Monday Aug 10, 2020

Monday, August 10, 2020

San Juan The

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Seth Rogen (and Seth Rogen) on Playing Ancestral Homies P20-21

Historic Disaster

Primary Election Turned into Chaos; Voters Wait for Hours for Nothing All Fingers Pointing at the SEC; No One Wants the Blame

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The Legal How Gov’t Will Handle Trump’s New Executive Order on $400 Repercussions of the Not-So-Primary Election Unemployment Benefit

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The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

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August 10, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star, the only paper with News Service in English in Puerto Rico, publishes 7 days a week, with a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday edition, along with a Weekend Edition to cover Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Jaresko: SEC has total responsibility for primary election chaos

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inancial Oversight and Management Board Executive Director Natalie Jaresko held the State Elections Commission (SEC) directly responsible for the problems that stopped voting in Sunday’s primary elections.

“The Board is deeply shocked at the dysfunctional voting process that is taking place in today’s primaries in Puerto Rico,” Jaresko said in a written statement. “Elections are the very foundation of democracy and what the people of Puerto Rico experienced today is unacceptable.”

Jaresko said Sunday’s electoral debacle was the result of inefficient organization at an agency that just two weeks ago struggled to get the ballots printed for an election that was originally scheduled to take place on June 7.

“This is not a problem of lack of funds. The funds for the voting materials were approved on March 16. The Oversight Board approved all requests for funds from the State Elections Commission that included the required information, including supplier quotes,” she said. “The Oversight Board has ensured that the State Elections Commission has all the resources it needs to ensure safe, efficient elections. This agency has enough money and has more

than the necessary staff to carry out its one task.”

The SEC has a budget authorization for expenditures of $42.6 million in the current budget (fiscal year 2021), which includes $9 million from the previous fiscal year (2020) that was not spent.

The SEC maintained a total budget authorization of $36.5 million during fiscal year 2020, Jaresko said.

Puerto Rico received $2.2 billion from the federal government for eligible expenses related to COVID-19, which should be available to offset any costs related to managing the electoral process during the pandemic, she added.

“The State Elections Commission has a permanent staff of 656 people, considerably more than what is required by Puerto Rico law,” Jaresko said. “Many governments in the United States, and around the world, have been working under difficult conditions to maintain the integrity and security of the democratic election process during the global COVID-19 pandemic. The State Elections Commission must use its resources, which are considerable, to ensure safe elections today, in November and always. The people of Puerto Rico deserve no less.”

Jaresko said the Oversight Board is deeply concerned about the dysfunction in the voting process.

“Elections are the very foundation of democracy and what the people of Puerto Rico experienced today is unacceptable,” she said.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

Dubious primary elections postponed until next Sunday due to ballot distribution delay

By PEDRO CORREA HENRY Twitter: @PCorreaHenry Special to The Star

A

mid the New Progressive Party (NPP) and Popular Democratic Party (PDP) electoral commissioners saying that the State Elections Commission (SEC) had a multimillion-dollar budget deficit for both the primary and general elections, which both would cost an estimated $22.5 million, the SEC spending $800,000 from a COVID-19 emergency fund, a marred early vote from the NPP on Aug. 2 and a shady inmate vote on Friday, SEC Chairman Juan Dávila Rivera still told The Star on Thursday that the agency was putting the final touches on Sunday’s local primaries. Everything was ready, he said.

It wasn’t.

The SEC determined on Sunday to take the electoral commissioners’ recommendations to postpone the primary elections until next Sunday, Aug. 16 due to polling stations experiencing backlogs of ballots not being delivered on time and that only polling stations that “opened ballot briefcases” would finish the electoral process.

During an interview with political analyst and journalist Jay Fonseca, Dávila Rivera said ballots were printed and given to the SEC Electoral Operations Center on Saturday afternoon; he also said packaging and distribution could have started then. However, he added that the lone printing company in charge of the ballots experienced a backlog and the political parties had to attend to other matters before packaging the ballots for polling stations.

“They [political parties] were dealing with other briefcases and other matters, and they started working with packaging a bit later than the time that the ballots arrived. Ballots arrive in briefcases and we have to open them in order to know what’s inside them and which precincts are there. It’s a logistics task that the Electoral Operations Center is in charge of,” Dávila Rivera said. “I failed, in the first place; regarding the packaging logistics at the political parties, we had to consider the backlog from the one printing company. It’s the only one we had.”

As for citizens who were able to vote on Sunday, the SEC chairman said those votes will be accounted for; however, the outcome won’t be released until next Sunday after the primary elections finish.

Meanwhile, as for hopefuls demanding his resignation, he said he wasn’t considering it.

“Me resigning would be too simple,” Dávila Rivera said. “Truly, we’re in the midst of a primary event. I assume my responsibility. We will consider all the reorganization that is necessary to finish this procedure.”

Truck drivers sidelined and left stranded by SEC On Saturday, Telenoticias journalist Jeremy Ortiz Portalatín released an interview on Twitter in which a truck driver and others were stranded at Hiram Bithorn Stadium as the SEC still had no ballot briefcases ready for delivery.

Some drivers decided to call it a day as they arrived as early as 5 a.m. and were not getting any orders.

“We were supposed to work with this yesterday [Friday], on the [island ]to cover all the travel; but we could not deliver to the island [outside San Juan] because the SEC did not have the correct documents available to load the trucks,” an unidentified truck driver said. “Today [Saturday], they appointed all truck drivers to move around the entire country [to deliver the ballots islandwide]. I arrived at 8 a.m, others were here since 5 a.m, and, at

the moment, nothing has been done.”

However, on Sunday, the Star found truck drivers still stranded at the stadium waiting for orders from the SEC. The Star tried to get a response from the drivers given that voters were complaining on social media that they were told by electoral officials to come to their polling place later because ballots were still unavailable; however, a ballot delivery contractor who preferred not to identify himself said the delay was due to a lack of organization at the SEC. “There’s not much to tell you here, what you see is what you get,” the contractor said. “My truck drivers have not moved yet because the SEC is still working on the briefcases. They are not ready.”

Meanwhile, a truck driver who preferred not to identify himself because he feared reprisal said he and his colleagues did not know what they were supposed to be doing because no one from the SEC had approached them since early in the morning.

“I got some information from my contractor and other drivers, although the information they had was not enough either,” he said. “We don’t know when we will finally get out of here and deliver the ballots.”

San Juan mayor: ‘When a government is corrupt, we have to get them out’ As the SEC determined to partially postpone primary elections due to the delays in ballot distribution and technical difficulties, PDP gubernatorial hopeful Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto told the press that the current government had used the primary process as “a drill for electoral looting” and that she has spoken with U.S. congresspeople to request poll watchers for the general elections on Nov. 3.

“Win or lose, the most important thing is not me, it is that the Puerto Rican people have a final glimmer of democracy as we already live in a colony and the Financial Oversight and Management Board runs us over.

Earthquakes, a pandemic, how much will this country withstand?” Cruz said. “Democracy takes precedence over personal matters and any other conversation that can take place.”

The San Juan mayor said Sunday’s primary elections should be redone next week and every voter should get

a fair chance to vote again. Meanwhile, she blamed the SEC’s failure on NPP gubernatorial hopeful and current governor, Wanda Vázquez Garced.

“Constitutionally, what you couldn’t do was disrespect people and not be prepared. Wanda can’t distribute unemployment aid, she wants to steal [the primary elections] from [NPP gubernatorial hopeful] Pedro [Pierluisi], and most importantly, she wants to steal from the Puerto Rican people,” Cruz said. “With this [electoral] card, with a horrible picture, I come to exercise my right to vote, but I can’t be satisfied by casting my vote [while] people from Coamo, Juncos, Comerío, Loíza, Caguas and Juana Díaz can’t cast their vote. Democracy is for everyone.”

Vázquez Garced, for her part, requested Dávila Rivera’s resignation.

“I do ask you to resign,” the governor said at a press conference.

At press time, the PDP and NPP presidents, Aníbal José Torres and Thomas Rivera Schatz, respectively, had also demanded the SEC chairman’s resignation. PDP gubernatorial hopeful Carlos Delgado Altieri and Pierluisi followed suit.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

5

The legal repercussions of the primary disaster

By THE STAR STAFF

T

he “disaster” that took place in the primary Sunday as numerous polling stations did not have electoral materials to allow people to vote could have repercussions beyond the New Progressive Party (NPP) and the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) processes.

The postponement of the primaries until next Sunday (Aug. 16) after many voters were unable to cast ballots because the materials were not delivered to the voting places due to the printing not being completed, also puts into question the purity of the vote and could lead to litigation, several attorneys said.

Former Justice Secretary Antonio Sagardía did not dismiss the possibility that what happened on Sunday could be punishable. Article 3.9 of the Electoral Code lists crass negligence as one of the reasons to oust a State Elections Commission (SEC) chairman. Later Sunday, Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced asked for Juan Ernesto Dávila’s resignation.

Sagardía said via Twitter that the SEC had the obligation to count on Sunday the votes that were cast or “they would be acting illegally.”

Ana Irma Rivera Lassén, who is running for a legislative seat under the Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana (Citizen

Ana Irma Rivera Lassén Victory Movement), said that for a punishable crime to have been committed, the individuals responsible must have had criminal intent.

“In here, the problem was that the new Electoral Code approved by the NPP caused the layoff of people with the experience and knowledge of how to do these processes, so there is a shared blame,” she said. “This was not just the SEC.” Rivera Lassén said what happened in the primaries

will have an impact on the November general election.

“This has a domino effect because as long as the primary process is not finished, the process of printing ballots for the election will be delayed,” she said. “Therefore, we may see a repeat of this during the election.”

She said she would be urging the Citizen Victory Movement to place observers at the polling stations on Sunday.

Pedro Pierluisi, one of the candidates in the NPP gubernatorial primary, said he objected to the suspension of the primaries and urged his officials to remain at the polling stations. He also said all cast ballots had to be counted.

“I am urging them to work and count the votes,” he said.

Edwin Mundo, Pierluisi’s campaign director, said he was going to ask Pierluisi to take the matter to court because the law does not allow for the suspension of the primaries.

The court system was open Sunday to mediate any electoral disputes.

Mundo said he objected to the suspension because officials were able to take electoral materials to 102 of the 110 voting precincts and that covering the rest of the precincts was not going to take long.

It’s official: Voters, politicians do not trust SEC’s processes anymore

By ELSA VELÁZQUEZ SANTIAGO Twitter: @elsavelazquezpr Special to The Star

I

t was 8:30 a.m. and Nydia Mercado was standing in line at a polling station at a school in Carolina to cast her vote. But like thousands of voters around the island on Sunday, she could not participate and now has to wait until next Sunday.

“I arrived early, at 8:30 [a.m.]. It was impossible, the New Progressive Party [NPP] and Popular Democratic Party [PDP] ballots briefcases did not arrive,” Mercado said.

“I returned home. Came back at 10:30. …

Nothing.”

She also noticed a lot of the people in line were seniors and when she returned they were still at the school, despite the high temperatures and the health risks posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

“I asked a volunteer and she suggested that I come back at noon,” Mercado said. “I returned again at 1:30 p.m. and the same people were there. Then I saw a sign that said we could return at 4 p.m.”

She also said that like other people, she was angry.

When asked if she trusts the electoral process from now on, her answer was no.

“Oh my God. … This is a disaster,” she said. “It was the first time in the history of

our elections that something like this has happened.”

“Are you scared it might happen again?”

The Star asked.

“Yes, definitely,” she replied.

Others across Puerto Rico echoed Mercado’s statements. Thousands on social media called for a clean process. Some said they preferred that the process be canceled and started over from scratch; others preferred to resume the election another day -- as it appears will happen after the State Elections Commission (SEC) halted the primary on Sunday afternoon.

All day long, zero positive comments were posted on Facebook and Twitter, for example.

Also, some people were confused: “Should I cast my vote or stay home?”

Voters were not the only ones questioning the process and criticizing the management of the SEC. During a press conference before the SEC’s decision to stop the primary, the presidents of the island’s two main parties, Thomas Rivera Schatz of the NPP and Anibal José Torres of the PDP, reacted to the scandal and said this will have an impact on the image of the organization and fewer voters are going to trust the process.

“Like anyone, I have to say that this hurts the process, hurts it severely,” Rivera Schatz said. “In terms of the spirit of participation and in terms of what the results could be, if

in a municipality 4,000 people had voted for you under normal conditions and now 1,000 people vote for you, there is a different result.”

Likewise, Torres commented on the scandal’s impact.

“There is no doubt that everything that happened damages the name of the State Elections Commission, which had never experienced a situation like the one we are

seeing. It certainly affects the name of the institution,” Torres said. “Not so for those who are in [the polling stations], ensuring that democracy is safeguarded. The effect it has on the voter is one of frustration, as the NPP president said. There are voters who have gone three times today to their polling stations to see if they are open, to see if they could vote.”

Presidents of NPP and PDP, Thomas Rivera Schatz and Anibal José Torres, agreed that Sunday’s primary election process will have an impact on how voters view the SEC from now on.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

Ex-San Juan mayor blames Legislature, governor for primary elections fiasco

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

F

ormer San Juan Mayor Héctor Luis Acevedo blamed the Legislative Assembly and Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced for the primary elections fiasco that occurred Sunday during the Popular Democratic Party (PDP) and New Progressive Party (NPP) primaries.

“What happened today is the result of the imposition of the NPP on the country by an [State Elections Commission] president without support or experience. Party loyalty is not enough to run an election,” Acevedo said in a written statement. “Respect, credibility and competence are lacking. The primaries were two months late so there was more time to print the ballots. Experience and competence are not sold in the supermarket.”

Acevedo, a politician from the minority PDP, said legislative irresponsibility did not help by amending the Primary Law the day before the originally scheduled primaries in June and unilaterally passing the Electoral Law, thereby assaulting the integrity and trust of the electoral process.

He called the move a coup d’etat by Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz and Vázquez that involved taking over the entire State Elections Commission (SEC), kicking out the most experienced people to increase the salary of the inexperienced SEC president, and remaining with one-party control.

“Removing the [previous SEC] president and bringing in another subordinate to the president of the Senate

does not solve the problem,” Acevedo said. “That would be to cover up the great underlying problem.”

Box with marked ballots found in Utuado on Saturday

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

A

box with 214 ballots marked in favor of the New Progressive Party (NPP) was found Saturday at a polling station in Utuado, police confirmed.

The box was found by Walter Caraballo, the NPP electoral commissioner in Utuado, according to the complaint 2020-11-173-1651.

According to the police, the ballots were found at María Libertad Gómez School on Robles Street in the Luis Pérez Matos neighborhood.

The discovery of the ballots, all of which bore votes in favor of NPP candidates, occurred at 3:55 p.m. Saturday.

Would the local gov’t be able to pay a portion of the weekly $400 in jobless benefits? Here’s what we know so far

By THE STAR STAFF

A

fter Democratic lawmakers and the White House were unable to reach an agreement on a pandemic economic stimulus bill, President Donald Trump signed four executive orders Saturday for coronavirus relief, one of which will provide as much as $400 in additional unemployment benefits, 25 percent of which states, including Puerto Rico, are being asked to cover.

The other three executive orders the president signed include a memorandum on a payroll tax holiday for Americans earning less than $100,000 a year, an executive order on assistance to renters and homeowners and a memorandum on deferring student loan payments until Dec. 31.

“I’m taking action to provide an additional or extra $400 a week and expanded benefits, $400. That’s generous but we want to take care of our people,” Trump

said about the unemployment benefits as quoted by several media outlets.

The order, which covers states and territories as well as the District of Columbia, which must agree to enter into a financial arrangement with the federal government for any unemployed person living there to receive any of the additional benefits. States must pick up the tab for 25 percent of the $400 additional benefit each person may be able to receive weekly in additional aid.

Trump is seeking to set aside $44 billion in previously approved disaster aid to help states, but said it would be up to states to determine how much, if any of it, to fund, so the benefits could be smaller still.

Part of the executive order reads as follows: “To provide financial assistance for the needs of those who have lost employment as a result of the pandemic, I am directing up to $44 billion from the DRF (Disaster Recovery Funds) at the statutorily mandated 75 percent Federal cost share be made available for lost wages assistance to eligible claimants, to supplement State expenditures in providing these payments.

At least $25 billion of total DRF balances will be set aside to support ongoing disaster response and recovery efforts and potential 2020 major disaster costs,” the president said. “I am calling on States to use amounts allocated to them out of the CRF (Coronavirus Relief Fund), or other State funding, to provide temporary enhanced financial support to those whose jobs or wages have been adversely affected by COVID-19.

These funds, including those currently used to support State unemployment insurance programs, may be applied as the State’s cost share with Federal DRF funds. To ensure that those affected by a loss in wages

due to COVID-19 continue to receive supplemental benefits for weeks of unemployment ending no later than December 27, 2020, States should also identify funds to be spent without a Federal match should the total DRF balance deplete to $25 billion.”

It is not clear if Puerto Rico will be able to comply.

Puerto Rico’s government bank accounts totaled $20.4 billion as of June 30, a 0.4 percent decrease over the balance on May 29.

Regarding the help to renters, the executive order says the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act imposed a temporary moratorium on evictions of certain renters subject to certain conditions. The moratorium expired, and there is a significant risk that this will set off an abnormally large wave of evictions.

“With the failure of the Congress to act, my Administration must do all that it can to help vulnerable populations stay in their homes in the midst of this pandemic,” the president’s order reads. “Those who are dislocated from their homes may be unable to shelter in place and may have more difficulty maintaining a routine of social distancing. They will have to find alternative living arrangements, which may include a homeless shelter or a crowded family home and may also require traveling to other States.”

