consumer Protection Act, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 59-1602.Earlier this week, one of the largest debt collection industry groups, Receivables Management Association International, advised its members to “avoid&nbsp;seeking [CARES Act] funds as a potential source of payment on outstanding consumer obligations.”However, the CARES Act does allow for stimulus checks to be garnished in cases where people are behind on child-support payments.Attorney General Peterson reminds Nebraskans that he and his staff are diligently monitoring and investigating consumer complaints related to COVID-19.&nbsp;Consumers are encouraged to visit&nbsp;<a href="http://www.protectthegoodlife.nebraska.gov/">www.protectthegoodlife.nebraska.gov</a>&nbsp;for additional tips for protecting themselves during the COVID-19 crisis.Consumers should file a&nbsp;<a href="https://protectthegoodlife.nebraska.gov/file-consumer-complaint">complaint</a>&nbsp;through the Attorney General’s website or send an email to&nbsp;<a href="mailto:ago.consumer@nebraska.gov">ago.consumer@nebraska.gov</a>&nbsp;if they experience aggressive debt collection during this crisis.

Attorney General: Proceed with caution when garnishing stimulus check

By Kelsey R. Brummels, CSC College Relations

CHADRON – Last fall, Chadron State College launched a pilot Eagle Mentor Program to assist freshman with their transition to college. By helping to make students’ first year at CSC successful, the program is expected to strengthen the number who return to the college as sophomores.

Student Activities Coordinator Megan Northrup oversees the program and its development. She said the idea originated as part of the college’s Strategic Enrollment Management Plan. Northrup works alongside Student Affairs Graduate Assistant Gabriela Perez, who is responsible for supervising mentor-mentee relationships and providing resources and training to mentors.

During the pilot, 18 students mentored 180 randomly selected freshmen, according to Northrup, and each mentor designed his or her own mentoring approach.

CSC student Emily Hansen, a junior from Hemingford, Nebraska, served as a mentor and said the program provided trial-and-error situations.

“Since we were a part of the pilot program, it was a lot of figuring out what works,” Hansen said. “I met with my mentees at lunch, in The Hub, in my room, and at sporting events. It was really rewarding, especially to see mentees buy into the program. By the end of the 10 weeks, they were more open and willing to share.”

Sixty freshman students were considered active in the program. Of those students, 95 percent re-enrolled for the Spring semester. Overall, the Fall 2019 entering freshman class yielded an 86.72 percent persistence rate, according to Northrup.

Positive survey responses from mentees included the benefits of knowing people around campus, being more comfortable asking questions and attending activities, and feeling more at home at CSC.

With its focus on social development and campus activity engagement, the program is vital to student success, Perez said.

“I hope it offers a welcoming experience for all freshmen students that encourages them to continue their education at Chadron State College,” Perez said. “I can personally relate because having a peer to connect with would have helped my transition to college life and living in Chadron.”

With its first year under wraps, Northrup said she hopes to see the program continue to grow.

“My hope is that the Eagle Mentor Program can continue to expand to help more freshmen in their transition to life at CSC as well as providing more sophomores and upperclassmen a leadership opportunity on campus,” Northrup said. “Although the program is very new, I truly believe in this program and the impact that it has on both the mentors and mentees. With a new generation of students, we need to continue to develop new ways of reaching students and providing the best experience we can at CSC.”

The Eagle Mentor Program is set to serve all freshmen in Fall 2020 with the help of 30 Eagle Mentors. CSC students interested in serving as mentors can contact Northrup at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:mnorthrup@csc.edu" target="_blank">mnorthrup@csc.edu</a>&nbsp;for an application.

By Kelsey R. Brummels, CSC College Relations<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/4/1586972305186.jpeg" alt="Chadron State College students pose at the Homecoming bonfire south of High Rise Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019. From left, Emily Hansen of Hemingford, Neb, Natalie Boyd of Stratton, Neb., Bailie Ciferri of Loveland, Colo., Ainsley Coen of Chadron, and Caitlin Hueftle of North Platte, Neb. (Photo by Tena L. Cook/Chadron State College)" />
 <figcaption>Chadron State College students pose at the Homecoming bonfire south of High Rise Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019. From left, Emily Hansen of Hemingford, Neb, Natalie Boyd of Stratton, Neb., Bailie Ciferri of Loveland, Colo., Ainsley Coen of Chadron, and Caitlin Hueftle of North Platte, Neb. (Photo by Tena L. Cook/Chadron State College)</figcaption>
 </figure>CHADRON – Last fall, Chadron State College launched a pilot Eagle Mentor Program to assist freshman with their transition to college. By helping to make students’ first year at CSC successful, the program is expected to strengthen the number who return to the college as sophomores.Student Activities Coordinator Megan Northrup oversees the program and its development. She said the idea originated as part of the college’s Strategic Enrollment Management Plan. Northrup works alongside Student Affairs Graduate Assistant Gabriela Perez, who is responsible for supervising mentor-mentee relationships and providing resources and training to mentors.During the pilot, 18 students mentored 180 randomly selected freshmen, according to Northrup, and each mentor designed his or her own mentoring approach.CSC student Emily Hansen, a junior from Hemingford, Nebraska, served as a mentor and said the program provided trial-and-error situations.“Since we were a part of the pilot program, it was a lot of figuring out what works,” Hansen said. “I met with my mentees at lunch, in The Hub, in my room, and at sporting events. It was really rewarding, especially to see mentees buy into the program. By the end of the 10 weeks, they were more open and willing to share.”Sixty freshman students were considered active in the program. Of those students, 95 percent re-enrolled for the Spring semester. Overall, the Fall 2019 entering freshman class yielded an 86.72 percent persistence rate, according to Northrup.Positive survey responses from mentees included the benefits of knowing people around campus, being more comfortable asking questions and attending activities, and feeling more at home at CSC.With its focus on social development and campus activity engagement, the program is vital to student success, Perez said.“I hope it offers a welcoming experience for all freshmen students that encourages them to continue their education at Chadron State College,” Perez said. “I can personally relate because having a peer to connect with would have helped my transition to college life and living in Chadron.”With its first year under wraps, Northrup said she hopes to see the program continue to grow.“My hope is that the Eagle Mentor Program can continue to expand to help more freshmen in their transition to life at CSC as well as providing more sophomores and upperclassmen a leadership opportunity on campus,” Northrup said. “Although the program is very new, I truly believe in this program and the impact that it has on both the mentors and mentees. With a new generation of students, we need to continue to develop new ways of reaching students and providing the best experience we can at CSC.”The Eagle Mentor Program is set to serve all freshmen in Fall 2020 with the help of 30 Eagle Mentors. CSC students interested in serving as mentors can contact Northrup at&nbsp;<a href="mailto:mnorthrup@csc.edu" target="_blank">mnorthrup@csc.edu</a>&nbsp;for an application.

Coronavirus Update