A Timeline of Trump’s COVID-19 Response: Part 1

A timeline of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and how Trump completely botched the response.

So here is a timeline of what’s happened to us, starting in 2013 and on to the end of March of 2020. April of 2020 continues in Part 2. All the links to the stories are underlined and will be updated frequently.

All times are Pacific since that’s where I am.

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to DM or tweet at me at @admiralmpj.

2013:

2014: Trump comments on twitter about Obama’s handling of the Ebola “crisis” (which resulted in 2 deaths):

2016:

You were warned.

2017: The Trump Administration is briefed on Pandemic Preparedness:

Trump administration officials are briefed on an intelligence document titled “Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents.” That’s right. The administration literally had an actual playbook for what to do in the early stages of a pandemic. Among the playbook’s protocols:

• Begin early procurement of PPE materials for healthcare workers as soon as the threat is identified.
• Concentrate on “early diagnostic capacity” — which is government-speak for Have a mountain of tests on-hand so that you can monitor the spread of the disease.

1 Feb 2018 (10:53 am): CDC to cut by 80 percent efforts to prevent global disease outbreak:

Four years after the United States pledged to help the world fight infectious-disease epidemics such as Ebola, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is dramatically downsizing its epidemic prevention activities in 39 out of 49 countries because money is running out, U.S. government officials said.

The CDC programs, part of a global health security initiative, train front-line workers in outbreak detection and work to strengthen laboratory and emergency response systems in countries where disease risks are greatest. The goal is to stop future outbreaks at their source.

Most of the funding comes from a one-time, five-year emergency package that Congress approved to respond to the 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa. About $600 million was awarded to the CDC to help countries prevent infectious-disease threats from becoming epidemics. That money is slated to run out by September 2019. Despite statements from President Trump and senior administration officials affirming the importance of controlling outbreaks, officials and global infectious-disease experts are not anticipating that the administration will budget additional resources.

Two weeks ago, the CDC began notifying staffers and officials abroad about its plan to downsize these activities, because officials assume there will be “no new resources,” said a senior government official speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss budget matters. Notice is being given now to CDC country directors “as the very first phase of a transition,” the official said. There is a need for “forward planning,” the official said, to accommodate longer advance notice for staffers and for leases and property agreements. The downsizing decision was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

May 2018: Trump receives ominous warnings on the horizon:

• At an event marking the 100 year anniversary of the 1918 pandemic, Borio says “pandemic flu” is the “number 1 health security issue” and that the U.S. is not ready to respond.
• One day later her boss, Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer is pushed out of the administration and the global health security team is disbanded.
• Rep. Ami Bera warns that “Admiral Ziemer’s departure is deeply alarming, especially when the administration is actively working to cut funds that addressed past pandemics like Ebola.”
• Beth Cameron, former senior director for global health security on the National Security Council adds: “It is unclear in his absence who at the White House would be in charge of a pandemic,” Cameron said, calling it “a situation that should be immediately rectified.”
• Note: It was not.

September 2018: The Trump Administration looks at and rejects a machine that will turn out millions of N95 masks at high speed:

The Trump administration receives detailed plans for a new machine designed to churn out millions of protective respirator masks at high speed during a pandemic.

The plans, submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) by medical manufacturer O&M Halyard, were the culmination of a venture unveiled almost three years earlier by the Obama administration.

But HHS did not proceed with making the machine.

January 2019: The U.S. Intelligence Community warns about Pandemics:

The director of National Intelligence issues the U.S. Intelligence Community’s assessment of threats to national security. Among its findings:

• Page 17: “The increase in frequency and diversity of reported disease outbreaks — such as dengue and Zika — probably will continue through 2018, including the potential for a severe global health emergency that could lead to major economic and societal disruptions, strain governmental and international resources and increase calls on the United States for support. A novel strain of a virulent microbe that is easily transmissible between humans continues to be a major threat, with pathogens such as H5N1 and H7N9 influenza and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus having pandemic potential if they were to acquire efficient human-to-human transmissibility.”
• Page 21: “We assess that the United States and the world will remain vulnerable to the next flu pandemic or large scale outbreak of a contagious disease that could lead to massive rates of death and disability, severely affect the world economy, strain international resources, and increase calls on the United States for support.”

31 December 2019: Chinese authorities treat dozens of cases of pneumonia of unknown cause:

The government in Wuhan, China, confirmed that health authorities were treating dozens of cases.

Days later, researchers in China identified a new virus that has infected dozens of people in Asia. At the time, there was no evidence that the virus was readily spread by humans. Health officials in China said they were monitoring it to prevent the outbreak from developing into something more severe.

3 January 2020: The CDC learns about the virus in China:⁠

The CDC is first alerted to a public health event in Wuhan, China (This fact was revealed publicly later by HHS Secretary Alex Azar.)

6 January 2020: The CDC issues a travel notice for Wuhan due to the spreading coronavirus:

• Note: The Trump campaign claims that this marks the beginning of the federal government disease control experts becoming aware of the virus. It was 10 weeks from this point until the week of March 16 when Trump began to change his tone on the threat.

8 January 2020: The CDC issues an official health advisory about the virus outbreak in Wuhan:

From the CDC:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is closely monitoring a reported cluster of pneumonia of unknown etiology (PUE) with possible epidemiologic links to a large wholesale fish and live animal market in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. An outbreak investigation by local officials is ongoing in China; the World Health Organization (WHO) is the lead international public health agency. Currently, there are no known U.S. cases nor have cases been reported in countries other than China. CDC has established an Incident Management Structure to optimize domestic and international coordination if additional public health actions are required.

This HAN Advisory informs state and local health departments and health care providers about this outbreak and requests that health care providers ask patients with severe respiratory disease about travel history to Wuhan City. Wuhan City is a major transportation hub about 700 miles south of Beijing with a population of more than 11 million people.⁠

10 January 2020: Tom Bossert slams his former Boss about the pandemic:⁠

Former Trump Homeland Security Advisor Tom Bossert warns that we shouldn’t “jerk around with ego politics” because “we face a global health threat…Coordinate!”

11 January 2020: China reports its first death:⁠

Chinese state media reports the first known death from an illness caused by the virus, which had infected dozens of people. The 61-year-old man who died was a regular customer at the market in Wuhan, and he had previously been found to have abdominal tumors and chronic liver disease. The report of his death came just before one of China’s biggest holidays, when hundreds of millions of people travel across the country.

18 January 2020: Alex Azar finally talks to Trump about the Pandemic:⁠

After two weeks of attempts, HHS Secretary Alex Azar finally gets the chance to speak to Trump about the virus. The president redirects the conversation to vaping, according to the Washington Post.

20 January 2020 Other countries, including the United States, confirmed cases:⁠

The first confirmed cases outside mainland China occurred in Japan, South Korea and Thailand, according to the World Health Organization’s first situation report. The first confirmed case in the United States came the next day in Washington State, where a man in his 30s developed symptoms after returning from a trip to Wuhan.

21 January 2020: First U.S. Case announced:⁠

The first U.S. case is announced in Washington state (as well as Vietnam and Singapore). WHO says the virus risk globally is high.

21 January 2020: CDC warns to expect additional cases in the U.S.:⁠

Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease at the CDC tells reporters, “We do expect additional cases in the United States.”

22 January 2020: Trump says “we have Coronavirus totally under control”:⁠

Trump is asked about the coronavirus at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland⁠. Days earlier the first case of the coronavirus was detected in the U.S., in a man who had returned to Seattle from a trip to China earlier in January.

“No. Not at all. And we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s — going to be just fine.”⁠

23 January 2020: Wuhan is cut off by Chinese authorities:⁠

The Chinese authorities close off Wuhan by canceling planes and trains leaving the city, and suspending buses, subways and ferries within it. At this point, at least 17 people are dead and more than 570 others are infected, including in Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, South Korea and the United States.

24 January 2020: Trump: “It will all work out well”:⁠

Trump tweets, “It will all work out well.”

27 January 2020: Aides beg Mick Mulvaney to focus on the Virus:⁠

Top White House aides meet with Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to encourage greater focus on the threat from the virus. Joe Grogan, head of the White House Domestic Policy Council warns that “dealing with the virus was likely to dominate life in the United States for many months.”

28 January 2020: The Wall Street Journal publishes “Act Now to Prevent an American Epidemic”:

Two former Trump administration officials — Gottlieb and Borio — publish an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal imploring the president to “Act Now to Prevent an American Epidemic.” They advocate a 4-point plan to address the coming crisis:

• (1) Expand testing to identify and isolate cases.

Note: This did not happen for many weeks. The first time more than 2,000 tests were deployed in a single day was not until almost six weeks later, on March 11.

• (2) Boost flu vaccination efforts to reduce the load on hospitals.
• (3) Prepare hospital units for isolation with more gowns and masks.

Note: There was no dramatic ramp-up in the production of critical supplies undertaken. As a result, many hospitals quickly experienced shortages of critical PPE materials.

• (4) Vaccine development.

29 January 2020: Trump forms Coronavirus Response Task Force:⁠

The White House forms a coronavirus response task force, initially led by Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.

“We have the best experts anywhere in the world, and they are on top of it 24/7!”

29 January 2020: The New York Times warns of hoarding:⁠

The New York Times reports that “mask hoarders” may cause further shortages when the outbreak reaches America.

29 January 2020: Tom Cotton begs Trump to take the Virus seriously:⁠

Republican Senator Tom Cotton reaches out to President Trump in private to encourage him to take the virus seriously.

30 January 2020: The W.H.O. declares a global health emergency:⁠

Amid thousands of new cases in China, a “public health emergency of international concern” is officially declared by the W.H.O.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said that it would continue to work with the W.H.O. and other countries to protect public health.

The U.S. State Department warns travelers to avoid China.

30 January 2020: Trump again says they have Coronvirus under control:⁠

Trump addresses the coronavirus during a speech on trade in Michigan. The same day, the World Health Organization classified COVID-19 as an international health emergency.

“We think we have it very well under control,” Trump said. “We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five — and those people are all recuperating successfully. But we’re working very closely with China and other countries, and we think it’s going to have a very good ending for us.”

“Hopefully it won’t be as bad as some people think it could be,” he added.

That same night he also holds a campaign rally in Iowa.

30 January 2020: PPE Shortages are predicted:⁠

Dr. James Hamblin publishes another warning about critical PPE materials in the Atlantic, titled “We Don’t Have Enough Masks.” At the time, it was clear that mask shortages would be a serious problem. Other countries coping with COVID-19 were already running short on masks and ordering them from America and, in addition, almost the entire CDC stockpile had been consumed during the 2009 flu season.

31 January 2020: The Trump administration restricts travel from China:⁠

The Trump administration suspended entry into the United States by any foreign nationals who had traveled to China in the past 14 days, excluding the immediate family members of American citizens or permanent residents.

By this date, 213 people had died and nearly 9,800 had been infected worldwide.

• Trump’s Chinese travel ban only banned “foreign nationals who had been in China in the last 14 days.” This wording did not — at all — stop people from arriving in America from China. In fact, for much of the crisis, flights from China landed in America almost daily filled with people who had been in China but did not fit the category as Trump’s “travel ban” defined it.⁠

31 January 2020: Face Masks and Latex Gloves sell out on Amazon:⁠

On the same day Trump was enacting his fake travel ban, Foreign Policy reports that face masks and latex gloves are sold out on Amazon and at leading stores in New York City and suggests the surge in masks being sold to other countries needs “refereeing” in the face of the coming crisis.

2 February 2020: The first coronavirus death was reported outside China:⁠

A 44-year-old man in the Philippines dies after being infected, officials said, the first death reported outside China. By this point, more than 360 people had died

2 February 2020: Trump: We’ve stopped it coming from China:⁠

Trump tells Fox News host Sean Hannity, “We pretty much shut it down coming in from China.”

“We can’t have thousands of people coming in who may have this problem, the coronavirus. So we’re gonna see what happens, but we did shut it down, yes.”

4 February 2020: WSJ Editorial warns that a pandemic seems inevitable:⁠

Gottlieb and Borio take to the WSJ again, this time to warn the president that “a pandemic seems inevitable” and call on the administration to dramatically expand testing, expand the number of labs for reviewing tests, and change the rules to allow for tests of people even if they don’t have a clear known risk factor.

Note: Some of these recommendations were eventually implemented — 25 days later.

4–5 February 2020: The Senate Intel Committee is briefed on the Virus:⁠

Robert Kadlec, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response, and other intelligence officials brief the Senate Intelligence Committee that the virus poses a “serious” threat and that “Americans would need to take actions that could disrupt their daily lives.”

4⁠–5 February 2020: A cruise ship in Japan quarantined thousands:⁠

After a two-week trip to Southeast Asia, more than 3,600 passengers began a quarantine aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama, Japan. Officials started screening passengers, and the number of people who tested positive became the largest number of coronavirus cases outside China. By Feb. 13, the number stood at 218.

Within two days, over 40 people test positive for COVID-19, including eight Americans.⁠

5 February 2020: Alex Azar requests funds to resupply Federal stockpile of Medical Equipment:⁠

HHS Secretary Alex Azar requests $2 billion to “buy respirator masks and other supplies for a depleted federal stockpile of emergency medical equipment.” He is rebuffed by Trump and the White House OMB who eventually send Congress a $500 million request weeks later.

5 February 2020: Chris Murphy’s ominous tweet warning the nation:⁠

Senator Chris Murphy tweets:

7 February 2020: A Chinese doctor who tried to raise the alarm dies:⁠

When Dr. Li Wenliang, a Chinese doctor, died on Feb. 7 after contracting the coronavirus, he was hailed as a hero by many for trying to ring early alarms that a cluster of infections could spin out of control.

7 February 2020: Trump praises Xi Jinping (before he calls it the Chinese Virus in a few days):

“Nothing is easy, but [Chinese President Xi Jinping] … will be successful, especially as the weather starts to warm & the virus hopefully becomes weaker, and then gone.”

10 February 2020: Trump says the virus will be gone by the end of the spring:⁠

Trump says the virus will be gone by the end of the spring while speaking with reporters in the White House.

“Now, the virus that we’re talking about having to do — you know, a lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat, as the heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April. We’re in great shape, though. We have 12 cases, 11 cases, and many of them are in good shape now.”

Days later, Centers for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield estimates the “virus is probably with us beyond this season and beyond this year.”

10 February 2020 (4:41 PM): Trump Seeks to Halve U.S. Funding for World Health Organization as Coronavirus Rages:⁠

The Trump administration is eyeing steep cuts to global health funds in its 2021 budget proposal, slashing more than $3 billion in overall programs, including half of its annual funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), which is leading the fight against the deadly coronavirus outbreak.

Lawmakers from the House and Senate appropriations committees pressed officials from the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) at a briefing on Feb. 7 previewing the budget to explain why it made sense to scale back spending at a time when the world is facing the threat of a deadly virus in China that has spread in limited numbers to other countries around the world, according to congressional aides familiar with the matter.

The cuts are part of a broader proposal by the Trump administration to cut more than 21 percent from the federal budget for foreign aid, proposing $44 billion for 2021 from the $55 billion Congress enacted in 2020.

Top lawmakers quickly slapped down the budget proposal, indicating Congress could reject the Trump administration’s proposed cuts to foreign aid and the State Department as it has in years past on a bipartisan basis. “Like the President’s previous budgets, this year’s request is a waste of the paper it’s printed on,” Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement. “Proposing such reckless cuts to our critical foreign policy tools isn’t a serious proposal.”

Senior administration officials said they were allocating new resources, including an additional $15 million for the USAID Global Health Security Program, to fight the coronavirus, as government officials worked around the clock to evacuate American citizens from the region of China hit by the deadly outbreak. The budget proposal also includes a request for $25 million for a so-called Emergency Reserve Fund which, according to a State Department spokesperson, “can be quickly deployed to respond to pandemic outbreaks.”

“The budget protects against infectious disease threats at home and abroad, by bolstering country capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to outbreaks and to prevent epidemics from reaching our borders,” Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun told reporters at a briefing on Monday. “It also allows us to provide the necessary flexibility to respond to emerging global health threats, such as the novel coronavirus and Ebola.”

“Our ability to successfully evacuate Americans was due to the incredible men and women of the State Department and the resources provided by this budget,” he said.

But experts and some on Capitol Hill say a small increase in funds doesn’t outweigh the steep proposed cuts to global health programs overall.

“I’m pleased that the budget request has a small boost to USAID’s global health security account — but adding $15 million more to this account, while cutting more than $3 billion in overall global health programs, is not the answer for pandemic preparedness,” Liz Schrayer, the president and CEO of the nonprofit organization U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, told Foreign Policy in an email. “If there is anything the coronavirus reminds us, it’s that a global threat anywhere is a global threat everywhere.”

“We’ve been down this road before,” said one Senate aide, noting that the White House has been trying unsuccessfully for three years to impose steep cuts in global health programs that Congress supports. “They don’t seem to learn anything.”

The aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said officials from the State Department and USAID were asked at the briefing to explain how they could, on the one hand, say their budget “asserts moral leadership through global health and humanitarian assistance” when in reality it cuts funding for both. The response, the aide said, was “essentially silence. There was no substantive explanation, but everyone knows they are simply carrying out the orders of the White House.”

“We said, ‘Of all things to be doing in the midst of a global pandemic, you’re cutting funds for global health,’” the aide added. “Their response was: ‘We did what we could with the funds we were told we could spend.’”

The State Department spokesperson defended the administration’s response to global health, saying that State and USAID programs “are enhanced by other agencies’ pandemic preparedness and response-related efforts. Our programs build the capacity of countries to prevent, detect, and respond to emerging pandemic threats such as the coronavirus. ”

“The U.S. is a proud leader in global health assistance, but we do look to other donors to contribute more,” the spokesperson added. “The $290 million requested for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, advances these burden-sharing goals while continuing to advance U.S. leadership on a cost-effective, proven health intervention.”

11 February 2020: Coronavirus gets its designation: COVID-19:⁠

WHO names the new disease COVID-19.

12 February 2020: Former head of Trump’s FDA Warns of supply chain issues:⁠

Gottlieb (remember, he’s the former head of Trump’s FDA) testifies before Congress that actions must be taken to address medical supply chain issues and the possibility of shortages.

13 February 2020: 14,000 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Hubei Province:⁠

Officials added more than 14,840 new cases to the total number of infected in Hubei Province, and the ruling Communist Party ousted top officials there. The new cases set a daily record, coming after officials in Hubei seemed to be including infections that were diagnosed by using lung scans of symptomatic patients.

13 February 2020: Senator Richard Burr dumps up to $1.6 Million of Stock After Reassuring Public About Coronavirus Preparedness:⁠

Soon after he offered public assurances that the government was ready to battle the coronavirus, the powerful chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr, sold off a significant percentage of his stocks, unloading between $582,029 and $1.56 million of his holdings on February 13 in 29 separate transactions.

As the head of the intelligence committee, Burr, a North Carolina Republican, has access to the government’s most highly classified information about threats to America’s security. His committee was receiving daily coronavirus briefings around this time, according to a Reuters story.

A week after Burr’s sales, the stock market began a sharp decline and has lost about 30% since.

14 February 2020: Trump insists the virus will be gone in weeks, despite evidence:⁠

Despite Redfield saying the coronavirus will be in the U.S. beyond 2020, Trump continues to push the idea that it will be gone in a matter of weeks.

“There’s a theory that, in April, when it gets warm, historically, that has been able to kill the virus,” he said while speaking to the National Border Patrol Council. “So we don’t know yet. We’re not sure yet. But that’s around the corner.”

14 February 2020: France announces the first coronavirus death in Europe:⁠

An 80-year-old Chinese tourist died on Feb. 14 at a hospital in Paris, in what was the first coronavirus death outside Asia, the authorities said. It was the fourth death from the virus outside mainland China, where about 1,500 people had died, most of them in Hubei Province.

14 February 2020: Trump says “We’re in very good shape”:⁠

Trump discusses the “very small” number of U.S. coronavirus cases with Border Patrol Council members:

“We have a very small number of people in the country, right now, with it. It’s like around 12. Many of them are getting better. Some are fully recovered already. So we’re in very good shape.”

16 February 2020: Pastor says God will protect U.S. from Coronavirus because Trump Administration sided with ‘Life In The Womb’:⁠1

Conservative pastor Hank Kunneman recently claimed that God will save Americans from the new coronavirus because President Donald Trump’s administration has “aligned themselves” with the right side of life.