In addition, evictions tend to disproportionately affect minorities, particularly African Americans and Latinos, he said. “Accordingly, my Administration, to the extent reasonably necessary to prevent the further spread of COVID-19, will take all lawful measures to prevent residential evictions and foreclosures resulting from financial hardships caused by COVID-19,” the order reads.

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

7

Sidestepping Congress, Trump signs executive measures for pandemic relief

By MAGGIE HABERMAN, EMILY COCHRANE and JIM TANKERSLEY

P

resident Donald Trump took executive action Saturday to circumvent Congress and try to extend an array of federal pandemic relief, resorting to a legally dubious set of edicts whose impact was unclear, as negotiations over an economic recovery package appeared on the brink of collapse.

It was not clear what authority Trump had to act on his own on the measures or what immediate effect, if any, they would have, given that Congress controls federal spending. But his decision to sign the measures — billed as a federal eviction ban, a payroll tax suspension, relief for student borrowers and $400 a week for the unemployed — reflected the failure of two weeks of talks between White House officials and top congressional Democrats to strike a deal on a broad relief plan as crucial benefits have expired with no resolution in sight.

Trump’s move also illustrated the heightened concern of a president staring down reelection in the middle of a historic recession and a pandemic, determined to show voters that he was doing something to address the crises.

But despite Trump’s assertions Saturday that his actions “will take care of this entire situation,” the orders also leave a number of critical bipartisan funding proposals unaddressed, including providing assistance to small businesses, billions of dollars to schools before the new school year, aid to states and cities, and a second round of $1,200 stimulus checks to Americans.

“Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer have chosen to hold this vital assistance hostage,” Trump said, savaging the two top Democrats and their $3.4 trillion opening offer during a news conference at his private golf club in New Jersey, his second in two days. A few dozen club guests were in attendance, and the president appeared to revel in their laughter at his jokes denouncing his political rivals.

“We’ve had it,” he added, repeatedly referring to his directives as “bills,” a term reserved for legislation passed by Congress. He accused the Democrats of holding up negotiations with demands for provisions that appeared to have little to do with the pandemic, although he made little mention of comparable items in the $1 trillion proposal Republicans unveiled last month.

Democrats have refused to agree to that plan, pressing instead for a far more expansive economic relief package, at least twice as large, that would provide billions more for states

and cities and food aid, and revive the lapsed $600-per-week enhanced federal jobless aid payments. (Republicans are proposing to revive the payments but at a rate of $400 a week.)

It was unclear whether the effort to bypass Congress would kill the already-stalled negotiations altogether, althoughTrump told reporters he would be open to continuing the discussions, and Democratic leaders responded by demanding that the talks resume.

“We’re disappointed that instead of putting in the work to solve Americans’ problems, the president instead chose to stay on his luxury golf course to announce unworkable, weak and narrow policy announcements to slash the unemployment benefits that millions desperately need and endanger seniors’ Social Security and Medicare,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. and the minority leader, said in a statement. They called on Republicans to “return to the table” to continue negotiating and “meet us halfway.”

It was unclear whether the aid would even materialize if lawsuits are filed challenging their legality. Trump walked away from the lectern after just a few questions from reporters about his claim that he had the ability to circumvent Congress.

Signing the orders was a familiar tactic from a president who has portrayed himself as the ultimate deal-maker but in practice has shown little interest in or skill for negotiating with Congress, bristling against the limitations of his power. It recalled his decision in 2018 to shut down the government over his demand for funding for a wall on the southwestern border, his signature campaign promise, in an effort to force Democrats to agree to the money. They never did, and the president ultimately declared a national emergency to divert other federal money to fund it himself, a move that drew legal challenges.

Shortly after the event Saturday, the White House released texts of the measures — one executive order and three memorandums — which included several flourishes that read like political documents in accusing Democrats of playing games. One invoked the Stafford Act, a federal disaster relief statute, to divert money from a homeland security fund and allow states to use money already allocated by Congress to help people who have been laid off amid the coronavirus pandemic, effectively allowing them to apply for disaster relief to cover lost wages. The mechanism would pull from the same fund that covers natural disasters in the middle of what is expected to be a highly active hurricane season.

President Donald Trump speaks about executive orders related to coronavirus pandemic relief during a news conference at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., on Aug. 8, 2020.

Trump claimed that the action would provide $400 weekly in enhanced unemployment benefits, $200 less than laid-off workers had been receiving under benefits that lapsed at the end of July. But with states being directed to pick up $100 of that aid, the federal amount would be no more than $300 a week.

He also retroactively signed a memorandum suspending the payroll tax from Aug. 1 through the end of 2020, although the order would just defer the payment of the taxes. (Trump vowed that if re-elected in November, he would extend the deferral and the payments.)

If Trump tried to make a payroll tax cut permanent, it would have drastic effect on the funding of Social Security, which he has previously vowed not to cut.

The memorandum that Trump called a moratorium on evictions did not revive the expired moratorium that was part of the $2.2 trillion stimulus law passed in March. Instead, it said that federal policy was to minimize evictions during the pandemic and that officials should identify statutory ways to help homeowners and renters.

While most Democrats slammed the legality of the executive actions, few Republicans publicly criticized the maneuver. One notable exception was Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, who declared, “The pen-and-phone theory of executive lawmaking is unconstitutional slop.”

Trump had told reporters Friday evening

that he would probably sign executive orders to provide economic relief next week if no compromise could be reached with Democrats, but by Saturday morning, officials were already drafting them and planning an afternoon news conference.

After signing the measures, Trump handed out the black Sharpies he had used, embossed with his name, to members of his golf club standing at the back of the room.

The Labor Department reported on Friday that the economy created 1.8 million jobs in July, a sharp slowdown from May and June, and economic forecasters expect further slowing in August. Many economists have noted that the $600 supplemental unemployment benefits, which expired at the end of July, had been propping up consumer spending at a time when about 30 million Americans are unemployed.

Trump’s memorandum seeking to repurpose other money to cover lost wages is unlikely to deliver additional cash to laid-off workers any time soon. And while some of Trump’s outside advisers, including conservative economists Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore, have urged him to suspend payroll tax collections, other economists say the move is unlikely to bolster workers’ paychecks because it is only a delay in tax liability. Many companies are likely to continue withholding the taxes in order to remit them next year on workers’ behalf, they say.

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Monday, August 10, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

CDC closes some offices over bacteria discovery

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s headquarters in Atlanta on May 29, 2020. The agency had to again close some office space it leases after Legionella bacteria was detected in water supplies, highlighting the risk of disease outbreaks when buildings are reopened after coronavirus lockdowns.

By MAX HORBERRY

T

he nation’s foremost public health agency is learning that it is not immune to the complex effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Recently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told employees that some office space it leases in the Atlanta area would be closed again after property managers of the buildings discovered Legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease, in water sources at the sites.

No employees were sickened. The announcement was reported Friday by CNN. That the CDC is contending with this problem highlights the seriousness of Legionella in the aftermath of coronavirus lockdowns, and how complicated it can be to prevent it.

The CDC itself warns that Legionnaires’ disease, a respiratory illness, can be fatal in 1 in 10 cases. Since various jurisdictions in the United States have put in effect lockdowns

to contain the spread of the coronavirus, some experts have been warning of the risk of Legionnaires’ outbreaks when people return to buildings left unoccupied for months. The bacteria that causes the illness, Legionella pneumophila, can form in warm, stagnant water that is not properly disinfected.

When sinks are turned on or toilets flushed, the bacteria can then be sent through the air and inhaled.

While most earlier research focused on the growth of Legionella during weekends and short holiday periods, scientists are only beginning to learn about how the bacteria proliferates during periods of long-term stagnation, and which methods are most effective to protect against it.

“Legionella is something that even though we’ve known about it since the 1970s or so, we’re still learning about it every day,” said Caitlin Proctor, a postdoctoral fellow at Purdue University in Indiana who has been studying the bacteria during lockdown.

Traditionally, flushing, the process of turning on taps

and showers, for example, and sending fresh water through the building, can help. But the length of the lockdown during the coronavirus outbreak is saddling building owners with new challenges.

The CDC has published voluntary guidelines to aid building owners and property managers aiming to prevent Legionella from spreading as facilities reopen. But Andrew Whelton, an associate professor of civil, environmental and ecological engineering also at Purdue, thinks that the guidelines are often not specific enough.

“This is by design,” he said. “Generally, federal guidance that’s issued is generic, and what building owners need is prescriptive advice.”

“It’s possible that these guidelines weren’t enough,” Proctor said.

States, counties and cities also have their own rules that in some cases may not match the CDC’s advice.

Some buildings, depending on how long they were locked down, require a higher dose of chlorine than is traditionally used. The CDC’s post-lockdown guidelines are not specific about how much flushing is required and often buildings do not flush for a long enough time or throughout the entire building It is unclear whether the managers of the buildings where the CDC closed its offices had followed the agency’s published guidelines or another set of rules. A CDC spokeswoman said in a statement that “during the recent closures at our leased space in Atlanta,” the agency, working through the federal General Services Administration, which provides offices for much of the U.S. government, had “directed the landlord to take protective actions.”

Whelton said that building owners were often insufficiently communicative with their tenants about water management plans.

“The CDC is a tenant,” he said, “just like many businesses across the country who have to rely on the good will and faith of building owners to do the right thing.” For any company, it can be difficult to ensure appropriate measures have been taken for its offices.

The CDC buildings affected will be closed until the problem is fixed.

“That the CDC can’t prevent Legionella contamination in their buildings is a sign that we all need to be proactive about this issue,” Proctor said.

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

9

Sorry, that surf and sand are for local toes only

By LISA PREVOST

C

onnecticut and NewYork residents who don’t live along the coast are likely feeling the heat more than usual this summer, as one town after another has closed off its beaches to everyone except locals.

Citing the need to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Connecticut officials have instituted varying degrees of “residents only” policies on beaches in every coastal Fairfield County town except Greenwich, with Darien and Stamford the latest to shut off access. Some towns farther up the shoreline, including Milford, Madison and Groton, have enacted similar measures.

Many Long Island municipalities are also restricting access to town beaches, including Long Beach, Hempstead, Huntington and Southampton.

By shunning outsiders, towns appear to be butting up against legal mandates that require them to maintain public access. But officials argue that with state beaches operating at reduced capacity, town beaches are getting much more traffic than usual, creating a hazard for residents.

Jennings Beach in Fairfield, Connecticut, is open only to residents on weekends, a policy adopted in mid-July after First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick received a rash of complaints that there were too many people trying to stake out a spot on the sand.

“We had people parking all over the beach area, parking a mile or two away, or taking an Uber and walking on,” she said. “We have multiple ways to get onto our beaches, right in the middle of residential areas. People were emailing me like crazy saying it was unsafe.”

Fairfield has since fenced off various entry points to Jennings and other beaches, posted police officers and raised parking fines from $80 to $200.

Up to 150 nonresident vehicles are allowed to park in the Jennings lot on weekdays for a $50 fee.

On the first Saturday the policy took effect, many residents were caught off guard when a parks and recreation worker stood on the main pathway to the beach and asked them to show ID. Most, though, expressed relief at the new requirement. “Our virus numbers in Fairfield are low right now — we’d all like it to stay that way,” said Sara Tieke, who was biking past the beach with her husband, Brad. “You have to draw the line somewhere.”

But civil-liberties advocates say such restrictions conflict with a 2001 state Supreme Court decision that found that Greenwich’s residents-only policy, which had been in place for decades, was unconstitutional. Since then, towns have opened their beaches to nonresidents, although many still effectively restrict access by limiting the number of available passes or charging hefty daily parking fees.

David McGuire, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the 2001 case, said the ACLU is concerned that the virus is being used to justify exclusionary beach policies that in decades past were used for racial injustice.

“I’m not saying that’s happening now, but we can’t allow the pandemic to be an excuse for unfair treatment of people,” McGuire said. “Capacity limits are important, but a resident-only scheme doesn’t address the issue of social distancing. What they really ought to do is put a cap on how many people can be on the beach and allow people in on a first-come, first-served basis. That is a policy grounded in science.”

Further, he said, policies that reserve the beach for residents on weekends while opening it up to nonresidents on weekdays “are clearly designed to give preferential or exclusive access to residents during certain periods, which is unfair and unconstitutional.”

But municipal officials do not want to have to turn away their own residents on busy weekends.

Fearing the spread of COVID-19, some cities in Connecticut and Long Island are trying to keep nonresidents off the sand, butting up against legal mandates that require them to maintain public access.

“Our taxpayers pay for lifeguards, Department of Public Works employees for maintenance of the beaches, law enforcement — it’s a lot of money,” Kupchick said. “To say to your residents who pay that, ‘You can’t go’ — it doesn’t seem right.”

McGuire said his office will scrutinize all residents-only ordinances and their enforcement to determine if they comply with the 2001 Supreme Court decision.

In Nassau County, on Long Island, the city of Long Beach stopped selling nonresident daily beach passes on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays as of July 23. The beach was getting too crowded, in large part because of overflow from Jones Beach and Robert Moses, which were reaching capacity early in the day on weekends, said Joe Brand, the city’s interim parks and recreation commissioner.

“We were overrun with nonresident sales on the weekends in addition to our resident clientele,” Brand said.

Back in Connecticut, Brenden Leydon, the Stamford lawyer who brought the lawsuit challenging Greenwich’s exclusionary policy 19 years ago, said that the pandemic makes the issue of access more “murky” but that town officials should try to approach it with flexibility.

“They should perhaps take it on a day-by-day basis, let’s see how it’s going, rather than just say the beach is closed to nonresidents until October,” Leydon said. Such “blanket declarations,” he noted, are hard to justify when the towns are welcoming nonresidents to come to their restaurants.

Greenwich is trying to strike a balance, making available up to 350 nonresident beach passes a day, said Fred Camillo, first selectman. The passes are $8, and there is a $40 parking fee at Greenwich Point and Byram Park beaches.

“You want to be as welcoming as you can while being fair to the residents who are footing the bill, too,” Camillo said.

10

Monday, August 10, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Rick Gates, ex-Trump aide and Mueller witness, is publishing a memoir

By ALEXANDRA ALTER

H

e was the star witness in the Russia investigation, whose testimony helped convict two powerful advisers to the president. Now, Rick Gates, a high-level aide on Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, is preparing to tell his story in a memoir that will be published weeks before the 2020 election.

Gates, who was sentenced to 45 days in jail for lying to investigators and for his role in a criminal financial scheme, is the latest former aide to join a parade of former Trump campaign and administration officials who have published memoirs. Given his proximity to Trump’s campaign, and the evidence he provided against two of Trump’s closest advisers, his onetime campaign chair, Paul Manafort, and his onetime campaign adviser, Roger Stone, Gates’ account is likely to generate interest across the political spectrum.

The book, which Post Hill Press plans to release Oct. 13, is likely to arrive at the height of the 2020 election cycle. It comes on the heels of unflattering memoirs from John Bolton, the former national security adviser, and Trump’s niece Mary Trump that are selling briskly despite efforts by the Trump administration and family to prevent their release.

News of Gates’ book was reported earlier by Business Insider.

Other books from former Trump aides and associates are in the pipeline, including a memoir from Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer, who is serving a three-year prison sentence for campaign finance violations and other crimes that

were part of an effort to pay for the silence of two women who said they had affairs with Trump. Cohen’s book is tentatively titled “Disloyal: The True Story of Michael Cohen, Former Personal Attorney to President Donald J. Trump.”

Last month, Cohen, who was on furlough because of the coronavirus, said that a decision to return him to prison was an attempt by the administration to punish him for writing the book, and a judge agreed, ordering him released back to home confinement.

Gates, who has never spoken publicly about his experience on the Trump campaign apart from his testimony, is likely to face fewer obstacles to sharing his account. He never served in the administration so does not face a government review to ensure he isn’t sharing classified information. In his book, “Wicked Game,” Gates adds context to the publicized, politicized public account provided in the Mueller investigation, including information that was left out of the report, he said in an interview Friday.

Readers hoping for another explosive tell-all about the president may be disappointed. Gates said he isn’t trying to settle scores and that his book takes “a middle of the road approach,” a position that could hamper the book’s commercial prospects in a polarized media environment. At one point, Gates had a deal with a big publishing house, but it fell through because he declined to make changes that the publisher requested, including removing passages that were critical of the Mueller investigation, he said. Instead, “Wicked Game” is being released by a smaller, independent press that specializes in conservative political books, as well as business, self-

Rick Gates is the latest former aide to join a parade of former Trump campaign and administration officials who have published memoirs.

help, health, military and Christian titles. Gates co-wrote it with Mark Dagostino, who has worked on books with Chip and Joanna Gaines and Hulk Hogan.

“It’s not a salacious book,” Gates said.

He added that his book will shed new light on the inner workings of the Mueller investigation, which he is highly critical of, as the book’s subtitle, “An Insider’s Story on How Trump Won, Mueller Failed, and America Lost” suggests. He describes the hard-nosed tactics prosecutors used and notes that Robert Mueller never interviewed him. Gates said he isn’t aiming to walk back his guilty plea.

“I accepted the charges, and I knew the consequences that were associated with them,” Gates said. “At the end of the day, they did find me as the most credible fact witness.”

Investigators praised him for his “steadfast” cooperation.

He provided them with information about how Manafort had shared campaign polling data with a suspected Russian intelligence agent and Ukrainian oligarchs, shared his knowledge about Stone’s efforts to connect with WikiLeaks and also cooperated with investigators’ inquiry into Trump’s inaugural committee.

Given how extensively Gates assisted with the investigation, which Trump repeatedly called “a witch hunt,” his decision to publish a book about his experience may raise questions about whether he is seeking to restore his standing within the administration and the Republican establishment. Gates said he does not explicitly endorse Trump in his reelection effort in the book, and he declined in an interview to say whether or not he would support the president this year.

