General
January 31 News: WHO declares coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency, U.S. life expectancy has stopped declining, Trump can enforce public charge immigration, for now
NPR – WHO declares coronavirus outbreak a global health emergency
The World Health Organization announced Thursday that the outbreak of a deadly and fast-spreading strain of coronavirus constitutes a global health emergency.
Buzzfeed News – US life expectancy has finally stopped declining
The first increase in life expectancy since 2014 is largely due to a 4% decline in drug overdose deaths — the first such drop in 28 years. Life expectancy in the US increased by about a month to 78.7 years in 2018, federal health officials reported on Thursday. The increase reverses an alarming — and unprecedented — drop for the past three years in the vital measure of national health.
The novel coronavirus that's sickening thousands globally — and at least five people in the US — is inspiring countries to close their borders and Americans to buy up surgical masks quicker than major retailers can restock them. There's another virus that has infected 15 million Americans across the country and killed more than 8,200 people this season alone. It's not a new pandemic -- it's influenza.
The Washington Post – Trump can enforce his public charge immigration crackdown, for now
President Trump has made it a habit of running to the Supreme Court for help in buttressing his controversial new policies. The latest example: The court’s 5-4 order yesterday allowing his administration to begin implementing new “public charge” rules.
Associated Press – US advises no travel to China, where virus deaths top 200
The U.S. advised against all travel to China as the number of cases of a worrying new virus spiked more than tenfold in a week, including the highest death toll in a 24-hour period reported Friday.
Vox – This Climate problem is bigger than cars and much harder to solve
Climate activists are fond of saying that we have all the solutions we need to the climate crisis; all we lack is the political will. Truly defeating climate change will mean getting to net-zero carbon emissions and eventually negative emissions. That means decarbonizing everything. Every economic sector. Every use of fossil fuels.
The Guardian – Trying to be happy could make you miserable, study finds
Having your heart set on happiness could leave you down in the dumps – at least in the western world, research suggests. The study, carried out among students living in the UK, found those who said they valued happiness extremely highly tended to show greater signs of depression.
As of Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had confirmed five cases of infection from the new coronavirus in the U.S., including two in California, one in Illinois and one in Arizona. All were linked to people who traveled to the Wuhan region in China. More than a hundred people are under investigation for the new coronavirus in 26 states, according to the CDC.
