Month: April 2020

The U.S. space agency NASA has awarded contracts to three American companies to develop spacecraft to land humans on the moon by 2024. In a remote news conference Thursday, NASA announced it had selected Blue Origin, the space exploration company owned by Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, and owner and founder of Amazon; Dynetics, a subsidiary of research company Leidos that is based in the city of Huntsville, Alabama; and SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, California, and owned by businessman Elon Musk. NASA says the companies will compete to design and develop systems for the agency’s Artemis program, which has the goal of landing men and women on the surface of the moon for the first time since the 1970s. The project would also develop systems by 2028 that could be used for people to explore the solar system. NASA’s statement says the three commercial partners will refine their moon lander concepts through February 2021. The agency will evaluate which of the contractors will perform initial demonstration missions, and from those missions, NASA will select the final lunar lander. The Washington Post reports both NASA and the White House must still convince Congress to fund the program, which is projected to cost $35 billion through 2024. 
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Two United Nations agencies called on the global community Wednesday to prevent hunger and malnutrition among the 370 million children who are not receiving school meals due to the closure of schools worldwide in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.The U.N. said school meals are particularly vital for girls, especially those in poor countries, whose struggling parents often send them to school to get meals, allowing them to avoid domestic responsibilities or early marriage.”For millions of children around the world, the meal they get at school is the only meal they get in a day,” said David Beasley, executive director of the U.N.’s World Food Program (WFP). “Without it, they go hungry, they risk falling sick, dropping out of school and losing their best chance of escaping poverty. We must act now to prevent the health pandemic from becoming a hunger catastrophe.”The U.N. said children in impoverished countries also are missing out on health and nutrition services at school, such as vitamin supplements and vaccinations.FILE – School canteen workers prepare meals to be distributed to people as part of an emergency plan by the Lisbon city hall to mitigate the social impact of the coronavirus epidemic at the Loios school in Lisbon, April 14, 2020.”School is so much more than a place of learning. For many children it is a lifeline to safety, health services and nutrition,” said United Nations Children’s Fund Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “Unless we act now, by scaling up lifesaving services for the most vulnerable children, the devastating fallout caused by COVID-19 will be felt for decades to come.”The U.N.’s secretary-general recently issued a report indicating hundreds of millions of children are not getting meals at schools due to closures, prompting the WFP and UNICEF to collaborate with national governments to support them during the coronavirus crisis.The WFP and governments are currently providing children in 68 countries with alternatives to school meals, such as cash transfers, take-home rations and vouchers.The WFP and UNICEF said they also will soon begin helping governments in the coming months to resume meal, nutrition and health programs when schools reopen.Additionally, the agencies said they are using internet technology displayed via an online map to track children who are not getting school meals. UNICEF and the WFP said they are asking for $600 million to initially concentrate on 30 “low-income or fragile” countries.The agencies said their work is “closely aligned” with the UNESCO-led Global Education Coalition, a worldwide initiative to help guarantee that children are able to keep learning despite the COVID-19 crisis.
 
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The World Health Organization says Niger has been struck by a new outbreak of polio, following the suspension of immunization activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.N. health agency reported that two children were infected by the highly infectious, water-borne disease and that one was paralyzed. The outbreak was sparked by a mutated virus that originated in the vaccine and was not connected to a previous polio epidemic Niger stopped last year, WHO said, in a statement last week.  
“The poliovirus will inevitably continue to circulate and may paralyze more children as no high-quality immunization campaigns can be conducted in a timely manner,” said Pascal Mkanda, WHO’s coordinator of polio eradication in Africa.  
In rare cases, the live virus in oral polio vaccine can evolve into a form capable of igniting new outbreaks among non-immunized children; stopping the epidemic requires more targeted vaccination.  
Earlier this month, WHO and partners announced they were forced to halt all polio vaccination activities until at least June 1, acknowledging the decision would inevitably result in more children being paralyzed.  
