Informing, engaging & connecting the people of the world. APRIL 13, 2020

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VIDEO: In this dangerous time for the elderly and health compromised, simple tasks like grocery shopping now qualify as risky. To help, California firefighters have volunteered to spend their free time shopping for food essentials and delivering it to those who absolutely have to stay home.

ON THIS DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY On April 13, 1964, Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American male to win an Academy Award, Hollywood’s top honor, for Best Actor for his role in the 1963 film ‘Lilies of the Field.’ The first African-American to receive an Oscar was Hattie McDaniel, who won in 1940, for her supporting role as Mammy in ‘Gone With the Wind.’

Taiwan is reporting just one to six new COVID-19 cases per day. Schools, offices and restaurants are operating all but normally. But the island’s government is expected to wait until the global pandemic improves before easing restrictions that have helped contain the spread of the virus but hurt a big swath of the economy.

Cameroon has required the wearing of face masks by all of its citizens and begun large scale production of Chloroquine to treat COVID-19. The country says its hospitals are already overwhelmed, with more than 850 confirmed cases within six weeks. It expects confirmed COVID cases to rise into the thousands.

VIDEO: Even though many countries began advising citizens to wear face masks in public not long after the coronavirus outbreak started, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention only recently began recommending that people use cloth coverings for their faces in public places, like grocery stores. In Los Angeles, one fashion designer, who is also a registered nurse, started making face masks with a flare, even before the U.S. issued the new recommendation.

Somalia has recorded a second death from coronavirus and has reacted by imposing a nighttime curfew in the capital city, Mogadishu.