When everything began shutting down back in March, Steve Wiens thought he would be leading church via Zoom for two, maybe four, weeks.

Members of his church, Genesis Covenant in Robbinsdale, Minn., rose to the challenge. They celebrated the Eucharist from their kitchens, with coffee and doughnuts, Capri Sun and Oreos. They divided themselves into small groups across town to keep tabs of who needed groceries or supplies.

“We’ve somehow maintained a real intimacy and sweetness because we leaned into the values that always held us,” Mr. Wiens said.

But as the weeks have turned into months, and Zoom fatigue is settling in, many church leaders are contemplating how — and when exactly — to reopen. This week, Mr. Wiens mapped out a four-stage plan of what a return to safe in-person worship might look like. Maybe by July they could worship in socially distant groups of 50, he guessed, and maybe they could lift all limits in the fall.

“That may be optimistic,” he said. “What we are doing right now will change how faith is expressed in worship, whether we like it or not.”

Read it all.

After Weeks on Zoom, Churches Consider Plans to Reopen https://t.co/D3gOQZX8gk

— Herb Scribner (@HerbScribner) May 7, 2020

Although state mental health centers in the tri-county area haven’t seen an increase in the number of patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant rise is likely just around the corner.

“Where that rise ends, we just don’t know,” said Matthew Dorman, executive director of the S.C. Department of Mental Health’s Berkeley County center.

During any type of crisis, whether it’s an intense hurricane or shooting, South Carolina’s mental health experts have found that the influx of patients doesn’t come until immediate problems have cleared.

After a hurricane, if a home needs repairs, the owner is likely to address that first prior to any mental health concerns. Mental health experts say the same is happening during the pandemic, where residents are immediately facing issues around unemployment and managing child care.

Read it all.

SC state mental health centers are predicting a rise in patient calls when pande… @postandcourier https://t.co/iHDcvgo6KN

— WatchYourRepsSC (@WatchYourRepsSC) May 7, 2020

The counting comes easily: More Americans have died from the coronavirus than during the entire Vietnam War. Total U.S. fatalities would overflow Dodger Stadium. More people are infected than live in the state of Delaware.

So why is the grieving so hard?

The enormity of the pandemic death toll is wrapped in a wall of silence, not connecting with our politicians, the media nor the public. Thankful applause echoes nightly for nurses and caregivers, but there are few candlelight vigils for the dead; churches are shuttered; most families cannot even hold funerals.

Doesn’t our national loss deserve more than just checking the number on CNN every hour, and shaking our heads as the death toll tops 50,000, then 67,000 and beyond?

Media coverage of the death toll seems clinical and for-the-record when it needs to be somber and shared, like the sounds of John F. Kennedy’s horse-drawn caisson clambering down Pennsylvania Avenue, or the tearful reading of the names on the anniversary of 9/11 every year.

Read it all.

Counting the dead is easy, but why are the victims not mourned? My column in USA TODAY:https://t.co/mlKPKkEan8

— David Colton (@DColtonNow) May 5, 2020

In his five years as a hospital chaplain, the Rev Steven Chewning has anointed the sick more times than he can remember.

The ritual of applying oil to the forehead of someone ill or dying is considered one of the most intimate of Christian sacraments. But when Covid-19 restricted Chewning’s access and left him working from home, a family’s request to anoint a young father who was intubated and critical forced him to get creative. While performing the rite over speakerphone with the help of a nurse (who is an atheist), Chewning found himself not only reimagining his own duties, but the very conception of holy space.

From his bedroom, the chaplain recited his litany, reading from James 5 and Mark 6, where Jesus first sends his disciples to anoint the sick. “O Holy One, giver of health and salvation, send your holy spirit to sanctify this oil,” he prayed, his words ringing over the drone of the ventilator. “As your holy apostles anointed many who were sick so may those who in faith receive this holy unction be made whole. Can you please rub a drop of oil on the patient’s forehead?”

