Wednesday Nov 18, 2020

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

San Juan The

50¢

DAILY

Star

When It Comes to Living with Uncertainty, Michael J. Fox Is a Pro

P20

Unfinished Tasks Nothing to Celebrate About: Thousands of Blue Tarps, Homes to Build, a Lot More to Do, Yet Housing Chief Reports Success at Transition Hearings

Orientation Phase in SJ Is Over. Curfew Violators, Unmasked People to Be Fined P3

NOTICIAS EN ESPAÑOL P 19

P5

A Month Later, Investigation Protocol for Gender Violence Is Still in Draft Form

P4

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Wednesday, November 18, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

GOOD MORNING

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November 18, 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.

SJ mayor: Curfew violation, failure to mask up will bring fines

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By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

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From ESE 13 mph 77% 8 of 10 6:32 AM Local Time 5:46 PM Local Time

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an Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz Soto said Tuesday that the municipal police will be more strict when implementing fines for those who violate the curfew and fail to wear a face mask in public.

“If they catch him or her on the street at 10 p.m. there will be a fine. There will be no orientation,” Cruz Soto said at a press conference. “If they catch him or her without masks, they will also be fined.”

The mayor is not the only one tired of the situation. Old San Juan business owners have also raised a flag.

One of the problems faced by the owners and administrators of businesses focused on the tourism sector are tourists who ignore requests to wear masks and thus prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which causes COVID-19.

“Tourism in Old San Juan is basically about cruise ships. There are no cruise ships, because they have not yet given permission to resume the trips,” said Old San Juan designer and businesswoman Diana Font in a radio interview Tuesday. “The tourism we are receiving is minimal tourism, quite different I would say, with less purchasing power than that from the ships.”

The mayor meanwhile called on the merchants of Old San Juan and the rest of the municipality to close their establishments before 10 p.m. so their employees can be in their homes by that time, when the curfew begins.

“We urge you to close earlier so that employees are at home before 10 o’clock at night,” Cruz Soto said. “If not, they will be fined.”

“We have been [providing] guidance for eight months,” she added. “Orientations are over.”

The mayor also called on tourists to respect curfew orders and the use of masks. She said law enforcement officers will begin to issue fines against those who thus violate the provisions of the executive order.

The fines for violation of curfew and mask disuse are around $ 100 each.

Font said that the tourists who patronize San Juan businesses are very undisciplined when it

Orientation phase is over. San Juan municipal police will be more strict when implementing fines for those who violate the curfew and fail to wear a face mask. comes to wearing masks.

“It is a tourism for which, I would say, the tickets are so cheap, in fact we have never had before.

It is a tourism (crowd) that is quite undisciplined.

I imagine it’s from people who still think this is a falsehood, the pandemic. Many of them do not wear a mask. And then it is very difficult to tell them ‘Look, you have to put the mask on’, because they don’t pay attention.”

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Wednesday, November 18, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

No femicides solved since gov’t executive order issued prioritizing attention to violence against women Police: Investigation protocol for violent deaths of women based on gender is in draft phase at Reform Office

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

A

lthough Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced issued an executive order on Oct. 26 declaring cases of violence against women be elevated as “priority services,” Puerto Rico Police Bureau (PRPB) Commissioner Henry Escalera confirmed Tuesday that four femicides that took place after the declaration have yet to be solved.

“It’s not that the decree is not working, there are particular situations in each case. There are murder cases that took place at a residence, where’s it’s challenging to prevent one; it will all depend on the circumstances,” Escalera said, insisting that the police are working with other offices such as the Women’s Advocate Office (OPM by its Spanish initials) to develop the Crimes Against Women and Domestic Violence Unit.

As for public service announcements to prevent violence against women, as Executive Order 2020-078 orders the development of prevention and education campaigns on access to services for women that will be broadcast as news bulletins through government outlets, the police commissioner said cooperative efforts with the OPM have always been available while “the Police are trained, specifically specialized through

this type of investigation against domestic violence or gender violence.”

“The Police are dealing with these cases with the promptness and seriousness that they warrant,” Escalera said.

Meanwhile, Assistant Superintendent of Criminal Investigations Col. Rolando Trinidad Hernández noted further that with funds from the OPM, police personnel have been trained to investigate cases of violence against women.

“We’re working with campaigns, we’re in the process of developing the new Crimes Against Women, DomesticViolence and Sexual Crimes Investigation Unit,” he said. “Therefore, we are requesting a money transfer within the projections in order to focus efforts more on where to find information, how people can go to seek services, what is a behavior that, perhaps, you see it as normal and it is not, that acts of domestic violence are involved, be it psychological, sexual, or physical, so we have some projects that are already underway and for which we will soon begin to call media outlets.”

Trinidad Hernández added there’s no launch date yet for

the new unit as commonwealth agencies, such as the Justice, and Transportation and Public Works departments, among others, are still allocating funds for it.

According to the executive order, commonwealth agencies have until July 2021 to include budget items with federal funds to develop favorable public policies to tackle violence against women.

When the Star asked about the progress being made on the “investigation protocol in cases of violent deaths of women based on gender,” Escalera said the protocol is “in the development process in the Police Reform Office.”

Alexa’s homicide case ‘well under way’ In response to another question from the Star, Trinidad Hernández said both the U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico and the FBI are currently cooperating with the PRPB in the case of Alexa Negrón Luciano, a homeless trans woman who was killed in Toa Baja on Feb. 24.

“We’re sharing this information and sources of information to bring justice to Alexa,” he said. “It’s public knowledge that we identified some people who appeared on a video saying a series of expletives and [conducting] some actions against the victim; files were developed and [shared with] both the U.S. Attorney and the FBI.” Trinidad said further that the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed down every process in Puerto Rico, such as grand juries, incarcerations and interviews of people who can provide information.

Despite those impediments, he added, “the case is well under way.”

Puerto Rico Police kick off ‘no shots in the air’ campaign for holiday season Police commissioner: Island holds an 8-year streak without casualties due to stray bullets

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

“E

njoy life without stray bullets.”

That’s the slogan that the Puerto Rico Police Bureau (PRPB) chose to begin their annual campaign Tuesday calling on citizens to not fire guns into the air on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve in order to prevent any tragic holiday incidents amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

PRPB Commissioner Henry Escalera said the campaign is being developed under Act 168 of 2019, the Puerto Rico Firearms Act, whereby public service announcements must be issued from Nov. 15 to Jan. 7 raising awareness on the matter. Although Escalera announced that there won’t be mass events such as flash mobs at malls, rallies or other activities due to the coronavirus pandemic emergency, he insisted that the PRPB will continue to do its best to keep the message going.

“Shooting into the air is a crime that carries a fixed sentence of five years [in jail] and up to 10 years aggravated,” he said, adding that the Bureau “will implement specific and detailed work strategies to prevent this and any other crime that intends to harm the welfare of our communities.”

Meanwhile, Escalera thanked community leaders, entrepreneurs, agency heads and media outlets, including salsa singer Michael Stuart, who is this year’s campaign sponsor, as “allies to carry the message to each home in Puerto Rico.”

The commissioner said citizens can cooperate in stopping such felonies by calling confidentially at 787-343-2020 to provide information on any random shooting incident.

“We don’t want any Puerto Rican family to go through the pain that the Negrón-Vélez family has gone through for years,” Escalera said, referring to the family that lost their 15-year-old daughter Karla Michelle Negrón Vélez to a stray bullet in 2011, which led her father Carlos Negrón to work annually with the police on the educational campaign.

Stuart said he wrote the song “Disfrutemos la vida,” which was produced with the Puerto Rico Police Band, “to bring a message to the people who are on the street bringing misfortune to families, who walk with weapons in their hands.”

“We are living in not so good days and they have hit us pretty hard. Imagine adding [shooting] bullets in the air, shootings like the ones we have been seeing these days. It is very difficult to get the message,” the singer said. “Therefore, this year we focused on those who are on the streets, looking for things they should not look for.”

Negrón meanwhile urged citizens to be wary amid the emergency that the island faces to make no exception that 2020 will be another year without stray bullet victims, as the last victim was his daughter.

“Let’s enjoy New Year’s Eve and Christmas giving grace

in God’s name, not with stray bullets, not with families in a hospital with a victim like we were in 2011,” Negrón said.

“We don’t want that for anyone.”

Public Safety Secretary Pedro Janer said this year’s campaign is different as it is happening amid a pandemic “that has caused profound pain to our people and changed our way of living.”

“When the year changes, we must unite with only one purpose, to remember those who fell and begin a new year hopeful, united and with the firm purpose to work so future generations grow up in a safer Puerto Rico,” Janer said.

PRPB Commissioner Henry Escalera said citizens can cooperate in stopping such felonies by calling confidentially at 787-343-2020 to provide information on any random shooting incident.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

5

Transition hearings day 2: Doubts expressed about alleged success of Housing Dept.

By THE STAR STAFF

T

he chairman of the incoming government’s transition committee, Ramón Luis Rivera Jr., challenged on Tuesday the island Housing Department’s alleged success in the use of Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds to help Puerto Rico’s displaced citizens.

Rivera, who is the mayor of Bayamón, disputed Housing Secretary Luis Fernández Trinchet’s remarks about the department’s success in some 17 programs to help the needy three years after hurricanes Irma and Maria ravaged the island, pointing out that only 1 percent of all housing construction projects have begun and thousands of people remain homeless.

Rivera said that of some 30,000 homes slated to be built, only 231 housing units have been completed in four years. Of some 2,873 applications for business assistance, funds for just 137 applications have been released. Of some 1,406 applications for buyer assistance to purchase affordable housing, only eight cases have been closed. Of some 4,800 individuals who are seeking to obtain the title deeds to their homes, only 16 cases have moved forward.

“At this rate, it will take us 15 years to help people,” Rivera Jr. said.

The exchange took place on the second day of transition committee hearings.

Fernández Trinchet said the Housing Department has successfully launched 17 assistance and recovery programs. He said Housing secured access to an additional $1.7 billion last May, which now brings the total available CDBG-DR funds to $3.2 billion. The Housing Department has obligated more than $1.2 billion and has disbursed $119 million, he said.

Of the 15,557 requests for the reconstruction of homes, 1,003 properties have received financial assistance. While 2,518 properties have been identified as having blue tarps three years after the hurricanes, some 146 of those homes have been served, the island Housing chief noted.

Of the $413 million for the construction of housing units, Fernández Trinchet said some 981 housing units are under construction. The first are part of the José Gautier Benítez project in Caguas with an investment of $135 million and the

construction of some 438 housing units for families and the elderly. There are also some 69 homes under construction in the San Blas project that will serve the elderly in Coamo through an investment of $21 million after the start of construction on July 13.

The Housing chief said construction on some 94 units of the De Diego Village project in Río Piedras will begin in four months with an investment of $34 million. There is a contract for the 160 multi-family units of Sabana Village Apartments in San Juan that began July 28, with a contribution of $10 million from CDBG-DR, he added.

Fernández Trinchet also mentioned the Manuel Mediavilla Negrón II Housing Project consisting of some 90 units that will receive assistance from the CDBG-DR program following the execution of an agreement over the next few months.

He also noted that there is $20 million to serve elderly people with low or moderate income as rental subsidies.

The Housing secretary said the global pandemic and the earthquakes early this year have delayed the agency’s work, but Rivera said that in his city, all programs have continued to operate despite the circumstances.

“I can understand all of the circumstances around the Housing Department’s work,” Rivera said. “I can understand the impact of COVID-19 and the earthquakes, but to have only 231 homes completed through the R3 [Home Repair, Reconstruction or Relocation] reconstruction program, it is not right.”

The Bayamón mayor also noted the high cost of the proposed affordable housing that is going to be paid for with CDBG funds.

“Do you think that is affordable?” he asked the secretary.

For instance, he noted that the 69 units that will be built in Coamo at $125 million will each cost about $361,000, while 94 homes in Río Piedras will be built at a cost of $34 million.

“We might as well give the money

to the participant and with that amount they can buy a home in Garden Hills,” he said.

Rivera said later at a news conference that he was going to suggest to governor-elect Pedro Pierluisi a revision of the estimated costs that the Housing Department puts on the construction of affordable housing.

“Because affordable homes can cost $200,000 to $225,000, and that is a very high cost,” he said. “At that cost, I can give the money to anyone to buy the house in any community. I recognize that there has been an increase in construction costs, which may be 35 or 40 percent, but to have costs go up by 80, 90 or 100 percent, we are talking about a lot of money.”

Fernández Trinchet said the mayor’s suggestion was valid.

“You have to sit down with the private sector, planners and investors and reach some kind of agreement on what is understood to be a reasonable cost,” he said.

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The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

Governor signs law creating UPR scholarship trust fund

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

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ov. Wanda Vázquez Garced signed House Bill 2595 on Tuesday to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to establish through public deed the Independent Scholarship Trust of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR).

“Our government has a firm commitment to promoting and strengthening postsecondary public education in Puerto Rico.

The now Law 148-2020 seeks to strengthen post-secondary public education and make it accessible to everyone who aspires to a university degree, regardless of their financial resources,” Vázquez said in a written statement. “This Trust will help those who have financial need by supporting their academic and professional training.”

“As a graduate of the University of Puerto Rico and for me as Governor, it is important to do everything in my power to strengthen and provide opportunities for all students,” the

governor added. “So that our young people can have access to academic growth of excellence in our primary university center.”

The law authorizes the creation of a private and independent trust for the distribution of financial aid to eligible undergraduate and graduate students of the UPR in order to help them in their studies and in their effective integration into the labor market.

The measure, which was one of those sent by Vázquez to the Legislative Assembly for consideration in the recent Sixth Extraordinary Session, provides for the trust to have recurring budgetary allocations as of fiscal year 2020-2021. The contributions or donations made to the Trust will be 100 percent deductible in the individual or corporate payroll of the donor.

The trust can receive donations, and the scholarships will be distributed, according to the regulations and standards adopted by the UPR. Vázquez noted that the law creates a perpetual fund in order to keep it liquid and growing every year.

The measure provides for the trust to have recurring budgetary allocations as of fiscal year 2020-2021.

Special Education platform relaunched in improved version

By JOHN McPHAUL jpmcphaul@gmail.com

E

ducation Secretary Eligio Hernández Pérez announced on Tuesday that the main platform of the Special Education program has been redesigned and relaunched with the purpose of improving and facilitating the processes and experience of the 12,843 officials who use it.

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underwent a redevelopment that began in stages in November 2019, led by the associate secretary for special education, Eliezer Ramos Parés.

“MIPE is the backbone of the special education program. It was time to optimize and temper it with current technology, especially at this time when the COVID-19 pandemic forces us to rethink and improve all the processes that are carried out digitally,” Hernández Pérez said in a written statement. “Now the MIPE is in the cloud and accessible from any device. Officials who use it will see a big difference and a better user experience. We hope to incorporate a module for parents, so that they are more integrated and have greater visibility in their children’s processes.”

To guarantee a better understanding of the platform, Ramos Parés scheduled a series of virtual training sessions and published user guides. It is estimated that, on average, some 3,600 officials use the MIPE daily. ¨We took this initiative with the objective of being able to provide officials with a better experience when carrying out the processes of the special education program,” Ramos Parés said. “Through the use of new technology, with the best standards, users will have a more agile and modern platform, which can be accessed through multiple types of devices (computers, tablets or mobiles). The new version comes with a new design that gives the platform an academic and perspective approach that prioritizes the

user experience in such a way that it is very easy to use.”

The platform, created in 2010, is owned by the Education Department and the new version represents its most significant update so far, the officials said.

Among the platform’s most outstanding features is the Electronic IEP, or Individualized Education Program, which establishes the educational and related services that will constitute the educational program of each student in the special education program each academic year.

Since the Electronic IEP module was launched in March, 85,000 electronic IEPs have been processed, from signing to completion, through the new version of the platform.

The MIPE has about 12,843 users and the new version has been available since Sept. 28. Special education enrollment stands at 102,475 active students for the current school year.

Mi Portal Especial (MIPE by its Spanish acronym), underwent a redevelopment that began in stages in November 2019.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

7

Dr. Céline Gounder, adviser to Biden, on the next COVID attack plan

By APOORVA MANDAVILLI

W

hen President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January, he will inherit a pandemic that has convulsed the country. His transition team last week announced a 13-member team of scientists and doctors who will advise on control of the coronavirus.

One of them is Dr. Céline Gounder, an infectious disease specialist at Bellevue Hospital Center and assistant professor at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine. In a wide-ranging conversation with The New York Times, she discussed plans to prioritize racial inequities, to keep schools open as long as possible, and to restore the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the premiere public health agency in the world.

The incoming administration is contemplating state mask mandates, free testing for everyone and invocation of the Defense Production Act to ramp up supplies of protective gear for health workers. Indeed, that will be “one of the first executive orders” of the Biden administration, she said.

Below are edited excerpts from our conversation.

Q: Tell us about Mr. Biden’s COVID advisers. Who is doing what?

A: The coronavirus task force is the team the vice president leads within the current administration. I’m a part of the Biden-Harris advisory board. Then there’s the internal transition team, which is much bigger. The transition team has been developing a COVID blueprint, the nuts and bolts of the operations, and this is something they’ve been working on for months.

The purpose of the advisory board is really to have a group of people who think big, creatively and in interdisciplinary ways — to be a second set of eyes on the blueprint they’ve come up with, and also to function as a liaison with state and local health departments.

Q: What’s the plan to help communities that have been hit hardest?

A: Race disparities are definitely going to be a through line for all the plans — for example, with respect to testing, making sure that you are locating testing facilities in communities of color. They have not been adequately served, and the lines to wait to get tested, the turnaround times, have not been equitable.

Another area that is really of interest is Indigenous people. They are often misclassified in terms of their race and ethnicity, and that makes it very difficult to do analyses to figure out what are the trends in those communities and to target interventions accordingly. Being really attentive to detailed data surveillance, and using that to inform how we address these disparities, is going to be very, very central.

Q: What’s the thinking on school reopenings?

A: If you have widespread community transmission, there may come a tipping point where you do need to go back to virtual schooling. But I think the priority is

President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, meet virtually with their coronavirus advisory council in Wilmington, Del., Nov. 9, 2020. The Biden administration is contemplating state mask mandates, free testing for everyone and invocation of the Defense Production Act to ramp up supplies of protective gear for health workers. to try to keep schools open as much as possible, and to provide the resources for that to happen.

From an epidemiologic perspective, we know that the highest-risk settings are restaurants, bars, gyms, nail salons and also indoor gatherings — social gatherings and private settings.

I would consider school an essential service. Those other things are not essential services. The smarter we are about being very responsive to trends in transmission — to closing indoor restaurants sooner — the longer you’re likely to be able to keep schools open.

Q: Biden has said he would invoke the Defense Production Act to get companies to manufacture protective gear.

A: From the beginning we have been — and I’ve seen it firsthand — in a rationing mode. And now things are getting worse again, so that is a very high priority.

I think that’s going to be one of the very first executive actions that Mr. Biden would be taking.

Q: What role do you see the CDC playing in this pandemic and in the future?

A: The approach is going to be much more along the lines of giving control back to the CDC. There’s recognition that the CDC is the premier public health agency in the world. And while their role has been diminished during this current crisis, they play a very important role in all this.

It’s really going to be about rebuilding public health

infrastructure. Since 2008, there have been massive budget cuts, staffing losses. And so some of it will be around that, and some of it will be around tech infrastructure and building more robust surveillance systems and dashboards.

Q: Biden has talked about making testing available to all. Is the plan to provide rapid antigen tests?