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there have been 33,500 cases and 1,469 deaths as of Tuesday, but experts suspect the real numbers are far higher due to lack of testing and poor surveillance.
Eradicating polio requires more than 90% of children being immunized, typically in mass campaigns involving millions of health workers that would break social distancing guidelines needed to stop the spread of the new coronavirus.
Across Africa, 14 other countries are struggling to contain their polio epidemics, which have also been caused by a rare mutation of the virus in the oral vaccine. Health officials had initially aimed to wipe out polio by 2000, but that deadline has been pushed back and missed repeatedly.
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Children could be the biggest victims of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the fact that the disease affects mostly older people, according to human rights groups.  It is estimated that 1.5 billion children worldwide are missing school. The outbreak is having myriad other impacts on young people, with hundreds of thousands orphaned by the disease that the coronavirus causes.  “More and more children are going to be left without parents,” said Jo Becker of Human Rights Watch. “We’ve seen from the Ebola crisis, for example, the HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa, that when children are orphaned, they become much more vulnerable to sex trafficking, to child labor and other forms of exploitation.” A recent report from the International Labor Organization warned that 200 million people could lose their jobs as a result of the pandemic.  “As parents lose their employment, especially in developing countries, we often see more and more children pushed into child labor to try and help families just meet their basic needs,” Becker said. “And correspondingly, there’s also a trend towards early and child marriage, with girls feeling the pressure to marry to get out of the house and relieve the pressure on their parents.”  The most vulnerable are feeling the effects first. Many charities report that children living on the streets are struggling to find food and shelter amid the outbreak.  In rich countries, poorer children are missing out on school lunches, which is often their one big meal of the day. “It’s a bit tough right now, considering we don’t really have work to get food,” said 17-year-old student Raylyn Riviera, who was among dozens of people lining up for free food outside a New York high school this week. “So, we have to make do with what we have.” Elsewhere, with Russia in lockdown, activists there report a big spike in domestic violence. Becker said it is a pattern repeated in many countries. “As parents become anxious about their health, about their finances, about their jobs, and as tensions rise as people are together 24/7, the risk of violence really escalates,” she said. There are also concerns that children are missing out on vital immunization programs as health systems prioritize coronavirus patients. Human Rights Watch is urging governments to put children at the center of their coronavirus response policies, with greater efforts to expand access to education and provide economic assistance to vulnerable families. 
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An asteroid just over two kilometers wide will pass close to earth Wednesday. But scientists with the U.S. space agency, NASA, say the object poses no threat to the planet.The asteroid is known as 1998 OR2, named for the year it was first discovered. It will safely pass at a distance of 6.3 million kilometers from Earth — about 16 times the distance between the Earth and the moon.NASA scientists say by astronomical standards, that distance still classifies the asteroid as a “near-earth” object and worth watching. The space agency considers objects that pass within 48 million kilometers of our planet a “near-earth” object. NASA maintains a planetary defense coordination office that keeps track of such objects and plots their courses through space. In an interview posted on the space agency’s website, NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies manager Paul Chodas say they believe they have found and tracked about 90% of the near-earth objects that are at least a kilometer wide and could pose a threat to earth.Chodas says none they have found pose a significant threat to earth. But NASA’s Planetary Defense officer, Lindley Johnson, says any object impacting Earth large enough to do significant damage is extremely rare — but inevitable.Should such an object be identified, the scientists say there are a variety of plans to protect early, depending on the lead time.Those plans range from sending a spacecraft to nudge the object onto a course safely away from Earth, or, if there was much less time, using nuclear weapons to break up or destroy the object.