Speaking to the Lord of Hosts church during a service in Omaha, Nebraska last Sunday, Kunneman prophesied that citizens in the U.S. will not have to fear the coronavirus because God will “give mercy.”

“Listen to the words that I speak to you at this moment, says the living God. Why do you fear, United States? For I have spoken to you before and I will speak to you again, I have extended and opened a window of mercy to this nation at this time. Therefore, the virus that they speak of, the bright prognostication, the diagnosis, the fear, my mercy is the quarantine that shall be greater than what they have spoken to you, United States,” the pastor said, before crediting the Trump administration for God’s “mercy.”

“And because of the administration that stands in this land, who honor me, who honour the covenants of your forefathers and of the Constitution. And because they have aligned themselves with Israel and because they have sided on the right side of life — life in the womb, life given outside of the womb — there I give life to this nation and I give mercy,” Kunneman added. “Do not fear. This virus is the spirit of God.”

Newsweek reached out to Kunneman via phone for further comment, but was unable to speak to the pastor before publication.

17 February 2020: Senator Tom Cotton Repeats Fringe Theory of Coronavirus Origins:⁠

The rumor appeared shortly after the new coronavirus struck China and spread almost as quickly: that the outbreak now afflicting people around the world had been manufactured by the Chinese government.

The conspiracy theory lacks evidence and has been dismissed by scientists. But it has gained an audience with the help of well-connected critics of the Chinese government such as Stephen K. Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist. And on Sunday, it got its biggest public boost yet.

Speaking on Fox News, Senator Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, raised the possibility that the virus had originated in a high-security biochemical lab in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the center of the outbreak.

“We don’t have evidence that this disease originated there,” the senator said, “but because of China’s duplicity and dishonesty from the beginning, we need to at least ask the question to see what the evidence says, and China right now is not giving evidence on that question at all.”

Mr. Cotton later walked back the idea that the coronavirus was a Chinese bioweapon run amok. But it is the sort of tale that resonates with an expanding chorus of voices in Washington who see China as a growing Soviet-level threat to the United States, echoing the anti-Communist thinking of the Cold War era.

Right-wing media outlets fan the anger. Beijing, with its heavy-handed censorship and stranglehold on information, unwittingly gives the conspiracy theories a boost.

17 2020: Chinese officials draft legislation to curb the practice of eating wildlife:⁠

China said it was reviewing its trade and consumption of wildlife, which has been identified as a probable source of the outbreak. Officials drafted legislation that aims to end “the pernicious habit of eating wildlife,” a statement from the Standing Committee of the Congress said.

19 February 2020: Hundreds leave the quarantined cruise ship:⁠

After a two-week quarantine, 443 passengers began leaving the Diamond Princess cruise ship. It was the first day of a three-day operation to offload people who tested negative for the virus and did not have symptoms. Passengers who shared cabins with infected patients remained on the ship. A total of 621 people aboard the ship were infected.

19 February 2020: Trump repeats the April/Warm Weather lie:

“I think it’s going to work out fine. I think when we get into April, in the warmer weather, that has a very negative effect on that and that type of a virus. So let’s see what happens, but I think it’s going to work out fine.”

19–21 February 2020: The virus appears in Iran from an unknown source:⁠

On February 19, Iran announced two coronavirus cases in the country, then hours later said that both patients had died. Two days later, Iran announced two additional deaths. The source of the virus in Iran is unknown. By February 20, the number of global cases had risen to nearly 76,000, according to the W.H.O.

20 February 2020: The Virus continues to spread globally:⁠

WHO reports nearly 77,000 cases worldwide in 27 countries.

20 February 2020: Ukrainians hurl stones at evacuees from China:⁠

Ukraine’s effort to quarantine more than 70 people evacuated from China over the new virus outbreak plunged into chaos Thursday as local residents opposing the move hurled stones at the evacuees and engaged in violent clashes with police.

Officials deplored the violence and the country’s health minister pledged to share evacuees’ quarantine for two weeks in a bid to reassure protesters who fear they’ll be infected.

Buses carrying evacuees were finally able to reach the designated place of quarantine after hours of clashes. The masked evacuees, exhausted by the long journey, were peeking through bus windows as they drove slowly under a heavy police escort.

Stones shattered a window in one of the buses, but the evacuees appeared unhurt.

Since the early morning, several hundred residents of the village of Novi Sanzhary in Ukraine’s central Poltava region had cut the road to a sanitarium intended to host the evacuees, fearing they could become infected. Demonstrators, some of whom appeared drunk, put up road blocks, burned tires and clashed with riot police who moved to clear access. One protester tried to ram police lines with his car.

Nine police and one civilian were hospitalized, the regional police said in a statement.

More than 10 protesters were detained, and Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov personally visited the site of the protests to try to calm the crowd down.

Avakov urged the protesters “not to fall for provocations and be understanding of the necessity for these temporary measures.”

“The situation is rather heated,” Poltava regional police spokesman Yuri Sulayev said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy weighed in, saying the protests showed “not the best side of our character.” He tried to reassure people that the quarantined evacuees wouldn’t pose any danger to local residents.

In a statement published on his Facebook page, Zelenskiy said the people evacuated from China are healthy and will live in a closed medical center run by the National Guard in the village as a precaution.

“In the next two weeks it will probably be the most guarded facility in the country,” Zelenskiy said.

Ukraine’s Health Minister Zoryana Skaletska said she would join the evacuees in quarantine for two weeks to help assuage villagers’ concerns. She urged residents to show sympathy and support for the evacuees and emphasized that the quarantine facility is in full conformity with international standards.

“I was shocked by panic, rejection, negative feelings and aggression,” she said. “It was even a greater shock for the people who were evacuated from China.”

But municipal legislators in the village vowed to continue opposing the evacuation, saying that the sanitarium’s sewage system is linked to the one in the village and ends up in a nearby wastewater facility.

“We can’t allow putting the health and life of local residents at risk, and demand that top officials take urgent moves to prevent people from China from being put here,” they said in a statement.

20 February 2020: WSJ publishes another warning, this time about testing:⁠

Borio and Gottlieb write in the Wall Street Journal that tests must be ramped up immediately “while we can intervene to stop spread.”

• It’s important to understand that the Trump campaign brags about the fact that the administration lifted CDC restrictions on tests. This is a factually true statement.
• But it elides that fact that they did so on March 3 — two critical weeks after the third Borio/Gottlieb op-ed on the topic, during which time the window for intervention had shrunk to a pinhole

20 February 2020: Coronavirus-infected Americans flown home against CDC’s advice:⁠

In the wee hours of a rainy Monday, more than a dozen buses sat on the tarmac at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Inside, 328 weary Americans wearing surgical masks and gloves waited anxiously to fly home after weeks in quarantine aboard the Diamond Princess, the luxury liner where the novel coronavirus had ­exploded into a shipwide epidemic.

But as the buses idled, U.S. officials wrestled with troubling news. New test results showed that 14 passengers were infected with the virus. The U.S. State Department had promised that no one with the infection would be allowed to board the planes.

A decision had to be made. Let them all fly? Or leave them behind in Japanese hospitals?

In Washington, where it was still Sunday afternoon, a fierce debate broke out: The State Department and a top Trump administration health official wanted to forge ahead. The infected passengers had no symptoms and could be segregated on the plane in a plastic-lined enclosure. But officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention disagreed, contending they could still spread the virus. The CDC believed the 14 should not be flown back with uninfected passengers.

“It was like the worst nightmare,” said a senior U.S. official involved in the decision, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. “Quite frankly, the alternative could have been pulling grandma out in the pouring rain, and that would have been bad, too.”

The State Department won the argument. But unhappy CDC officials demanded to be left out of the news release that explained that infected people were being flown back to the United States — a move that would nearly double the number of known coronavirus cases in this country.

The tarmac decision was a pivotal moment for U.S. officials improvising their response to a crisis with few precedents and extraordinarily high stakes. Efforts to prevent the new pathogen from spreading have revealed the limits of the world’s readiness for an unprecedented public health emergency. In the worst-case scenario, COVID-19, a flulike respiratory infection, could become a full-blown global pandemic.

21 February 2020: A secretive church is linked to the outbreak in South Korea:⁠

Shincheonji Church of Jesus, a secretive church in South Korea was linked to a surge of infections in the country. The number of confirmed cases in the country rose above 200, and more than 400 other church members reported potential symptoms, health officials said.

As a result, the government shut down thousands of kindergartens, nursing homes and community centers, and put a stop to political rallies in the capital, Seoul.

23 February 2020: Italy sees major surge in coronavirus cases and officials lockdown towns:⁠

Europe faced its first major outbreak as the number of reported cases in Italy grew from fewer than five to more than 150. In the Lombardy region, officials locked down 10 towns after a cluster of cases suddenly emerged in Codogno, southeast of Milan. As a result, schools closed and sporting and cultural events were canceled.

23 February 2020: Trump: We have it every much under control in this country:⁠

Speaking to reporters on the White House lawn: “We have it very much under control in this country.”

23 February 2020: Harvard Health Professor warns about lack of test capability:⁠

Harvard School of Public Health professor issues warning on lack of test capability: “As of today, the US remains extremely limited in#COVID19 testing. Only 3 of ~100 public health labs have CDC test kits working and CDC is not sharing what went wrong with the kits. How to know if COVID19 is spreading here if we are not looking for it.

24 February 2020: Iran emerges as a second focus point of the virus:⁠

Iran said it had 61 coronavirus cases and 12 deaths, more than any other country but China, and public health experts warned that Iran was a cause for worry — its borders are crossed each year by millions of religious pilgrims, migrant workers, and others. Cases in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and one in Canada, have been traced back to Iran.

24 February 2020: The Economic shock starts to set in:⁠

The Stock Market plummets as Dow Jones Industrials falls more than 1,000 points.

The same day, Trump asks for $1.25 billion in emergency aid. It grows to $8.3 billion in Congress.

Trump reveals where the bulk of his concern lies: how the coronavirus could impact the stock market.⁠

24 February 2020 (10:10 PM): White House seeks $2.5B for coronavirus, but Pelosi says that’s not enough:⁠

The White House is asking Congress for $2.5 billion to respond to the coronavirus illness known as COVID-19 that has killed more than 2,600 people in mainland China, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the request inadequate.

The administration’s supplemental funding plan was designed “to accelerate vaccine development, support preparedness, and response activities and to procure much-needed equipment and supplies,” said Office of Management and Budget spokeswoman Rachel Semmel.

Pelosi, D-California, said in a statement that the administration’s request is “is long overdue and completely inadequate to the scale of this emergency.”

She also accused the Trump administration of leaving vacant critical positions at the National Security Council and Department of Homeland Security.

“And now, the president is compounding our vulnerabilities by seeking to ransack funds still needed to keep Ebola in check,” Pelosi said.

“The president should not be raiding money that Congress has appropriated for other life-or-death public health priorities,” she said, suggesting that the House would move forward with its own plan.

25 February 2020: CDC expects ‘community spread’ of coronavirus, as top official warns disruptions could be ‘severe’:⁠

Messonier says she expects “community spread” of the virus in the United States and that “disruption to everyday life might be severe.” Trump is reportedly furious and Messonier’s warnings are curtailed in the ensuing weeks.

25 February 2020: Trump continues to downplay the Pandemic:

“You may ask about the coronavirus, which is very well under control in our country. We have very few people with it, and the people that have it are … getting better. They’re all getting better. … As far as what we’re doing with the new virus, I think that we’re doing a great job.”

25 February 2020: Trump continues to pat himself on the back:

25 February 2020: Future White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany goes all in and drinks the Kool-Aid on Trish Regan’s now-canceled show:

26 February 2020: Latin America reports its first coronavirus case:⁠

Brazilian health officials said that a 61-year-old São Paulo man, who had returned recently from a business trip to Italy, tested positive for the coronavirus. It was the first known case in Latin America. Officials also began tracking down other passengers on the flight the man took to Brazil and others who had contact with him in recent days.

26 February 2020: Trump claims positive cases will soon begin to decrease:⁠

During a press briefing at the White House, Trump claims that positive cases will soon begin to decrease.

“We’re going to be pretty soon at only five people,” he said. “And we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time. So we’ve had very good luck.”

“I think every aspect of our society should be prepared,” he added later. “I don’t think it’s going to come to that, especially with the fact that we’re going down, not up. We’re going very substantially down, not up.”

26 February 2020: Congress gives the Administration more money than it asked for:⁠

Congress, recognizing the coming threat, offers to give the administration $6 billion more than Trump asked for in order to prepare for the virus.

• Trump mocks Congress in a White House briefing, saying “If Congress wants to give us the money so easy — it wasn’t very easy for the wall, but we got that one done. If they want to give us the money, we’ll take the money.”

Note: The wall did not get “done.” Trump never got sufficient funding for completion of his promised border wall and in any case, as of early February 2020, only 110 miles of new fencing had been constructed.

26 February 2020: White House struggles to contain public alarm over coronavirus:⁠

Top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told The Washington Post late Monday that investors should consider “buying these dips” in the stock market amid the coronavirus panic. The message was to take advantage of one-day slumps and “buy low.”

After all, the Dow Jones industrial average had just fallen 1,032 points. President Trump tweeted similar guidance thousands of miles away in India.

Less than 24 hours later, the Dow Jones industrial average would fall another 879 points, bringing Trump and Kudlow’s investment advice — at least in the short term — under greater scrutiny.

The rosy sheen that Trump, Kudlow and other White House officials have tried to express about the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak has now collided with reality: The coronavirus is spreading, quickly, to more countries. The death toll is rising, and the outbreak is wreaking havoc on global supply chains.

26 February 2020: Trump downplays risk, places Pence in charge of coronavirus outbreak response:⁠

President Trump announced Wednesday that Vice President Pence will lead the administration’s response to the deadly coronavirus in an attempt to reassure the public amid growing concerns of a global health crisis and criticism that the United States has been slow to respond to the fast-moving outbreak.

The move came as a person in Northern California tested positive Wednesday for the virus, the first case in the United States that has no known link to foreign travel or contact with someone known to be infected — a sign the virus may be spreading in at least one location. Officials have begun tracing the contacts of the resident to find out how that person may have been infected and who else might have been exposed.

Trump made no mention of the new case Wednesday as he struck an optimistic tone about the virus.

“We’ve had tremendous success, tremendous success beyond what many people would’ve thought,” the president said during a White House news conference that followed days of mixed messages, tumbling stocks and rising death tolls abroad driven by the coronavirus. “We’re very, very ready for this.”

The president declared that the risk to America was “very low” and predicted a swift end to the outbreak.

26 February 2020: Jeffrey Sprecher, husband of Republican U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia and NYSE boss sells his own stock ahead of coronavirus market meltdown:⁠

The CEO of the Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, sold millions of dollars worth of the parent company’s shares in late February just days before the first reported death from the novel coronavirus in the U.S. The transaction also came as financial markets were starting to tumble as the devastating economic impact of the outbreak was becoming clear.

Jeffrey Sprecher, who is the husband of Republican U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, on February 26 sold $3.5 million in shares of ICE, as the exchange is called, at an average price of $93.42 each, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Since then, ICE shares have plunged nearly 25% amid a broader downdraft in stocks.

26 February 2020 (4:31 PM): First U.S. coronavirus case of unknown origin confirmed in Northern California, CDC says:

Officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the nation’s first coronavirus case of unknown origin Wednesday in Northern California in the latest sign of the virus’s rapid spread.

“It is a confirmed case. There is one in Northern California,” CDC spokesman Scott Pauley told The Sacramento Bee just before 4 p.m. Wednesday.

In the Northern California case, “the individual is a resident of Solano County and is receiving medical care in Sacramento County. The individual had no known exposure to the virus through travel or close contact with a known infected individual,” California Department of Public Health officials said in a news release Wednesday evening. State public health officials in Sacramento, citing the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the case is the first person-to-person transmission of the COVID-19 virus.

26 February 2020 (9:28 PM): Coronavirus patient at UC Davis Medical Center since Feb. 19 wasn’t tested for days:

The Solano County resident who is the nation’s first confirmed case of coronavirus from “exposure in the community” has been under the care of UC Davis Medical Center for a week, according to an internal memo obtained Wednesday night by The Sacramento Bee.

Just before 10 p.m., the hospital published the memo that was sent to employees by UC Davis Health leaders earlier in the day and outlines the timeline of the patient’s admission and disclosed that several employees who were exposed to the patient self-isolate at home “out of abundance of caution.”

The patient, whom the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed has tested positive the COVID-19 strain, was moved to the Sacramento teaching hospital on Feb. 19, according to the memo sent to staffers by David Lubarsky, the head of the hospital and UC Davis Health’s vice chancellor of human health services, and Brad Simmons, the health system’s interim CEO.

“This is not the first COVID-19 patient we have treated, and because of the precautions we have had in place since this patient’s arrival, we believe there has been minimal potential for exposure here at UC Davis Medical Center,” the memo said.

The patient was transferred to the facility from another hospital, where a medical team had already put the patient on a ventilator.

“The individual is a resident of Solano County and is receiving medical care in Sacramento County. The individual had no known exposure to the virus through travel or close contact with a known infected individual,” California Department of Public Health officials said in a news release.

27 February 2020: Senator Richard Burr Raised Virus Alarms Weeks Ago…to his Donors Secret Recording Shows:

On that same day, Burr attended a luncheon held at a social club called the Capitol Hill Club. And he delivered a much more alarming message.

“There’s one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history,” he said, according to a secret recording of the remarks obtained by NPR. “It is probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic.”

The luncheon had been organized by the Tar Heel Circle, a nonpartisan group whose membership consists of businesses and organizations in North Carolina, the state Burr represents. Membership to join the Tar Heel Circle costs between $500 and $10,000 and promises that members “enjoy interaction with top leaders and staff from Congress, the administration, and the private sector,” according to the group’s website.

In attendance, according to a copy of the RSVP list obtained by NPR, were dozens of invited guests representing companies and organizations from North Carolina. And according to federal records, those companies or their political committees donated more than $100,000 to Burr’s election campaign in 2015 and 2016. (Burr announced previously he was not planning to run for reelection in 2022.)

27 February 2020: Trump says the Virus will disappear:⁠

“It’s going to disappear,” Trump said at the White House. “One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.”

27 February 2020: Trump pats himself on the back…again:

U.S….numbers…going down???

27 February 2020: U.S. workers without protective gear assisted coronavirus evacuees, HHS whistleblower says:⁠

Officials at the Department of Health and Human Services sent more than a dozen workers to receive the first Americans evacuated from Wuhan, China, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, without proper training for infection control or appropriate protective gear, according to a whistleblower complaint.

The workers did not show symptoms of infection and were not tested for the virus, according to lawyers for the whistleblower, a senior HHS official based in Washington who oversees workers at the Administration for Children and Families, a unit within HHS.

The whistleblower is seeking federal protection, alleging she was unfairly and improperly reassigned after raising concerns about the safety of these workers to HHS officials, including those within the office of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. She was told February 19 that if she does not accept the new position in 15 days, which is March 5, she would be terminated.

The whistleblower has decades of experience in the field, received two HHS department awards from Azar last year and has received the highest performance evaluations, her lawyers said.

The complaint was filed Wednesday with the Office of the Special Counsel, an independent federal watchdog agency. The whistleblower’s lawyers provided a copy of a redacted 24-page complaint to The Washington Post. A spokesman for the Office of the Special Counsel confirmed that it has received the complaint and assigned the case.

The complaint alleges HHS staffers were “improperly deployed” and were “not properly trained or equipped to operate in a public health emergency situation.” The complaint also alleges the workers were potentially exposed to coronavirus because appropriate steps were not taken to protect them and staffers were not trained in wearing personal protective equipment, even though they had face-to-face contact with returning passengers. The workers were in contact with passengers in an airplane hangar where evacuees were received and on two other occasions: when they helped distribute keys for room assignments and hand out colored ribbons for identification purposes.

In some instances, the teams were working alongside personnel from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in “full gown, gloves and hazmat attire,” the complaint said.

“We take all whistleblower complaints very seriously and are providing the complainant all appropriate protections under the Whistleblower Protection Act. We are evaluating the complaint and have nothing further to add at this time,” HHS spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley said.

The whistleblower, in her complaint, states that “appropriate steps were not taken to quarantine, monitor, or test [the workers] during their deployment and upon their return home.” The repatriated Americans were among those evacuated from Wuhan and quarantined on military bases in California and Texas because they were considered at high risk for contracting the flu-like illness.