A: The issue with the antigen test is how well it performs in asymptomatic people. What we’ve seen in some cases is that the performance characteristics are just not that great, so I think that needs to be better assessed and studied.

You do also need separate regulatory pathways, one for a public health surveillance kind of test, one for a clinical diagnostic test. The sensitivity of the surveillance test does not need to be as high, especially if it’s cheap, and something you can be doing frequently, repeatedly.

Q: What are your thoughts about vaccine distribution?

A: Your local doctor’s office is not going to have the deep-freeze capability that, at least for the Pfizer vaccine, you’re going to need. They’re not necessarily going to have the tech systems to track and call people back to make sure they get their second doses.

That kind of capacity really resides either in public health departments or in the private commercial sector, like CVS and Walgreens. So it’s really going to require collaboration with them.

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Wednesday, November 18, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

‘More people may die’ because of Trump’s transition delay, Biden says

By MICHAEL CROWLEY and MICHAEL D. SHEAR

P

resident-elect Joe Biden on Monday sharpened his criticism of President Donald Trump’s refusal to cooperate in an orderly transition, warning that “more people may die” from the coronavirus if the president does not agree to coordinate planning for the mass distribution of a vaccine when it becomes available.

It was a marked shift in tone for the president-elect, intended to pressure Trump after Biden and his team had played down the difficulty of setting up a new government without the departing administration’s help. The new criticism came as the White House national security adviser all but conceded that Biden would be inaugurated and acknowledged the importance of a smooth federal handoff.

“The vaccine is important. But it’s of no use until you’re vaccinated,” Biden said, pledging to work with Republicans to defeat the virus and spur an economic revival when he takes office.

But he said the logistics of distributing vaccines to hundreds of millions of Americans were a vast challenge. “It’s a huge, huge, huge undertaking,” he said.

“If we have to wait until Jan. 20 to start that planning, it puts us behind,” Biden said. “More people may die if we don’t coordinate.”

Over the weekend, the president again refused to acknowledge Biden’s victory and on Monday morning tweeted, “I won the Election!” Without a concession from Trump, the official transition remains frozen — and could stay that way for months.

Biden made his comments at a news conference after he and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris had discussed reviving the economy at a virtual meeting with business and labor leaders, including Mary Barra, the chief executive of General Motors, and Satya Nadella, the head of Microsoft, as well as the AFLCIO president, Richard Trumka, and the United Auto Workers president, Rory Gamble.

“We all agreed that we want to get the economy back on track and get our workers back in the job by getting the virus under control,” Biden said. “We are going into a very dark winter.

Things are going to get much tougher before they get easier. And that requires sparing no effort to fight COVID.” Biden reaffirmed his support for a $3.4 trillion stimulus bill that House Democrats passed this year that Senate Republicans have rejected, although he offered no hint of a compromise that could break Congress’ monthslong deadlock.

But to do that, he said, will require new cooperation from Republicans, even those who have so far refused to publicly acknowledge Biden’s victory. Asked what he would say to members of the president’s party who have backed Trump’s refusal to concede, Biden said he would offer them an open hand.

“My message is: ‘I will work with you. I understand a lot of your reluctance because of the way the president operates,’” Biden said, adding that such conversations may not take place until Trump and his advisers have left office. “That’s a shame, but maybe that’s the only way to get it done.”

Biden praised the Republican governors of North Dakota, Ohio and Utah, who have each taken steps to lock down their states in response to the virus — and drawn attacks from Trump

President-elect Joe Biden speaks about the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris watches, at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., on Monday, Nov. 16, 2020. in the process. Monday morning, the president hinted in a tweet that he might support a primary challenge to one of them — Gov. Mike DeWine of Ohio.

“Who will be running for Governor of the Great State of Ohio? Will be hotly contested!” Trump wrote.

Biden said during his remarks that he had “enormous respect” for the Republican governors, including DeWine, who have bucked a president of their own party to insist that people wear masks.

“It’s about being patriotic. It’s about saving lives for real.

This is not hyperbole,” Biden said, adding, “There is nothing macho about not wearing a mask.”

By contrast, Biden was sharply critical of administration officials including Dr. Scott Atlas, the radiologist who has emerged as the president’s most trusted adviser on combating the virus. Atlas has mocked the idea of wearing masks and recently urged people to “rise up” in protest of tough new restrictions in Michigan and elsewhere that were put in place to slow the spread of the virus.

The president-elect said Atlas’ call for people to resist the restrictions went against the recommendations of health professionals across the country. “What are they doing?” Biden said.

“It’s totally irresponsible.”

But on the larger question of Trump’s claims to victory, Biden was almost dismissive.

“I find this more embarrassing for the country than debilitating for my ability to get started,” Biden said. Of Trump’s weekend tweeting, he added: “I interpret that as Trumpism. No change in his modus operandi.”

A spokesman for Trump called Biden’s comments about endangered lives from a delayed transition “irresponsible and not based on fact,” insisting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has made its plan for distributing a vaccine publicly available.

The spokesman, Judd Deere, said the administration was prepared “to ship vaccine doses to every ZIP code in America” within 24 hours of approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

Hours before Biden’s remarks, Trump’s national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, went further than any other senior Trump official in a public forum when he said that Biden appeared to have won the election and pledged a smooth transition from his staff.

“Look, if the Biden-Harris ticket is determined to be the winner — and obviously things look that way now — we’ll have a very professional transition from the National Security Council,” O’Brien said.

Perhaps wary of the ire of a president who refuses to concede the obvious, however, even O’Brien spoke conditionally, falsely suggesting that the election’s outcome remains uncertain.

“If there is a new administration, they deserve some time to come in and implement their policies,” O’Brien said during a talk recorded last week and streamed on Monday as part of a conference hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“And if we are in a situation where we are not going into a Trump second term, which I think people where I’m sitting in the White House would like to see, if it’s another outcome, it will be a professional transition — there’s no question about it,” he added.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

9

The county with no coronavirus cases (and plenty of suspicion)

By J. DAVID GOODMAN

Z

oom in on the glowing red map of ever-escalating coronavirus cases in the continental United States and you will find one county that has been spared. Only one, from coast to coast.

Like a lone house standing after a tornado has leveled a town, Loving County, in the shadeless dun plains of oil-rich West Texas, has yet to record a single positive case of the coronavirus.

It is something that people in the county are proud of. They talk about it. They live by it.

“You can take that off!” Chuck Flushe told a visitor in a face mask at the window of his food truck as a pair of barefaced oil field workers milled about. “We don’t have the virus here.”

If only it were true.

Though never included in the county’s official reports, at least one positive test for the coronavirus was recorded over the summer at a local health clinic in Mentone, the county’s only town, according to a worker at the clinic.

The man lived at what everyone in this part of Texas calls a “man camp” — temporary housing for transient oil and gas field workers — near the center of town when he became sick. But since he was not a permanent resident, and was quickly shuttled home, Loving County never reported the case. Its record remained intact.

Ten months after the first infection was recorded in the United States, the coronavirus has made its way into every corner of the country. More than 11 million people have tested positive for the virus, which causes COVID-19, with more than 164,000 new cases emerging Monday alone.

Now even rural areas, which escaped the brunt of the pandemic early on, have become serious centers of new infections. In recent months, a diminishing number of small, remote counties, including Loving County, remained the only places in the continental United States with no positive cases.

One by one, each has begun to record infections. The last besides Loving County to officially fall was Esmeralda County in Nevada, which reported its first case last week. (Kalawao County in Hawaii, which has even fewer people than Loving County, also has reported no known cases.)

Those who live in Loving County full-time — the U.S. mainland’s smallest population, with no more than 169 people stretched across 669 square miles of sand, mesquite and greasewood — credit their relative antiviral success to the landscape and the sparseness of the population. They joke that they were socially distant before it was cool.

“It’s a desert town. That’s what it is,” said Steve Simonsen, the county attorney. “We don’t speak in terms of running how many cows per acre, it’s how many cows per section. A section is 640 acres.”

But despite the wide-open space, the county is busy. The census counts 10 times the number of workers in the county as residents. Trucks hauling equipment for the oil fields or big boxes of sand for fracking groan through town in a constant, noisy stream. Plastic trash and bits of blown truck tire litter the roadside.

When one drives through the county at night, lights from the oil and gas operations flicker brightly across the landscape, creating the mirage of a distant city that can never quite be reached.

“You top that hill and it looks like you’re driving into Dallas or Fort Worth,” Simonsen said.

Men — and it is mostly men who work in Loving County — shuffle in and out of the only shop for miles, a relatively new convenience store where the line for beer and single-serving

Loving County, in oil-rich West Texas, has yet to record a positive case of the coronavirus. meals can stretch to the rear refrigerators during the 5 p.m. rush.

“Restrooms Coming Soon,” boasts an all-caps banner hanging outside. On a recent weekday evening, one shopper wore a cowboy hat. More had on mesh trucker caps. None were in masks. Neither were the clerks. The county is exempt from a statewide mandate.

But even if the virus is not front of mind in Loving County, it has changed life here.

The pandemic caused a downturn as oil prices dropped, reducing the number of workers in town. The man camps were less full. Hotel rooms that just months ago cost $350 a night in Pecos, the nearest large town, were now going for a third of the price.

“With the pandemic, a lot of stuff shut down,” said Ricardo Galan, 38, who works for a supply company that he said had dropped from 50 employees to 12.

A private health clinic offers coronavirus tests and performs around 20 per week, according to Anthony Luk, 28, a paramedic there. Luk, like most workers in the county, lives in a trailer — his is attached to the clinic — and stays for two-week stints between periods of rest at home in Lubbock.

During his time there, he said, the clinic has had two positive tests for the coronavirus: in August, involving the man camp near the center of Mentone, and another taken at a job site outside of Loving County.

The August case raised alarm at the county courthouse because clerks and other county workers often go to the camp for free lunch on workdays.

“We’re made very known when something like that happens here,” said Angela Medlin, 31, a deputy county clerk who moved with her husband and four children to Mentone last year. “I know of at least one guy who was sick, but they took him back to where

he’s from,” she said, recalling the situation over the summer.

In town, residents draw a bright line between themselves and the visiting workers. Those who live in the county full-time treat one another like members of an extended family bubble.

At the courthouse, a square brick building from 1935, the doors are now locked to outsiders and county employees do not wear masks. When someone comes to visit, like a landman looking into new oil or gas leases, the person must have an appointment and wear a mask.

A Halloween party for the children in town attracted about 60 people and included temperature checks at the door. People felt comfortable not wearing masks.

But there are few such gatherings in Mentone, where the county’s history of oil booms and busts can be read in hollow rusting storage tanks, empty corrugated homes and the cracked plaster of the only schoolhouse, unused for decades.

Some residents said they knew about cases of the coronavirus in the county, but because they were limited to visiting workers, the county still considers itself to be virus free — if on a technicality.

Most tests conducted in the county have involved oil and gas field workers, according to Luk. And those would be recorded in the employees’ county of residence, not in Loving County, said Lara Anton, a state Health Department spokesperson.

Were any permanent residents infected? Officially, that is still a no.

But Loving County residents concede that their perfect record is probably no longer perfect.

“To say that we’re the only place in the United States that’s never had a COVID case, I don’t think that’s true,” Simonsen said.

“It’s a nice little bit of hype, but certainly it’s been here.”

10

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

When schools closed, Americans turned to their usual backup plan: Mothers

Farrah Eaton helping her daughters with school at their home in New Rochelle, N.Y., in March. Among couples working from home during the pandemic, men were likelier than women to work in a home office in a separate room, a survey for The Times found. Women were more likely to work at the kitchen table.

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

C

ompared with their fathers and grandfathers, this generation of men is much more involved at home — showing up at midday school events, coaching soccer and cooking dinner. Yet when the pandemic hit, it was largely mothers who took on the additional child care duties; became remote teachers; and, in large numbers, quit their jobs.

The sudden return to 1950s-style households wasn’t an aberration. Rather, it revealed a truth: In the United States, mothers remain the fallback plan.

Today, even though most mothers are employed and fathers have increased the hours they spend on housework and child care, women still spend about an hour more a day on each. Moreover, when unexpected demands pop up — like a child who is home sick or a work meeting that conflicts with child care duties — mothers prioritize the homefront, research shows.

As a result, men’s careers aren’t slowed by family caregiving needs nearly as much as women’s are.

The pandemic reveals the same pattern, writ large.

There are about 1.6 million fewer mothers in the labor force this fall than would be expected without school closures, an analysis of employment data shows. While some fathers

have left the labor force, there is no statistical association between fathers’ employment and school closures, according to the analysis.

“The COVID crisis is a perfect instance of the gendered fallback plan, just on a grander scale than we usually observe,” said Sarah Thébaud, a sociologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

This doesn’t describe every family, of course. There are men who have quit their jobs or cut their hours to care for their children during the pandemic, and men who have always been the on-call parent, just as there are single parents and same-sex parents who have not fallen back on traditional gender roles.

And it’s often the rational choice — the man in a family usually earns more, so if someone needs to cut hours or quit a job, it can make sense for it to be the woman. But that starts a vicious cycle: The major reason women are paid less in the first place is that they work fewer and more flexible hours once they have children — or even if they don’t work less, employers assume they will.

There is ample pre-pandemic evidence showing what happens in many opposite-sex couples when schools and child care centers close: When unexpected family needs arise, mothers fill in.

Research on millennials has found that the vast majo-

rity say they want relationships in which they equally share moneymaking and homemaking. But when they have children and face the daily challenges of family life, a majority change their mind, and say the woman should be the primary caregiver, several studies have found.

Part of the reason is that the United States has fewer family-friendly policies and benefits than other rich countries — a pattern that has continued during the pandemic.

But even in Scandinavian countries, which are much more egalitarian in their attitudes and policies, mothers are the fallback plan.

A study using a large data set from Norway found that having a sick or disabled child reduces earnings and increases work absences for mothers, but much less so for fathers.

A study in Sweden found that after a child’s cancer diagnosis, mothers took much more leave than fathers did, regardless of each parent’s income.

When work and family obligations collide and someone needs to sacrifice at work, it’s much more likely to be the mother than the father, research suggests. It seems that it’s not because men’s jobs are inherently less flexible or more important — but that they treat them as if they are.

Pre-pandemic, even men who said they needed flexibility were much less likely than women to reduce in-person time at work. In couples in which men worked very long hours, wives were likely to quit their jobs to be on call at home — but when women worked long hours, their husbands did not quit. And when men left work for family reasons, they slipped out without saying why, while women took official time off.

The pandemic has exacerbated the difference. When schools and child care centers closed, mothers immediately took on the fallback role. A survey last spring, by Morning Consult for The New York Times, found that 8 in 10 mothers are managing remote schooling, and 7 in 10 are doing the bulk of child care.

A separate survey by Morning Consult for The Times found that among couples working from home during the pandemic, men were more likely than women to work in a home office in a separate room. Women were more likely to work at the kitchen table — where they could be interrupted at any moment by children or household needs.

Mothers are the fallback plan in the United States in part because of persistent beliefs that they are ultimately responsible for homemaking and child rearing, and because of the lack of policies to help parents manage the load.

“Other countries have social safety nets; the U.S. has women,” Jessica Calarco, a sociologist at Indiana University, told journalist Anne Helen Petersen in a recent interview for her newsletter, Culture Study.

Even so, attitudes and policies in the United States had been slowly evolving — men were handling more child care, for example, and paid family leave was becoming more common. Now that the pandemic has forced a generation of mothers into the fallback role, it’s unclear how much of that change will continue.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

11

Biden calls for stimulus ahead of a ‘dark winter’ for the country

By JIM TANKERSLEY and ALAN RAPPEPORT

P

resident-elect Joe Biden warned on Monday of a “very dark winter” ahead and called on Congress to pass a large economic stimulus package immediately to help workers, businesses, and state and local governments struggling to cope with the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden gave his first major policy speech since he won the election after participating in a virtual meeting with business and union leaders, including the chief executives of General Motors, Microsoft, Target and the Gap and the head of the United Auto Workers. The group, meeting over Zoom, discussed how to safely reopen the American economy when virus cases continue to surge across the nation, prompting renewed lockdowns.

The president-elect’s decision to highlight his meeting with labor groups and businesses underscores the immense challenge facing his administration, which will have to contend with a spike in coronavirus infections and deaths, a faltering economic recovery and a public weary of restrictions on everyday life.

Many businesses continue to struggle with reduced activity and are eager to bring workers — and customers — back, while unions continue to insist that corporations don’t needlessly expose workers to risk.

Participants said the discussion, which was closed to reporters, focused heavily on how to keep businesses operating and on workplace safety, including union leaders’ push for enhanced worker protections through the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

“The majority of the discussion with GM was on COVID protocols and the importance of keeping manufacturing running,” said a GM official familiar with the discussion. “There’s a lot of interest in how we are working with the UAW to keep the workforce safe and keep the plants running.”

Rory Gamble, the president of the autoworkers’ union, said in an interview that he had urged Biden to make sure OSHA issued “strong enforceable standards” to keep workers safe during the pandemic. Under the Trump administration, OSHA has declined to put out specific coronavirus-related regulations, opting instead for recommendations, and has largely avoided inspecting facilities outside of a few high-risk industries like health care and emergency response.

Biden sought to project unity among the group, saying, “We all agreed that we want to get the economy back on track, we need our workers to be back on the job by getting the virus under control.” But the United States is “going into a very dark winter,” he said. “Things are going to get much tougher before they get easier.”

To help businesses and workers make it through, Biden said, Congress needs to quickly pass another round of stimulus, but he offered no hint of the sort of policy compromise that could help break a partisan impasse in Washington over a new round of economic assistance. He instead reaffirmed his support for a $3.4 trillion plan that House Democrats approved in May and that Senate Republicans have rejected for months.

President-elect Joe Biden speaks about the economy as Vice President-elect Kamala Harris watches, at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., on Monday, Nov. 16, 2020.

Biden said he hoped that a dozen or more Republican senators would join Democrats in passing the type of expansive package they approved in the spring. That aid included $1,200 checks to low- and middle-income Americans, new loans for hard-hit small businesses, state and local government assistance, and expanded federal testing and tracing programs.

As Biden warned of economic darkness, financial markets rallied Monday after the drugmaker Moderna announced that its coronavirus vaccine was 94.5% effective, fueling hopes that deployment of a highly effective vaccine could hasten the end of the pandemic and its economic damage.

The disconnect highlights the dangers for the economy in the coming months. Rising optimism for a vaccine could breed complacency among lawmakers when it comes to supporting the recovery, which is already losing steam and could be further hindered as critical spending programs expire at year end.

It could also encourage individuals to disregard health officials’ warnings against activities that raise the risk of contracting the virus before a vaccine can be widely deployed.

President Donald Trump has refused to concede the results of this month’s presidential election, when he was defeated by Biden. But in the weeks after the vote, he has done little to champion additional stimulus for the recovery or mitigate the toll that the new wave of infections is exacting on the economy.

Widespread distribution of a vaccine that would allow

Americans to resume anything close to normal levels of travel, dining out and other types of spending on services that have been crushed by the pandemic is most likely months away.

Economists continue to call for a new and immediate round of aid from Congress to help people and businesses weather the difficult time before the rebound is complete.

There is little chance that lawmakers will use the lameduck session after the election to approve anything close to the $3.4 trillion House bill that Biden championed Monday. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the Senate majority leader, has called for a “highly targeted” bill, and his Republican caucus has backed a package that would cost around $500 billion.

Business leaders in Washington have pressed the sides to compromise. “There’s no advantage for Democrats or Republicans in waiting until the new year,” Neil Bradley, the executive vice president and chief policy officer of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said this month.