“You want me to make it like a cross? I think that’d be meaningful.”

“Yeah, sure, if you don’t mind.”

Read it all.

“Like the ancient Israelites who carried God in a tent while they wandered through the wilderness, chaplains are having to find God in unexpected places.” @bryanmealer @guardian #COVID19 https://t.co/Xkr9EuO811

— Kristin Collier (@KristinCollie20) May 6, 2020

South Carolina’s public health agency plans to test nearly a quarter million people for COVID-19 over the next two months, partnering with healthcare facilities and a private lab as part of a new, coordinated assault on the pandemic.

As part of that new strategy, the state Department of Health and Environmental Control will quickly test all 40,000 residents and employees of South Carolina’s nearly 200 nursing homes, where the respiratory disease can spread quickly and prey on vulnerable residents. At least 84 nursing home residents and employees have died so far from COVID-19.

The agency also is stepping up plans to hire contact tracers. It is identifying a pool of up to 1,000 people who can be hired and trained to track down where the virus has been and where it might spread next, a crucial piece of the state’s outbreak containment strategy.

Read it all.

South Carolina’s public health agency plans to test some 220,000 more people for COVID-19 over the next two months, including all 40,000 residents and employees of the state’s nearly 200 nursing homes.https://t.co/pdqd9rWONC

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) May 6, 2020

A few years ago, “zoom-zoom” referred to a Mazda car commercial. Today people are more likely to think of an online screen filled with small squares of virtual people holding a meeting. In the Anglican Church of Canada, this is especially true for all of the bishops and the Primate!

Prior to the imposed isolation, my calendar was filled with travel to different parts of Canada to share in parish and diocesan celebrations, present the Award of Merit to last year’s recipients, and meet with diocesan leaders, clergy and parishioners to talk about their mission and ministry. Suddenly I was confined to home in London, Ont., with my cat, feeling disconnected and unsure what I could and should do now.

Over these past weeks a new rhythm of life and ministry has emerged—and with it, reflections on what the future might hold. First, many activities prior to COVID-19 have been transformed into virtual meeting opportunities. Church House staff meet regularly online to continue the work General Synod is called to fulfill. This even includes a weekly coffee break to stay in touch with one another in our relationships and share coping strategies. It is good to see and hear colleagues, though it can be mentally exhausting to engage online for hours every day. We are learning to pace meetings, provide breaks and even have online breakout groups for discussion. Our technological learning curve is steep, but new skills are being mastered!

Read it all.

The Vanderbilt-AstraZeneca team is far from the only group trying to identify or engineer monoclonals against SARS-CoV-2. Unlike the many repurposed drugs now being tested in COVID-19 patients, including the modestly effective remdesivir, the immune proteins specifically target this virus. Whereas some groups hope to sieve a neutralizing antibody (a “neut”) from the blood of a survivor like Dr. X, others are trying to produce a neut in mice by injecting them with the spike protein. Still others aim to re-engineer an existing antibody or even create one directly from DNA sequences.

Many researchers are optimistic that antibodies will, relatively quickly, prove their worth as a preventive or remedy that buys the world time until a vaccine arrives—if it does. “We’ve got at least 50—and probably more we don’t know about—companies and academic labs that are all racing horses,” says immunologist Erica Ollmann Saphire of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, who leads an effort to coordinate and evaluate these candidates. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, which developed a cocktail of three monoclonal antibodies that worked against the Ebola virus—a notoriously difficult disease to treat—may be out of the gates first with a candidate monoclonal drug entering clinical trials as soon as next month.

Saphire says many questions remain. “We need a sense of the landscape: What are the most effective antibodies against this virus? If we need a cocktail of two, what is the most effective combination?” she asks. “And you might want a very different kind of antibody to prevent infection versus treating an established one.”

Read it all.

