- Sup, you beautiful bastards?
Hope you're having a fantastic Tuesday.
Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco Show.
Buckle up, hit that Like button,
and let's just jump into it.
And the first thing we apparently need to talk about today
is spring breakers.
It appears that while a lot of people have been
talking about self-quarantining, social distancing,
still a hell of a lot of people
were like, nah, I'm good, bro,
with people and outlets sharing videos and pictures
of what appears to be Clearwater Beach, South Padre, Texas.
Right, and these posts of course blew up,
'cause you had a number of people going like,
are you living in a different reality?
But also because you had celebrities like Shane Dawson
pleading, tweeting, "if you live in this area,
"please text your friends kindly and ask them to go home.
"I genuinely don't think people understand
"how rebelling against social distancing
"could make this worse for everyone."
Though, I will say on the note of if you live in the area,
contact your friend, as a former Floridian,
I'm pretty confident in saying most
of those people probably are not local,
and the thing is if certain specifics to this situation
were changed, I probably would not get angry.
Right, like if the only people who were at risk
were the people going to the beach,
right, that'd be one thing, but it looks like the people
involved here, they're young, they're healthy,
so, yeah, they'll probably be fine.
But the worry is if they get it, they go home,
they give it to grandma or someone that's immunocompromised,
it feels incredibly selfish.
Now, I try to remove myself from my own brain.
I try to put myself in someone else's shoes,
and I'm like, well, maybe they feel
like they're being robbed of a unique experience.
But everyone else is right now.
There is a sacrifice being made.
Right, I think adding onto the anger I feel,
it's like, well, you know, those people
don't have to be there, this is recreational,
and then it makes me think of the experiences
of everyday Joe and Jane Blow, that are still having
to interact with others for their job,
because they're living paycheck to paycheck,
that they will unfortunately cross paths with someone
who is ignorant or reckless.
Right, and so, I think it's good that we see headlines
from over the weekend like Miami Beach
temporarily shut down.
And also, this afternoon we got the news that
the Florida governor announced bars and nightclubs
will be closed for the next 30 days.
All parties accessing public beaches in the state of Florida
must follow the CDC guidance by limiting their gatherings
to no more than 10 people,
and restaurants will now be required to limit
customer entry to 50% capacity.
And once again, to reiterate, and not to cause panic,
but just so people are aware and concerned
and act accordingly, this is a serious issue.
As of recording this video, there are more than 194,000
confirmed cases, and just in the United States
there are over 5,700 known cases,
but of course, remember, asterisk,
that's with an incredibly lack of testing in this country.
Over 7,800 deaths worldwide.
Internationally, I mean, we saw a big move out of France.
French President Macron announcing that citizens
cannot leave their homes, this for 15 days,
or they'll face punishment,
and then the European Union announced
its external borders would be closing for 30 days,
though people within can still travel.
Up in New York, you have the New York City Council
speaker calling for a citywide quarantine,
but New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said it would not happen,
though last night he was on CNN saying that
he's been asking Trump for the Army Corps of Engineers
to help him build hospitals, saying they are not ready
for the increased number of cases that they know
they are going to get.
Also, today we saw New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio
saying that a decision will be made within the next 48 hours
on whether to order the city's more than 8,000,000 citizens
to shelter in place.
Right, that's a similar move to the six counties
we talked about in San Francisco yesterday.
Right, and also, a thing to consider with this,
according to a study that was published today
in the New England Journal of Medicine
researchers said that the virus that causes COVID-19
remains infectious in the air for up to three hours,
on copper for up to four hours,
on cardboard for up to 24 hours,
and on plastic and stainless steel for up to three days.
So, just some things to consider, I guess.
Really, the only way that feels appropriate
to end this story is once again, don't be stupid, stupid.
And then, let's talk about, I don't know if it's right
to classify it as good news.
It's at the very least interesting
entertainment industry business news,
and what I'm talking about is that Universal has
now announced that "The Hunt," "The Invisible Man,"
and "Emma," which are currently in theaters,
will be made available on demand starting on Friday,
and along with that "Trolls World Tour,"
which comes out in theaters on Easter,
will also be released as a video on demand that same day,
and all four of these movies will cost $19.99
for a 48 hour rental, with the company adding
in a statement, "given the rapidly evolving
"and unprecedented changes to consumers' daily lives
"during this difficult time, the company felt that now
"was the right time to provide this option in the home,
"as well as in theaters.