Among the business and labor leaders Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris spoke with were Mary T. Barra, chief executive of GM; Sonia Syngal, chief executive of the Gap; Satya Nadella, chief executive of Microsoft; Brian Cornell, chairman and chief executive of Target; Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO; Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union; and Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

12

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Airbnb reveals falling revenue, with travel hit by pandemic

By ERIN GRIFFITH

A

irbnb, the home rental service that disrupted the travel industry and was itself disrupted by the coronavirus, took a major step toward one of the year’s largest initial public offerings when it revealed declining revenue and growing losses in a prospectus Monday.

The offering, which could value Airbnb at more than $30 billion and raise as much as $3 billion, will test investors’ appetite for hospitality-related stocks in a year when the industry has been battered and its future is uncertain. The company provides a marketplace for people to rent their homes, taking a percentage of the fees, and facilitates bookings for activities.

Airbnb’s prospectus painted an optimistic picture, advertising its brand’s association with unique travel experiences. “We have helped millions of people satisfy a fundamental human need for connection,” the company said. “And it is through this connection that people can experience a greater sense of belonging.”

In total, Airbnb brought in $2.5 billion in revenue in the first nine months of the year, down from $3.7 billion a year earlier. Its net loss more than doubled during that period to $697 million.

Airbnb’s revenue bounced back in its most recent quarter, giving it a profit. But because of the overall trajectory of shrinking revenue and the continued uncertainty of the coronavirus, the company is unlikely to be able to pitch Wall Street on the typical tech startup narrative of soaring growth. It was the first time Airbnb provided a comprehensive look at its finances.

Airbnb was valued at $31 billion before the pandemic, but some investors bought shares valuing it at $18 billion af-

Job Opportunity

Airbnb’s headquarters in San Francisco on Sept. 1 2016. The company is on a path to the stock market. ter travel ground to a halt. The company has since positioned its business around getaways that are within driving distance of people’s homes, allowing it to recover from the disruption faster than hotels.

“It’s going to be a mixed story,” said Karen Xie, a professor at the University of Denver who researches the short-term rental industry. Airbnb’s fast rebound showed it could win customers from hotels, she said, but that success could disappear with the virus surging again. In another lockdown, she said, “they’ll face a hard time again, and history will repeat just like last spring.”

If Airbnb goes public in the coming months, the company will have squeaked its offering in before a compensation deadline affecting many of its employees. Startups like Airbnb compensate workers, especially those who join in the earliest years, with potentially lucrative stock options and restricted stock units. But if a company waits too long to sell or go public, that equity can expire and become worthless. If Airbnb goes public before the end of the year, its employees will avoid losing a large tranche of equity that was set to start expiring next spring.

The IPO could also enrich Airbnb’s earliest backers, some of whom invested 12 years ago, while turning its founders into billionaires.

Airbnb has raised more than $3 billion in venture capital funding. Its largest shareholders include Silver Lake and Sixth Street, which invested in the company as the pandemic set in.

Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund and Accel also own sizable stakes.

Airbnb’s founders — Brian Chesky, who is the chief exe-

cutive, and Nathan Blecharczyk and Joe Gebbia — each own around 15% of its Class B shares. In a move that is common among Silicon Valley companies, the founders have carved out a special class of shares for themselves, which gives them 20 votes per share and disproportionate control of the company.

The three men founded Airbnb in 2008 after they rented out a spare room in their apartment to make extra money. That idea became a company, which has since expanded to 7 million listings in almost every country.

Airbnb’s website helped bring the world of short-term rentals, once limited to vacation homes and timeshares, into city apartments, country cabins, spare bedrooms and treehouses, while advertising a message of authentic travel and “living like a local.”

As it has grown, Airbnb has fought with regulators over the legality of letting people rent out their homes while communities have become increasingly agitated about the arrival of tourists, parties and even shootings in their neighborhoods.

Airbnb put its plan for a public listing on hold in March, when the pandemic spurred a flood of cancellations. The company laid off one-quarter of its roughly 7,600 workers and raised emergency funding. Between April and June, revenue fell to $335 million, from $1.2 billion a year earlier.

By July, bookings had bounced back as more people sought getaways in country homes. Between July and September, revenue was $1.3 billion, down from $1.6 billion a year earlier, though Airbnb delivered a profit of $219 million. It resumed work on its IPO.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

13 Stocks

S&P 500, Dow drop from record levels as coronavirus cases spike

W

all Street’s main indexes fell on Tuesday with the S&P 500 and the Dow retreating from record closing highs hit a day earlier, following disappointing retail sales data and a spike in COVID-19 cases across the country.

The Nasdaq’s losses were limited by a 7.6% jump in Tesla Inc’s TSLA.O shares on news the electric-car maker would join the benchmark S&P 500 in December.

The Dow finished about 50 points shy of 30,000 on Monday, after Moderna Inc’s MRNA.O promising COVID-19 vaccine data boosted hopes of an economic recovery.

Latest data showed U.S. retail sales increased less than expected in October and could slow further due to spiraling new infections and as additional fiscal support remained elusive.

New Jersey, California and Iowa imposed fresh restrictions as the pandemic reached its most perilous point yet in the United States, threatening to worsen as the colder weather sets in.

“We just reached new highs, so it’s natural for the market to take a breather, and the slightly disappointing read on the retail sales front is facilitating that,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing product at E*TRADE Financial Corp.

“And without stimulus checks coming in, there’s a bit of uncertainty in this sector in the short term.”

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday he hoped lawmakers could reach a deal on overall government funding by the week’s end and that the next few days could be decisive.

At 11:38 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 178.02 points, or 0.60%, to 29,772.42, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 13.38 points, or 0.37%, to 3,613.53 and the Nasdaq composite .IXIC lost 29.45 points, or 0.25%, to 11,894.68.

Financials .SPSY, industrials .SPLRCI and energy .SPNY stocks gave back some gains made over the last week as positive updates from U.S. vaccine trials encouraged investors to diversify into value stocks on hopes they will benefit from a pickup in the economy.

Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O rose 0.6% after it launched an online pharmacy for delivering prescription medications in the United States. Drug retailers such as Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc WBA.O tumbled 9%, while CVS Health Corp CVS.N fell 8% on the news.

Walmart Inc WMT.N posted a bigger-than-expected increase in quarterly same-store sales. Home improvement chain Home Depot Inc HD.N also beat quarterly sales and profit estimates.

However, shares of both the blue-chip stocks dipped after increasing by nearly a quarter this year.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers 1.1-to-1 on the NYSE; on Nasdaq, a 0.6-to-1 ratio favored decliners.

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14

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

Heavy rain and landslide warning as Hurricane Iota hits Nicaragua

Palm trees blown by strong wind in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, on Monday.

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

S

tretches of Central America braced for heavy rain, strong winds and flooding Tuesday morning as Hurricane Iota bore down on the region, the latest hurricane to strike the area in less than two weeks. Even as Iota weakened after making landfall overnight, the National Hurricane Center warned that it could have an outsized impact as it batters areas still recovering from Hurricane Eta this month.

Iota made landfall in northeastern Nicaragua at 10:40 p.m.

Eastern time Monday as a Category 4 storm, with wind speeds of up to about 155 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. With waters rising in the northeastern Nicaraguan city of Puerto Cabezas, hundreds of families evacuated from coastal communities as the storm ripped roofs from homes and hotels.

By Tuesday morning, Iota’s maximum wind speed had decreased to 85 mph and the storm had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane, although the hurricane center still warned of the storm’s danger. No major incidents or loss of life had been reported by Nicaraguan authorities as of early Tuesday, although infrastructure was damaged in some locations.

Even as the storm was expected to weaken further as it makes its way across Nicaragua, the hurricane center warned of “life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds, flash flooding and landslides” across parts of Central America.

Aid workers are struggling to reach communities that were cut off by washed-out bridges, downed trees and flooded roads from Eta, which made landfall this month about 15 miles from where Iota struck.

“Flooding and mudslides across portions of Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala could be exacerbated by Hurricane Eta’s recent effects there, resulting in significant to potentially catastrophic impacts,” the hurricane center said in an early morning advisory.

Iota was expected to move inland across Nicaragua during the morning and across southern Honduras by the evening. On Tuesday morning, the storm’s eye was about 15 miles northwest of El Pía, Nicaragua.

Philip Klotzbach, a research scientist at Colorado State University, said on Twitter that Iota was the strongest November hurricane on record to make landfall in Nicaragua.

Even before Iota made landfall, its winds blew the roof off a makeshift hospital in Puerto Cabezas that had been set up to treat people affected by Eta. Much of the city has been without power since 3 p.m. Monday.

Iota, which became a hurricane Sunday, is expected to produce up to 30 inches of rain as it moves farther inland across northern Nicaragua and into southern Honduras overnight into Wednesday.

It is also expected to raise water levels “as much as 5 to 10 feet above normal tide levels” along the coasts of both countries, the hurricane center said. Iota is forecast to dissipate over Central America by Wednesday night.

Dozens of Indigenous communities were evacuated throughout the weekend in Nicaragua and Honduras, where the military shared pictures on Twitter of soldiers helping people out of stilted wooden homes and carrying them to safety. One soldier stood in knee-deep water, holding a resident’s pink backpack in the same arm as his service weapon.

The storm is hitting a region still reeling from Hurricane Eta. Forecasters have warned that Iota could compound the destruction caused by Eta, which killed at least 140 people throughout Central America after making landfall as a Category 4 storm in Nicaragua.

In Puerto Cabezas, a Nicaraguan city where houses are cobbled together by wood, nails and zinc sheets, families have been sleeping amid the rubble left from the earlier storm. As waters rose Monday evening, hundreds of families were evacuated. On the eastern side of the city, high winds blew the roofs off some structures.

One resident, Maria Williams, 64, said that after Eta reduced her modest home to rubble, her children improvised a shelter in the same spot. But it was practically on the beach and directly in Iota’s line of fire. So she evacuated again, walking through debris left by the last storm to reach her sister’s home.

“This Hurricane Iota is a monster,” Williams said. “I no longer think I can survive if I stay in this house. I am afraid for myself and my grandchildren.”

Another resident, Rodolfo Altunes, said that he had planned to stay put while Iota hit, but that he and his wife had decided Monday night to evacuate, with their children in tow, because the wind and storm surges were so powerful.

Heavy rain caused by Hurricane Iota flooded streets in Cartagena, Colombia, after intensifying on Sunday.

Two hours after leaving, he learned that his home had been destroyed.

“I am fortunate,” he said. “God loved me.”

Iota leaves flooding behind in Colombia.

Before sweeping into Nicaragua, Iota clipped two Colombian islands that lie east of Central America’s coastline.

Photos taken on the islands, San Andrés and Providencia, showed trees bending under fierce winds. Colombian officials and news reports said that both islands had suffered electricity blackouts.

President Iván Duque said Monday that communication with Providencia had been “very bad” because of failures in the telecommunications network, and that the Colombian military was among the agencies helping with the relief effort.

Video footage from Cartagena, a city on the country’s Caribbean coast, showed people wading cautiously through flooded streets alongside half-submerged boats.

Speaking from Cartagena, Duque said that relief workers would set off for Providencia on Tuesday if conditions allowed, and that rescue personnel planned to distribute 15 tons of humanitarian aid to the archipelago that includes San Andrés and Providencia.

“We’re here with a committed team of brave and patriotic Colombians who are working to deal with this emergency,” Duque said, flanked by relief workers in surgical masks and matching jackets.

As of Tuesday morning, a tropical storm warning was in effect for both islands.

The storm complicates efforts to combat the coronavirus.

The responses to Iota, and Eta before it, have been complicated by the coronavirus pandemic as people fleeing unsafe conditions make their way into crowded shelters where the disease can easily spread.

While outbreaks in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Honduras have been smaller than those elsewhere in the region, the hurricane could lead to an uptick in transmission. Natural disasters, paired with the ongoing pandemic response, have proved challenging elsewhere this year, and the impact could be more severe in underserved rural communities.

Sofía Letona, director of Antigua to the Rescue, an aid group in Guatemala that has distributed food and medicine to hundreds of people displaced by Eta, said that her group had set up makeshift clinics in remote areas. But aid workers found widespread illness among those who had fled their homes, including gastritis, fungal infections and infected mosquito bites. Some said they had headaches, a cough and flu-like symptoms — all possible signs of the coronavirus.

The hurricanes may intensify the spread of the virus as people crowd into shelters and interact for the first time with aid workers and others from outside their isolated villages. The government provided masks in some shelters, aid workers said, but many others offered no form of protection against the virus.

“More than a risk, it’s a certainty that there will be some kind of massive contagion in rural shelters,” Letona said.

As Iota moves inland, communities scramble to prepare.

Iota is expected to produce up to 30 inches of rain in some areas of Nicaragua and Honduras through Friday, and intense rainfall could lead to significant flash flooding and mudslides in higher elevations.

Continues on page 15

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

15

Peru chooses 3rd president in a week amid street protests

By JULIE TURKEWITZ and ANATOLY KURMANAEV

P

eru’s legislature on Monday selected the country’s third president in a week, seeking to stanch growing street protests over lawmakers’ decision to remove a popular president from office last week.

Addressing the nation, the country’s newest leader, Francisco Sagasti promised to help the country move away from bitterness and “toward a moment of happiness, of hope.”

But the decision to name Sagasti, an engineer, academic and first-time legislator, as the country’s new president was not expected to immediately quell popular anger at the country’s lawmakers.

Many in Peru see the legislators as venal, corrupt — and responsible for adding political turmoil to the economic and public health crises the country was already facing.

The problem Peruvians confront now is that the same deeply unpopular and inexperienced Congress is charged with moving the country beyond these emergencies.

“God willing, they have finally chosen a better leader,” said Eduardo Carita, 47, walking toward Congress on Monday to join a protest just before the announcement, “but truthfully I have little faith in them.”

Peru’s political tensions erupted into open conflict last week, when Congress relied on an archaic constitutional clause to remove Martín Vizcarra, a well-liked president, for “moral incapacity,” just five months before new elections.

Vizcarra had earned the support of a majority of Peruvians — and the enmity of much of the legislature — by leading efforts to clean up the country’s notoriously corrupt establishment. About half of Congress is under investigation for crimes that include bribery and money laundering.

His unexpected removal from office, and the swift swearing in of a new president, Manuel Merino, the head of Congress, left Peruvians suffering from a severe economic downturn, and from one of the world’s highest coronavirus death rates, in the hands of a leader few knew or trusted.

The population poured its anger into the streets, and Merino resigned after less than six full days in office. At least two people died during protests over the weekend.

The police stood guard in front of Peru’s Congress in Lima after interim President Manuel Merino announced his resignation on Sunday.

Sagasti, who is also unknown to most Peruvians, is among the few politicians who voted against Vizcarra’s ouster last week, which may win him favor in the eyes of many Peruvians.

But he now faces the task of working with Congress, a 130-person unicameral body made up mostly of first-time lawmakers.

Approximately 68 of the 130 legislators are under investigation for activities that include fraud and other types of corruption.

One lawmaker is accused of homicide, with a trial set for later this month. Another is accused of running under an assumed name to hide her past legal trouble.

Yet another made headlines this week, shortly after Vizcarra’s ouster, when she accidentally said she would continue to work “in favor of corruption.” (She quickly corrected herself to say that she would work against wrongdoing.)

Peru’s Congress has become a “a Molotov cocktail,” built on unstable ingredients mixed together from years of misguided policy, said Hugo Ñopo, a senior researcher at the Lima-based think tank Grade.

The first ingredient, Ñopo said, was a weak and fragmented party system that encouraged politicians to shift alliances to suit their interests, instead of following ideologies.

The second was the lack of stringent limits on campaign financing, allowing businesses to pour money into candidates and buy influence. And the third was a 2018 referendum, passed by voters, that limited congressional service to a single term.

That last measure was meant to help remove bad actors from politics, said Ñopo. Instead, those now in office “have fewer incentives to create stability or to make good judgments,” he said. “In fact, they now have more incentive to steal more quickly.”

Alexandra Ames, a political analyst in Lima, said the events of the past few days are just one symptom of a larger problem.

“The precariousness of our electoral system and our political parties have brought us to permanent crisis of legitimacy,” she said.

In the last four years, the country has witnessed five attempts to remove the president, one successful attempt to dissolve the congress, and four presidents.

Part of the problem, Ames said, is that Peruvian law allows anyone to run for Congress, with no restrictions based on criminal records. Once elected, lawmakers gain immunity from prosecution, she added.

Now, she said, with just one term in office, lawmakers have all the incentives to spend their limited time pushing through personal agendas instead of governing. “The incentives are very short term and egoistical.”

The Constitutional Court, which is meant to provide the last line of defense in times of political crisis, has been conspicuously silent during the past weeks’ political battles, Ames said.

When asked why, she pointed out that its members are elected by Congress.

What is perhaps most notable about the events of the last few days is that politicians appear to have actually listened to protesters. Many of them were young people who have lost work or have been forced to drop out of school amid the pandemic.

On Monday, just before lawmakers voted for Sagasti, Silvia Miranda, 52, stood on the street by the congressional building, where she changes money for a living.

“The 105 members of Congress who voted in favor of removing the president weren’t thinking about Peruvians,” she said. “Congress has fooled us, the adults. But it won’t be able to fool the young people.”

Heavy rain and landslide warning as Hurricane Iota hits Nicaragua From page 14 The storm is also expected to raise water levels in some places by as much as 15 to 20 feet above normal levels, and large destructive waves are expected to accompany the surge. As the storm moved west Tuesday, patches of both nations’ coastlines were under hurricane or tropical storm warnings.

Dozens of Indigenous communities were evacuated throughout the weekend in Nicaragua and Honduras.

President Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras said Monday that soldiers were among many personnel in the country, including firefighters and police officers, who had been activated to prepare for Iota’s arrival. He added that people in the storm’s

path would receive cellphone messages advising them of risks and evacuation plans.

“The first and most important thing is to save lives,” he said.

The most active hurricane season on record is not over yet.

The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, which is set to end Nov. 30, has had 30 named storms, 13 of them hurricanes. And six of those hurricanes were considered “major”— Eta and Iota among them — meaning Category 3 or higher.

Meteorologists, having exhausted the 21-name list prepared for each hurricane season, turned to the Greek alphabet to name the further new systems. The last time the Greek alphabet

was used was in 2005, when 28 storms were strong enough to be named.

This year, storms began two weeks before the Atlantic hurricane season officially kicked off, with the formation of Tropical Storm Albert in mid-May. In August, midway through the season, scientists upgraded their outlook to say that 2020 would be “one of the most active seasons” and that they expected up to 25 named storms by the time it was over.

By November, even that upgraded expectation was exceeded.

Before Iota hit Nicaragua on Monday, there was Theta, the season’s 29th named storm. It broke the annual record set in 2005, the year that Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

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Wednesday, November 18, 2020

As Brazil’s COVID crisis eases, Bolsonaro sees rising popularity

By ERNESTO LONDOÑO, MANUELA ANDREONI and LETICIA CASADO

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resident Jair Bolsonaro seemed to be on a political suicide mission during the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis in Brazil.

As the daily death toll turned Brazil into one of the epicenters of the pandemic, he openly dismissed the loss of life as inevitable and lashed out against social distancing.

A judge ordered the president to wear a mask, a measure Bolsonaro was reluctant to follow, claiming that his “athletic background” would guarantee a prompt recovery.

With the economy in a tailspin, the far-right president picked fights with Congress, powerful governors and even some of his most popular ministers.

