Trea Turner is removed from game after testing positive for the coronavirus
PHILADEPLHIA – Trea Turner exited Tuesday nights game at Citizens Bank Park after testing positive for the coronavirus, the Washington Nationals announced. Turner, the teams star shortstop, took his at-bat in the first inning, singled, scored on a three-run homer and ran straight down the tunnel instead of celebrating with his teammates in the dugout. The club did not specify whether Turner is vaccinated.
The Nationals began their season with four players testing positive for the virus and with nine others – seven players and two staff members – in mandatory quarantine because of close contact with an infected individual. In early June, the Nationals reached the 85% vaccination rate required to relax some of MLB’s protocols. Later that month, starting pitcher Erick Fedde tested positive despite being vaccinated, while reliever Tanner Rainey, an unvaccinated teammate, had to quarantine because he was a close contact.
Turner was replaced in the lineup by Gerardo Parra, who entered in left field. Josh Harrison moved from left to send and Alcides Escobar shifted to fill Turner’s spot at shortstop. Infielder Luis García was then removed from the Class AAA Rochester Red Wings game against Lehigh Valley, completing the domino effect. García, 21, will meet the Nationals in Philadelphia and replace Turner on the active roster, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.
With the trade deadline Friday at 4 p.m., Turner’s early exit sparked speculation that he could be on the move. But the Nationals offered a rare in-game update, confirming that Turner has entered coronavirus protocols.
The New York Yankees dealt with an outbreak following the all-star break in mid-July. The Phillies, who have not reached the 85% threshold, have multiple players on the covid-related IL. On Tuesday, the Milwaukee Brewers announced that Christian Yelich, who is vaccinated, tested positive and is experiencing “mild symptoms.”
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For teams past the 85% threshold, players and staff are only required to get tested if unvaccinated or symptomatic. But any vaccinated person can still choose to be tested, according to those familiar with the Nationals’ day-to-day operations.
How to support someone going through a mentally tough time
Shortly after news broke that Simone Biles had unexpectedly withdrawn from the womens gymnastics team final at the Olympics because, as she later put it to reporters, she felt she wasnt in “the right head space” to continue competing, reactions to the stunning decision poured forth.
While many people were supportive as they praised Biles, 24, for taking care of her well-being, others appeared to be far less understanding – reflecting what experts say is a long-standing, and problematic, view of mental health challenges, particularly among elite athletes and other public figures.
“Being an Olympian doesn’t mean that she gets to destroy her body and her mind for America,” said Theresa Nguyen, a licensed clinical social worker and chief program officer of Mental Health America. “The words from comments that people make online are exponentially damaging. We as American people have the ability to make a choice about whether or not to post something hateful and unsupportive or encouraging and loving.”
Now, Nguyen emphasized, “is not the time to be a jerk.”
“We all know this feeling when we’re in a tough spot and someone beats you down even further, it does not make you feel encouraged,” she said. “It just makes you feel more broken and smaller.”
Biles’s very public decision offers an opportunity to learn about the right and wrong ways to support someone – whether they’re an Olympian or not – who is going through a difficult time mentally or emotionally. Here are some do’s and don’ts from mental health experts.
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Do: Offer a safe space to talk and listen
“The first step is providing the space and providing the invitation for the person to explore what’s going on,” said Mark Aoyagi, co-director of sports and performance psychology at the University of Denver.
If the person takes you up on your invitation, ask them how they are doing. You don’t have to shy away from potentially sensitive subjects, Aoyagi said: “A lot of times nobody else in their life has ever invited that conversation, and so sometimes it’s just opening that door for them to have a trusted person that they can communicate with about that.”
It’s also important to figure out where a person is in their decision-making process about how to handle their mental health issue, Nguyen said, which can then guide how you provide support. If, for instance, a person is still trying to make sense of what their next step is, you may be able to help themthink it through.
But above all, experts said, you need to prioritize listening. “When we’re in moments of suffering, what we want is empathy and listening,” Nguyen said. “We all know what it feels like to talk to somebody in that moment of crisis and get advice or see that someone is not listening because they’re already crafting in their minds what they’re going to do next.”
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Don’t: Be pushy about talking or dispensing advice
Many people have a tendency to want to immediately fix what’s wrong. Fight that urge, experts said.
“The more you’re able to listen and the less providing advice – unless you’re explicitly asked to provide advice – the better,” said Lynn Bufka, a senior director at the American Psychological Association.”You want to have the opportunity for the person to tell you what’s going on in the most nonjudgmental way possible.”