Monoclonal antibodies could potentially be used both for treatment and prevention of #COVID. @WHO happy to work with developers on facilitating trials & mechanisms for affordable access.
The race is on for antibodies that stop the new coronavirus https://t.co/2vNmdFVw3l

— Soumya Swaminathan (@doctorsoumya) May 6, 2020

By Aug. 4, DHEC projects the state could have over 1,100 deaths from the coronavirus, up from about 360. DHEC’s website no longer notes, as it had, that the projections assume social distancing into June.

“I believe we’re moving in the right direction at exactly the right time,” Gov. Henry McMaster said Tuesday. Statistics from businesses as well as health professionals informed his decision to allow businesses around the state to resume some services, he said.

“We probably had fewer restrictions than any state in the country,” McMaster said. “We have information, facts, statistics from businesses to see what’s happening, we’ve had experience to see what’s happened with other states… we certainly know how to contain it.”

Residents in a trio of Richland County ZIP codes where the coronavirus is most prevalent will have access to nasal swab testing next week, in a partnership between local officials and the Medical University of South Carolina.

“I do think we have the tools and resources necessary to defeat this pandemic, but it takes exactly what we’re doing right now,” state Rep. Ivory Thigpen, D-Columbia, said during a Tuesday press conference at the South Carolina Statehouse.

Read it all.

As of Tuesday evening, South Carolina has documented a total of 6,841 positive tests for the virus, and 296 patients who have died.https://t.co/dZPuCucTcS

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) May 5, 2020

While church buildings remain closed for public worship, in line with Government advice, the Bishops agreed in principle to a phased approach to lifting restrictions, in time and in parallel with the Government’s approach, with three broad stages as infection levels improve:

1. An initial immediate phase allowing very limited access to church buildings for activities such as streaming of services or private prayer by clergy in their own parishes, so long as the necessary hygiene and social distancing precautions are taken
2. Subsequently access for some rites and ceremonies when allowed by law, observing appropriate physical distancing and hygiene precautions
3. Worship services with limited congregations meeting, when Government restrictions are eased to allow this

The Bishops agreed that the decision on the timing of when to implement the revised advice on ministers or worship leaders praying and streaming from their church buildings should be made by individual Diocesan Bishops, depending on their local situation.

Read it all.

The House of Bishops are backing a phased approach to revising access to church buildings.

Read more on our website: https://t.co/TGxdhui49b

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) May 5, 2020

Americans are concerned about the present state of the economy and believe conditions are worsening, but their six-month predictions for specific aspects of the economy are less dire — particularly in terms of the stock market and economic growth.

Read it all.

…[Today] the bishops of the Church of England will meet to consider the growing opposition to their policy of banning clergy from saying prayers in their churches.

To recap: on 24 March the Archbishops of Canterbury and York wrote to the clergy of the Church of England with the following instruction: “Our church buildings must now be closed not only for public worship, but for private prayer as well and this includes the priest or lay person offering prayer in church on their own.”

The guidance of the government makes it specifically clear that clergy are allowed into their churches on their own to pray and to broadcast prayer. And the Roman Catholics and other churches continue to do so. But the C of E has banned its clergy from doing this, in some Dioceses with the threat of disciplinary action hanging over those who do.

The deep unhappiness about this continues to grow. Today a letter was sent to The Times signed by hundreds of clergy and lay people complaining about the current restrictions. And as the resistance grows so too does the counter-resistance — with arguments from those defending the official line appearing all over social media.

Read it all.

Let priests pray in their churches – The Post https://t.co/rjbvaGtWxG

— Robert Paterson (@marerskine) May 5, 2020

Around 60,000 families forced onto Universal Credit by Covid-19 could have essential support restricted by the government’s hated ‘two-child limit’.

Families who have to claim the benefit because of job losses and illness will find they are denied support for more than two children.

Ministers have refused to scrap the policy, even temporarily during the coronavirus crisis….

A new report by the Church of England and Child Poverty Action Group said the virus crisis had exposed the injustice of the policy, which mostly hits working families.

Read it all.