About 14 personnel from the Administration for Children and Families, or ACF, were sent to March Air Force base in Riverside County, Calif., and another team of about 13 ACF personnel were sent to Travis Air Force in Solano County, Calif., according to the complaint and the whistleblower’s lawyer, Ari Wilkenfeld. In Solano County this week, the first U.S. patient was confirmed to be infected with coronavirus who did not travel to a region where it is spreading or have known contact with someone diagnosed with the disease.

Several people within HHS voiced objections to sending the ACF personnel to receive passengers, according to a person familiar with the conversations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

A second person familiar with the situation said the workers were not tested for coronavirus because none of them met the criteria, which was restricted at that time to people with symptoms and either a recent trip to China or close contact with a person confirmed to be infected with COVID-19. If the workers had exhibited symptoms, appropriate protocol would have been followed.

The deployments took place Jan. 28 to 31, around the time when the first planeload of evacuees arrived at March, and February 2 to February 7, during the time when additional flights were arriving at Travis. The planes each carried about 200 Americans who were repatriated from Wuhan.

After their deployments, the workers returned to their normal duties, some taking commercial airline flights to return to their offices around the country, the lawyers said.

“Our client was concerned that ACF staff — who were potentially exposed to the coronavirus — were allowed to leave quarantined areas and return to their communities, where they may have spread the coronavirus to others,” said Lauren Naylor, one of the whistleblower’s lawyers.

The whistleblower is also seeking assistance from the office of Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and vice-chair of the House Oversight Committee, according to a Gomez spokesman.

During a hearing Thursday, Gomez asked Azar whether any employees from ACF could have been sent to help with the repatriation of Americans from Wuhan without any training in emergency response. Azar replied that some ACF employees were involved.

Asked what sort of health and safety training the personnel received and whether any of them were exposed to high-risk evacuees from China, Azar said: “They never should have been without P.P.E,” referring to personal protective equipment.

Asked whether any protocols may have been broken, given the urgency on the ground, Azar replied urgency was never a reason for breaking safety protocols.

“I don’t believe that has taken place,” Azar said, adding that health and safety protocols “should always be followed.” He said he did not personally know the names of the team, but other department officials did. Pressed by Gomez what the department would do if untrained employees were exposed to the virus, Azar said: “I’d want to know the full facts, and we’d take appropriate remedial efforts.”

The whistleblower said she received an email Jan. 25 about a potential deployment within ACF to support repatriation of the evacuated Americans, according to her lawyer. She initially supported the efforts because they had the “appearance that this was within ACF’s scope,” Naylor said. But later, she discovered the teams were dispatched without her knowledge by other senior officials at HHS. It was part of the agency’s “all-hands-on-deck” mission, Naylor said, but it broke agency protocol about what kinds of employees should respond to health emergencies. The whistleblower said she later found out about the deployment when she heard directly from some employees and other senior officials at HHS

Some workers expressed concern about the lack of protective gear to the ACF team leader on the ground. That person joined ACF in September and had “no training or experience in any federal emergency management, public health emergency response, or safety or operational protocols to run the mission,” the complaint states.

ACF personnel typically deal with supporting people recovering from natural disasters, such as floods and fires, and helping victims apply for temporary assistance, all of which are under the category of human services, the whistleblower’s lawyers said. HHS officials broke established protocols for emergency support by sending ACF workers to a health emergency for which they have no training, Naylor said. ACF, which has about 1,300 employees, has been criticized in recent years because of its role in sheltering and taking custody of migrant children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and were separated from family members by the Department of Homeland Security.

The workers’ concerns about potential exposure to coronavirus were not addressed, the whistleblower’s lawyers said.

“She was involuntarily assigned to a position in a subject matter where she has no expertise,” Wilkenfeld, her lawyer, said in an interview Thursday. The agency said the reason for the reassignment was “necessary to meet the needs of the department,” according to a memo she received. “If I did not accept involuntary reassignment, I would be terminated from federal service through adverse personnel action,” according to her complaint.

27 February 2020: ‘Europe is nicer’: migrants head west after Turkey opens border:⁠

Hundreds of migrants in Turkey started arriving on the borders with Greece and Bulgaria on Friday after a senior Turkish official said Ankara would no longer abide by a 2016 EU deal and stop refugees from reaching Europe.

The migrants, some carrying small children and carrier bags, trekked along roads out of Istanbul and through fields, in scenes reminiscent of the 2015 refugee crisis, when more than a million people fleeing wars and poverty sought asylum in Europe.

Some wore face masks, in an apparent attempt to guard against the coronavirus outbreak now sweeping the world and adding to the concerns of hard-pressed European authorities.

Greece and Bulgaria, both European Union member states, vowed not to admit the migrants. Greek police used smoke grenades at one border crossing, while Bulgaria sent an extra 1,000 troops to its border with Turkey.

“There is no work (here in Turkey),” said Muhammed Abdullah, a 25-year-old Syrian queuing in Istanbul to board a bus bound for the Greek border.

“Turkey is not nice at all, Europe is nicer,” he said, adding that he wanted to go to Germany.

But at the Pazarkule border post with Greece, scores of migrants faced barbed wire fences and smoke grenades. Some stuck in the no-man’s land between the two countries tried to return to the Turkish side to escape the smoke, only to be turned back by the authorities there.

“There are many problems here (in Turkey). We want the Turkish and European governments to open this gate,” said Hamid Muhammed, who was holding a young girl at the Greek border.

Some young men, with nothing else to do, kicked a football around. Women in headscarves wept in desperation.

27 February 2020: Kim Jung Un warns of ‘serious consequences’ if the virus spreads to N Korea:⁠

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for stronger efforts to guard against coronavirus, saying there will be “serious consequences” if the outbreak spreads to the country.

North Korea has not reported a single case of COVID-19, which has killed more than 2,800 people and infected over 84,000 people in dozens of countries since it emerged in neighboring China.

During a meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, Kim called for the country’s anti-epidemic headquarters to strengthen screening and to seal off all “channels and space through which the infectious disease may find its way,” the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Saturday.

“In case the infectious disease spreading beyond control finds its way into our country, it will entail serious consequences,” KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

Pyongyang has been pushing a tough anti-virus campaign it has described as a matter of “national existence”.

The country has shut down nearly all cross-border traffic, banned tourists, intensified screening at entry points and mobilized tens of thousands of health workers to monitor residents and isolate those with symptoms. It has also placed hundreds of foreigners in quarantine to prevent an outbreak.

Experts say an epidemic in North Korea could be dire because of the country’s chronic lack of medical supplies and poor healthcare infrastructure.

28 February 2020: The number of infections in Europe spikes:⁠

Italy, where 800 people had been infected by February 28, remained an area of concern. Cases in 14 other countries, including Northern Ireland and Wales, could be traced back to Italy. Germany had nearly 60 cases by February 27, and France reported 57, more than triple the number from two days earlier. Both England and Switzerland reported additional cases, while Belarus, Estonia and Lithuania all reported their first infections.

28 February 2020: Sub-Saharan Africa records its first infection:⁠

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, confirmed its first case of coronavirus on February 28. The patient was an Italian citizen who had returned to Lagos from Milan.

28 February 2020: Trump continues to praise the job he did:

“I think it’s really going well. We did something very fortunate: we closed up to certain areas of the world very, very early — far earlier than we were supposed to. I took a lot of heat for doing it. It turned out to be the right move, and we only have 15 people and they are getting better, and hopefully, they’re all better. There’s one who is quite sick, but maybe he’s gonna be fine. … We’re prepared for the worst, but we think we’re going to be very fortunate.”

28 February 2020: Trump says coronavirus will ‘disappear’ eventually:

President Donald Trump expressed optimism Thursday that the novel coronavirus would eventually be contained and eliminated in the United States, even as he acknowledged it could get worse first.

“It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle, it will disappear,” Trump told attendees at an African American History Month reception in the White House Cabinet Room. The World Health Organization says the virus has “pandemic potential” and medical experts have warned it will spread in the US.

The President added that “from our shores, you know, it could get worse before it gets better. Could maybe go away. We’ll see what happens. Nobody really knows.”

28 February 2020: Trump rallies his base to treat coronavirus as a ‘hoax’:⁠

President Donald Trump on Friday night tried to cast the global outbreak of the coronavirus as a liberal conspiracy intended to undermine his first term, lumping it alongside impeachment and the Mueller investigation.

He blamed the press for acting hysterically about the virus, which has now spread to China, Japan, South Korea, Iran, Italy and the U.S, and he downplayed its dangers, saying against expert opinion it was on par with the flu.

“The Democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. They’re politicizing it,” he said. “They don’t have any clue. They can’t even count their votes in Iowa. No, they can’t. They can’t count their votes. One of my people came up to me and said, ‘Mr. President, they tried to beat you on Russia, Russia, Russia.’ That did not work out too well. They could not do it. They tried the impeachment hoax.”

Then Trump called the coronavirus “their new hoax.”

29 February 2020: Trump brags how much the Virus is under control at CPAC:⁠

While speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump again claims his administration has the coronavirus under control.

“I’ve gotten to know these professionals. They’re incredible,” Trump said. “And everything is under control. I mean, they’re very, very cool. They’ve done it, and they’ve done it well. Everything is really under control.”

It would be revealed later that a CPAC attendee tested positive for COVID-19, leading multiple Republican lawmakers who came into contact with him to self-quarantine.

29 February 2020: FDA eases guidelines to speed the broader use of testing.⁠

29 February 2020: Trump Unveils New Travel Restrictions After First Coronavirus Death in the U.S.:⁠

A patient infected with COVID-19 in Washington state has died, becoming the first person to die of the new virus in the United States. The King County patient is believed to have contracted the virus from “community spread” rather than travel, officials said.

The man who died was in his 50s and had underlying health conditions, according to health officials in Washington state. There was a bit of confusion on that end because President Donald Trump had said in a news briefing Saturday that the person was a “medically high-risk patient in her late 50s.” Trump characterized har as “a wonderful woman.” Earlier, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee had referred to the patient as male. “It is a sad day in our state as we learn that a Washingtonian has died from COVID-19. Our hearts go out to his family and friends,” Inslee said. “We will continue to work toward a day where no one dies from this virus.” Inslee declared a state of emergency Saturday and directed agencies to use “all resources necessary” to respond to the coronavirus outbreak.

Amid the increase in cases, the U.S. banned travel to Iran, extending the existing travel ban to any foreign nationals who had been in that country over the past 14 days. The State Department also increased travel warnings and is recommending Americans not travel to parts of Italy and South Korea. Vice President Mike Pence announced the new measures alongside Trump, who said his administration was considering additional travel restrictions, including possibly closing the U.S. border with Mexico. “We’re thinking about all borders,” Trump said.

Trump said there are 22 people in the United States infected by the new coronavirus, including at least four who don’t have any history of travel or known contacts with anyone who has traveled that would tie them to the virus. These four cases include a woman in Oregon, a high school student in Washington state, an older woman in Santa Clara County, California, and another woman in Solano County.

29 February 2020: Trump drags how the United States is the “Number One” travel destination:

“We’re the number one travel destination anywhere in the world, yet we have far fewer cases of the disease than even countries with much less travel or a much smaller population.”

1 March 2020: Coronavirus may have spread undetected for weeks in Washington state, which reported the first two deaths in the U.S.:⁠

The coronavirus has been circulating undetected and has possibly infected scores of people over the past six weeks in Washington state, according to a genetic analysis of virus samples that has sobering implications for the entire country amid heightening anxiety about the likely spread of the disease.

The researchers conducted genetic sequencing of two virus samples. One is from a patient who traveled from China to Snohomish County in mid-January and was the first person diagnosed with the disease in the United States. The other came from a recently diagnosed patient in the same county, a high school student with no travel-related or other known exposure to the coronavirus. The two samples look almost identical genetically, said Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle who announced the results of the research on Twitter late Saturday night.

“This strongly suggests that there has been cryptic transmission in Washington State for the past 6 weeks,” Bedford wrote. “I believe we’re facing an already substantial outbreak in Washington State that was not detected until now due to narrow case definition requiring direct travel to China.”

Officials in Seattle and King County on Sunday announced that four more people have tested positive for the coronavirus, including the second person in the state to die of the virus. That brings the outbreak in Washington state to 13 cases. Of the four new cases, the three surviving patients range in age from their 70s to 90s, have underlying health conditions and are in critical condition, health officials said. The first coronavirus death in the United States was announced Saturday.

Health officials in Washington state and across the nation said they expect that numbers will continue to rise in the wake of the decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last week to widen testing guidelines. Over the weekend, new cases were reported in Americans who had recently traveled to South Korea and Italy, including one person in Rhode Island, the state’s first case.

The health department in Santa Clara County, Calif., in the heart of Silicon Valley, announced three new coronavirus cases Sunday evening, bringing to seven the total number of cases there. The announcement gave few details about the cases. Late Sunday, the office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced two “presumptively positive” cases of the coronavirus, in Manatee and Hillsborough counties, and declared a public health emergency.

2 March 2020: Defense Secretary Warns Commanders Not to Surprise Trump on Coronavirus:⁠

Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper has urged American military commanders overseas not to make any decisions related to the coronavirus that might surprise the White House or run afoul of President Trump’s messaging on the growing health challenge, American officials said.

Mr. Esper’s directive, delivered last week during a video teleconference call with combatant commanders around the world, is the latest iteration of Mr. Trump’s efforts to manage public fears over the disease, even as it continues to spread around the world.

Mr. Esper told commanders deployed overseas that they should check in before making decisions related to protecting their troops.

In one exchange during last Wednesday’s video teleconference, Gen. Robert B. Abrams, the commander of American forces in South Korea, where more than 4,000 coronavirus cases have been detected, discussed his options to protect American military personnel against the virus, said one American official briefed on the call.

In response, Mr. Esper said he wanted advance notice before General Abrams or any other commander made decisions related to protecting their troops.

General Abrams said that while he would try to give Mr. Esper advance warning, he might have to make urgent health decisions before receiving final approval from Washington, the official said.

Aides to Mr. Esper declined to comment on the closed-door conversations with commanders. But one Defense Department official said Mr. Esper wanted to be sure that everyone within the government knows what military commanders are doing, and to assure that the government is communicating to the public with one voice on a rapidly developing situation.

During a news conference on Monday, Mr. Esper said decisions about troop safety in far-flung places would be put in the hands of the commanders.

Author’s Note: This might come up again in a couple of months.

2 March 2020: Coronavirus Florida: Mother and son at Sarasota Military Academy under quarantine:⁠

A mother and son from Sarasota Military Academy have been quarantined after coming into contact with a patient who tested positive for coronavirus at Doctors Hospital, the school reports.

The mother came into contact with the patient in her “professional roles,” according to a post on the Sarasota Military Academy’s official Facebook page. Coronavirus causes the disease COVID-19.

Col. Christina Bowman, executive director of schools at SMA, said the school has been following protocols related to flu season that included sanitizing classrooms, doorknobs, door handles and light fixtures routinely.

About 10 days ago — and again Monday — maintenance crews performed sanitation.

“I want our parents and employees to know we are safe,” Bowman said. “We’ve been proactive on sanitizing and teaching our students how to make sure they are washing their hands. We are working with the health department and making sure we are following their protocols. At this time, they are not recommending any exclusions. They are recommending we go about our business every day.”

The school is in constant contact with the cadet and his mother, who are not exhibiting any symptoms of coronavirus, Bowman said, noting that parents should keep students who have a fever or not feeling well home to avoid sharing any viruses.

On Friday, SMA senior cadets shook hands and posed for photos with Vice President Mike Pence, who was visiting Sarasota for a fundraiser at U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan’s house.

The Pentagon has been in touch with the school about the student.

3 March 2020: U.S. officials approve widespread coronavirus testing:⁠

The C.D.C. lifted all federal restrictions on testing for the coronavirus on March 3, according to Vice President Mike Pence. The news came after the C.D.C.’s first attempt to produce a diagnostic test kit fell flat. By this point, the coronavirus had infected more than 90,000 around the globe and killed about 3,000, according to the W.H.O.

3 March 2020: Pence says they’re looking at making more masks:⁠

Vice President Pence is asked about legislation encouraging companies to produce more masks. He says the Trump administration is “looking at it.”

Note: Recall that the concern about masks was raised publicly by high-profile former Trump appointees, on January 28.

3 March 2020: CDC blocked FDA official from premises:⁠

In a sign of growing tension among the Trump administration’s health agencies, officials are expressing frustration that a top scientist was initially rebuffed when attempting to visit the CDC in Atlanta last month to help coordinate the government’s stalled coronavirus testing, two individuals with knowledge of the episode told POLITICO.

Timothy Stenzel, who is the director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health, was made to wait overnight on the weekend of February 22 — as senior health department officials negotiated his access in a series of calls — before Centers for Disease Control granted him permission to be on campus. Stenzel’s visit had been expected, the individuals said.

The FDA had dispatched Stenzel to the CDC in an effort to expedite the development of lab tests for the novel coronavirus outbreak. Problems with the CDC-developed test delayed the Trump administration’s plan to expand screening for weeks, POLITICO first reported on February 20. A senior HHS official confirmed the episode.

A CDC spokesperson said that the delay was because of a scheduling misunderstanding.

“On Saturday, February 22, at about 7 p.m., an FDA employee arrived at CDC Roybal campus in Atlanta, a day before what CDC understood to be his scheduled arrival time. Due to CDC security requirements, he was not allowed on campus that night,” the spokesperson said. “On Sunday morning, February 23, as scheduled, CDC staff met the FDA employee and escorted him on campus, in full compliance with standard security processes required for all individuals whether they are federal employees or other visitors.”

Stenzel later found evidence of lab contamination, which he reported to HHS officials and may have contributed to the coronavirus lab-test delays and other problems.

The CDC had spent days reassuring HHS leaders that the lab tests were imminent, even as delays prevented their delivery. The delays prevented many Americans, who didn’t fit the CDC’s strict criteria, from being tested for coronavirus. CDC initially limited testing to people who had recently traveled to China or had close contact with a confirmed case and were also symptomatic.

Health officials have reported more than 100 cases of coronavirus across the United States, with increasing evidence that the virus has been spreading undetected for weeks.

3 March 2020: 8% of Iran’s parliament has the coronavirus, and it released 54,000 prisoners as the country descends into chaos:⁠

Iran is descending into chaos amid the coronavirus outbreak, with the government seemingly incapable of handling the scale of the crisis and going as far as to threaten the death penalty to those who hoard necessary materials or equipment.

At least 77 people have died in Iran from the virus so far, according to the official death toll, though the number could be much higher because of the government’s apparent efforts to hide the extent of the outbreak. Iran has over 2,300 confirmed cases.

A BBC News report, which cited hospital sources, on Friday said the death toll from coronavirus in Iran was actually 210.

As of Tuesday, 8% of Iran’s parliament has been infected, according to CNN, along with Iran’s deputy health minister and one of the country’s vice presidents. And a key adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mohammad Mirmohammadi, has died from it.

In total, at least 23 members of the 290-member Iranian parliament have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, CNN reported. The parliament has been suspended indefinitely, and lawmakers have been asked to stop meeting with the public.

3 March 2020 (2:35 PM): Federal Reserve Cuts Interest Rates by Half Percentage Point:⁠

The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark rate by a half percentage point on Tuesday morning, delivering a booster shot to stem potential economic disruptions from the spreading coronavirus epidemic.

Tuesday’s cut, which lowered the federal-funds rate to a range between 1% and 1.25%, is the first to occur in between a scheduled policy meeting since the 2008 financial crisis.

The Fed’s rate-setting committee approved the action unanimously on Tuesday morning after meeting by videoconference on Monday night. “The coronavirus poses evolving risks to economic activity.,” the central bank said in a statement. “The committee…will use its tools and act as appropriate to support the economy.”

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is set to hold a press conference at 11 a.m. ET.

4 March 2020: Trump says the WHO’s estimates are “false”:⁠

In an interview with Sean Hannity, Trump calls the WHO’s estimate of the global death rate “false,” describes the coronavirus as “very mild,” and suggests that those infected can get better by “sitting around” and “going to work.”

4 March 2020: Trump blames the Obama Administration:⁠

House passes $8.3 billion emergency bill, aimed mainly at the immediate health response to the virus.

In a Fox News interview, Trump deflects criticism to his response by saying the Obama administration (including the vice president, Joe Biden) “didn’t do anything about” swine flu. We rated the claim False.

Trump continues to blame the Obama administration in an exchange with reporters at the White House.

“The Obama administration made a decision on testing that turned out to be very detrimental to what we’re doing.”