“I’m not writing this book for the Trump administration or at the behest of the administration,” he said.

Gates’ book is following other detailed accounts of Mueller’s investigation, which examined whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia’s 2016 election interference operation. Last year, several publishers released editions of the Mueller investigation, which is in the public domain, and hit the bestseller list. CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin has a new book, “True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump” that provides an in-depth report based on interviews with dozens of prosecutors who worked on the investigation.

Even more are on the way. Next month, Random House will release a book by Andrew Weissmann, the lead prosecutor in the special counsel’s office, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will publish a book about the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s election interference by Peter Strzok, a former FBI deputy assistant director of counterintelligence.

It’s unclear whether fatigue may set in among book buyers who have been devouring all things Trump, from Bob Woodward’s and Michael Wolff’s investigative accounts of the White House, to memoirs by James Comey and Andrew McCabe of the FBI, to books by administration officials and aides like Guy Snodgrass, Cliff Sims and Omarosa Manigault Newman.

For now, at least, readers seem eager for more. Mary Trump’s book, “Too Much and Never Enough,” sold more than 1.35 million copies in its first week of sales, while Bolton’s book sold more than 780,000 through its first week.

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

11

Three top executives are out at WarnerMedia, HBO’s parent company

Robert Greenblatt, who was named the chairman of WarnerMedia Entertainment last year, is one of three executives leaving the company.

By NICOLE SPERLING

I

n a sudden shake-up at one of Hollywood’s biggest companies, three top executives have left WarnerMedia, the AT&T division that houses HBO and streaming service HBO Max, the company announced Friday.

The surprise moves came three months into the tenure of WarnerMedia Chief Executive Jason Kilar, who has wasted little time putting his stamp on the company.

Robert Greenblatt, chair of WarnerMedia Entertainment, is out after little more than a year on the job.

Kevin Reilly, WarnerMedia’s chief content officer, is also departing, as is Keith Cocozza, executive vice president of marketing and communications, who worked at the company for 19 years.

Asked about the departures, Kilar said in a phone interview Friday, “Disciplined companies have to make tough decisions.”

In a note to WarnerMedia employees that announced the moves, Kilar said the company would emphasize HBO Max. The company unveiled the streaming platform May 27 in a crowded field that includes Netflix, with its 193 million subscribers, as well as Amazon Prime Video, Hulu and relative newcomers Disney+, AppleTV+ and NBCUniversal’s Peacock.

“We are elevating HBO Max in the organization and expanding its scope globally,” Kilar wrote.

With Greenblatt and Reilly gone, Kilar has given more responsibility to two WarnerMedia executives: Ann Sarnoff, who joined the company in June as chief executive of Warner Bros., and Andy Forssell, general manager of HBO Max. In addition to overseeing the Warner Bros. movie and television studio, Sarnoff will lead a new unit, the studios and networks group, which brings together the company’s original productions, including programming for HBO, HBO Max and cable channels TNT, TBS and TruTV. Sarnoff, who has had leadership roles at Nickelodeon, the WNBA, Dow Jones and BBC America, will also be in charge of TV series made for WarnerMedia.

Her business partner will be Forssell, Kilar’s former colleague at Hulu, who will report directly to the chief executive.

A longtime HBO executive, Casey Bloys, was also promoted. In addition to heading original content at HBO, he will be in charge of original programming for HBO Max, TNT, TBS and TruTV. He will report to Sarnoff.

Jeff Zucker, the longtime CNN head, was unaffected. Under Kilar, he remains chair of WarnerMedia’s news and sports units. Christy Haubegger, chief enterpri-

se inclusion officer, will take over Cocozza’s role of overseeing the global marketing and communications team.

Kilar, 48, who came to WarnerMedia after a stint at Amazon, was appointed to his job by John Stankey, a veteran AT&T executive who ran WarnerMedia from June 2018 until May 1. Stankey became chief executive of AT&T on July 1, replacing Randall Stephenson.

In the entertainment world, Kilar was considered a thoughtful executive who happened to be chief executive (and chief architect) of Hulu when streaming was still a novelty. With his bold restructuring Friday, he has gained a reputation as a forceful Hollywood player.

The changes at WarnerMedia broke apart the team Stankey had assembled last year when he ran the division after a three-decade career spent mostly in telecommunications.

In a resignation that got the attention of media insiders, Richard Plepler, the longtime head of HBO who led the network to 160 Emmys, left the company in February 2019. Stankey effectively replaced him with Greenblatt, who named Reilly, the onetime leader of cable channels TNT and TBS, as WarnerMedia’s head of content.

Despite his evangelism for HBO Max and all things digital, Kilar said he was a believer in the traditional moviegoing experience. “Tenet,” the much-anticipated Warner Bros. sci-fi film directed by Christopher Nolan, is still on the schedule for a Labor Day release. But Kilar noted that, even before the pandemic shut down theaters nationwide, the movie business was moving away from long theatrical runs.

“For anyone to suggest that the theatrical construct isn’t going to change over the next few years I think is not paying close attention,” he said. “There will be shortened windows. But in no way is WarnerMedia stepping away from the deep embrace of theatrical exhibition.”

Kilar declined to comment on whether Warner Bros. would consider something like the deal AMC Entertainment signed last month with Universal Pictures.

Under the arrangement, Universal agreed to shorten the theatrical window to 17 days, down from the industry norm of 90 days, and give AMC a share of video-ondemand revenue.

The rise of digital media has profoundly altered the entertainment business, Kilar said, putting the studios in a position to distribute their films and TV shows to audiences without having to rely on other companies.

“If you take a look at the history of WarnerMedia or any media company, they largely had a history of wholesaling,” he said in the interview. “They produce amazing stories, amazing content, and then work with partners who then interact with consumers. The gift that is the internet changes all of that. Suddenly, there is an opportunity to go direct to consumers, which I think is one of the biggest opportunities in the history of media.”

12

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

Targeting WeChat, Trump takes aim at China’s bridge to the world

A Chinese construction worker speaks during a video chat with his wife on the WeChat messaging app in Colombo, Sri Lanka, June 1, 2018.

By PAUL MOZUR and RAYMOND ZHONG

I

n China, WeChat does more than any app rightfully should. People use it to talk, shop, share photos, pay bills, get their news and send money.

With much of the Chinese internet locked behind a wall of filters and censors, the country’s everything app is also one of the few digital bridges connecting China to the rest of the world. It is the way exchange students talk to their families, immigrants keep up with relatives and much of the Chinese diaspora swaps memes, gossip and videos.

Now that bridge is threatening to crumble.

Late Thursday, the Trump administration issued an executive order that could pull China’s most important app from Apple and Google stores across the world and prevent U.S. companies from doing business with its parent company, Tencent. Light on details, the decree could prove cosmetic, crushing or something in between.

If enforced strongly when it takes effect in 45 days, the order will take dead aim at China’s single most groundbreaking internet product, which 1.2 billion people use every month. An effective ban on the app in the United States would cut short millions of conversations between investors, business partners, family members and friends. The

threat alone will likely start a new chapter in the deepening standoff between China and the United States over the future of technology.

Taken together with Thursday’s twin order against the Chinese-owned video app TikTok, the move against WeChat marks a shift in the U.S.’ approach to the Great Firewall, which for years has kept companies like Facebook and Google from operating in China. Restricting WeChat and TikTok could be the first steps in an eye-for-an-eye reprisal.

While TikTok may be the fad of the moment in the United States, WeChat is far more important in China. A digital bedrock of daily life, WeChat emerged as a tool for Chinese authorities to impose social controls. Within China, the app is heavily censored and monitored by a newly empowered force of internet police.

Outside China’s borders, the app has become a key conduit for the spread of Beijing’s propaganda. Chinese security forces have also regularly used WeChat to intimidate and silence members of the Chinese diaspora, including minority Uighurs seeking to raise awareness of harsh crackdowns in their homeland in western China.

“The downside of this executive order is that it’s addressing these concerns by taking steps that also make it harder to directly communicate with ordinary people in China,” said Sheena Greitens, an associate

professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

“It puts this administration’s policy into conflict with another one of its stated goals: to maintain openness and friendly connections with the Chinese people,” she added.

While WeChat and its owner have long straddled the uncomfortable divides that separate China’s internet from the world, they have rarely come under such direct scrutiny from the United States.

Originally created as the copycat brainchild of a Tencent engineer, Allen Zhang, WeChat mostly failed to catch on in overseas markets, even as the company spent hundreds of millions in marketing dollars to compete with WhatsApp. The app’s reliance on other Chinese apps in the isolated Chinese internet ecosystem probably hurt its chances, even as its usage innovations transformed life within China.

Outside China, it has mainly been a tether for the Chinese diaspora to their homeland.

May Han, a Chinese-born American, moved to the United States with her family when she was 9. Lonely when she first arrived, Han’s parents encouraged her to use another Tencent chat service, QQ, to keep up with her elementary school friends in China. They also hoped it would help her remember Chinese.

Eventually she made the jump to WeChat, where she still whiles away her online days chatting with about 350 friends and family members, many of them in China.

Now an environmental science major at the University of California, San Diego, Han said WeChat had become the cultural glue that holds together much of her Chinese community.

“If we can’t use WeChat, our connections to China will decrease or even vanish,” she said. “Most of us have got used to using WeChat, especially older generations.

Changing an app is not easy for them; it means changing their lifestyle.”

The order could end up restricting a variety of dealings between Americans and Tencent.

U.S. companies could, for instance, be barred from advertising on WeChat, cutting them off from a key channel for reaching China’s vast consumer market. Tencent could be prohibited from distributing WeChat through Apple’s and Google’s app stores, which could leave users unable to receive

software updates or unable to use the app entirely.

Apple and Google did not respond to requests for comment.

The White House order could even prevent Tencent from purchasing U.S. equipment for the servers from which it operates WeChat. If the company uses those same servers to run other internet products and services, then a wider swath of its business could be affected, according to David Dai, an analyst in Hong Kong with the investment research firm Sanford C. Bernstein.

This would be the “worst-case scenario” for Tencent, Dai wrote in a research note Friday.

Tencent, which has a market capitalization well above $600 billion, said Friday that it was reviewing the executive order “to get a full understanding.” The company’s shares fell almost 6% in Friday trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

TikTok said it was “shocked” by the White House order, which it said had been issued “without any due process.”

At a daily news briefing Friday, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin called the order a “nakedly hegemonic act,” saying that “on the pretext of national security, the U.S. frequently abuses national power and unreasonably suppresses relevant enterprises.”

Tencent’s own products may have struggled to break through in Western countries. But it has built up a wide-ranging, if low-key, U.S. presence through investments and partnerships — all of which could be affected if the White House order results in a broad ban on working with Tencent.

Some of the company’s most significant overseas forays have been in video games, which account for much of its worldwide revenue. Tencent owns Riot Games, the developer behind League of Legends, and a large share of Epic Games, which makes Fortnite. The company’s film unit, Tencent Pictures, has been involved in Hollywood blockbusters including “Wonder Woman” and the most recent “Terminator” movie.

Tencent has also taken stakes in companies with less direct connections to its own businesses, including the electric carmaker Tesla and the social media company Snap. It has even invested in the Chinese operations of Tim Hortons, the Canadian coffee chain, to aid in the company’s expansion in China.

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

13 Stocks

Slowing job growth, stimulus worries weigh on Nasdaq

T

he Nasdaq closed lower on Friday, as data showed a sharp slowdown in U.S. employment growth and investors worried lawmakers would fail to agree on another fiscal stimulus bill to bolster the economy from a coronavirusinduced recession.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones index ended flat to slightly higher on the day.

With the benchmark S&P 500 index now about 1.5% below its record high, defensive sectors including utilities .SPLRCU and real estate .SPLRCR were among the gainers. Techrelated .SPLRCT stocks, which have fueled a Wall Street rally since March, posted the biggest declines and helped push the Nasdaq down more than 1% during the session.

Along the same line, value names, which have been unable to close the performance gap with growth stocks in recent years, advanced, with financials .SPSY gaining more than 2%. The S&P 500 value index .IVX rose 1.13%, while the S&P 500 growth index .IGX fell 0.63%.

The U.S. Labor Department’s closely watched report showed nonfarm payrolls increased 1.76 million in July, much lower than the record 4.8 million in June.

However, the figure still topped economists’ expectations and analysts said it could take the pressure off Congress to agree on a relief bill after weeks of wrangling. Differences have partly centered around continuing an extra $600-perweek in unemployment benefits.

Congressional Democrats on Friday offered to reduce a proposed coronavirus aid package by $1 trillion if Republicans would add a trillion to their counter-offer, but President Donald Trump’s negotiators rejected the idea on Friday as the latest round of talks ended without a deal.

U.S. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the meeting with Republicans disappointing and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said an agreement on stimulus seemed unlikely, with differences still largely unresolved.

“The bottom line reality is that unemployment is through the roof with respect to historical averages, we are still in a pandemic with no cure and the politicians have promised another $1 trillion or more to the American public,” said Mike Zigmont, head of Trading at Harvest Volatility Management in New York.

“It would be political suicide if they don’t deliver that,” he added.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 46.5 points, or 0.17%, to 27,433.48, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 2.12 points, or 0.06%, to 3,351.28 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 97.09 points, or 0.87%, to 11,010.98.

The declines snapped the Nasdaq’s seven-session streak of gains, with the Dow and S&P falling after rising for five straight days. Each of the three major averages posted weekly gains.

With the second-quarter corporate earnings season largely over, about 82% of S&P 500 companies that have reported so far have beaten dramatically lowered estimates, with earnings on average coming in 22.5% above expectations, the highest on record.

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14

Monday, August 10, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Hong Kong officials condemn and mock Trump administration sanctions

By PAUL MOZUR

H

ong Kong and Chinese officials by turns condemned and mocked a Friday move by the Trump administration to impose sanctions on Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, and 10 other senior officials for their roles in a prolonged crackdown on political dissent in the city.

The Hong Kong government and several of the officials targeted dismissed the impact of the penalties while also condemning them as “blatant and barbaric interference” in China’s domestic political situation. The head of China’s liaison office to Hong Kong, Luo Huining, said on Chinese media that the U.S.’ efforts were a waste because he had no holdings in the United States, adding that he could send $100 to President Donald Trump to give him something to freeze.

The condemnations and dismissals come as relations between the United States and China have deteriorated to a historical low point, and follow on the heels of a move on Thursday by the Trump administration to penalize two of the most successful apps to come out of China, TikTok and WeChat. Analysts say there is little hope relations will improve in the short term, with the U.S. election looming and many Trump administration officials determined to reset the relationship between the world’s two largest economies.

The new sanctions are the first against officials in Hong Kong and mainland China over the city’s harsh suppression of pro-democracy protests, and are yet another indication that the United States has begun to treat Hong Kong as simply another Chinese city. Last month, Trump also signed an executive order punishing China for its crackdown on Hong Kong, after Beijing imposed a national security law on the city in June that granted sweeping powers to security agencies and penalized some forms of political speech.

On Friday Treasury Department officials said that Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, was being penalized because she was “directly responsible” for enacting policies from Beijing to crush dissent in the city. Addressing the prospect of sanctions last month, Lam said she would laugh off any penalties and said she had no assets in the U.S. In a sarcastic response posted on Facebook on Saturday, Lam questioned why, in publishing her personal details, the United States had gotten her address wrong, adding she believed it was because she’d written a previous address down in an application for a visa to visit the United States in June 2016.

“If my guess is correct, it’s worth discussing whether my personal information for visa application, handed over to the Treasury Department for purposes other than entry, has violated the protection of human rights,” she wrote, adding that she had no desire to return to the United States.

Still the sanctions are likely to hit her and other officials in less obvious ways.

On Saturday, Facebook said in a statement that it had “taken steps to prevent the use of payments services” for individuals on the list. That would mean Lam can no longer buy advertising on Facebook or any of its other apps.

Credit cards could present another problem. Even if money is kept outside the United States, funds processed by Visa or

Hong Kong and Chinese officials by turns condemned and mocked a Friday move by President Donald Trump’s administration to impose sanctions on Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, and 10 other senior officials for their roles in a prolonged crackdown on political dissent in the city.

Mastercard could also be affected. Visa and Mastercard did not immediately respond to questions about the impact of the measures.

In a public letter issued to Lam on Saturday, an official at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said that the sanctions had no legal standing in Hong Kong.

The penalties stopped short of hitting the highest level of Chinese officials, who ultimately make the key policy decisions about Hong Kong. Last month, when the administration imposed sanctions on Chinese officials over rights abuses against the largely Muslim Uighur ethnic minority in the country’s west, it included one member of the Communist Party’s ruling Politburo.

Hong Kong’s government hit out at the new sanctions and used them to bolster claims that the United States has been interfering in Hong Kong politics. It released a statement using rhetoric characteristic of officials in Beijing: “The U.S. government’s claim that the imposition of the so-called ‘sanctions’ was in response to the enactment of the national security law in Hong Kong is a lame excuse that could hardly stand up to challenge.”

Hong Kong’s government also took particular issue with the release of personal information, including the addresses and identification numbers of the officials penalized.

“Such a deplorable move is no less than state-sanctioned doxxing that is a serious breach of privacy and personal safety,” the government said in a statement. “We reserve the right to take any necessary legal action,” it warned, adding that Hong Kong’s government would “adopt countermeasures.”

Another official targeted by the administration, Eric Chan, said he and his family had “no fears” about the punishment. And Hong Kong’s secretary for commerce and economic development, Edward Yau, said that he believed the measures would backfire against the United States, creating confusion for U.S. companies based in the city.

He called the sanctions “unreasonable and barbarous,” saying that in the long run they will harm U.S. interests in Hong Kong.

In recent months the Trump administration has taken a series of measures that have heightened tensions with China and pushed back against newly aggressive moves by Beijing to exert its influence in the region.

