| Fauci tempers Trump's optimism on chloroquine use for coronavirus Posted: 20 Mar 2020 11:10 AM PDT  President Trump and the leading scientific expert on infectious diseases on his coronavirus task force offered starkly different views Friday about whether Americans should feel hopeful that the antimalarial drug chloroquine could be used to stop the spread of COVID-19.
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| Army Corps of Engineers races to provide 10,000 hospital rooms for coronavirus response Posted: 20 Mar 2020 03:30 PM PDT  The Army Corps of Engineers is planning to create more than 10,000 ICU-type hospital rooms in hotels, dormitories and other available buildings in New York City over the next few weeks, its commander said Friday.
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| Why did coronavirus hit hard in Italy and Spain? Some blame a lack of social distancing — and a lot of social kissing. Posted: 20 Mar 2020 02:00 AM PDT  A seeming lack of urgency marks the coronavirus in Spain, where cases began climbing three weeks ago, and where concepts like social distancing didn't enter the discussion until this week.
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| Remains of missing Colorado boy, 11, found in Florida Posted: 20 Mar 2020 05:50 PM PDT  Investigators want to know if anyone saw suspect Leticia Staunch in the Panhandle in early February
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| Sen. Lindsey Graham Says Government Could Underwrite ‘70 Percent’ of U.S. Payroll if Coronavirus Containment Continues Posted: 20 Mar 2020 12:20 PM PDT  Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) on Friday warned that federal and state governments could be forced to support a large segment of the American workforce if measures designed to contain the Wuhan coronavirus remain in place."I talked with [Treasury Secretary Steve] Mnuchin this morning. Here's the challenge, and we've just got to tell the public the truth: we're going to be floating probably 70 percent of the nation's payroll," Graham told reporters on Capitol Hill. "The federal government in some form, working with the states and the private sector, but mostly the federal government is going to underwrite 70 percent of the payroll in this country if the containment policies continue to be this aggressive."Graham said the economic stimulus currently being hashed out by senators in conjunction with the White House will be much more expensive than originally thought."It's going to be a hell of a lot more than $1 trillion," Graham said. Other Republican and Democratic senators have privately agreed that the stimulus will exceed the $1 trillion mark, CNN reported on Friday. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) said the body would be ready to vote on the stimulus by Monday."We expect to have an agreement by the end of today," McConnell told CNN. "The game plan remains the same. We will be voting on a final package in the Senate on Monday."The Wuhan coronavirus pandemic has caused large swaths of the U.S. to implement closures of schools, theaters and other public venues, with New York and California ordering nonessential workers to stay at home and residents to remain home as much as possible. Jobless claims have surged by 281,000 since March 8, the highest rise since September 2017.
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| China, on virus PR offensive, sends masks and experts abroad Posted: 20 Mar 2020 10:03 PM PDT  As the fight against a new virus shifts to Europe and beyond, China is supplying millions of masks and other desperately needed items to struggling governments, hoping to build political ties and defuse criticism that it allowed the disease to spread early on. Serbia's president plans to be at the airport this weekend to welcome a shipment of medical supplies from his "brother and friend," Chinese leader Xi Jinping. China, said Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek, is "the only country capable of supplying Europe with such amounts."
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| An infectious disease expert explains why herd immunity probably won't work in the fight against coronavirus Posted: 20 Mar 2020 02:59 PM PDT  The only safe way we'll achieve herd immunity against the coronavirus is with the help of a vaccine, which will be available in at least 18 months.