Our fact-check shows the process dated back to 2006 before Obama took office. So the claim is False.

4 March 2020: Trump says some people won’t even have to go to a hospital:

“Some people will have this at a very light level and won’t even go to a doctor or hospital, and they’ll get better. There are many people like that.”

4 March 2020: HHS warns of mask shortages:⁠

HHS says they only have 1 percent of respirator masks needed if the virus became a “full-blown pandemic.”

5 March 2020 (10:55 AM): White House sidelines Azar from coronavirus response:⁠

There will be a notable omission when Vice President Mike Pence visits Washington state Thursday as part of the Trump administration’s coronavirus response: health Secretary Alex Azar.

The White House on Wednesday also benched Azar from a coronavirus task force press briefing, the latest sign of diminished standing for an official who was the face of the U.S. response to the disease just a week ago.

Four of Azar’s deputies — including Medicare chief Seema Verma and Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Steve Hahn, who were both added to the task force after Pence took over the federal response — joined the vice president and other officials at the White House on Wednesday.

Azar’s absence didn’t go unnoticed by allies worried about his standing in the administration and the way he’s catching more flak for missteps. Azar was front and center Thursday at a Capitol Hill briefing with House members, during which he took heat from some lawmakers over transparency and whether his department is adequately prepared for the stealthy disease.

Asked why Azar didn’t attend Wednesday’s televised briefing, a Pence spokesperson said that Azar left for his office after the task force meeting, and officials wanted to make room on stage for Ben Carson, the Housing and Urban Development secretary and also a task force member. A spokesperson for Azar said that members of the task force will be “rotating through as necessary” now that the group is doing daily briefings.

5 March 2020 (7:12 AM): Senator Rand Paul votes against bill funding coronavirus emergency aid:⁠

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul voted against an emergency response coronavirus bill Thursday afternoon after his proposed amendment to the bill was turned down.

The bill had already received more than 60 affirmative votes, which was more than it needed to pass when Paul voted against it. The bill passed 96–1.

6 March 2020: Trump” Anybody that wants a test can get a test”:⁠

Grand Princess cruise ship with over 2,000 passengers waits to dock off the California coast.

Asked about the docking of the Grand Princess, Trump says the following:

“I would rather (Grand Princess passengers stay aboard) because I like the numbers being where they are. I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship.”

Trump went on to say that he thought it was more important for passengers to debark than to keep the numbers down.

In a news conference, Trump downplays the concerns around testing:

“Anybody that wants a test can get a test.”

With tests in short supply, we rated the claim Pants on Fire.

The same day, Trump tweets out blame to the media and the Democrats for trying to “inflame” the situation “far beyond what the facts would warrant.”

6 March 2020: Trump repeats “It’ll go away”:

“We did an interview on Fox last night, a town hall. I think it was very good. And I said: ‘Calm. You have to be calm. It’ll go away.’ ”

6 March 2020 (12:54 PM): Trump falsely claims that Obama administration slowed down diagnostic testing:⁠

President Donald Trump Wednesday sought to lay blame on the Obama administration for slowing down new diagnostic testing but there’s no evidence to support that claim.

“The Obama administration made a decision on testing that turned out to be very detrimental to what we’re doing,” Trump said Wednesday during a meeting on addressing the coronavirus outbreak. “And we undid that decision a few days ago so that the testing can take place in a much more rapid and accurate fashion.”

The White House did not offer a comment when asked to explain why the President said it was an Obama-era decision, but a source close to the coronavirus task force told CNN’s Jim Acosta it’s not clear where Trump got his information that an Obama administration rule had somehow slowed diagnostic testing.

The President may have been referring to an Obama administration proposal that would have allowed the Food and Drug Administration to have more oversight over approving diagnostic tests. That proposal did not go through.

When asked what Obama administration decision Trump might be referring to, Peter Kyriacopolous, chief policy officer at the Association of Public Health Laboratories, said: “We aren’t sure what rule is being referenced.”

He added that “there was an intense interest from FDA to pursue regulation of lab-developed tests during the Obama administration, but it never occurred. FDA did a lot of work on this, but there never was a final rule that came out of all that work.”

It’s possible the President may have been referring to a rule approved in 2004, years before Obama became president. The Emergency Use Authorization authority allows FDA to facilitate the availability of diagnostic tests and other medical measures needed during public health emergencies.

The rule allowed the FDA to require labs to obtain an emergency use declaration from the agency before beginning testing on patients during a declared public health emergency.

In a statement, the FDA did not comment on whether the President’s remarks were correct.

“The action we took this past Saturday enables certain qualified labs to immediately use tests they developed and validated in order to achieve more rapid testing capacity in the U.S. and shows that we are flexible during this public health emergency, according to the FDA statement.

7 March 2020: Official: White House didn’t want to tell seniors not to fly:⁠

The White House overruled health officials who wanted to recommend that elderly and physically fragile Americans be advised not to fly on commercial airlines because of the new coronavirus, a federal official told The Associated Press.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention submitted the plan as a way of trying to control the virus, but White House officials ordered the air travel recommendation be removed, said the official who had direct knowledge of the plan. Trump administration officials have since suggested certain people should consider not traveling but have stopped short of the stronger guidance sought by the CDC.

The person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity did not have authorization to talk about the matter. The person did not have direct knowledge about why the decision to kill the language was made or who made the call.

Administration officials disputed the person’s account. In a tweet, the press secretary for Vice President Mike Pence, Katie Miller, said that “it was never a recommendation to the Task Force” and called the AP story “complete fiction.” On Sunday, Dr. Anthony Fauci — the head of infectious diseases at the National Institutes of Health and a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force — said “no one overruled anybody.”

On Friday, the CDC quietly updated its website to tell older adults and people with severe medical conditions such as heart, lung or kidney disease to “stay home as much as possible” and avoid crowds. It urges those people to “take actions to reduce your risk of exposure,” but it doesn’t specifically address flying.

Pence, speaking Saturday after meeting with cruise ship industry leaders in Florida, targeted his travel advice to a narrower group: older people with serious health problems.

“If you’re a senior citizen with a serious underlying health condition, this would be a good time to practice common sense and to avoid activities including traveling on a cruise line,” Pence said, adding they were looking to cruise line officials for action, guidance and flexibility with those passengers.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar suggested older Americans and those with health problems should avoid crowds “especially in poorly ventilated spaces.”

Speaking on “Fox News Sunday,” Fauci said people with underlying conditions — particularly those who are elderly — should take steps to distance themselves from the risk of infection, including avoiding crowds and long plane trips “and above all don’t get on a cruise ship,” he said.

“No one has told us not to say that,” he added.

For most people, the flu-like viral illness causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But — like the flu — it can cause pneumonia and be much more lethal to people made frail by old age and by conditions that make it harder for their bodies to fight infections.

Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of tropical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, last week warned U.S. lawmakers against minimizing the viruses risk for vulnerable people. During a Congressional hearing, he said the coronavirus “is like the angel of death for older individuals.”

Some experts said they’ve been hoping for clearer and louder guidance from the government, to prod vulnerable people to take every possible step to avoid settings where they might more easily become infected.

“The clear message to people who fit into those categories is; ‘You ought to become a semi-hermit. You’ve got to really get serious in your personal life about social distancing, and in particular avoiding crowds of any kind,’” said Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt University expert on infectious diseases.

That can include not only avoiding essential commercial travel but also large church services and crowded restaurants, he added.

Dr. Tom Frieden, a former CDC director, said whether to recommend the frail and elderly avoid air travel is “a difficult question,” but clearly this is a time when such conversations should be taking place.

“At this point the risk in the U.S. remains low, but we are seeing it spread rapidly. We are going from the calm before the storm to the beginning of the storm,” said Frieden, who now heads Resolve to Save Lives, an organization promoting global public health.

7 March 2020: Trump: “We’ve done a great job”:⁠

“No, I’m not concerned at all,” Trump said from Mar-a-Lago. “No, I’m not. No, we’ve done a great job.”

7 March 2020: Trump: We closed it down; we stopped it:

“It came out of China, and we heard about it. And made a good move: We closed it down; we stopped it. Otherwise — the head of CDC said last night that you would have thousands of more problems if we didn’t shut it down very early. That was a very early shutdown, which is something we got right.”

7 March 2020: Tucker Carlson privately urges to take the Virus seriously:⁠

Fox News host Tucker Carlson, flies to Mar-a-Lago to implore Trump to take the virus seriously in private rather than embarrass him on TV. Even after the private meeting, Trump continued to downplay the crisis, forcing Carlson to obliquely criticize him publicly on his show two nights later.

Note: Carlson, after hearing from an expert with “access to intelligence” who was concerned about the virus began covering the issue on his show February 3rd, over a month prior to the private meeting.This is a good glimpse into how a competent populist might’ve acted.

7 March 2020 (11:02 AM): Prominent Saudi royals arrested in an apparent bid by the crown prince to consolidate power:⁠

Saudi royal guards have arrested two of the most prominent members of the Saudi ruling family and charged them with treason, a move that could be designed to further strengthen the position of the kingdom’s de facto ruler, according to two people close to Saudi leadership.

Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz, an uncle of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and one of his cousins, Mohammed bin Nayef, were detained Friday morning, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss highly sensitive internal Saudi matters.

Mohammed bin Nayef had been replaced as crown prince and heir to the throne in 2017 when King Salman elevated one of his sons, Mohammed bin Salman, to the role and gave him wide authority to effectively run the kingdom.

Mohammed bin Nayef had earlier served as the country’s interior minister, developing a close working relationship with U.S. security officials.

Both the arrested men could claim a more senior place in the line of succession to Mohammed and were seen as potential rivals to the throne.

The two princes had returned together from a hunting trip late Thursday when they received a call summoning them to meet the crown prince at the royal palace, said one of the people who had been briefed on the events by members of the royal family. When they arrived, they were taken into custody, according to the account.

The arrests come at a sensitive time for the kingdom, with oil prices plummeting and Mohammed’s decision to halt visits to Mecca in response to the coronavirus stoking discontent. The arrests were first reported by the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

8 March 2020: Trump retweets Surgeon General Jerome Adams playing down the risk of coronavirus for Trump personally:

8 March 2020 (7:20 PM): Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Paul Gosar will self-quarantine after interacting with an individual with coronavirus:⁠

Two Republican members of Congress on Sunday announced they will self-quarantine after interacting with an individual who tested positive for the novel coronavirus at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona separately said they will take the step out of caution and don’t currently have any symptoms related to the virus.

Cruz said he will remain in Texas until a full 14 days after the interaction has passed. The Texas Republican said his interaction with the individual consisted of a “brief conversation and a handshake.”

“Given that the interaction was 10 days ago, that the average incubation period is 5–6 days, that the interaction was for less than a minute, and I have no current symptoms, the medical authorities have advised me that the odds of transmission from the other individual to me were extremely low,” he said in a statement.

Gosar said in his own statement later Sunday that, along with three members of his staff, he was with the infected individual “for an extended period of time, and we shook hands several times.” He said he’ll remain at home in Arizona for 14 days and that his office would be closed for the week.

“We are all asymptomatic and feel great,” Gosar said. “But we are being proactive and cautious.”

The announcements come one day after the American Conservative Union announced that one of the CPAC attendees had tested positive for coronavirus. President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials attended the conference, though the ACU says the attendee did not come into contact with the President or vice president, nor did they attend events in the main hall.

CPAC said in a statement Sunday night that the Maryland Department of Health screened thousands of employees from the hotel where the event was held but no one has reported any “unusual illness.”

The organization said they’re in contact with the infected individual and “he continues to be doing better,” adding that “at this point, no other CPAC attendee, participant or staff has tested positive for coronavirus.”

9 March 2020: Trump says the Democrats are overreacting to the Virus:⁠

Trump bashes Democrats for sounding the alarm “far beyond what the facts would warrant” before implying that the common flu is far worse, an argument he’s made on several occasions and which has been parroted by Fox News.

As the number of Americans infected climbs toward 10,000, Trump is now attempting to recast the effort to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus as a “war” against an “unseen enemy” unleashed on the nation by China. This doesn’t mean he isn’t still instilling unrealistic expectations in his Twitter followers. “We are going to WIN,” he wrote Thursday morning, “sooner rather than later!”

9 March 2020: Tom Bossert warns Trump again. It’s now or never:⁠

Tom Bossert, Trump’s former Homeland Security adviser, publishes an op-ed saying it is “now or never” to act. He advocates for social distancing and school closures to slow the spread of the contagion.

• Trump says that developments are “good for the consumer” and compares COVID-19 favorably to the common flu.

9 March 2020 (12:04 PM): Mnuchin Tells Russian Ambassador U.S. Wants ‘Orderly’ Oil Market:⁠

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin “emphasized the importance of orderly energy markets” to the Russian ambassador in Washington, Anatoly Antonov, in a meeting on Monday, according to a statement.

The two men met as oil prices fell more than 30% on Monday after the break-up of the so-called OPEC+ alliance, in which Russia and Saudi Arabia had agreed to limit production. Both countries have plans to vastly expand their output in a price war.

Treasury said in a statement that in addition to oil, Mnuchin and Antonov discussed “compliance with sanctions programs, Venezuelan economic conditions and the potential for trade and investment.” The U.S. has pressured Russia’s Rosneft PJSC to exit Venezuela, where crude exports help keep President Nicolas Maduro’s regime afloat.

The OPEC+ arrangement, which had underpinned oil prices since 2016, collapsed on Friday after Russian oil minister Alexander Novak rejected an ultimatum at a Vienna summit to join in a collective production cut. Russia has sought to increase production to punish American shale drillers.

Saudia Arabia’s state energy company Saudi Aramco responded by offering unprecedented discounts on Saturday to customers in Asia, Europe and the U.S. Rosneft plans to pump significantly more oil next month, when the OPEC+ arrangement formally ends, and Novak said the country’s share of oil export markets will be preserved.

U.S. stocks extended losses back past 7%, as the oil price war rattled financial markets already on edge over the spreading coronavirus. Treasury yields plummeted and credit markets buckled.

9 March 2020 (5:00 PM): Trish Regan makes her infamous “Coronavirus Impeachment Scam” Broadcast

10 March 2020 (2:46 AM): ‘Chinese Coronavirus’ trends as Kevin Mccarthy accused cf being racist over COVID-19 remarks:⁠

Tens of thousands of people have expressed their outrage after Fox News and Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy both referred to COVID-19 as the “Chinese coronavirus.”

The phrase was one of the top trending topics on Twitter after McCarthy tweeted out a link of tips and advice from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with people reacting to the racist connotations of the phrase.

“Everything you need to know about the Chinese coronavirus can be found on one, regularly-updated website,” McCarthy wrote.

There have been a total of 114,457 confirmed cases of Coronavirus across the world, with more than 80,000 in mainland China, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The virus has also spread around the world to countries such as Australia, Iran, Italy, and the U.S., where there have been more than 750 confirmed cases.

Thousands of people criticized McCarthy for referring to the COVID-19 as the “Chinese coronavirus,” accusing him of helping to spread fear and hatred towards Asian people.

California rep. Ted Lieu: tweeted: “One reason @POTUS & his enablers failed to contain COVID2019 is due to the myopic focus on China. The virus was also carried into the U.S. from other countries & U.S. travelers. Calling it Chinese coronavirus is scientifically wrong & as stupid as calling it the Italian coronavirus.

“COVID2019 can be carried by anyone: a U.S. citizen, a Japanese tourist, an undocumented youth, or a Member of Congress. Coronavirus doesn’t care about your party, gender or religion. It is not Chinese, it’s a virus.”

10 March 2020 (3:00 AM): Trump administration orders immigration courts to remove coronavirus posters– then takes it back:⁠

Immigration court staff nationwide were ordered by the Trump administration to take down all coronavirus posters from courtrooms and waiting areas.

The Executive Office for Immigration Review, which falls under the Department of Justice, told all judges and staff members in an email Monday that all coronavirus posters, which explain in English and Spanish how to prevent catching and spreading the virus, had to be removed immediately.

“This is just a reminder that immigration judges do not have the authority to post, or ask you to post, signage for their individual courtrooms or the waiting areas,” wrote Christopher A. Santoro, the country’s acting chief immigration judge in a mass email to immigration court administrators nationwide.

“Per our leadership, the CDC flyer is not authorized for posting in the immigration courts. If you see one (attached), please remove it. Thank you.”

However on Tuesday morning — just four hours after the Miami Herald published this story — a Department of Justice spokesman contacted the Herald to say that the “the signs shouldn’t have been removed. It’s now being rectified.”

Officials declined to discuss why the email was sent in the first place, and who told the chief immigration judge to issue the directive.

Email records show that shortly after that, the chief immigration judge then sent a follow-up mass email to court administrators and assistant chief immigration judges that said staff can now put up the coronavirus posters. Attached were four CDC posters, two of them the very same ones they asked employees to remove.

“As the Department of Justice continues to work closely with the Vice President’s Task Force, the CDC, and state and local government leaders regarding the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, we are working to provide you and your immigration court staff with resources to support your important mission,” Santoro said in his email.

10 March 2020 (10:28 AM): White House likely to pursue federal aid for shale companies hit by oil shock, coronavirus downturn:⁠

The White House is strongly considering pushing federal assistance for oil and natural gas producers hit by plummeting oil prices amid the coronavirus outbreak, as industry officials close to the administration clamor for help, according to four people familiar with internal deliberations.

President Trump has touted the growth of oil and natural gas production under his administration, celebrating their rise in politically crucial swing states such as Pennsylvania. But many oil and gas firms were hammered Monday by the price war that broke out between Saudi Arabia and Russia, driving oil prices down in their steepest one-day drop in almost 30 years.

White House officials are alarmed at the prospect that numerous shale companies, many of them deep in debt, could be driven out of business if the downturn in oil prices turns into a prolonged crisis for the industry. The federal assistance is likely to take the form of low-interest government loans to the shale companies, whose lines of credit to major financial institutions have been choked off, three people said.

Trump and advisers have been taking calls since Monday from concerned energy sector allies, who have voiced concern and at times exasperation not only about oil prices but also privately warning against the administration supporting any sweeping paid sick leave policy, according to a major GOP donor and a White House official familiar with the discussions. These people spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly discuss private conversations.

Even major oil companies are threatened by the oil price slump. Occidental Petroleum on Tuesday slashed its dividend to 11 cents a share from 79 cents and cut capital spending by a third. Oil prices staged a partial rebound Tuesday after plummeting the day before.

Trump said at a news conference Monday that the administration will seek to provide help for parts of the economy hard hit by the coronavirus, including the hospitality, cruise and travel industries. A senior administration official said Tuesday the shale industry would probably be included for help but may not be at the top of the list for assistance.

10 March 2020: Trump brags that it could have been worse:

“As you know, it’s about 600 cases, it’s about 26 deaths, within our country. And had we not acted quickly, that number would have been substantially more.”

10 March 2020: Trump repeats that “it will just go away”:

“And it hit the world. And we’re prepared, and we’re doing a great job with it. And it will go away. Just stay calm. It will go away.”

11 March 2020: The World Health Organization’s Director-General declares COVID-19 a pandemic:⁠

WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19–11 March 2020:

Good afternoon.

In the past two weeks, the number of cases of COVID-19 outside China has increased 13-fold, and the number of affected countries has tripled.

There are now more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries, and 4,291 people have lost their lives.

Thousands more are fighting for their lives in hospitals.

In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries climb even higher.

WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.

We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic.

Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death.

Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change WHO’s assessment of the threat posed by this virus. It doesn’t change what WHO is doing, and it doesn’t change what countries should do.

We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus. This is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus.

And we have never before seen a pandemic that can be controlled, at the same time.

WHO has been in full response mode since we were notified of the first cases.

And we have called every day for countries to take urgent and aggressive action.

We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear.

11 March 2020: Trump bans travel for non-Americans from most of Europe:⁠

Trump uses a prime-time Oval Office address to announce a ban on travel for non-Americans from most of Europe, other than Britain for 30 days⁠, as the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a pandemic and stock markets plunged further.

He misstates a freeze on cargo and falsely said the health insurance industry has “agreed to waive all co-payments for coronavirus treatments.” In reality, getting tested would be free, but treatment would not be covered.

11 March 2020 (8:05 AM): House Democrats introduce multi-billion dollar coronavirus package:⁠

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top House Democrats on Wednesday introduced a multi-billion dollar bill in response to the coronavirus outbreak, with emergency provisions that include paid sick leave, widespread free testing, food aid and unemployment insurance.