 
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A decision by India to suspend the use of Chinese rapid testing kits for COVID-19 on the grounds that they are faulty has been slammed by the Chinese embassy in New Delhi as “unfair and irresponsible.”    The Indian government medical research agency that is dealing with the coronavirus outbreak has said it planned to return the test kits to the two Chinese firms from where they were procured and asked health authorities across the country to stop using them due to “wide variations” in their performance.    India had procured half a million antibody test kits earlier this month in a bid to ramp up testing amid concerns that its fight to slow the pandemic is being hampered by extremely low levels of testing. They are meant to detect antibodies in people who may have had the infection and were to serve as surveillance tools in hotspots.  
The kits, which deliver a result in about 30 minutes, were tested by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) after health authorities in some states complained that they had an extremely low accuracy rate. They said the kits had been used on patients whom they already knew were positive for COVID-19, but the tests had shown a “negative” result for antibodies. COVID-19 is the disease caused by the coronavirus.   “The results have shown wide variation in their sensitivity,” the ICMR said on Monday.    In a statement, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Ji Rong, speaking in New Delhi, said, “It is unfair and irresponsible for certain individuals to label Chinese products as ‘faulty’ and look at issues with pre-emptive prejudice.”    China was trying to help India fight the coronavirus with concrete action and it made sure the quality of its medical exports was a priority with manufacturers, according to the statement.     China said the test kits were qualified medical products which had strict requirements for their use, storage and transportation. “Any operation which is not carried out by professionals in accordance with the product specifications will lead to the testing accuracy variations,” according to Ji.    She said Beijing will continue to support India’s fight against the coronavirus pandemic.     China has become the largest manufacturer and exporter of medical equipment and protective gear as the pandemic wreaks havoc across the world. China has also faced a slew of complaints from several countries about faulty face masks and protective gear sold by its companies.    The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in India currently stands at 29,451 and 939 people have died, according to the Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking cases worldwide. 
 
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The U.K. held a minute’s silence Tuesday for all front-line workers who have died from the coronavirus, as official figures showed a new weekly high in the total number of deaths in England and Wales.
As clocks struck 11 a.m., senior political leaders, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, joined hospital and nursing home staff in observing the silence. London’s subway and bus networks came to a halt as workers honored colleagues, and Westminster Abbey paid tribute to “the sacrifice of health and care workers who have lost their lives in the service of others.”
On Monday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said 82 workers in the National Health Service and 16 social care staff had died so far. Other workers, including a number of bus drivers in London, have also died after testing positive for COVID-19.  
The minute’s silence had been campaigned for by the Unison union, the Royal College of Midwives and the Royal of College of Nursing.
Donna Kinnair, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said it was “important to pay tribute” and urged all front-line workers be “afforded the greatest protection.” The government has been criticized for not having sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment.
“An even greater task now remains — to stop more joining the tragic number of those who have died,” she said.  
Johnson, who returned to work on Monday after recovering from COVID-19, tweeted that the country “will not forget you.”
Johnson has said he won’t risk a second peak in the virus by relaxing the lockdown restrictions too soon. The country, he said, was at the point of “maximum risk” even though it was coming out of the “first phase of this conflict.”  
Ministers have been reluctant to talk about easing the restrictions, which are due to last until May 7, and the government has set five tests before contemplating such a move, including “a sustained and consistent” fall in the daily death rate and clear evidence that the rate of infection has decreased.
Though England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales moved into lockdown together, some divergences are emerging. Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said her government was recommending the use of face coverings in limited circumstances, such as when using public transport or buying food. The U.K. government hasn’t made such a recommendation.  
The Office for National Statistics also said Tuesday that 22,351 people in England and Wales died in the week ending April 17, the highest since comparable records began in 1993. The total was more than double the rolling five-year average.
In its analysis of death certificates, which take longer to compile than deaths recorded in hospitals, the statistics agency said the coronavirus was mentioned as one of the causes of death in 8,758 cases, nearly 40% of the total.
It also said that 4,316 deaths involving COVID-19 had been registered up to April 17 outside of hospitals with 3,096 in care homes. The equivalent figure for hospital deaths over the period is 14,796.  