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| Covid-19: disaster declared in New York as fears grow over lack of ventilators Posted: 21 Mar 2020 06:10 AM PDT  * Widespread shortage of equipment including gloves and masks * Cuomo: administration is 'scouring the globe' for suppliesNew York is preparing to ration its ventilators for sick coronavirus patients as a major disaster was declared in the city as it struggles to cope with the deadly outbreak.The disaster declaration comes as New York prepares guidance on how to deploy vital ventilators amid a widespread shortage of key equipment that also includes masks and surgical gloves, and medical supplies such as blood.The draft guidance on ventilators, prepared by a state taskforce in 2015 for a possible influenza pandemic, has reportedly been updated for the coronavirus crisis, though new guidelines have not been finalized.According to Sam Gorovitz, a professor of philosophy at Syracuse University and member of the taskforce, the revisions to the ventilator allocation guidelines include the formation of designated triage committees to determine which critically ill patients will or will not receive life-supporting respiration.Gorovitz told the Guardian he is "100% certain" that New York health administrators will face ethical decision-making in the near future about whom to ventilate – just as it is now making decisions about the allocation of masks and protective equipment."Consider a patient, 85 years old, on a ventilator, out of hospice care. Along comes a 45-year-old, with a family, and in fundamentally good health and a good prospect of full recovery from coronavirus if treated with the best available treatment."Is it not only acceptable but ethically necessary to take grandpa off the ventilator and switch him to palliative care, wipe away the tears, and switch the ventilator to the younger patient?" he said."These decisions are already being faced with regard to protective equipment that are inadequately supplied," Gorovitz said. "That's not the same as ventilator allocations, but everyone knows it's coming and those decisions are likely being made right now."At a press conference on Saturday New York state governor Andrew Cuomo said that his administration was "literally scouring the globe looking for medical supplies".Cuomo added that New York is doing more tests than China or South Korea, calling the 45,000 tests to date a "great accomplishment."The announcement came as New York state recorded 10,000 infections. Forty to 80% of New Yorkers, or 7.8 million to 15 million people, would likely be affected by the virus in the end, Cuomo said."You don't have to wait til the end of the movie to know what happens," he said, saying that the measures being taken would ease pressure on medical facilities and allow the authorities to cope with the influx of the infected.The Trump administration late Friday issued a major disaster declaration for New York, the center of the US coronavirus outbreak, as infections spike across New York City to 5,000 as one person an hour dies from the coronavirus.The emergency declaration was issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to allow the state to access billions of dollars in aid from the disaster relief fund, as the number of confirmed New York cases soar."With no time to waste, the administration heeded the call and approved the nation's first major disaster declaration in response to the coronavirus, right here in New York," Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement."With more and more cases confirmed here each day, it's imperative that the federal government does everything within its power to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus."The disaster declaration allows for the US military to be called in, and the US Army Corps of Engineers may take over hotels, sports arenas, college dormitories and other buildings as needed.Under the declaration, Fema will be authorized to send its personnel and resources to set up mobile coronavirus testing centers, disinfect public facilities, and provide the state with medical supplies that are in high demand such as masks, gloves and surgical gowns.The vast Jacob Javits convention center on the west side of Manhattan could be used as a makeshift hospital, state officials have said.New Yorkers are already living under shutdown conditions that from Sunday night will see all residents, except for certain vital professions, expected to stay at home. Only a few vital businesses – like supermarkets and pharmacies – will remain open and citizens will be asked to only venture outside on vital tasks and not in groups.On Friday, New York mayor Bill de Blasio said: 'We constitute 30 percent of the cases in the US and 70 per cent of the cases in New York State. Whether we like it or not, we are the epicenter.'New York certainly needs help: it has become the main focus of the epidemic in the US, outstripping the original "hot zone" of Washington state.New York state has about 6,000 intensive care unit ventilators, and state health officials fear the pandemic will overwhelm the roughly 3,000 ICU beds available.With cases of coronavirus in the state spiking from around 800 to 8,000 in a week, Andrew Cuomo, New York's governor, has estimated that the state may require 30,000 ventilators to meet demand."It's ventilators, ventilators, ventilators. That is the greatest need," Cuomo told reporters on Friday after ordering a statewide shutdown of non-essential businesses. He also directed health facilities to turn over any non-essential ventilators to the department of health."We will purchase it from you if you could lend it to us. But we need ventilators, and anyone who has them now please call the New York state department of health," he said.Warnings of a ventilator shortage comes two days after Trump invoked wartime powers to harness private business to slow the spread of coronavirus to a manageable infection curve.But in New York and other major metropolitan areas, a shortage of basic masks and scrubs is threatening the effort even as testing ramps up.In Los Angeles, health officials are instructing doctors to only test sick people if a diagnosis would change how they would be treated, according to the LA Times.The LA Times reports that the county health department sent a letter to doctors this week saying they should only administer tests if "a diagnostic result will change clinical management or inform public health response".The decision is part of a shift "from a strategy of case containment to slowing disease transmission and averting excess morbidity and mortality," according to the paper.
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| Emirates Airlines suspends flights to dozens more cities Posted: 21 Mar 2020 11:57 AM PDT  Dubai carrier Emirates Airlines announced Saturday it would suspend flights to dozens more cities, taking its total route closures past 100, in a bid to forestall the spread of coronavirus. The United Arab Emirates on Friday announced its first two deaths from the disease. Total recorded infections in the UAE stood at 153, of which 38 have recovered.
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| Dallas megachurch pastor Jeffress capitulates to coronavirus warnings, moves services online Posted: 20 Mar 2020 02:11 PM PDT  The pews will be empty this Sunday at First Baptist Dallas, the megachurch whose pastor, Robert Jeffress, is one of President Trump's most ardent supporters and a frequent guest on Fox News.
