In the first three months of the coronavirus pandemic, tens of thousands of health care workers have lost their jobs. Hospitals expect to lose $202.6 billion.
What five novels from the quarantine lists have to say about living through COVID-19 and the surreal aspects of 2020 — from waiting to isolation to loneliness.
The New York City Health Department issued an alert about a “pediatric multi-system inflammatory syndrome” that has also been reported in the UK.
Two women shared the last conversations they had with 34-year-old Melissa Tucker before she died in a New York hospital.
Annette Desmond, who has worked for the Postal Service for 30 years, became an overnight viral sensation.
Spacey said on a podcast that he knows what it’s like to “be told that you can’t go back to work or that you might lose your job and that it’s a situation you have absolutely no control over.”
Jean Smart’s legendary comic timing has never been a secret and hails way back to her Designing Women days, and she absolutely crushed her Watchmen role with a wickedly funny air. As FBI Agent Laurie Blake, Smart was magnificently inappropriate, whether she was antagonizing Tim Blake Nelson’s “Mirror Guy,” clashing with Jeremy Irons’ Ozymandias, or longingly stroking a big blue dildo. Now Smart’s moving from that HBO role to an HBO Max series where she’ll play the lead character, a Las Vegas diva.
The project carries even more promise than that brief description, considering that Parks And Recreation co-creator Michael Schur is executive producing alongside three co-creators, Broad City alums Paul W. Downs, Lucia Aniello, and Jen Statsky (who will also write). All involved are more than well-versed in throwing down with complex female characters, and the inclusion of two powerful female voices as writers is fantastic news. The project will explore a “dark mentorship” between Smart and a 25-year-old newcomer (casting not yet announced) to the Vegas scene.
From HBO Max’s press release, here’s the official explanation of how this gathering of talent happened, straight from Head of Original Content Sarah Aubrey:
“When this dream team came to us, we jumped at the chance to develop this project, which features two complex female characters working in comedy and facing the professional and personal challenges that come along with it. When Jean Smart came aboard, we were even more delighted to move forward. We’re excited to be working with this winning combination of talent and confident the show will fit perfectly into our robust slate of HBO Max Originals.”
In the release, Paul W. Downs added that he’s thrilled to work again with Lucia Aniello, and Jen Statsky again because “[f]or far too long, male voices dominated” writers rooms while crafting female characters. Damn straight, and this project is only the latest in a vast swath of HBO Max Originals to come. Although the Smart-starring series obviously won’t materialize until some point in the future, HBO’s newcomer streaming program will offer a handful of original series (along with over 10,000+ hours of library content) when it launches on May 27. Here’s everything we know about the service, which looks to be a real contender in the streaming universe.
(Via HBO Max)
The world is changing rapidly, there’s no getting around that. The travel industry, especially air travel, has been shaken to its foundation (and that foundation has been proven unstable). Entire fleets have been grounded, airports are shuttering, international borders are still closed, and people are rightfully skittish about what travel will look like going forward. Airlines are racing to keep up with the new “norms” — like social distancing and face masks.
One U.S. budget airline, Frontier Airlines (which we’ve often quoted as having the cheapest one-way flights in the U.S.), is tackling the issue of social distancing on their planes by passing the buck. Literally, to you.
Frontier Airlines is planning to set aside 18 “More Room” seat assignments wherein the middle seat in those rows would be guaranteed to be unoccupied. If you want to sit in one of those seats, you’re going to have to pay anywhere from $39 to $89 extra (depending on how long the flight is).
This comes in contrast to other U.S. airlines like United, Southwest, Delta, and American which have said they’ve simply limited or stopped sales on middle seats to comply with social distancing guidelines. However, those airlines have also stated that they will seat passengers in those unsold middle seats if they need to. So… it’s a bit of a wash.
For now, this isn’t a permanent thing. Frontier only plans to charge passengers for the right to maintain social distancing on flights until August 31st. After that, they plan to go back to their standard seat selling procedure — which, like Spirit Airlines, features a base-fare and a series of incremental costs.
In the meantime, the company has implemented a face mask policy for passengers on all flights, along with other health protections. Frontier’s “healthy travel tips” presented online include passengers complying with the following before boarding a plane: A temperature check before going to the airport, “attest” that they or no one in their household has been in contact with someone with COVID-19-like symptoms in the last 14 days, and washing hands and using hand sanitizer before boarding. While these precautions are likely to become common in some form, they all pass the onus and costs onto the customer — an approach that is already receiving blowback online.
To be clear: I’d rather walk than fly Frontier Airlines. But I can’t imagine they’ll be the only company that tries this BS.
— Lacy Baugher (@LacyMB) May 6, 2020
Today in Pandemic extortion: Frontier airlines will let you “pay” to keep the center seat empty. Who pays? Person on aisle of window? They probably collect from both w/o telling the other.
Try harder Frontier. We are already on to your game.
— Larry Lynam (@scopedbylarry) May 6, 2020