The daily figures presented by the government only show the number of people dying in U.K. hospitals, including those in Scotland and Northern Ireland. As of Monday, 21,092 people had died in U.K. hospitals. 
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U.S. Federal Health officials have expanded their list of known coronavirus symptoms.  They say chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and the loss of the sense of smell or taste could be signs of a coronavirus infection.  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had previously cited fever, shortness of breath and a cough as possible symptoms of COVID-19.  Here’s what you should watch out for.
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As states gear up to reopen, a poll finds a potential obstacle to controlling the coronavirus: nearly 1 in 10 adults say cost would keep them from seeking help if they thought they were infected. People stand in line as they wait to get tested for COVID-19 at a just-opened testing center in the Harlem section of New York, April 20, 2020.Experts say that to succeed, the nation’s reopening has to be based on three pillars: testing, tracing those who came in contact with infected people and treatment for those who become ill. If people who may be sick are reluctant to come forward, that could create a blind spot for governors and public health officials trying to calibrate reopening plans to quickly contain potential virus flare-ups. The survey found that members of minority groups, younger people, those with less than a college degree and people making less than $40,000 a year were more likely to say they would avoid treatment for economic reasons. Fourteen percent of nonwhite poll respondents said they would avoid treatment even if they suspected they had the coronavirus, compared with 6% of whites citing costs. Yet COVID-19 has proven to be more lethal among blacks and Hispanics, a grim phenomenon linked to higher rates of underlying diseases such as diabetes and lower rates of health insurance coverage. Among age groups, the survey found those 18-29 were the most likely to avoid treatment. Although COVID-19 claims a disproportionately high share of victims among older people, there’s plenty of evidence that seemingly healthy young adults can also get seriously sick. In the poll 12% of those 18-29 said they would avoid treatment because of cost worries. Adults ages 50-64 were the least likely to avoid care, with only 3% citing pocketbook issues as a barrier. Surprisingly, 7% of those 65 and older said cost would be an issue for them. Virtually all U.S. seniors are covered by Medicare, and many have additional protection for out-of-pocket expenses. The poll also found income was a dividing line in Americans’ attitudes. Only 3% of those making $100,000 or more cited cost as a barrier to COVID care, compared with 14% of those earning under $40,000. “A pretty substantial chunk of the population could remain hidden from view because of the U.S. health care cost crisis,” said Dan Witters, research director for the poll. The Gallup-West Health Healthcare Costs Survey was based on telephone interviews conducted April 1-14, with a random sample of 1,017 adults, ages 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and Washington. For results based on the entire sample the margin of error is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points. 
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President Donald Trump says states should “seriously consider” reopening their public schools before the end of the academic year, even though dozens already have said it would be unsafe for students to return until the summer or fall.
Trump made the comments Monday in a call with governors discussing how to reopen their economies, among other topics.
“Some of you might start thinking about school openings, because a lot of people are wanting to have the school openings. It’s not a big subject, young children have done very well in this disaster that we’ve all gone through,” he said. While addressing Vice President Mike Pence, Trump added that it’s something “they can seriously consider, and maybe get going on.”
None of the governors on the call responded to the suggestion, according to a recording obtained by The Associated Press.
Trump made the comments as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention worked to finalize guidelines for reopening the economy. For schools, that included putting students’ desks 6 feet (1.8 meters) apart, serving meals in the classroom instead of the cafeteria and closing playgrounds.
Reopening schools is considered key to getting the economy moving again. Without a safe place for kids, many parents would have difficulty returning to work.
But some education officials say opening schools quickly would bring major risk and little reward, especially since the end of the school year is approaching.
“Are they going to reopen for two weeks? Three weeks?” said Daniel Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators, “It’s not the right thing to do. Particularly when we’re involving the safety and welfare of our students.”
At a White House news conference Monday, Trump acknowledged that there’s little time left in the school year, even as he said many states are thinking about getting kids back into the classroom.