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| One Mask Only: Coronavirus Docs and Nurses Forced to Make Terrifying Compromises Posted: 21 Mar 2020 02:30 AM PDT  In the passenger seat of her car, Rachael, a hospice nurse in South Carolina, carries a Ziploc bag with two surgical masks inside. Every day, she dons one of the masks and wears it into nursing homes, hospitals, and private homes across the area, caring for her elderly patients. Twelve hours later, she takes what is supposed to be a single-use mask off, sanitizes it, and puts it back in the bag. It is the only equipment her employer has provided to protect her and her patients from the coronavirus, she said. It is meant to last her "indefinitely.""I'm not worried about getting [the 2019 novel coronavirus.] I'm assuming that I will," said Rachael, who asked not to be named for fear of losing her job. But, she added, "I would feel terrible if I found out I was the person who brought it into three different nursing homes.""It feels like a Third World country," she said. "I never thought this would be the challenge we were up against." As has been previously reported, the exponential growth of the novel coronavirus in the U.S. has exacerbated an existing shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), leaving hospitals to ration gear at levels many providers said they had never seen. The situation has become so dire that the Journal of the American Medical Association recently put out a call for ideas on how to conserve the supply of PPE and identify new sources.Around the country, providers are now reusing single-use gear and fashioning new equipment out of protective material. Interviews with an array of doctors and nurses on the frontline of a national crisis revealed widespread astonishment at just how ill-supplied they were in what was supposed to be the wealthiest country in the world.Will Americans Actually Comply With a Long-Term Lockdown?Peter Chai, an emergency physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where two providers have already tested positive for COVID-19, compared the measures to using dirty bath water for multiple baths."That's totally unheard of in America. Why would you ever have to do that?" he said. "Why would we ever run out of something so simple?"The Centers for Disease Control previously recommended using N95 masks—a respiratory protective device that filters disease-carrying particles from the air—when treating any patient suspected of having COVID-19. But the agency's recommendations have loosened as supplies dwindled. In guidance released this week, the CDC said providers should wear N95s only when performing procedures that might cause a patient to "aerosolize" the virus." In the latest guidance, the agency also suggested mask-strapped providers use bandanas or scarves as a "last resort."In an advisory Friday, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Health warned of the "rapidly diminishing supply of PPE." Providers were instructed to immediately stop testing most non-hospitalized patients for COVID-19 to preserve supplies. To stave off a complete shortfall, medical workers have resorted to creative measures, stapling plastic bands onto expired procedure masks and making splash shields out of plastic dividers and mounting tape, according to Twitter posts.Alli, an emergency nurse in Indiana who asked to be identified by her first name only, told The Daily Beast she used a single-use surgical mask so long it was wet from her breath when she took it off. When her mother heard about the shortage, she asked her quilting group to sew more masks for the hospital. While the masks likely don't meet medical standards, Alli said, "I want to have these on standby for when worse comes to worse. And I fear we will get there."An emergency physician in Tennessee, who asked not to be named for fear of professional retaliation, told The Daily Beast she brought leftover N95 masks from a home construction project into work with her. A good friend, who works for an alcohol distilling company, donated a box from her distilling plant as well. Her sister's neighbor donated more than a dozen masks he found in his garage.In Boston, Chai said all the major hospitals have banded together to conserve supplies, borrowing masks and goggles from shuttered research labs and experimenting with other protective materials. "The large institutions that usually don't talk to each other, there's all of a sudden all of this coordination and cross talk," she said. "It just took a virus to do it."Along with ingenuity, the situation has also spawned protests. Nurses at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco demonstrated outside the hospital Thursday, waving signs reading, "Protect nurse, patients, public health." More than 760,000 people have signed onto a Change.org petition asking hospital administrators for more protective equipment. Another group of physicians wrote an open letter to President Trump and Vice President Pence asking them to boost the supply and develop clear guidelines around sanitizing and reusing protective gear."The only institution with the power to require adequate production of protective equipment, to distribute the equipment effectively, and to create universal guidelines on its use, is the federal government," the physicians wrote. "The federal government needs to step up, right now."The federal government has taken some measure to increase the supply of protective gear. The Department of Health and Human Services tweeted Thursday they were deploying equipment from the Strategic National Stockpile—a repository of pharmaceuticals and medical products for use in a public health emergency. Trump this week invoked the Defense Production Act to accelerate production of supplies, and Pence noted that a coronavirus relief law would also protect manufacturers from lawsuits when selling protective gear to health care workers. The New York National Guard was also preparing to deliver a mix of protective gear, medication, and ventilators from two large warehouses in the state, a source there told The Daily Beast. "The scale of the supplies ordered is massive," the source said. "The quantities of PPE items are in the tens of millions per item."The National Guard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.But the interventions came too late for some. One travel nurse told The Daily Beast that he and his wife chose to terminate their contracts when their hospital ordered them to repurpose single-use masks. The two moved home and have enough in savings to survive without income for a while, he said.Others weren't so lucky. His roommate, a 53-year-old nurse, could not afford to stop working at the hospital. "We all cried when we left," he