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Comedian DL Hughley faints onstage, tests positive for coronavirus
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Comedian D.L. Hughley announced he tested positive for COVID-19 after collapsing onstage during a performance in Nashville, Tennessee.
The stand-up comedian, 57, lost consciousness while performing at the Zanies comedy nightclub on Friday night and was hospitalized, news outlets reported. On Saturday, Hughley posted a video on Twitter in which he said he was treated for exhaustion and dehydration afterward.
“I also tested positive for COVID-19, which blew me away,” he says in the video. “I was what they call asymptomatic. I didn’t have any symptoms, the classic symptoms.”
The remaining two nights of his four-night engagement at Zanies were canceled, according to the club’s online calendar.
News
12:10 p.m. 2nd wave of COVID-19 cases? U.S. is still in 1st wave, experts say
What’s all this talk about a “second wave” of U.S. coronavirus cases?
In The Wall Street Journal last week, Vice President Mike Pence wrote in a piece headlined “There Isn’t a Coronavirus ‘Second Wave’” that the nation is winning the fight against the virus.
Many public health experts, however, suggest it’s no time to celebrate. About 120,000 Americans have died from the new virus and daily counts of new cases in the U.S. are the highest they’ve been in more than a month, driven by alarming recent increases in the South and West.
But there is at least one point of agreement: “Second wave” is probably the wrong term to describe what’s happening.
“When you have 20,000-plus infections per day, how can you talk about a second wave?” said Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health. “We’re in the first wave. Let’s get out of the first wave before you have a second wave.”
Clearly there was an initial infection peak in April as cases exploded in New York City. After schools and businesses were closed across the country, the rate of new cases dropped somewhat.
But “it’s more of a plateau, or a mesa,” not the trough after a wave, said Caitlin Rivers, a disease researcher at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Health Security.
8:39 a.m. Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters latest part of COVID-19 shortage
Break out your piggy banks, the latest COVID-19 shortage involves pocket change.
The coronavirus pandemic has caused a nationwide coin shortage, according to the Federal Reserve.
Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday the shutdowns caused by the pandemic have raised concerns about circulation of coins, which the Fed’s 12 regional banks are in charge of supplying to commercial banks.
“With the partial closure of the economy, the flow of funds through the economy has stopped,” Powell said during a virtual hearing with the House Financial Services Committee. “We are working with the Mint and the Reserve Banks and as the economy re-opens we are starting to see money move around again.”
Reserve Banks and Federal Reserve coin distribution locations began strategic allocations of coin inventories sent to banks across the nation June 15, the Reserve said in a statement.
7:15 a.m. Pandemic keeps plumbers busy; housebound clients mean ‘a lot more toilets being flushed’
Plumbers say they’re busier than ever thanks to the coronavirus pandemic keeping most of us at home most of the time the past few months.
“It’s more use of the toilets,” says Tom Mascari, president of Mendel Plumbing & Heating in St. Charles. “Handles are breaking, valves inside need to be replaced.”
“We’ve been working seven days a week, 10-, 12-, 14-hour shifts,” says Jose Rivera, owner of A Solution Sewer & Plumbing in Bridgeview. “By the time I get home, it’s a shower, and off to bed I go.”
“We’ve been incredibly busy — beyond belief,” says William Taylor, owner of Four Seasons Sewer & Plumbing, 6807 W. Irving Park Rd. “There’s a lot more toilets being flushed.”
Pre-pandemic, “You’re using the bathroom facilities in the morning before you go to work or school and then in the evening,” says Brian Wilk, owner of Bishop Heating, Plumbing and Cooling in Des Plaines. But with people stuck at home, “You’re getting more clogged drain lines.”
Some clogs have been caused by people, perhaps worried about toilet paper shortages, who instead did what plumbers will tell you is a big no-no: They used paper towels or wipes that are advertised as flushable but don’t dissolve like T.P.
And sometimes kids, bored with being home so long, toss things in to the toilet that aren’t meant to be tossed into the toilet.
Read the full story from Maureen O’Donnell here.
New cases
- President Donald Trump’s campaign says six staff members helping set up for his Saturday night rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, have tested positive for coronavirus.
- Another 45 people have died of the coronavirus in Illinois, bringing Illinois’ total pandemic death toll to 6,625, state health officials announced Saturday. The Illinois Department of Public Health said an additional 634 people tested positive for coronavirus, bringing the state’s total case count to 136,104.
Analysis & Commentary
11:26 a.m. Illegal tenant lockouts an early warning sign of a national evictions explosion to come
From the moment the coronavirus pandemic hit Chicago, throwing thousands of residents out of work, the fear has been that evictions would follow.
Now, as reported by the Sun-Times on Friday, it’s beginning to happen. Unscrupulous landlords are using illegal methods to push out tenants who are behind in the rent. The problem threatens to grow worse, and could explode, unless government takes action.
We favor intervention at the federal level, given the national scope of the problem, and given as well the limited ability of local governments to help without subverting market forces in ways that could make things worse.
We favor the leveraging of federal assistance or tax breaks to encourage landlords and tenants to reach an accommodation. A specific bill we support, proposed by U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., would offer forgivable federal loans to landlords who waive rent and extend leases during the pandemic.
As reported by Stephanie Zimmermann, calls to the Metropolitan Tenants Organization about illegal lockouts in Chicago roughly doubled from mid-March through mid-June compared to monthly averages.
The actual numbers are not yet high — about 41 calls a month compared to the usual 22. But only a fraction of tenants who are illegally evicted ever call for help. And in those rising numbers is a warning sign about a possible explosion in evictions once Chicago’s housing court reopens.
7:43 a.m. Illinois politicians start to get serious about fundraising as the state reopens
As Illinois slowly begins the reopening process, some state legislators have decided to start hosting in-person fundraisers.
For the past few months, most legislative incumbents and challengers have abandoned fundraising. The global pandemic, accompanied by an international economic crash, made the idea of raising campaign money seem crass, inappropriate and even dangerous.
Eventually, some folks began hosting online fundraisers. It’s an election year, after all, and elections cost money. So, for a price, contributors could pay for a password to attend Zoom events and support their candidates of choice.
Several candidates also began dialing for dollars. But April was not a good month for campaigns. $2.87 million in A-1 reports (contributions of $1,000 or over) were filed in April. That’s about a third of the $7.7 million reported in April of 2016, a similar election cycle.
Just $3.6 million in A-1 contributions were reported this May, which is about a fifth of the $15.5 million reported in May of 2016.