His cavalier conduct generated talk of impeachment, of an institutional breakdown and even of an eventual prosecution at The Hague.

Now, with Brazil’s caseload and death toll down significantly since peaking in July, Bolsonaro’s popularity is starting to rise. Yet the easing of the pandemic came largely because Brazilians did not follow his lead.

Bolsonaro’s strengthened standing among the electorate stands in contrast to other leaders in the region who heeded the scientific consensus about lockdowns, social distancing and masks, and have seen their popularity de-

The burial of a person who died of the coronavirus in São Paulo on July 7, 2020. Brazil’s coronavirus death rate peaked in late July, sometimes surpassing 1,200 daily fatalities.

cline.

Feeling emboldened, Bolsonaro chided the press last week for continuing to focus on the pandemic, which has killed more than 163,000 people in Brazil.

“I regret the deaths, but we need to be done with this thing,” an exasperated Bolsonaro said during a Nov. 10 event at the presidential palace. “We need to stop being a country of sissies.”

Far from facing impeachment, Bolsonaro — who has always been a deeply polarizing figure in Brazil — now has his highest approval rates since taking office in January 2019. While roughly a third of Brazil’s electorate sided with him back in May, that figure rose to 40% in September.

In neighboring Argentina, by comparison, President Alberto Fernández, who imposed among the strictest lockdowns in the world, saw his approval rate crash from 57% in March to 37% last month. President Sebastián Piñera of Chile and Iván Duque of Colombia have also faced falling approval ratings after bumps of support early in the pandemic.

Bolsonaro’s rising political fortunes came as Brazilians adhered to mask wearing guidelines and quarantine measures — despite his open hostility to them — that eased the severity of the virus. Warmer weather, which allowed people to spend less time indoors, further reduced the contagion.

The effects of business shutdowns and quarantines were softened by a generous cash assistance program Congress had passed. Bolsonaro also has claimed credit for that outcome, even though he had initially favored significantly smaller handouts.

Jairo Nicolau, a political scientist who recently published a book about Brazil’s political rightward shift, said Bolsonaro appeared to be hopelessly isolated when the virus was ripping through the country starting in March.

But his political instincts and tactics have often been underestimated, Nicolau argued. And like President Donald Trump, he said, Bolsonaro has managed to bypass mainstream press outlets to reach his base of supporters.

“Bolsonaro has a very loyal electorate, quite similar to Trump’s, and has forged a strong emotional bond with them,” he said. “I don’t think that Bolsonaro is a great strategic thinker, but he has demonstrated a kind of intelligence, an ability to capture people’s mood in any given moment, and play it right. He is no fool.”

Bolsonaro’s office did not respond to questions for

this article. In a recent interview, Vice President Hamilton Mourão said the government could have done a better job providing guidelines on prevention measures early in the pandemic. But he argued that much of the criticism the government received for its handling of the pandemic was “politicized” and that some of the most dire predictions did not come to pass.

“The health system was able to cope efficiently,” he said. “There were fears that people would end up dying in hospital hallways and that people would die on the streets and that never happened.”

Experts said Bolsonaro’s surprising political strength might be temporary. In municipal elections held Sunday, several of the candidates he backed did poorly. He faces formidable challenges, including a corruption investigation targeting one of his sons and other relatives, the looming end of cash payments that have kept Brazilians afloat as the economy contracts, and the pandemic that continues to kill hundreds of Brazilians per day.

Dr. Fátima Marinho, a public health researcher at Vital Strategies, a global public health organization, said that while Brazil had so far avoided a new wave of cases, a smattering of upticks in certain states were cause for concern.

“All the models point to a reduction,” she said. “But we’re anticipating problems in certain cases as we start to see very concrete signs” of a resurgence.

Eager to change the subject, Bolsonaro this week turned his attention to the U.S. presidential election. Bolsonaro, who openly rooted for Trump, whom he idolizes, is among the few leaders in the region that has not congratulated President-elect Joe Biden or even acknowledged his victory.

The Brazilian president and Biden have traded barbs over Brazil’s environmental policy and the future of the Amazon, which has experienced a rise in deforestation on Bolsonaro’s watch. During a debate, Biden warned that Brazil would face economic consequences if it doesn’t rein in the destruction of the rainforest. His campaign plan on climate change promised to “name and shame global climate outlaws.”

Bolsonaro has signaled little interest in striking a more cordial tone with the incoming U.S. president. During a speech, he said his country would give diplomacy a try to fend off American plans for the Amazon. But failing that, he said, Brazil would respond with “gunpowder.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

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Vaccine unproven? No problem in China, where people scramble for shots

By SUI-LEE WEE and ELSIE CHEN

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than Zhang needed to get back to work. Work was in Ivory Coast, however, and since January the global coronavirus outbreak had stranded the 26-year-old translator in mainland China.

Then friends told Zhang of a way he could get his hands on what might be the world’s most coveted prize: a coronavirus vaccine. Though China’s vaccine candidates have not formally been proved safe or effective, officials have been injecting them into thousands of people across the country, ostensibly under an emergency-use policy. One such campaign, his friends said, was underway in the city of Yiwu in eastern China.

Zhang took a plane to Yiwu from Beijing that night. He stood in line for four hours outside a hospital. He paid $30. He got his shot.

And he expressed little worry that the substance that had been injected into his arm is still in the testing phase, an attitude that is stirring worry among global health experts.

“I feel more relieved now that I have protection,” Zhang said. “Since they’ve started using it on some people on an emergency-use basis, it shows that there’s a certain guarantee.”

China has made its unproven candidates widely available to demonstrate their safety and effectiveness to a country that has long been skeptical of vaccines after a spate of quality scandals. Government officials and top pharmaceutical executives speak proudly of being inoculated.

The campaign has succeeded perhaps too well.

Yiwu’s 500 doses were consumed within hours. Other cities are limiting doses or asking people to show proof that they are traveling. The overwhelming demand has inspired a cottage industry of scalpers — called “yellow cows” in China, the people who usually score the newest iPhones or hot railway tickets — charging as much as $1,500 for an appointment.

Those users could be taking big risks. People who have taken ineffective vaccines might believe they are safe and engage in risky behavior. They can be barred from taking another, better vaccine because they have already been injected. In a few cases in the past, unproven vaccines have caused health risks.

The potential problems often go undiscussed.

Copies of the vaccination consent forms for one candidate that were reviewed by The New York Times did not specify that the product was still in testing.

“These kinds of risks have not been clearly revealed,” said Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on health care in China.

Any reports of deaths or illness could reignite mistrust in vaccines. China spent years vowing to

Samples of a potential Sinopharm vaccine for Covid-19 in April. China’s vaccine candidates haven’t formally been proved safe or effective, but thousands of people have been injected with them. clean up its vaccine industry after scandals.

“We risk losing confidence in people if indeed adverse effects occur,” said Kristine Macartney, director of the National Center for Immunization Research and Surveillance in Sydney.

It is unclear how many people have already received a vaccine candidate. China has made three of its four candidates in late-stage human testing, called Phase 3 trials, available to tens of thousands of employees at state-owned businesses, government officials and company executives since July. Once Phase 3 trials are complete, the companies would submit results to the regulators of the countries that they want to sell their vaccines in. Authorities would review and assess them for approval.

Local governments have indicated that they plan to make the current vaccines available to more people. Beijing says it is keeping tabs on those who have been given the vaccines but has not disclosed any details.

Chinese officials have defended making vaccine candidates available. Zheng Zhongwei, a top official at China’s National Health Commission, said last month that the move was a “very necessary means

of protecting peoples’ lives and health,” given outbreaks abroad. Last week, Sinopharm’s chairman, Liu Jingzhen, announced that some 100,000 people have taken the company’s vaccine and none have shown any adverse reactions so far. He said that 56,000 of them had traveled abroad after taking the vaccine and none had been infected.

China’s drive has taken nationalistic overtones, with many celebrating the fact that the country has candidates in late-stage trials.

The early releases have helped highlight one potential problem: deploying an approved vaccine.

Demand is so high that the government and companies could struggle with distribution both at home and in other countries that Beijing has promised the treatment to.

Wendy Zhang, 26, a medical worker from the eastern city of Jinan, said she had to wait 57 days to get her second shot of a vaccine in October because the candidates had run out. She said she had felt relieved after getting it.

“There has been no adverse reaction after the vaccination, indicating that the safety of the vaccine developed by China is beyond doubt,” Zhang said.

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Wednesday, November 18, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL

COVID, climate and the power of denial benefits would be widely distributed across time and space. How do you get people in Texas to accept even a small rise in costs now when the he 2020 election is over. And the big winpayoff includes, say, a reduced probability of desners were the coronavirus and, quite possitructive storms a decade from now and half the bly, catastrophic climate change. world away?

OK, democracy also won, at least for now.

This indirectness made many of us pessiBy defeating Donald Trump, Joe Biden pulled us mistic about the prospects for climate action. But back from the brink of authoritarian rule.

COVID-19 suggests that we weren’t pessimistic But Trump paid less of a penalty than exenough. pected for his deadly failure to deal with COAfter all, the consequences of irresponsiVID-19, and few down-ballot Republicans seem ble behavior during a pandemic are vastly more to have paid any penalty at all. As a headline in obvious and immediate than the costs of climate The Washington Post put it, “With pandemic inaction. Gather a bunch of unmasked people inraging, Republicans say election results validate doors — say, in the Trump White House — and their approach.” you’re likely to see a spike in infections just a few And their approach, in case you missed it, has been denial and a refusal to take even the President Donald Trump takes part in a briefing on wildfires at the Sacra- weeks later. This spike will take place in your own most basic, low-cost precautions — like requiring mento McClellan Airport in McClellan Park, Calif., Sept. 14, 2020. “The neighborhood, quite possibly affecting people you know. that people wear masks in public.

2020 election is over.

Furthermore, it’s a lot easier to discredit COThe epidemiological consequences of this VID deniers than it is to discredit climate-change cynical irresponsibility will be ghastly. I’m not sure how many people realize just how terrible this win- this means that we may be looking at a daily death toll deniers: All you have to do is point out the many, many ter is going to be. in the thousands by the end of the year. And remember, times these deniers falsely asserted that the disease was Deaths from COVID-19 tend to run around three many of those who survive COVID-19 nonetheless suffer about to go away. weeks behind new cases; given the exponential growth permanent health damage.

So getting people to act responsibly on the coin cases since the early fall, which hasn’t slowed at all, To be fair, the vaccine news has been very good, ronavirus should be much easier than getting action and it looks likely that we’ll finally bring the pandemic on climate change. Yet what we see instead is widesunder control sometime next year. But we could suffer pread refusal to acknowledge the risks, accusations hundreds of thousands of American deaths, many of that cheap, common-sense rules like wearing masks them avoidable, before the vaccine is widely distributed. constitute “tyranny,” and violent threats against public Awful as the pandemic outlook is, however, what officials.

So what do you think will happen when the Biden worries me more is what our failed response says about PO BOX 6537 Caguas PR 00726 prospects for dealing with a much bigger issue, one that administration tries to make climate a priority?

Telephones: (787) 743-3346 • (787) 743-6537 The one mitigating factor about the politics of cliposes an existential threat to civilization: climate change.

(787) 743-5606 • Fax (787) 743-5100 As many people have noted, climate change is an mate policy I can see is that unlike fighting a pandemic, inherently difficult problem to tackle — not economica- which is mainly about telling people what they can’t do, it should be possible to frame at least some climate lly, but politically.

Right-wingers always claim that taking climate se- action as carrots rather than sticks: investing in a green riously would doom the economy, but the truth is that at future and creating new jobs in the process, rather than this point the economics of climate action look remarka- simply requiring that people accept new limits and pay Publisher bly benign. Spectacular progress in renewable energy higher prices.

This is, by the way, possibly the biggest reason to technology makes it fairly easy to see how the economy Manuel Sierra Ray Ruiz hope that Democrats win those Georgia runoffs. Climate can wean itself from fossil fuels.

A recent analysis by the General Manager Legal Notice Director International Monetary Fund suggests that a “green in- policy really needs to be sold as part of a package that frastructure push” would, if anything, lead to faster eco- also includes broader investment in infrastructure and María de L. Márquez Sharon Ramírez Business Director Legal Notices Graphics Manager job creation — and that just won’t happen if Mitch Mcnomic growth over the next few decades.

But climate action remains very difficult politically Connell is still able to blockade legislation.

R. Mariani Elsa Velázquez Obviously we need to keep trying to head off a given (a) the power of special interests and (b) the indiCirculation Director Editor / Reporter climate apocalypse — and no, that’s not hyperbole. But rect link between costs and benefits.

Consider, for example, the problem posed by even though the 2020 election wasn’t about climate, it Lisette Martínez María Rivera Advertising Agency Director Graphic Artist Manager methane leaks from fracking wells. Better enforcement was to some degree about the pandemic — and the reto limit these leaks would have huge benefits — but the sults make it hard to be optimistic about the future.

By PAUL KRUGMAN

T

Dr. Ricardo Angulo

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

19

Inicia el Primer Estudio de Seroprevalencia del COVID-19 en la isla Por THE STAR

E

l Departamento de Salud junto al Puerto Rico Public Health Trust (PRPHT) y el Puerto Rico Hurricane Hub (PRHRH), ambos adscritos al Fideicomiso para Ciencia Tecnología e Investigación de Puerto Rico (FCTIPR), anunciaron este martes, la realización del primer estudio de seroprevalencia del COVID-19 en Puerto Rico.

“Este estudio representa una oportunidad única para Puerto Rico ya que nos permitirá conocer cómo se comporta el COVID-19 en la población y sus respectivas comunidades. Esto nos dará las herramientas para prevenir los contagios con estrategias definidas por regiones” expresó Lorenzo González, secretario del Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico en comunicación escrita.

“Es un proyecto ambicioso que requiere de la cooperación de la comunidad y confiamos en tener la colaboración de los residentes seleccionados en la encuesta”, añadió.

Este estudio se hará a través de una encuesta de Evaluación Comunitaria para la Respuesta a Emergencias de Salud Pública (CASPER, por sus siglas en inglés) modificada; y contará con muestra aleatoria de personas en las siete (7) regiones del Departamento de Salud en 64 municipios de la Isla.

La seroprevalencia es la detección de anticuerpos contra el SARS-CoV-2 en la sangre de una persona, lo que indica que probablemente fue infectada en algún momento desde que inicio la pandemia. Los estudios de seroprevalencia se pueden utilizar para proporcionar estimaciones de la infección del COVID19; basadas en la población, que incluyen personas que tenían una infección leve o asintomática o que nunca se hicieron una prueba a pesar de tener síntomas.

Esta evaluación, diseñada por los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades (CDC), permite al Departamento de Salud y a la comunidad científica, determinar rápidamente cuál es el estatus de salud y las necesidades básicas de la comunidad para priorizar soluciones y tomar decisiones basadas en datos.

El Proyecto CASPER se hará en dos etapas, basado en la selección aleatoria de viviendas, dentro de cada una de las siete (7) regiones de salud.

La primera etapa establecerá una línea base de la seroprevalencia en la población y describirá el perfil sociodemográfico de los casos positivos y negativos, así como la distribución geoespacial de los casos de COVID-19.

La segunda etapa, se realizará tres meses después del primer CASPER, en la misma población y se hará la misma encuesta para establecer una comparación de la seroprevalencia durante este periodo. Esto permitirá estimar la magnitud de la propagación de la infección por COVID-19 en Puerto Rico e identificar las áreas de la población que requieren estrategias de prevención e implementación de controles rápidos.

Por su parte, Leslie Maas Cortés, directora del Puerto Rico Hurricane Hub, entidad que lidera este proyecto, destacó la importancia de que la comunidad participen en este estudio si son visitados. “No podemos conocer como se comporta el virus sino tenemos datos.

El COVID-19 es una enfermedad nueva mundialmente y tenemos que estudiarlo para darle visibilidad a nuestros científicos y profesionales de salud y así puedan tomar las medidas atinadas para contrarrestar el contagio”.

Beneficios del Proyecto CASPER La realización de este proyecto representa una oportunidad única para Puerto Rico y sus comunidades que permitirá: Conocer de primera mano cómo se comporta el virus regionalmente para establecer estrategias específicas por ju-

risdicción con el fin de manejar las pandemias municipales y frenar el contagio.

Educar e informar a los participantes sobre el COVID-19, el contagio comunitario y las medidas de prevención que deben aplicar para prevenir la propagación del virus.

Empoderamiento de las comunidades para que sean parte de la solución, aprendan a convivir con el virus y contribuyan a combatir el COVID-19 en Puerto Rico.

“La encuesta CASPER es de gran utilidad porque se puede aplicar para una variedad de entornos; incluyendo desastres y otras situaciones. Esta metodología nos permite conocer las necesidades de la comunidad y el estado de salud de las personas que la integran”, indicó Diego E. Zavala, catedrático de la Universidad de las Ciencias de la Salud de Ponce. “El valor de este CASPER modificado es que estimará la prevalencia del COVID-19 en Puerto Rico, permitiéndonos enfocar estrategias de salud pública en nuestras comunidades” puntualizó.

Logística del Proyecto CASPER En cada región de Salud se seleccionarán 33 conglomerados de hogares, utilizando bloques censales como primeras unidades de muestreo.

Dentro de cada conglomerado se seleccionarán siete hogares al azar y dentro del hogar se entrevistará a un adulto seleccionado al azar utilizando un cuestionario prediseñado.

Se recogerá una muestra de sangre del adulto seleccionado para compro-

bar la presencia del virus SARS-CoV-2, mediante métodos de laboratorio establecidos.

Se seleccionarán hasta tres residentes, mayores de 11 años adicionales en el hogar (al azar, si el tamaño de la familia es mayor de cuatro), para recoger muestras de sangre.

Se seleccionará un total de 231 hogares utilizando la metodología CASPER para un total de 1,617 hogares en la encuesta y un máximo de 6,468 muestras de sangre recogidas (un máximo de 4 muestras por hogar).

Los municipios que no participaran en el proyecto CASPER son: Adjuntas, Arroyo, Comerio, Corozal, Jayuya, Juana Díaz, Lajas, Lares, Las Marías, Las Piedras, Loíza, Quebradillas y Rincón.

Este proyecto se extenderá por nueve días en dos etapas: noviembre 2020 y febrero 2021.

La información de ambas encuestas y los resultados de todas las pruebas serológicas se pondrán a disposición de todos los interesados incluida la remisión para tratamiento e información sobre los protocolos de seguridad para prevenir la infección de los casos positivos. Todos los casos positivos serán remitidos al Sistema Municipal de Investigación de Casos y Rastreo de Contactos (SMICRC) del Departamento de Salud.

Esta iniciativa está auspiciada por el Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico a través de los fondos CARES Act y está compuesta por un grupo de expertos de distintas organizaciones como lo son: el Puerto Rico Public Health Trust, Puerto Rico Hurricane Hub, Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust, Ponce Health Sciences University, Departamento de Salud y el CDC, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Ciencias Médicas, Agencia Estatal para el Manejo de Emergencias y Administración de Desastres (NMEAD), Laboratorios Toledo, Laboratorio Inno Diagnostics, Cruz Roja de Puerto Rico, entre otras.

Para más información sobre el Proyecto CASPER acceda a: https://sites.google.com/view/casperpr/inicio Para conocer los servicios del Hurricane Hub acceda a nuestro portal https:// prsciencetrust.org/prhrh/. Solicite su entrenamiento de capacitación en desastres y varios temas relacionados, libre de costo, aquí: https://prsciencetrust.org/ asistencia-tecnica.

