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Good Morning, Portland! Gosh, you really look like you could use a laugh—here, this might help!
Here are the headlines.
• An employee at the Pearl District Whole Foods has died from COVID-19, the store confirmed yesterday. Another worker at the Hollywood location has tested positive for the virus.
New parents miss their postpartum appointments. Trans people who have been on waiting lists for gender-affirming surgeries for years have to keep waiting. Even canceled orthodontic visits can take a toll.
— Blair Stenvick (@BlairStenvick) April 22, 2020
More on the COVID-19 medical domino effect: https://t.co/8lhk8VJo7z
• Speaking of which, Gov. Kate Brown is planning to allow some hospitals to conduct non-essential surgical procedures starting May 1. She'll announce the framework for this plan at 10:30 am today.
• Here's something that might help your morale: A new survey shows that 82 percent of Oregonians—and a strong majority of both Democrats and Republicans—support the state's stay-at-home orders.
"It is the time of tenants right now," Austin told the Mercury. "And it is time we put our foot down against these injustices we experience nearly every day." https://t.co/dWSiWEpLzV
— Alex Zielinski (@alex_zee) April 23, 2020
• At least 595 Oregonians have fully recovered from COVID-19. Read more coronavirus updates in our snappy and informative daily roundups.
• In a guest editorial for the Mercury, Rep. Janelle Bynum calls for Brown to "adopt an Executive Order to increase Oregon’s mental health workforce." Bynum writes that she's spearheading the effort to improve Oregon's mental health system to support people affected by COVID-19.
• A high-ranking scientist with the federal Department of Health and Human Services says he was removed from his position because he resisted the government's focus on pursuing COVID-19 medicines that "lack scientific merit"—including chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, Donald Trump's favorites.
I wrote about how racist housing policies have created dangerous 'heat islands' in cities.
— Elise Herron (@cc_herron) April 22, 2020
On any given day east Portland is 18 F hotter than the city's west side. Coronavirus orders will make it even harder to escape. https://t.co/GmSV7t3hA8
• Per the Washington Post, many COVID-19 patients are dying because of a blood-clotting complication. Some doctors are recommending prescribing patients blood thinners as a proactive measure against this complication—though that idea is controversial, because it can also cause the risk of patients bleeding out.
• As parents are (understandably) weary of taking their small children to the doctor right now, our country's already dangerously high rate of unvaccinated kids is growing.
• Headline of the Day: "A disturbing new study suggests Sean Hannity’s show helped spread the coronavirus."