Last month, Trump issued an executive order that ended the special status that the United States had granted Hong Kong in diplomatic and trade relations. The Trump administration also arrested officers or affiliates of the People’s Liberation Army in the United States on accusations of fraud and banned students associated with some military institutions.

Officials also shut down the Chinese consulate in Houston, citing economic espionage efforts by diplomats there. Hitting back, Beijing forced the closure of the U.S. consulate in the central Chinese city of Chengdu.

Such tit-for-tat actions are likely to continue. In May, the administration imposed a 90-day limit on stays for Chinese citizens in the United States on journalism visas, ultimately requiring all Chinese journalists to apply for visa renewal last week. U.S. officials are expected not to renew many of the visas.

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

15

Clashes erupt in Beirut at blast protest as Lebanon’s anger boils over

By BEN HUBBARD and MONA EL-NAGGAR

V

iolent clashes between demonstrators and security forces transformed much of central Beirut into a battle zone of flying rocks, swinging batons and clouds of tear gas Saturday as the fury over a huge explosion in Beirut’s port Tuesday fueled attacks on government buildings.

By nightfall, angry protesters demanding the ouster of the country’s political elite had stormed three government ministries, a handful of legislators had resigned, and the prime minister had called for early elections — the first major signs that the blast could shake up the country’s political system, widely derided as dysfunctional.

Many Lebanese considered the blast, which sent a shock wave through the capital that destroyed entire neighborhoods and killed at least 154 people, as only the latest and most dangerous manifestation of the corruption and negligence of the country’s leaders.

The clashes Saturday erupted across broad swaths of the city’s center, with demonstrators yanking down barricades blocking access to Parliament, chanting, “Revolution! Revolution!” and throwing rocks at security forces, who flooded the area with tear gas and fired rubber bullets.

Fires burned in nearby buildings, filling the sky with smoke, and sirens screamed as ambulances rushed the scores of people injured in the clashes to hospitals.

“Haven’t they quenched their thirst for blood? We came here peacefully, and they do this?” Rasha Habbal, a 21-yearold student who had come to protest with her 57-year-old mother, said of security forces. Both women had been tear-gassed.

“Either they go and we stay, or they stay and we leave,” Habbal said of the country’s leaders.

Elsewhere in the city, about 200 protesters, including a group of retired military officers, took over the Foreign Ministry building for a number of hours.

They hung red banners with a raised fist from the building, which had been damaged in the blast, and proclaimed Beirut a “disarmed” city. The group left the building after the army arrived.

Throughout the day, many thousands of people gathered to demonstrate in the central Martyrs’ Square, which is not

far from the blast site and is surrounded by high-priced office buildings and an upscale pedestrian shopping mall, both of which had windows shattered by the explosion.

Anger at the country’s top politicians was tangible, and many protesters carried signs reading “Hang up the nooses.”

Demonstrators erected gallows and conducted ceremonial hangings of cardboard cutouts of President Michel Aoun; Nabih Berri, the speaker of Parliament; and Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, the powerful militant group and political party.

“Terrorists, terrorists! Hezbollah are terrorists!” some chanted.

The square, which is also close to Parliament, has been the central site of protests that have flared since last fall demanding the removal of the country’s top politicians. Many of Saturday’s protesters A man checks on his damaged vehicle near the port in Beirut, on Friday, Aug. said it was anger at what they had lost in 7, 2020, resulting from a devastating explosion on Tuesday. the blast that had driven them back into and pushed at least 250,000 from their to be held accountable,” said Marilyn the streets.

“I lost my house, my car, my job; I homes. The prime minister has vowed Kallas, 21, wielding a broom she used to lost friends,” said a protester, Eddy Gabriel, to investigate it and hold all those who help clean up a damaged neighborhood who carried a photo of two neighbors who were behind it accountable but doubts before coming to the protest. “Hopefully had died in the blast. “There is nothing to that justice will be done in a country they will resign.” with a long history of civil strife and While government assistance to the be afraid of. Everything is gone.”

Lebanon was already grappling with assassinations whose perpetrators were blast victims has been minimal, foreign aid has streamed in, along with technicians an array of crises before Tuesday’s explo- never prosecuted.

Aoun on Friday said the blast could and medics who are helping identify sion, as the economy has sunk, banks have been caused by a bomb or “foreign buildings at risk of collapsing and treating have refused to give depositors access interference,” without providing details the wounded. to their money, and unemployment and The office of President Emmanuel inflation have soared. In the weeks before or evidence.

In a televised speech, Nasrallah Macron of France announced that an the blast, the number of coronavirus cases reported daily had begun to spike, and denied his group had any connection to international aid summit will be held by video conference Sunday, co-hosted by many parts of the country were suffering the chemicals, the blast or the port.

Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran France and the United Nations. Macron from lengthy power cuts. and has sent fighters to help keep President was the first foreign leader to visit Lebanon But the explosion, and indications Bashar Assad of Syria in power, is widely since the blast, and he walked through that it was rooted in governmental neglect, believed to use the port to smuggle and some of the hardest-hit areas to speak have pushed tensions to the boiling point.

Lebanese officials have said the store weapons. But no evidence has sur- with residents, something that Lebanon’s explosion happened when 2,750 tons faced linking the group to the chemicals own president and prime minister have not done, likely to avoid becoming the of ammonium nitrate, a compound of- or the explosion.

The fury targeted not just specific targets of public anger. ten used to make fertilizer and bombs, The United States is providing more combusted, perhaps because of a fire figures but also the political system itself, than $15 million in aid, and President in which everything from top governmenstarted by welders working nearby. The Donald Trump said Friday that he would tal posts to civil service jobs are allocated industrial chemical had been stored in join Sunday’s videoconference. according to a complex sectarian system. the port since 2014.

Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the head of The dead included 43 Syrians, the The protesters consider that system, and Syrian state news agency said Saturday. the power brokers who use it to enrich the Arab League, said Saturday that he Lebanon hosts about 1 million Syrian themselves and channel patronage to their would seek to mobilize support from refugees, and many other Syrians live and supporters, to be the source of many of Arab countries after meeting with Aoun.

“We are ready to help with all our the country’s problems. work in the country. means,” Aboul Gheit said.

“It’s a corrupt government.

They have The blast injured some 5,000 people

16

Monday, August 10, 2020

As COVID-19 hit Belgium, many elderly were left to die

By MATINA STEVIS-GRIDNEFF, MATT APUZZO and MONIKA PRONCZUK

S

hirley Doyen was exhausted. The Christalain nursing home, which she ran with her brother in an affluent neighborhood in Brussels, was buckling from COVID-19. Eight residents had died in three weeks.

Some staff members had only gowns and goggles from Halloween doctor costumes for protection.

Nor was help coming. Doyen had begged hospitals to collect her infected residents. They refused.

Sometimes she was told to administer morphine and let death come. Once she was told to pray.

Then, in the early morning of April 10, it all got worse.

First, a resident died at 1:20 a.m. Three hours later, another died. At 5:30 a.m., still another. The night nurse had long since given up calling ambulances.

Doyen arrived after dawn and discovered Addolorata Balducci, 89, in distress from COVID-19. Balducci’s son, Franco Pacchioli, demanded that paramedics be called and begged them to take his mother to the hospital. Instead, they gave her morphine.

“Your mother will die,” the paramedics responded, Pacchioli recalled. “That’s it.”

The paramedics left. Eight hours later, Balducci died.

Runaway coronavirus infections, medical gear shortages and government inattention are woefully familiar stories in nursing homes around the globe. But Belgium’s response offers a gruesome twist: Paramedics and hospitals sometimes flatly denied care to elderly people, even as hospital beds sat unused.

Weeks earlier, the virus had overwhelmed hospitals in Italy. Determined to prevent that from happening in Belgium, the authorities shunned and all but ignored nursing homes. But while Italian doctors said they were forced to ration care to the elderly because of shortages of space and equipment, Belgium’s hospital system never came under similar strain.

Even at the height of the outbreak in April, when Balducci was turned away, intensive-care beds were no more than about 55% full.

“They wouldn’t accept old people,” Doyen said.

“They had space, and they didn’t want them.”

Belgian officials say denying care for the elderly was never their policy. But in the absence of a national strategy, and with regional officials bickering about who was in charge, officials now acknowledge that some hospitals and emergency responders relied on vague advice and guidelines to do just that.

The situation was so dire that the charity Doctors Without Borders, known in French as Médecins Sans Frontières, dispatched teams of experts more accustomed to working in war-hardened countries. On March 25,

A gym class at the Val des Fleurs nursing home in Brussels, on June 25, 2020, where a team from Médecins Sans Frontières intervened during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. when a team arrived at Val des Fleurs, a public nursing home a few miles from European Union headquarters, they were greeted by the stale smell of disinfectant and an eerie stillness, pierced only by the song of a caged canary.

Seventeen people had died there in the past 10 days. There was no protective equipment. Oxygen was running low. Half the staff was infected. Others showed signs of trauma common in disaster zones, a psychologist from the medical charity concluded.

The director and her deputy were sick with COVID-19, and the acting chief collapsed in a chair, crying, as soon as the team met her.

“I never thought I would work with MSF in my own country. That’s crazy. We are a rich country,” said Marine Tondeur, a Belgian nurse who has worked in South Sudan and Haiti.

Tondeur was horrified at her country’s response.

“I feel a bit ashamed, actually, that we forgot those homes.”

Test, Return, Infect Belgium went into lockdown on March 18. Dozens of nursing-home residents had already died. Three days later, Jacqueline Van Peteghem, a 91-year-old resident at the Christalain home, was sent to UZ Brussel, a nearby hospital, where she was tested for COVID-19. Within days, her test came back positive.

The Doyens assumed Van Peteghem would remain hospitalized for treatment and to prevent the disease from spreading to scores of other residents. But her symptoms had stabilized, and Steve Doyen, Christalain’s co-owner, said that a hospital doctor declared her healthy enough to return home.

So, on March 27, paramedics in hazmat suits delivered Van Peteghem, on a stretcher, to the door of Christalain.

Steve Doyen greeted them wearing a surgical mask.

“Is this mask all you have?” the paramedics asked, he recalled.

“Yes,” he said.

“Good luck,” they responded.

No one can be certain if Van Peteghem’s return was the reason, but COVID-19 infections in the home increased. Residents began dying. Van Peteghem, who initially survived the virus, died last month.

By late March and early April, hospitals quietly stopped taking infected patients from nursing homes.

The policy — officially it was just advice — took shape in a series of memos from Belgian geriatric specialists.

“Unnecessary transfers are a risk for ambulance workers and emergency rooms,” read an early memo, signed by the Belgian Society for Gerontology and Geriatrics and two major hospitals.

The gerontology society says that its advice — drafted in case of an overwhelmed hospital system — was misunderstood. The society is not a government agency, doctors there note, and it never intended to deny hospital care for the elderly.

But that is what happened.

Do Not Admit It is impossible to know how many deaths were preventable. But hospitals always had space. Even at the peak of the pandemic, 1,100 of the nation’s 2,400 intensive care beds were free, according to Niel Hens, a government adviser and University of Antwerp professor.

Maggie De Block, Belgium’s national health minister, declined to be interviewed and did not respond to written questions. In interviews, senior hospital doctors defended their policies. They said that nursing-home staff sought hospital care for terminally ill patients who needed to be comforted into death, not dragged to the hospital.

If nursing-home residents were denied admission, they say, it was because a doctor determined that they were unlikely to survive.

Nursing-home administrators are adamant that was not the case.

“At a certain point, there was an implicit age limit,” said Marijke Verboven of Orpea group, which owns 60 homes around Belgium.

The Doctors Without Borders teams concluded their nursing-home missions in Belgium in mid-June.

Some members returned to developing countries.

Others now work in another rich nation in crisis: the United States.

Today, De Block speaks about the nursing homes as if they were an unfortunate footnote in a story of a successful government response. She notes with pride that Belgium never ran out of hospital beds.

“We took measures at the right moment,” she said in an interview, adding, “We can be proud.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

17

Near U.K.’s busiest port, Brexit hopes are layered in asphalt

By STEPHEN CASTLE

T

he fields around the quiet village of Mersham, just 20 miles from the white cliffs of Dover, are a vision of idyllic English countryside. Lush, green trees sway above rolling acres of golden wheat. The spire of a 13th-century church looms on the horizon.

But soon, something far less charming could mar this pastoral vista: a 27-acre parking lot with hundreds — even thousands — of idling trucks. If Britain’s exit from the European Union causes the chaos many fear, up to 2,000 vehicles headed for France could be held at a time here in an asphalt Brexit purgatory.

Four years after Britons voted narrowly to leave the bloc, the implications of that decision are dawning on some of those who live in an area where support for Brexit was strong. The parking area is widely being called the “Farage Garage” — a reference to Nigel Farage, the nationalist politician who was one of the loudest voices for Brexit.

“The noise and pollution would be huge, particularly if this is a 24-hour facility,” said Liz Wright, an elected council member in the local municipality, Ashford, looking out over the site officially known as MOJO on a recent sunny morning.

“This has happened so suddenly and without any consultation,” added Wright, a Green Party member who voted to leave the European Union in 2016 — as did six out of 10 people here — but said she did not expect this to be the result.

Back then, Leave campaigners dismissed their opponents’ predictions of more bureaucracy and disruption to trade across the English Channel as “project fear.” Now, in the southeastern region that calls itself the “garden of England,” that fear has taken on a very real, tarmac form.

Though it left the bloc on Jan. 31, Britain remains tied to Europe’s customs system through the end of the year, so freight still enters from the Continent with minimal interruption. In preparation for what comes next, the government is spending 705 million pounds — more than $920 million — to upgrade customs and border infrastructure.

Brexit supporters have made confident pronouncements that the new system will barely slow the flow of goods. But if it goes wrong, it could do serious damage to Britain’s economy and to the bucolic life here.

The site near Mersham is designed to check freight traffic arriving on ferries from France. But local politicians have been told that, if post-Brexit rule changes bring chaos to the Channel ports, this could also become a temporary place to park trucks.

“People are very anxious about what might happen,” said Damian Green, the Conservative Party lawmaker for Ashford and a former senior Cabinet minister.

“The worse case scenario will be miserable, possibly for a few months, but in the best scenario it won’t have to be used at all as an emergency lorry park,” he said.

Kent knows all about traffic mayhem around the Channel ports. In 2015, when French ferry workers went on strike, a line of 4,600 trucks stretched back 30 miles on one roadway.

On that occasion, the gridlock combined with a heat wave.

Emergency teams handed out more than 18,000 bottles of water to stranded truckers, as perishable cargo went bad.

St. Mary’s Church, near the land that will become a center for checking freight trucks in Sevington, England, July 24, 2020.

“Delays at the border could cause significant knock-on effects for ‘just-in-time’ supply chains, potentially precipitating widespread economic disruption while also turning parts of Kent into a lorry park,” said a recent report from the Institute for Government, a research organization, on what to expect in January.

Even before the government bought the MOJO site, it was widely expected to become a warehouse. So construction work did not come as a surprise to many people, but the nature of the project did.

Those who think gridlock can be avoided include John Lang, who voted for Brexit and has not changed his mind. He described his home and tranquil garden close to MOJO as a “little bit of paradise,” and was confident it would stay that way.

“It’s in everyone’s interest to make it work,” Lang said.

Local people who wanted to stay in the European Union feel vindicated, even if they are reluctant to crow about it.

“I just think it’s so sad that this is another bit of countryside that we have lost,” said Sheila Catt, an administrator in the health service. She worries about air pollution, as well.

The problem for Mersham lies partly in the geography of Dover, a short drive to the east, where one of the world’s busiest ports is crushed into a limited space bounded by the famous white cliffs behind it.

Today, as many as 10,000 trucks can pass through the port daily, rolling on and off ferries in a ceaseless flow of cargo, mostly to and from Calais in France.

With Britain operating under the European common market rules, trucks usually clear the port of Dover in around eight minutes.

Only a tiny number of vehicles are stopped.

That arrangement is scheduled to end on Dec. 31, when Britain is expected to chart its own course. The risk of disruption is high — adding just two minutes to the time needed to process each truck, the Port of Dover has estimated, could produce a 17-mile backup.

Talks on a post-Brexit trade agreement between Britain and the European Union are deadlocked. But even if they strike a deal that eliminates tariffs, more checks on products will be required than at present, and there is simply no space to perform them at Dover. So trucks will stop in places like Mersham instead.

The chief executive officer of the port, Doug Bannister, said that the Dover-Calais ferry route was so important economically across Europe that any gridlock would likely be resolved fast. If there is disruption, Dover has systems in place to clear bottlenecks relatively quickly, he said, and Britain plans to phase in its rule changes, giving time to adapt.

But he acknowledged “some unknowns out there,” including, critically, how French authorities will handle freight checks at Calais.

Any gridlock on one side of the Channel would spread quickly to the other — if trucks cannot roll off ferries, the ferries cannot load other vehicles for the return trip.

Britain’s new system for electronic customs declarations is still being developed, and surveys suggest that smaller exporters are ill-prepared for the new bureaucracy, and are preoccupied with the coronavirus pandemic.

“I am very, very confident that there will be no disruption on Jan. 1 primarily because it’s a bank holiday,” said Bannister, “but Jan. 2 may be a different question.”

18

Monday, August 10, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

What to do when COVID doesn’t go away

By ROSS DOUTHAT

A

mong the many things that nobody knows about the disease that has overturned our lives is how long its effects last. I don’t just mean the possibility of coronavirus damage lurking invisibly in the heart or lungs or brain. I mean the simpler question of what it takes, and how long, for some uncertain percentage of the sick to actually feel better.