“I think you’ll see a lot of schools open up even if it’s for a very short period of time,” he said. “In terms of what this vicious virus goes after, young people seem to do very well. Young people seem to do very well so I know that there are some governors that aren’t necessarily ready to open up states, but they may be ready to open up the school systems.”
Schools across the nation have closed during the coronavirus pandemic, and dozens of states have ordered their schools to remain closed through the rest of this academic year. Only a few have publicly discussed earlier openings, including Montana, which says school districts can resume classroom instruction on May 7.
In many districts, officials have said it’s still unclear whether students will be able to return to the classroom by next fall. And even if they do, many are planning for social distancing measures that could make school look radically different from the past.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said on CNN that it’s “way too early” to reopen his city’s schools, adding that “you don’t get a lot of credit for moving too quickly to reopen.”
Responding to Trump’s comments, one of the nation’s largest teachers unions said there’s still much work to be done before schools can open safely. The American Federation of Teachers said there needs to be better testing and tracking for the virus, and schools must have access to personal protective equipment.
“It’s good the president understands that reopening society and the economy hinges on successfully and safely reopening schools,” said Randi Weingarten, the union’s president. “But the question should not be whether we open schools, but how we do it safely. COVID-19 is a terrible virus that has already taken too many lives, and, in the absence of a vaccine, there is no magic wand or magic elixir as the president would have us believe.”
If schools reopen too quickly and end up spreading the coronavirus, schools could be held legally liable, said Francisco Negrón, chief legal officer for the National School Boards Association. And while coronavirus cases have been mild among U.S. children, many schools have students with medical conditions that could make them vulnerable, he said.
“The foremost concern for schools is going to be safety of their students and safety of their employees,” Negrón said.
In the CDC’s draft guidelines for schools, the agency suggested a three-phase reopening process for schools in communities with “low levels of COVID-19 spread and those with confidence that the incidence of infection is genuinely low.”
The guidance encourages schools to create isolation areas for students who develop symptoms. And if anyone with COVID-19 is found to have been in the building, it advises schools to shut down for one or two days to clean and disinfect.
Domenech, of the school administrators association, said the guidelines pose significant logistical hurdles. Trying to keep younger students 6 feet (1.8 meters) apart could prove to be impossible, he said, and many schools have so many students they would violate suggested limits on large gatherings.  
Still, schools are looking for ways to limit student interaction as they reopen, including plans to bring only a portion of the students in at once. Schools might bring half the students in for the morning, for example, and rotate in the other half for the afternoon. While they’re at home, students could keep taking classes online, Domenech said.
“Everybody wants to have the kids back,” he said. “We understand the impact that this has on the economy. You have working parents and they need their kids to be safe and in a school environment so they can go back to work. Sooner or later schools will have to reopen. The question is how.”
 
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Doctors in Britain, Italy, Portugal and Spain are exploring a possible link between a severe inflammatory disease in children and the coronavirus. A growing number of children of various ages in several European countries have been admitted to hospitals with high fever and heart issues. Some also have suffered from gastrointestinal problems, such as vomiting and diarrhea. The children appear to be suffering from Kawasaki disease, which is more common in parts of Asia where it afflicts children younger than 5. Symptoms include skin rashes, gland swelling and in severe cases inflammation of the heart and blood vessels. The cause of the illness is not clear. COVID-19, a disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus, is rare in children. But an unusual spike in the number of children suffering from Kawasaki-type symptoms at the time of the coronavirus pandemic has put health authorities in Europe on alert. After hearing from pediatricians, British National Health System issued a warning saying: “Over the last three weeks there has been an apparent rise in the number of children of all ages presenting with a multisystem inflammatory state requiring intensive care across London and also in other regions of the U.K.” Some of the children have tested positive for coronavirus, but not all, suggesting that another pathogen could be responsible. Their blood tests revealed severe inflammation, similar to the blood tests in adults with severe COVID-19 infections.   