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Wednesday, November 18, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

When it comes to living with uncertainty, Michael J. Fox is a pro

By ELISABETH EGAN

T

wo years ago, Michael J. Fox had surgery to remove a benign tumor on his spinal cord. The actor and activist, who had been living with Parkinson’s disease for nearly three decades, had to learn to walk all over again.

Four months later, he fell in the kitchen of his Upper East Side home and fractured his arm so badly that it had to be stabilized with 19 pins and a plate. Mired in grueling, back-to-back recoveries, he started to wonder if he had oversold the idea of hope in his first three memoirs, “Lucky Man,” “Always Looking Up” and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future.”

“I had this kind of crisis of conscience,” Fox said during a video interview last month from his Manhattan office, where pictures of Tracy Pollan, his wife of 31 years, and his dog, Gus, hung behind him. “I thought, what have I been telling people? I tell people it’s all going to be OK — and it might suck!”

His solution was to channel that honesty into a fourth memoir, “No Time Like the Future,” which Flatiron is publishing on Nov. 17. For an example of his new outlook, consider his perspective on traveling by wheelchair.

“It can be a frustrating and isolating experience, allowing someone else to determine the direction I’m going and the rate of speed I can travel. The pusher is in charge,” Fox writes. “From the point of view of the occupant of the chair, it’s a world of asses and elbows. No one can hear me. To compensate, I raise my voice and suddenly feel like Joan Crawford in ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?,’ barking out orders.”

He continues: “Generally the person in control is a stranger, an airport or hotel employee. I’m sure that if we could look each other in the eye, we’d recognize our mutual humanity. But often in the wheelchair, I’m luggage. I’m not expected to say much. Just sit still.” Later, he adds, “No one listens to luggage.”

Before the spinal surgery, Fox was working on a book about golf. “Then life happened,” he said. “I started thinking about what it meant to be able to move and express myself physically, to have that taken

away. And then dealing with the surrender it takes to lie down and say, ‘Cut me open.’

I don’t know what that’s like for anybody else, but I can figure out what it’s like for me and write it down.”

“No Time Like the Future” does delve into Fox’s favorite sport, which he plays on Long Island with his “uncles” — George Stephanopoulos, Harlan Coben, Jimmy Fallon and Bill Murray — “who look past my difficulties in playing golf with Parkinson’s and embrace the truth that golf is hell for everyone.”

The book also explores Fox’s separate but equal relationships with his four adult children (he said they were on high alert for evidence of favoritism); his decision to stop acting (“not being able to speak reliably is a game-breaker for an actor”); why he recently got a turtle tattooed on the inside of his right forearm (“a visual record of the power of resiliency”); and perhaps most movingly, the gradual progression of his disease.

He writes, “Absent a chemical intervention, Parkinson’s will render me frozen, immobile, stone-faced, and mute — entirely of the mercy of my environment. For someone for whom motion equals emotion, vibrance and relevance, it’s a lesson in humility.”

For a certain consumer of Generation X pop culture, Michael J. Fox calls to mind “Family Ties” in prime time, “Back to the Future” in movie theaters, interviews in Tiger Beat. The energy that made him such a riveting presence onscreen comes through in his book. It even comes through in the time he is on my screen — where I’ve watched different incarnations of him all my life, only this time he’s talking just to me — to the point I’m worried about getting in trouble with his mama-bear publicist if I take up more than the agreed-upon amount of time.

The only pause in momentum comes when he talks about Pollan. “The book is a love letter to Tracy. She really got me through” — he swallows, shakes his head, holds up a hand — “everything.”

The guiding principle for “No Time Like the Future” was inspired by Fox’s brother-in-law, Michael Pollan, a fellow writer known for his books “The Botany of Desire” and “How to Change Your Mind.”

“He always says to me, ‘Velocity and truth.

Actor and author Michael J. Fox in New York, Oct. 15, 2020. In his fourth memoir, “No Time Like the Future,” Fox opens up about his newfound, uniquely upbeat brand of pessimism.

Velocity and truth. Keep it honest and keep it fast,’” Fox said. “I don’t want to be the guy who’s sitting on the pillow telling people, ‘Be the ball.’ I’m not going to tell anyone about anything other than my experience.

I’m 59 years old, and I got no time for small talk.”

A draft of the book was underway when Fox and his family relocated to their house in Quogue, New York, to ride out the early months of the pandemic. From there, he continued to work six days a week via FaceTime with his longtime producing partner, Nelle Fortenberry, who was in Sag Harbor. Eventually the team rented an office, where their process was the same as it had been for previous books: Fortenberry plastered a wall with index cards listing themes Fox wanted to cover. Under each one was another row of color-coded cards containing stories pertaining to each subject.

“The way I work is, I write notes no one can read and then I dictate them to Nelle,” Fox said.

Fortenberry elaborated in a phone interview: “Michael’s handwriting has never been good,” she said. “So he talks and I

type. I am not his ghostwriter or a co-writer.

He is the writer of this book.”

The two have collaborated together for 25 years — on books, films and projects for the Michael J. Fox Foundation, a Parkinson’s research and advocacy organization.

She first met Fox to talk about a job with his production company, a position she wasn’t even sure she wanted.

“Within five minutes, I could sense the deep friendship that would follow,” she said. “I don’t think I’d ever felt that way before, that sort of certainty you get when you meet your husband, or when you look at 50 houses and you finally walk into the one and you’re like, ‘Look no further. This is my house.’ I felt that way with Michael from the very beginning.”

People often ask Fox if he’s going to move back to Canada, or if he can help them make a move to Canada, where he was born and lived until he was 18. “I built a life here and became a citizen so I could vote,” he said. “And now I want to be here to help fix what’s going on. There’s a cleansing happening. Things are going to get better.”

These sound like the words of an optimist, don’t they? Fox laughed. “Optimism is informed hope,” he said. “You’ve been given something, you’ve accepted it and understood it, and then you have to pass it on.”

He does this through his foundation, which is now 20 years old and has funded more than $1 billion in Parkinson’s research.

“I’d hoped we’d be out of business by now,” he said. “I thought we’d find a cure — oil and dog hair will fix it, or something like that.”

Still, Fox writes in his book, “In the quest to cure Parkinson’s, we’re absolutely certain we’re the tip of the spear.”

In his epilogue, he looks back on the first wave of the pandemic. He describes the sound of neighbors banging pots, blowing whistles and ringing cowbells in honor of health care workers, “a band of thousands, sending a message of thanks out to the universe.” He recalls his father-in-law, Stephen Pollan, who died in 2018, and was known for his trademark assurance, “Just wait, kiddo. It gets better.”

Or, as Fox puts it, “With gratitude, optimism becomes sustainable.”

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

21

Academy Museum gives Debbie Reynolds her due as a costume conservator

By BROOKS BARNES

F

or decades, Debbie Reynolds begged Hollywood to help her preserve and exhibit her vast collection of golden age costumes. “These pieces are cultural touchstones that still carry the energy of the stars who performed in them,” she once said, referring to legends like Elizabeth Taylor and Judy Garland.

“There is magic in every thread, button and bow.”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences turned her down — five times. Reynolds quoted an uninterested David Geffen in her 2013 memoir as once saying, “Why don’t you just sell that stuff?”

In debt, she finally had no other choice, auctioning Marilyn Monroe’s ivory-pleated halter dress that blew upward in “The Seven Year Itch” for $4.6 million and Audrey Hepburn’s lace Royal Ascot number from “My Fair Lady” for $3.7 million — prices that shocked moviedom’s aristocracy and proved Reynolds had been right. Also sold, in some cases to anonymous overseas collectors, were Charlton Heston’s “Ben-Hur” tunic and cape, the acoustic guitar Julie Andrews strummed in “The Sound of Music,” and every hat that Vivien Leigh flaunted in “Gone With the Wind.”

Hollywood didn’t give a damn.

Now, four years after she died at 84, there has been a plot twist in the Debbie Reynolds costume collection saga, one that she would undoubtedly find both maddening and satisfying: The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, set to open April 30 and costing $482 million, finds itself caring about her collection — at least the part that is left, which includes iconic costumes she wore in movies like “Singin’ in the Rain.” Also remaining are screen garments created for Mary Pickford, Deborah Kerr and Cyd Charisse, as well as rare memorabilia from classics like “The Wizard of Oz” and “The Maltese Falcon.”

“There are still amazing pieces,” Bill Kramer, the museum’s director, said by phone. Reynolds passed the items to her son, Todd Fisher, a major collector in his own right, who has long focused on film cameras and lenses, or “cinema glass.” Fisher also inherited “Star Wars” memorabilia owned by his sister, Carrie Fisher, who died a day before their mother in 2016.

“I approached Todd about a year ago with the idea of naming our museum’s conservation studio after his mother, who was so key to our history, not only as an artist — acting, dancing, singing, her comedy — but also as a collector and preservationist,” Kramer said. “It turned into a conversation about how we might be able to work with Todd and the collection to bring Debbie’s legacy — and Todd’s and Carrie’s — into the museum in a tangible way.”

So far, Fisher has agreed to lend the Academy Museum one item from his own collection: a set of seven Bausch and Lomb Baltar lenses used by Gregg Toland, the fabled “Citizen Kane” cinematographer. But Fisher, 62, said more items would come, as long as the Debbie Reynolds Conservation Studio exists on the museum’s lower level next to the Shirley Temple Education Studio.

“My mother was one of the most forgiving people ever,” Fisher said. “She would never want me to hold a grudge just because I have knowledge of all the missed opportunities — how the people running the academy in the past were never willing

Todd Fisher, Debbie Reynolds’ son, surrounded by costumes from the late actress’s collection, in Las Vegas, Oct. 20, 2020. He has agreed to loan the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, one item from his own collection, but he said more would come as long as his mother’s legacy was being honored. to step up and support her. She would have wanted me to share these important artifacts with future generations. So, as long as they are properly recognizing my mother for her contribution to this discipline, I agreed to provide access to whatever I have access to.”

Fisher continued: “I’m still here, and I know where a lot of it is — where key pieces ended up. I’m still here, and I still have some of it.”

The academy, founded in 1927, started collecting films and materials related to them in 1929. Its vast holdings include more than 100,000 titles, including obscure documentaries and early American movies; roughly 10 million photographs; 80,000 screenplays; 50,000 posters; and tens of thousands of production and costume design drawings.

But the actual garments never ranked. Deborah Nadoolman Landis, founding director of the David C. Copley Center for Costume Design at the University of California, Los Angeles, pointed out that an Oscar was not awarded for the art until 1949, and costume designers were not able to secure their own membership branch within the academy until 2013.

“I think it was institutionalized sexism,” Landis said. “Our field was considered women’s work and treated with disrespect.”

Landis has been a member of the academy since 1988. Her costume design credits include “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (you can thank her for Indy’s fedora and jacket) and “Coming to America,”

for which she was nominated for an Oscar.

Kramer noted that the Academy Museum had recently purchased an array of costumes in private transactions, including Marlene Dietrich’s evening robe from “Blonde Venus” (1932), Gene Kelly’s sweater and slacks from “An American in Paris,” and a denim and flannel outfit worn by Kathy Bates in “Misery.”

Leonardo DiCaprio, Steven Spielberg and Terry Semel, the former Warner Bros. chief, teamed in 2012 to buy a pair of ruby slippers from “The Wizard of Oz” for the museum, which was then pointed toward an opening in 2017. (Four pairs, size 5, are known to survive.)

And some things have recently been gifted in full or part to the museum, including Bela Lugosi’s floor-length “Dracula” cape. (Museum conservators have worked to restore it. The black wool exterior and taupe silk crepe lining tore apart over the years, likely the result of changing humidity.) “It is important to us as a museum to be able to restore and safeguard this artifact, especially knowing that much of the material history of the classic horror cycle has been lost forever,” Jessica Niebel, exhibitions curator, said in a statement last year.

Props donated to the museum include one of the “Rosebud” sleds made for “Citizen Kane.” (Three were made. Two were burned during filming.) A full-scale fiberglass “Jaws” shark, salvaged from a junkyard in 2016 and restored, will be on display.

FASHION The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, March 4, 2020 18, 2020 Wednesday, November 20 22

The SanThe JuanSan Daily JuanStar Daily Star

‘Queen’s Gambit’ costumes make us want to toss our leggings Inspired by Edie Sedgwick, Jean Seberg, Pierre Cardin and Balenciaga, Binder created a dizzying array of looks that take Beth from her orphan days in Kentucky through her chess tournaments in Las Vegas, Paris and Moscow. No fewer than a dozen of her outfits contain geometric patterns mirroring the chessboard, but Binder would never do anything so obvious as to print a chessboard onto a top or a skirt.

Instead, for example, Beth tiptoed into the chess world with a simple checkered sleeveless dress over a fitted white button down that doesn’t veer far from the style at the time. She was trying desperately to find her own way in the fashion and chess

Anya Taylor-Joy as Beth Harmon, in a black and white shift dress.

By DANIELLE BRAFF

B

eth Harmon was facing a “sudden death” of sorts.

The fictional chess star overcame her childhood as an orphan, she battled her addiction to pills and alcohol, and she managed to make it into the world championship in Russia. The problem now? She had spent all her money on clothing and couldn’t afford her $3,000 trip to the biggest game of all time.

“You could give me the black dress,” Beth’s friend suggests on an episode of “The Queen’s Gambit.” “Or the purple one.”

Beth laughs and declines both offers.

In a field dominated by men, thick glasses and ill-fitting white button-down shirts, Beth Harmon is a sudden style idol.

Yes, she’s a character developed from Walter Tevis’ novel of the same name and now outfitted by Gabriele Binder on a hit Netflix series. But somehow, she may be able to broker an introduction from the chess world to the fashion world, an unlikely yet beautiful pairing.

“At first look, chess is not stylish and fashionable, but the players make choices on what they wear and why they wear it,” said Binder, speaking over Zoom from her home in Berlin, dressed in a simple black shirt from the waist upward, with no accessories. And these choices are important, she believes. “It brings them good luck or gives them a good experience.”

“The Queen’s Gambit” takes place in the 1960s, and at that time, there were only a few female American and Russian players who were in the major leagues. Binder looked back at the ways the men dressed, and they had a “geeky, nerdy fashion.” The women’s looks were similar. Beth, played by Anya Taylor-Joy is anything but nerdy. And this may be a game changer.

As it were.

“Chess will never be the same,” said Cathleen Sheehan, a professor and the acting chair of FIT’s Fashion Design MFA program in New York. “This story brings international glamour, humanity and relatable history to the game of chess. Each time the scene changed, I found myself excited to see what she’d be wearing next.”

Beth’s makeup, said the costume designer, Gabriele Binder, is exaggerated “to support that she’s really besides herself, not fitting into the idea of a chess player.

It was a kind of, ‘This is me, and I’m fragile.’”

Anya Taylor-Joy as Beth Harmon shopping in a pink and white coat. Her squares echo a chessboard pattern.

scene — and her outfit reflects this, Binder said. By the time the series finishes, Beth steps out in a white wool coat paired with a white hat totally on point for a chess queen.

There’s also the makeup, which helps transform Beth from an orphan into a high glam chess starlet, reflecting her state of mind along the way (like a floating eyeliner look to underscore a hangover). “It was exaggerated makeup to support that she’s really besides herself, not fitting into the idea of a chess player,” Binder said. “It was a kind of, ‘This is me, and I’m fragile.’”

Fragile, yet chic.

Jennifer Shahade, a two-time U.S. women’s chess champion, and women’s program director at US Chess in Philadelphia, said she always saw the game as a glamorous sport. Shahade was able to party with her peers on rest days; she left the country for the first time at age 15 to play a world youth championship in Brazil; and she celebrated her 16th birthday in Iceland for another chess excursion. It’s a side of chess that those on the outside of the game don’t necessarily ever get to see.

“The glamour fed into my work ethic and vice versa,” Shahade said. “The overlap between chess and glamour is not

new, but this is the first time I’ve seen it depicted so brilliantly onscreen, which takes it to an even higher level of imagination.”

While this may not be the first time chess has entered the fashion scene, this may be the largest move it has made.

In 2005, Alexander McQueen did a chess-inspired fashion show, during which a chessboard was projected onto the floor and each model represented a chess piece. Then, at New York Fashion Week in 2010, G-Star, the brand from Amsterdam, featured Magnus Carlsen, a grandmaster, playing a chess match before the runway show. G-Star also created an advertising campaign around Carlsen.

Still, fashion and chess never really gelled. The World Chess Hall of Fame teamed with the St. Louis Fashion Fund in 2018 to challenge newbie designers to create stylish chess outfits. Spoiler alert: Grandmasters continue to sport their usual simple black suits.

“Although top grandmasters dress up much better than let’s say 15 years ago, there is a way to go for U.S. top players like Fabiano Caruana and Hikaru Nakamura to be recognized as a style icon,” said Lennart Ootes, a chess photographer and broadcaster in Amsterdam. “Chess has been featured in countless movies and commercials as a metaphor for strategic decisions, but you will hardly see a chess player on a red carpet.”

Now that “The Queen’s Gambit” has arrived however, it appears that chess is having a fashion moment. In late November the exhibit “Keith Haring: Radiant Gambit” will open at the World Chess Hall of Fame. It will include Haring’s custom street art chess sets.

Also scheduled for a program at the Chess Hall of Fame is Michael Drummond, the St. Louis fashion designer featured on “Project Runway.” His exhibit, “Being Played,” looks at the effects of fashion and climate using figures from chess as a metaphor. (We’re here for the black minidress made entirely out of chess pieces.)

And now, costumes from “The Queen’s Gambit” can be viewed on a virtual exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum, which worked with Netflix to offer a closer look of outfits from the show, along with costumes from “The Crown.”

The bad news, however, is that none of these glamorous Queen’s Gambit costumes are available in stores. Binder made them all specifically for Beth, or purchased them from costume archives. So when it comes to shopping for them, it’s your move.

Plaid strategy: circle skirt confronts a jaunty fedora.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

23

How can my college student come home safely for Thanksgiving?

By TARA PARKER-POPE AND JULIE HALPERT

C

ollege students and their parents face a daunting challenge this Thanksgiving: How can students go home for the holiday without bringing the coronavirus with them?

The logistics of Thanksgiving break in the midst of a pandemic are tough. College campuses have emerged as hotbeds of infection in some parts of the country, accounting for more than 252,000 infections and at least 80 deaths. While students are at relatively low risk for complications related to COVID-19, the worry is that an asymptomatic student could unknowingly spread the virus home to vulnerable family members.

While some students plan to skip the family gathering, dorms are closing on some campuses, and many students are required to complete finals at home. Others will return to classes after the short break, making prolonged quarantines impossible.

Some colleges have been vigilant about controlling the virus through frequent testing, contact tracing and restrictions on students that have kept cases low. But other campuses have less rigorous testing programs or large numbers of students who aren’t taking the virus seriously.

“When college students come home, they’ve really got to be careful,” said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert. “It depends on where they’re coming from and what the level of infection is in the community they are in.”

To start, each family needs to decide how much risk a college student with an undiagnosed case of COVID-19 would pose to other family members.

“There is no right or wrong answer,” said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “It’s about the relative risk you’re willing to take. It depends on the contacts in the home you’re going to. If you have an immunosuppressed person or a grandfather who’s 92 years old, the risk is great. If you’re going into a home with a healthy 45-year-old father and mother and a brother and sister in their teens, the chances of there being a problem are much less.”

Here are answers to some common questions parents and students are asking about staying safe during Thanksgiving.

What can students do to lower risk before returning home?