60,000 families forced onto Universal Credit by coronavirus ‘to be hit’ by two child limithttps://t.co/RYQayoOmGK pic.twitter.com/yIytrcTJMd

— Mirror Politics (@MirrorPolitics) May 4, 2020

In her room on Saint Joseph’s, Flo would often stay up until 2 a.m. trying to finish her prayers. For a while, she had run a fever, suffered from diarrhea, and kept coughing, but her symptoms didn’t last long. Surrounded by statues of Jesus and Mary, beneath pictures of her six kids, 23 grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren, Flo prayed for courage, for the health of the staff, for everybody who was sick in the home. She especially prayed for Karen, her friend from the dining hall. “I was really worried about her. We have different things wrong with us,” Flo told me this week, her voice quiet over the phone. For weeks, she didn’t have much information about how her neighbors were doing, even those who lived just feet away. After a month of separation, toward the end of April, Flo finally left a couple of messages on Karen’s phone.

Since then, the two women have spoken just once, mostly about nothing. They aren’t afraid of death, but they don’t want to talk much about it. Karen told me that she didn’t ask Flo about the coronavirus outbreak, because she was scared she’d start crying. Flo didn’t ask Karen about it either. “Maybe a part of me didn’t want to know,” Flo said.

Karen constantly imagines what it will be like to return to the dining hall when the outbreak is over. Her table, like so many others, will be a little emptier: Pat, who was 87, is among the residents who have died. There was no memorial service where the women could say goodbye to their friend. Pat’s son, a priest in a Delaware beach town, was not even able to celebrate Mass at her funeral.

Both Flo and Karen are lifelong Catholics, and they believe firmly in the promise of Christianity. “When you’re people of faith, heaven is not a scary place,” Karen said. “It’s a place you’re looking forward to, that you’ve been working for all your life.” The residents encourage one another. They’re ready to go home, she said. “Just maybe not today.”

Read it all.

South Carolina has officially begun loosening restrictions on travel, commerce and recreation implemented during the initial spread of the coronavirus, as the state tries to regain its economic footing ahead of the summertime tourist season.

Monday marked the end of Gov. Henry McMaster’s stay-at-home order, which placed a $100 fine on anyone outside their home for a reason other than work, visiting family, exercising alone or going to an essential business such as a grocery store.

Dine-in restaurants and close-contact businesses such as barbershops and gyms remain closed, along with playgrounds and nightclubs. But restaurants were being allowed to begin serving people in outdoor dining areas Monday, as long as tables were at least 8 feet (2.4 meters) apart, parties were limited to eight people and strict sanitation guidelines were followed.

Read it all.

“We have a lot of people saying we are going too fast. Others say we are going too slow,” Gov. @HenryMcMaster said on Friday. “I think we are doing it just right.”

My story on the gradual reopening of South Carolina. https://t.co/wETIhaXuhQ

— Meg Kinnard (@MegKinnardAP) May 4, 2020

Many German churches reopened on Sunday morning after most remained closed for more than a month in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Worshippers will have to wear masks, respect social distancing, and no singing will be allowed amid fears that it spreads the virus more easily.

Cologne Cathedral, Europe’s largest church and Germany’s most visited landmark, has planned a special ceremony for friends of the church. Workers, choir members, lay readers and altar boys were invited to a ceremony of only 122 people in the enormous medieval cathedral which normally received 20,000 visitors a day.

Read it all..

German churches like those in Cologne are reopening under strict new rules: no singing is allowed, a maximum of 122 people can attend Mass, people must sit 1.5 meters apart, and no well-wishing is allowed. https://t.co/rt9xdUU4gi

— Plaid Germany (@Plaid_Germany) May 4, 2020

All day long, wood coffins are carried in and out of Al-Rayaan Muslim Funeral Services in Brooklyn. What is meant to be a peaceful, reflective moment for grieving families has given way to a chaotic rhythm. Workers climb into a refrigerated truck and carefully carry the dead into the funeral home for a prayer, then back out to be transported to their final resting place.

