Trump wants direct payments of $1,000 for adults, $500 for kids in coronavirus stimulus bill, Mnuchin says – CNBC
Trump wants direct payments of $1,000 for adults, $500 for kids in coronavirus stimulus bill, Mnuchin says – CNBC

“The first one would be $1,000 per person, $500 per child,” Mnuchin said. “So for a family of four, that’s a $3,000 payment.”

“As soon as Congress passes this, we get this out in three weeks. And then, six weeks later, if the president still has a national emergency, we’ll deliver another $3,000,” Mnuchin said.

The Trump administration’s proposal comes as stocks continue to fall, jobless claims start to rise and the number of Americans infected with or killed by the COVID-19 virus continues to expand.

Mnuchin said the White House’s plan would also allocate $300 billion for small businesses, noting that “there will be loan forgiveness” for employees who keep their workers on the payroll. $200 billion would also be used for “more facilities” with the Federal Reserve, as well as secured lending to airlines and other critical industries being strangled by the crisis.

The administration’s plan may face opposition on Capitol Hill, however. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., argued on the floor of his chamber Wednesday that sending one-or-two-time checks would not provide enough to support people who lose their jobs.

Schumer suggested instead that providing expanded and “beefed-up” unemployment insurance would cover Americans “for a much longer time and would provide a much bigger safety net.”

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/19/coronavirus-trump-wants-payments-of-1000-for-adults-500-for-kids.html

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As Italy’s Coronavirus Deaths Pass China’s, Hospitals Strain To Keep Up – NPR
As Italy’s Coronavirus Deaths Pass China’s, Hospitals Strain To Keep Up – NPR

A patient in a biocontainment unit is carried on a stretcher from an ambulance at the Columbus Covid 2 Hospital in Rome, on Tuesday. Italy’s health system is straining to keep up with quickly rising coronavirus cases.

Alessandra Tarantino/AP


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Alessandra Tarantino/AP

A patient in a biocontainment unit is carried on a stretcher from an ambulance at the Columbus Covid 2 Hospital in Rome, on Tuesday. Italy’s health system is straining to keep up with quickly rising coronavirus cases.

Alessandra Tarantino/AP

Daniela De Rosa, a 43-year-old veterinarian in Italy’s southwest Campania region, made a video message over the weekend as she was hospitalized with COVID-19. Her video plea has gathered much attention in Italy, which has just surpassed China in the number of reported deaths from the new coronavirus.

“I’ve been in isolation in a hospital room for so many days I’ve lost count,” she says. “I have no contact with anyone other than doctors twice a day.”

“Very few people understand what’s happening. I want people to see I’m suffering,” De Rosa continues.

“Every single individual must stay home and not endanger the lives of others,” she insists.

Since the video was shared on Facebook last Sunday, it has racked up more than 11 million views.

As of Thursday afternoon, Italy has registered 41,035 diagnoses of the coronavirus and 3,405 deaths. The death toll is now higher than China’s known COVID-19 deaths of over 3,200. Earlier this month, Italy became the first Western country to launch a nationwide lockdown to contain the outbreak, but despite strict measures, the number of cases continues to rise.

Italy has a universal health care system. But now, its hospitals and medical staff are overwhelmed, prompting anguished debate.

The Italian College of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care has issued guidelines for what it calls a “catastrophe medicine”-like scenario. The college put it starkly: Given the serious shortage of health resources, patients with the “best chance of success and hope of life” should have access to intensive care, the organization says.

“If you have an 99-year-old male or a female patient, that’s a patient with a lot of diseases. And you have [a] young kid that need[s] to be intubated and you only have one ventilator, I mean, you’re not going to … toss the coin,” says Carlo Vitelli, a surgeon and oncologist in Rome.

He’s speaking just a few hours after operating on a perforated appendix of a young man who had been in contact with a person from northern Italy, where the virus has hit the hardest in the country. It was “an emergency operation done on somebody who was in quarantine,” Dr. Vitelli says, “don’t know if he’s going to develop. I don’t think so. But, you never know.”

Italy is treating the coronavirus pandemic like a wartime emergency. Health officials are scrambling to set up more beds. In Milan, the old fairgrounds is being turned into an emergency COVID-19 hospital with 500 new beds; across the country, hospitals are setting up inflatable tents outdoors for triage.

Other countries can learn important lessons from Italy, says Dr. Giuseppe Remuzzi, co-author of a recent paper in The Lancet about the country’s dire situation. The takeaways include how to swiftly convert a general hospital into a coronavirus care unit with specially trained doctors and nurses.

“We had dermatologists, eye doctors, pathologists, learning how to assist a person with a ventilator,” Remuzzi says.

Some question why Italy was caught off guard when the virus outbreak was revealed on Feb. 21.

Remuzzi says he is now hearing information about it from general practitioners. “They remember having seen very strange pneumonia, very severe, particularly in old people in December and even November,” he says. “This means that the virus was circulating, at least in [the northern region of] Lombardy and before we were aware of this outbreak occurring in China.”

He says it was impossible to combat something you didn’t know existed.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2020/03/19/817974987/every-single-individual-must-stay-home-italy-s-coronavirus-deaths-pass-china-s

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What Is Hydroxychloroquine? Donald Trump Says Malaria Drug for Coronavirus Has Been Approved by FDA – Newsweek
What Is Hydroxychloroquine? Donald Trump Says Malaria Drug for Coronavirus Has Been Approved by FDA – Newsweek

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved hydroxychloroquine—a drug used to treat malaria, rheumatic diseases and other conditions—for COVID-19.

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads around the world, scientists are scrambling to identify treatments that may be effective against the disease. Hydroxychloroquine—a common derivative of chloroquine—is among those touted as most promising by some experts.

“The nice part is, it’s been around for a long time, so we know that if things don’t go as planned its not going to kill anybody,” Trump told reporters at a press conference. “When you go with a brand new drug, you don’t know if that’s going to happen. Its shown very very encouraging early results and we’re going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately.”

But how effective is the drug? This week, researcher Didier Raoult from Aix-Marseille University in France, one of the main proponents for using hydroxychloroquine to treat infection with the novel coronavirus—known as SARS-CoV-2—released encouraging results of a preliminary trial involving a total of 36 COVID-19 patients.

According to a draft paper—which has not yet been accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal—six of these patients were asymptomatic, 22 had upper respiratory tract infection symptoms and eight had lower respiratory tract infection symptoms.