Parents should have a heart-to-heart with their student about the risks of COVID-19 to family members. Don’t mince words. Ask students to

restrict contacts for at least a week before coming home.

“You approach it with empathy, concern and mutual respect,” said Dr. Asaf Bitton, executive director of Ariadne Labs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “You can say: ‘You’re coming home, and I want to ask you to commit to five or seven days before you come home.

Please don’t go to a bar. Please don’t go to a house party.’ ” Ian Zohn, 20, a junior at St. John’s University in Minnesota, has decided not to go home to his family in Warren, New Jersey, for Thanksgiving. He has six roommates who he says are careful, but in some classes, students aren’t wearing masks properly.

“It’s kind of a bummer that I don’t feel like it’s safe” to go home, Zohn said. “A lot of people are not willing to follow the rules. I’m not putting any of my family members or friends at risk.”

Should students get tested before leaving campus?

Yes. Many colleges are offering coronavirus tests to students before they leave campus. At Indiana University, for instance, all students can receive a free test the week before they leave for the holiday break.

Testing isn’t a guarantee that a student isn’t infected, because the tests are not always accurate, but a negative result makes it less likely. It’s also possible that a student who tests negative before leaving campus could pick up the virus on the way home. Despite those concerns, Fauci advises students to get tested before returning home.

How should students travel from campus to home?

If parents drive to pick up a student, or the student rides home with friends, all passengers in the car should wear a mask and ride with windows open if possible. If it’s too cold outside, open the windows at regular intervals to let out contaminated air. Make sure the heater or air conditioner is using outside air rather than recirculated air.

Students traveling on buses, trains or planes should keep their masks on as consistently as possible, wash hands frequently, sit near empty seats when possible and avoid crowded areas.

Should students isolate or wear masks when they get home?

While it’s optimal to quarantine for two weeks after arriving home, even a few days of isolation, avoiding close contact with family members and mask-wearing inside the home

Sofia Pelaez, a sophomore at Texas A&M, San Antonio, at her parents’ home in League City, Texas, Nov. 11, 2020. Pelaez decided to leave school early to return home after number of coronavirus cases began to increase in her dorm. lowers the risk that a student will unknowingly transmit the virus to others. If possible, a swab test after the student arrives home offers additional reassurance.

“After they’ve traveled, don’t hug and have them take a shower,” Bitton said. “Try to find a place in the house where they won’t be in superclose proximity, at least for the first couple of days. If there’s a person who has high-risk health issues in the house, maybe everyone wears a mask for the first couple days.”

If possible, designate a bathroom to be used only by the student to further reduce household risk. Open windows throughout the home to improve ventilation.

Sofia Pelaez, 21, left her Texas A&M University, San Antonio, campus three weeks earlier than planned to travel to her home in League City, Texas, because cases in her dorm were on the rise, but she worried about putting her mother, who has high blood pressure, at risk. “I feel like if something would happen to her, it would be my fault,” Pelaez said.

She minimized contacts at school and was tested two days before leaving campus. On the long bus ride home she wore a mask and wiped down her seat. (The bus company kept the seat near her empty.) She even changed her clothes at

the bus station after she arrived. She was tested again in League City and wore a mask at home until she got the negative results.

We have students coming home from different colleges. Can they quarantine together?

If possible, siblings returning home from different campuses should isolate in separate rooms rather than staying together, particularly if they haven’t been tested. You don’t want one infected student exposing a sibling who didn’t bring the virus home.

Cathy Neumann, who lives in Downers Grove, Illinois, has three adult children attending three different schools — Iowa State University, Western Michigan University and Illinois State University. All three students will be tested before returning home, but she knows they may not have the results before they enter the house.

“If one of the kids is positive, we do have the option of them sleeping in our camper on the driveway, or we have enough hotel points to book a hotel room for them,” she said. “We haven’t really talked about that though. The boys also live in a house off campus, so if they’re positive we could also say, ‘Nope, you can’t come home.’ But I will seriously cry for days if that happens.”

What can I do to lower risks during the holiday meal?

The safest plan is to move your celebration outdoors. If that’s not possible, open windows and turn on exhaust fans. Give college students their own serving spoons and have them keep some distance during the meal.

A computer simulation from Japanese researchers suggests that the seating arrangement at the table can affect risk: It’s best to avoid sitting next to or directly across from a person who might be infected. The person seated at a diagonal from the infected person is at lowest risk.

When you’re not eating or drinking, wear a mask.

What should I do if all these precautions aren’t possible?

Every small precaution you take lowers risk. Just do your best.

“Sometimes our public health recommendations don’t reflect the complex reality of people’s lives,” said Julia Marcus, an infectious disease public health researcher at Harvard Medical School. “That’s not a reason to not try to mitigate risk in small ways. Some combination of testing before travel, mitigating risk during travel and then trying to keep some distance, wearing masks at least a few days after arriving — those can all add up to some amount of risk reduction.”

24 T/C/C SECRETARY OF HOUSING AND ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE URBAN DEVELOPMENT PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUOF WASHINGTON PERIOR DE CAGUAS. (HUD) POR SÍ Y EN BANCO POPULAR DE REPRESENTACIÓN PUERTO RICO DE ESTADOS UNIDOS PARTE DEMANDANTE VS. DE AMERICA a las EL SECRETARIO siguientes direcciones: DE LA VIVIENDA Y 235 CALLE FEDERICO DESARROLLO URBANO COSTA STE 200, SAN T/C/C SECRETARY JUAN, PR 00918-1341; OF HOUSING AND THE ASSOCIATE URBAN DEVELOPMENT GENERAL COUNSEL OF WASHINGTON FOR LITIGATION, (HUD) POR SI Y EN OFFICE OF LITIGATION REPRESENTACIÓN - ROOM 10258, U.S. DE ESTADOS UNIDOS DEPARTMENT OF DE AMÉRICA; HOUSING AND URBAN DORAL FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT, 451 7TH, CORPORATION H/N/C HF. ST SW, WASHINGTON DC MORTGAGE BANKERS 20410-0001, ATTORNEY POR CONDUCTO GENERAL OF THE DE SU AGENTE UNITED STATES AT RESIDENTE; FEDERAL WASHINGTON, DISTRICT DEPOSIT INSURANCE OF ÇOLUMBIA, 950 CORPORATION (FDIC) PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE COMO SÍNDICO NW, WASHINGTON, DC DE DORAL BANK; 20530-0001 y A UNITED DORAL MORTGAGE STATES OF AMERICA, CORPORATION T/C/C UNITED STATES DORAL MORTGAGE, ATTORNEY’S OFFICE LLC., POR CONDUCTO DISTRICT OF PUERTO DE SU AGENTE RICO A 350 AVE CARLOS RESIDENTE CT CHARDÓN, STE 1201, CORPORATION SYSTEM; SAN JUAN, PR 00918ÁNGEL ALFREDO 2142.

JUSINO MORALES Queda usted notificado que en T/C/C ÁNGEL A. JUSINO este Tribunal se ha radicado demanda sobre cancelación de MORALES FULANO pagaré extraviado por la Vía juY MENGANO DE TAL, El El 30 de noviembre de POSIBLES TENEDORES dicial.

2002, Ángel Alfredo Jusino MoDESCONOCIDOS DEL rales t/c/c Ángel A. Jusino Morales, se acogió a la alternativa de PAGARÉ LEGAL NOTICE

PARTE DEMANDADA CIVIL NÚM. CG2020CV01282 (101). SOBRE: CANCELACIÓN DE PAGARÉ EXTRAVIADO POR LA VÍA JUDICIAL. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS E.E.U.U. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO.

A: FEDERAL DEPOSIT INSURANCE CORPORATION (FDIC) COMO SÍNDICO DE DORAL BANK a las siguientes direcciones: FDIC SAN JUAN FIELD OFFICE, 235 CALLE FEDERICO COSTA, STE 335, SAN JUAN, PR 00918-1341, 350 5TH AVE STE 1200, NEW YORK NY 10118-1201 y 1601 BRYAN ST., DALLAS TX 752013401. EL SECRETARIO DE LA VIVIENDA Y DESARROLLO URBANO @

“Partial Claim”. Dicho beneficio, el cual se ofrece a los préstamos asegurados por la Administración de Vivienda Federal (FHA por sus siglas en inglés), consiste en la reinstalación del préstamo hipotecario, difiriendo los pagos en atraso a través de una hipoteca subordinada, sin intereses.

Esta hipoteca subordinada fue constituida San Juan, Puerto Rico, mediante la Escritura núm.

902 autorizada por el notario Luis Fernando Castillo Cruz en garantía de un pagaré suscrito bajo el testimonio 3,363, por la suma de $2,554.24, a favor de Secretario de la Vivienda y Desarrollo Urbano t/c/c Secretary Of Housing And Urban Development, sin intereses y vencimiento al 1ro de febrero de 2029 sobre la siguiente propiedad: URBANA: PROPIEDAD HORIZONTAL: Apartamento residencial identificado con el No. C-302, localizado en la tercera planta del “Cluster C” del Condominio Turabo Clusters, sito en la Avenida Principal

del Barrio Cañabón de Caguas, Puerto Rico, el cual tiene una cabida superficial de 1,007.57 pies cuadrados, equivalentes a 92.96 metros cuadrados; en lindes por el NORTE, con el elemento exterior, en 31’9”; por el SUR, con el elemento exterior, la pared medianera del apartamento No. C-303 y la pared del pasillo, en 31’9”; por el ESTE, con el elemento exterior, en 32’7”; y por el OESTE, con la pared medianera del apartamento No. C-301, el pasillo que da acceso de entrada y salida al apartamento, al edificio, al condominio y a la vía pública, en 32’7”. La puerta principal de entrada a este apartamento se encuentra localizada en su colindancia Oeste. Consta este apartamento de sala-comedor, cocina, dos dormitorios, un servicio sanitario y terraza. A este apartamento le corresponde como elemento común limitado un espacio para estacionamiento que acomoda un vehículo de motor. Estos espacios para estacionamiento se identifican con la letra del “Cluster” donde se encuentra sito en el apartamento y el número de este. Este apartamento tiene una participación de 0.4163%. La propiedad consta inscrita al folio 115 del tomo 1624 de Caguas, Finca 53956. Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección I. La escritura de hipoteca consta inscrita al folio móvil del tomo 1628 de Caguas, Finca 53956. Registro de la Propiedad de Caguas, Sección I. Inscripción segunda. La parte demandada deberá presentar su alegación responsiva a través del Sistema Unificado de Administración y Manejo 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 secretaria del Tribunal. Se le advierte que, si no contesta la demanda, radicando el original de la contestación en este Tribunal y enviando copia de la contestación a la abogada de la Parte Demandante, Lcda.

Belma Alonso García, cuya dirección es: PO Box 3922, Guaynabo, PR 00970-3922, Teléfono y Fax: (787) 789-1826, correo electrónico: oficinabelmaalonsogmail.com, dentro del término de SESENTA (60) días de la publicación de este edicto, excluyéndose el día de la publicación, se le anotará la rebeldía y se le dictará Sentencia en su contra, concediendo el remedio solicitado sin más citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO bajo mi firma y el sello del Tribunal, hoy 5 de de noviembre de 2020 en Caguas, Puerto Rico. CARMEN ANA PEREIRA ORTIZ, SECRETARIA (O). ENEIDA ARROYO \/ELEZ, SUB-SECRETARIA(O).

LEGAL NOTICE

staredictos@thesanjuandailystar.com

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE FAX: 787-751-6155 PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE E-MAIL: ejecuciones@fortuno-law.com PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUExpedido bajo mi firma y sello PERIOR DE FAJARDO. del Tribunal, hoy 12 de agosto de ORIENTAL BANK 2020. Wanda I Segui Reyes. Sec DEMANDANTE VS. Regional. Linda I Medina Medina, HÉCTOR MARTÍNEZ Secretaria Aux el Tribunal I.

TORRES, SU ESPOSA MILDRED GERTRUDIS GRAULAU RIVAS Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

DEMANDADOS CIVIL NÚM.: FA2019CV01560.

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: HÉCTOR MARTÍNEZ TORRES, por sí y como miembro de la Sociedad Legal de Bienes Gananciales compuesta con Mildred Gertrudis Graulau Rivas COND. OCEAN CLUB AT SEVEN SEAS, APT. CC-401 FAJARDO PR 00738; DIRECCIÓN de Mildred Gertrudis Graulau Rivas: COND. CARIBBEAN SEA, APT. 502, 105 AVE. ROOSVELT MARGINAL, SAN JUAN PR 00926-0000

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,

(787) 743-3346

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

LIME HOMES, LTD. Parte Demandante Vs.

CORPORACION SUVIAL Y ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA POR CODUCTO DEL FISCAL FEDERAL DE LA CORTE DE DISTRITO DE ESTADOS UNIDOS PARA EL DISTRITO DE PUERTO RICO

Parte Demandada CIVIL NUM. KCD 2015-1515 (803). SOBRE: EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA POR LA VIA ORDINARIA. ANUNCIO DE SUBASTA. El suscribiente, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Puerto Rico, Sala de San Juan, a los demandados de epígrafe y al público en general hace saber que los autos y documentos del caso de epígrafe estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables y que venderá en pública subasta al mejor postor, en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América en efectivo, cheque certificado, o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, en mi oficina en este Tribunal el derecho que tenga la parte demandada en el inmueble que se relaciona más adelante para pagar la SENTENCIA por $897,411.70, de balance principal, los intereses vencidos sobre el principal computados al 7.25% anual desde el día primero septiembre de 2011, hasta su total pago; más el 5% computado sobre cada mensualidad de principal e interés por concepto de cargos por demora; más la suma de $93,500.00 garantizada de la hipoteca para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado del acreedor demandante, más cualesquiera otras sumas que por cualesquier concepto legal se devenguen hasta el total y completo pago de esta sentencia hasta el día de la subasta. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: URBANA: Solar radicado en la Urbanización “Paseo Mayor II” en el Barrio Cupey Alto del Municipio de San Juan, Puerto Rico, que se describe en el plano de inscripción de la urbanización, con el número, área y colindancias que se relacionan a continuación: Solar numero dieciseis (16) del bloque C,con un área de setecientos sesenta metros cuadrados (760.00). En lindes por el

Norte, con la calle numero ocho (8), distancia de veinte metros (20.00), por el Sur, con uso publico, distancia de veinte metros (20.00), por el Este, con el solar numero quince (15), distancia de treinta y ocho metros (38.00) y por el Oeste, con el solar numero diecisiete (17), distancia de treinta y ocho metros (38.00).

Enclava una casa. Inscrita al folio ciento setenta (170) del tomo cuatrocientos setenta y dos (472) de Rio Piedras Sur, finca numero quince mil doscientos sesenta y ocho (15268), Registro de San Juan IV. Dirección Física: C-16, Calle 8, Urb. Paseo Mayor, San Juan, PR 00926. La primera subasta se llevará a cabo el día 16 de diciembre de 2020, a las 10:30 de la mañana, y servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la suma de $935,000.00 sin admitirse oferta inferior. En el caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en la primera subasta, se celebrará una segunda subasta el día 13 de enero de 2021, a las 10:30 de la mañana y el precio mínimo para esta segunda subasta será el de dos terceras partes del precio mínimo establecido para la primera subasta, o a sea la suma de $623,333.33. Si tampoco hubiera remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una tercera subasta el día 20 de enero de 2021, a las 10:30 de la mañana, y el tipo mínimo para esta tercera subasta será la mitad del precio establecido para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de $467,500.00. El mejor postor deberá pagar el importe de su oferta en efecto, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se dará por terminado el procedimiento, pudiendo adjudicarse el inmueble al acreedor hipotecario dentro de los diez días siguientes a la fecha de la última subasta, si así lo estimase conveniente, por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada conforme a la sentencia, si ésta fuera igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta y abonándose dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta fuera mayor. Se avisa a cualquier licitador que la propiedad queda sujeta al gravamen del Estado Libre Asociado y CRIM sobre la propiedad inmueble por contribuciones adeudadas y que el pago de dichas contribuciones es la responsabilidad del licitador. Que se entenderá por todo licitador acepte como suficiente la titulación y que los cargos y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes en entendiéndose que el rematador los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse su extinción al precio rematante. Todos los nombres de los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus

The San Juan Daily Star derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante, o de los acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, siempre que surgen de la certificación registral, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando entonces subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Y para conocimiento de licitadores, del público en general y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria en Puerto Rico y en los sitios públicos de acuerdo a las disposiciones de la Regla 51.7 de las de Procedimiento Civil, así como para la publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria y en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas con antelación a la fecha de la primera subasta y por lo menos una vez por semana. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento indicado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. (Art. 102 (1) de la Ley núm. 210-2015). Expedido el presente en San Juan, Puerto Rico a 16 de noviembre de 2020.

PEDRO HIEYE GONZALEZ, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE SAN JUAN.

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

LIME HOMES, LTD Parte Demandante Vs.

JOSE SANCHEZ ACOSTA, MARIA DE LOURDES NIEVES CRESPO Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE BIENES GANANCIALES ENTRE AMBOS COMPUESTA; JUAN ALBERTO MARTINEZ SANTANA; PEDRO JOSE ENCARNACION PEREZ

Parte Demandada CIVIL NUM. KCD2013-1515 (902). SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO Y EJECUCIÓN DE HIPOTECA POR LA VÍA ORDINARIA. ANUNCIO DE SUBASTA. El suscribiente, Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia de Puerto Rico, Sala de San Juan, a los demandados de epígrafe y al público en general hace saber que los autos y documentos del caso

de epígrafe estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante horas laborables y que venderá en pública subasta al mejor postor, en moneda de curso legal de los Estados Unidos de América en efectivo, cheque certificado, o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal de Primera Instancia, en mi oficina en este Tribunal el derecho que tenga la parte demandada en el inmueble que se relaciona más adelante para pagar la SENTENCIA por $88,000.00, de balance principal, los intereses vencidos sobre el principal computados al 7.50% anual desde el día primero enero de 2012, hasta su total pago; más el 5% computado sobre cada mensualidad de principal e interés por concepto de cargos por demora; más la suma de $8,800.00 garantizada de la hipoteca para costas, gastos y honorarios de abogado del acreedor demandante, más cualesquiera otras sumas que por cualesquier concepto legal se devenguen hasta el total y completo pago de esta sentencia hasta el día de la subasta. La propiedad a venderse en pública subasta se describe como sigue: URBANA: Solar marcado con el numero noventa y cuatro (94) en el plano final de inscripción de la finca principal radicada en el Barrio Sabana Llana de Rio Piedras del término municipal de San Juan, con una cabida de dos mil seiscientos veintiocho punto cero cero (2,628.00) metros cuadrados. Colindante por el Norte, en sesenta y uno punto noventa y siete (61.97) metros, con el solar número ochenta y dos (82) de la San Martin Development Corporation; por el Sur, en treinta y uno punto treinta y dos (31.22) metros, con el solar numero noventa y cinco (95) de la misma Corporación; por el Este en un arco que mide treinta y cinco punto cero cero (35.00) metros, con la Calle Olga Esperanza de dicho Plano de Urbanización conocida como esta por Urbanización Extensión San Martin y por el Oeste, en un a distancia de sesenta y seis punto cincuenta y tres (66.53) metros, con Colegio de Hermanas Las Carmelitas y en una distancia de veintiuno punto cinco (21.05) metros, con una faja de terreno de libre por donde pasa una quebrada debidamente canalizada y una colectora de hormigón.