said. "She's scared."The equipment shortages are also taking a toll on other, non-virus-related hospital procedures. The emergency physician in Tennessee said she recently treated a gunshot victim whose chest had to be cracked open in the ER. The disposable gowns usually used for such a procedure were nowhere to be found, she said—they had been locked up in a separate room, stockpiled with the other protective gear."There was blood everywhere," the doctor said. "I don't think anyone got exposed, but it could have been a lot worse than it was."The same doctor said she had recently tried to order her own protective gear, for fear that her hospital would run out. When she went to check out, she learned the items were back-ordered until mid-April. She recently checked Amazon to see if they had any in stock, she said, and saw the same mask she'd been eyeing for $25 was now selling for $70.Ordering protective gear is even more difficult for small, rural clinics. Dr. Surinder Sra, the owner of a freestanding clinic in Cherokee Village, AR—population 4,600—said he had tried to order masks, goggles, and hand sanitizer to prepare for an outbreak in his town. The supplier cancelled his order, he said, telling him he did not order from them regularly enough to be prioritized. Sra told The Daily Beast his clinic was still getting by on the supplies they saved from last year. "But if they're not going to send us the new ones," he said, "how am I going to continue to protect myself, my staff and my patients?" Chai said the situation is causing many providers to have these kinds of life-altering questions. His wife is also a provider, and he said they have started thinking about the best way to change out of their clothes when they get home, to prevent spreading the virus to their child."It's stuff you never wanted to have to think about," Chai said. "But as an emergency physician this is my job. This is what I signed up to do. We're not going to run away from this."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| First coronavirus cases confirmed in the Palestinian Gaza Strip Posted: 21 Mar 2020 05:09 PM PDT  The first two cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the densely-populated Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials said on Sunday. Two Palestinians who had traveled from Pakistan and entered Gaza through Egypt had tested positive for the virus late on Saturday and have been in quarantine in Rafah, a town near the Egyptian border, since their arrival on Thursday, the Gaza health ministry said. Schools, public markets and event halls have all been shut in Gaza over the past two weeks to minimize the risk of coronavirus transmission.
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| Senate adjourns before voting on coronavirus stimulus package Posted: 21 Mar 2020 01:36 AM PDT  The final legislation is expected to cost upwards of $1 trillion.
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| China, South Korea, Taiwan sending masks and medical staff to other countries in need Posted: 21 Mar 2020 03:33 AM PDT  The Chinese Red Cross shipped 30 tons of medical equipment along with nine Chinese medical staff to assist with preventing and controlling the virus.
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| How the Coronavirus Pandemic Could Come to Define the Millennial Generation Posted: 20 Mar 2020 09:29 AM PDT  As the scale and nature of the COVID-19 pandemic becomes clear, 30- and 40-somethings have urged their 60- and 70-something parents to take more serious precautions. Fifty-something parents are remarking to their 20-something children that this is the most significant disruption of day-to-day living to occur in their lifetimes, while offering the reassurance that the virus poses its least threat to the young. But is that true?While the Wuhan coronavirus is a greater existential threat to boomers than to Millennials, it isn't always true that that which does not kill us makes us stronger. As Karl Mannheim noted in his 1923 essay "The Problem of Generations," generations are not so much defined by biological categories as by world events. And this pandemic may come to define Millennials.Boomers are often accused of having had it easy. As children, their neighborhoods were safe; as adults, their houses were affordable. Sure, they had some struggles: keeping jobs, paying mortgages, staying married, supporting us and their elderly parents for longer than they'd anticipated. Some of their children, now well into adulthood, have enjoyed similarly decent lives, growing up in the Cold War, when neoliberalism was still trendy and men still asked women out face-to-face.But Millennials have had a different experience. The Berlin Wall came down before they knew what it was. They witnessed 9/11 and the Iraq War through innocent eyes. Then came the 2008 financial crash. Now they're the generation that doesn't own, but rents; holds down jobs, not careers; and pays offs student loans, not mortgages. They even appear to have lost some interest in sex and marriage. The idea that they will enjoy a greater quality of life than their parents is laughable, but most of them are not laughing; they're resentful. Intensifying their anger is a fear that previous generations have also managed to ruin the planet, saddling them with the supposedly catastrophic effects of climate change.This is why so many Millennials are drawn to the ideas of those such as the French economist Thomas Piketty, who rejects "propertarianism" and would "democratize" the economy by nationalizing key industries and banishing the market from many spheres where it currently holds sway. They like ideas such as universal basic income and a wealth tax of up to 90 percent. In Spain, they support Podemos; in Greece, Syriza; in Britain, Jeremy Corbyn; and in America, Bernie Sanders. In the 2016 primaries, more young people voted for Sanders than for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump combined. According to one poll, 51 percent of Americans aged 18–29 have a positive view of socialism.Politically, the result is an intergenerational gulf. In the 2016 Brexit referendum, 64 percent of Brits over the age of 65 voted Leave, compared with only 29 percent of those under the age of 25. The same disparity was seen in Conservative voters in the 2017 and 2019 general elections. This global pandemic may not kill as many millennials as it kills boomers. But there's a real possibility that it will destroy our already-diminished economic inheritance. And if that happens, another danger looms: Opportunistic socialists will have a chance to make their case to a resentful generation that has neither the personal memory nor the grasp of history necessary to resist their advances.
