LifeSite’s previous (and future) live updates on the coronavirus crisis and how it relates to issues our readers care about can be viewed HERE.
April 2, 2020, 3:44 p.m. EST: Citing the coronavirus, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has loosened its restrictions on actively homosexual men donating blood. Previously, men who had “had sex” with other men in the past 12 months were not eligible to give blood; now it’s three months.
“This guidance is being implemented without prior public comment because the FDA has determined that prior public participation for this guidance is not feasible or appropriate,” the FDA said in a statement.
“These recommendations are expected to remain in place after the COVID-19 pandemic ends, with any appropriate changes based on comments we receive and our experience implementing the guidances.”
April 2, 2020, 12:25 p.m. EST: Canada’s lockdowns and quarantines might last for “weeks or even months,” according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
A government document obtained by the National Post says, “Current GoC [Government Operations Centre] modelling suggests as a best case scenario that current measures continue until at least July.”
The 2020 Democratic National Convention has been postponed to the week of August 17.
In light of the unprecedented health crisis facing our country, the 2020 Democratic National Convention will now be held the week of August 17 in Milwaukee, providing our team more time to determine the most appropriate structure for this historic event.https://t.co/DybjUJuUUA
— 2020 Democratic National Convention (@DemConvention) April 2, 2020
April 2, 2020, 8:47 a.m. EST: “The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed by pilgrims to be the site of Jesus’ tomb in Jerusalem's Old City, closed its doors for the first time since the Black Plague, according to the keeper of the keys to the now-locked church,” Caleb Parke reports at FOX News.
The coronavirus has effected the world’s three major monotheistic religions, the article continues:
Typically, tourists and pilgrims are flooding in and out of the holy site, but now the UNESCO World Heritage site is eerily silent, especially in the days leading up to Passover, Easter, and Ramadan.
But religious leaders in the area are still praying at the doors of the Holy Sepulchre.
The closure comes after the al-Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam, was shut down and amid the Western Wall, the holiest site for Jews to pray, remained open but only to residents of the Old City.
April 1, 2020, 8:42 p.m. EST: Indiana and West Virginia have both halted abortions to free up medical supplies to fight the pandemic.
The World Health Organization, which receives hundreds of millions of dollars from U.S taxpayers every year, is claiming that abortion is “essential” during the pandemic, even if antibiotics aren’t available for the mothers aborting their babies.
FOX News reports, “Tens of millions in the Philippines were placed on lockdown in order to combat coronavirus, but one local official is now facing charges after putting curfew violators in a dog cage this month.”
And Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte “issued a ‘shoot to kill’ order to police officers on Wednesday for anyone they see violating Chinese coronavirus quarantine orders,” Breitbart explains.
“I will not hesitate,” Duterte said. “My orders are to the police and military, also the barangay [district officials], that if there is trouble or the situation arises that people fight and your lives are on the line, shoot them dead. Do you understand? Dead. Instead of causing trouble, I’ll send you to the grave.”
Other LifeSite stories about the coronavirus crisis today include:
- Faulty Chinese medical supplies will ‘kill people’ during COVID-19 pandemic, expert tells Fox News
- Christian group to sue UK gov’t for allowing at-home abortions during pandemic
- Is coronavirus healthcare rationing resulting in people with Down syndrome being left to die?
- Coronavirus crisis reveals why it’s time to curb China’s dangerous dominance of medical supplies
- Problematic definition of ‘COVID-19 death’ may be inflating death rate, leading to draconian lockdowns
And stories we published today relating to the coronavirus crisis and the Catholic Church include:
- Catholics rededicate UK to Virgin Mary amid coronavirus lockdown
- German bishop: idea of coronavirus as God’s punishment is ‘terrible…un-Christian’
- Monks of Norcia counter pandemic with processions, traditional prayers against pestilence
- Cdl Schönborn uses coronavirus pandemic to push ‘ecological’ questions
- Rain damages medieval miraculous crucifix used by Pope Francis during coronavirus blessing
- French priests visit COVID-19 patients, offer private Masses as gov’t ratchets up crackdown efforts
- Canon lawyer compares prohibition of public Masses to interdicts in history
Watch today’s White House coronavirus briefing here.
April 1, 2020, 3:14 p.m. EST: Here are more details on the U.S. government report about China’s coronavirus lies.
The latest map showing which dioceses have stopped confessions (except in danger of death).
The good news: I made two mistakes on my last map—Kansas City and Little Rock *do* allow for confession.
The bad news: 30 dioceses have banned confessions, except in danger of death. pic.twitter.com/3MpXFRC6ge
— Eric Sammons (@EricRSammons) April 1, 2020
April 1, 2020, 12:53 p.m. EST: A secret U.S. government report found that “China has concealed the extent of the coronavirus outbreak in its country,” according to Bloomberg.
“The officials asked not to be identified because the report is secret and declined to detail its contents. But the thrust, they said, is that China’s public reporting on cases and deaths is intentionally incomplete. Two of the officials said the report concludes that China’s numbers are fake.”
A LifeSiteNews article on this is forthcoming.
April 1, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – 100,000 to 240,000 people in the U.S. are projected to die from the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump said yesterday.
“This could be a hell of a bad two weeks,” he said. “I want every American to be prepared for the hard days that lie ahead.”
“This is going to be one of the roughest two or three weeks we’ve ever had in our country…We’re going to lose thousands of people.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations predicted “enhanced instability, enhanced unrest, and enhanced conflict” because of the coronavirus. UN Secretary-General António Guterres suggested the world after the coronavirus will be changed forever.
“When we get past this crisis, which we will, we will face a choice: we can go back to the world as it was before or deal decisively with those issues that make us all unnecessarily vulnerable to crises,” he said. “With the right actions, the COVID-19 pandemic can mark the beginning of a new type of global and societal cooperation.”
Scores of Americans are out of work thanks to the shutdowns. The unemployment rate may reach up to 32 percent – higher than during the Great Depression, when unemployment was at around 25 percent.
And a particularly ominous article on The Intercept reports, “New York City is offering prisoners at Rikers Island jail $6 per hour — a fortune by prison labor standards — and personal protective equipment if they agree to help dig mass graves on Hart Island, according to sources with knowledge of the offer.”
A joint statement issued by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (PAS) and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (PASS) on March 20 does not mention God and asks governments to reduce “nationalistic interests.”
Catholic bishops continue to ban the Sacraments in response to the pandemic.
“No priests are to make themselves available to hear Confessions,” ordered Bishop Robert M. Coerver of Lubbock, Texas. Bishop Mitchell Rozanski of Springfield, Massachusetts has suspended all Last Rites.
Authorities are cracking down on priests around the world for saying public Masses.
The Red Rose Rescue Conference has been postponed due to the pandemic.