Inscrita al folio doscientos once (211) del tomo ciento cincuenta y nueve (159) de Sabana Llana, finca número nueve mil seiscientos treinta y ocho (9,638). Registro de la Propiedad de Puerto Rico, Sección Quinta de San Juan. Dirección Física: Sabana Llana, 94 Calle Olga, San Juan, Puerto Rico 00926. La primera subasta se llevará a cabo el día 16 de diciembre de 2020, a las 10:00 de la mañana, y servirá de tipo mínimo para la misma la suma de $88,000.00 sin ad-

The San Juan Daily Star mitirse oferta inferior. En el caso de que el inmueble a ser subastado no fuera adjudicado en la primera subasta, se celebrará una segunda subasta el día 13 de enero de 2021, a las 10:00 de la mañana y el precio mínimo para esta segunda subasta será el de dos terceras partes del precio mínimo establecido para la primera subasta, o a sea la suma de $58,666.67. Si tampoco hubiera remate ni adjudicación en la segunda subasta, se celebrará una tercera subasta el día 21 de enero de 2021, a las 10:00 de la mañana y el tipo mínimo para esta tercera subasta será la mitad del precio establecido para la primera subasta, o sea, la suma de $44,000.00. El mejor postor deberá pagar el importe de su oferta en efecto, cheque certificado o giro postal a nombre del Alguacil del Tribunal. Si se declarase desierta la tercera subasta, se dará por terminado el procedimiento, pudiendo adjudicarse el inmueble al acreedor hipotecario dentro de los diez días siguientes a la fecha de la última subasta, si así lo estimase conveniente, por la totalidad de la cantidad adeudada conforme a la sentencia, si ésta fuera igual o menor que el monto del tipo de la tercera subasta y abonándose dicho monto a la cantidad adeudada si ésta fuera mayor. Se avisa a cualquier licitador que la propiedad queda sujeta al gravamen del Estado Libre Asociado y CRIM sobre la propiedad inmueble por contribuciones adeudadas y que el pago de dichas contribuciones es la responsabilidad del licitador. Que se entenderá por todo licitador acepte como suficiente la titulación y que los cargos y gravámenes anteriores y los preferentes al crédito del ejecutante continuarán subsistentes en entendiéndose que el rematador los acepta y queda subrogado en la responsabilidad de los mismos, sin destinarse su extinción al precio rematante. Todos los nombres de los acreedores que tengan inscritos o anotados sus derechos sobre los bienes hipotecados con posterioridad a la inscripción del crédito del ejecutante, o de los acreedores de cargas o derechos reales que los hubiesen pospuesto a la hipoteca ejecutada y las personas interesadas en, o con derecho a exigir el cumplimiento de instrumentos negociables garantizados hipotecariamente con posterioridad al crédito ejecutado, siempre que surgen de la certificación registral, para que puedan concurrir a la subasta si les convenga o satisfacer antes del remate el importe del crédito, de sus intereses, costas y honorarios de abogados asegurados, quedando entonces subrogados en los derechos del acreedor ejecutante. La propiedad a ser ejecutada se adquirirá libre de cargas y gravámenes posteriores. Y para conocimiento de licitadores, del público en general y para su publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria en Puerto Rico y en los sitios públicos de

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

acuerdo a las disposiciones de la Regla 51.7 de las de Procedimiento Civil, así como para la publicación en un periódico de circulación general diaria y en el Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, por espacio de dos semanas con antelación a la fecha de la primera subasta y por lo menos una vez por semana. Los autos y todos los documentos correspondientes al procedimiento indicado estarán de manifiesto en la Secretaría del Tribunal durante las horas laborables. (Art. 102 (1) de la Ley núm. 210-2015). Expedido el presente en San Juan, Puerto Rico a 16 de noviembre de 2020.

PEDRO HIEYE GONZALEZ, ALGUACIL DEL TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA, SALA DE SAN JUAN.

LEGAL NOTICE ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO JUDICIAL DE HUMACAO SALA SUPERIOR.

CONDADO 3, LLC Demandante, Vs.

PALMIRA TORRES MENDEZ

Demandada CIVIL NUM.: NG2020CV00080.

SALA NÚM.: 208. SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU. EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. ss.

A: PALMIRA TORRES MENDEZ

Queda emplazado y notificado que en este Tribunal ha radicado Demanda sobre Cobro de Dinero en su contra. Se le notifica para que comparezca ante el Tribunal dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación de este edicto y exponer lo que a sus derechos convenga, en el presente caso. POR LA PRESENTE, se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva a la demanda dentro de los TREINTA (30) días de haber sido diligenciando 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 represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar alegación responsiva en la secretaria del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido termino, 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 sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Se le advierte que si no contesta la demanda radicando en su contra, radicando el original de la misma y enviando copia de su contestación a la parte demandante, Lcdo. Francisco Fernández

Chiqués a su dirección: FernandezChiques, LLC PO Box 9749 San Juan, PR 00908, Tel. (787) 722-3040, Fax (787) 722-3317, dentro del término de treinta (30) días de su publicación de este edicto, se le anotara la rebeldía en su contra y se le dictara sentencia en su contra, conforme se solicita en la Demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA Y SELLO DE ESTE TRIBUNAL. En Humacao, Puerto Rico, hoy día 5 de noviembre de 2020. Dominga Gomez Fuster, Secretaria Regional. Marisol Dáviia Ortíz, Secretaria Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOT ICE

FUNDING LLC Demandante vs.

SUCESION FELIX SANCHEZ RODRIGUEZ COMPUESTA POR JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; SUCESION LUZ ACEVEDO SANTA COMPUESTA POR JOHN DOE Y JANE DOE COMO POSIBLES HEREDEROS DESCONOCIDOS; ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA; CENTRO DE RECAUDACION DE INGRESOS MUNICIPALES

ESTI DO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA CENTRO Demandados JUDICIAL DE SAN JUAN SALA CIVIL NUM. CG2020CV00523.

SUPERIOR 807.

SOBRE: EJECUCION DE HIPOCOOPERATIVA DE EMPLAZAMIENTO POR AHORRO Y CREDITO TECA. EDICTO. ESTADOS UNIDOS EDE COOP DE AMÉRICA EL PRESIDENTE Demandante Vs. DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS CARMEN DÍAZ PAGAN ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE Demandada PUERTO RICO. ss.

CiVIL NÚM: SJ2019CV01284.

A: JOHN DOE Y SOBRE: COBRO DE DINERO. JANE DOE COMO EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICPOSIBLES MIEMBROS TO. ESTADOS UNIDOSDE DESCONOCIDOS DE AMERICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS, EL LA SUCESION FELIX ESTADO LIBREASOCIADO DE SANCHEZ RODRIGUEZ PUERTO RICO. SS. POR LA PRESENTE se le emA: CARMEN DIAZ PAGAN plaza para que presente al TriBarrio Obrero 732, Calle bunal su alegación responsiva a Buenos Aires, San Juan, la demanda dentro de los treinta (30) días a partir de la publicaPuerto Rico 00915 ción de éste edicto. Usted deberá POR LA PRESENTE se le empresentar su alegación responsiplaza y requiere para que conva a través del Sistema Unificado teste la demanda dentro de los de Manejo y Administración de treinta (30) días siguientes a la Casos (SUMAC), al cual puede publicación de este Edicto. Usacceder utilizando la siguiente ted deberá radicar su alegación dirección electrónica: http://uniresponsiva a través del Sistema red.ramajuclicial.pr, salvo que se Unificado de Manejo y Adminisrepresente por derecho propio, tración de Casos (SUMAC), al en cuyo caso deberé presentar cual puede acceder utilizando la su alegación responsiva en la siguiente dirección electrónica: secretaria del tribunal. Si usted http:///unired.rarnaudiciaLpr/sum. deja de presentar su alegación ac/, salvo que se presente por responsiva dentro del referido derecho propio, en cuyo caso término, el tribunal podrá dictar deberá radicar el original de su sentencia en rebeldía en su concontestación ante el Tribunal tra y conceder el remedio solicicorrespondiente y notifique con tado en la demanda, o cualquier copia a los abogados de la parte otro, si el tribunal, en el ejercicio demandante, BUFETE APONTE de su sana discreción, lo entien& CORTES, LCDA. ERIKA MOde procedente.

RALES MARENGO, PO BOX Greenspoon Marder, LLP 195337, San Juan, Puerto Rico Lcda. Frances L. Asencio-Guido 00919; Tel. (787) 302-0014 / R.U.A. 15,622 (787) 239–5661 / Email: emaren- TRADE CENTRE SOUTH, SUITE 700 go16@yahoo.com. SE LE APER- 100 WEST CYPRESS CREEK ROAD FORT LAUDERDALE, FL 33309 CIBE que, de no hacer sus alegaTelephone: (954) 343 6273 ciones responsivas a la demanda Frances.Asencio@gmlaw.com dentro término aquí dispuesto, se Expedido bajo mi firma, y sello les anotará la rebeldía y se dicdel Tribunal, en Caguas, Puerto tará Sentencia concediéndose el Rico, hoy dia 4 de noviembre de remedio solicitado en la Deman2020. Carmen Ana Pereira Ortiz, da, sin más citarle ni oírle. EXSecretaria. Eneida Arroyo Velez, TENDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA y el SubSecretaria.

Sello del Tribunal, hoy día 18 de febrero de 2020. Griselda RodriLEGAL NOTICE guez Collado, Secretaria. Norma ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE I Flores Rivera, SubSecretaria.

PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE LEGAL NOTICE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE PERIOR DE FAJARDO. PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE MWPR, LLC PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SUDEMANDANTE v.

PERIOR DE CAGUAS.

REVERSE MORTGAGE

ANA DELIA SANTIAGO HERNANDEZ

DEMANDADOS CML NÚM. CA2020CV00779.

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

A: Ana Delia Santiago Henandez

Queda emplazada y notificada que en este Tribunal ha radicado Demanda sobre Cobro de Dinero y Ejecución de Prenda por la vía ordinaria en su contra. Se le notifica para que comparezca ante el Tribunal dentro del término de treinta (30) días a partir de la publicación de este edicto y exponer lo que a sus derechos convenga, en el presente caso. POR LA PRESENTE, se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva a la demanda dentro de los TREINTA (30) días de haber sido diligenciando 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 represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar alegación responsiva en la secretaria del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido termino, 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 sana discreción, lo entiende procedente. Se le advierte que si no contesta la demanda radicando en su contra , radicando el original de la misma y enviando copia de su contestación a la parte demandante, Lcda. Ana J. Bobonis Zequeira a su dirección PO Box 9749 San Juan, PR 00908, Tel. (787) 722-3040, Fax (787) 722-3317, dentro del término de treinta (30) días de su publicación de este edicto, se le anotara la rebeldía en su contra y se le dictara sentencia en su contra, conforme se solicita en la Demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA Y SELLO DE ESTE TRIBUNAL. En Fajardo, Puerto Rico, hoy día 9 de noviembre de 2020. WANDA I . SEGUI REYES, Secretaria.

Sheila Robles Hernández, Sec Auxiliar.

LEGAL NOTICE

25

TECA IN REM. EMPLAZAMIENTO POR EDICTO. LOS ESTADOS UNIDOS DE AMERICA, EL PRESIDENTE DE LOS EE.UU., EL ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE P.R. s.s.

A: Ana Iris Caballero Tesado t/ c/ c Ana I. Caballero Tesado t/ c/ c Ana l. Caballero.

POR LA PRESENTE, se le emplaza para que presente al tribunal su alegación responsiva a la demanda dentro de los TREINTA (30) días de haber sido diligenciando 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 represente por derecho propio, en cuyo caso deberá presentar alegación responsiva en la secretaria del tribunal. Si usted deja de presentar su alegación responsiva dentro del referido termino, 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 sana díscreción, lo entiende procedente. Se le advierte que si no contesta la demanda radicando en su contra , radicando el original de la misma y enviando copia de su contestación a la parte demandante, Lcda. Ana J. Bobonis Zequeira a su dirección PO Box 9749 San Juan, PR 00908, Tel. (787) 722-3040, Fax (787) 722-3317, dentro del término de treinta (30) días de su publicación de este edícto, se le anotara la rebeldía en su contra y se le dictara sentencia en su contra, conforme se solicita en la Demanda, sin más citarle ni oírle. EXPEDIDO BAJO MI FIRMA Y SELLO DE ESTE TRIBUNAL. En Vega Baja, Puerto Rico, hoy día 10 de NOVIEMBRE de 2020.

LCDA. LAURA l. SANTA SÁNCHEZ, SECRETARIA. MARITZA ROSARIO ROSARIO, SECRETARIA DE SERVICIOS.

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

ORIENTAL BANK Demandante v.

DAMARIS GARCIA PANTOJAS, JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE

ESTADO LIBRE ASOCIADO DE Demandado(a) PUERTO RICO TRIBUNAL DE PRIMERA INSTANCIA SALA SU- Civil: VB2020CV00288. Sobre: SUSTITUCION DE PAGARE PERIOR DE Vega Baja.

HIPOTECARIO. NOTIFICACIÓN ACM CDGY VI LN LLC DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO. Demandante, v.

ANA IRIS CABALLERO TOSADO T /C/C ANA I CABALLERO TOSADO T/C/C ANA I CABALLERO

A: JOHN DOE Y RICHARD ROE - DIRECCION DESCONOCIDA

(Nombre de las partes a las que se le notifican la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscriDemandados.

CIVIL NÚM. VB2020CV00441. be le notifica a usted que el 4 de SOBRE: EJECUCION DE HIPO- noviembre 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 10 de NOVIEMBRE de 2020.

En VEGA BAJA, Puerto Rico, el 10 de NOVIEMBRE de 2020.

LAURA I SANTA SANCHEZ, Secretaria. MARITZA ROSARIO ROSARIO, Sec Auxiliar.

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

ROOSEVELT CAYMAN ASSET COMPANY II Demandante v.

TASHMIALEE PAGAN COLON

Demandado(a) Civil: FA2019CV01536. Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO y EJECUCION DE HIPOTECA. NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: TASHMIALEE PAGAN COLON * E-12 7th St., Hacienda Las Lomas, Ceiba, Puerto Rico 00735 * Urb. Alturas de San Pedro 3N Calle San Pedro, Fajardo, PR 00738 * PMB 65 PO BOX 70012, Fajardo, PR 00738 * 283 Soth Quiantinamond Ave., Shrewsbury, MA 01545

(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 10 de noviembre 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 12 de noviembre de 2020. En FAJARDO, Puerto Rico, el 12 de noviembre de 2020. WANDA I SEGUI REYES, Secretaria Regional. F/MILDRED BURGOS ROBLES, Sec Auxiliar.

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

AMERICAS LEADING FINANCE, LLC Demandante VS

NELIA D. MORALES CARTAGENA, SU ESPOSO FULANO DE TAL Y LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

Demandado(a) Civil Núm. CG2020CV00325.

Sobre: COBRO DE DINERO POR LA VIA ORDINARIA Y EJECUCION DE GAVAMEN MOBILIARIO (REPOSESION DE VEHICULO).

NOTIFICACIÓN DE SENTENCIA POR EDICTO.

A: NELIA D. MORALES CARTAGENA, SU ESPOSO FULANO DE TAL, POR SI Y EN REPRESENTACION DE LA SOCIEDAD LEGAL DE GANANCIALES COMPUESTA POR AMBOS

(Nombre de las partes a las que se les notifica la sentencia por edicto) EL SECRETARIO(A) que suscribe le notifica a usted que el 10 de Noviembre 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 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 del2 de Noviembre de 2020. En Caquas, Puerto Rico, 12 de Noviembre de 2020. CARMEN ANA PEREIRA ORTIZ, Secretaria.

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Wednesday, November 18, 2020

The San Juan Daily Star

A ‘perfect’ pitcher, a home run stealer and two-thirds of a Big 3

By TYLER KEPNER (On Baseball) he Baseball Hall of Fame announced its new ballot earlier this week, with 11 first-time candidates to go along with 14 holdovers, including four who got more than half of the votes from writers last winter: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and Omar Vizquel. At 70 percent, Schilling was the closest to reaching the 75 percent needed for election.

The new class, announced Monday, seems unlikely to produce any players who will end up with a plaque in Cooperstown, N.Y., but all left an impression on the game.

Here’s a quick salute to each of this year’s new finalists.

Mark Buehrle (LHP | 16 seasons | 59.1 Wins Above Replacement) No pitcher has thrown two perfect games, but Buehrle flirted with doing it consecutively for the Chicago White Sox in July 2009. Five days after spinning one gem against Tampa Bay, he stayed perfect for 17 batters in Minnesota until a two-out walk in the sixth inning. Buehrle had a remarkable career, finishing with 15 consecutive seasons of at least 30 starts. He’s the only pitcher to bundle all of these achievements: 200 career victories, an All-Star Game start, a perfect game, another no-hitter and a World Series save.

A.J. Burnett (RHP | 17 seasons | 28.8 WAR) A hard, biting curveball helped Burnett collect 2,513 strikeouts, nudging him into the top 40 on the career list, just above Hall of Famers Christy Mathewson, Don Drysdale and Jack Morris. As a boy, Burnett said, his father never let him throw it — but his grandfather showed him how. “He said, ‘Throw it like this, throw the hell out of it, and it’ll break,’” Burnett said, comparing the stiff-wrist action to firing a gun.

“He was an ornery, mean-but-lovable grandpa; one of those guys, you know? I threw the first one and it went flying, and he was like: ‘What the hell was that? Throw it like this!’ It’s the only hook I’ve ever thrown.”

Michael Cuddyer (RF/IF | 15 seasons | 17.8 WAR) A cluster of longtime future major leaguers blossomed in the Virginia Beach area in the 1990s, including David Wright, Justin and Melvin Upton Jr., Ryan Zimmerman and Mark Reynolds. But the oldest of the group was the trendsetter; as Wright puts it in his new memoir with Anthony DiComo: “The one we all looked up to was Michael Cuddyer.”

A first-round pick by the Minnesota Twins in 1997, Cuddyer played 15 major league seasons, won a batting title for the Colorado Rockies in 2013 and became Wright’s teammate with the New York Mets in 2015, his last season. Cuddyer is one of three Mets whose final appearance came in the World Series, with Ed Charles and Willie Mays.

Dan Haren (RHP | 13 seasons | 35.1 WAR) One morning in 2015, as he neared the end of his career, Haren reflected on the progression of his goals. He never assumed he would earn 153 victories and lead the majors in starts across his final 11 seasons. All he wanted was to use baseball as a way into college. “I think I got an 80 percent scholarship to Pepperdine, and I was like, ‘I really made my parents proud,’” he said. “I thought that was it. I was happy.”

Yet there was so much more to come. As a freshman, Haren

T

replaced an injured teammate in the Waves’ rotation. As a sophomore, he surprised himself by how hard he could throw. As a junior, he was drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Two years later, he reached the majors. “I thought, ‘Wow, if I could stay, that would be amazing,’” Haren said. “Then I was like, ‘Wow, I could make enough money to last a lifetime.’

When I signed my first deal with Oakland, it was like six years and $13 million. I thought, ‘I can’t believe I probably will never have to work again because of this.’ My career just kept going from there. But I never grew up thinking, ‘Oh, I want to be a Hall of Fame baseball player.’ I mean, I loved baseball, but I never thought I would be where I am today.”

Today, he is on the ballot for Cooperstown.

LaTroy Hawkins (RHP | 21 seasons | 17.8 WAR) In 1999, when Hawkins was going nowhere as a starter for the Twins, he grooved a change-up to the Seattle Mariners’ Ken Griffey Jr., who walloped it deep into the upper deck at the Metrodome. Later, a clubhouse attendant told Hawkins that Griffey wanted to see him in the laundry room.