Between early and mid-March, Raoult and his team treated 20 of these patients with 600 milligrams of hydroxychloroquine daily in a hospital setting. Depending on their symptoms, an antibiotic known as azithromycin was also added to the treatments. This antibiotic is known to be effective against complications from bacterial lung disease. The 16 remaining patients were not given the drug as a control.

In the study, the scientists observed a “significant” reduction in viral load in the patients treated with hydroxychloroquine, and that the effect was reinforced by azithromycin, Medscape reported.

In fact, after six days, 70 percent of the treated patients were considered cured, meaning that the virus was no longer detected in samples taken from them, compared to 12.5 percent of the control group patients. Furthermore, all six patients who were treated with both hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin tested negative for the virus after six days.

While encouraging, it is important to note that this is an unpublished preliminary study, so the results should be viewed with caution. The sample size is small, and the study was non-randomized, meaning people were allocated to different interventions using non-random methods. The study was also “unblinded,” meaning that all parties—i.e. the medical staff, patients and researchers—were aware of the treatments the participants received.

Randomization and blinding—where one or more parties are kept unaware of which treatments patients received—are used to prevent conscious or unconscious bias from affecting the results of the trial. Nevertheless, Raoult and colleagues decided to publicly release their early results due to the unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 outbreak.

“For ethical reasons and because our first results are so significant and evident we decide to
share our findings with the medical community, given the urgent need for an effective drug
against SARS-CoV-2 in the current pandemic context,” the authors wrote in the draft paper.

Some experts—such as Andrew Preston from the University of Bath in the U.K.—stress that larger, controlled trials need to be conducted to truly determine the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19.

“Remarkably, this study finished on March 16, but the group have released their results publicly in the hope of stimulating other studies to establish larger data sets,” Preston said in a statement provided Science Media Centre U.K. “This rapid and open release of data is typical of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and recognizes the urgent and desperate need for any tool that might help treat patients and stem the tide of infection.”

“The results have yet to be fully scrutinized, and of course, it is essential to conduct other, larger controlled trials to determine accurately the effectiveness of [the drug] as a treatment for COVID-19. But in among the oppressive darkness of the current situation, any glimmer of hope is very welcome.”

Raoult’s study—the first to test hydroxychloroquine on patients—follows some promising research from China. One preliminary trial involving 100 patients indicated that chloroquine was effective in the treatment of COVID-19-related pneumonia, without the presence of severe side effects, according to a paper published in the journal BioScience Trends. Other in vitro research—tests conducted using cells in test tubes rather than inside patients—also indicated the potential efficacy of chloroquine.

According to Raoult, the effect of both chloroquine and its derivative hydroxychloroquine is probably the same since the mechanism of action of these two closely-related molecules is identical, he noted in a study published in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents. For around a decade, studies have reported potential anti-viral properties of these two substances against flu and SARS—another form of coronavirus.

With regards to hydroxychloroquine specifically, more encouraging in vitro results emerged in a paper published on March 9, in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. However, the data was not deemed sufficient by infectious disease experts to recommend the compound as a treatment yet, Medscape reported.

Christian Perronne, head of infectious diseases, University Hospital Raymond Poincaré, Garches, Paris, is enthusiastic about the potential of hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19.

“I really believe in hydroxychloroquine. It is a drug I find rather fascinating, that has been used for decades,” he told Medscape. “This could reduce the number of carriers, which I find interesting from an epidemiological perspective.”

“I think from an ethical point of view, we should suggest it to all patients with severe disease who are hospitalized, under surveillance and on short treatment,” he said. “Afterwards, in terms of adverse effects, at increased doses, it is possible that patients will have pain or fever, but it seems that the treatment is effective at lower doses, according to the Chinese data. In any case, the adverse effects of this compound are not dangerous.”

Thomas Papo from Bichat Hospital, the University of Paris, noted that because the drug has been used for decades, we know lots about it.

“Hydroxychloroquine, vaunted by Didier Raoult as an anti-viral, has been used for decades in tens of thousands of patients, for several decades, so we have a huge follow-up and lots of data. This drug is remarkably well tolerated and we give it to all patients with lupus (for example), including in pregnant women. The main complication (retinal toxicity) is rare and does not last beyond 5 years of continuous use,” he told Medscape.

Because the safety of hydroxychloroquine is well-established this should theoretically make it relatively easy to accelerate development into a treatment for COVID-19 if clinical trials are successful, especially given that it is cheap and not difficult to manufacture. Scientists will continue to conduct trials of the substance in the immediate future. For example, Raoult’s trial in Marseille is being extended.

Nevertheless, some experts such as Gilles Pialoux, an infectious disease specialist at Tenon Hospital, France, are more cautious over hydroxychloroquine, noting that there are potentially more promising treatments available, such as a drug called remdesivir.

Another potential antiviral treatment for COVID-19 known as Kaletrea—a combination of two drugs normally used to treat HIV, lopinavir and ritonavir—has turned out to be ineffective for the treatment of severe illness with SARS-CoV-2.

According to a paper published in The New England Journal of Medicine, which involved 199 patients—99 of whom were given Kaletra—at a hospital in Wuhan, China, the treatment produced no observable benefit beyond standard care procedures. However, the researchers note that more research is needed to determine whether or not this treatment is effective against the virus.

“Future trials in patients with severe illness may help to confirm or exclude the possibility of a treatment benefit,” the authors wrote in the study.

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Source Article from https://www.newsweek.com/hydroxychloroquine-malaria-drug-coronavirus-fda-1493293

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Fact check: Can Trump use the Stafford Act to order a national, mandatory 2-week quarantine? – USA TODAY
Fact check: Can Trump use the Stafford Act to order a national, mandatory 2-week quarantine? – USA TODAY

The claim: President Trump will invoke the Stafford Act to order a national, mandatory two-week quarantine 

A recent viral post on Facebook claims that the president of the United States would enact a mandatory quarantine using a law called the Stafford Act. “The president will evoke what is called the Stafford act,” Facebook user Jasmine Morgan wrote on March 16. “The president will order a two week mandatory quarantine for the nation.”

Morgan also stated that the information came from sources in the military. The post has been shared more than 400 times. USA TODAY reached out to Morgan about her post but she did not respond to multiple messages.