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| America's extreme neoliberal healthcare system is putting the country at risk Posted: 21 Mar 2020 03:32 AM PDT  Single-payer healthcare can't prevent a novel virus like Covid-19 but it could help us plan, coordinate and save lives * Coronavirus – latest updates * See all our coronavirus coverageAt the final debate of the Democratic presidential primary on Sunday, Senator Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden clashed on the coronavirus. Sanders contended the pandemic laid bare "the incredible weakness and dysfunctionality" of the US healthcare system, and called for single-payer reform. Biden countered that Italy's universal system had failed to protect the Mediterranean nation, and asserted that Covid-19 "has nothing to do with Bernie's Medicare for All". At first glance, the ex-vice-president seems right: of course single-payer can't close the door to a novel virus, any more than it can forestall a deadly earthquake or fend off a zombie apocalypse. Nonetheless, a national health program with unified financing and governance – basically the opposite of what we have in America today – is a powerful tool in a health crisis.The debate over Medicare for All in the age of Covid-19 is complicated by the fact that it is our public health agencies – and not the medical care system – that serve as our first line of defense against novel epidemics. In that regard, we've shot ourselves in the foot with a 12-gauge shotgun: year after year of underfunding of our federal, state and local public health agencies has left us ill-prepared for the Covid-19 challenge (as evidenced by the testing fiasco). How we finance medical care, however, is also critical. On the most basic level, containing the coronavirus will require those infected to seek medical care, so that they can be diagnosed and isolated. Fear of devastating ER or hospital bills, however, could keep some home – or at work. As a Taiwan government spokeswoman, lauding her country's single-payer system for its successful containment of Covid-19, told NBC News, "Taiwan's health insurance lets everyone not be afraid to go to the hospital. If you suspect you have coronavirus, you won't have to worry that you can't afford the hospital visit to get tested."On Wednesday, Trump signed into law a bill that would make Covid-19 testing – but not treatment – free. It's hence inadequate, given the predicted looming surge in hospitalizations from Covid-19 pneumonia. After all, 30 million Americans are uninsured – a number that will surely grow as the economy tanks and millions or tens of millions of Americans lose their jobs. Even more are underinsured, and for these individuals, co-pays and deductibles will only become more unaffordable as disposable income falls and savings dwindle. For both groups, medical bills for an intensive care unit (ICU) stay for Covid-19 could be devastating. People, of course, will also not stop having heart attacks, cancer or traffic accidents during this outbreak – on the contrary, medical needs are likely to rise in the face of a recession, as unemployment and misery takes its toll on the nation's health. Financial ruin from medical costs – whether it stems from Covid-19 pneumonia or the looming Covid-19 recession – is financial ruin all the same, and will compound the harm of the epidemic.But there's more to it than that. We need single-payer not only to protect us from healthcare costs, but to transform our healthcare infrastructure. In recent weeks, you may have heard that the US, despite our high healthcare spending, has fewer hospital beds per capita than many other wealthy nations. You may have also heard in recent years about an epidemic of hospital closures in poorly served rural areas, or the 2019 closure of a major academic safety-net hospital in Philadelphia. These hospitals closed not because they are unneeded, but because they are unprofitable. For the American hospital landscape is shaped by market forces, which largely determine where hospitals grow and where they wane.> Healthcare in America is uncoordinated – and ungovernedAt the same time, while our hospital bed supply is relatively low, our ICU bed supply per capita is among the highest in the world. Yet those beds aren't necessarily where they need to be: a 2010 study in the Journal of American Medical Association, for instance, found large regional disparities in the distribution of ICU beds; the researchers concluded that in the face of a major epidemic, some areas might have empty beds, while others would have too few. Again, this distribution, far too often, is driven by market logic – not health needs.Finally, healthcare in America is uncoordinated – and ungoverned. Since the epidemic's onset, hospital and city and state governments have waged "bidding wars" over crucial supplies and ventilators, the New York Times noted. It's every hospital for itself: some are resorting to pleas to the community for donations of masks; presumably, others are well-stocked – but who