When they met, Griffey asked why a pitcher with such a lively fastball didn’t seem to trust his best pitch. Hawkins had no answer. “I learned a lot by him telling me that,” Hawkins said in 2014, when he was the longest-tenured player in the majors. “My fastball was better than I thought it was. I used it to my advantage after that.” Hawkins lasted 21 seasons and made 1,042 appearances, 10th on the career list.

Tim Hudson (RHP | 17 seasons | 57.9 WAR) These statistical benchmarks are hardly locks for the Hall of Fame: 200 wins, 2,000 strikeouts, career ERA below 3.50. But Hudson is one of just 15 pitchers to make his debut in the division-play era (since 1969) and meet all three standards. Six are in the Hall of Fame (Bert Blyleven, Roy Halladay, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Pedro Martínez and John Smoltz), two are active (Zack Greinke and Justin Verlander) and the others are Vida Blue, Kevin Brown, Roger Clemens, Orel Hershiser, Rick Reuschel and Schilling. Good company.

Torii Hunter (CF | 19 seasons | 50.7 WAR) Few players were as universally beloved within baseball as Hunter, who collected Gold Gloves and warm adjectives in bulk over 19 seasons. “He’s charismatic, he’s funny, he’s very approachable and he goes about things the right way,” Verlander said of Hunter during the 2013 American League Championship Series, when they played for the Detroit Tigers. “What more can you ask for? He’s the consummate teammate and friend.” Even before he reached the majors, Hunter was inspiring the next generation. As a Twins farmhand in 1997, Hunter played catch with a local kid in the stands in New Britain, Conn. The boy, who was 7 years old at the time, made Hunter his idol and grew up to be a fellow All-Star center fielder: George Springer, now a prized free agent after seven stellar years with the Houston Astros.

Aramis Ramírez (3B | 18 seasons | 32.4 WAR) On July 23, 2015, the Pittsburgh Pirates acquired Ramírez for the final two months of his career. Exactly 12 years earlier, when Ramírez was 25, they had traded him to the Chicago Cubs, for a minimal return, to clear his future $6 million salary. For a dozen years, Ramírez tormented his former team, swatting 304 homers for the division-rival Cubs

and Milwaukee Brewers. In his last at-bat, as a pinch-hitter at age 37, he bounced into a double play as Pittsburgh lost a home wild-card game — to the Cubs, naturally. The Pirates have not been back to the playoffs since.

Nick Swisher (OF/1B | 12 seasons | 21.5 WAR) The greatest season of Swisher’s life started on the bench with the 2009 New York Yankees. Swisher was new to the team, acquired in an offseason trade with the White Sox, and did not unseat Xavier Nady as the everyday right fielder until mid-April, when Nady tore an elbow ligament. Swisher became a force in a championship lineup while Nady languished on the disabled list, but things were hardly awkward between the two. Nady let Swisher move in with his family for much of the season, and Swisher made himself comfortable. “In the morning he’d be sitting on the couch in just his boxers — no shirt, just his underwear,” Nady told Mark Feinsand and Bryan Hoch for their book, “Mission 27,” about the 2009 team. “I’d just wake up and I’d be dying laughing.”

Shane Victorino (OF | 12 seasons | 31.5 WAR) As the final out of the 2009 World Series, Victorino ensured himself an eternal cameo in Yankees highlight videos.

But he embodied a proud Philadelphia Phillies team in the way he fought when down to his last strike against Mariano Rivera, fouling off four cutters and taking two balls before finally grounding out to second. Four years later, in another Game 6, Victorino ripped a three-run double to send the Red Sox to their first clinching World Series game in Boston in 95 years.

Barry Zito (LHP | 15 seasons | 31.9 WAR) Lots of players wear high uniform numbers now, but when Zito chose No. 75 for the Oakland A’s in the early 2000s, it stood out. His reasoning was eminently logical: “I’m really into numbers and symmetry,” he said, “and if you look at the 75, it creates a really nice shelf under my name.”

Alas, Zito’s second team, the Giants, did not display players’ names on the back of their home jerseys. Zito hung onto 75 anyway, and while he mostly struggled in San Francisco, he made up for it with two October gems in 2012 to help win a championship. Now a full-time musician and singer, Zito is the only pitcher to play exclusively for two teams in the same metropolitan area and log at least 1,000 innings for both.

In addition to his personal accomplishments, Mark Buehrle was the ace of the Chicago White Sox team that won the World Series in 2005.

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

27

With Marlins job, Kim Ng is ‘bearing a torch for so many’

By JAMES WAGNER

S

ince the Miami Marlins named Kim Ng as their new general manager last Friday, making her the first woman to hold that title in any of the major men’s sports leagues in North America, she said she had been flooded with well over 1,000 emails and text messages of congratulations. The senders included current and former managers, scouts, front office executives, players, family and friends.

“I got calls and text messages from guys that I’ve known over the years who were just so excited to tell their daughters and wives,” Ng, 51, said from Marlins Park during her introductory news conference Monday.

“And then I got voicemails from friends and front office executives with tears, just so happy that I had broken through, but really more for the sport and more about what it meant for us in society.”

A few messages stood out to Ng, namely a tweet from Michelle Obama, the former first lady, and another from Billie Jean King, the former tennis star.

“With 30 years’ experience as a baseball executive, she’s made history as the first woman and first Asian American to hold the top post in a baseball operations department,” King wrote.

“Progress!”

The words resonated with Ng because King and another former tennis star, Martina Navratilova, were two of her idols growing up in Queens, N.Y., New Jersey and Long Island, N.Y. Long viewed as the woman who could break this gender barrier in Major League Baseball, Ng said she felt an enormous responsibility to continue serving as an example for girls and young women, particularly those interested in baseball, a sport dominated by white men.

“There’s an adage, ‘You can’t be it if you can’t see it,’” Ng said. “I suggest to them, ‘Now they can see it.’ And so I look forward to hearing all of their stories and just how inspired they are to now pursue a job in sports, a job in baseball and to reach for the stars.”

When Derek Jeter, the chief executive and a part owner of the Marlins, called Ng to tell her she had gotten the

Sam Ryan reports on Major League Baseball’s first female general manager. job, she said she felt a “10,000-pound” weight lifted off one shoulder. Then nearly 30 minutes later, she felt it had simply switched shoulders.

“I know that I am quite visible,” she said, adding later, “You’re bearing a torch for so many.”

Ng is believed to be the second person of Asian descent to lead an MLB team. Farhan Zaidi, who was born in Canada to parents from Pakistan, was the Los Angeles Dodgers’ general manager from 2014-18 and is now the San Francisco Giants’ president of baseball operations.

Ng, who worked as an assistant general manager for the Dodgers and the New York Yankees, and most recently as MLB’s senior vice president for baseball operations, admitted feeling deflated over the years after interviewing for several general manager openings and

not landing the gig.

She said it was difficult to go through those failures publicly and felt that sometimes the interviews were just about checking a diversity box. But she did them anyway because she wanted other team owners to consider minority or female candidates and to show other women in sports that this could be possible.

“I can’t think of anyone more qualified for the position than Kim,” said Bruce Sherman, principal owner of the Marlins, who overcame a coronavirus outbreak to end a 17-year postseason drought during the 2020 season.

Ng said her experience working in Major League Baseball’s central office allowed her to learn the best practices of how teams operated in the amateur draft and the international market. And as she takes over a smaller-revenue

club, she acknowledged that player development would be more important than ever.

After Jeter first reached out to Ng, the two talked a few times. He said it became evident to both of them that she was “a perfect fit.” Ng, who worked for the Yankees while Jeter starred for them, called him “fearless” as a player and now as an executive for hiring her.

She said her connection with other key Marlins officials helped her feel comfortable and will make her transition smooth: Marlins manager Don Mattingly held the same position with the Dodgers when she worked there, and Gary Denbo, the Marlins’ vice president for player development and scouting, was a coach for the Yankees when she worked there.

“I just can’t wait to get working,” she said.

28

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

NCAA to host Men’s Basketball Tournament in one city for 2021

By GILLIAN R. BRASSIL

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he NCAA will consolidate its usually sprawling men’s college basketball tournament to a single city in 2021 instead of holding the games at 13 sites across the United States, in hopes of limiting travel during the pandemic.

The NCAA announced earlier this week that it was in preliminary talks with local and state government officials to have Indianapolis host the 68-team Division I men’s tournament.

The men’s basketball committee that oversees the tournament determined that a single location would be more conducive to the “safety and well-being” of the event.

“We understand the disappointment 13 communities will feel to miss out on being part of March Madness next year,” said Kentucky’s athletic director, Mitch Barnhart, who leads the committee. “With the University of Kentucky slated to host firstand second-round games in March, this is something that directly impacts our school and community, so we certainly share in their regret.”

The tournament is usually spread throughout the country in March and April.

Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., was

scheduled to host three games in the middle of the tournament next year.

The 2020 men’s and women’s tournaments were among the first major sporting events in the United States to be canceled as the coronavirus spread in March.

The committee said that while limiting travel, it was looking for a location that could offer enough courts as well as housing and medical resources. The Final Four was already scheduled for April 3 and 5 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, where the NCAA has its headquarters.

“The committee and staff have thoughtfully monitored the pandemic to develop potential contingency plans,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said Monday. “The Board of Governors’ and my top priorities are to protect the health and well-being of college athletes while also maintaining their opportunity to compete at the highest level.”

The committee is not conversing with representatives from other cities, said David Worlock, the NCAA’s press officer, but he noted that could change. Officials are not planning to hold the entire tournament to a single, highly restricted site.

“We can’t operate in a bubble like, for example, the NBA did this year with

its postseason, though we will have similar protocols in place to protect the health and safety of those involved,” he said.

Discussions concerning the Division I women’s basketball tournament are still ongoing, said Lynn Holzman, the NCAA’s vice president for women’s basketball. That tournament generally uses more sites than the men’s tournament, with 16 teams hosting first- and second-round games that feed into regional sites and eventually the Final Four, which is scheduled for April 2 to 4 in San Antonio.

“The committee intends to maintain a field of 64 teams, and a variety of contingency plans — including reducing the number of first- and second-round sites or bringing the entire tournament to one location — are being considered,” Holzman said.

Indiana’s health department has reported an 11.7 percent positivity rate for virus tests over the last seven days. Daily cases

Phoenix Suns agree to trade for Chris Paul

By MARC STEIN

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he long-awaited reopening of the NBA’s trade market on Monday delivered an immediate blockbuster that will send Oklahoma City Thunder guard Chris Paul to the Phoenix Suns to join Devin Booker in what has the look of a dynamic backcourt.

Oklahoma City will receive Kelly Oubre Jr., 24, and veteran Ricky Rubio, 30, from the Suns as the headliners of a package for Paul that also includes a 2022 first-round draft pick. The deal came together in the first hour after the NBA permitted trades for the first time in more than nine months.

On Sunday, the rebuilding Thunder struck a verbal agreement to trade the reserve guard Dennis Schroder to the Los Angeles Lakers, according to two people familiar with the agreement. Oklahoma City will also acquire Danny Green and the No. 28 pick in tonight’s draft for Schroder, meaning that Thunder general manager Sam Presti — once the trades are made official — will have amassed 16 first-round picks over the next seven NBA drafts through 2026.

“Chris has been the consummate leader and has left a tremendous legacy in a short period of time,” Presti said in a statement

Monday announcing the trade.

Rubio, fresh off helping the Suns have a surprising 8-0 winning streak to close last season alongside Booker, appeared to react to the trade on Twitter with some exasperation: “…what a business,” he posted, followed by an upside-down happy face emoji.

The Thunder were one of last season’s overachievers after acquiring Paul in a trade with the Houston Rockets that netted two of those 16 future first-round picks as well as the right to swap first-round picks with the Rockets in 2021 and 2025. Yet it quickly became apparent, after the Thunder lost a firstround playoff series to the Rockets in seven games, that Presti was poised to commission a rebuild.

Coach Billy Donovan left the Thunder in September instead of trying to hash out a contract extension and was hired shortly thereafter as the coach of the Chicago Bulls.

More recently, Presti told Paul and his representatives that they could try to find a trade partner that would appeal to the All-Star guard, according to a person with knowledge of the arrangement who was not authorized to discuss it publicly.

Paul, 35, who has two seasons and roughly $85 million left on his contract,

wanted to remain in the Western Conference to be near his family, which stayed in Los Angeles last season while he played in Oklahoma City. Paul also has a strong relationship with Suns coach Monty Williams, according to the person, after playing for Williams for one season in New Orleans.

In addition to reuniting with Williams, Paul will now team with the Suns’ young cornerstone duo of Booker and Deandre Ayton to try to restore Phoenix to Western Conference relevance. The Suns have missed the playoffs for 10 consecutive seasons, the second longest active playoff drought behind Sacramento’s 14. But Phoenix was one of the surprise stories of the NBA restart at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla., after arriving with the second-to-worst record of the 22 teams participating yet only missing the postseason by a half-game after the 8-0 flourish.

The trade is the latest milestone event in an eventful year-plus for Paul. During the 2019 offseason, Houston gave up four draft assets to persuade Oklahoma City to absorb Paul’s contract. This offseason, after Paul played at an All-Star level for the Thunder, Oklahoma City was able to acquire a firstround pick in trading him away.

have doubled in the state in the last 14 days compared with the daily average for the prior two weeks, and the state has had 87.6 cases per 100,000 residents over the past seven days.

In Marion County, where Indianapolis is, the positivity rate surpassed 10 percent last week, prompting the mayor and local health officials to institute more stringent social distancing protocols. Beginning Monday, indoor capacity for entertainment venues, gyms and fitness centers was cut to 25 percent. And Marion County health officials said they would need to approve any events that plan to host more than 50 people.

Still, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb and Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett seemed hopeful that they would be able to host the full tournament this spring.

“We are confident that, thanks to the collaboration of our city’s civic organizations and the strength of our hospitality industry, Indianapolis can rise to this challenge,” Hogsett wrote on Twitter.

“We know this change impacts others around the country, but we believe Indiana is uniquely positioned to host such a oneof-a-kind tournament,” Holcomb said in a statement emailed to The New York Times.

“And do it safely.”

“Man, I’m 35 years old and I still get a chance to play basketball every day and say that’s my way of life,” Paul said last week when asked about trade rumors during an appearance in the Time100 speakers’ series.

“That is crazy in itself, so regardless what happens, I’ll be ready.”

Paul averaged 17.6 points and 6.7 assists per game last season in earning his 10th trip to the NBA All-Star Game. Oubre averaged a career-best 18.7 points per game for the Suns last season but did not play in the NBA bubble while recovering from knee surgery; Rubio averaged 13 points and 8.8 assists in his first season with the Suns after signing a three-year, $51 million contract in July 2019.

Oklahoma City’s Schroder trade, as The New York Times reported Sunday, came together in part because the Lakers fear Rajon Rondo will command offers in free agency after a strong run in the playoffs, making it difficult for them to re-sign him given the reigning champions’ budget constraints. The Lakers see Schroder, who averaged 18.9 points and 4 assists per game as one of the league’s top sixth men last season, as a huge boost to their offense.

The Lakers also have interest in signing Milwaukee’s Wesley Matthews Jr. in free agency to replace Green’s defensive ability, 3-point shooting and experience, according to a person familiar with the team’s plans who was not authorized to discuss them publicly.

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Wednesday, November 18, 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

The San Juan Daily Star

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

(Mar 21-April 20)

While you may be making constructive progress, today’s Mercury/Uranus opposition could bring a surprise or unexpected influence into the equation.

Whatever you’ve been hoping to accomplish might need to be reconfigured, Aries. It’s worth taking some time out to reconsider your options as things can so easily change, especially when it comes to costs and expenses.

Libra

(Sep 24-Oct 23)

It may not be so easy to hang onto your money today, as there can be so many items that are calling out to you. Gadgets and items that save time or have entertainment value might be high on your list. A pause before you click could be wise Libra. If you wait until that initial rush of excitement has passed, then you may have a different perspective that saves you money.

Taurus

(April 21-May 21)

Scorpio

Since erratic Uranus has been in your sign, you may have changed your approach to a lot of things. And as a result, this might have left you freer in some respects, and perhaps more fixed in your ways in others. Today’s potent angle involving this restless planet, could find you eager to re-establish the terms of a relationship, with you perhaps requiring more personal space.

Ready to say it like it is Scorpio? As Mercury opposes Uranus across your relationship axis, your approach to resolving any issues may be blunt to say the least.

But consider the outcome of this, as it could jeopardize a bond that is important to you. Is there a way to get your point across that might ease or heal the situation, and keeps things on a positive footing? If so, consider this first.

Gemini

(May 22-June 21)

Sagittarius

(Nov 23-Dec 21)

Capricorn

(Dec 22-Jan 20)

Things can seem to be going better regarding finances or business plans, and this may be the result of paring back expenses, and of taking measures that could see steady growth and positive developments.

Even so, with Mercury your ruler opposing Uranus for the third and final time, a decision to break free of limitations might be a tad impulsive, and may not be good for progress.

Cancer

(June 22-July 23)

Is someone testing your patience? While you may have all the time in the world for one person, someone else can prove extremely irritating. Could it be that you don’t get on? Slow down and avoid making snap decisions, as you might regret being so hasty. It could be that you’ll see a different side to them over coming days and weeks, and that this makes all the difference.

Leo

(July 24-Aug 23)

If you feel restless and unable to settle, then it may be down to an erratic aspect that makes for a disruptive few days. Your mind could be working at a faster pace, and this can coincide with a tendency to make snap decisions that in hindsight, might not help you. With an edgy opposition in play you could make better progress if you actively slow down and think things through first.

Virgo

(Aug 24-Sep 23)

You could feel quite excitable, and keen for something different to relieve a sense of monotony. Yet this may take you away from other projects which are tending in a positive direction. This can be a time of discovery though Virgo, and something you find out might rock your world. Take your time to digest it, and consider the implications before you do anything about it.

(Oct 24-Nov 22)

Putting the brakes on your thinking may not be such a bad idea. Otherwise, you could get carried away with all kinds of plans and schemes which are unworkable, or even reckless. Whatever springs to mind today, write it down. It might contain the seeds of genius, but need modifying before you’re able to use it in a way that helps you to move forward and avoid rash moves.

A whirlwind encounter could find you and another talking at quite a pace, and coming up with schemes and ideas. A dynamic Mercury/Uranus aspect might pave the way for lively developments, if you can contain your excitement and work on the details.

This won’t be too difficult for you, especially with a more grounded aspect encouraging you to be very thorough.

Aquarius

(Jan 21-Feb 19)

You may be tempted to take a shortcut to achieving a goal, but it could work to your detriment. While you can be excited at the possibilities ahead of you, being in too much of a hurry might mean you miss out on another opportunity that makes a positive difference. Whatever comes to your attention could offer a short-term solution, but in the long-term it might not be.

Pisces

(Feb 20-Mar 20)

It may seem like a great idea to splash out on a course that seems to promise the earth and make life instantly better. But will it, Pisces? Do you really need it? There could be other ways to gain the same information that are cheaper, or even completely free. Before you pay for knowledge consider your options, as there is likely a wealth of information at your fingertips right now.

Answers to the Sudoku and Crossword on page 29

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

31

CARTOONS

Herman

Speed Bump

Frank & Ernest

BC

Scary Gary

Wizard of Id

For Better or for Worse

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Ziggy

32

Wednesday, November 18, 2020

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