Similar Facebook posts, as well as viral WhatsApp and text messages, have echoed the rumor. The claims in the messages are not true; President Trump already used the Stafford Act to declare a national emergency on March 13, before the viral post was made. More importantly, the Stafford Act does not allow the federal government to impose mandatory quarantines.

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/03/19/fact-check-does-stafford-act-allow-trump-order-quarantine/2872743001/

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‘If I get corona, I get corona’: Miami spring breakers say covid-19 hasn’t stopped them from partying – The Washington Post
‘If I get corona, I get corona’: Miami spring breakers say covid-19 hasn’t stopped them from partying – The Washington Post

More than a dozen states and the District have already ordered bars and restaurants to close because of covid-19, The Washington Post’s Meagan Flynn reported. But in recent days, videos and images from late-night and St. Patrick’s Day spots in New Orleans, Nashville and Chicago showed many rebuffing the federal health guidelines recommended to help ease the exposure risk, especially to older people, as well as the burden on hospitals handling more and more cases of coronavirus. A video of a busy day at Clearwater Beach, Fla., showed many beachgoers sprawled out in the sand and more in the water.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/19/coronavirus-spring-break-party/

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Boris Johnson says the UK can turn the tide against coronavirus within 12 weeks – CNBC
Boris Johnson says the UK can turn the tide against coronavirus within 12 weeks – CNBC

Earlier Thursday, Downing Street denied the reports, saying there was “no prospect” of the capital city being locked down and subject to restrictions on movement, as seen in other European countries.

Unlike Italy, Spain and Germany, the U.K. government has not imposed any concrete measures to prevent the spread of the virus. 

Instead, the government has so far made strong recommendations to the public, advising them to stay and work at home if possible and to stop all social contact. It has stopped short of enforcing the closure of bars, restaurants, gyms, cinemas, museums and places of worship.

Nonetheless, London life is changing with far fewer people on the streets, many people working from home and socializing down to a minimum.

London’s transport authority, Transport for London (TfL), announced Wednesday that it was to close 40 stations on the Underground network to facilitate the journeys of key workers or “critical workers,” as TfL called them, referring to those who work in public services such as schools and hospitals.

It was announced at the news conference Wednesday that U.K. schools will close on Friday, putting students’ end-of-year exams into doubt. Children of key workers will be provided with some kind of child-care provision so they can continue to work.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/19/coronavirus-uk-boris-johnson-says-uk-can-turn-the-tide-in-12-weeks.html

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Trump directs FDA to examine whether malaria drug can be used for coronavirus – CNBC
Trump directs FDA to examine whether malaria drug can be used for coronavirus – CNBC

That money would be divided into two large tranches, each providing $1,000 per person and $500 per child – meaning a family of four would get $3,000, Mnuchin said in a Fox Business Network interview.

“As soon as Congress passes this, we get this out in three weeks. And then, six weeks later, if the president still has a national emergency, we’ll deliver another $3,000,” Mnuchin said.

The Trump administration has also asked Congress for an additional $45.8 billion to cover “unanticipated” costs incurred by agencies responding to the crisis.

Hahn, the head of one of those agencies, said at the White House that the FDA is “committed to continuing to provide regulatory flexibility and guidance.”

“We’re looking at everything that’s coming across our desks as possible treatment options,” Hahn said.

Some health authorities in the U.S. and China have been using Gilead Sciences‘ antiviral medication Remdesivir, which was tested as a possible treatment for the Ebola outbreak, in hopes that the drug can reduce the duration of the virus in patients. Antiviral drug Kaletra, developed by drugmaker AbbVie, has also been used by some authorities through so-called compassionate use programs.

The coronavirus, which is believed to have originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has rapidly spread around the world, infecting more than 219,000 people and killing at least 8,900, data from Johns Hopkins University shows. U.S. cases rose above 10,000 as of Thursday.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/19/coronavirus-treatment-trump-directs-fda-to-examine-whether-malaria-drug-can-be-used.html

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FEMA Response To Coronavirus: Trump Declares Agency At Level 1 Status – NPR
FEMA Response To Coronavirus: Trump Declares Agency At Level 1 Status – NPR

Workers tend to patients at a drive-in center in Jericho, N.Y., that is offering COVID-19 testing.

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images


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Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Workers tend to patients at a drive-in center in Jericho, N.Y., that is offering COVID-19 testing.

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

President Trump announced Wednesday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency “now is fully engaged at the highest levels” in fighting the coronavirus pandemic. Trump says the agency is activated at level 1.

FEMA is best known for coordinating responses with state and local governments to natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes. Responding to a pandemic is a different job for the agency.

“This is a very different kind of work for FEMA,” Trump said, “but they will come through as they always do. We have tremendous people, tremendous talent in FEMA.”

The agency is readying more than 50 teams to support states and territories across the country “as they activate their emergency operations centers and address the COVID-19 threat,” a FEMA spokesperson told NPR.

The elevation in incident level is a step some experts see as long overdue. All of this “could have been done before,” Juliette Kayyem, a former assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security said. “We have a saying in emergency management … go big or stay home.”

She says with Americans literally staying home, “The federal government now needs to go big.”

Kayyem, now a professor at Harvard, says FEMA’s level 1 “sounds scary, but it’s actually quite good knowing the needs that we’re about to have.” By invoking level 1 status today, Kayyem says, Trump “basically pre-positioned us for what we know is coming, which is tremendous demands on our public safety and public health apparatus.”

According to it’s website, FEMA defines Level 1 as an incident that “due to its severity, size, location, actual or potential impact on public health, welfare, and infrastructure, … requires an extreme amount of direct Federal assistance.”

Vice President Pence announced that Trump will be hosting all the nation’s governors from a video conference at FEMA, “to ensure that they have a full connection to all of the activated regions for FEMA going forward.”

While stockpiling generators and bottled water, as it does to prepare for natural disasters is likely not to be necessary this time, FEMA’s experience in purchasing large quantities of materials should prove helpful.

James Kendra, director of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware, says under level 1, FEMA’s National Response Coordination Center “has gone to a 24/7 staffing status.” For the last few days it’s been at level 2, meaning a 12-hour status. Kendra adds that at the NRCC representatives of various agencies “gather to exchange information and keep overall track of the federal response and interactions with the states.”

And while the Department of Health and Human Services remains the lead agency in the government’s response to the coronavirus, Daniel Kaniewski, the former number two official at FEMA, says that Wednesday’s announcement “shifts the operational center of gravity from HHS to FEMA,” since he says, “the departments and agencies will send staff to FEMA to coordinate operations.”