The House is expected to vote Thursday on the sweeping package, which will have broad support from Democrats. Republican leaders and the White House are aware of the provisions in the bill, but have not announced their position on the legislation yet.

The Democratic proposal comes after President Donald Trump an Oval Office address Wednesday night to announce several emergency measures as well, including an upcoming ban on foreign nationals entering the United States from many European countries.

Trump also once again called for a payroll tax to millions of workers to help curb an economic free fall in the coming weeks, though the idea has largely been seen as a non-starter on Capitol Hill.

“Alarmingly, the president did not say how the administration will address the lack of coronavirus testing kits throughout the United States,” Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a joint statement late Wednesday.

“Tomorrow, we urge Republicans in the House and Senate to help immediately pass the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.”

The House vote Thursday — just hours after the bill is finalized — comes amid heightened fear after the first case of coronavirus on Capitol Hill was announced late Wednesday. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said a staffer in her Washington office tested positive for the virus and has been in isolation since developing symptoms.

The fate of the Democrats’ aid package is uncertain, however, with Senate GOP leaders so far undeclared on whether they will take it up. The House and Senate are slated to leave Washington on Thursday for a week-long recess, but both parties have indicated that they hope to pass at least some economic relief measures before doing so.

Pelosi shared bill language with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin earlier Wednesday evening, according to sources, but the White House has yet to weigh in on the legislation or whether Trump would sign the bill.

11 March 2020 (9:29 AM): White House told federal health agency to classify coronavirus deliberations — sources:⁠

The White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified, an unusual step that has restricted information and hampered the U.S. government’s response to the contagion, according to four Trump administration officials.

The officials said that dozens of classified discussions about such topics as the scope of infections, quarantines and travel restrictions have been held since mid-January in a high-security meeting room at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), a key player in the fight against the coronavirus.

Staffers without security clearances, including government experts, were excluded from the interagency meetings, which included video conference calls, the sources said.

“We had some very critical people who did not have security clearances who could not go,” one official said. “These should not be classified meetings. It was unnecessary.”

The sources said the National Security Council (NSC), which advises the president on security issues, ordered the classification.”This came directly from the White House,” one official said.

11 March 2020 (12:48 PM): Treasury to Recommend Delaying Tax Payments for ‘Virtually All’ Americans:⁠

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Wednesday said he would recommend to President Trump that the Internal Revenue Service delay tax payments without penalty or interest for “virtually all Americans other than the superrich.”

Mr. Mnuchin, testifying before House lawmakers, noted that all individuals are allowed to request tax filing extensions online but that this would be a special provision meant to help small and midsize businesses and “hardworking individuals” dealing with fallout from the coronavirus.

The delay would not apply to large corporations or the wealthiest Americans, Mr. Mnuchin said, but he did not elaborate on what the income or asset threshold would be for qualifying.

“That will have the impact of putting over $200 billion back into the economy and that will create a very big stimulus,” Mr. Mnuchin said, adding that the Treasury was already working to fund the initiative.

The effort is aimed at helping cushion the economic hit from the coronavirus, which is closing schools, sending workers home and disrupting everyday life for many Americans.

Treasury and White House officials had been discussing the idea of extending the tax deadline over the past week as the administration considers ways to relieve financial pressure on individuals and businesses.

The plan to delay the April 15 tax deadline came as Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee wrote to Charles Rettig, the I.R.S. commissioner, to ask for an update on the effect of the outbreak on tax filing season and for an evaluation of whether the agency needed to re-evaluate the traditional April 15 deadline.

“We are concerned about the ability of the I.R.S. to provide taxpayer assistance and process returns, as well as the ability of taxpayers, free tax preparation sites, and tax professionals to meet the filing deadline,” the lawmakers wrote. They noted that “the I.R.S. has authority to extend the time for filing any return for six months or less and the authority to waive certain penalties upon a showing of reasonable cause.”

The lawmakers also asked that the I.R.S. consider “the need for relief” from certain filing and payment fees and penalties for people affected by the coronavirus.

11 March 2020: Trump thinks we’re doing great!:

“I think we’re going to get through it very well.”

11 March 2020 (2:20 PM): President Trump requests absentee ballot:

President Donald Trump, now a Palm Beach resident registered to vote in Florida, has requested a vote-by-mail ballot for the Florida Republican presidential primary.

Like 160,000 other Palm Beach County voters, President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump have requested vote-by-mail ballots for Florida’s presidential primary.

The ballots were picked up for Trump on Monday, and as of Wednesday had not been submitted, according to the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections website.

12 March 2020 (6:13 AM): Europe blindsided by Trump’s travel restrictions, with many seeing political motive:⁠

European officials strongly condemned President Trump’s decision to severely restrict travel from Europe to the United States on Thursday, a sudden move that took them by surprise and that many saw as politically motivated.

Of all the slights between Washington and Europe in recent years, the new travel restrictions represented a blow an order of magnitude beyond previous disputes. In a short statement on Thursday morning rare in its directness, the European Union expressed only exasperation.

“The Coronavirus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action,” the statement read, co-signed by E.U. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel.

“The European Union disapproves of the fact that the U.S. decision to impose a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation.”

The fiery statement from Brussels was a sign of just how little the two sides appear to be coordinating their response to the coronavirus pandemic. European officials were scrambling to play catch-up Thursday to understand the reasoning behind the ban. The U.S. Mission to the European Union declined to answer questions about how they were explaining the restrictions to their European colleagues.

12 March 2020 (9:30 AM): Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Trashes Dems’ Coronavirus Bill Calling For Paid Sick Leave, Free Testing:⁠

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) shot down House Democrats’ emergency response package for COVID-19 on Thursday, lambasting the legislation as “an ideological wish list that was not tailored closely to the circumstances.”

“As currently drafted, the proposal appears to impose permanent unfunded mandates on businesses that could cause massive job losses and put thousands of small businesses at risk,” McConnell said during a speech on the Senate floor.

He accused the Democratic House majority of handling the crisis in a partisan manner, saying that “left-wing political messaging may have taken priority over the needs of our country.”

The GOP leader called on his Democratic colleagues to pass “smaller, non-controversial” measures.

The House bill, which Democrats had passed earlier on Thursday, would require employers to provide paid sick leave and health insurance companies to provide free testing for the coronavirus. It would also provide $1.3 billion in food aid funding for low-income individuals, along with an extra $1 billion for workers who are temporarily unemployed due to their employers asking them to stay home.

12 March 2020 (12:19 PM): McConnell says Senate will be in session next week to work on coronavirus bill despite preplanned recess:⁠

The Senate will be in session next week to work on coronavirus legislation and will not go on a previously scheduled recess, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced on Thursday.

“The Senate will be in session next week,” McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, wrote on Twitter. “I am glad talks are ongoing between the Administration and Speaker Pelosi. I hope Congress can pass bipartisan legislation to continue combating the coronavirus and keep our economy strong.”

This comes as Republican senators up for reelection did not want to go home without passing an economic relief bill. Many Republicans believed that they would be in an untenable position politically if Democrats in the House passed their own bill and the Senate left town without acting.

The House is expected to pass its bill Thursday afternoon, though Republicans in the Senate have expressed opposition to it.

13 March 2020: President Trump declares a national emergency:⁠

Mr. Trump officially declared a national emergency and said he was making $50 billion in federal funds available to states and territories to combat the coronavirus. He also said he would give hospitals and doctors more flexibility to respond to the virus, including making it easier to treat people remotely.

12 March 2020: Trump thinks we’re doing “amazing”:

“It’s going to go away. … The United States, because of what I did and what the administration did with China, we have 32 deaths at this point … when you look at the kind of numbers that you’re seeing coming out of other countries, it’s pretty amazing when you think of it.”

13 March 2020: Fox Business Benches Trish Regan After Outcry Over Coronavirus Comments:

The Fox Business anchor Trish Regan, whose on-air dismissal of the coronavirus as “another attempt to impeach the president” left her cable network facing a firestorm of criticism this week, has been removed from her prime-time slot for the foreseeable future, the network said on Friday.

Ms. Regan’s 8 p.m. program, “Trish Regan Primetime,” is “on hiatus until further notice,” Fox Business said in a statement. The network declined to say if Ms. Regan would continue to appear on its other programs, saying that its coverage plans for the coronavirus crisis remained in flux.

Fox Business attributed the move to “the demands of the evolving pandemic crisis coverage,” saying it was shifting resources toward daytime coverage of the pandemic and global markets. Both “Trish Regan Primetime” and its follow-up at 9, “Kennedy,” will be replaced by general-interest programs.

Still, the abrupt removal of Ms. Regan — a reliably pro-Trump personality who has twice interviewed the president — came as right-wing media stars have faced growing scrutiny for commentary that played down fears about the coronavirus and suggested that the illness had been overhyped by President Trump’s critics.

Ms. Regan’s remarks, delivered on her Monday show, caused many colleagues at Fox Business and its corporate cousin Fox News to cringe. In front of a graphic reading, “Coronavirus Impeachment Scam,” she accused Democrats of creating “mass hysteria to encourage a market sell-off” and sowing fear about the virus “to demonize and destroy the president.”

13 March 2020 (8:09 AM): White House holding up DoD nomination amid Trump loyalty purge:⁠

The White House is holding up the nomination for one of the Pentagon’s top intelligence jobs because the official is not considered sufficiently loyal to the president, according to three current and former administration officials.

Kathryn Wheelbarger, who has been serving as acting assistant secretary of Defense for international security affairs since November 2018, would become the deputy undersecretary of Defense for intelligence if the nomination moves forward. But the holdup comes as President Donald Trump continues a post-impeachment loyalty purge that has already felled two senior Pentagon officials in recent weeks.

The post that Wheelbarger would fill is one of 21 senior positions at the Pentagon that are empty or filled on a temporary basis, a record high for the Trump administration. Lawmakers have raised concerns in recent weeks that the department doesn’t have enough qualified people in place to tackle the nation’s biggest national security problems as it faces a host of crises, from the spread of the coronavirus to a new spike in tensions with Iran.

The White House announced its intent to nominate Wheelbarger for the №2 position at the Pentagon overseeing military intelligence on February 13, but it has not yet submitted her paperwork to the Senate, a spokesperson for the Senate Armed Services Committee confirmed.

But the White House is not satisfied that Wheelbarger is sufficiently loyal to the administration, the three current and former officials said. The people pointed to Wheelbarger’s two years spent working for the late Sen. John McCain, who feuded publicly with Trump before his death in 2019, as the root of the current tension.

13 March 2020 (8:15 AM): Mnuchin calls coronavirus pandemic “a great investment opportunity“:⁠

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin argued Friday that the coronavirus pandemic presents “a great investment opportunity,” insisting that global markets spooked by the public health crisis will rebound eventually.

“This is a short-term issue. It may be a couple of months, but we’re going to get through this, and the economy will be stronger than ever,” Mnuchin told CNBC in an interview.

“You know, I look back at people who bought stocks after the crash in 1987, people who bought stocks after the financial crisis,” he continued. “For long-term investors, this will be a great investment opportunity.”

13 March 2020 (3:20 PM): Contrary to Trump’s claim, Google is not building a nationwide coronavirus screening website:⁠

Google is not working with the US government in building a nationwide website to help people determine whether and how to get a novel coronavirus test, despite what President Donald Trump said in the course of issuing an emergency declaration for the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, a much smaller trial website made by another division of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is going up. It will only be able to direct people to testing facilities in the Bay Area.

More than an hour after Trump’s press conference, a Google communications Twitter account passed along the following statement from Verily, which is a different company inside the Alphabet corporate umbrella:

We are developing a tool to help triage individuals for COVID-19 testing. Verily is in the early stages of development, and planning to roll testing out in the Bay Area, with the hope of expanding more broadly over time. We appreciate the support of government officials and industry partners and thank the Google engineers who have volunteered to be part of this effort.

Carolyn Wang, communications lead for Verily, told The Verge that the “triage website” was initially only going to be made available to health care workers instead of the general public. Now that it has been announced the way it was, however, anybody will be able to visit it, she said. But the tool will only be able to direct people to “pilot sites” for testing in the Bay Area, though Wang says Verily hopes to expand it beyond California “over time.”

The triage site should be put live within a few days, and it will be hosted at Project Baseline, the Verily website where people can sign up to take part in clinical trials. That’s a seemingly odd place for the triage tool to live, but Wang says that Project Baseline already has certain necessary tools like an informed consent agreement, so it makes sense to put it there.

“Google is going to develop a website — it’s going to be very quickly done, unlike websites of the past — to determine if a test is warranted and to facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location,” Trump said at the press conference. “We have many, many locations behind us, by the way. We cover this country and large parts of the world, by the way. We’re not gonna be talking about the world right now, but we cover very, very strongly our country. Stores in virtually every location. Google has 1,700 engineers working on this right now. They have made tremendous progress.”

As for the 1,700 Google engineers, Trump referenced in the press conference, that appears to be related to a call for volunteers Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai put out in a company-wide memo earlier this week.

In all, the difference between the reality of what is being built and what was promised during the press conference is very large.

13 March 2020: FDA will bring lots of tests that Trump doubts we’ll need:

Says the Food and Drug Administration “will bring, additionally, 1.4 million tests on board next week and 5 million within a month. I doubt we’ll need anywhere near that.”

14 March 2020: The House passes its first relief bill:⁠

The House passes a worker and business relief bill with paid leave guarantees for certain workers, expanded food assistance and unemployment insurance benefits, and employer tax credits. Trump signs it four days later.

14 March 2020: Trump Says He Could Demote Fed Chair Powell, Risking More Market Turmoil:⁠

President Trump said on Saturday that he had the power to remove or demote Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, renewing a long-running threat against the central bank’s leader at a time when it could further roil volatile markets.

Mr. Trump said in a news conference at the White House that ousting Mr. Powell was not his current plan but that he was “not happy with the Fed” because it was “following” and “we should be leading.” He said he had the right to remove Mr. Powell as chair “and put him in a regular position and put somebody else in charge,” but added, “I haven’t made any decisions on that.”

While it was a familiar threat from a president who has continually beaten up on Mr. Powell, it was made in the midst of growing concern that the spread of the coronavirus could tip the United States into a recession.

The mere hint that Mr. Trump could fire Mr. Powell, or demote him to a Fed governor, risks further destabilizing markets by worrying investors, who are already fretting over the economic fallout from shut-down businesses, quarantined workers and curtailed activity.

14 March 2019 (3:13 PM): President Donald Trump kisses House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on cheek in rare, warm gesture:⁠

President Donald Trump greeted Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi with a hug and kiss on both cheeks during a visit to Capitol Hill.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is hugged and kissed by President Donald Trump at the 37th annual Friends of Ireland luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, March 14, 2019.

The rare, friendly interaction between the two came just hours after the president criticized her on Twitter in connection with the vote to block his national emergency declaration.

“A vote for today’s resolution by Republican Senators is a vote for Nancy Pelosi, Crime, and the Open Border Democrats!,” he wrote.

14 March 2020: Trump: We’re using the full power of the Federal Government:

“We’re using the full power of the federal government to defeat the virus, and that’s what we’ve been doing.”

Also retweeted supporter Candace Owens:

15 March 2020: The C.D.C. recommends no gatherings of 50 or more people in the U.S.:⁠

On March 15, the C.D.C. advised no gatherings of 50 or more people in the United States over the next eight weeks. The recommendation included weddings, festivals, parades, concerts, sporting events and conferences. The following day, Mr. Trump advised citizens to avoid groups of more than 10. New York City’s public schools system, the nation’s largest with 1.1 million students, also announced that it would close.

15 March 2020 (4:38 AM): Germany tries to halt U.S. interest in firm working on coronavirus vaccine:⁠

Berlin is trying to stop Washington from persuading a German company seeking a coronavirus vaccine to move its research to the United States, prompting German politicians to insist no country should have a monopoly on any future vaccine.

German government sources told Reuters on Sunday that the U.S. administration was looking into how it could gain access to a potential vaccine being developed by a German firm, CureVac.

Earlier, the Welt am Sonntag German newspaper reported that U.S. President Donald Trump had offered funds to lure CureVac to the United States, and the German government was making counter-offers to tempt it to stay.

Responding to the report, the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, wrote on Twitter: “The Welt story was wrong.”

A U.S. official said: “This story is wildly overplayed … We will continue to talk to any company that claims to be able to help. And any solution found would be shared with the world.”

A German Health Ministry spokeswoman, confirming a quote in the newspaper, said: “The German government is very interested in ensuring that vaccines and active substances against the new coronavirus are also developed in Germany and Europe.”

“In this regard, the government is in intensive exchange with the company CureVac,” she added.

Welt am Sonntag quoted an unidentified German government source as saying Trump was trying to secure the scientists’ work exclusively, and would do anything to get a vaccine for the United States, “but only for the United States.”

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer told a news conference that the government’s coronavirus crisis committee would discuss the CureVac case on Monday.

CureVac issued a statement on Sunday, in which it said: “The company rejects current rumors of an acquisition”.

CureVac’s main investor Dietmar Hopp said he was not selling and wanted CureVac to develop a coronavirus vaccine to “help people not just regionally but in solidarity across the world.”

“I would be glad if this could be achieved through my long-term investments out of Germany,” he added.

A German Economy Ministry spokeswoman said Berlin “has a great interest” in producing vaccines in Germany and Europe.

15 March 2020 (11:48 AM): Daniel Goldman, former Schiff Aide on the Intelligence Committee tests positive for the Virus:⁠

A former aide to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) has tested positive for the disease caused by coronavirus, Mr. Schiff said, adding that he would postpone his meetings and work remotely as a precautionary measure.

“Although doctors believe the staffer contracted the virus after leaving my office, I’m taking additional distancing precautions, including postponing meetings and teleworking,” Mr. Schiff said in a statement Sunday.

Dan Goldman, who played a leading role in President Trump’s impeachment trial, on Sunday identified himself as the former aide who had tested positive for COVID-19.

Mr. Goldman announced on March 6 that it was his last day as director of investigations for the House Intelligence Committee. Mr. Goldman had tweeted that he was unable to get a coronavirus test at a New York hospital even though he had symptoms. He said he was told his symptoms weren’t severe enough.

“Unless you have pneumonia and traveled to one of 5 high-risk countries recently, can NOT get a #COVID19 test in New York City,” he said. “If you, like me, have a fever and a headache (but tested negative for the flu), you are unable to rule out #COVID19.”

Mr. Goldman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) that he is taking “additional distancing precautions” in light of a former staffer testing positive for COVID-19.

15 March 2020: Trump: We have “tremendous control” over the virus:

“This is a very contagious virus. It’s incredible. But it’s something that we have tremendous control over.”

16 March 2020: Latin America begins to feel the effects of the virus:⁠

Several countries across Latin America imposed restrictions on their citizens to slow the spread of the virus. Venezuela announced a nationwide quarantine that began on March 17. Ecuador and Peru implemented countrywide lockdowns, while Colombia and Costa Rica closed their borders. However, Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil, encouraged mass demonstrations by his supporters against his opponents in Congress.

16 March 2020: Trump announces Social Distancing:⁠

Trump announces his support for a 15-day period of social distancing in order to slow the spread of coronavirus.

16 March 2020: Trump: What we’re doing is under control:

“If you’re talking about the virus, no, that’s not under control for any place in the world. … I was talking about what we’re doing is under control, but I’m not talking about the virus.”

16 March 2020 (10:28 AM): Gohmert threatening to hold up House coronavirus bill:⁠

A conservative lawmaker is threatening to delay the House’s efforts to send an emergency coronavirus bill to the Senate, according to House aides working on the proposal

Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-Texas) wants a series of technical corrections to the House-passed bill — fixes still being negotiated Monday — to be read on the House floor before he’ll let it move to the upper chamber, according to House aides representing both parties.

“He’s concerned and wants all of the changes to be made public before the vote,” one GOP aide with knowledge of the situation told The Hill.

Gohmert’s strategy, first reported by Politico, has threatened to prevent House leaders from using unanimous consent procedures to adopt the technical fixes once they’re finalized since any single lawmaker has the power to block bills from passing by unanimous consent. If Gohmert declines to budge, it would require a vote of the full House to overcome the blockade — no easy task, because the House recessed on Saturday and many lawmakers have left Washington for their districts.

Gohmert’s office did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. But a second GOP aide said the Texas firebrand is not expected to block the House package — if chamber leaders agree to the public reading he’s insisting upon.

“Gohmert isn’t likely to object unless there’s a strong resistance in the Senate to what’s being done,” another GOP aide with knowledge said. “Which I doubt there will be.”

