2A ❚ FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2020❚ USA TODAY NEWS
CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
MILWAUKEE – The 2020 Democrat-
ic National Convention has been
pushed back to mid-August as organiz-
ers try to navigate the fallout from the
coronavirus pandemic.
The event, originally scheduled for
July 13-17, will instead be held the week
of Aug. 17. It’s unclear how many days
the convention will be held as planning
remains in flux. The announcement
came in a news release Thursday from
convention organizers.
“After a great deal of scenario plan-
ning and giving thought to how it is this
event can have the greatest impact in the
electoral process and the greatest impact
in terms of what we can bring to Milwau-
kee, we felt the best decision, not know-
ing all the answers, was to delay this,”
Democratic National Convention CEO
Joe Solmonese told the Journal Sentinel.
“After checking with hotels and ven-
ues and Fiserv, we determined the
week of Aug. 17 was the best week to
move it to,” he said.
“More than anything we continue to
monitor the public health landscape,”
Solmonese said.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett
called the decision “absolutely the right
move” by the organizers and the Demo-
cratic National Committee.
“It underscores the commitment
that they have made to Milwaukee,” he
said. “It underscores the commitment
they have made to Wisconsin and it is
my hope that by having it in August it
will be a much needed shot in the arm
for our restaurants, hotels and other
businesses.”
Alex Lasry, financial chair of the
convention’s host committee, said:
“This is the right decision for the safety
of those involved in the convention for
Milwaukee. An August convention will
provide a much needed economic boost
for Milwaukee and Wisconsin as we
come out of this unprecedented time.”
The move effectively sets off a logis-
tical scramble to accommodate the
thousands of delegates that will de-
scend upon Milwaukee to nominate the
Democratic ticket that will take on
President Donald Trump in the fall.
“Leadership means being able to
adapt, and that’s exactly what our par-
ty is doing,” DNC Chair Tom Perez said
in a statement. “The city of Milwaukee
has been an incredible partner, espe-
cially over the past few weeks as we’ve
confronted this global crisis, and we
couldn’t be more committed to high-
lighting Wisconsin as a key battle-
ground state, as it is at the center of so
many of Trump’s broken promises.”
Perez said the party “will continue to
be in contact with local, state, and fed-
eral health officials as we monitor this
fluid situation.”
In the statement, convention organiz-
ers said they confirmed that planned
main venues will be available in August:
Fiserv Forum, UW-Milwaukee Panther
Arena, Miller High Life Theatre and the
Wisconsin Center, as well as hotel ac-
commodations in the surrounding area.
The statement said: “The conven-
tion planning team will now use the
coming weeks to further explore all op-
tions to ensure nominating the next
president of the United States is done
without unnecessary risk to public
health. These options include every-
thing from adjusting the convention’s
format to crowd size and schedule.”
The move was signaled Wednesday
by Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden
who told Jimmy Fallon of “The Tonight
Show,” “I doubt whether the Democratic
convention is going to be able to be held
in mid-July or early July. I think it’s going
to have to move into August.”
The Wisconsin Center District,
which oversees three of the convention
venues, is working to reschedule
events in August to accommodate the
rescheduled DNC.
Tom Daykin of the Journal Sentinel
contributed to this report.Democratic convention
pushed back to August
Bill Glauber Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY NETWORK
WASHINGTON – The Food and Drug
Administration on Thursday updated its
guidelines on blood donations from gay
men to better meet the demand for blood
during the coronavirus pandemic.
Men who have had sex with another
man within the past three months
should not donate, the FDA said. That
abstinence period was decreased from
the 12 months previously recommended.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has caused
unprecedented challenges to the U.S.
blood supply,” the FDA said in a state-
ment. “Donor centers have experienced a
dramatic reduction in donations due to
the implementation of social distancing
and the cancellation of blood drives.”
The policy for female donors who have
had sex with a man who had sex with an-
other man to wait to donate blood was
also reduced to three months from
12 months, as well as for people who got
recent tattoos or piercings.
Blood donation guidelines for gay
men were first implemented as the
HIV/AIDS crisis unfolded in the 1980sand initially constituted a lifetime ban
for gay men. That was revised in 2015 to
the one-year restriction, but many
LGBTQ rights advocates have long con-
sidered these restrictions to be dis-
criminatory.
Human Rights Campaign President
Alphonso David tweeted this is a “step
forward,” but “more needs to be done.”
“While this change by the FDA is a
step in the right direction, it still bases
itself in bias rather than science,” David
said. “Creating a policy based on iden-
tity as opposed to risk is irrational and
given the current COVID-19 crisis, it is
more critical than ever to prioritize sci-
ence and facts over fear and bias.”
“The FDA has concluded that cur-
rent policies regarding certain donor el-
igibility criteria can be modified with-
out compromising the safety of the
blood supply,” the agency said.
The updated recommendations are
for immediate implementation, the
FDA said, and are expected to remain in
place at least through the pandemic.
Blood establishments do not have to
change their policies to comply with
the new FDA recommendations.FDA eases restrictions on
gay men donating blood
Jeanine Santucci
USA TODAYWASHINGTON – The Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency asked the
Pentagon for 100,000 body bags as the
COVID-19 pandemic spirals.
Known as mortuary pouches, the
heavy-duty zippered bags typically are
used in the military to contain the re-
mains of troops killed in combat.
Wednesday, more than 1,000 people
died of the coronavirus in the USA,
raising the death toll to more than
5,000. A week ago, the total was flewer
than 1,300.“The Department of Defense and the
Defense Logistics Agency have a long-
standing arrangement with FEMA to
procure key commodities from DLA’s in-
dustrial partners during crisis response
operations,” Air Force Lt. Col. Michael
Andrews, a Pentagon spokesman, said
Thursday. “DLA is currently responding
to FEMA’s prudent planning efforts for
100,000 pouches to address mortuary
contingencies on behalf of state health
agencies.” Bloomberg first reported the
FEMA request for body bags.
The virus has killed more than
50,000 people worldwide and infected
more than 981,000.FEMA seeks 100,000 body bags
Tom Vanden Brook
USA TODAYo
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