“FEMA now leads federal coordination on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services,” a spokesperson said, “and the White House Task Force who are leading the whole-of-government response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.”

And despite growing fears around the coronavirus pandemic, Kayyem rates the move Wednesday as “a good day,” in terms of how the administration is treating it’s response to coronavirus.

She says it signals that the government and the White House “recognize and are anticipating the stresses on our public health and public safety communities at every locality and every state and are beginning to organize resources to support them.”

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2020/03/19/817903726/federal-emergency-management-agency-steps-up-incident-level-as-coronavirus-needs

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Coronavirus live updates: China reports no new cases, US death toll reaches 150, 2 congressmen test positive – USA TODAY
Coronavirus live updates: China reports no new cases, US death toll reaches 150, 2 congressmen test positive – USA TODAY

Two congressmen were battling the coronavirus while lawmakers wrestled with details of an emergency aid package Thursday as the life-changing pandemic continued to torment the country.

China reached a milestone: the epicenter city of Wuhan and the surrounding province reported no new domestic cases. Meanwhile, Italy was poised to surpass China in total deaths.

In the U.S., deaths jumped to 150 across 22 states — including the first reported fatalities in Connecticut, Michigan, Missouri and Pennsylvania. There were more than 9,400 confirmed cases in the U.S. early Thursday, up from about 1,600 a week earlier, when there were 40 reported deaths.

The global death toll passed 9,000, with more than 220,000 confirmed cases.

Our live blog on the coronavirus is being updated throughout the day. Refresh for the latest news. More headlines:

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/03/19/coronavirus-updates-us-china-nyc-cases-testing-unemployment-cdc/2866751001/

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Coronavirus US: Donald Trump says he’s a ‘wartime president’ – Daily Mail
Coronavirus US: Donald Trump says he’s a ‘wartime president’ – Daily Mail

ALABAMA

Alabama health officials on Tuesday ordered the closure of day cares, senior centers and on-site restaurant dining in six counties to contain the coronavirus outbreak. 

The order from the Alabama Department of Public Health applies to Jefferson County, which has the highest number of cases, and the surrounding counties of Tuscaloosa, Walker, Blount, St. Clair and Shelby.

Public gatherings of more than 25 people banned across the state. 

All public schools closed until April 6.

Jefferson County Health Officer Mark Wilson said: ‘I know this has a big impact on our community. It’s quite restrictive.’

The Alabama Department of Public Health on Monday urged people statewide to avoid gatherings of more than 50 people, unless they can maintain a 6-foot distance between others, to limit spread of the new coronavirus. 

ALASKA

Anchorage – a ban on dine-in service from 5pm Monday until March 31.

Theaters, gyms and bingo halls closed through March 31.

The mayor of Anchorage signed the order Monday closing gyms and entertainment venues and barring restaurants, bars and other establishments from offering dine-in service to the public through the rest of March. 

PENNSYLVANIA 

All liquor stores and licensee service centers will close indefinitely at 9pm on Tuesday.

Gov Tom Wolf extended the shutdown to the entire state of Pennsylvania on Monday bar essential services.

LOUISIANA 

All bars, nightclubs, casinos, movie theaters, gyms and health clubs will be closed until April 13. Restaurants may open for take-out options only.

Governor John Bel Edwards said the new restrictions take effect Tuesday and will last until April 13.

Public gatherings of 50 people or more will be banned. No one will be allowed to eat onsite at a restaurant. 

In heavily Catholic New Orleans and in Baton Rouge, church leaders announced cancellation of masses until further notice. 

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival has been postponed. 

CONNECTICUT 

Gatherings of more than 50 people banned.

Bars and restaurants shut indefinitely for dine-in customers.

Clubs, bars, cinemas, gyms shut indefinitely.

Hospitals across the state are restricting visitation, and some, including UConn Health in Farmington, have announced the indefinite postponement of elective surgeries. 

MASSACHUSETTS

Gatherings of more than 25 people banned.

Bars and restaurants to offer take-out only until April 7.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is shutting down construction sites across the city. Walsh also announced all branches of the Boston Public Library will close.

NEW JERSEY 

Curfew from 8pm – 5am; gatherings of more than 50 people banned; bars and restaurants shut indefinitely for dine-in customers, but can offer take-out.

Clubs, bars, cinemas and gyms shut indefinitely. 

New Jersey expanded coronavirus mitigation efforts, ordering indoor malls and amusement centers closed.

All public and private schools, colleges and universities are joining the list. 

The city of Hoboken on Tuesday also ordered its 55,000 residents to isolate at home for a week.

NEW YORK   

Gatherings of more than 50 people banned.

Bars and restaurants shut indefinitely for dine-in customers, but can offer take-out.

Clubs, bars, cinemas and gyms shut indefinitely.

Essential businesses such as supermarkets and gas stations will be able to stay open after 8 p.m. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he is ‘strongly encouraging’ nonessential businesses to close in New York after 8 p.m. 

New York City – Eateries could only accept takeout and delivery orders. Mayor Bill de Blasio also ordered nightclubs, movie theaters and other entertainment venues closed

New York City announced its public school district, the nation’s largest, will be closed starting Monday, joining most of the rest of the country

New Rochelle – one mile containment area set up 

ILLINOIS 

Bars and restaurants shut to dine-in customers until March 30

KENTUCKY 

Bars and restaurants shut to dine-in customers until March 30. 

The Democratic governors of Connecticut, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington on Monday all ordered the full or partial closure of certain categories of businesses. 

OHIO 

Bars and restaurants shut to dine-in customers, but can offer take-out.

Ohio marked St. Patrick’s Day on Tuesday with no parades and no primary election over fears of the coronavirus. Health Director Dr. Amy Acton issued an order late Monday shutting down polls Tuesday. 

Youngstown State University and Capital University in Columbus were among those announcing the cancellation of May commencement ceremonies, saying they couldn’t comply with restrictions severely limiting the size of gatherings. 

Ohio’s Roman Catholic bishops suspended all publicly celebrated Masses through Easter on April 12, extending an earlier suspension of services through Palm Sunday one week earlier. 

OKLAHOMA 

Public schools closed at least until April 6.

Oklahoma’s governor declared a statewide emergency Sunday evening.