Britain’s national medical director for England, Stephen Powis, said it was “too early to say” whether the Kawasaki-like disease and coronavirus could be linked. But at a briefing Monday he said, “I’ve asked the national clinical director for children and young people to look into this as a matter of urgency.” A press coronavirus briefing at Downing Street with Business Secretary Alok Sharma, right, and Medical Director Professor Stephen Powis, during a Digital Press Conference in London, Saturday March 28, 2020.British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he was “very worried” by the reports. Doctors treating the sick children say the symptoms indicate that their bodies could be suffering from some form of a toxic shock. Many had to be treated in intensive care. British health authorities emphasized that children are unlikely to become seriously ill with COVID-19, but parents should seek help from a health professional if their child gets seriously ill. They also asked physicians examining children with fever and abdominal pain to include blood tests for any signs of inflammatory issues. Italian heart specialist Matteo Ciuffreda told Reuters that doctors in the northern city of Bergamo have seen at least 20 children younger than 9 with severe vascular inflammation since the end of March, six times more than they would expect to see in a year. He said children’s cardiologists in Madrid and Lisbon had told him they had seen similar cases. But he said only a few of the children tested positive for coronavirus. Ciuffreda said more study is needed to determine what causes the spike in Kawasaki-like symptoms in children in Europe.   American pediatricians have not reported similar cases in the United States. 
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Amid a three-week suspension of public and private transport in Uganda due to the coronavirus, some HIV-positive Ugandans have struggled to get hold of needed antiretroviral medications. Noticing a higher risk for HIV patients with compromised immune systems, health worker Simon Bukenya jumped on his bicycle and began making home deliveries, even going long distances to do it.Simon Peter Bukenya has been living with HIV for 30 years and understands the importance of taking antiretroviral drugs. A lockdown due to the coronavirus has stranded Ugandans in need of medical attention, including people who are HIV-positive. Bukenya says on a daily basis, he bicycles more than 80 kilometers to deliver medications to those who need them. He says he started with three patients, and word of his services spread after he posted a notice on Facebook.“There’s even a client that called me and sent me a WhatsApp, when she had gotten herpes zoster, and she’s home,” said Bukenya. “She’s breastfeeding, she has a two-months-old baby and she’s going through a lot. So, that’s what really motivated me; that’s how I started.”Bukenya says so far, he has reached 200 patients.  He says he doesn’t get paid for his services; he simply wanted to fill a gap for HIV patients in need.His service is independent of one run by Uganda’s Ministry of Health which recently set up a program to allow community health workers to collect HIV pills for patients. Dr. Kaggwa Mugaga, the head of HIV for WHO in Uganda, admits the ministry’s service has limits, especially when it comes to supplies of key medicines. “We have people who volunteer to pick up drugs on behalf of others in the same community where they have openly shared their status,” said Mugaga. “This has closed the gap of people missing pills. NMS (National Medical Stores) has been able to deliver what it has, but there are medicines which were at low stock levels, Lopinavir, Ritonavir, for the children.”The pharmaceutical division revealed that the order for pediatric antiretrovirals is expected to arrive in May.UNAIDS says about 6 percent of Ugandans are HIV-positive, one of the highest rates in East Africa.Among these is William Matovu, who was born with HIV and will be 26 in July. He previously did not make his status publicly known, fearing discrimination and the stigma associated with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. For him, Bukenya comes in handy. “I was running out of my medication. I had to call him and he assists me. Due to the ban of public transport in this COVID-19 era, I could not move to my facility,” said Matovu. “It’s like 15 kilometers away from my home. When I contacted him, he asked me my details, So, when I gave him my details, he went to my facility and picked up the medication for me and brought it to my doorstep.”Uganda has so far recorded 74 COVID-19 cases, but no deaths.The government’s travel restrictions are currently due to expire on May 3.