knows? "Respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment – try getting it yourselves," Trump suggested to state governors on Monday, quoted by the New York Times. This is not a healthcare system – it is atomized chaos. For again, in the American way of paying for healthcare, our hospitals (or increasingly, our multi-hospital systems) are silos, some rich and some poor, each fending for themselves, locked in market competition.This is neither necessary nor rational, leading both to excess and shortfalls, to generous overall health system funding yet care that remains unaffordable for many. A single-payer national health program would allow us to move past the market-driven status quo to remake this chaotic healthcare landscape of simultaneous healthcare plenty and poverty. It would, in short, allow us to begin to plan – not merely for this epidemic, but for the one that follows. * Adam Gaffney is an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School and a pulmonary and critical care doctor at the Cambridge Health Alliance. He is President of the advocacy organization Physicians for a National Health Program. He blogs at theprogressivephysician.org
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| President Trump's top scientist, once sidelined, now faces a coronavirus test Posted: 20 Mar 2020 10:54 AM PDT  As one of President Trump's top scientific advisers, Kelvin Droegemeier is a key figure in the fight to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
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| Coronavirus: FAA briefly suspends all flights bound for NYC, Philadelphia airports Posted: 21 Mar 2020 12:02 PM PDT  The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a "ground stop" for all flights to New York City airports including John F. Kennedy International Airport, Newark due to staffing issues related to Coronavirus.
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| Brazil's Sao Paulo to get two-week coronavirus shutdown, Bolsonaro blasts 'hysteria' Posted: 21 Mar 2020 11:23 AM PDT  RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil's largest state Sao Paulo will essentially shut down for two weeks to help fight the coronavirus, its governor said on Saturday, as President Jair Bolsonaro again claimed that "hysteria" over the outbreak could cause more harm than the virus itself. Sao Paulo state Governor Joao Doria said a statewide quarantine order would take effect on Tuesday and last through April 7. All but non-essential businesses and services, including bars and restaurants, will remain closed across the country's most populous state, which includes its financial hub, for the duration.
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| How do you do social distancing in a refugee camp? Posted: 20 Mar 2020 12:26 PM PDT |
| All flights bound for NYC-area and Philadelphia airports were briefly suspended after an air traffic controller tested positive for coronavirus Posted: 21 Mar 2020 12:03 PM PDT  Flights were briefly put on hold as federal officials worked to disinfect the air traffic control tower where an employee tested positive Saturday.
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| Thousands defy Iraq's coronavirus curfew to visit martyred imam's shrine Posted: 21 Mar 2020 02:40 AM PDT  "We believe that the number of infected people will increase next week because of this visit," security source tells NBC News.
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| US airlines warn of 'draconian' steps if Congress fails to help Posted: 21 Mar 2020 02:14 PM PDT  The chief executives of the largest US airline companies asked Congress Saturday for urgent help avoiding widespread layoffs among the industry's 750,000 employees. "Unless worker payroll protection grants are passed immediately, many of us will be forced to take draconian measures such as furloughs," the CEOs said in a letter to leaders of both houses of Congress distributed by the Airlines for America trade group. Airlines for America represents American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines as well as shippers FedEx and UPS.
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| Why is the coronavirus so much more deadly for men than for women? Posted: 21 Mar 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Italy announced that coronavirus deaths of men outnumbered those of women by a factor of 2 to 1. That mirrors the experience of China. What gives?
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| Coronavirus bungling by White House is now 'too late to be fixed,' Obama's Ebola czar says Posted: 20 Mar 2020 06:52 AM PDT  Ron Klain, who was the Obama administration's Ebola response coordinator, said he expects that the shortage of tests in the United States will be one of the most enduring legacies of the crisis.
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| Coronavirus: Elon Musk 'child immunity' tweet will stay online Posted: 20 Mar 2020 09:07 AM PDT  The entrepreneur falsely claimed that children were "essentially immune" to the virus.