The Oklahoma Legislature approved sweeping changes to the state’s Open Meeting Act on Tuesday to allow government bodies to meet via teleconference. 

Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum and Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt both ordered the immediate shutdown of bars, while restaurants can serve only take-out orders. Similar measures were also imposed in Stillwater and Norman, including orders that theaters, gyms and amusement facilities must also close.

Officials with the Remington Park horse track in Oklahoma City said it was closing to the general public and races would be held without spectators.

The archbishop of Oklahoma City announced Tuesday that all public masses and liturgies at Catholic churches in the archdiocese of Oklahoma City would be canceled through Easter Sunday, April 12. 

MICHIGAN 

Bars and restaurants shut to dine-in customers indefinitely, but can offer take-out. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has banned more than 50 people in a gathering at a time.

Whitmer issued a sweeping order Monday banning dine-in customers at restaurants and closing all bars, movie theaters, gyms and other sports facilities to curb the spread of the coronavirus. The measure was to last through March.

Besides those restrictions, all Michigan schools are closed. 

WASHINGTON 

Restaurants and bars ordered to shut temporarily.

Gatherings of more than 50 people banned for at least two weeks.  

MINNESOTA

Dine-in restaurants and bars ordered to shut through March 27 beginning Tuesday evening.

Gov. Tim Walz ordered bars and restaurants across Minnesota to temporarily close to customers who dine in. 

Delivery and curbside takeout services may continue to operate. The temporary closure also applies to other places of public amusement, including theaters, museums, fitness centers and community clubs. 

Affected businesses must close by 5 p.m. Tuesday. While the governor’s order runs through March 27, he said he’ll likely end up extending it. Supermarkets, pharmacies and other retailers are not affected. 

OREGON  

Gatherings of more than 25 people banned. 

Restaurants and bars allowed to offer take-out only.  

Gov. Kate Brown on Monday banned on-site consumption at bars and restaurants around the state for at least four weeks in a bid to slow the spread of the new coronavirus and said gatherings will be limited to 25 people or fewer.

Restaurants can still offer takeout or delivery, she said at a news conference. 

Gov. Kate Brown announced an extension of her previous statewide school closure order to combat the spread of coronavirus, saying now schools will be shuttered until at least April 28. 

Only essential medical and emergency personnel can visit residents of long-term care facilities statewide, except for residents who are in the end stages of life. 

CALIFORNIA 

All bars advised to shut, restaurants cut occupancy by half and over 65s are told to self-quarantine.

San Francisco Residents are ordered to ‘shelter in place’ in five counties. Residents in the city are legally banned from leaving their homes for three weeks for non-essential reasons.

Disneyland closed to the public. 

Palm Springs orders residents to shelter in place.

‘Few if any’ California schools will reopen before summer break, Gov. Gavin Newsom said.

Three more Northern California counties on Tuesday follow the example of those in the San Francisco Bay Area that told residents to stay at home and go outside only for food, medicine and other essential needs. 

WASHINGTON D.C.

Restaurants, bars and clubs to shut down by 10pm Monday, with take-out and delivery still available until April 1.

Health clubs, spas, massage parlors and theaters to shut down.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser has declared a state of emergency.

Organizers of the popular Cherry Blossom festival, which was scheduled to begin March 20, announced that several events would be postponed. 

Officials recommended that all ‘non-essential mass gatherings, including conferences and conventions,’ be postponed or canceled through the end of March. 

Georgetown University joined the growing list of higher-learning institutions to cancel in-person classes. 

MARYLAND

Bars and restaurants shut indefinitely for dine-in customers, but can offer take-out.

Clubs, bars, cinemas and gyms shut indefinitely.

FLORIDA 

In Florida, Walt Disney World and Universal-Orlando closed Sunday night for the rest of the month, joining their already closed California siblings.

Farther south, Miami Beach and Fort Lauderdale closed their beaches, where thousands of college spring breakers flocked.

All bar and nightclubs are set to close. 

NEVADA   

Casinos throughout Nevada were closed Wednesday, along with other nonessential businesses, following under an order from Gov. Steve Sisolak.

All public, private and charter K-12 schools in the state will be closed Monday until at least April 6 in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Monthlong closure of non-essential businesses like bars, movie theaters and gyms. Restaurants must shutter their dining rooms and only offer takeout or delivery. 

COLORADO

Colorado’s 12,000 bars and restaurants will be limited to takeout and delivery orders under a ban on gatherings of 50 people as the state expands testing to try to brake the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Jared Polis said.

Polis also announced the closure of all theaters, gyms and casinos until further notice. 

Vail Resorts said it will keep its North American resorts closed for the rest of the ski season.

People arrested for low-level crimes will no longer be booked into jail. 

INDIANA  

Bars, nightclubs and restaurants closed for dine-in with and takeout allowed until the end of March.

Honda said Wednesday that it will shut down plants in North America, including one in Greensburg. 

RHODE ISLAND 

All restaurants, bars, coffee shops shut down for dine in until March 30.

Drive-thru and delivery services remain open. 

The Rhode Island Statehouse will be closed to visitors and certain popular government services will be curtailed.

The popular, downtown Providence Place Mall will be shut down. 

Catholic churches in Rhode Island are suspending Mass services. 

VERMONT 

Bars and restaurants can only serve takeout from Tuesday night.

All pre-K-12 schools in Vermont must close no later than Tuesday

ARIZONA

All schools closed through March 27.  

Phoenix and Tucson joined Flagstaff on Tuesday in ordering bars, gyms and other indoor facilities to close immediately and restaurants to offer to-go service only in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.  

ARKANSAS

All schools closed from Tuesday. 

Arkansas casinos are closing temporarily because of concerns about the coronavirus.

Arkansas’ largest city is imposing more restrictions, including a curfew, in an effort to curb the spread of the new coronavirus as the number infections in the state continues to rise.

Mayor Frank Scott said Monday that a curfew from midnight to 5 a.m. will be in effect in Little Rock beginning early Wednesday. 

DELAWARE 

Gov. John Carney directed that restaurants and bars in Delaware restrict their operations to take-out, drive-thru and delivery services.  

GEORGIA 

All public schools and universities closed. 

A large outdoor music festival in Atlanta has been postponed until fall. Organizers of the Shaky Knees Festival on Wednesday said the event featuring headliners the Black Keys, the Strokes and Smashing Pumpkins is now set for Oct. 16 to 18.