17 March 2020: France imposes a nationwide lockdown:⁠

France imposes a nationwide lockdown, prohibiting gatherings of any size and postponing the second round its municipal elections. The lockdown was one of Europe’s most stringent. While residents were told to stay home, officials allowed people to go out for fresh air but warned that meeting a friend on the street or in a park would be punishable with a fine. By this time, France had more than 6,500 infections with more than 140 deaths, according to the W.H.O.

17 March 2020: The E.U. bars most travelers from outside the bloc for 30 days:⁠

European leaders voted to close off at least 26 countries to nearly all visitors from the rest of the world for at least 30 days. The ban on nonessential travel from outside the bloc was the first coordinated response to the epidemic by the European Union.

17 March 2020: Trump: “I’ve felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic”:⁠

Trump said in a news conference that for the next 14 days, “we’re asking everyone to work at home, if possible, postpone unnecessary travel, and limit social gatherings to no more than 10 people.”

Trump says there was no shift in tone from the White House.

“I’ve always known this is a real, this is a pandemic. I’ve felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.”

As this timeline shows, Trump minimized the threat of a pandemic for many weeks. Pants on Fire!

Asked if the World Health Organization had offered detection tests to the United States, Trump said WHO had not, and that the WHO coronavirus test “was a bad test.” False. WHO said three independent labs had validated the test, and the White House coordinator for coronavirus response said she assumed the WHO test is effective.

17 March 2020: Trump: We’re going to win:

“We’re going to win. And I think we’re going to win faster than people think — I hope.”

17 March 2020: Oregon Senators call on Trump to use the Defense Production Act:⁠

Facing continued shortages of the PPE equipment needed to prevent healthcare providers from succumbing to the virus, Oregon Senators Jeff Merkeley and Ron Wyden call on Trump to use the Defense Production Act to expand supply of medical equipment.

17 March 2020 (3:20 PM): OPM chief Dale Cabaniss abruptly resigns:⁠

Dale Cabaniss, the director of the government’s Office of Personnel Management, resigned abruptly on Tuesday, effective immediately.

Cabaniss stepped down because of what two people familiar with the matter said was poor treatment from the 29-year-old head of the Presidential Personnel Office, John McEntee, and a powerful appointee at OPM, Paul Dans, the new White House liaison and senior adviser to the director of OPM.

OPM deputy director Michael Rigas is now acting director of OPM, according to an OPM spokesperson.

Cabaniss had only been at the agency since September of last year.Cabaniss had only been at the agency since September of last year.

The departure casts a cloud of uncertainty over the federal workforce as it struggles to decide how to handle the coronavirus outbreak, with growing questions about the Trump administration’s decision to keep most government offices open and how it is handling remote work.

OPM is the human resources management policy shop for the federal government’s civil service, and deals with health benefits and retirement, among other issues. Cabaniss is the former Republican staff director of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee’s subcommittee on financial services and general government and was chairman of the Federal Labor Relations Authority in the Bush administration. Cabaniss didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

McEntee’s return to the White House has roiled the administration with some officials criticizing the former Trump campaign staffer for what they see as an effort to stock the administration with his friends, including at least three college seniors. McEntee has not responded to questions on stories touching on the hires.

Within the last week, Jonathan Blyth is also no longer chief of staff at OPM and has moved back to OPM’s congressional affairs shop, which he now heads, according to two people familiar with his move, one of which said it reflects McEntee’s growing clout within the administration.

Adding to the tension: The White House has hired a third college senior to be an administration official in a sensitive post, according to four people familiar with the matter.

17 March 2020 (2:52 PM): Florida governor refuses to shut down beaches amid spread of coronavirus:⁠

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis refused to issue an order to close the state’s beaches, despite fears regarding the spread of the coronavirus.

He instead signed an order that would limit parties on beaches to 10 people per group and force any restaurant to reduce occupancy by half, DeSantis told reporters Tuesday. The governor said that local governments can make their own decisions but that his order would follow the latest guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“What we’re going to be doing for the statewide floor for beaches, we’re going to be applying the CDC guidance of no group on a beach more than 10 and you have to have distance apart if you’re going to be out there,” DeSantis said. “So that applies statewide.”

DeSantis said it’s “not uniform throughout the state that you’re seeing massive crowds at beaches,” despite reports of large gatherings on Tampa Bay-area beaches.

A video posted Monday by NBC affiliate WFLA showed people packed together on Clearwater Beach.

The city of Clearwater said Tuesday that it was shutting down Pier 60 and its spring break camps “out of an abundance of caution” but that its shores remain open to the public.

St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman on Tuesday reiterated details from DeSantis’ order on Twitter, but he did not mention plans to close the beach.

“Uniformity helps. No congregating on beaches, too. All in interest of public health,” Kriseman tweeted.

17 March 2020 (5:24 PM): Senate coronavirus vote delayed after Rand Paul pushes doomed amendment:⁠

Senate leaders were scrambling Tuesday to pass coronavirus legislation as quickly as possible, but Sen. Rand Paul put a damper on those plans, two leadership sources told NBC News.

Senators were heading toward a vote on the package — which would include provisions for free coronavirus testing, secure paid emergency leave, enhance unemployment insurance, strengthen food security initiatives and increase federal Medicaid funding to states — but they had to slam on the brakes because of an amendment Paul proposed.

The sources said Paul is forcing a vote on his amendment, which would “require a social security number for purposes of the child tax credit, and to provide the President the authority to transfer funds as necessary, and to terminate United States military operations and reconstruction activities in Afghanistan.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell agreed to take up the amendment Wednesday, delaying the vote on the larger bill, the sources said. The Paul amendment is not expected to pass. The Senate is also planning to vote on the House bill later Wednesday.

Ahead of the vote Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., blasted the Paul amendment as “a colossal waste of time.”

The House bill “must pass the Senate today but unfortunately, first we must dispose of a Republican amendment that would make a condition of the bill to require the president to terminate military operations in Afghanistan. Yes you heard me right!” Schumer said on the Senate floor. “In a time of national emergency this Republican amendment is ridiculous, a colossal waste of time. We probably could have voted on this bill a day or two ago if not for the need to schedule this amendment.”

17 March 2020 (6:09 PM)

17 March 2020 (7:27 PM): A coronavirus patient refused to quarantine, so deputies are surrounding his house to force him to:⁠

A Kentucky novel coronavirus patient checked himself out of the hospital against medical advice. So to prevent him from spreading the virus, officials are surrounding his house to keep him there.

The 53-year-old man in Nelson County refused to quarantine himself after testing positive for COVID-19, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said.

Nelson County officials “forced an isolation” on the man, one of the first 20 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state.

“It’s a step I hoped that I’d never have to take,” Beshear said in a conference on Saturday. “But I can’t allow one person who we know has this virus to refuse to protect their neighbors.”

Beshear didn’t share then how the government had forced the unnamed man to stay in his home.

But this week, Nelson County Sheriff Ramon Pineiroa told the Kentucky Standard that deputies will park outside of the man’s home for 24 hours a day for two weeks. The patient is cooperating now, Pineiroa said.

When reached for comment by CNN, the Nelson County Sheriff’s Department deferred all comments to Beshear.

Nelson County Judge Executive Dean Watts told CNN affiliate WDRB the measure was necessary to keep the community safe.

“This is about us, not about ‘I,’” Watts said. “So quarantine is a must. If we have to, we’ll do it by force.”

18 March 2020: Younger Adults Make Up Big Portion of Coronavirus Hospitalizations in the U.S.:⁠

American adults of all ages — not just those in their 70s, 80s and 90s — are being seriously sickened by the coronavirus, according to a report on nearly 2,500 of the first recorded cases in the United States.

The report, issued Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that — as in other countries — the oldest patients had the greatest likelihood of dying and of being hospitalized. But of the 508 patients known to have been hospitalized, 38 percent were notably younger — between 20 and 54. And nearly half of the 121 patients who were admitted to intensive care units were adults under 65, the C.D.C. reported.

“I think everyone should be paying attention to this,” said Stephen S. Morse, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. “It’s not just going to be the elderly. There will be people age 20 and up. They do have to be careful, even if they think that they’re young and healthy.”

The findings served to underscore an appeal issued Wednesday at a White House briefing by Dr. Deborah Birx, a physician and State Department official who is a leader of the administration’s coronavirus task force. Citing similar reports of young adults in Italy and in France being hospitalized and needing intensive care, Dr. Birx implored the millennial generation to stop socializing in groups and to take care to protect themselves and others.

“You have the potential then to spread it to someone who does have a condition that none of us knew about, and cause them to have a disastrous outcome,” Dr. Birx said, addressing young people.

In the C.D.C. report, 20 percent of the hospitalized patients and 12 percent of the intensive care patients were between the ages of 20 and 44, basically spanning the millennial generation.

“Younger people may feel more confident about their ability to withstand a virus like this,” said Dr. Christopher Carlsten, head of respiratory medicine at the University of British Columbia. But, he said, “if that many younger people are being hospitalized, that means that there are a lot of young people in the community that are walking around with the infection.”

The new data represents a preliminary look at the first significant wave of cases in the United States that does not include people who returned to the country from Wuhan, China, or from Japan, the authors reported. Between February 12 and March 16, there were 4,226 such cases reported to the C.D.C., the study says.

18 March 2020: Trump activates the Defense Production Act…on a limited basis:⁠

Trump signs the executive order to activate the Defense Production Act but declines to use it. At the White House briefing, he is asked about Senator Chuck Schumer’s call to urgently produce medical supplies and ventilators.

• Trump responds: “Well we’re going to know whether or not it’s urgent.”

Note: At this point, 118 Americans had died from COVID-19.

18 March 2020 (3:31 PM): The guy responding to Alyssa was a nothing burger candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles:

18 March 2020 (4:48 PM): Esper confirms Navy hospital ships won’t treat coronavirus patients and will take weeks to deploy:⁠

Defense Secretary Mark Esper made clear to CNN that two Navy hospital ships being deployed to help respond to the coronavirus outbreak will not treat patients suffering from the virus and will take weeks to deploy.

The Pentagon also confirmed they will provide 2,000 hospital beds. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that his state alone needs an additional 50,000.

“I have directed, as the President has mentioned, the hospital ships Mercy and Comfort to be prepared to deploy to increase the nation’s medical capacity and we’ve also alerted a variety of field and expeditionary hospitals to be prepared to deploy as well as needed,” Esper said at the White House on Wednesday.

Cuomo announced Wednesday that the USNS Comfort would be docked in New York City harbor.

He called the decision to deploy the ship an “extraordinary step” because the Comfort is “literally a floating hospital.”

However, the ships will not treat coronavirus patients. Instead, they will be used to treat other illnesses or injuries and free up capacity in civilian hospitals that are expected to be overwhelmed with cases of the virus. Also, the fact the Comfort is not expected to deploy for a number of weeks means it will not provide support if the number of cases and deaths spike in the near term, as many experts have predicted.

The USNS Mercy is likely to deploy sooner, though the Pentagon has not said where it will be sent.

“The Comfort, which is on the East Coast, should be ready in a couple weeks — plus, the Mercy, which is on the West Coast, should be ready in a week and a half, two weeks, definitely before the end of this month the Mercy will deploy,” Esper told CNN’s Jake Tapper Wednesday.

Esper also said that the Pentagon was prepared to provide field hospitals to state authorities to also help with non-coronavirus patients.

“What we have offered up are what I mentioned — those field hospitals, those expeditionary hospitals. Those provide the same functions as the hospital ships, we can field them fairly quickly, we can provide hospital beds and we can provide doctors, nurses, equipment all those things you need,” Esper told Tapper while making it clear that those field hospitals would similarly not treat coronavirus patients.

“Again they’re geared toward trauma, and what we can do is to create space in local hospitals by peeling off their trauma patients putting them through our field hospitals,” Esper said, adding “we could set it up in an open field and we can process patients through there whatever makes most sense, that’s most convenient for the governors, again those are conversations I’m having.”

Ships receiving maintenance

The Norfolk-based Comfort and San Diego-based USNS Mercy are “currently working to complete scheduled maintenance cycles and identify necessary medical staffing to deploy as soon as possible,” the US Navy said in a statement to CNN.

“The Comfort is intended to head to New York, in that area, on timing-wise that’s a little bit more difficult,” Chief Pentagon Spokesman Jonathan Hoffman told reporters on Wednesday.

“The Mercy will be prepared and ready to go much sooner,” Hoffman said, saying “they are hopefully going to be prepared to go in days, not weeks” and that when it’s prepared to sail, a determination will be made as to where it will go.

Each ship has a capacity for about 1,000 beds but many of their treatment areas are in the open bay and would, therefore, be ill-suited to handling potentially contagious coronavirus patients.

“The Comfort and Mercy will not deploy to treat COVID patients but will be made available to assist with treatment of other patients in coastal locations where local health professionals are necessarily focused on a large number of COVID cases,” a spokesperson for the Navy told CNN in a statement.

In addition, over 1,000 field hospital beds are being readied along with the units to man them, not counting the ships, according to Joint Staff Surgeon Brig. Gen. Paul Friedrichs, who briefed reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday.

Staffing challenges

Another issue is staffing the two ships.

The ships are typically staffed by US Navy reservists or civilian volunteers, and staffing them could present challenges if those personnel are drawn from the civilian medical workforce that is actively responding to the crisis.

Defense officials, including Esper, are cognizant of those challenges with Hoffman saying Wednesday that “staffing is an issue.”

Officials say that they will seek to avoid calling up reservists and focus on active-duty military medical personnel in order to avoid that issue.

“Right now we’re looking at our military staffing,” Friedrichs said Wednesday.

19 March 2020: For the first time, China reports zero local infections:⁠

China on March 19 reported no new local infections for the previous day, a milestone in the ongoing fight against the pandemic. The news signaled that an end to China’s epidemic could be in sight.

However, experts said the country would need to see at least 14 consecutive days without new infections for the outbreak to be considered over. And the announcement did not mean that China recorded no new coronavirus cases. Officials said that 34 new cases had been confirmed among people who had arrived in China from elsewhere.

19 March 2020: Barr Is Dismantling Charges Filed by Mueller:⁠

Another curious filing by the Department of Justice should not be lost amid news about COVID-19. In yet another reversal in a case initiated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, DOJ filed a motion this week to dismiss charges against two Russian businesses.

The Justice Department has already filed revised memoranda seeking more lenient sentences for associates of President Donald Trump. And now, it has filed a motion to dismiss the charges against Concord Management and Consulting LLC and Concord Catering, companies run by a man known as “Putin’s chef.”

In 2018, Mueller indicted the two businesses along with 13 Russian individuals and the Internet Research Agency, alleging conspiracy to defraud the United States by engaging in a disinformation campaign to interfere with the 2016 presidential election. The Concord entities are controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin was one of the Russian individuals who were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury for election interference.

19 March 2020: California goes on lockdown:⁠

The U.S. Senate unveils a $1 trillion-plus economic stimulus package. California orders lockdown for 40 million residents.

19 March 2020 (7:14 AM): Hospital CEO: $7 being charged for 58-cent masks:⁠

A CEO of a Georgia-based hospital on Wednesday said the supplier of a protective mask critical for health care workers treating COVID-19 patients is charging $7 for the masks that typically cost 58 cents.

“We were just looking at sourcing these at a company out of Mexico,” Scott Steiner, CEO of Phoebe Putney Health System, said in an appearance on CNN’s “At This Hour with Kate Bouldan,” referring to the N95 masks.

“They want $7 per mask, they’ve got a million of them on hand. And this is a mask that would normally cost us 58 cents.”

“But I would tell you, we’re probably going to go ahead and take them for $7 each because we’re that desperate,” Steiner said.

19 March 2020 (7:46 AM): State Department to tell Americans don’t travel abroad, come home if overseas:⁠

The State Department is set to announce a Level 4 travel advisory applying to all international travel, its most severe warning, three individuals with knowledge of the pending announcement said.

The advisory, which appears to be unprecedented, would instruct all Americans abroad to either return to the United States or prepare to shelter in place, given the global threat of the coronavirus outbreak. Americans also would be instructed not to travel abroad.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has approved the advisory, the individuals said. The move would represent a step beyond the department’s current Level 3 travel warning, which merely encourages Americans to reconsider travel abroad. Thousands of U.S. citizens are already stuck in limbo abroad, and the new guidance threatens to create further anxiety and confusion among travelers.

Two State Department officials confirmed the pending advisory. The State Department press office did not respond to requests to comment, but announced on Thursday that U.S. passport agencies will only accept applications from customers with life-or-death emergencies who plan to travel within 72 hours.

Several current and former U.S. diplomats, some of them with several decades of experience, said they do not recall such a travel advisory ever being issued in the past.

19 March 2020 (3:49 PM): Acting counterterrorism center head fired, according to former U.S. Officials:⁠

The acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center was removed Wednesday in what insiders fear is a purge by the Trump administration of career professionals at an organization set up after 9/11 to protect the nation from further attacks, according to two former U.S. officials.

Russell E. Travers, a highly regarded intelligence professional with more than 40 years of government service, told colleagues he was fired by acting director of national intelligence Richard Grenell, said the former officials, who like others interviewed spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.

Travers, who took up the acting position last August, had been resistant to pressure to make personnel cuts at the center, which has been undergoing a review of its mission and effectiveness.

Also removed at the NCTC was Travers’s acting deputy, Peter W. Hall, who is returning to the National Security Agency, the former officials said.

The surprise move came hours after President Trump announced his intent to nominate Pentagon Special Operations and counterterrorism official Christopher Miller to head the center. A deputy director will be named to serve as acting director pending Miller’s confirmation, said a spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

A spokeswoman for Grenell disputed that Travers was fired.

Travers “was offered the opportunity to move to a new role and chose to retire,” Assistant Director of National Intelligence for Strategic Communications Amanda Schoch said in a statement to The Washington Post. “Russ told Acting Director Grenell he wanted to retire and that he did not want another assignment.”

20–23 March 2020: New York goes on Lockdown:⁠

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo orders all non-essential businesses to keep their workers home. Indiana, Louisiana, Ohio, Illinois and many other states issue similar restrictions.

20 March 2020: Jared Kusher starts working on the supply chain for Medical supplies:⁠

At an April 2nd White House Press Conference, President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner who was made ad hoc point man for the coronavirus response said that on this date he began working with Rear Admiral John Polowczyk to “build a team” that would handle the logistics and supply chain for providing medical supplies to the states. This suggestion was first made by former Trump Administration officials January 28th.

20 March 2020 (7:55 AM): Nikki Haley Resigns From Boeing’s Board Over Coronavirus Bailout Bid:⁠

Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador and former governor of South Carolina, has resigned from the board of Boeing, citing the giant aerospace company’s efforts to obtain federal assistance because of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, “Ambassador Haley informed the Company that, as a matter of philosophical principle, she does not believe that the Company should seek support from the Federal Government, and therefore decided to resign from the Board.”

In her letter of resignation, Haley wrote, “As we encounter the COVID-19 crisis, Boeing, along with many other companies, face another major set of challenges. I want to be part of helping the company as it pushes through it. However, the board and executive team are going in a direction I cannot support.

“While I know cash is tight, that is equally true for numerous other industries and for millions of small businesses. I cannot support a move to lean on the federal government for a stimulus or bailout that prioritizes our company over others and relies on taxpayers to guarantee our financial position. I have long held strong convictions that this is not the role of government.”

20 March 2020 (11:51 AM): Doctors in Russia are accusing the government of covering up its coronavirus outbreak and denying them protective equipment:⁠

Doctors in Russia say the government is covering up coronavirus cases in the country and forcing medical staff to treat infectious patients without protective equipment.

Anastasia Vasilyeva, the head of Russia’s Alliance of Doctors trade union, voiced the accusation in a video published on Thursday.

She called on Russian doctors to go public with information about the “true” state of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

“While the whole world is facing an outbreak of a new coronavirus, Russia is facing an outbreak of a community-acquired pneumonia,” Vasilyeva said. “And as usual, we’re facing the lie of the authorities.”

She said Russian authorities were referring to coronavirus cases as ordinary pneumonia, implying that they’re distinct from the coronavirus pandemic.

Russian authorities strongly denied her claims. A statement from the Moscow Department of Health accused her of seeking “to discredit Russian medicine and relevant government agencies” and called for authorities to investigate her.

Russian state media said on Friday that 253 people in Russia, which has a population of about 145 million people, had tested positive for the coronavirus. Russia has announced one death.