Two months ago Ed Yong of The Atlantic reported on COVID’s “long-haulers” — people who are sick for months rather than the two or three weeks that’s supposed to be the norm. They don’t just have persistent coughs. Instead, their disease is a systemic experience, with brain fog, internal organ pain, bowel problems, tremors, relapsing fevers, more.

One of Yong’s subjects, a New Yorker named Hannah Davis, was on Day 71 when his story appeared. When she passed the four-month mark, in late July, she tweeted a list of symptoms

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that included everything from “phantom smells (like someone BBQing bad meat)” to “sensitivity to noise and light” to “extreme back/kidney/rib pain” to “a feeling like my body has forgotten to breathe.”

That same week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a survey of COVID patients who were never sick enough to be hospitalized. And 1 in 3 reported still feeling sick three weeks into the disease.

I was probably a long-hauler, under this definition. My whole family was sick in March with COVID-like symptoms, and though the one test we obtained was negative, I’m pretty sure we had the thing itself — and my own symptoms took months rather than weeks to disappear.

But unlike many of the afflicted, I didn’t find the experience particularly shocking, because I have a prior long-haul experience of my own. In the spring of 2015, I was bitten by a deer tick, and the effects of the subsequent illness — a combination of Lyme disease and a more obscure tick-borne infection, Bartonella — have been with me ever since.

Lyme disease in its chronic form — or, per official medical parlance, “post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome” — is a fiendishly complicated and controversial subject, and what I learned from the experience would (and will, at some point) fill a book.

But there are a few lessons that are worth passing along to anyone whose encounter with the pandemic of 2020 has left them feeling permanently transformed for the worse.

Impatience is your friend.

With most illnesses, get some rest and drink fluids and you’ll probably feel better is excellent advice, which is why doctors offer it so consistently. But if you don’t feel better after a reasonable duration, then you shouldn’t just try to endure stoically while hoping that maybe you’re making microscopic progress. (I lost months to my own illness taking that approach.) If you feel like you need something else to get better, some outside intervention, something more than just your own beleaguered body’s resources, be impatient — and find a way to go in search of it.

If your doctor struggles to help you, you’ll need to help yourself.

Modern medicine works marvels, but it’s built to treat acute conditions and well-known diseases. A completely novel virus that seems to hang around for months is neither. Add in all the other burdens on the medical system at the moment and the understandable focus on the most life-threatening COVID cases, and it may be extremely difficult to find a doctor who can guide and support a labyrinthine recovery process. So to some uncertain extent, you may need to become your own doctor — or if you’re too sick for that, to find someone who can help you on your journey, notwithstanding the absence of an MD beside their name.

Trust your own experience of your body.

Yong’s Atlantic piece notes that many COVID long-haulers “have been frustrated by their friends’ and families’ inability to process a prolonged illness” and have dealt with skepticism from doctors as well. In such circumstances, it’s natural to doubt

yourself as well and to think maybe it really is all in my head.

In some cases, presumably, it is: Hypochondria certainly exists, and the combination of high anxiety and pandemic headlines no doubt inspires some phantom illnesses. But for a field officially grounded in hard materialism, contemporary medicine is far too quick to retreat to a kind of mysterianism, a handwaving about mind-body connections, when it comes to chronic illnesses that we can’t yet treat. If you don’t have a history of imagined illness, if you were generally healthy up until a few months ago, if your body felt normal and now it feels invaded, you should have a reasonable level of trust that it isn’t just “in your head” — that you’re dealing with a real infection or immune response, not some miasma in your subconscious.

Experiment, experiment, experiment.

There is no treatment yet for “long-haul” COVID that meets the standard of a randomized, double-blind, placebocontrolled trial, which means that the Food and Drug Administration-stamped medical consensus can’t be your only guide if you’re trying to break a systemic, debilitating curse. The realm beyond that consensus has, yes, plenty of quacks, perils and overpriced placebos. But it also includes treatments that may help you — starting with the most basic herbs and vitamins and expanding into things that, well, let’s just say I wouldn’t have ever imagined myself trying before I became ill myself.

So please don’t drink bleach or believe everything you read on Goop.com. But if you find yourself decanting Chinese tinctures, or lying on a chiropractor’s table with magnets placed strategically around your body, or listening to an “AntiCoronavirus Frequency” on Spotify, and you think, how did I end up here?, know that you aren’t alone, and you aren’t being irrational. The irrational thing is to be sick, to have no official treatment available, and to fear the outré or strange more than you fear the permanence of your disease.

The internet is your friend.

For experimental purposes, that is. My profession is obsessed, understandably, with the dangers of online COVID misinformation. But the internet also creates communities of shared medical experience, where you can sift through testimonies from fellow sufferers who have tried different approaches, different doctors, different regimens. For now, that kind of collective offers a crowdsourced empiricism, an imperfect but still evidence-based guide to treatment possibilities. Use it carefully, but use it.

Ask God to help you. And keep asking when He doesn’t seem to answer.

I mean this very seriously.

You can get better.

I said earlier that my own illness is still with me five years later. But not in anything like the same way. I was wrecked, destroyed, despairing.

Now I’m better, substantially better — and I believe that with enough time and experimentation, I will actually be well.

That belief is essential. Hold on to it. In the long haul, it may see you through.

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

19

MVC se une a la solicitud de renuncia del presidente de la CEE Por THE STAR

L

a presidenta y la candidata a la gobernación del Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana, Ana Irma Rivera Lassén y Alexandra Lúgaro solicitaron el domingo la renuncia del presidente de la Comisión Estatal de Elecciones (CEE), Juan Ernesto Dávila.

“Aunque hay que reconocer que la Comisión Estatal de Elecciones ha sufrido recortes millonarios en su presupuesto desde hace años, tanto por los partidos que nos han gobernado como por la Junta de Control Fiscal, aquí el problema no es falta de fondos sino cómo se administran. Hemos visto el mal uso e incluso el derroche de los fondos que recibe el CEE por parte del presidente Juan Dávila Rivera. Nuestro movimiento entiende que el primer paso para empezar a resolver este problema es la renuncia del Presidente de la

CEE”, dijo la candidata a la Gobernación por la colectividad, Alexandra Lúgaro.

Por su parte, la presidenta de Victoria Ciudadana, Ana Irma Rivera Lassén, expresó que “nos preocupan las repercusiones que este mal manejo pueda tener en las elecciones generales de noviembre, no solo por todas las deficiencias procesales y estructurales, sino también porque, como hemos advertido, un proceso tan mal manejado le abre las puertas al fraude electoral masivo”.

“En noviembre no serán solo las personas afiliadas al PPD y al PNP que enfrentarían obstáculos en el derecho democrático al voto, serán todas las personas electoras. El fraude que se posibilita no será solo interno, sino a nivel de todo el proceso electoral. De aquí a noviembre, evidentemente, la CEE tendrá que hacer correcciones contundentes si desea evitar un proceso fraudulento”, finalizó Rivera Lassén.

Alcaldesa Mayita Meléndez responsabiliza al presidente de la CEE por la cancelación de las primarias Por THE STAR uego de exigir que se suspendieran las primarias, L(MAP), la alcaldesa del Municipio Autónomo de Ponce María “Mayita” Meléndez Altieri responsabi-

lizó al presidente de la Comisión Estatal de Elecciones (CEE) por la tardanza en la entrega de las papeletas y la consecuente posposición de las primarias.

“Aquí han querido echar culpas al liderato del PNP, pero la realidad es que la responsabilidad de lo que sucedió hoy fue del presidente de la Comisión Estatal de Elecciones que tenía la obligación de entregar en todos los colegios las papeletas para asegurar el derecho constitucional al voto. El presidente de la CEE tenía que avisar que no estaba listo”, sostuvo la Alcaldesa en declaraciones escritas.

Añadió, “nosotros estábamos listos. Invertimos tiempo, esfuerzo y recursos para sanitizar, dotar de materiales de higiene y coordinar alimentos para nuestros equipos. La CEE nos falló y le falló a la democracia. Aquí tenemos funcionarios molestos, hay votantes molestos y es inaceptable. Hay personas que llevan más de una semana preparándose.

Nuestros viejos que llevaban desde temprano en la mañana esperando por las papeletas para poder votar. Todavía a las 3:30 de la tarde no habían llegado a Ponce. ¿Hasta qué hora íbamos a estar votando?” dijo Meléndez Altieri.

Por su parte, el presidente de la campaña a la reelección de Mayita Meléndez, el licenciado Pablo Colón, mencionó, “nosotros fuimos los primeros en exigir que se suspendieran. Lo que hemos hecho en Ponce y lo que se avaló por los presidentes de los partidos es para preservar la democracia, posponiéndolas para garantizar la participación de todos. Que todo el que quiera venir a votar en las

primarias, que lo pueda hacer, según lo dice en la Constitución”.

Meléndez Altieri también mencionó que el pre-

sidente de la CEE debió decir con anticipación que no iban a tener los materiales preparados y se podía evitar esta situación.

20

Monday, August 10, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Seth Rogen and Seth Rogen on playing ancestral homies

By DAVE ITZKOFF

W

e may try to live up to the ideals that our ancestors embodied and strive to lead lives that are less onerous than theirs. But how do they think we’re measuring up, and would we ever want to find this out from them? It’s a philosophical question that is put to an unusual test in “An American Pickle,” a new Seth Rogen comedy that HBO Max released Aug. 6.

In the film, Rogen plays Herschel Greenbaum, a struggling ditchdigger who flees his Eastern European shtetl in 1919 for a better life in America. At his new job in a Brooklyn, New York, pickle factory, he accidentally falls into a vat and is preserved for 100 years. When Herschel awakens a century later, he is perplexed by the present day and by a great-grandson, Ben (also played by Rogen), an aspiring internet entrepreneur who shares few of Herschel’s values.

“An American Pickle,” which is adapted by Simon Rich from his short story “Sell Out” and directed by Brandon Trost, may have an inherently absurd premise. But for the 38-year-old Rogen, its “Rip Van Winkle”-style story is an opportunity (after some initial reluctance to play both roles) to take on deeper ideas about resilience, fortitude, death and spirituality — ideas that he said he was already contemplating before the coronavirus pandemic invested them with new urgency.

As Rogen explained in a recent Zoom conversation, “Fortunately or unfortunately, not that much changes — everything’s always on the brink of disaster at all times, at least in my head. It’s always a good time to be reflective.”

Though he is best known for starring in comedies like “Knocked Up,” “Neighbors” and “This Is the End” (serving as producer on the latter two) — often about young men who aren’t ready to accept responsibility for their lives — Rogen said that he hoped “An American Pickle” would reflect a somewhat more mature sensibility while still delivering laughs.

“I implored everyone to try to make the movie as deep and emotional as possible,” he said, “and to really lean into what could be the harder-to-explore themes.”

Rogen spoke about the making of “An American Pickle” and how the movie plumbs the past to reflect on the present day. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.

Q: The most prominent theme in the movie is the idea that our ancestors would be deeply disappointed if they could see us now. Where did that come from?

A: That was one of the first conversations that Simon and I had, years ago, about the movie. He said he had this picture of his grandfather when he was, like,

The actor Seth Rogen with a cardboard cutout of himself in Los Angeles, July 14, 2020.

28, and he was a grizzled, muscular man who had seen the horrors of the world. He’s like, if we knew each other at this time, he would hate me. On my desktop, I have a similar picture. My grandfather was a very tough man. He was in [World War II]; he was in the [Royal Canadian] Navy. He played professional football in Canada and was just the opposite of many of the things I have come to represent. We got along, but he was incredibly regressive in a lot of ways. He was offhandedly racist, all the time. We did not vibe on a lot of things. So that idea was really interesting to me. Your family can represent a lot of things that you yourself do not like. But, inherently, you love them, and you are them; it’s inescapable.

Q: Was it always your intention to play both Ben, the modern-day character, and Herschel, his great-grandfather?

A: That’s how Simon envisioned the movie, and it took me probably five years to wrap my head around the idea. We actually did a table read where we had another actor, Ike Barinholtz, read the Herschel role, and I was playing Ben. I thought it was funny. But there were still a lot of voices being like, it might be

great if you played both.

Q: Why were you hesitant to do it?

A: There’s just so many bad examples of it, honestly. I was terrified of it, and I wanted to make the type of movie that was good and meaningful and deep. I didn’t want it to seem like my vanity or selfindulgence was subtracting from the emotion of the story. But as I became older, I understood that you cannot be removed from your own lineage. As I speak now, I just hear my father.

Q: Do you know how your own ancestors came here?

A: It’s a similar story. Rogen is an unchanged last name from Ukraine. My grandmother, who passed away in 2014, was literally born in a caravan fleeing the pogroms. She emigrated to Canada, and she got to pick her own birthday as a child. It was an interesting thing to wrap my head around as we were trying to dramatize it.

Q: The film’s prologue takes place in 1919 and introduces us to Herschel, the hardships that he endures in the old country, and his courtship of his wife, Sarah. Was it difficult to establish the right tone for this sequence?

A: There were sillier versions of it at one point.

There was a version where I was fighting a giant for money. [Laughs] We cut that. It needed to feel like, oh, this was a hard life, and they didn’t pity themselves.

Q: Is that a trait you saw in your own grandparents?

A: The simplest of things had been unobtainable to them. I was literally a movie star in Hollywood, and that was unimpressive to them. But the fact that they could go to McDonald’s and steal the entire register’s worth of napkins was a real thing they were proud of.

That’s something I saw firsthand.

Q: Even in the midst of a pandemic, do you find yourself feeling that our ancestors could have handled the challenges we face better than we are handling them?

A: I think from a physical peril standpoint, our ancestors dealt with things better. My own grandparents, their lives were physically dangerous. There were people trying to kill them, and simple amenities were not available to them. Compared to people today, who are being asked to stay at home and wear a mask, and society is teetering on the edge of collapse because of their inability to do that, I think that would probably seem a little silly to a generation who fought Nazis. My grandfather was in the engine room of a ship around the Horn of Africa getting shot at by Uboats when he was in his late teens. So I didn’t have to deal with that.

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

21

Q: What do you think is the bravest thing you’ve Q: Are you still in good standing with your Q: Does it feel like a risk to release “An American Pickle” on HBO Max and not a more established ever done? mother?

A: Nothing. [Laughs] I would never give myself A: [Laughs] Very much. That’s what’s so funny. streaming service like Netflix?

A: My deepest fear with Netflix is that I am one that credit. As a creative person, I understand the My mom, honestly, she was OK with everything I challenges of making good work. When I undertake said. That’s a conversation I had with her this week, in of 800,000 squares on your screen. When you’re a something that I know is going to be hard, I view that regards to, like, were we given a complete education movie on Netflix, what you’re mostly competing as something that takes courage, but I don’t expect as to the complexities of the formation of Israel? Do with is other Netflix movies. There are no other HBO anyone else to. At times I will speak on social issues you feel we were? And she said, No, we had an in- Max movies. [Laughs] HBO Max has just launched, in a way that, maybe, somewhere in my head, I’m complete vision of the story. Nothing could make this and we are the first [original] film they are releasing. thinking, oh, this could cause some sort of backlash. whole story more Jewish than my mom being brought We’re not competing for their attention. We’re not competing for their resources. They seem very intent Maybe when I was younger, I felt like I was brave by into it.

Q: You’ve been criticized, as both an actor and on people being aware of our film. Beyond that, no saying that stuff. But no, now I would never describe a producer, for making movies that are immature one knows how many people watched anything anymyself as brave in any way.

Q: In the film, we see how Ben is reluctant to and aren’t concerned with real feelings. Was that way.

Q: How do you gauge whether “An American address his grief for losses in his life and hesitant something you were trying to address in this movie?

A: It feels like a note we play from time to time. Pickle” is a success? around other people who are religious and comfortable expressing their own spirituality. Are those When we’re writing and developing our films, it beA: Honestly, all I care about is our movies being comes a modulation: How deep into this are we get- liked and viewed as generally good. Because that’s qualities you share with him?

A: Mortality and sadness are things I deal with ting and how much are we pulling back and letting the only thing I’ve seen over the years that has led to very poorly in general. My wife, Lauren, watched her the comedy prevail? With this one, weirdly, the thing us working consistently. We’ve made successful movmother die slowly of Alzheimer’s over the course of that I was referencing in my head the most was Pix- ies. We’ve made giant failures. I think the reason we a decade. I would not have been able to function as ar films. Because they take premises that often are keep being allowed to make films is we make more not based in reality, in any way, shape or form, and good ones than bad ones. There are things you can a person.

Growing up, I went to Jewish schools. I went to they dive so deep into their saddest elements. “Up” blame on the studio, and that’s something I’m always Jewish summer camps. Do I believe in any aspect of is completely insane as a plot for a film. But it makes more than happy to do. But what’s harder to blame Judaism specifically? Not really. But one of the things you cry hysterically several times. Why did we think a on the studio is when we just made a bad movie. that Judaism does is it forces you to confront death movie about a guy falling in a pickle vat for 100 years Sometimes we make movies, and it’s like, yeesh, no and grief in a very tangible way, in a way that is shock- might be able to pack a real, emotional punch? It was one liked this. And then five years later, you’re like, ing sometimes to non-Jewish people who go to Jew- because of Pixar films. They do it. oh, no, people liked that movie. Time is a good test. ish funerals and find themselves physically helping to bury the person. There’s a lot of things that happen when a death occurs, and that religious infrastructure puts you to work. It’s very helpful in moving on. That’s something that Ben did not have. And was rejecting and was running from — how religion really forces you to delve into those things.

Q: A few days ago, you said on Marc Maron’s “WTF” podcast that you were “fed a huge amount of lies about Israel” and that you weren’t taught “there were people there,” meaning Palestinians, at its founding. But then it was reported that you had apologized for these remarks to Isaac Herzog, the chairman of the Jewish Agency. What happened here?