"NBCUniversal will continue to evaluate the environment
"as conditions evolve, and will determine the best
"distribution strategy in each market
"when the current unique situation changes."
Following this, you had a variety of reactions to this news.
"Trolls" star Anna Kendrick tweeted,
"I'm so happy we can spread the joy
"while everyone stays safe," with a fair amount
of excitement that these pictures are coming to home
so quickly and at a time where people really feel
like they could use them.
But on the other side of this, you also had a number
of people upset at the cost of a rental being $20,
though I think the easy argument against that is
this is not a regular sort of release.
Right, the regular model is a movie gets
a theatrical release, there's a lot of money in tickets,
and then not until later down the road do you get,
you know, a rental for 4.99 or 6.99 or whatever it is
for you, whereas the rental fee here is essentially
a super, super discounted ticket for your family,
unless you're watching it by yourself,
which hey, no judgment, but I know as someone with two kids,
I'm very excited about this movie,
and if anything, I'm very, very interested to see
what kind of numbers we see in the first two weeks
that it has a theatrical and VOD release,
because if this test does see good numbers,
then maybe we're gonna see the evolution of an industry,
and honestly, I know a lot of things are concerning,
a lot of things are unknown.
If there was a time that this test could be successful,
it would be now.
Right, with people social distancing, self-quarantining,
how many families do you have at home
just needing to entertain the children?
Also, it turns out that Universal
is not alone with this strategy.
We've seen a number of studios making similar decisions.
For example, Warner Bros. will be releasing "Birds of Prey"
starring Margot Robbie to VOD early.
You also have Disney+ announcing that "Frozen II"
and "The Rise of Skywalker" would be hitting
the streaming service early as well.
With that, there are also online calls
for Disney to release "Onward" there,
which just came out two weeks ago in theaters.
And one of the big important things to point out is
all of this comes after a few major things.
First of all, for the past week or two,
we've seen major films like the new James Bond movie,
push back their release date
because of the coronavirus outbreak.
We also saw reports late Sunday night and early Monday
indicating that the weekend's box office
was the worst in 20 years.
The box office as a whole brought in
only $55 million over the weekend,
which is a number so low usually one movie
could make that on its own.
You know, and this is in part because a number of people
are practicing social distancing,
but also because a number of movie theaters
in certain states have been closed.
Right, and so, major chains like AMC and Regal
have announced nationwide shutdowns,
and of course, as often is the case,
when someone loses another wins,
and as far as who wins in this situation,
it's gonna be television and streaming services.
According to Nielsen, during major events
that force people to stay home,
media consumption can increase about 60%
and that data reportedly comes from findings
when looking at viewing patterns from times
when people were stuck inside due to large weather events,
also noting that people who work remotely
generally watch three more hours of television each week
than those that work in office.
And when it comes to streaming, I mean,
just looking at Disney+ alone,
reportedly half of the homes in the United States
with kids under the age of 10
have already subscribed to the service.
Right, so, now, with all these kids stuck at home
with no school, not only are subscription numbers
expected to increase, but also the amount of time
that kids spend watching Disney+ as well.
But, that's kind of the now.
As far as entertainment moving forward,
this may actually hurt everyone in the long run.
We're seeing production on TV shows
and movies suspending, shutting down.
I mean, right now the impact of this is unknown,
but Wired said that right now "Hollywood is on track
"to lose some $20 billion."
But ultimately, like everything about this situation,
we're gonna have to wait and see,
and I specifically will be focused
on how "Trolls World Tour" does.
I'm sure Universal would rather not beta test this
with a movie that cost them so much money,
but you know, unique times, unique measures.
And the question I'll pass off to you with this is
whether it be in the interim, or hey, forever,
moving forward, would you like to have a future where
theatrical releases are released for $20 at home?
Is that something that works for you?
Also, if yes, at what price does it not make sense for you?
Right, think about how much it costs for theater tickets,
how many tickets do you normally go,
like is it usually a family event?
One, it'll be interesting to hear from you now,
and two, it'll be interesting to see how true
or not true that is when we see
"Trolls World Tour" released.
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And the first bit of awesome is actually a number
of celebrity artists have been doing essentially
what I would consider free concerts
for people that are just kind of stuck at home right now.
Artists have been using the hashtag together at home,
and we're seeing the likes of Chris Martin
did this on Instagram.
We saw John Legend do one today.
You had Pink, Keith Urban.
Hell, the Metropolitan Opera is handpicking
a selection of past performances,
streaming a new one every day,
and this reportedly until their doors reopen.