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By 2025, Indonesia is expected to generate 150 thousand tons of trash per day, much of it plastic. Indonesian entrepreneur David Christian is developing everyday products to edge the world’s 4th most populous nation toward producing zero waste. But with COVID-19 wreaking havoc on businesses around the world, some outlets are finding environmentally friendly packaging a luxury they can’t afford. VOA’s Rendy Wicaksana and Ahadian Utama report from Jakarta, Indonesia.
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From a hill four miles outside Boston, World Resources Institute economist Michelle Manion says she can read the letters on top of the Prudential building, a city landmark.”I’ve never been able to do that,” she said. “It’s really amazing.”Since FILE – Gas prices are listed for unleaded at a gas station in Oklahoma City.Don’t expect it to last.”The general expectation is that most of this will pick up once the crisis is over,” said Michael Gerrard, director of the Saban Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. Satellite imagery already shows air pollution rebounding over China. In the meantime, the pandemic has slowed the transition to cleaner energy.BloombergNEF, an energy research organization, lowered its 2020 forecast for new wind power construction globally by 12% and new solar power by 8%. Investment in renewables has dried up. Electric vehicle sales are down by two-fifths compared to last year.The downturn is likely temporary. Renewables still make economic sense.”The cost of building solar and wind has plummeted so much in recent years that it’s highly competitive. It’s really often outbidding fossil fuels,” Gerrard said. “That hasn’t changed. We’ve seen a slowdown in the construction. But I think that should pick up once people are fully back to work.”However, BloombergNEF’s forecasts for global renewable energy installations show the world falling far short of what’s needed to keep the planet from warming more than 2 degrees Celsius, the target in the 2015 U.N. Paris climate agreement.And BNEF’s forecasts are more optimistic than most, according to the firm’s head of clean energy, Logan Goldie-Scot. The deeper the economic downturn from COVID-19, the farther off target the world will likely be. “If it ends up delaying or making it harder to finance and build renewable energy projects, then this will make what was already a challenge even harder,” he said.The impact of the oil price crash isn’t clear. “Ordinarily if gasoline is inexpensive, people are likely to go out and buy expensive gas guzzling cars,” Gerrard said. “But these days, they aren’t buying much of anything.” Sales of all vehicles are down about two-fifths, not just electric vehicles. Automakers have announced a few delays, but they’re mostly sticking to their plans to release new electric models.It’s too soon to say, but the pandemic may bring about societal changes that could affect greenhouse gas emissions. Unprecedented numbers of white-collar workers are telecommuting. “A lot of these folks are like, ‘You know what? This is great,'” Manion said. After the crisis, “I think that there will be a pretty strong demand on the part of workers” to keep it up at least part time.”That’s an area where you could see reduction in emissions from commuting,” she added. “You could also see companies starting to maybe shrink the amount of commercial office space they’re using by 10 or 15 percent” because less of the workforce is in the office at a time. That would cut down on emissions from buildings.Before the crisis, growing numbers of large corporations had made commitments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. The environment often takes a back seat to economic growth in tight times. But Goldie-Scot says he has not seen companies abandoning their plans.”It may result in some delays here and there, but it’s not a structural shift,” he said.One concern is that the COVID-19 crisis will push the climate crisis off the radar. “Before the virus crisis, there was a tremendous buildup of momentum around the world in public activism and public interest about climate change,” Gerrard said. “Obviously, attention has switched to the coronavirus crisis.” The loss of political pressure could do long-term damage to efforts to transition to clean energy, he said.Governments around the world are pouring unprecedented amounts of money into propping up their cratering economies.   The U.S. government invested billions into clean energy in the stimulus bill during the 2008-2009 financial crisis. Big stimulus packages are expected this time around, too. Experts say the right investments could put the world closer to reaching its climate goals. On the other hand, Goldie-Scot said, “If large sums of recovery money goes into sustaining technologies that are detrimental to those longer-term decarbonization goals, this will end up being a setback.”“We’re at a point where we can turn this ship in one of two ways,” Manion added. “I’m hoping that we see some leadership.” 
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