A: That is not how I viewed the conversation [with Herzog] nor how I would recount it. I thought it was just a personal conversation I was having with that guy. I had no idea who he was. But I talked to him for 20 minutes because he had somehow reached out to my mother and said he wanted to talk to me. But I would not say that I apologized for what I said. I think I offered more clarity on what I said.

Q: So the conversation you had with Maron accurately represents your feelings?

A: I think Maron was a comedically driven conversation. I agree more nuance could have been offered. My wife put it very well. She said, “I don’t think anything you said was bad, but I think with a conversation this nuanced, it’s what you don’t say that In “An American Pickle,” the actor contemplates how our forebears would view us, something he’s thought about people focus on.” a lot during the pandemic.

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Monday, August 10, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Weighing the risks of traveling

By SARA ARIDI

T

ravel looks very different in 2020. Here are some answers to help you decide whether you would feel comfortable taking a trip during the pandemic.

Could you put yourself or anyone else at risk?

Even if you are not part of a vulnerable population — those who are 65 or older or have an underlying health condition — remember that some people who contract the virus spread it before developing symptoms or may not exhibit symptoms at all. So it’s safest to behave as if you have it.

With that mindset, consider the health of anyone you may come in contact with during and after your trip — everyone from gas station attendants to your friends and family. You may be putting their health in jeopardy. So be sure to maintain social distancing and wear masks when appropriate. When you return, it’s recommended that you quarantine for at least two weeks. If you’re traveling alone, make sure you have space in your home to quarantine without coming into contact with anyone, or secure lodging elsewhere before you travel.

Where are you going?

If the transmission rate where you are is high, you run the risk of taking it to your destination. Similarly, if you travel somewhere with a surge in cases, you would be putting yourself at risk and could bring it back home with you.

How stringent has your destination been about safety precautions? If you have been extremely cautious, would you be comfortable visiting an area that has not been enforcing social distancing or where people are not wearing masks?

What travel restrictions are in place?

Many countries have enforced travel regulations to curb the spread of the coronavirus. As of July 1, U.S. residents are not allowed to enter the European Union or the non-EU nations Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The border between Canada and the United States will be closed until at least late August, and several other countries have rules against foreign travelers. As the number of U.S. coronavirus cases soars, nearly half of the states have introduced strict travel measures, such as mandatory testing and quarantine requirements.

If you are allowed to visit the destination in mind, what measures may affect your stay? If you only have time for a short trip, avoid places that are enforcing quarantine upon arrival.

For instance, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have announced that visitors from many states with high rates of infection must quarantine for two weeks, which would mean spending your trip in isolation.

What can I do at my destination?

If you’re traveling somewhere to visit a water park or cultural site, find out whether those places are even up and running.

“Think about coming to New York right now,” said Rebecca Acosta, executive director of Traveler’s Medical Service, an organization with offices in New York and Washington that provides vaccines and other medical services for individuals and businesses. “You can go to Central Park, and it will prob-

ably be less crowded on the High Line, and there’s a lot of fun things you can do — but you’re not going to any of our museums.”

As your departure date nears, check for updates on the website of the city, state or country you’re planning to visit.

“Things are changing rapidly,” Acosta said. “What’s true today may be very different in six weeks.”

Where will you be staying?

If you have to self-quarantine upon arrival, that could be difficult to do if you’re staying at someone’s house. Think about whether you can afford a hotel room or Airbnb rental. Then think about how to minimize risks.

Before booking anything, research safety measures.

Some hotels have introduced contactless check-in and checkout; others won’t enter rooms for at least 24 hours after a guest’s stay. If you’re leaning toward an Airbnb, ask your host whether the space was reserved right before your arrival.

In either case, bring your own pillow and pack a disinfectant cleaner certified by the Environmental Protection Agency to wipe down frequently touched surfaces. Dr. Lin Chen, president of the International Society of Travel Medicine and travel clinic director at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, also suggests opening all the windows to let in fresh air once you arrive.

How much contact will you make?

Given the importance of social distancing, Arijit Nandi, an associate professor of epidemiology at McGill University in Montreal, suggests asking yourself, “Is there any part of the trip where I’m going to be in an enclosed space with other people, or even in an outdoor space where I can’t socially distance?”

“If I can avoid those,” he added, “I’d feel pretty good.”

Your best bet would be to enjoy the great outdoors. Visit a place where you can hang by the beach, take hikes or go camping. All of those options would be safer than staying indoors.

What about health care?

In the event that you contract the coronavirus during your trip, it’s important to get a sense of your destination’s public health infrastructure. Has it been able to take care of its residents? Does it have good testing facilities? Is it carrying out contact tracing? Are the hospitals overwhelmed with coronavirus patients?

Another factor to consider is your personal access to health care. If you fall ill, will your insurance cover the cost of treatment? If you don’t have health insurance, can you afford to pay for medical bills or a hospital stay?

Are you planning to fly?

Before purchasing a ticket, find out what your flight could look like. Start by checking airlines’ policies. Many have announced robust disinfecting measures, and most are requiring passengers to wear masks onboard. United Airlines and American Airlines are requiring face coverings in airports, too.

Some are taking extra steps to ensure social distancing.

Southwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines and JetBlue are blocking off middle seats and limiting capacity onboard. American and United have not announced such measures, but they are ask-

ing passengers to confirm that they do not have COVID-19 symptoms before boarding.

What else should I know about getting on an airplane?

Several experts have said it is too early to know the transmission rate of the virus during air travel. They have emphasized, though, that the air on a plane is circulated through a HEPA filter, which catches 99% of airborne microbes. “But if there’s a person right next to you who’s infected,” Nandi said, “that’s not going to help you.” So social distancing is vital.

What about the airport?

While traveling has been drastically curtailed by the global pandemic, leaving some airports eerily empty, you should still be aware of all the touch points in a terminal. “I don’t think being in the aircraft is the necessary concern,” said Dr. Qanta Ahmed, an associate professor of medicine at NYU Long Island School of Medicine. “It’s being at the airport hub.”

If you’re traveling a long distance, Ahmed suggests taking a single flight rather than stopping for layovers. “People embark, disembark; somebody will come and clean the plane,” she said. “I think the more interactions there are, the more risk there is.”

Should you drive?

If you would rather travel by car, a short journey is on the safer side. Long drives mean there will be more touch points along the way. You may have to stop for food, gas and restroom breaks and stay somewhere overnight, all while wearing a mask and practicing social distancing.

For some, that may be more stressful than taking a short flight. This is where individual preferences come in. “A family may say, ‘We’re going to fly instead because we have this three-hour period of time where we have to be hyperalert,’ ” said Acosta, of Traveler’s Medical Service.

Should you travel at all?

No matter how many safety procedures are put in place on trains, planes or hotels, you may still feel uneasy about venturing out on vacation.

If you’re traveling for work and think the trip can be avoided, raise your concerns with your employer. If you feel obligated to attend a family gathering but don’t want to put anyone’s health at risk, have an honest discussion with your loved ones.

For those who absolutely can’t postpone their trip, remember that face coverings and social distancing go a long way.

If you’re simply aching to get out of the house but are nervous about traveling, pretend you are a tourist in your own town.

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

23

Is your blood sugar undermining your workouts?

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

P

eople with consistently high levels of blood sugar could get less benefit from exercise than those whose blood sugar levels are normal, according to a cautionary new study of nutrition, blood sugar and exercise. The study, which involved rodents and people, suggests that eating a diet high in sugar and processed foods, which may set the stage for poor blood sugar control, could dent our long-term health in part by changing how well our bodies respond to a workout.

We already have plenty of evidence, of course, that elevated blood sugar is unhealthy. People with hyperglycemia tend to be overweight and face greater long-term risks for heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, even if, in the early stages, their condition does not meet the criteria for those diseases.

They also tend to be out of shape. In epidemiological studies, people with elevated blood sugar often also have low aerobic fitness, while, in animal studies, rats bred with low endurance from birth show early blood-sugar problems, as well.

This interrelationship between blood sugar and fitness is consequential in part because low aerobic fitness is closely linked to a high risk of premature death.

But most past studies of blood sugar and fitness have been epidemiological, meaning they have identified links between the two conditions but not their sequence or mechanisms. They have not clarified whether hyperglycemia usually precedes and leads to low fitness, or the other way around, or how either condition manages to influence the other.

So, for the new study, which was published last month in Nature Metabolism, researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston and other institutions decided to raise blood sugar levels in mice and see what happened when they exercised.

They started with adult mice, switching some from normal chow to a diet high in sugar and saturated fat, similar to what many of us in the developed world eat nowadays. These mice rapidly gained weight and developed habitually high blood sugar.

They injected other mice with a substance that reduces their ability to produce insulin, a hormone that helps to control blood sugar, similar to when people have certain forms of diabetes. Those animals did not get fatter, but their blood sugar levels rose to the same extent as among the mice in the sugary diet group.

Other animals remained on their normal chow, as a control group.

After four months, the scientists checked each mouse’s fitness by measuring how long it could run on a treadmill before exhaustion. They then put a running wheel in each animal’s cage and let them jog at will for the next six weeks, which they did. On average, each mouse ran about 300 miles during that month and a half.

But they did not all gain the same level of fitness. The control group now ran for a much longer period of time on the treadmill before exhaustion; they were much fitter. But the animals with high blood sugar showed little improvement. Their aerobic fitness had barely budged.

Eating a diet high in sugar and processed foods could dent our long-term health in part by changing how well our bodies respond to exercise.

Interestingly, their exercise resistance was the same, whether their blood sugar problems stemmed from poor diet or lack of insulin, and whether they were overweight or slimmer. If they had high blood sugar, they resisted the benefits of exercise.

To better understand why, the scientists next looked inside muscles. And conditions there were telling. The muscles of the control animals teemed with healthy, new muscle fibers and a network of new blood vessels ferrying extra oxygen and fuel to them. But the muscle tissues of the animals with high blood sugar displayed mostly new deposits of collagen, a rigid substance that seems to have crowded out new blood vessels and prevented the muscles from adapting to the exercise and contributing to better fitness.

Finally, because rodents are not people, the scientists checked blood sugar levels and endurance in a group of 24 young adults. None had diabetes, although some had bloodsugar levels that could be considered prediabetic. During treadmill fitness testing, those volunteers with the worst blood-sugar control also had the lowest endurance, and when the scientists later microscopically examined their muscle tissues after the exercise, they found high activation of proteins that can inhibit improvements to aerobic fitness.

Taken as a whole, these results in mice and people suggest that “constantly bathing your tissues in sugar is just not a

good idea” and could undercut any subsequent benefits from exercise, says Sarah Lessard, an assistant professor at the Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School, who oversaw the new study.

In practical terms, the findings suggest that, for those of us whose blood-sugar levels depend on our diets, we might want to “cut back on sugar” and the highly processed, fatty foods that also can raise blood sugar and blunt exercise effects, she says. (The control mice ate a high-carbohydrate chow, so carbohydrates, per se, are not necessarily the issue, she says; diet quality is.)

More fundamentally, the study intimates that “diet and exercise should be considered together” when we start thinking about how to improve our health, Lessard says. They affect each other and they influence how each affects us more than we might expect, she says.

But perhaps most important, the study contains some encouraging data, Lessard points out. The hyperglycemic mice gained little endurance from their weeks of working out, but they were beginning to show early signs of better blood-sugar control, she says. So, it might require time and gritty determination, but exercise eventually could help people with hyperglycemia to stabilize their blood sugar, she says, and then start feeling their fitness rise.

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Monday, August 10, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

How to think like an epidemiologist

By PAULA SPAN

T

here is a statistician’s rejoinder — sometimes offered as wry criticism, sometimes as honest advice — that could hardly be a better motto for our times: “Update your priors!”

In stats lingo, “priors” are your prior knowledge and beliefs, inevitably fuzzy and uncertain, before seeing evidence.

Evidence prompts an updating; and then more evidence prompts further updating, so forth and so on. This iterative process hones greater certainty and generates a coherent accumulation of knowledge.

In the early pandemic era, for instance, airborne transmission of COVID-19 was not considered likely, but in early July the World Health Organization, with mounting scientific evidence, conceded that it is a factor, especially indoors. The WHO updated its priors, and changed its advice.

This is the heart of Bayesian analysis, named after Thomas Bayes, an 18th-century Presbyterian minister who did math on the side. It captures uncertainty in terms of probability: Bayes’ theorem, or rule, is a device for rationally updating your prior beliefs and uncertainties based on observed evidence.

Bayes set out his ideas in “An Essay Toward Solving a Problem in the Doctrine of Chances,” published posthumously in 1763; it was refined by preacher and mathematician Richard Price and included Bayes’ theorem. A couple of centuries later, Bayesian frameworks and methods, powered by computation, are at the heart of various models in epidemiology and other scientific fields As Marc Lipsitch, an infectious disease epidemiologist at Harvard University, noted on Twitter, Bayesian reasoning comes awfully close to his working definition of rationality.

“As we learn more, our beliefs should change,” Lipsitch said in an interview. “One extreme is to decide what you think and be impervious to new information. Another extreme is to over-privilege the last thing you learned. In rough terms, Bayesian reasoning is a principled way to integrate what you previously thought with what you have learned and come to a conclusion that incorporates them both, giving them appropriate weights.”

With a new illness like COVID-19 and all the uncertainties it brings, there is intense interest in nailing down the parameters for models: What is the basic reproduction number, the rate at which new cases arise? How deadly is it? What is the infection fatality rate, the proportion of people with the virus that it kills?

But there is little point in trying to establish fixed numbers, said Natalie Dean, an assistant professor of biostatistics at the University of Florida.

“We should be less focused on finding the single ‘truth’ and more focused on establishing a reasonable range, recognizing that the true value may vary across populations,” Dean said. “Bayesian analyses allow us to include this variability in a clear way, and then propagate this uncertainty through the model.”

The Logic of Uncertainty Joseph Blitzstein, a statistician at Harvard, delves into the utility of Bayesian analysis in his popular course “Statistics 110: Probability.” For a primer, in lecture one, he says: “Math is the logic of certainty, and statistics is the logic of uncertainty. Everyone has uncertainty. If you have 100% certainty about everything, there is something wrong with you.”

By the end of lecture four, he arrives at Bayes’ theorem — his favorite theorem because it is mathematically simple yet conceptually powerful.

“Literally, the proof is just one line of algebra,” Blitzstein said. The theorem essentially reduces to a fraction; it expresses the probability P of some event A happening given the occurrence of another event B. “Naively, you would think, ‘How much could you get from that?’” Blitzstein said. “It turns out to have incredibly deep consequences and to be applicable to just about every field of inquiry” — from finance and genetics to political science and historical studies. The Bayesian approach is applied in analyzing racial disparities in policing (in the assessment of officer decisions to search drivers during a traffic stop) and search-and-rescue operations (the search area narrows as new data is added). Cognitive scientists ask, ‘Is the brain Bayesian?’ Philosophers of science posit that science as a whole is a Bayesian process — as is common sense.

Take diagnostic testing. In this scenario, the setup of Bayes’ theorem might use events labeled “T” for a positive test result — and “C” for the presence of COVID-19 antibodies: Now suppose the prevalence of cases is 10% (that was so in New York City in the spring), and you have a positive result from a test with accuracy of 87.5% sensitivity and 97.5% specificity. Running numbers through the Bayesian gears, the probability that the result is correct and that you do indeed have antibodies is 79.5%. Decent odds, all things considered.

If you want more certainty, get a second opinion. And continue to be cautious.

An international collaboration of researchers, doctors and developers created another Bayesian strategy, pairing the test result with a questionnaire to produce a better estimate of whether the result might be a false negative or a false positive.

The tool, which has won two hackathons, collects contextual information: Did you go to work during lockdown? What did you do to avoid catching COVID-19? Has anyone in your household had COVID-19?

“It’s a little akin to having two ‘medical experts,’” said Claire Donnat, who recently finished her Ph.D. in statistics at Stanford and was part of the team. One expert has access to the patient’s symptoms and background, the other to the test; the two diagnoses are combined to produce a more precise score, and more reliable immunity estimates. The priors are updated with an aggregation of information.

“As new information comes in, we update our priors all the time,” said Susan Holmes, a Stanford statistician, via unstable internet from rural Portugal, where she unexpectedly pandemicked for 105 days, while visiting her mother.

That was the base from which Holmes refined a preprint

Bayesian analysis captures uncertainty in terms of probability: Bayes’s theorem, or rule, is a device for rationally updating your prior beliefs and uncertainties based on observed evidence. paper, co-authored with Donnat, that provides another example of Bayesian analysis, broadly speaking. Observing early research in March about how the pandemic might evolve, they noticed that classic epidemiological models tend to use fixed parameters, or constants, for the reproduction number — for instance, with an R0 of 2.0.

But in reality, the reproduction number depends on random, uncertain factors: viral loads and susceptibility, behavior and social networks, culture and socioeconomic class, weather, air conditioning and unknowns.

With a Bayesian perspective, the uncertainty is encoded into randomness. The researchers began by supposing that the reproductive number had various distributions (the priors).

Then they modeled the uncertainty using a random variable that fluctuates, taking on a range of values as small as 0.6 and as large as 2.2 or 3.5. In something of a nesting process, the random variable itself has parameters that fluctuate randomly; and those parameters, too, have random parameters (hyperparameters), etc. The effects accumulate into a “Bayesian hierarchy” — “turtles all the way down,” Holmes said.

The effects of all these up-and-down random fluctuations multiply, like compound interest. As a result, the study found that using random variables for reproductive numbers more realistically predicts the risky tail events, the rarer but more significant superspreader events.

Humans on their own, however, without a Bayesian model for a compass, are notoriously bad at fathoming individual risk.