Then TED-Ed gave us how one scientist
took on the chemical industry.
The Onion gave us another episode of The Topical,
this one called Outbreaks in Victorian England
Confirm Coronavirus Can Spread Through Time.
We had Aaron Paul explaining his character Caleb
in season three of "Westworld."
We got the Honest Trailer for "Mulan,"
and finally, we had Gus Johnson giving us
People Who Are Going to Parties Right Now.
If you wanna see the full versions of everything
I just shared, the secret link of the day,
really, anything at all, links, as always,
are in the description down below.
And then, as you've probably noticed,
the internet has been heavily saturated with information
about COVID-19 in recent weeks, some of it accurate,
and some of it just not, and the World Health Organization
has labeled this phenomenon an infodemic,
an overabundance of information that makes it hard
for people to find trustworthy sources,
and reliable guidance when they need it,
which I know a lot of you are like, yes,
that's literally the only reason we're here.
Now though to face this pressing issue,
Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter,
and YouTube released a joint statement on Monday
saying that they are working closely together
in the response efforts, writing, "we're helping millions
"of people stay connected, while also jointly combating
"fraud and misinformation about the virus,
"elevating authoritative content on our platforms,
"and sharing critical updates in coordination
"with government healthcare agencies around the world,"
and adding, "we invite other companies to join us
"as we work to keep our communities healthy and safe."
Now, as far as how they plan to tackle misinformation,
over the past few weeks each company announced
and updated its own individual strategies.
Facebook and Instagram, for instance, already banned ads
and listings selling medical face masks,
with product director Robert Leathern promising
more action if the company sees people
trying to exploit this public health emergency.
On top of that, the sites rolled out automatic pop-up cards
featuring information from the World Health Organization
and other health authorities among other measures.
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg even said that Facebook,
which has a policy of not checking political ads
posted by politicians, would remove coronavirus
misinformation shared by politicians,
celebrities, and private groups.
Meanwhile, you have Reddit setting up a banner on its site
linking to the Coronavirus subreddit,
this for timely discussions and information
from the Centers for Disease Control.
We've also seen Reddit say that it will hold AMAs,
right, Ask Me Anythings, with public health experts.
Additionally, they've warned that they may apply
a quarantine to communities that contain hoax
or misinformation content.
Right, and here, essentially a quarantine
will remove the community from search results,
warn the user that it may contain misinformation
and require an explicit opt-in.
Then, as far as Twitter, they said that they will be
monitoring tweets during the outbreak,
but warned that they're relying more on automated systems
to help enforce rules, while they support social distancing
and working from home, with the company saying
"this might result in some mistakes,"
but adding, "we're meeting daily to see what changes
"we need to make."
Here though, the platform did stress that it will not
permanently suspend accounts based solely
on automated enforcement systems,
also saying that it would review its rules
in the context of COVID-19 and consider the, quote,
"ways in which they may need to evolve to account
"for new account behavior."
Similarly, Google warned customers to expect some changes
while its employees work remotely,
in a blog post saying that its products will be active,
but, quote, "some users, advertisers, developers,
"and publishers may experience delays in some
"support response times for non-critical services,
"which will now be supported primarily through our chat,
"email, and self-service channels."
And YouTube specifically warning that there may actually be
an increase in videos that are removed for policy violations
because like Twitter they are depending more
on automated systems.
However, YouTube explained that it will only issue strikes
against uploads where it has, quote, "high confidence"
that the video violates its terms.
Now, of course, creators can appeal this decision,
but notably it is incredibly likely, and should be expected,
that there will be a delay in the response time.
Right, so, a potentially concerning situation,
because I feel, you know, once you get humans
out of the process, it feels a little bit like the policy
is a Jesus, take the wheel.
But ultimately, as far as the effectiveness,
the potential errors, the fallout from this,
we're gonna have to wait to see what that is.
And then, let's talk about prisoners,
because it's actually incredibly important
to include prisoners in our discussions
about the coronavirus and public health
for a number of reasons.
And this is actually especially true in the United States,
which has the highest prison and jail population
in the world by far, with 2.3 million people in prisons,
jails, psychiatric hospitals, immigration detention centers,
and other similar facilities,
and in fact, according to the Prison Policy Initiative,
even the states with the lowest incarceration rates
still lock up more people than nearly
every other country in the world.
Now, a thing with these facilities is that
they are super high risk when it comes
to the spread of the coronavirus.
I mean, kind of just think about it.
The vast majority of incarcerated people
cannot social distance.