They do this an average of 15 times a day in recent weeks. Before coronavirus hit, the home was holding only 20 to 30 funerals a month.

Read it all.

just in case you thought it was the only the jewish community here in NYhttps://t.co/VwwvnnYcqE

— Dan Rosenblum (@sharkbiotech) May 4, 2020

Pulling up short of 75,000 deaths means, in other words, an incredibly abrupt conclusion to the pandemic, with deaths going all the way to zero very soon and staying there permanently. That is not going to happen. For about the last two weeks, the country has been on a roughly flat trajectory of about 2,000 deaths per day. If it stays on that plateau through August 4, it would mean not 12,000 more deaths, but 180,000. And the pandemic wouldn’t simply end on August 4 just because the modeling does.

Of course, we may well not stay on that pace, but decline. How quickly? According to a New York Times survey of five major models, published last week, all of the models project a quite rapid decline — as rapid as the ascent was. As for how quickly that decline would begin, a model based at the University of Texas, which has won praise as an alternative to the IMHE, now says with 100 percent certainty that the country has passed its peak — this despite the fact that just on Wednesday we reached a new peak, and despite the likelihood that no more than 5 percent of the country, at most, has been exposed to the disease.

So, what is happening? Why is it that nearly all efforts to project the future shape of the pandemic seem unable to see more than a week or two into the future? And why, even in that time frame, are they almost unanimous in projecting a precipitous decline that is almost every day contradicted by the number of new deaths?

There are two big explanations. The first is that even under present conditions, in which the spread of infection is being dramatically constrained by shutdowns, the disease is not behaving as we expected.

Read it all.

It’s grimmer than we want to believe. 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻 https://t.co/ZAtWUkUcrv

— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) May 2, 2020

A quarter of adults in the UK have watched or listened to a religious service since the coronavirus lockdown began, and one in 20 have started praying during the crisis, according to a new survey.

The findings of the poll reinforce indications of an increase in the numbers of people turning to faith for succour amid uncertainty and despair.

The Church of England has said that unexpectedly high numbers of people are tuning into online or broadcast services, and 6,000 people phoned a prayer hotline in its first 48 hours of operation. Other faiths have also reported surges in people engaging with online religious activities as places of worship have been closed during the lockdown.

The survey of more than 2,000 people, commissioned by the Christian aid agency Tearfund and carried out last weekend, found that a third of young adults aged between 18 and 34 had watched or listened to an online or broadcast religious service, compared with one in five adults over the age of 55.

Read it all.

1/5 of those turning into online worship service have never attended church before and 1/3 participants are in the 18-34 age bracket. I may have just done a little dance in the kitchen that was possibly quite Dibley-esque. https://t.co/JBEJTPBy3R

— Hannah Steele (@drhmsteele) May 3, 2020

Optimism cannot deal with death, but God has dealt with it. The apostle Paul, because his whole approach to life was based on the belief that God had raised the dead Jesus to new life, was able to say: “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor powers, not height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38). I should like to encourage anyone who has not thought seriously before about the Christian hope for life beyond death, and its foundation in the resurrection of Jesus, to do so now. I remember, many years ago, an acquaintance who was a believing Christian but could not believe that there was anything beyond death. I lent her John Baillie’s book And the Life Everlasting, which spoke to her difficulties, and she completely changed her mind. Not so long afterwards she died. She was able to go into the experience of dying with, not only an assurance of the love of God with her, but also the knowledge that God’s love does not let go of us when we die, but holds onto us and welcomes us into a new future in his presence.

In the present crisis, there will be many people who suffer the death of a loved one. There will also be many who, perhaps for the first time, face up to the prospect of their own death, whenever it may come. All of us would do well to ponder the extraordinary character of Easter hope, which goes far beyond our ordinary hopes. All of our ordinary hopes are defeated by death, but in the resurrection of Jesus God has defeated death and removed the pall that death casts over all of life.

Alleluiah!

Read it all.

