Credit: Bill Pugliano / Getty
Attorney General Bill Barr joins Trump in spreading deadly disinformation.
Attorney General Bill Barr joins Trump in spreading deadly disinformation. Bill Pugliano / Getty News

Here’s your daily roundup of all the local and national news about COVID-19. (Like our coverage? Please consider donating to the Mercury to keep it comin’!)

• As of Wednesday, there were 58 new Oregon COVID-19 cases (28 of those in Multnomah County alone) bringing the state total to 1,239, while the death rate rose to 38.

• Columbia River Correctional Facility inmates staged a protest yesterday over unsafe conditions inside the prison, conditions that included no one having access to soap for two days. The confrontation forced officers to retreat into locked offices. Alex Zielinski has more.

Related: “Women at Oregon Prison Say Their Lives Are at Risk After COVID-19 Patients Are Transferred In.”

• Meanwhile the coronavirus has spread to at least 34 Oregon senior residential homes—and 90 more are under investigation.

• New data from the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) shows that Oregon’s Latino population is disproportionately affected by COVID-19.

• The total number of American unemployment claims in the past three weeks crossed the 16 million threshhold yesterday. (6.6 million filed for unemployment in just the last week.) In Oregon, one in every eight workers have lost their jobs in the last 21 days.

• One of the vital organizations contributing to those numbers? The Oregon Clinic, one of the metro area’s largest independent healthcare providers, who announced plans to lay off over 800 employees by this June. CORRECTION: According to the Oregon Clinic, “Beginning in mid-March, about 80% (820) of our employees have been impacted by COVID-19 in the form of furloughs, hours reductions, or temporary pay cuts. These are not layoffs. All furloughed employees are still employed by The Oregon Clinic and are still receiving benefits.” In short, there are no layoffs planned at the Oregon Clinic for June and the current furloughs are intended to be temporary. We regret the error!

IN NATIONAL NEWS:

• COVID-19 death toll projections continue to be revised downward, which has led many to begin suggesting statewide lockdowns were an “overreaction,” or “unnecessary.” This is a bad narrative, as new projections showing fewer deaths mean current social distancing practices are working.

• The “Do NOT Believe This Lying, Traitor Who’s Trying to Kill You” headline of the day: “Barr calls lockdown measures ‘draconian’ and suggests they should be revisited next month.”

• The US Postal Service might not be delivering to anyone on the other side of this crisis. According to House Subcommittee on Government Operations chair Gerry Connolly: “The Postal Service is insolvent. It needs debt forgiveness, not debt extension. And it needs an infusion of capital right now.”

• Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved out of the intensive care unit after spending three days receiving oxygen treatments. He’s under “close monitoring” now in a regular hospital ward.

• Black people, already being disproportionately affected by coronavirus, are now being kicked out of supermarkets for observing CDC guidelines about wearing facial coverings in public, because police and store employees are profiling them as gang members.

• Geneticists studied the coronavirus outbreak in New York and found that most cases came from Europe. Do you think our president will start calling it the European Virus? 🤔

• If you’re looking for a pant-load of funny stuff to brighten up your day, look no further than the daily Mercury Cheer Up Club!

• And if you’re looking for a fun AND FASHIONABLE way to support the Mercury, how about buying a Mercury “TP” T-shirt?

• And finally, some heroes don’t wear capes… but they do have bullshit detectors.