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  • The Law Banning Congressional Insider Trading Isn’t Enough to Stop It

    The law banning members of Congress from insider trading should be upgraded in light of the frantic stock trading on Capitol Hill during the coronavirus pandemic, the bill’s author, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), told VICE News. Members of Congress should be banned from owning individual stocks altogether, and the sharing of “political intelligence” with outsiders should have to be disclosed, Gillibrand said. Her remarks follow waves of outrage over members of Congress selling millions worth of shares before the market tanked over fears of coronavirus. In some cases, those sales came after closed-door briefings about the virus.

  • Bodies Are Piling Up in Ecuador as Coronavirus Ravages the Country

    As Coronavirus tears through Ecuador, hospitals, funeral homes and cemeteries have collapsed in Guayaquil, the country’s largest city. Hundreds of bodies of people who died at home were kept on beds, the floor, and even outdoors on the pavement, waiting for days to be removed. Many corpses more piled up in hospitals and containers parked outside the facilities. VICE News talked to families who lived through these scenes.

  • We Talked to an ICU Nurse Working in an Overwhelmed COVID-19 Ward

    Restrictions on visitors means hospitalized Covid-19 patients are cut off from family. VICE News speaks with an ICU nurse in New York City worried about those who are dying alone.

  • Homeless Families Are Taking Over Vacant Homes to Protect Themselves From Coronavirus

    A group of families in Los Angeles are occupying vacant homes owned by Caltrans, the state transit authority, in the East LA neighborhood of El Sereno.

  • Belarus Is Tackling Coronavirus with Vodka and Soccer

    Half the world’s population is in some kind of lockdown, which means half isn’t. For some countries it’s because they’ve weathered the worst of the storm, in others, there’s a different reason. VICE News went to Belarus, the unlikely center of the sporting world.

  • Yes, the Federal Government Can Force You Into Quarantine

    For many Americans stuck at home due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the idea of being quarantined now feels strangely normal. But just a few months ago, the thought was unbelievable. Although President Trump has not taken the step of issuing a nationwide quarantine order, the federal government does have the authority to do so. It rarely flexes the power, choosing to delegate the responsibility to state and local authorities. People subject to quarantines can challenge them in court. And in the past, many have won.

  • What Dating During the Coronavirus Pandemic Looks Like

    Around the country, people are going on dates — virus be damned. Last Sunday, March 29, there were more swipes on Tinder than any day in the app’s history: 3 billion worldwide. Since mid-March, messages on Tinder and Bumble are also up. Conversations, meanwhile, are lasting longer, perhaps because swipers have basically zero chance of meeting in person. In the absence of physical contact, Covid-19 is enabling new forms of connection. Enter the virtual date, and the virtual hook-up. The pandemic is shifting IRL relationships, too. Calvin Kasulke recently spoke to us about his article for Vice.com about queer people finding love during isolation — with their roommates. “A shocking amount of people live with people that they have secretly been in love with for a very long time.” Will the virus inevitably pull us apart? Or could it also spark new relationships?

  • Italy’s Coronavirus Outbreak May Have Finally Reached Its Peak

    After a horrific month with more than 13,000 coronavirus deaths, Italy is hoping its outbreak has finally peaked. Infections have fallen to a rate four times lower than they were two weeks ago. Fatalities appear to be falling, too. On Wednesday, 727 deaths were recorded, down from 837 the previous day. The majority of deaths have taken place in the northern Lombardy region, and there’s still anxiety the virus could take hold in the country’s south.

  • Why Grief Will Help Us Survive Coronavirus

    The world is now trying to make sense of a tragedy that makes no sense. A genome enveloped in protein has traveled across borders and oceans to tank economies, push millions out of work and school, and kill tens of thousands. When a loved one dies, we know to grieve. But it’s just as important to grieve a loss of normalcy, says Dr. Patrice A. Harris, a psychiatrist and the president of the American Medical Association. “Anxiety is something that’s talked a lot about, but I don’t think that grief is talked a lot.”

  • This Texas Town Had a Rattlesnake Roundup During a Pandemic

    Normally, Sweetwater, Texas is a tiny town of just under 11,000. But every second weekend in March, tens of thousands of people gather for the “World’s Largest Rattlesnake Roundup” (the “World’s Largest” is part of the name), a multi-day festival where you can pet a live rattlesnake, participate in snake-catching contests, watch the Miss Snake Charmer pageant, or just mill about the souvenir booths with your friends. There’s just one problem. The entire nation is experiencing a pandemic—and it’s not just hitting large cities like San Francisco and New York. On Friday, the Governor of Texas declared a state of emergency.

  • This Is How Religion Is Adapting To COVID-19

    “It’s frankly not the government’s responsibility to provide spiritual leadership and care to people in this time,” Rev. Steve Paulikas told VICE News. “It’s our job. We’re figuring it out along with everyone else.”