‘All of our ordinary hopes are defeated by death, but in the resurrection of Jesus God has defeated death and removed the pall that death casts over all of life.
Alleluiah!’ https://t.co/aYkbTO6yoj

— Dr Ian Paul (@Psephizo) April 30, 2020

Jerry Seinfeld says he’s “adjusted pretty comfortably” to his new life in quarantine.

“I think there’s something to be said for not socializing,” he tells Weekend Edition. “It’s kind of a rest for your face and your fake emotions and your repeating the same stories.”

Seinfeld’s new standup special, 23 Hours to Kill, starts streaming May 5 on Netflix.

He jokes in the special: “I could be anywhere in the world right now. Now you be honest. If you were me, would you be up here hacking out another one of these?”

Talking to NPR, Seinfeld says he actually loves hacking out standup bits. It’s just a joke….

“Humor is of the greatest value in times like these,” he says. “Humor is an essential survival quantity, I think, of human life. I mean, I’ve been seeing some stuff about these nurses and medical professionals and these horrible units where they’re losing people so regularly. And I heard this one nurse say, she said, ‘You cry for a while and then you tell jokes.’ And that seems like the most human you can be.”

Read it all.

‘You cry for a while and then you tell jokes.’ And that seems like the most human you can be.”

Jerry Seinfeld On Staying Home: ‘At My Dinner Table, You’re Supposed To Be Funny’ https://t.co/r3nRosISDs

— susan hoff (@susanphoff) May 2, 2020

The metropolitan archbishops of England and Wales acknowledged the pain of Catholics who cannot receive the Sacraments because of the coronavirus lockdown in a message issued Friday.

In the message, entitled “A People who Hope in Christ”, published May 1, the archbishops said that while livestreamed Masses nourished faith, they were no substitute for public liturgies.

“None of us would want to be in the situation in which we find ourselves,” they wrote. “While the livestreaming of the Mass and other devotions is playing an important part in maintaining the life of faith, there is no substitute for Catholics being able to physically attend and participate in the celebration of the Mass and the other sacraments.”

Writing on behalf of the Catholic bishops of England and Wales, the five archbishops continued: “Our faith is expressed powerfully and beautifully though ‘seeing, touching, and tasting.’ We know that every bishop and every priest recognizes the pain of Catholics who, at present, cannot pray in church or receive the sacraments. This weighs heavily on our hearts.”

Read it all.

“We are deeply moved by the Eucharistic yearning expressed by so many members of the faithful. We thank you sincerely for your love for the Lord Jesus, present in the sacraments and supremely so in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.”https://t.co/NE25JkXrh8

— National Catholic Register (@NCRegister) May 2, 2020

Beloved in Christ Jesus: Greetings in the name of our Risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Times of crisis such as we are now living through are revealing. They force us to focus on what is really important to us and it has been so encouraging to see Gafcon churches around the world quickly adapting to new ways of being the church and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ using the tools the internet gives us.

Our churches are also making it a priority to care for the most vulnerable. Here in North America, our Matthew 25 Initiative network is serving some of the most poor and under-resourced people in North America from some 100 centers, while globally, the Anglican Relief and Development Fund (see https://ardf.org/apply-for-covid19-funds) is seeking to provide on the ground relief. Our General Secretary, Archbishop Ben Kwashi, is serving on Barnabas Fund’s Africa Coronavirus Relief Committee to channel relief to the most vulnerable and enable the Churches to continue their ministries.

Please be aware that the people and churches of Africa are suffering not only from the impact of the coronavirus economic lockdown, but in East Africa also from recurrent and massive locust plagues which are devastating crops. And in addition to the pandemic, Christians in northern Nigeria are suffering intensified and barbaric attacks from Fulani Jihadist tribesmen who are deliberately targeting women and children. All of this is a matter of much prayer, and I call on our intercessors to join us in beseeching our Lord to provide for His people in the midst of their needs.