“People, including very young children, can and do use Bayesian inference unconsciously,” said Alison Gopnik, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley. “But they need direct evidence about the frequency of events to do so.”

Much of the information that guides our behavior in the context of COVID-19 is probabilistic. For example, by some estimates, if you get infected with the coronavirus, there is a 1% chance you will die; but in reality an individual’s odds can vary by a thousandfold or more, depending on age and other factors. “For something like an illness, most of the evidence is usually indirect, and people are very bad at dealing with explicit probabilistic information,” Gopnik said.

24 su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Se ordena que denESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO tro del mismo término de treinta DE PUERTO RICO TRIBU- (30) días contados a partir de la NAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA fecha de notificación, ACEPTEN CENTRO JUDICIAL DE AIBO- O REPUDIEN la participación NITO SALA SUPERIOR DE que les corresponda en la heCOMERlO. rencia del causante IGNACIO REVERSE MORTGAGE HERNPNDEZ REYES T/C/C IGNACIO HERNANDEZ. Se les FUNDING LLC. apercibe que de no expresarse Demandante vs. dentro del término de treinta SUCESION IGNACIO (30) días en torno a su aceptaHERNANDEZ REYES ción o repudiación de herencia, T/C/C IGNACIO se tendrá por aceptada.

Greenspoon Marder, LLP HERNANDEZ Lcda. Frances L. Asencio-Guido COMPUESTA POR JOHN R.U.A. 15,622 DOE Y JANE DOE COMO TRADE CENTRE SOUTH, SUITE 700 WEST CYPRESS CREEK ROAD POSIBLES HEREDEROS looFORT LAUDERDALE, FL 33309 DESCONOCIDOS; ANA Telephone: (954) 343 6273 Frances.Asencio@GMLAW.COM AUREA FIGUEROA Expedido bajo mi firma, y sello RODRIGUEZ T/C/C del Tribunal, en Comercio, PuerANA AURIA FIGUEROA to Rico, hoy 22 de julio de 2020.

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SOBRE: EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZM4IENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO. SS.

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POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al Tribunal su alegación responsiva a la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación de este edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: http://un..rec:I.ramaiudíciai:pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberé presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaria del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de

@

LEGAL NOTICE

a la demanda dentro de los sesenta (60) días a partir de la publicación de este edicto. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: http://unired.ramajuclicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaria del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Expedido bajo mi firma, y sello del Tribunal, en San Juan, Puerto Rico, hoy 21 de julio de 2020. GRISELDA RODRIGUEZ COLLADO, SECRETARIO. Marlyn Ann Espinosa Rivera, Sec Servicios a Sala.

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE LEGAL NOTICE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA ESTADQ LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE SAN JUAN. DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENBOSCO CREDIT X, TRO JUDICIAL DE CAGUAS LLC, BY FRANKLIN SALA SUPERIOR.

CREDIT MANAGEMENT CORPORATION AS SERVICER Demandante vs.

SUCESION DE JUAN EPIFANIO BAEZ LIBERATA, COMPUESTA POR JOHN DOE Y RICHARD DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y MARIA LUISA DE JESUS SOSA POR SI Y EN SU CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTUARIA, DEPARTAMENTO DE HACIENDA Y CENTRO DE RECAUDACION SOBRE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES “CRIM”

BOSCO IX OVERSEAS, LLC., BY FRANKLIN CREDIT MANAGEMENT CORPORATION AS SERVICER Demandante vs.

SUCESION CARLOS SAMUEL RIVERA REYES COMPUESTA POR JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; CENTRO DE RECAUDACIONES DE IMPUESTOS MUNICIPALES (CRIM)

emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día de la publicación. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https:/ /unired.ramajudiçial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitando en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

Frances L. Asencio-Guido R.U.A. 15,622 GREENSPOON MARDER, LLP TRADE CENTRE SOUTH, SUITE 700 loo WEST CYPRESS CREEK ROAD FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 33309 Telephone: (954) 343 6273 Hearing Line: (888). 491-1120 Facsimile: (954) 343 6982 Email 1: Frances.Asencio@grnlaw.com Email 2: gmforeclosure@gmlaw.com Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal de Caguas hoy día 23 de julio de 2020. CARMEN ANA PEREIRA ORTIZ, Sec Regional. CARMEN R. DIAZ CACERES, Sec Serv a Sala.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN.

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Y SUN WEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, INC. COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIO DEMANDANTE VS.

SUCESIÓN DE VICENTA MERCADO HERNANDEZ COMPUESTA POR Demandados CIVIL NUM. CG2020CV00271.

SUS HEREDEROS SALA: 703. SOBRE: COBRO CONOCIDOS NOEMI DE DINERO Y EJECUCION DE HERNANDEZ Y CARMELO HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO Demandados POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNI- MERCADO; FULANO DE CIVIL NUN. SJ2019CV03894 TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL DOS DE AMERICA EL PRE(803). SOBRE: COBRO DE DISIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS COMO HEREDEROS NERO, EJECUCION DE PRENUNIDOS EL ESTADO LIBRE DA Y EJECUCION DE HIPOTEDESCONOCIDOS Y/O ASOCIADO DE P.R. SS. CA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR PARTES CON INTERÉS A: JOHN DOE Y EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS EN DICHA SUCESIÓN; DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE JANE DOE COMO ESTADOS UNIDOS DE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS EL POSIBLES HEREDEROS AMÉRICA ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE DESCONOCIDOS DE LA DEMANDADOS PUERTO RICO. SS. A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD SUCESION DE CARLOS CIVIL NÚM.: SJ2019CV13246.

SAMUEL RiVERA REYES SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO DOE como posibles Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTEO sea, la parte herederos desconocidos CA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR demandada arriba de la SUCESION EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS indicada.

DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE JUAN EPIFANIO BAEZ POR LA PRESENTE, se le em- DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO LIBERATA plaza por edicto para que prePOR LA PRESENTE se le em- sente al tribunal su alegación plaza para que presente al Tri- responsiva dentro de los 30 días bunal su alegación responsiva de haber sido publicado este

staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com

LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. ss.

A: SUCESIÓN DE VICENTA MERCADO

(787) 743-3346

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020 HERNANDEZ COMPUESTA POR SU HEREDERA CONOCIDA NOEMI HERNANDEZ; FULANO DE TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS Y/O PARTES CON INTERÉS EN DICHA SUCESIÓN URB. VILLA NEVARES 1130 CALLE 3 SAN JUAN, PR 00927 NOEMI HERNANDEZ: 319 Daniels Pointe Dr., Winter Garden, FL 34787-4350.

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

Se le apercibe que conforme al artículo 959 del Código Civil, 31 L.P.R.A. § 2787, usted tiene derecho aceptar o repudiar la herencia. A esos efectos, de no rechazarla se tendrá la herencia por aceptada. Representa a la parte demandante, la representación legal cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono se consigna de inmediato: BUFETE FORTUÑO & FORTUÑO FAS, C.S.P. LCDO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FAS RUA NUM.: 11416 PO BOX 9300, SAN JUAN, PR 00908 TEL: 787- 751-5290, FAX: 787-751-6155 E-MAIL: ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 29 de junio de 2020. Griselda Rodriguez Collado, Secretaria. Marilyn Ann Espinosa Rivera, Sec Servicios a Sala.

WEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, INC. COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIO DEMANDANTE VS.

LYDIA RONDA MUSSENDEN; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA

DEMANDADOS CIVIL NÚM.: BY2020CV00190.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. ss.

A: LYDIA RONDA MUSSENDEN URB. VISTA BELLA 25-H CALLE RENO BAYAMÓN PR 00956 DIRECCIÓN POSTAL: 26485 ANTHONY AVE, BROOKSVILLE FL 34602

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento. Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial. pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Representa a la parte demandante, la representación legal cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono se consigna de inmediato: BUFETE FORTUÑO & FORTUÑO FAS, C.S.P. LCDO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FAS RUA NUM.: 11416 PO BOX 9300, SAN JUAN, PR 00908 TEL: 787- 751-5290, FAX: 787-751-6155 E-MAIL: ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 8 de abril de 2020. Lcda. Laura I Santa Sanchez, Secretaria Regional.

Vivian J Sanabria, Secretaria Auxiliar del Tribunal I.

WEST MORTGAGE COMPANY, INC. COMO AGENTE DE SERVICIO

término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o DEMANDANTE VS. cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en SUCESIÓN DE FÉLIX el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

RIVERA MIGENES T/C/C FÉLIX ESTEBAN Se le apercibe que conforme al artículo 959 del Código Civil, RIVERA MIGENES Y 31 L.P.R.A. § 2787, usted tiene SUCESIÓN DE CARLOTA derecho aceptar o repudiar la RIVERA MITCHEL T/C/C herencia. A esos efectos, de no CARLOTA ELINA RIVERA rechazarla se tendrá la herencia por aceptada. Representa a la MITCHEL AMBAS parte demandante, la represenCOMPUESTAS POR SU tación legal cuyo nombre, direcHEREDERO CONOCIDO ción y teléfono se consigna de inmediato: ESTEBAN RIVERA BUFETE FORTUÑO & MIGENES; FULANO DE FORTUÑO FAS, C.S.P. TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL LCDO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FAS RUA NUM.: 11416 COMO HEREDEROS PO BOX 9300, DESCONOCIDOS SAN JUAN, PR 00908 TEL: 787- 751-5290, Y/O PARTES CON FAX: 787-751-6155 INTERÉS EN DICHAS E-MAIL: SUCESIONES; ESTADOS ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 15 de junio de DEMANDADOS CIVIL NÚM.: SJ2019CV13133. 2020. Griselda Rodriguez CollaSOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO do, Secretaria. Marlyn Ann EspiY EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTE- nosa Rivera, Sec Serv a Sala.

CA. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR LEGAL NOTICE EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. ss. PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA A: SUCESIÓN DE FÉLIX SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN.

GABLES TOWERS INC. RIVERA MIGENES DEMANDANTE VS. T/C/C FÉLIX ESTEBAN NOOR INTERNATIONAL RIVERA MIGENES Y FAST FOOD LLC SUCESIÓN DE CARLOTA DEMANDADO RIVERA MITCHEL T/C/C CIVIL NÚM.: SJ2020CV02173.

CARLOTA ELINA RIVERA SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO .

EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICMITCHEL, AMBAS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE COMPUESTAS POR SU TO. AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE HEREDERO CONOCIDO DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO ESTEBAN RIVERA LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. ss.

MIGENES; FULANO DE A: NOOR INTERNATIONAL TAL Y SUTANA DE TAL FAST FOOD LLC COMO HEREDEROS City Towers DESCONOCIDOS Y/O Ave. Ponce de León #250, PARTES CON INTERÉS Suite 101 EN DICHAS SUCESIONES Hato Rey, P.R 00918 POR LA PRESENTE se le URB. EL REMANSO emplaza para que presente al CALLE ARROYO 7-A tribunal su alegación responsiva SAN JUAN PR 00926 dentro de los treinta (30) días

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente direcLEGAL NOTICE ción electrónica: https://unired.

LEGAL NOTICE ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE represente por derecho propio, PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE en cuyo caso deberá presentar PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA su alegación responsiva en la SUPERIOR DE BAYAMÓN. SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN. secretaría del tribunal. Si usted BANCO POPULAR DE BANCO POPULAR DE deja de presentar su alegación PUERTO RICO Y SUN PUERTO RICO Y SUN responsiva dentro del referido

de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

Se le apercibe que conforme al artículo 959 del Código Civil, 31 L.P.R.A. § 2787, usted tiene derecho aceptar o repudiar la herencia. A esos efectos, de no rechazarla se tendrá la herencia por aceptada. Representa a la parte demandante, la representación legal cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono se consigna de inmediato: BUFETE FORTUÑO & FORTUÑO FAS, C.S.P. LCDO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FAS RUA NUM.: 11416 PO BOX 9300, SAN JUAN, PR 00908 TEL: 787- 751-5290, FAX: 787-751-6155 E-MAIL: ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 14 de julio de 2020. Griselda Rodriguez Collado, Secretaria Regional. Sonia I Rivera Gambaro, Sec del Tribunal Confidencial.

rechazarla se tendrá la herencia por aceptada. Representa a la parte demandante, la representación legal cuyo nombre, dirección y teléfono se consigna de inmediato: BUFETE FORTUÑO & FORTUÑO FAS, C.S.P. LCDO. JUAN C. FORTUÑO FAS RUA NUM.: 11416 PO BOX 9300, SAN JUAN, PR 00908 TEL: 787- 751-5290, FAX: 787-751-6155 E-MAIL: ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com Expedido bajo mi firma y sello del Tribunal, hoy 20 de julio de 2020. Griselda Rodriguez Collado, Secretaria. Myriam Rivera Villanueva, SubSecretaria.

LEGAL NOTICE

Demandante V.

LEGAL NOT ICE Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de AGUADILLA.

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO

AMIDA ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE IRIZARRY BOSQUES PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE Demandado(a) PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA Civil: AG2019CV01308. Sobre: SUPERIOR DE SAN JUAN. GABLES TOWERS INC. COBRO DE DINERO. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR DEMANDANTE VS. EDICTO. TACORRIQUEÑO FUSIONS LLC

DEMANDADO CIVIL NÚM.: SJ2020CV02169.

SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE. UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. ss.

A: TACORRIQUEÑO FUSIONS LLC City Towers Ave. Ponce de León #250, Suite 104 Hato Rey, P.R 00918

POR LA PRESENTE se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired. ramajudicial.pr, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra y conceder el remedio solicitado en la demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

Se le apercibe que conforme al artículo 959 del Código Civil, 31 L.P.R.A. § 2787, usted tiene derecho aceptar o repudiar la herencia. A esos efectos, de no

A: AMIDA IRIZARRY BOSQUES DIRECCION POSTAL: PO BOX 250012, AGUADILLA PR 00604 P/C LIC GINA H FERRER MEDINA P. 0. Box 2342 MAYAGÜEZ, PUERTO RICO 00681 -2342

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 17 de julio de 2020 , este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 31 de julio de 2020. En AGUADILLA , Puerto Rico, el 31 de julio de 2020. SARAHI REYES PEREZ, Secretario(a). ZUHEILY GONZALEZ AVILES, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de CAGUAS.

BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO Demandante v.

FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION (FDIC) COMO SINDICO DE RG PREMIER BANK OF PUERTO RICO Y DE DORAL BANK T/C/C DORAL FEDERAL SAVINGS BANK; SCOTIABANK DE PUERTO RICO; SUCESION DE VICTOR DE JESUS CARRERAS T/C/C VICTOR MANUEL DE JESUS CARRERAS T/C/C VICTOR M. DE JESUS CARRERAS COMPUESTA POR VICTOR DE JESUS MARTINEZ, MAYRA MILAGROS DE JESUS MARTINEZ, JAVIER DE JESUS MARTINEZ, SUTANO Y PERENCEJO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; CRUZ MARTINEZ DE JESUS T/C/C CRUZ MARTINEZ CALDERON POR SI Y EN LA CUOTA VIUDAL USUFRUCTUARIA; FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARE

Demandado(a) Civil: CG2019V04657. Sobre: CANCELACION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO POR LA VIA JUDICIAL. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: SUTANO Y PERENCEJO DE TAL, POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS DE VICTOR DE JESUS CARRERAS T/C/C VICTOR MANUEL DE JESUS CARRERAS T/C/C VICTOR M. DE JESUS CARRERAS, FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARE.

EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 3 de AGOSTO de 2020 , este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted

enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 5 de AGOSTO de 2020. En CAGUAS, Puerto Rico, el 5 de agosto de 2020. CARMEN ANA PEREIRA ORTIZ, Secretaria. F/YARITZA ROSARIO PLACERES, Secretaria Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de TOA ALTA.

ORIENTAL BANK Demandante VS.

CITIBANK, N.A. Y OTROS

Demandados Caso Civil Núm.

TA2020CV00268. Sobre: CANCELACION DE PAGARE EXTRAVIADO. NOTIFICACION DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: JOHN DOE & RICHARD ROE

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO (A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 22 de JULIO de 2020, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los (10) días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de (30) días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 5 de AGOSTO de 2020. En TOA ALTA, Puerto Rico, el 5 de AGOSTO de 2020.

CC: LCDO. JAVIER MONTALVO CINTRÓN-PO BOX 11750, SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, 00910-1750 LCDA. LAURA I. SANTA SAN-

CHEZ, Secretaria. Liriam M. Hernadez Otero, Secretaria Regional.

LEGAL NOTICE Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de CAROLINA.

DLJ MORTGAGE CAPITAL, INC.

25

RAMOS, NEYDA SELENIA MEDRANO RIVERA Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS, FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARÉ

Demandado(a) Civil: Núm. BY2020CV00090.

SALA 505. Sobre: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO POR LA VÍA JUDICIAL. NODemandados TIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA Civil: CA2018CV02615. Sobre: POR EDICTO COBRO DE DINERO Y EJEA: JAIME LUIS CUCION DE HIPOTECA POR RODRÍGUEZ RAMOS, LA VIA ORDINARIA. NOTIFINEYDA SELENIA CACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR MEDRANO RIVERA Y EDICTO. Demandante v.

SUCESION DE ZULMA G. QUINTERO GOMEZ Y OTROS

A: JOSEPH THOMAS SCHUTTY-QUINTERO, FULANA DE TAL, FULANO DE TAL COMO HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS CON INTERES EN LA SUCESION DE ZULMA G. QUINTERO GOMEZ T/C/C ZULMA G QUINTERO GARAYUA

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que 28 de JULIO de 2020 , este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 4 de AGOSTO de 2020. En CAROLINA, Puerto Rico, el 4 de AGOSTO DE 2020. MARILYN APONTE RODRIGUEZ, Secretaria. KEILA GARCIA SOLIS, Secretario(a) Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico TRIBUNAL GENERAL DE JUSTICIA Tribunal de Primera Instancia Sala Superior de BAYAMON.

LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS; FULANO Y MENGANO DE TAL, POSIBLES TENEDORES DESCONOCIDOS DEL PAGARÉ

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 3 de agosto de 2020, este Tribunal ha dictado Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución en este caso, que ha sido debidamente registrada y archivada en autos donde podrá usted enterarse detalladamente de los términos de la misma. Esta notificación se publicará una sola vez en un periódico de circulación general en la Isla de Puerto Rico, dentro de los 10 días siguientes a su notificación. Y, siendo o representando usted una parte en el procedimiento sujeta a los términos de la Sentencia, Sentencia Parcial o Resolución, de la cual puede establecerse recurso de revisión o apelación dentro del término de 30 días contados a partir de la publicación por edicto de esta notificación, dirijo a usted esta notificación que se considerará hecha en la fecha de la publicación de este edicto. Copia de esta notificación ha sido archivada en los autos de este caso, con fecha de 6 de agosto de 2020. Lcda.

Laura I Santa Sanchez, Secretaria. F/Militza Mercado Rivera, Sec Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUPERIOR DE CAGUAS.

AMERICAS LEADING FINANCE, LLC; Demandante, v.

NELIA D. MORALES CARTAGENA, SU ESPOSO FULANO DE TAL BANCO POPULAR DE Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL PUERTO RICO DE GANANCIALES Demandante v.

COMPUESTA POR JAIME LUIS RODRÍGUEZ AMBOS,

Demandado ORIENTAL BANK, CIVIL NÚM. CG2020CV00325.

Demandante, V.’ SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO ALBERTO J. LLERANDI POR LA VIA ORDINARIA Y EJECUCION DE GRAVAMEN ROMAN, FULANA DE TAL y la Sociedad Legal de MOBILIARIO (REPOSESION DE VEHICULO). EMPLAZA- Gananciales compuesta MIENTO POR EDICTO. ESTApor ambos DOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL Demandados PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU. CIVIL NUM: HU2019CV01707 DE AMERICA EL ESTADO LI(206). SOBRE: COBRO DE DIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO NERO POR LA VÍA ORDINARICO. SS. RIA. EMPLAZAMIENTOP OR A: NELIA D. MORALES EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE CARTAGENA, SU DE LOS EE.UU. EL ESTADO ESPOSO FULANO ASOCIADO DE PUERDE TAL, POR SI Y EN LIBRE TO RICO. SS.

REPRESENTACION DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Quedan emplazados y notificados que en este Tribunal se ha radicado Demanda sobre cobro de dinero por la vía ordinaria en la que se alega que los demandados NELIA D. MORALES CARTAGENA, SU ESPOSO FULANO DE TAL, POR SI Y EN REPRESENTACION DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS, la suma de principal de $4,028.90, más los intereses que continúen acumulando, las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado según pactados.

Además, solicitamos de este Honorable Tribunal que autorice la reposesión y/o embargo del Vehículo. Se les advierte que este edicto se publicará en un periódico de circulación general una sola vez y que, si no comparecen a contestar dicha Demanda dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación del Edicto, a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la secretaría del tribunal, se le anotará la rebeldía y se dictará Sentencia concediendo el remedio así solicitado sin más citarles ni oírles. La abogada de la parte demandante es la Lcdo. Gerardo M. Ortiz Torres, cuya dirección física y postal es: Cond. El Centro I, Suite 801, 500 Muñoz Rivera Ave., San Juan, Puerto Rico 00918; cuyo número de teléfono es (787) 946-5268, el facsímile (787) 946-0062 y su correo electrónico es: gerardo@bellverlaw.com.

Expedido bajo mi firma y sello de este Tribunal, en Caguas, Puerto Rico, hoy día 29 de julio de 2020. Carmen Ana Pereira Ortiz, Secretario. Glorimar Rivera Rivera, Subsecretaria Auxiliar del Tribunal I.

A: ALBERTO J. LLERANDI ROMAN, FULANA DE TAL y la Sociedad Legal de Gananciales compuesta por ambos

POR MEDIO del presente edicto se le notifica de la radicación de una demanda en cobro de dinero por la vía ordinaria en la que se alega que usted adeuda a la parte demandante, Oriental Bank, ciertas sumas de dinero, y las costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado de este litigio.

El demandante, Oriental Bank, ha solicitado que se dicte sentencia en contra suya y que se le ordene pagar las cantidades reclamadas en la demanda.

POR EL PRESENTE EDICTO se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva a la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días de haber sido diligenciado este emplazamiento, excluyéndose el día del diligenciamiento.

Usted deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Manejo y Administración de Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede acceder utilizando la siguiente dirección electrónica: https://unired.ramajudicial.pr/sumac/, salvo que se represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar su alegación responsiva en la Secretaría del Tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido término, el tribunal podrá dictar sentencia en rebeldía en su contra, y conceder el remedio solicitado en la Demanda, o cualquier otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio de su sana discreción, lo entiende procedente.

Se le advierte que dentro de los diez (10) días siguientes a la publicación del presente edicto, se le estará enviando a usted por correo certificado con acuse de recibo, una copia del emplazamiento y de la demanda presentada al lugar de su última dirección conocida: Palmas del Mar, 66 Aquabella, Humacao, PR 00791; B5 Calle Tabonuco, Suite 216 PMB 332, Guaynabo, PR 00968-3022. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y el sello del Tribunal en Humacao, Puerto Rico, hoy día 13 de marzo de 2020.

LEGAL NOTICE Dominga Gomez Fuster, SecreESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE taria Regional. Norte I Mercado PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE Laboy, SubSecretaria.

PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA DE HUMACAO.

26

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

Pitchers are creatures of habit. A season of chaos is testing them.

By TYLER KEPNER

O

f all the elements that make baseball distinctive, nothing compares to pitching. In what other team sport does the most influential player spend most of the schedule resting? Training for the treacherous job of throwing overhand repeatedly, at high speeds, requires careful calibration and strict routines.

And then there is 2020, when quarantined pitchers are firing baseballs into hotel room mattresses to stay loose.

“I lined up the mattress, I set up chairs to act as hitters, and I would throw for about a half-hour every day, just trying to simulate something, just trying to make sure I was putting some velocity into it so the arm stayed in shape,” said Miami Marlins pitcher Brandon Kintzler, whose teammate, Elieser Hernández, had the same idea. “Hernández’s room was next to me, and I know he was doing the same thing, because I could hear the ball bouncing everywhere.”

Kintzler and his teammates were effectively trapped in their hotel rooms for a week after an outbreak of positive tests for the coronavirus tore through the Marlins’ roster after their first series last month, in Philadelphia. The St. Louis Cardinals, too, hunkered down in their Milwaukee hotel for five days after their own outbreak on July 30. Jack Flaherty threw baseballs into his mattress, Adam Wainwright into his pillows.

Beyond the health risks of the virus itself, the pandemic scrambled the preparation of baseball’s most finely tuned creatures. When MLB shut down in mid-March, the sport was four weeks into its six-week spring training. Three-and-a-half months of inactivity followed, then teams held threeweek summer training camps for a 60-game season that started on July 23.

Somewhat predictably, the early season has been marked by a rash of arm injuries.

No type of pitcher has been spared, from rookies like A.J. Puk to 40-year-old Rich Hill, middle relievers like Tommy Kahnle to closers like Ken Giles. High-profile casualties include Cy Young Award winners (Justin Verlander, Corey Kluber); World Series’ most valuable players (Cole Hamels, Stephen Strasburg); and Shohei Ohtani, the celebrated two-way player for the Los Angeles Angels.

“Pitchers are a unique breed, and they rely very heavily on getting into the flow, where everything seems to slow down and it just goes exactly right,” said Dr. Anthony

Shohei Ohtani warming up during summer training in July. He is one of several high-profile pitchers who have sustained injuries in the first couple weeks of the season.

Romeo, a former team physician for the Chicago White Sox. “I think that’s something many pitchers are experiencing this year, that the only normal part of their life is on the pitching mound, and everything else is completely disrupted — how they interact with their teammates, how they travel, how they interact with their families. All of that is a tremendous distraction, and I think it’s really hard for many of these pitchers to get into the flow the same way they’re used to.”

The healthy pitchers have been largely effective, even with the designated hitter now used in both leagues. Through Thursday, MLB pitchers had a 1.262 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning pitched), better than the season-ending WHIP for every season since 1972. The collective earned run average, 4.17 — while in line with 2018, when it was 4.15 — is much lower than last season’s 4.51.

Yet the pileup of injured pitchers is concerning. According to Baseball Prospectus data compiled by The Ringer, there were 30 pitcher arm injuries requiring an injured-list stint through the first 10 days of this season.

The previous high for any season in the last decade was 12.

Pitching injuries are common at the start of every season, but Dr. Chris Ahmad, the New York Yankees’ team physician, predicted on his blog in May that inactivity during the pandemic “may greatly compound and exaggerate the risk factors” associated with the usual rash of early-season Tommy John surgeries. (Kahnle, a Yankees reliever, had the procedure Tuesday.)

For pitchers, the physical gains they made during the familiar spring training buildup were all but erased by the long layoff.

“It’s not like all of a sudden you bank what you did in spring training 1.0 and you pick up where you left off in spring training 2.0,” said Dr. Keith Meister, the Texas Rangers’ team physician. “It was a pretty diverse offseason for different people in terms of ability to work out or throw. The last level of getting ready for games was those competitive innings, and we definitely didn’t have a lot of those into the lead-up of this season, and that was a concern.

“But you have to be very careful about overanalyzing a very small snapshot. When we look at injuries, we look at them over a three- to five-year cycle.”

To mitigate the risk for this year, most teams have been extremely conservative

with pitchers’ workloads, continuing a long trend. Through Thursday, 23 of the 30 major league teams were averaging fewer than five innings per start, taking advantage of the extra depth this season offered by expanded, 30-man rosters to begin the season.

Rosters have since been pared to 28; initially, baseball had planned to reduce the roster size again later this month to 26 but decided last week to hold off on further cutbacks. The league has taken other measures to reduce the strain on pitchers, holding seven-inning games during doubleheaders and putting a runner on second base in extra innings to resolve games faster.

But there was no way to fully account for the stress of pitching in real games — even without fans in the stands — after just three weeks of camp. Meister said the first month of this season would essentially be an extension of spring training, with pitchers continuing to build to top form.

“But sometimes it’s not necessarily just the buildup, it’s the spike in effort,” he added. “Guys will tell you all the time: Once the uniform color changes on the other side of the field and you’re not throwing live batting practice and intrasquads, all of a sudden everything jumps up.”

28

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

No fans, fewer workers. How hard could holding races at Silverstone be?

By IAN PARKES

“L

ike nailing jelly to a wall,” said Stuart Pringle, managing director of Silverstone Circuits, on the difficulties of holding two grands prix on consecutive weekends and doing it under the restrictions imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The back-to-back races are part of Formula One’s new schedule after the sport had to create a race calendar when the first 10 events were either canceled or postponed. So far, 13 races have been scheduled with more expected.

The first race at Silverstone, the British Grand Prix, was held last Sunday, Aug. 2, and this past Sunday the fifth round of the world championship, the Formula One 70th Anniversary Grand Prix, was to be held. Like the other races, there would be no spectators in the stands.

The British government has forbidden mass gatherings, so sporting events are being held behind closed doors.

“It felt pretty empty,” Pringle said in an interview about the Aug. 2 race.

“There was an odd atmosphere.”

Last year, the circuit drew about 340,000 fans over the three days of the British Grand Prix weekend.

“But we have seen, from the races this year, that as soon as the lights go out it is business as usual on track,” he added, referring to the start of a race.

“The sport is compelling because the action is there.”

The hurdles for the track to overcome have been numerous.

“It was all coming together very nicely, and then the government announced in May it was going to introduce a 14-day quarantine period for anybody coming to the U.K.,” Pringle said.

That would have had a huge effect on the sport because 70 percent of the teams are based in England.

“It looked to me, not so much that our events would be sunk, but actually the whole championship would be sunk,” he said. “If you can’t come in and out and turn around seven out of 10 teams, then you weren’t going to have a championship.”

The government relaxed the restrictions in June, granting Formula One personnel an exemption, which allowed

Mellisa Hollingsworth, 39, suffers from memory loss and other post-concussion symptoms, likely from injuries she incurred while competing in skeleton. racing to continue.

Pringle has worked closely with the government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, along with Formula One and the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the sport’s governing body, to ensure all the rules regarding COVID-19 are followed.

“Because this thing has been evolving all the time, it’s been so difficult to plan,” he said.

“Formula One and the FIA have had to say, ‘These are going to be our rules,’” Pringle said. “This is what we’re going to try to achieve. They’ve been trying to get a one-size-fits-all solution to put on a global championship, and it’s been really difficult for them, and for us.

“And we’re not just beholden to our contract with F1 and to the sporting

regulations and the FIA; we have had to meet what the government requires of us at the same time. It has been really tricky to overlay all of these different interests and come out with the right solution.”

With no spectators, the number of staff members required at the track has dropped from 7,000 to just 800. Under the new rules, Silverstone has to record and track the movements of each of them, a procedure that the circuit has been learning.

“What we don’t have experience of are the operational protocols, of everything to do with testing, of maintaining track and trace records,” Pringle added.

“We need to know everybody that’s coming onto site. We need to be able to account for them to the FIA.

“Because of an evolving system, we have had to rewrite procedures, amend documents or issue revisions because x and y have changed.”

With the added problems, Pringle would prefer a normal grand prix weekend with a third of a million fans and thousands more workers.

“We know what we’re doing there,” he said. “It’s easier and it’s guaranteed as far as these things can be within the unknowns of security. There’s a plan on the shelf. We take the plan off the shelf, we update a few bits and pieces. We go and deliver it.

“You may think: ‘How hard can it be? You’ve got no fans and less than 10 percent of the number of people to deal with.’ But it’s been hard. I’d rather do the other one.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

29

Sudoku How to Play: Fill in the empty fields with the numbers from 1 through 9.

Sudoku Rules: Every row must contain the numbers from 1 through 9 Every column must contain the numbers from 1 through 9 Every 3x3 square must contain the numbers from 1 through 9

Crossword

Answers on page 30

Wordsearch

GAMES

HOROSCOPE Aries

30

(Mar 21-April 20)

It can sometimes feel as if the whole world is against you. A caring offer is misconstrued.

Someone seems to think there’s an ulterior motive behind your altruism. You can’t seem to put a foot right. This phase won’t last but it isn’t going to be easy keeping the peace when there are so many misunderstandings.

Taurus

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

(April 21-May 21)

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

People you mix with admire your talents and they will help you focus on your strengths. This is important when you tend to procrastinate and procrastination often holds you back. Having a mentor will keep your confidence high and you will make decisions that will bring future benefits.

It’s upsetting to discover a friend or neighbour’s friendliness in the past was fake.

Now they’ve got all they can from you, they have moved on to another innocent victim.

You’ve had your fair share of disappointments in the recent past and this so-called friendship is turning out to be another one of them.

Scorpio

Gemini

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

Capricorn

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

(May 22-June 21)

If you can’t trust the people you are with, it may be necessary to end a relationship or joint commitment. Someone has been scheming against you and now you know this, you are faced with the dilemma of how to handle the fact. One thing’s for certain, you can’t let anyone get away with this kind of behaviour again.

Cancer

(June 22-July 23)

Changes that are happening in your life now will be for the better. You sense this too. As one door in your life firmly closes, you intuitively sense another will burst open. You are about to initiate something new and although there is some risk involved, you’ve got what it takes to accept the consequences of your actions.

Leo

(July 24-Aug 23)

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

Trust that you will find a way to overcome your difficulties. This is not a time to dwell on your shortcomings or to let trivial matters get you down. Recent experiences have exhausted you. Give yourself time to relax and recoup your energy. Have faith in your ability to succeed.

Slow down and you will avoid making a foolish mistake. You’re rushing around as if there was no tomorrow. You’re eager to reach your destination before everyone else yet no-one else sees this as a competition. Make every moment of the journey matter. It isn’t just about reaching your goal. Pause occasionally to smell the flowers.

A friend or workmate will offer to help take some of the load from your shoulders. This will take the pressure off and give you more chance to take part in the more enjoyable aspects of life. An online get-together with colleagues will be amusing and insightful. Take your time when building the foundation of a joint project.

Aquarius

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

A relationship that used to be passionate and intense now seems mediocre. You wonder if you are growing apart. Where once you found joy and laughter, there is boredom and tension. You may wonder whether this relationship will soon be over but once you have more chance to expand your horizons, you will recapture the magic.

Chores and responsibilities have been building up. You hadn’t meant to allow it to get to a point where it feels like they have spiralled out of control. If it is possible to delegate some tasks to housemates and workmates, do so. Resolve to keep to your promises if a longterm deal is made.

Virgo

Pisces

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

If you can persuade a partner to stay firmly focused on your joint goals, you will have a lot to be pleased about. Future possibilities are exciting but you need to keep both feet on the ground. If you are distracted and lose sight of the direction in which you are heading, you could miss out on an interesting opportunity.

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

Be prepared to deal with legal affairs, insurance claims and correspondence as they arise. Some matters cannot be put off until a later date. Keep on top of it all and you will avoid getting into future complications.

If you’re hoping to achieve an aim, be sure not to ask for a fickle friend’s assistance.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

Monday, August 10, 2020

31

CARTOONS

Herman

Speed Bump

Frank & Ernest

BC

Scary Gary

Wizard of Id

For Better or for Worse

The San Juan Daily Star

Ziggy

32

The San Juan Daily Star

Monday, August 10, 2020

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