If the person asksyou for space, respect their wishes, said Akua K. Boateng, a licensed psychotherapist in Philadelphia. Even though you may be reaching out with good intent to offer support, Boateng said, “if they’re not asking for that, that’s not helpful.”
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Do: Validate and affirm decisions
When someone is going through a tough time, it helps to know that others understand and accept their struggle. Acknowledge and validate their feelings, experts said, and if they have made a decision about their next move – to take a step back from a challenging situation, for example – you should affirm that choice.
“Sometimes people feel alone in making strong decisions,”Boateng said. To counter that, she suggested reinforcing that you’re going to be there for that person to listen and support them.
If someone has made up their mind, try to avoid asking questions such as “Are you sure?” Nguyen said, which can put people in a position of defensiveness.
Instead of second-guessing someone’s decision, she and other experts recommended shifting your focus to how you can help the person navigate next steps.
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Do: Ask how you can support them
Keep in mind that people’s needs are different. While one person may want reassurance and affirmation that they made the right decision, that approach may not be helpful for someone else, Boateng said.
It’s important to ask someone how you can be most helpful to them, experts said, which will then help you know the right things to say and do. Try to be positive without “bypassing or overlooking the pain and suffering” someone is experiencing, Boateng said.
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Don’t: Engage in toxic positivity
Oftentimes not knowing what to say can turn into being overly positive, which may do more harm than good. “Toxic positivity,” or the tendency to cope with a bad situation by putting a positive spin on it and ignoring the negative, can be “disguised as genuine support,” Boateng said. “They’re thinking they’re saying the best thing.”
Toxic positivity can sound like phrases such as “push through,” “everything is going to be fine” or “there’s always next time.”
“You almost assuredly have not walked in that person’s shoes and experienced the things that that person has, so trying to tell the person, ‘Oh, it’s going to be okay,’ while well-meaning, it often feels devaluing of what the person’s struggle is,” Bufka said.
Additionally, toxic positivity may encourage a person to stay in a situation that they’ve already determined isn’t healthy for them, Nguyen said. “You’re using positive words, but you’re still pushing someone to do something they don’t want to do.”
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Do: Respect privacy
You may be asked by others why someone is taking time to care for their mental health. Be sure to ask that person how much information about their situation they would feel comfortable with you sharing, Bufka said. If you don’t have permission, “it’s best to assume you shouldn’t be sharing anything private about other people’s lives,” Nguyen noted.
But if you are asked, it’s important to be honest without disclosing information, Bufka said. Some possible responses include, “It was a very personal/ difficult decision/ situation,” or “They could use support right now,” she said.
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Do: Offer to help
You can help someone establish perspective and encourage them to give themselves permission to make a change, Aoyagi said.
And similar to how you would support someone who is grieving, experts recommend offering help beyond emotional support. Ask if you can provide meals or run errands, or simply be a physical presence in the person’s life by scheduling walks or going over to spend time with them.
If someone decides they want professional support, Bufka recommended helping them get them connected.
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Don’t: Take on more than you can handle yourself
“We don’t have to be perfect in our answers,” Boateng said. “Just doing your best sometimes may not be the complete support that they need. That’s why it really takes a community, not just one person.”
As you’re providing support, it’s important to realize your own limits and know when it might be time to involve a mental health professional, Bufka said.
A family member or friend, she said, should “be a willing companion on the journey as opposed to the person leading the journey.”
The death toll from torrential rain in central Chinas Henan Province has risen to 73 as of Wednesday noon, said the provincial emergency management department.
As of Wednesday noon, more than 13.6 million people in 150 county-level regions have been affected by the latest round of downpours since July 16. Over 1.02 million hectares of crops were damaged, and about 784,200 houses have collapsed or sustained damages across the province, official data showed.
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A total of 1.47 million people have been relocated due to rain-triggered flooding.
Disaster relief and reconstruction efforts are underway across the province.
Asia Album: Singapore tightening community safe management measures amid COVID-19
Singapore is further tightening community safe management measures by going back to Phase 2 (Heightened Alert), which takes effect from July 22 through Aug. 18.
In the period, permissible group sizes for social gatherings will be reduced from maximum of five persons to maximum of two persons, together with a cap of two distinct visitors per household per day. Individuals should continue to limit their overall number of social gatherings to not more than two per day, whether to another household, or meeting with friends and family members in a public place.
Meanwhile, both indoor and outdoor dine-in food and beverage establishments will only be able to offer takeaway and delivery options, according to Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH).
The Ministry reported 139 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, bringing the total tally in the country to 64,453.
Boeings Starliner set to launch to space station this week
The Starliner spacecraft is scheduled to dock to the International Space Station at 3:06 p.m. Saturday.