Right, in U.S. prisons you have multiple people
sharing cells, often upwards of four.
You have this huge group of people sharing bathrooms,
eating areas, laundry facilities.
Often, they live in incredibly unsanitary conditions.
Oftentimes, toilets don't have lids.
They double as sinks.
Right, so you have washing their hands
and brushing their teeth there,
and that's even when they can wash their hands.
In some places, soap might only be available
if you buy it at commissary.
That in itself discourages proper hygiene,
and it's actually made worse by the fact that
almost all prisons do not allow hand sanitizer
because of its alcohol content,
and all of that is made even worse
by a number of other structural issues.
Prisoners are notoriously underserved medically.
In many places, basic medical care is often delayed
or denied, this making it more likely that
if there was a virus spreading, it might not be detected,
or it might just be brushed off as the flu.
What's more, this was news to me,
a large percentage of prisoners are already considered
at risk populations.
According to The New York Times, around 40%
of incarcerated people suffer from chronic health conditions
meaning some of them are immunocompromised,
and reportedly, there are about 274,000 people
that are 50 or older in state and federal prisons.
Now, at this point you might be thinking,
well, if there is a coronavirus outbreak in a prison,
at least it's gonna be contained.
That is not true.
Those facilities have tons of people going in and out
every day, including employees, healthcare workers,
vendors, visitors, educators, and more.
In some towns, the local jail or prison is a major employer
and to make matters worse more than half of the people
in jails are only in there for two or three days.
There are also concerns regarding homeless populations
here as well, this according to an expert
who works at both local jails and homeless shelters,
saying, "there is a lot of overlap between jailed
"and homeless populations.
"Someone released from a jail, then could infect someone
"in a homeless shelter, or vice versa,
"causing an outbreak that could bounce back and forth
"between both places, infecting far more people
"than would be in a jail or homeless shelter alone."
Right, so there's a lot of in and out,
meaning that it wouldn't just be bad
for the inmate population, but for everyone,
and according to Dr. Homer Venters,
the former chief medical officer of the New York City
jail system, "coronavirus in these settings will
"dramatically increase the epidemic curve, not flatten it,
"and disproportionately for people of color."
Right, and so, as far as what should prisons
and other facilities do, you know,
you do have experts suggesting pretty basic solutions,
like making hand washing and other good hygiene practices
easier and more accessible.
Others also recommending canceling activities
and non-medical visits, especially near areas
that already have an outbreak.
But also, some experts have now pointed to recent guidance
by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs
where in addition to screening staff
and people who are arrested, the guidance also recommends
a couple of more unconventional possibilities,
things like releasing some inmates either permanently
or temporarily, also asking police to consider
scaling down arrests for certain crimes,
so you have fewer people getting thrown into the mix,
and in fact, already there are some places
that are taking precautions.
Last week, the Federal Department of Correction announced
visits from family, friends, and attorneys
will be stopped in all 122 federal correctional facilities
in the United States.
Also, after an employee at a correctional facility
in Pennsylvania tested positive, 34 inmates
and staffers were quarantined.
The New York City Department of Correction
is screening people for flu-like symptoms,
and looking at other measures,
which they will likely ramp up after it was reported
yesterday that a Department of Correction investigator
died from the coronavirus, and even more significantly,
some places have even started releasing inmates.
According to reports, hundreds of inmates were released
from a county jail in Ohio over the weekend.
Yesterday, the Los Angeles County sheriff also announced
that it was releasing some inmates,
as well as cutting down on how many people
they were bringing into custody.
This is also happening in other countries as well.
If you didn't see, Iran has temporarily released
a total of 85,000 prisoners.
There's also pressure in other countries as well.
I mean, before Italy was completely shut down,
we talked about jailbreaks in the country,
specifically in Milan, this over concerns that
the prison population was not being
properly cared for amid the outbreak.
According to reports 16 prisoners were able to break free.
They're still at large, though that number is nothing
compared to Brazil, where reportedly hundreds of prisoners
escaped from four different prisons,
this reportedly in connection over fears
around the coronavirus and anger over Easter holidays
and visits being canceled.
But ultimately, that's where we are with this right now.
It is gonna be very interesting to see,
you know, how this situation with prisons
and jails develops internationally,
but also specifically with the United States,
because once again, we just have
such a high number of people incarcerated.
And that is where I'm going to end today's show,
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But, with that said, of course, as always,
my name is Philip DeFranco, you've just been Phil-ed in,
I love yo' faces, and I'll see you tomorrow.
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