While for many, lockdown has slowed the pace of life, the paradox of this pandemic is that there is actually a speeding up of social change; for example, the rapid embrace of new communications technology and the turn from globalisation.

Read it all.

“For those of us who have put our faith & belief in Jesus, & been born anew by the Holy Spirit, we do not have to fear & we do not have to be anxious about what tomorrow will bring.”

Read @ArchbishopFoley‘s April @Gafcon letter here: https://t.co/6NJrRpWW0R #Anglican #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/npETgNZELf

— ACNA (@The_ACNA) April 30, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has transformed virtually every aspect of public life in America, also has touched a very intimate part of Americans’ lives: their religious faith and worship habits.

Some Americans say their religious faith has strengthened as a result of the outbreak, even as the vast majority of U.S. churchgoers report that their congregations have closed regular worship services to the public, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Americans in historically black Protestant churches and those who describe themselves as very religious are particularly likely to say their faith has strengthened.

One-quarter of U.S. adults overall (24%) say their faith has become stronger because of the coronavirus pandemic, while just 2% say their faith has become weaker. The majority say their faith hasn’t changed much (47%) or that the question isn’t applicable because they were not religious to begin with (26%).

Opinions on this question vary based on respondents’ religious affiliation and how religious they are. Christians are more likely than other religious groups in this analysis to say their faith has grown stronger as a result of the pandemic, a feeling that is reported by 56% of Protestants in the historically black tradition, as well as by four-in-ten evangelicals (42%) and roughly one-quarter of Catholics (27%) and mainline Protestants (22%).

Read it all.

People who are used to being in control are among those most affected by the stress of the coronavirus lockdown: they can feel helpless in the face of a problem that they cannot deal with, a psychotherapist and studies have said.

One priest who works as a group analytic psychotherapist, the Revd Dr Anne Holmes, said that the “underlying angst is a very hard thing for people who are normally high-functioning. Adjusting puts a strain on them.” Describing the virus as the “unknown enemy”, she continued: “Because everyone is aware this is a unique situation and unknown to our usual living experiences, people with important positions have tended to downgrade themselves and might not be asking for help for themselves because it is not important in the great range of things.

“Those whose identity is tied up with being the one in charge are at risk of grandiosity and are likely to falter when faced with a situation over which they have no control.”

She compared the current crisis to her experiences as an army wife living in Belfast during the Troubles. “In Ireland, you got used to checking the car and having your handbag searched. You knew what you were dealing with. The difficulty with this is that it could be anywhere, on anything. People even worry about their shopping.”

Read it all.

Church leaders tell of the effects of the ‘unknown enemy’ for people with mental-health problems https://t.co/Gb3451t46e

— Ian Beckett (@ian_beckett) May 1, 2020

More than 30 million people have applied for unemployment as of April 30, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Many are falling behind on their rent and are being evicted, despite new rules designed to stop evictions. Experts say the moratoriums by state and local officials don’t go far enough and are leaving tenants vulnerable.

“My main concern is that I’ll be evicted,” says David Perez. The self-employed father of one sells artisanal wares, like wallets and sandals, at a flea market in Elkridge, Md. “What’s going to happen to my family?”

Perez hasn’t had any income since the end of February because the flea market closed, and he says that he and his 14-year-old daughter are living off food donated from his church. He has already lost his van because he couldn’t make his monthly payments.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan issued an executive order on March 5 to block evictions, and state courts are not accepting eviction case filings until after the end of the public health emergency….

Read it all.

‘About 48.5 M people rent their home, according to the 2015 #USA Housing Survey. And according to an analysis from HUD, almost 1/2 of the country’s rental units are by people who depend on the rental income 2 pay bills’ https://t.co/PN3PAr9dbJ #housing #pandemic #covid19 #economy

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) May 1, 2020

Myrtle Beach, the financial heart of South Carolina’s tourism economy, will allow hotels and short-term rentals to start once again.