NASA and Boeing are targeting launch of the Starliner spacecraft on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on Friday.
The launch was scheduled at 2:53 p.m. Eastern Day Time Friday from Space Launch Complex-41 on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, according to NASA.
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About 31 minutes after launch, Starliner will reach its preliminary orbit. It is scheduled to dock to the International Space Station (ISS) at 3:06 p.m. Saturday.
Various tests have been completed to ensure all systems between the rocket and spacecraft are communicating and functioning properly before rollout to the pad, said Boeing on Tuesday.
The integrated Starliner and the Atlas V is set to rollout to the launch pad on Wednesday.
Starliner’s last mission was in December 2019, when it failed to dock with the ISS due to an orbit insertion anomaly.
U.S. Fed debate over taper expected to intensify amid inflation, Delta variant concerns
Most economists expected a formal announcement of tapering by the Fed in December and actual reductions starting in the first quarter of 2022, according to a survey of 51 economists released by Bloomberg.
The debate over when and how the U.S. Federal Reserve should begin tapering its asset purchases is expected to intensify this week amid inflation and Delta variant concerns, economists have said.
“Inflationary risk and the delta variant of the coronavirus will be front and center” at the Fed’s two-day policy meeting that started on Tuesday, while policy changes will take a back seat, said Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at accounting and consulting firm RSM US LLP.
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“The primary takeaways of the meeting, should there actually be anything other than a reaffirmation of the status quo, will be the inclusion of policymakers noting the news around rising inflation,” Brusuelas said.
The meeting came as U.S. consumer prices in June rose 0.9 percent from the previous month and 5.4 percent from a year earlier, the largest 12-month increase in roughly 13 years, according to the Labor Department.
Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton, a major accounting firm, believed that “many within the Fed will be pushing to taper” the central bank’s monthly asset purchase program of 120 billion U.S. dollars amid inflation concerns.
“(Fed Chairman Jerome) Powell will acknowledge that the Fed is discussing the asset purchase program but has yet to agree upon timing or strategy for tapering,” Swonk said Sunday in an analysis, noting Fed officials will want to see more progress toward their goals, notably on employment.
The Fed has pledged to keep its benchmark interest rates unchanged at the record-low level of near zero, while continuing its asset purchase program at least at the current pace of 120 billion dollars per month until “substantial further progress” has been made on employment and inflation.
Meanwhile, the Fed has to acknowledge the “downside risks from the spread of the Delta variant,” as the honor system for masking has failed, which is fueling the spread in less vaccinated areas and upping the ante for breakthrough infections, Swonk noted.
“The question mark is how spread of the Delta variant affects the return to work and whether it dampens some of the demand for services,” she said.
COVID-19 cases are on the rise in nearly 90 percent of U.S. jurisdictions, with outbreaks in parts of the country that have low vaccination coverage, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
To prevent further spread of the Delta variant, the CDC on Tuesday updated its masking guidelines, recommending that even vaccinated people return to wearing masks indoors in COVID-19 hot spots.
It’s too early to know if this latest wave of COVID-19 cases will have significant economic effects, according to Nick Bennenbroek and Brendan McKenna, economists at Wells Fargo Securities.
“Should the latest COVID outbreak persist for an extended period, perhaps until the end of this year, there would be a higher likelihood of governments reimposing restrictions and central banks delaying their tightening plans,” the economists wrote Monday in a note.
Swonk still expected the Fed to begin tapering by the end of this year, but she did not expect more clarity on the time frame from this week’s meeting.
Brusuelas believed that the rise of the variants will present the Fed with the opportunity to “postpone a more in-depth discussion” around tapering that many market participants would like to see take place at the Kansas City Fed’s symposium on monetary policy at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, next month.
Most economists expected a formal announcement of tapering by the Fed in December and actual reductions starting in the first quarter of 2022, according to a survey of 51 economists released by Bloomberg last week.
The number of Covid-19 cases in Southeast Asia crossed 6.91 million, with 96,526 new cases reported on Tuesday – higher than Monday’s tally of 78,444. There were 2,824 more deaths, increasing from Monday’s 2,376 and taking total coronavirus deaths in Asean to 136,564 so far.
Thousands of medical professionals in Malaysia, attired in black, held a peaceful rally on Tuesday at several hospitals nationwide to protest against the government’s employment regulations for medical professionals that have been in place since 2016. The regulations stipulate that newly graduated medics must work under a government contract in public hospitals for four-and-a-half years while receiving lower wages compared to full-time medics before they can work at private hospitals.