HAWAII   

Visitors asked to postpone their island vacations for at least the next 30 days.

Directive that all bars and clubs close and that restaurants shift to serving food through drive-through, takeout and delivery service. Gatherings to be limited to a maximum of 10 people. 

The National Park Service said the Pearl Harbor National Memorial has closed temporarily. 

IDAHO 

Gov. Brad Little said state is adopting federal guidelines that include avoiding social gatherings of more than 10 people. 

The guidelines also call for not eating or drinking in bars, restaurants and food courts, but to use drive-thru or pickup options. Little also recommended avoiding discretionary travel and shopping.

Boise: State of emergency declared Monday, city buildings closed with the exception of the Boise Airport 

IOWA 

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered restaurants, bars, fitness centers, theaters and casinos to close for two weeks. 

Also bans events of more than 10 people, including parades, festivals, conventions and fundraisers, in line with federal recommendations. 

KANSAS 

Kansas State University to teach remotely. 

In Kansas, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on Monday banned public gatherings of 50 or more people for the next two months. 

All of the state’s K-12 schools to close and to move lessons online for the rest of the spring semester. 

MAINE 

Maine’s largest city, Portland, declared an emergency and adopted a curfew to prevent the spread of the virus on St. Patrick’s Day.

The curfew applies to establishments where groups gather all day Tuesday and from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. from Wednesday to Saturday.

 L.L. Bean is closing all of its retail stores across the country, including its flagship store in Freeport, Maine, to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus.

The North Haven Select Board voted Sunday to ban visitors and seasonal residents immediately to prevent the spread of the coronavirus to the Penobscot Bay island, where there have been no cases yet. 

A growing number of municipalities declared emergencies and imposed curfews. 

MISSISSIPPI 

Casinos, public universities and school districts closed until further notice.

Mississippi legislators are suspending their work until at least April 1. 

MISSOURI 

Restaurants, bars and movie theaters ordered shut for 15 days in Kansas City metro from Tuesday 

MONTANA 

Public schools closed for two weeks.

Billings, Missoula, Bozeman, Butte and Helena restrict restaurant openings.

NEBRASKA 

Omaha bars and restaurants limited to 10 and under patrons.

The Douglas County Board of Health issued an order limiting gatherings within the county, which includes Omaha, to no more than 10 people. The order also says that a venue must be large enough for all people in any gathering to be at least 6 feet (1.8 meters) apart from each other.

The order is effective through April 30. 

NEW HAMPSHIRE 

Restaurants will be restricted to take-out, schools are shut down and large public gatherings are being banned in an effort to contain the coronavirus in New Hampshire.

New Hampshire’s directive, which extends until April 7, also will ban public gatherings of 50 people or more. 

Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and affiliated hospitals are no longer allowing visitors. 

NEW MEXICO 

Restaurants and bars to operate at 50 per cent capacity; tables must not seat more than six people, and must be separated by at least six feet.

 NORTH CAROLINA 

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is ordering all restaurants and bars be closed to dine-in patrons.

Cooper’s office announced he would issue a new executive order directing the closings effective at 5 p.m. Tuesday. The establishments can continue to offer takeout and delivery. 

NORTH DAKOTA 

No mandated closing of restaurants and bars.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum issued an executive order closing schools across the state for one week beginning Monday. 

 PUERTO RICO 

Two-week closure for the majority of businesses; 9pm overnight curfew through March 30.

Puerto Rico Secretary of State Elmer Román said at a press conference on Monday that no one is allowed to go to the beach. 

On Sunday, Gov. Wanda Vázquez ordered a two-week closure of nonessential government offices and commercial businesses except for gas stations and those in the food, health and finance sectors. Puerto Rico also cancelled major events, including an Ironman race scheduled for this past weekend. 

SOUTH CAROLINA 

Charleston banned gatherings of more than 50 people outside of stores and private offices. 

Columbia restricted businesses to no more than half their legal occupancy and won’t allow more than six people to sit at a restaurant table. 

Schools closed from Monday 

SOUTH DAKOTA 

No current plans to close restaurants or bars.

 The governor signed a state of emergency order last week, requesting public schools to close and ordering non-essential state employees to work from home. 

South Dakota public universities announced on Monday that all classes will move online next week after an extended spring break. 

TENNESSEE 

 All bars closed in Nashville; restuarants ordered to operate at no more than 50 per cent capacity.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Monday asked schools to close, exhorted people to avoid crowded bars 

TEXAS 

Austin joined other major cities statewide in closing bars and restaurant dining rooms to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Texas Capitol in Austin also will be closed to the public. 

SXSW canceled.

The University of Texas System on Tuesday instructed its eight academic campuses to, effective immediately, move all classes online for the rest of the spring semester and postponed graduation ceremonies until the fall.

El Paso closed its bars and ordered restaurant capacities cut in half.

Galveston Mayor Jim Yarbrough ordered the island city’s bars and restaurants to close, as well as all public amusement venues, including museums, the Pleasure Pier and Moody Gardens. 

Houston has also enacted restrictions on bars, clubs and restaurant 

US VIRGIN ISLANDS 

State of emergency declared 

All public schools closed for at least three weeks from Wednesday  

UTAH 

Salt Lake City shuts restaurants to dine in customers and bars; take out continues. 

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert ordered statewide dine-in closures at restaurants, bars and other eateries while health officials in the national parks hot spot of Moab halted new overnight tourists.

Authorities also closed restaurants, except for takeout, and other public places like theaters and gyms in Grand, Carbon and Emery Counties. 

VIRGINIA 

Gov. Ralph Northam bans public gatherings of more than 100 people. 

All K-12 schools to close through at least March 27. 

WEST VIRGINIA 

So far, West Virginia has just one coronavirus case. 

WISCONSIN   

Bans on 50 people or more gatherings; bars and restaurants limiting customers. Gov. Tony Evers ordered that child care settings have no more than 10 staffers and 50 children present at the same time.

WYOMING 

Dine in customers banned at restaurants and bars.

Airlines are wrapping up winter-season flights to Jackson Hole weeks earlier than usual. 

The resort and two others in northwest Wyoming — Grand Targhee resort and Snow King Resort — have shut down early. 