In an article published by the official TASS news agency on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said the government had kept the virus out by limiting travel and quarantining people.

In her video, Vasilyeva said: “Colleagues, you have been mobilized for the fight with the so-called community-acquired pneumonia, and simultaneously they make you hide the real situation, keep silent about the absence of protective equipment.

“They make you sew yourself gauze facial masks and wash them. They don’t provide you with the protective suits. They put at risk you and all our country. This is silliness of the authorities. Officials want to avoid the panic.”

20 March 2020 (2:37 PM): Biden plans shadow coronavirus briefings:⁠

Joe Biden is planning a regular shadow briefing on coronavirus to start as early as Monday to show how he would handle the crisis and address what he calls the lies and failures of President Trump.

Biden gave a preview of what’s to come in a conference call with reporters Friday, where he listed a litany of false and misleading statements from Trump, who has been holding regular White House press conferences concerning coronavirus preparedness and response that have been broadcast live on all major networks.

“President Trump stop saying false things, will ya?” Biden said. “People are worried they are really frightened, when these things don’t come through. He just exacerbates their concern. Stop saying false things you think make you sound like a hero and start putting the full weight of the federal government behind finding fast, safe and effective treatments.”

Biden made his comments from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where he has been holed up for more than a week in adherence with Centers for Disease Control guidelines that urge people to practice social distancing.

Biden also twice pointed out that Trump on March 6 said anybody who wants a coronavirus test can get it. But there aren’t enough tests.

“I’m sorry to say, that was simply a lie. And it’s still not true today,” Biden said. “The United States has been far behind the rest of the advanced world when it comes to testing.”

20 March 2020 (2:59 PM): NBC’s Peter Alexander asked Trump to reassure Americans about coronavirus. Trump berated him instead:⁠

It was the journalistic equivalent of a layup, an opportunity for President Trump to utter a sound bite to soothe an anxious nation’s fears and concerns amid a pandemic.

Instead, Trump turned an exchange at a news conference into something very different — a jarring attack on the news media in general and the reporter who asked the question in particular.

NBC News correspondent Peter Alexander started the exchange by asking Trump whether he “may be giving Americas a false sense of hope” by touting drug therapies that health-care experts have said are unproved as treatments for the coronavirus.

“No, I don’t think so,” Trump replied. “It may work, it may not work. . . . I feel good about. That’s all it is, it’s a feeling.”

Alexander shifted gears by citing the growing toll of the illness and asking Trump, “What do you say to Americans who are watching you right now and are scared?”

Rather than offering reassurance, Trump went after Alexander and his employer.

“I’d say that you’re a terrible reporter, that’s what I’d say,” he said.

Trump briefly gestured to another reporter to ask a question but decided to turn back to Alexander instead.

I think it’s a very bad signal that you’re putting out to the American people,” he said, pointing accusatorily at Alexander. “The American people are looking for answers, and they’re looking for hope. And you’re doing sensationalism. And the same with NBC and Concast — I don’t call it Comcast, I call it Concast.”

He went on for several more moments in this vein, his voice rising steadily before concluding, “You should be ashamed of yourself.”

The exchange, which immediately lit up social media, was a jarring moment as the nation grapples with uncertainty and the president attempts to marshal the federal government’s response.

20 March 2020 (5:10 PM): The Washington Post breaks a story about U.S. intelligence reports from January and February warning about a likely pandemic:⁠

U.S. intelligence agencies were issuing ominous, classified warnings in January and February about the global danger posed by the coronavirus while President Trump and lawmakers played down the threat and failed to take action that might have slowed the spread of the pathogen, according to U.S. officials familiar with spy agency reporting.

The intelligence reports didn’t predict when the virus might land on U.S. shores or recommend particular steps that public health officials should take, issues outside the purview of the intelligence agencies. But they did track the spread of the virus in China, and later in other countries, and warned that Chinese officials appeared to be minimizing the severity of the outbreak.

Taken together, the reports and warnings painted an early picture of a virus that showed the characteristics of a globe-encircling pandemic that could require governments to take swift actions to contain it. But despite that constant flow of reporting, Trump continued publicly and privately to play down the threat the virus posed to Americans. Lawmakers, too, did not grapple with the virus in earnest until this month, as officials scrambled to keep citizens in their homes and hospitals braced for a surge in patients suffering from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Intelligence agencies “have been warning on this since January,” said a U.S. official who had access to intelligence reporting that was disseminated to members of Congress and their staffs as well as to officials in the Trump administration, and who, along with others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive information.

“Donald Trump may not have been expecting this, but a lot of other people in the government were — they just couldn’t get him to do anything about it,” this official said. “The system was blinking red.”

Spokespeople for the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment, and a White House spokesman rebutted criticism of Trump’s response.

“President Trump has taken historic, aggressive measures to protect the health, wealth and safety of the American people — and did so, while the media and Democrats chose to only focus on the stupid politics of a sham illegitimate impeachment,” Hogan Gidley said in a statement. “It’s more than disgusting, despicable and disgraceful for cowardly unnamed sources to attempt to rewrite history — it’s a clear threat to this great country.”

20 March 2020 (8:11 PM): Senate struggles to finalize trillion-dollar stimulus bill as economic calamity grows:⁠

Senators worked late into the night Friday in search of a deal on a trillion-dollar stimulus bill to save the economy from collapsing under the ravages of the coronavirus. They finally left the Capitol around 10:30 p.m. reporting progress but with a number of issues still unresolved. They planned to resume talks Saturday morning.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had hoped to clinch an agreement Friday night in order to ensure a vote Monday on the massive legislation that will allocate enormous sums of money to help individual Americans and businesses large and small that are getting clobbered by the coronavirus crisis. Negotiators now hope they are close enough to finalize an agreement on Saturday.

Agreement appeared near on one major issue — how to structure direct payments to individuals in a way that would effectively flood the economy with hundreds of billions of dollars in cash. The bill McConnell originally released Thursday drew bipartisan criticism because many people would have gotten one-time payments of $1,200 but the poorest Americans — those without federal tax liability — would have gotten as little as $600.

Throughout the day Friday lawmakers of both parties and administration officials voiced objections to that structure, and as the talks broke up late Friday, White House legislative affairs director Eric Ueland told reporters they were near agreement on ensuring that the poorest Americans didn’t get less money.

“I think we are headed in a very good direction to make sure that aid flows directly to lower income Americans as well,” Ueland said.

Overall, Ueland said, “Differences have been narrowed. Ideas and alternatives have been put on the table. Members are directly engaged with each other. And as a result, policy proposals that might ultimately find bipartisan endorsement here in the Senate are clearer tonight than they were this morning.” The legislation’s final price appeared sure to far eclipse $1 trillion.

Remaining unresolved issues included a push by Democrats to add many tens of billions of dollars to unemployment insurance programs, something they have argued is necessary to catch the tidal wave of people bracing for layoffs.

“That is our bottom line. It is our single most important issue,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told reporters about expanding unemployment. “The administration has raised questions, as you know, about how it would be administered. We have said, well, we think in most states it can be handled.”

Nonetheless, participants sounded hopeful about the progress made on the legislation, which was introduced only Thursday. The process, McConnell has remarked, amounts to “warp speed” for the Senate.

“I’m not optimistic, but I’m not pessimistic at this point. Conversation is positive on a lot of good fronts,” said Sen. Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), the №2 Senate Democrat. “There’s still some things that need to be worked out that could be dealbreakers, so it isn’t over.”

As talks intensified, lawmakers and President Trump’s team kept pushing to make the package bigger and more substantial. And even as they worked to scrap limits in the initial GOP bill that would have directed smaller cash payments to lower-income Americans than to others, Trump said the initial disbursement amount was likely to be substantially higher than $1,000.

“We’re not talking about a thousand-dollar check. We’re talking about much more than that,” Trump said Friday. “We’re also talking about doing phases. If this doesn’t work, we’re going to keep doing until we get it going.”

Trump also voiced support for barring any corporations that receive aid from being able to do stock buybacks, or use money to repurchase their stock to drive their equity prices higher, thus enriching shareholders. That issue is not addressed in the bill as initially written, but Trump said he discussed it with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).

“We talked about, as an example, buybacks, stock buybacks. I don’t want to have stock buybacks,” Trump said. “I want that money to be used for the workers and also for the company to keep the company going, but not for buybacks.”

McConnell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin hope to see the legislation pass the Senate on Monday, but it remained unclear whether the negotiators could meet the deadline for such a massive bill, which could be the largest economic rescue in history.

21 March 2020: Trump Writes to Kim Jong-un Offering Help in Virus Fight, North Korea Says:⁠

President Trump has sent a letter to North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, expressing his willingness to help the North battle the coronavirus, North Korea said on Sunday.

“I would like to extend sincere gratitude to the U.S. president for sending his invariable faith to the Chairman,” said Kim Yo-jong, the North Korean leader’s sister and policy aide, in a statement carried by the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency. Ms. Kim lauded Mr. Trump’s decision to write the letter as “a good judgment and proper action.”

In the letter, Mr. Trump “wished the family of the Chairman and our people well-being,” Ms. Kim said, referring to her brother by one of his official titles.

According to Ms. Kim, Mr. Trump also explained his plan to move relations between the two countries forward and “expressed his intent to render cooperation in the anti-epidemic work, saying that he was impressed by the efforts made by the Chairman to defend his people from the serious threat of the epidemic.”

The White House confirmed that Mr. Trump had sent Mr. Kim a letter but did not comment on its specifics.

21 March 2020: Federal law enforcement document reveals white supremacists discussed using coronavirus as a bioweapon:⁠

White supremacists discussed plans to weaponize coronavirus via “saliva,” a “spray bottle” or “laced items,” according to a weekly intelligence brief distributed by a federal law enforcement division on February 17.

Federal investigators appeared to be monitoring the white nationalists’ communications on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app that has become popular with neo-Nazis. In the conversations, the white supremacists suggested targeting law enforcement agents and “nonwhite” people with attacks designed to infect them with the coronavirus.

“Violent extremists continue to make bioterrorism a popular topic among themselves,” reads the intelligence brief written by the Federal Protective Service, which covered the week of February 17–24. “White Racially Motivated Violent Extremists have recently commented on the coronavirus stating that it is an ‘OBLIGATION’ to spread it should any of them contract the virus.”

The Federal Protective Service, part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is a law enforcement agency responsible for protecting buildings owned or leased by the federal government.

The intelligence brief, marked for official use only, noted the white supremacists “suggested targeting … law enforcement and minority communities, with some mention of public places in general.” According to the document, the extremists discussed a number of methods for coronavirus attacks, such spending time in public with perceived enemies, leaving “saliva on door handles” at local FBI offices, spitting on elevator buttons and spreading coronavirus germs in “nonwhite neighborhoods.”

The February document appears to show that at least some white nationalists were already taking the threat of the coronavirus seriously at a time when some in government were downplaying the threat. On February 26, President Trump said that he expected the cases to go down to zero in the United States in “a couple of days.” The Washington Post reported on Friday that intelligence agencies were issuing “ominous” warnings about the virus in January and February.

The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.

21 March 2020: Companies move to produce medical supplies:⁠

The White House says that American companies were increasing efforts to restock hospitals with important supplies. Hanes and General Motors agreed to make masks and ventilators. Christian Siriano, a fashion designer, Dov Charney, the founder of Los Angeles Apparel, and Karla Colletto, a swimwear company, all agreed to repurpose their operations to create masks and hospital garments.

21 March 2020: Hawaii’s governor orders a mandatory 14-day quarantine to arriving visitors and residents:⁠

Gov. David Ige of Hawaii ordered a mandatory 14-day quarantine for everyone arriving in Hawaii, including tourists and returning residents. Mr. Ige called his order the first of its kind in the nation.

21 March 2020 (4:00 AM): Anti-vaxx politicians under fire as coronavirus spreads:

David Zuckerman, the lieutenant governor of Vermont, is an eccentric longtime figure in state politics — a ponytail-sporting organic farmer and Bernie Sanders protege who has proudly fought against government-mandated vaccinations.

But the arrival of the coronavirus has suddenly put Zuckerman on the defensive in his campaign for governor this year: Amid the worsening pandemic, one of his top Democratic opponents is calling out his anti-vaxxer views as dangerous, and attempting to make them politically toxic.

“In moments like this, we see just how critical it is that we support vaccines and make them as available as possible,” said Rebecca Holcombe, the state’s former education secretary who is challenging Zuckerman for the Democratic nomination in the August primary to take on popular Republican incumbent Gov. Phil Scott. “It’s scary that anyone in public office or seeking public office would cast doubt about the value of vaccines. It’s unbelievable this is even up for debate.”

Zuckerman shot back that Holcombe is trying to use a public health crisis to score political points.

“The fact that any political campaign is trying to use this moment for political opportunism is unconscionable,” he told POLITICO. “Right now, my primary focus is to disseminate important health information about the virus and how to keep Vermonters, their families and our community safe…When the COVID-19 vaccine is available for the coronavirus it should be free for all and universally accessible.”

21 March 2020 (10:01 AM): DOJ seeks new emergency powers amid coronavirus pandemic:⁠

The Justice Department has quietly asked Congress for the ability to ask chief judges to detain people indefinitely without trial during emergencies — part of a push for new powers that comes as the novel coronavirus spreads throughout the United States.

Documents reviewed by POLITICO detail the department’s requests to lawmakers on a host of topics, including the statute of limitations, asylum and the way court hearings are conducted. POLITICO also reviewed and previously reported on documents seeking the authority to extend deadlines on merger reviews and prosecutions.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on the documents.

The move has tapped into a broader fear among civil liberties advocates and Donald Trump’s critics — that the president will use a moment of crisis to push for controversial policy changes. Already, he has cited the pandemic as a reason for heightening border restrictions and restricting asylum claims. He has also pushed for further tax cuts as the economy withers, arguing it would soften the financial blow to Americans. And even without policy changes, Trump has vast emergency powers that he could deploy right now to try to slow the coronavirus outbreak.

The DOJ requests — which are unlikely to make it through a Democratic-led House — span several stages of the legal process, from initial arrest to how cases are processed and investigated.

In one of the documents, the department proposed that Congress grant the attorney general power to ask the chief judge of any district court to pause court proceedings “whenever the district court is fully or partially closed by virtue of any natural disaster, civil disobedience, or other emergency situation.”

The proposal would also grant those top judges broad authority to pause court proceedings during emergencies. It would apply to “any statutes or rules of procedure otherwise affecting pre-arrest, post-arrest, pre-trial, trial, and post-trial procedures in criminal and juvenile proceedings and all civil process and proceedings,” according to draft legislative language the department shared with Congress. In making the case for the change, the DOJ wrote that individual judges can currently pause proceedings during emergencies but that their proposal would make sure all judges in any particular district could handle emergencies “in a consistent manner.”

The request raised eyebrows because of its potential implications for habeas corpus — the constitutional right to appear before a judge after arrest and seek release.

“Not only would it be a violation of that, but it says ‘affecting pre-arrest,’” said Norman L. Reimer, executive director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “So that means you could be arrested and never brought before a judge until they decide that the emergency or the civil disobedience is over. I find it absolutely terrifying. Especially in a time of emergency, we should be very careful about granting new powers to the government.”

Reimer said the possibility of chief judges suspending all court rules during an emergency without a clear end in sight was deeply disturbing.

“That is something that should not happen in a democracy,” he said.

The department also asked Congress to pause the statute of limitations for criminal investigations and civil proceedings during national emergencies, “and for one year following the end of the national emergency,” according to the draft legislative text.

21 March 2020 (10:16 AM): Florida attorney files lawsuit calling on the governor to close beaches due to coronavirus concerns:⁠

A Florida attorney is suing Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) to close access to all of the beaches in Florida in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The complaint, which was filed by Daniel Uhlfelder late Friday night, wants DeSantis to be forced to close all of the state’s beaches. DeSantis on Friday closed the beaches in Broward and Palm Beach County and advised Sunshine State residents to practice the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidelines on social distancing if going to the state’s other beaches. Earlier in the week, he also announced that the state’s bars and nightclubs would be closed for the next 30 days.

According to the filing, Uhlfelder has urged DeSantis multiple times to close the remainder of the state’s beaches, but DeSantis has yet to do so.

“The Governor has the responsibility to initiate immediate action to cope with the emerging health problems and try to prevent the spread of infectious diseases,” the suit reads.

22 March 2020: Trump thinks Social Distancing may be worse than the Virus:⁠

Six days after calling for a 15-day period of distancing, Trump tweets that this approach “may be worse than the problem itself.”

22 March 2020 (12:57 AM): Iran’s Khamenei rejects U.S. help offer, vows to defeat coronavirus:⁠

The United States’ offer to help Iran in its fight against the new coronavirus pandemic is strange, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech on Sunday, describing U.S. leaders as “charlatans and liars”.

Washington has offered humanitarian assistance to its longtime foe, the Middle Eastern country most affected by the coronavirus, with 1,685 deaths and 21,638 people infected.

“Several times Americans have offered to help us to fight the pandemic. That is strange because you face shortages in America. Also, you are accused of creating this virus,” said Khamenei, an anti-U.S. hardliner who has the final say in Iran.

22 March 2020 (8:07 AM): Mnuchin Dismisses Report That the U.S. Ignored Coronavirus Warnings: ‘No One Expected’ It:⁠

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday that “no one expected” the coronavirus to spread as quickly as it did, in response to a question about a recent report stating that federal government officials ignored warnings from U.S. intelligence agencies about the virus as early as January.

“I’ve now been on the task force listening to the medical professionals for a long period of time,” Mnuchin said on Fox News Sunday when asked about Friday’s report in the Washington Post. “I said a few weeks ago I felt comfortable traveling on commercial airfare. I did. The situation has changed very quickly and the president has responded to that.”

According to the article, U.S. intelligence agencies issued classified warnings in January and February to members of Congress as well as the Trump administration about the potential global impact of the virus. It further warned that Chinese officials appeared to be minimizing the severity of the outbreak.

Mnuchin, responding to the Post article, said he wanted to be careful when talking about “specific intelligence.”

“I don’t think anybody should second guess the government actions. This has been moving very quickly and I think we have been responding appropriately,” he said.

22 March 2020 (2:00 AM): Miami Herald publishes: Coronavirus is killing us in Florida, Gov. DeSantis. Act like you give a damn:⁠

There are nearly 400,000 people employed in Florida hotels and businesses that support the hotel industry who are out of a job, according to data released by the American Hotel & Lodging Association. That number will soar when those employed in just about every other industry hard hit by coronavirus closures lose their jobs, too.

Unemployment and self-quarantine would be easier to bear if we knew that it would actually reduce the spread of the virus and save lives.

Public health professionals know how to do that, but DeSantis has elected not to put such people in charge. In the absence of coherent, evidence-based marching orders from DeSantis, local officials and industry executives have been making it up as they go along, getting farther out ahead of the curve than the governor.

The consequences of the governor’s hesitating approach are even being exported. Jeffrey Ghazarian, 34, died last week at a Pasadena, California, hospital, just days after a trip to Orlando’s Disney World and Universal theme parks. Pictures of Florida’s crowded beaches, taken days after every expert in the world was sounding the social-distancing alarm, have further cemented our place as an international punchline. Friday, DeSantis closed the beaches in Broward and Palm Beach counties but is being sued by a Florida attorney to close all the beaches in the state.

On Friday, DeSantis issued the most widespread mandatory statewide restrictions on businesses to date — closing gyms, fitness centers and limiting restaurants to delivery service.

The virus is so contagious that universities were closed indefinitely, but the college kids were still mobbing Florida beaches for Spring Break.

Asked to explain, the governor delivered a rambling, incoherent monologue that went on for too long.

But DeSantis thinks he’s doing a heckuva job. He’s not.

22 March 2020: We got to find out:

22 March 2020 (1:25 PM): Reuters reports that the U.S. axed CDC expert job in China months before the virus outbreak:⁠

Several months before the coronavirus pandemic began, the Trump administration eliminated a key American public health position in Beijing intended to help detect disease outbreaks in China, Reuters has learned.

The American disease expert, a medical epidemiologist embedded in China’s disease control agency, left her post in July, according to four sources with knowledge of the issue. The first cases of the new coronavirus may have emerged as early as November, and as cases exploded, the Trump administration in February chastised China for censoring information about the outbreak and keeping U.S. experts from entering the country to help.

“It was heartbreaking to watch,” said Bao-Ping Zhu, a Chinese American who served in that role, which was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2007 and 2011. “If someone had been there, public health officials and governments across the world could have moved much faster.”