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| Taiwan reports 18 new coronavirus cases, all imported Posted: 20 Mar 2020 11:58 PM PDT  Taiwan reported 18 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, all imported from people coming from countries including the United States, Britain, South Africa and Indonesia or those having contact with them, bring the total number of infected to 153. While Taiwan's initial efforts to control the spread of the virus have won praise at home and abroad, it is now facing an upsurge in cases from people bringing the virus with them to the island, as are some other countries in Asia. Taiwan has reported two deaths, while 28 have been released from hospital.
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| Costa cruise resumes disembarking passengers in Italy; Ruby Princess guests to quarantine Posted: 21 Mar 2020 06:17 PM PDT  Costa Luminosa continued its disembarkation process in Savona, Italy Saturday. The ship was allowed to dock despite the country being under lockdown.
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| Trump on China: ‘I just wish they could have told us earlier’ Posted: 21 Mar 2020 01:05 PM PDT  President Trump on Saturday said he wished that China would have notified the United States sooner about the coronavirus and its impact.
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| Is spring break over? Local Florida officials close beaches after gov refuses to. Posted: 20 Mar 2020 04:19 AM PDT  At the height of the spring break rush, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday he would not order the beaches closed.
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| Gov. Andrew Cuomo: New York just boosted its total number of coronavirus tests by almost 50% in the past day. Here's how the state is doing compared to other countries. Posted: 20 Mar 2020 01:29 PM PDT  Cuomo said at a Friday press conference that New York was testing at a similar rate as South Korea or China. The state still has a long way to go.
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| Italy's virus toll tops 4,000 after new one-day record Posted: 20 Mar 2020 01:02 PM PDT  Italy reported a record 627 new coronavirus deaths Friday and saw its world-topping toll surpass 4,000, despite government efforts to stem the pandemic's spread. "There are so many people walking around who have the virus and who are at risk of infecting others," Bassetti told Italy's AGI news agency. "The 40,000 cases we are talking about (in Italy) could actually be 100 times higher."
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| Editorial: Don't be fooled. The coronavirus pandemic is deadly serious, and it's everyone's problem Posted: 20 Mar 2020 11:18 AM PDT  California's order might seem like a big deal. But what we don't know about this virus, which is a lot, means the risk of inaction is too high.
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| Senate working overtime to put together stimulus package, but negotiations reportedly see 'tremendous' progress Posted: 21 Mar 2020 07:42 AM PDT  There's no rest for the Senate this weekend, as lawmakers are set to dig in for a weekend session beginning at noon Saturday so the chamber can expedite an agreement on a stimulus package to provide relief from the coronavirus pandemic. The final bill could reportedly cost at least $1 trillion.Negotiators said they're getting closer to an agreement, but they missed the original Friday night deadline set by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) after haggling for about 12 hours over issues like increased unemployment insurance payments, financial assistance for hospitals and health-care providers, and funds to cover for state governments' revenue shortfalls, Politico reports. But Congress remains under pressure to get something done quickly, and Republicans — who hold the majority — reportedly believe Democrats won't block any rescue bill with time running short.Eric Ueland, the White House director of legislative affairs, is optimistic consensus is right around the corner. He singled out the debate over unemployment as an area where "tremendous" progress has been made thanks to bipartisan support for rebate checks. Read more at The Hill and Politico.More stories from theweek.com The small-government case for giving everyone a big check Government officials reportedly 'just couldn't get' Trump to do anything about coronavirus early on The FDA expedited the approval of a rapid coronavirus test
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| Rep. Hakeem Jeffries: Trump is not committed to criminal justice Posted: 20 Mar 2020 06:57 AM PDT  The Brooklyn Democrat Hakeem Jeffries does not believe that President Trump is fully committed to criminal justice. "It's clear to me that President Trump is authentically committed to President Trump, and beyond that it's hard to tell," Jeffries, D-N.Y., told Yahoo News in a sit-down interview. Jeffries was one of the seven impeachment managers leading the impeachment trial against the president and questions how committed the White House is to reform.
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| ‘There is hope’: 90-year-old grandmother is recovering from COVID-19 Posted: 20 Mar 2020 01:48 PM PDT  The family all said their goodbyes to Geneva Wood in what seemed like her last days. But the 90-year-old kept fighting.
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| California tests out strict limits on daily life previously unimaginable Posted: 20 Mar 2020 07:21 PM PDT  Residents prepared for a month-long stay-at-home order once thought unimaginable.
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| Peloton is temporarily halting sales and deliveries of its $4,295 treadmill because of the coronavirus, just as people are looking for new ways to work out at home Posted: 20 Mar 2020 09:58 AM PDT  Peloton is suspending delivery and sales of its treadmill, but it's still selling its bike and offering a free 90-day trial of its workout app.