Source Article from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8127239/Donald-Trump-says-hes-wartime-president-fighting-unseen-enemy.html

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Rep. Ben McAdams tests positive for coronavirus – Salt Lake Tribune
Rep. Ben McAdams tests positive for coronavirus – Salt Lake Tribune

tburr@sltrib.com

Source Article from https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2020/03/19/rep-ben-mcadams-tests/

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EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier says he has tested positive for the coronavirus – CNBC
EU’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier says he has tested positive for the coronavirus – CNBC

The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, announced Thursday he has tested positive for the new coronavirus.

The 69-year-old French civil servant has been in charge of all negotiations between the European Union and the United Kingdom, after the latter requested to leave the political bloc in March 2017.

Barnier tweeted that he’s “doing well and in good spirits.”

“I am following all the necessary instructions, as is my team. For all those affected already, and for all those currently in isolation, we will get through this together,” he added. 

The European Commission was not immediately available for comment when contacted by CNBC.

Barnier had been leading the second phase of negotiations between the EU and the U.K. These started earlier this month, with the aim of putting together a trade deal before the end of the year.

A U.K. government spokesperson said Thursday that Downing Street sent Barnier their best wishes, Reuters reported. Thursday’s announcement will no doubt raise questions on the timetable for the negotiations, as U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed not to extend trade talks beyond 2020. 

U.K. and EU negotiating teams were due to meet in London next week, but these talks have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/19/eus-brexit-negotiator-michel-barnier-says-he-has-tested-positive-for-the-coronavirus.html

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Nancy Pelosi-Steve Mnuchin relationship key to federal government’s coronavirus response – CNN
Nancy Pelosi-Steve Mnuchin relationship key to federal government’s coronavirus response – CNN

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what’s happening in the world as it unfolds.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/19/politics/nancy-pelosi-steve-mnuchin-relationship/index.html

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Hospitals and doctors offices battling coronavirus are running out of protective gear, so some are making their own – CNN
Hospitals and doctors offices battling coronavirus are running out of protective gear, so some are making their own – CNN

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what’s happening in the world as it unfolds.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/18/us/coronavirus-protective-equipment-trnd/index.html

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Trump Defends Using ‘Chinese Virus’ Label, Ignoring Growing Criticism – The New York Times
Trump Defends Using ‘Chinese Virus’ Label, Ignoring Growing Criticism – The New York Times

On Tuesday, the Chinese government announced that it would be expelling journalists from major news outlets, including The New York Times, in a response to the Trump administration’s decision to limit the number of Chinese citizens working in the United States for five propaganda outlets.

And last week, Zhao Lijian, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, shared the conspiracy theory that the United States was behind the virus. “It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan,” he said on Twitter. “Be transparent! Make public your data! US owe us an explanation!”

The darker turn in U.S.-China relations has spilled out into public spats and private mistrust. While both countries have said that the trade deal they signed in January remains on track, American officials have blamed China for mishandling the coronavirus epidemic, as well as for withholding exports of face masks and other protective medical equipment.

And within the Trump administration, some officials who are China hawks have privately discussed a theory that the virus emerged not from a food market in Wuhan, as many news media reports have said, but from a nearby Chinese government laboratory, where virologists were carrying out research.

That theory has been discussed on Fox News by Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, an ally of Mr. Trump’s.

Charlie Woo, the chief executive of Megatoys and the public policy committee chairman of the Committee of 100, an organization of prominent Chinese-Americans, said the administration’s language was dividing the public during a national emergency.

“This crisis requires science, facts and clear language, not fear-mongering, finger-pointing and xenophobia by our public servants,” Mr. Woo said in a statement. “We face a global pandemic that calls for a truly global, unified response. Attempts to ascribe the virus to one culture, ethnicity or country can only hinder this effort, alienating people who could instead collaborate and support one another.”

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/18/us/politics/china-virus.html

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Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart becomes first member of Congress to test positive for coronavirus – CNN
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart becomes first member of Congress to test positive for coronavirus – CNN

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what’s happening in the world as it unfolds.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/18/politics/mario-diaz-balart-coronavirus/index.html

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Congress weighs cash for Americans, lifelines for business after Trump signs coronavirus sick leave bill – USA TODAY
Congress weighs cash for Americans, lifelines for business after Trump signs coronavirus sick leave bill – USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump Wednesday signed a measure to ensure paid sick leave for workers and widen coronavirus testing after its passage in the Senate.

Now, Congress is crafting its next emergency relief package: one that would provide checks of $1,000 or more for Americans and financial lifelines for businesses socked by the coronavirus pandemic that is ravaging the economy and upending daily life.

Senators overwhelmingly supported a House bill that covers the cost of all coronavirus testing, expands federal food programs serving low-income seniors and needy families, and provides paid sick leave for workers forced to stay at home.

The vote was passed 90-8.

The bill, Families First Coronavirus Response Act, would:

  • Offer two weeks of paid sick and family leave to many American workers who have been forced to stay home because of COVID-19 or who have children whose schools have closed. Workers will get 100% of their normal salary.
  • Provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave to many of those who have children whose schools have closed. Workers would get about 67% of their normal salary for this period.
  • Bolster unemployment insurance protections.
  • Provide free testing for the coronavirus for those who need it.
  • Boost food assistance (SNAP) for needy families and federal funding for Medicaid.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reluctantly voted for the bill the House passed Saturday, saying that despite burdens the sick leave provisions place on small businesses, it was “a very important step” to help families confront the intensifying pandemic.

But the Kentucky Republican also said work has already begun with the Trump administration on another emergency package, the centerpiece of which is likely to be direct payments to Americans that Trump has promoted as a way to get money into the hands of consumers quickly and rescue the beleaguered economy.

“We’re looking at sending checks to Americans immediately,” Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said Tuesday, although he did not say how big those checks might be. Utah Republican Mitt Romney has suggested a one-time payment of $1,000.

Stimulus checks:What we know (and don’t)

The upcoming bill also is expected to help major industries besieged by a widespread shutdown of the economy, such as the airlines, and help small businesses including restaurants who are being forced to close around the country but find themselves having to provide mandated paid leave under the Families First bill.

Democrats said federal aid included in the Families First bill will alleviate the sting to those businesses.

McConnell said Wednesday that while he was eager to help small businesses shoulder new sick leave requirements, he wasn’t sure how long it would take to iron out the next relief package.

“Just how long it will take to get through these steps is unclear,” McConnell said on the floor after the vote. “But as everyone knows, we are moving rapidly because the situation demands it.”

