Boris Johnson Backs Top Aide Accused of Flouting Lockdown Rules - The New York Times

LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson, defying a storm of criticism, said on Sunday that he would not dismiss his most influential adviser, Dominic Cummings, for breaching Britain’s lockdown rules by driving across the country to visit relatives, even when he was falling ill with the coronavirus.

Cummings has said there was no other way to get care for his young child after he and his wife began showing symptoms of the virus.

Johnson said Sunday at a news briefing.

They said that for a powerful official to travel at a time when the government was urging people to stay at home — especially those with symptoms of the virus — would undermine efforts to send a strong message about social distancing.

“It is an insult to sacrifices made by the British people that Boris Johnson has chosen to take no action against Dominic Cummings,” the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, said in a statement.

Cummings said that as he and his wife were both coming down with the virus, they tried to arrange care for their young child at his parents’ house 260 miles from London.

But that account came under question after The Observer and the Sunday Mirror reported that Mr.

Cummings and his family had been spotted elsewhere on Easter Sunday.

Johnson had few answers about Mr.

Johnson said.

Johnson, the Cummings uproar complicates an already messy effort to emerge from the lockdown.

Most people fall ill five to seven days after exposure, but symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as many as 14 days.

Over 38 million people have filed for unemployment since March.

A study from Emory University found that during flu season, the safest place to sit on a plane is by a window, as people sitting in window seats had less contact with potentially sick people.

When you get to your seat and your hands are clean, use disinfecting wipes to clean the hard surfaces at your seat like the head and arm rest, the seatbelt buckle, the remote, screen, seat back pocket and the tray table.

There is an uptick in people reporting symptoms of chilblains, which are painful red or purple lesions that typically appear in the winter on fingers or toes.

Federal health officials do not include toe lesions in the list of coronavirus symptoms, but some dermatologists are pushing for a change, saying so-called Covid toe should be sufficient grounds for testing.

Yes, but make sure you keep six feet of distance between you and people who don’t live in your home.

If you don’t have a thermometer (they can be pricey these days), there are other ways to figure out if you have a fever, or are at risk of Covid-19 complications.

This is a shift in federal guidance reflecting new concerns that the coronavirus is being spread by infected people who have no symptoms.

Until now, the C.D.C., like the W.H.O., has advised that ordinary people don’t need to wear masks unless they are sick and coughing.

Masks don’t replace hand washing and social distancing.

If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor.

Cummings was “entirely right” to have sought child care in the way he did.