In Other News: Tennessee to halt sharing COVID-19 patient data; American virus deaths at 100,000: What does a number mean?

Published 11:54 am Thursday, May 28, 2020

Editor’s note: “In Other News” is a list of state, national and global headlines compiled by Daily Citizen-News staff from Associated Press stories. Click on the headlines below to read the full stories.

Tennessee to halt sharing COVID-19 patient data

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee will soon stop providing the names and addresses of COVID-19 patients to first responders, after initially arguing that doing so would protect those on the front line. Gov. Bill Lee’s administration decided on the change this week, conceding that the data may have created a false sense of security to those responding to emergency calls. The data sharing will stop at the end of the month. The announcement follows an Associated Press review that found public officials in at least two-thirds of states are sharing the addresses of people who tested positive with first responders. A small handful of those states, including Tennessee at the time, also shared the patients’ names.

AP Fact Check: Trump falsely blames Obama for pricey drugs

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump tangled the facts when he asserted Tuesday at a White House Rose Garden event that “Obamacare” raised prescription drug costs for older people — the opposite is true. Trump also misfired by taunting Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden for supposedly being soft on drug prices. Biden supports Medicare negotiations to lower prices, similar to what Trump called for as a Republican candidate in 2016 but later set aside. The president was announcing a $35 monthly limit on insulin copays under Medicare.

Top spellers prepare to crown national champion, from home

Like dozens of other veteran spellers in their final year of eligibility, Anson Cook had big plans for this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee, which was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The 13-year-old eighth-grader from Potomac, Maryland, was a two-time participant in the bee, and last year he finished in a tie for 41st. His objective was to make it into the top 12 or so who participate in the prime-time, ESPN-televised finals. “My goal for 2020 was to make it to the finals of Scripps. After the cancellation I was like, ‘What do I do now?’ And now I’ve achieved that goal,” Anson said.

American virus deaths at 100,000: What does a number mean?

The fraught, freighted number of this particular American moment is a round one brimming with zeroes: 100,000. A hundred thousands. A thousand hundreds. Five thousand score. More than 8,000 dozen. All dead. On Wednesday, the United States’ official reported coronavirus death toll reached six digits. One hundred thousand lives wiped out by a disease unknown to science a half a year ago. And as the unwanted figure arrives — nearly a third of the global death toll in the first five months of a very trying year — what can looking at that one and those five zeroes tell us? What does any number deployed in momentous times to convey scope and seriousness and thought really mean?