Meanwhile, Cambodia’s Public Health Ministry reported 39 new Delta variant infections on Tuesday, bringing cumulative Delta cases in the neighbouring country to 114 patients.
The ministry said of the 39 patients, 21 had just returned from Thailand while 18 are locals from Oddar Meanchey, Kampong Thom and Siem Reap provinces.
The ministry urged people to strictly follow disease control measures, warning the Delta variant can spread easier than other Covid-19 variants.
South Korea and the DPRK decided to resume their direct communication hotlines that had been severed for over a year as of 10:00 a.m. local time Tuesday.
South Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) restored their cross-border communication lines that had been severed for over a year, the South Korean presidential Blue House said Tuesday.
The Blue House said in a statement that the two Koreas decided to resume their direct communication hotlines as of 10:00 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) Tuesday.
All of the inter-Korean communication lines had been severed since June last year when the DPRK cut them off in protest against Seoul’s failure to stop civic activists from sending anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets into the DPRK.
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According to the statement, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un have exchanged personal letters several times since April to communicate about issues on restoring inter-Korean relations.
Moon and Kim agreed first to restore the severed inter-Korean communication lines, the statement noted.
The two leaders also agreed to restore mutual trust and enhance ties as early as possible.
The Blue House said the resumed inter-Korean communication lines would play a positive role in the improvement and the development of the inter-Korean relations.
Meanwhile, the military authorities of South Korea and the DPRK reopened their military communication lines and put them back to normal operations from 10:00 a.m., the South Korean defense ministry said in a separate statement Tuesday.
Fixed-line phone calls through the fiber-optic cable and faxing to exchange documents are currently under a normal operation, the ministry noted.
From Tuesday afternoon, the military authorities of the two Koreas planned to restart their regular phone calls twice a day at 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. local time.
The western military hotline across the inter-Korean border worked normally, but some technical problem was found in the eastern hotline, the ministry said.
The ministry said the restored hotline would substantially contribute to the defused military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
State of emergency declared in Italys wildfire-ravaged Sardinia.
The wildfire started with a car that caught fire after a crash, and has forced the evacuation of at least 1,500 people from their homes. It has devastated some 20,000 hectares of land so far.
Regional emergency services in Italy’s Sardinia issued a new adverse weather warning for Monday, and the regional government has declared a state of emergency after large swaths of the major island were ravaged by wildfires in the last few days. The hot weather alert especially concerned central and western Sardinia and some areas around northern Coghinas, and would last until 6 p.m. local time on Monday, according to the local civil protection department. The alert entails a high risk of new bushfires. In an emergency meeting Sunday night — after the national civil protection launched five operations with Canadair water-dropping planes on the island — the regional government declared the state of emergency.
State of emergency declared in Italys wildfire-ravaged Sardinia.
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State of emergency declared in Italys wildfire-ravaged Sardinia.
The wildfire started on Friday with a car that caught fire after a crash, and has forced the evacuation of at least 1,500 people from their homes. It has devastated some 20,000 hectares of land so far.
Sardinia’s governor Christian Solinas said several farms and homes were destroyed, along with thousands of hectares of vegetation. No casualties were reported yet. Fanned by hot southwest winds, the largest bushfire in the Oristano area kept spreading along a front of almost 50 km as of Monday morning, according to the Nuova Sardegna newspaper. Local firefighters have received support from Greece and France, which sent two Canadair planes through the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism.
State of emergency declared in Italys wildfire-ravaged Sardinia.
U.S. to maintain travel restrictions due to Delta variant
The United States currently bars entry for most noncitizens who within the last 14 days have been in Britain, the European Schengen area, Ireland, China, Iran, South Africa, Brazil, and India. It also keeps non-essential travel restrictions across its borders with Canada and Mexico.
The United States will keep existing travel restrictions from entering the country due to the surging cases of COVID-19 Delta variant, the White House said on Monday. Driven by the rising Delta variant cases here at home, particularly among those who are unvaccinated, “we will maintain existing travel restrictions at this point,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at a daily briefing. The federal administration has been under pressure from the travel industry and allies to lift these restrictions. The United States currently bars entry for most noncitizens who within the last 14 days have been in Britain, the European Schengen area, Ireland, China, Iran, South Africa, Brazil, and India. It also keeps non-essential travel restrictions across its borders with Canada and Mexico. Last week, the U.S. State Department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a warning against traveling to Britain due to the country’s high level of COVID-19 cases.
State of emergency declared in Italys wildfire-ravaged Sardinia.
State of emergency declared in Italys wildfire-ravaged Sardinia.
State of emergency declared in Italys wildfire-ravaged Sardinia.