An emergency order by the city to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus expires Friday. In a City Council meeting held by teleconference Thursday, elected leaders of the beach town approved a new emergency order that will not stop hotels from renting.

Officials said they felt it would not be legal, given recent orders by Gov. Henry McMaster, to continue to bar rentals.

Read it all.

SC largest tourist destination – Myrtle Beach – is reopening hotels after #coronavirus crackdown https://t.co/UODqgHfA0G

— Andy Shain (@AndyShain) April 30, 2020

The most tempting way to keep account of time these days is in increments of how long it will take for things to go back to the way they were. Will it take four weeks, eight weeks, all summer, a year? How long until we can put all this behind us?

I long for the day when I can teach in a classroom and worship in a church and fly on a plane to visit my parents. Love makes me count the hours. But keeping account of time by love with the saints also means resisting the desire to go back to the way things were. Because that way is marked by economic and social inequality that has made the burden of this virus fall hardest on the most disadvantaged, by a health-care system that leaves so many unprotected, by the ridiculously low pay that people doing the most necessary jobs receive. None of this can be accounted for by love. It’s not enough to want our old life back. Especially in the season of Easter, we are called to make room for more life—not just for ourselves, but for everyone.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned through the work of social distancing, it’s that everyone’s life matters to everyone else’s. As we struggle to inhabit the time we have been given, that’s a measurement by which to keep account of our days.

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China’s ambassador to Australia told a newspaper that the Australian government’s pursuit of an independent international inquiry into the coronavirus outbreak could spark a Chinese consumer boycott of students and tourists visiting the country, as well as sales of major exports including beef and wine.

Ambassador Cheng Jingye told The Australian Financial Review in an interview published today that Australia’s push for an inquiry was “dangerous” and predicted it would fail to gain traction among global leaders.

“Resorting to suspicion, recrimination or division at such a critical time could only undermine global efforts to fight against this pandemic,” Cheng said.

Cheng did not accept that the virus had started in a “wet market” in the city of Wuhan, saying the scientific jury was still out on its origins.

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China’s ambassador to Australia says calls for inquiry into Covid-19 origins are ‘dangerous’, could spark boycotts https://t.co/5Q3yY3NUld via @1NewsNZ

— Sunny (@samplespaces) April 27, 2020

In this pandemic, when so much of our experience of the world is mediated through technology, perhaps we need to shift our mindset. Many of the same technologies we cursed months ago for driving us apart we now bless for holding us together. Families keep close through social media and mobile apps. Schools convene over e-learning platforms. Small-group Bible studies pray and praise over Zoom. The church that streams together stays together.

There are reasons for caution when it comes to the uses of technology. The glowing screen can so captivate our attention that we have little left for matters of the soul. The constant consumption of entertainment can dull the deeper senses and atrophy the musculature of the spirit. Technologies can serve in so many ways for trafficking sin or delivering death or impoverishing our years of the full height and depth of life.

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There are reasons for caution when it comes to the uses of technology. The glowing screen can so captivate our attention that we have little left for matters of the soul.

And yet, technology is a tool, and God himself gave us the gifts to devise it. https://t.co/gdVhf7ifZr

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) April 27, 2020

The fast-evolving coronavirus pandemic is posing unusual challenges in the search for drugs and vaccines, forcing researchers to rework or even scrap clinical trials as the science becomes outdated and lockdowns make study subjects harder to find.

Researchers in China this month had to shut down two studies they had hoped would examine a Gilead Sciences Inc. drug because they couldn’t find enough patients after the virus’s peak had passed. Meanwhile, researchers at Gilead and other places are opting to forgo standard tools such as a placebo arm in order to speed up trials, even though that might mean sacrificing rigor.

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Plot twist: stay-at-home orders and social distancing could make it more difficult to ensure vaccine-study subjects move around and get exposed to the virus enough to assess whether an experimental vaccine guards against infection or not, researchers say. https://t.co/E0zbqaFIEh

— Josh Jamerson (@joshjame) April 28, 2020