British drugstores launch new program offering safe spaces to victims of domestic abuse
One of the largest drugstore chains in Britain, Boots, announced Friday that it was setting up a program in its pharmacies to provide safe spaces for victims and survivors fleeing domestic violence to find help.
From Friday, anyone who needs help will be able to ask a pharmacist to use a Boots consultation room, where they’ll be able to access domestic abuse helplines as well as other resources, the domestic violence charity Hestia announced in a statement.
Pharmacies are one of the services deemed essential under the U.K.’s coronavirus policy, so people are free to leave their homes to visit them without violating quarantine guidance.
“Whilst lockdown and social distancing measures continue, it is restricting victims of domestic abuse reaching out to their friends, family and co-workers for support. We know there is an increased level of uncertainty for people looking to escape an abusive relationship,” Lyndsey Dearlove, head of Hestia’s anti-domestic abuse program UK SAYS NO MORE said in a statement.
If you are a survivor or victim in the U.S. and it is an emergency, dial 911. Other resources include: The National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE, or text LOVEIS to 22522. If it is an emergency in the U.K., call the police at 999, or for additional resources in Britain, you can dial the National Domestic Abuse hotline at 0808 2000 247.
Trump hoping for lightning-fast vaccine via “Operation Warp Speed”
President Trump and top health officials say they’re optimistic a COVID-19 vaccine could be ready by the end of the year. Mr. Trump said he’s in charge of “Operation Warp Speed” — the administration’s ambitious effort to make 300 million doses of coronavirus vaccines available by that time.
“No, I’m not over-promising,” Mr. Trump said Thursday. “We’re going to fast-track it like you’ve never seen before.”
Instead of waiting for one vaccine to emerge as a success, health officials will identify the most promising candidates and start manufacturing early.
But CBS News medical contributor Dr. David Agus warns, “There is risk here; That means choosing in advance which vaccine you think will work. Putting capital at risk. Manufacturing them with the hope that they work.”
At least 120 projects around the world are working on a vaccine. So far, a research team at Oxford University has been most successful, and fastest.
China’s famed Forbidden City, other Beijing parks and museums reopen
Beijing’s parks and museums — including the ancient Forbidden City — reopened to the public Friday after being closed for months by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Forbidden City, past home to China’s emperors, is allowing just 5,000 visitors daily, down from 80,000. And parks are permitting people to visit at 30% of the usual capacity.
Large-scale group activities remain on hold and visitors must book tickets in advance online, according to Gao Dawei, deputy director of the Beijing Gardening and Greening Bureau.
Beijing on Thursday downgraded its level of emergency response to the virus from first to second tier, but temperature checks and social distancing remain in force.
The change comes at the start of the five-day May 1 holiday and in advance of China’s rescheduled gathering of the National People’s Congress on May 22. The sessions were delayed from early March.
Dueling May Day coronavirus-fueled protests planned across the U.S.
Essential workers are planning strikes nationwide on Friday — May Day — to demand safer conditions during the coronavirus outbreak, while other groups plan rallies against tight stay-at-home orders they say are crippling the U.S. economy.
Organizers say employees of Amazon, Whole Foods, Target and FedEx have become the unexpected frontline workers of the pandemic. Workers will walk off the job or call out sick to demand unpaid time off work, hazard pay, sick leave, protective gear and cleaning supplies.
Meanwhile protesters will take to the streets in cities nationwide to demand states loosen shelter-in-place rules and “reopen.”
Jobless claims spiral up and up, and millions still await first checks
It’s been six weeks since recruiter Lynn Atwood of Lafayette, Indiana, was furloughed along with all her staffing company’s employees. She’s still waiting for her first unemployment check to arrive.
Atwood belongs to a Facebook group of more than 2,000 Hoosiers who’ve spent much of March and April expressing their frustration with hold-ups in collecting unemployment benefits. She initially applied on March 20 and says she hasn’t a clue when the money will come.
Atwood lives in one of five states with the worst backlogs of unemployment claims, according to a Century Foundation analysis. Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Minnesota and South Carolina each had about 98% of its new unemployment applicants from March still waiting for money when the month ended, the analysis found. Read more here.