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/03/18/coronavirus-congress-weighs-cash-americans-lifelines-business/2868345001/

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WHO officials warn US President Trump against calling coronavirus ‘the Chinese virus’ – CNBC
WHO officials warn US President Trump against calling coronavirus ‘the Chinese virus’ – CNBC

World Health Organization officials warned against calling COVID-19 the “Chinese virus” as President Donald Trump has done, saying that it could unintentionally lead to racial profiling.

“Viruses know no borders and they don’t care about your ethnicity, the color of your skin or how much money you have in the bank. So it’s really important we be careful in the language we use lest it lead to the profiling of individuals associated with the virus,” Dr. Mike Ryan, the executive director of WHO’s emergencies program, said at a news conference Wednesday when asked about Trump’s comments inciting violence against Asians.

Since emerging from Wuhan, China, just over three months ago, the new coronavirus has spread to almost every country around the world, infecting more than 212,000 people and killing at least 8,727 as of Wednesday afternoon, according to data compiled by John’s Hopkins University.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates agreed with Ryan, writing in an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit on Wednesday that “we should not call this the Chinese virus.” 

Trump defended his characterization of the coronavirus at a White House news conference discussing the pandemic Wednesday.

“It’s not racist at all,” Trump said, “No, not at all.”

Trump was asked about his persistent use of the term “Chinese virus” despite reports that dozens of incidents of bias against Chinese Americans who have been blamed for allegedly spreading the coronavirus.

“Because it comes from China,” Trump said to the reporter who asked him that question. “That’s why.”

WHO officials intentionally gave the virus a generic name to avoid stigmatizing a country or particular group, choosing a name that doesn’t refer to a geographical location, animals, an individual or a group of people. The CO stands for corona, the VI for virus and the D for disease. COVID-19 was first detected late last year.

“Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said when the new name was announced Feb. 11. 

Ryan repeated WHO’s calls for solidarity, saying that characterizing a virus in such a manner could result in xenophobic behavior and “I’m sure anyone would regret profiling a virus along those lines.”

“This is a time for solidarity, this is a time for facts, this is a time to move forward together, to fight this virus together. There is no blame in this,” he said. “All we need now is to identify the things we need to do to move forward quickly, with speed and to avoid any indication of ethnic or other associations with this virus.” 

— CNBC’s William Feuer, Jordan Novet and Dan Mangan contributed to this article.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/18/who-officials-warn-us-president-trump-against-calling-coronavirus-the-chinese-virus.html

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Trump invokes Defense Production Act: What is it? – Fox News
Trump invokes Defense Production Act: What is it? – Fox News
Video

Trump invokes Defense Production Act: What is it?

President Trump announced he will invoke the Defense Production Act, which aims to better prepare the U.S. for the manufacturing and distribution of medical supplies amid coronavirus.

President Trump announced on Wednesday that he will be invoking the Defense Production Act in an effort to help the private sector ramp-up manufacturing and distribution of emergency medical supplies and equipment amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The act, which was first enacted in 1950 as a response to the Korean War and has since been re-invoked more than 50 times since, will streamline production of medical supplies to help the country battle the coronavirus pandemic and require businesses to sign contracts or fulfill orders deemed necessary for national defense.

TRUMP ANNOUNCES HE IS INVOKING DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT TO FIGHT CORONAVIRUS

“If we need to use it we’ll be using it,” Trump said. “It’s full speed ahead.”

The act was periodically used during both the Korean War and throughout the Cold War, and was last invoked in June 2017 by Trump to provide technology in the space industrial base.

Trump was not specific on the details of what the act would be used for – besides mentioning ventilators and masks – but below is a look at what the three main sections of the Defense Production Act:

  • The second provision in the act provides financial measures, such as loans, loan guarantees, purchases, and purchase commitments, to speed up the production of materials “needed to support national defense and homeland security procurement requirements.”
  • The act also addresses voluntary agreements – or what the government says is “an association of private interests, approved by the Government to plan and coordinate actions in support of the national defense.” The proviso permits business competitors to work together to plan and coordinate measures to increase the supply of materials.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

Along with the three main provisions, the act also provides the government with the authority to obtain information from businesses, authorizes establishment of the National Defense Executive Reserve, and a Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States – which works on the effects on national security of certain mergers, acquisitions, and takeovers related to foreign investment in the U.S.

When the act is invoked it requires the administration to file an annual report to Congress on the impact of offsets on the defense preparedness, industrial competitiveness, employment, and trade from the act.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-invokes-defense-production-act-what-is-it

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Worldwide coronavirus cases top 200,000, doubling in two weeks – CNBC
Worldwide coronavirus cases top 200,000, doubling in two weeks – CNBC

COVID-19 cases surpassed 200,000 worldwide on Wednesday as the new coronavirus continues to spread outside of China, the original epicenter of the outbreak.

The total number of cases now stands at 201,436 as of 7:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, according to data compiled by John Hopkins. The virus emerged in Wuhan, China in December. It has since spread to most countries around the world, according to the World Health Organization.

The virus has now killed more than 8,000 people around the world, according to JHU, but more than 82,000 people have recovered from the virus.

Almost half of all cases in the world are in China, but the virus, known as COVID-19, has quickly spread across borders. Last week, the WHO declared that Europe had become the new epicenter of the virus.

“More cases are now being reported [in Europe] every day than were reported in China at the height of its epidemic,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. 

Italy, where officials have implemented a nationwide lockdown, has reported more than 31,000 cases, according to JHU, and over 2,500 deaths. The virus has infected more than 16,000 people in Iran, JHU’s data shows, and over 13,000 in Spain.

On Jan. 20, four countries, China, Thailand, Japan and South Korea, had reported a total of 282 cases, most of which were in China, according to the WHO. The total number of infections across the world hovered around 100,000 on March 6, the WHO’s data shows. 

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/18/worldwide-coronavirus-cases-top-200000-for-the-first-time.html

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Coronavirus patients describe symptoms, battle for recovery – CBS This Morning
Coronavirus patients describe symptoms, battle for recovery – CBS This Morning

Experts at Johns Hopkins University estimate more than 79,000 worldwide coronavirus patients have recovered from the disease. People recovering from coronavirus have called it “not even comparable” to the flu, and reported difficulty breathing as well as fevers. Dr. Tara Narula speaks with a handful of people recovering from coronavirus, including a woman who claims she had a fever so high it led to hallucinations.

Source Article from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wak8UQebNDs

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