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| Italy sees biggest day-to-day rise in coronavirus deaths Posted: 20 Mar 2020 10:55 AM PDT  Italy has recorded its highest day-to-day-rise in the number of deaths of people infected with the new coronavirus. Civil Protection Chief Angelo Borrelli said Friday the country recorded 627 more deaths in the 24 hours since Italy surpassed China on Thursday as the nation with the most COVID-19-related deaths. Borrelli says Italy also saw a staggering increase of 5,986 cases from a day earlier, bringing the official total in Italy to 47,021.
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| Sick parents with 102° fevers denied coronavirus test, as son begins vaccine trial Posted: 21 Mar 2020 05:12 PM PDT  As Pennsylvania parents stayed home with Coronavirus symptoms, their son participated in a test that could change the course of a global pandemic.
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| President Trump Says Has Not Compelled Companies to Make Coronavirus Gear Despite Nationwide Shortages Posted: 21 Mar 2020 11:42 AM PDT  President Trump has not yet forced any companies to produce equipment to fight the novel coronavirus despite healthcare workers reporting nationwide shortages, he said at a Saturday briefing by the administration's coronavirus task force.The president invoked the Defense Production Act on Thursday, a law that gives the government authority in emergencies to harness industrial production to help in a time of need.However, Trump said there had been no need to force companies to produce equipment yet because "we have so many companies making so many products" voluntarily. He said on Saturday that Hanes had retrofitted factories to make N95 masks and Pernod Ricard, an alcohol manufacturer, had switched facilities in three states into factories making hand sanitizer that will be distributed to New York and other states.Many of these products will be sold on the open market but the federal government will not bid against states, Trump said."We have the Act to use in case we need it. But we have so many things being made… They've just stepped up... We have never never seen anything like that," he said. "They are volunteering."The picture has been much different on the frontline. Healthcare workers have told The Daily Beast that they are reusing single-use gear and fashioning new equipment out of protective material because of extreme shortages in personal protective equipment (PPE) in hospitals. Some hospitals are rationing gear at levels they have never seen. There have been 22,177 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S. and 278 deaths, according to the latest figures from John Hopkins University.The Department of Health & Human Services had just placed an order for "hundreds of millions" of N95 masks to be made available to healthcare providers across the country in the coming days, United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir said. More gear was being deployed through the Strategic National Stockpile—a repository of pharmaceuticals and medical products for use in a public health emergency. One Mask Only: Coronavirus Docs and Nurses Forced to Make Terrifying CompromisesFederal stockpiles of personal protective equipment, masks, ventilators and other equipment was being distributed to states who had requested them through FEMA, the task force said. However, officials struggled to say on Saturday how many masks there were, and how and when they would be made available.Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said reporters were not "making things up" when they reported on hospital shortages."I get the calls every night the way you get emails. It's a serious issue," he said. "We don't want that to happen. But it is happening." He reiterated the need for states to apply for equipment through FEMA and said large amounts of additional PPE were coming into the system "very soon." "Sooner than weeks. It's going to be days, I would hope," he added. "We're going to try to make it days the best possible way we can."Trump's comments came as Vice President Mike Pence appealed again on Saturday for Americans to postpone non-critical healthcare producers so equipment can instead be diverted to the coronavirus crisis. He also reiterated previous pleas for non-essential healthcare workers, like dentists, to donate their supplies.Trump acknowledged that the administration was trying to get equipment to states faster. "The people working on this are incredible. But there are tremendous amounts of not only masks, but ventilators, and respirators... It's all being manufactured right now," he said.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Former White House economic adviser returns as economy tanks Posted: 20 Mar 2020 03:25 AM PDT  Former White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett has offered some bleak economic pictures in the days ahead if businesses remain closed.
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| Democrats sound the alarm on Joe Biden's young voter problem Posted: 21 Mar 2020 01:15 PM PDT  The party's presidential front-runner is taking the vulnerability seriously. Some say it reminds them of Clinton in 2016, and won't be easy to overcome.
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| Amsterdam-Delhi flight turned back amid corona confusion Posted: 21 Mar 2020 02:57 AM PDT  A KLM flight from Amsterdam to New Delhi was turned around midair, an official and a passenger told AFP on Saturday, after apparent confusion about India's coronavirus regulations. Because of the pandemic, India has imposed a bar on flights from Europe and from Sunday a one-week complete ban on all incoming international commercial flights comes into force. Passengers on the KLM flight, which had been due to arrive in the Indian capital early Saturday, included a pregnant woman who needed medical treatment on returning to Amsterdam.
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