Zhu and the other sources said the American expert, Dr. Linda Quick, was a trainer of Chinese field epidemiologists who were deployed to the epicenter of outbreaks to help track, investigate and contain diseases.

As an American CDC employee, they said, Quick was in an ideal position to be the eyes and ears on the ground for the United States and other countries on the coronavirus outbreak and might have alerted them to the growing threat weeks earlier.

No other foreign disease experts were embedded to lead the program after Quick left in July, according to the sources. Zhu said an embedded expert can often get word of outbreaks early, after forming close relationships with Chinese counterparts.

Zhu and the other sources said Quick could have provided real-time information to U.S. and other officials around the world during the first weeks of the outbreak, when they said the Chinese government tamped down on the release of information and provided erroneous assessments.

22 March 2020 (6:35 PM): Trump predicts victory over coronavirus ‘much sooner’ than expected:⁠

As the number of coronavirus-related deaths in the U.S. soared past 400 on Sunday, President Donald Trump reassured Americans that everything would be OK and that it would all be over soon.

Even as he acknowledged the novel coronavirus as an invisible enemy that’s attacking more than 140 countries, the self-proclaimed wartime president predicted “a great victory” in America.

“It’s gonna be a victory that, in my opinion, will happen much sooner than originally expected,” Trump said.

The threat has even infiltrated Congress, where three members have contracted the virus and several others are self-quarantining at home. Two congressmen and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky have tested positive in recent days. The disclosure of Paul’s diagnosis on Sunday quickly led to at least two Senate Republicans, Mitt Romney and Mike Lee of Utah, choosing to self-quarantine, leaving the GOP with a slim 48–47 majority.

Trump said he believed the infected members would “all be fine” and mocked Romney, who crossed party lines earlier this year and supported his impeachment. “Romney’s in isolation?” Trump said. “Gee, that’s too bad.”

The president told reporters he didn’t see any threats to a $1.6 trillion emergency rescue package, even if several Republican members were unable to vote on the legislation while they isolate themselves at home.

22 March 2020 (8:33 PM): Senate falls far short of votes needed to advance coronavirus bill as clash between Republicans and Democrats intensifies:⁠

Senate Democrats blocked a massive coronavirus stimulus bill from moving forward Sunday as partisan disputes raged over the legislation that’s aimed at arresting the economy’s precipitous decline.

Lawmakers had hoped to pass a massive $1.8 trillion bill by Monday but Sunday night they were scrambling to revive talks, with the stock market poised for another sharp drop and households and businesses fretting about an uncertain future.

Negotiations continued even as the initial procedural vote fell short, with 47 senators voting in favor and 47 opposed. The tally was well short of the 60 votes that were needed to move forward. The number of “aye” votes was especially low because five Republicans are quarantined over coronavirus fears.

Although senators of both parties and Trump administration officials vowed to continue negotiating — around the clock if necessary — the failed vote was the latest negative signal about Congress’ ability to come together around the legislation, which aims to inject close to $1.8 trillion into businesses and households. Policymakers are scrambling to address a spike in layoffs and businesses gasping for assistance as millions of Americans stay home to avoid contagion.

23 March 2020: Rand Paul’s Positive Coronavirus Test Sets the (Still Meeting) Senate on Edge:⁠

In another workplace, in another town, the news that a colleague who, days and even hours before testing positive for the novel coronavirus, had been dining and meeting and working out alongside his co-workers might have spurred some drastic measures.

Not so in Congress.

Senator Rand Paul’s announcement on Sunday that he had tested positive for the virus did little to alter the course of business on Monday in the Senate, where lawmakers continued to meet, spar and vote as leaders and top administration officials worked frantically to negotiate the largest economic stimulus measure in modern history.

As states, cities and employers around the country direct Americans to stay at home and shelter in place to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the Senate — nearly half of whose members are 65 and older — continues to defy the recommendations of public health experts. Mr. Paul’s diagnosis, which prompted two other Republican senators to quarantine themselves, only underscored the danger of the situation.

“It is naïve for us to believe that this is the end of the challenge to our membership,” said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the second-ranking Democrat, imploring his colleagues to shutter the Senate and institute remote voting, an idea that has been resisted by congressional leaders in both parties. “We should not be physically present on this floor at this moment — we know better.”

Below the surface, Mr. Paul’s diagnosis prompted fear and anger inside the Capitol. Aides in the Kentucky Republican’s Washington office were anxious and outraged by the senator’s decision to continue working after learning he had potentially been exposed, without telling staff members who could have become infected, according to a person familiar with the situation who insisted on anonymity to describe internal discussions.

Two Republican senators who had dined with Mr. Paul left the Capitol and quarantined themselves as a precaution. And those left in the building on Monday were clearly uneasy as their impassioned pleas for action became freighted with a certain grim subtext.

“We don’t have another day! We don’t have another hour,” said an outraged Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, imploring Democrats to allow a relief package that was still under negotiation to move forward quickly. “We don’t have another minute to delay acting.”

23 March 2020: Prime Minister Boris Johnson locks Britain down:⁠

The lockdown closed all nonessential shops, barred meetings of more than two people, and required all people to stay in their homes except for trips for food or medicine. Those who disobey risked being fined by the police.

23 March 2020: Trump: We wil soon be open for business:

“America will again and soon be open for business. … Parts of our country are very lightly affected.”

23 March 2020 (5:58 AM): Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro says coronavirus crisis is a media trick:⁠

Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has accused his political foes and the press of purposefully “tricking” citizens about the dangers of coronavirus, as Latin America braced for a spike in the number of deaths.

The pandemic has claimed nearly 15,000 lives across the globe and looks set to exact a deadly toll on Latin America in the coming weeks, with many regional governments closing borders and shutting down major cities in a desperate bid to limit the damage.

But Bolsonaro has resisted such drastic measures, dismissing media “hysteria” over coronavirus and calling the illness “a little flu”.

In a tetchy television interview on Sunday night Bolsonaro again downplayed the pandemic and attacked the governors of key states including Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo who have ordered residents to stay at home and are imposing quarantines.

“The people will soon see that they were tricked by these governors and by the large part of the media when it comes to coronavirus,” Bolsonaro said, as his own health officials announced 25 deaths and 1,546 cases of coronavirus in Brazil.

23 March 2020 (10:07 AM): Tokyo Games postponement appears inevitable as countries grow impatient with IOC:⁠

Postponement of the Tokyo Olympics appeared increasingly inevitable Monday as a growing number of countries signaled their athletes would not participate if the Games were held as scheduled this summer, the United States advocated for a delay and Japanese officials conceded for the first time that one was possible.

A whirlwind 24-hour period started Sunday with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach issuing a letter to Olympic athletes, saying the IOC was considering delaying the Summer Games because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Since 1896, the Summer Olympics have taken place every four years except for 1916, 1940 and 1944, when they were canceled because of world wars. Bach said a cancellation had been ruled out and that the IOC would consider different scenarios and make a final decision within the next four weeks.

That long timetable led Canada to call for a postponement Sunday night and say it would not send any athletes to Tokyo if the Games began as scheduled July 24. Australia and Germany followed with similar announcements Monday, and other countries, such as the United States, Britain, Brazil, ­Norway and Slovenia, either urged a postponement or said conditions must improve if they’re to participate.

On Monday night, the United States’ Olympic governing body issued its strongest statement to date, a gentle vote for postponement. In a joint statement, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee chair Susanne Lyons and USOPC CEO Sarah Hirshland said that after polling 1,780 athletes, the USOPC had reached the conclusion that postponement was the best option.

24 March 2020: The Tokyo Olympics delayed until 2021:⁠

Officials announced that the Summer Olympics in Tokyo would be postponed for one year. Only three previous Games had been canceled, all because of war: The 1916 Summer Olympics were canceled because of World War I, and the Summer and Winter Games were canceled in 1940 and 1944 because of World War II.

24 March 2020: India, a country of 1.3 billion, announces a 21-day lockdown:⁠

One day after the authorities halted all domestic flights, Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, declared a 21-day lockdown. While the number of reported cases in India was about 500, the prime minister pledged to spend about $2 billion on medical supplies, isolation rooms, ventilators and training for medical professionals.

24 March 2020: Trump: I’d love to have the country opened up by Easter:⁠

Having tweeted on the economic shutdown that “we cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself,” Trump says in a Fox News town hall he would “love to have the country opened up, and just raring to go by Easter.”

“You’re going to lose a number of people to the flu. But you’re going to lose more people by putting a country into a massive recession or depression.”

On seeking to reopen portions of the American economy by April 12:

“It’s such an important day for other reasons, but I’ll make it an important day for this, too. … I would love to have the country opened up and just raring to go by Easter.”

Trump responds to a request from Cuomo for ventilators, reading from papers in his hand:

“(He) rejected buying recommended 16,000 ventilators in 2015 for the pandemic, for a pandemic, established death panels and lotteries instead. So, he had a chance to buy, in 2015, 16,000 ventilators at a very low price, and he turned it down.”

False. A state study said that many might be needed in a crisis, but it also said there were immediate pressing health needs, and there was no money to buy that many ventilators.

That evening, Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, tells Fox News that Trump is flexible on economic restrictions: “The president clearly listens. I mean, he has this aspirational goal of hoping that we might be able to do it by a certain date. We talked with him about that. We say we need to be flexible. He realizes that and he accepts that.”

• Trump says, “You will have packed churches all over our country, I think it would be a beautiful time and it is just about the timeline that I think is right.”
• As Trump was speaking to Fox, there were 52,145 confirmed cases in the United States and the doubling time for daily new cases was roughly four days.
• The pace of the viral spread was increasing.
• Testing was still in the process of ramping up, and unavailable in many areas.
• Doctors were still “desperate” for masks and other basic PPE supplies.

24 March 2020 (4:31 AM): The Stupid…it’s contagious:

24 March 2020: Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick suggests he, other seniors willing to die to get the economy going again:⁠

Dan Patrick, Texas’ Republican lieutenant governor, on Monday night suggested that he and other grandparents would be willing to risk their health and even lives in order for the United States to “get back to work” amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“Those of us who are 70 plus, we’ll take care of ourselves. But don’t sacrifice the country,” Patrick said on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

His comments followed President Donald Trump’s statements about the country returning to business in weeks rather than months.

Patrick, who said he will turn 70 next week, said that he did not fear COVID-19, but feared that stay-at-home orders and economic upheaval would destroy the American way of life.

“No one reached out to me and said, ‘As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that America loves for its children and grandchildren?’ And if that is the exchange, I’m all in,” Patrick said.

24 March 2020: The U.S. could become the new epicenter of coronavirus pandemic, WHO says:⁠

The United States has the potential to become the new epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic due to a “very large acceleration” in infections there, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

The highly contagious respiratory virus has infected more than 42,000 people in the United States, prompting more governors to join states ordering Americans to stay at home.

Over the past 24 hours, 85 percent of new cases worldwide were from Europe and the United States, WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters. Of those, 40 percent were from the United States.

Asked whether the United States could become the new epicenter, she said: “We are now seeing a very large acceleration in cases in the U.S. So it does have that potential. We cannot say that is the case yet but it does have that potential.”

.”..They (the United States) have a very large outbreak and an outbreak that is increasing in intensity,” Harris added.

However, she identified some positive signs such as more comprehensive testing, and further efforts to isolate the sick and trace their immediate contacts exposed to the virus.

She also referred to “extremely heartwarming” stories of how Americans were helping each other during the crisis.

24 March 2020 (2:03 AM): Russia Swore It Whipped the Virus, and Fox and CNN Bought It:⁠

As the world reels from the novel coronavirus pandemic, Russia is doing its best to turn global turmoil into propaganda fodder. To date, a country of 146 million people straddling Europe and Asia and that has a great deal of commerce with those two great epicenters of the disease reports only 438 confirmed coronavirus cases and no deaths. One previously disclosed fatality has been dismissed by authorities as attributable to other causes.

But according to official statistics from Russian state media, over 52,000 people remain under medical supervision “in connection with suspected coronavirus infection.”

Perhaps the real number of Russia’s coronavirus patients lies somewhere in between.

Garry Kasparov, a world-renowned former world chess champion and the chairman of the Renew Democracy Initiative, told The Daily Beast why the Kremlin’s dubious claims shouldn’t be taken at face value:

“Of course Russia is lying about their coronavirus stats and I can say that confidently because they lie about everything,” said Kasparov. “Dictatorships lie when they have to — and when they don’t; it’s about control. Control of information, shaping reality, and, most importantly, appearing all-powerful and all-knowing. If the regime can be surprised or overwhelmed by a virus, maybe it’s not so powerful after all, a dangerous line of thought for a repressed population to have. Until there is truly independent testing — and the stories we’re hearing out of Russia are not encouraging — we just don’t know what’s going on.”

Even so, Western media outlets have disregarded the Kremlin’s less-than-sterling reputation for honesty and transparency and lauded Russia’s self-proclaimed success in controlling the deadly virus.

In January, Fox News reported Russia’s decision to close its border with China and in early February uncritically repeated the claim that “Russia has only two confirmed cases of the virus, but authorities have taken measures to prevent its spread by hospitalizing people returning from China as a precaution.”

In late February, Fox News stated that “Russia only has three confirmed cases of the COVID-19 disease caused by the virus,” without questioning the probability of such fantastic statistics in light of a pandemic raging in neighboring China.

Last Sunday, showcasing Russia’s coronavirus aid to Italy, Fox News posted photographs released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, with the doors of Russian military trucks adorned with heart-shaped flags that read: “From Russia with love.”

Apparently accepting Russia’s claims as ironclad facts, Fox News fawned: “Russia has so far reported very few confirmed coronavirus cases, noting just 306 infections and one death. As the U.S. and Europe struggle to contain the virus, nations once viewed as rivals are stepping up in the global coronavirus response.”

CNN wrote on Saturday that, “According to information released by Russian officials, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s strategy seems to have worked. The number of confirmed Russian coronavirus cases is surprisingly low, despite Russia sharing a lengthy border with China and recording its first case back in January.”

Kasparov, a persistent critic of Putin, wonders why anyone would believe this stuff, much less report it. “Repeating Russia’s numbers is ridiculous. Trust must be earned, and Putin lies about everything from his invasion of Ukraine to the more directly comparable epidemic of HIV in Russia that officially doesn’t exist. Why should western governments and media treat Putin’s dictatorship in good faith when it’s not returned, and in fact is exploited?”

Russia’s alleged triumph over the coronavirus coincides with Putin’s maneuvers to become the country’s president for life, a role all but assured through pending constitutional changes. Amendments in question have already been approved by both houses of parliament and are now pending a nationwide vote on April 22, which will take place come rain or shine — coronavirus notwithstanding. The possibility of conducting the vote by mail is currently under consideration.

In the meantime, the Kremlin-controlled Russian state media are reminding citizens that the country’s very survival depends on Putin’s leadership. Dmitry Kiselyov, the host of Russia’s most popular Sunday news program, Vesti Nedeli, is leading the way. “Let’s be honest,” he insisted earlier this month: “Russia without Putin is non-viable.”

But there is ample evidence the regime’s information war is being disregarded by Russians in the trenches trying to deal with the reality of the disease. On Monday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin gave the authorities five days to develop a system that would track and notify people who have come in contact with any known carriers of coronavirus. The system would simultaneously notify special regional headquarters set up to fight the pandemic.

Authorities have begun building a 500-person hospital to house coronavirus patients near Moscow and Russian doctors reportedly are alarmed that some cases are being ascribed to pneumonia and seasonal flu without testing. The same state media TV shows that would have you believe everything is under control are being filmed without audiences.

24 March 2020 (11:29 AM): Birx: the U.S. has done more testing in 8 days than South Korea in 8 weeks:⁠

The United States has now conducted more coronavirus tests in the past eight days than South Korea did in eight weeks, according to White House coronavirus task force coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx.

“Probably by today we will have done more tests than South Korea did in eight weeks, in the last eight days,” Birx said during a Fox News town hall. “In the last eight days, we’ve done more testing than South Korea.”

Birx said South Korea has done about 290,000 tests, and the United States has now done over 300,000. She said the U.S. is now doing 50,000 to 70,000 tests per day.

Still, she cautioned that people without symptoms should not get tested, to prioritize tests for those who need them.

Another issue is that testing uses up protective equipment, which is in dangerously short supply in some places, for the health workers administering the tests.

Trump touted the statistic from Birx during the town hall. “I’d love you to say that one more time because that’s a big number,” he said.

24 March 2020 (11:56 PM): Trump-owned Companies Banned From Virus Aid in Stimulus Bill:⁠

The $2 trillion stimulus plan agreed to by White House and Senate leaders would ban any company controlled by President Donald Trump or his children from receiving loans or investments from Treasury programs.

According to a summary circulated by the office of Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, businesses owned by the president, vice president, members of Congress or heads of executive departments would be excluded from receiving that aid. The block also would also extend to companies controlled by their children, spouses or in-laws.

Trump broke with the practice of previous presidents who either divested assets that could cause conflicts of interest or put those assets in blind trusts. Instead, Trump transferred his assets to a revocable trust administered by his elder son, Donald Trump Jr., and Allen Weisselberg, the chief financial officer of the Trump Organization. Several Trump-branded properties have been affected by the virus-induced demand crash, as well as state and local restrictions on going out in public.

The package agreed to early Wednesday morning, would roll out billions in assistance for companies and states and cities, checks to most Americans and loans to small businesses to maintain payroll. The Senate is expected to vote later Wednesday on the measure.

24 March 2020 (8:37 PM): Two House Lawmakers Unveil Resolution Blaming China For The Coronavirus:⁠

A bipartisan pair of House lawmakers on Tuesday unveiled a resolution that blames China for causing a global pandemic and calls on the Chinese government to publicly declare that COVID-19 began there, a move that would almost certainly fuel President Donald Trump’s racist “Chinese virus” rhetoric and the recent uptick in attacks on Asian Americans.

Reps. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) are leading the resolution, which would be nonbinding but reflect a sense of the House. Their measure condemns China for making “multiple, serious mistakes” in its response to the new coronavirus, including the government downplaying the risks of the virus, censoring medical professionals and expelling journalists. It also specifically calls on the Chinese government to “publicly state that there’s no evidence that COVID–19 originated anywhere else but China.”

25 March 2020: The Army is asking retired medics and nurses to come back on active-duty for COVID-19 response:⁠

The U.S. Army is asking retired soldiers who served in health care fields if they want to come back on active duty to help deal with the response to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“These extraordinary challenges require equally extraordinary solutions and that’s why we’re turning to you,” wrote Lt. Gen. Thomas Seamands, deputy chief of staff for Human Resources Command, in an email sent to former service members on Wednesday.

“When the Nation called, you answered, and now, that call may come again,” Seamands wrote.

The email with the subject line “Army Announces Voluntary Recall of Retired Soldiers for COVID-19 Response,” asked interested soldiers to reach out to the Army if they served in a medical field and remain qualified.

According to the email, the service is looking for soldiers to voluntarily come back on active-duty if they were in the fields of Critical Care Officer (60F), Anesthesiologist (60N), Nurse Anesthetist (66F), Critical Care Nurse (66S), Nurse Practitioner (66P), ER Nurse (66T), Respiratory Specialist (68V); or Medic (68W).

“We need to hear from you STAT!” Seamands wrote. “If you are working in a civilian hospital or medical facility, please let us know. We do not want to detract from the current care and treatment you are providing to the nation.

25 March 2020: Senate Approves $2 Trillion Stimulus After Bipartisan Deal:⁠

The $2 trillion economic stabilization package agreed to by Congress and the Trump administration early Wednesday morning is the largest of its kind in modern American history, intended to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and provide direct payments and jobless benefits for individuals, money for states and a huge bailout fund for businesses.

The measure, which the Senate approved unanimously just before midnight on Wednesday, amounts to a government aid plan unprecedented in its sheer scope and size, touching on every facet of American life with the goal of salvaging and ultimately reviving a battered economy.

Its cost is hundreds of billions of dollars more than Congress provides for the entire United States federal budget for a single year, outside of social safety net programs. Administration officials said they hoped that its effect on a battered economy would be exponentially greater, as much as $4 trillion.

The legislation would send direct payments of $1,200 to millions of Americans, including those earning up to $75,000, and an additional $500 per child. It would substantially expand jobless aid, providing an additional 13 weeks and a four-month enhancement of benefits, and would extend the payments for the first time to freelancers and gig workers.

The measure would also offer $377 billion in federally guaranteed loans to small businesses and establish a $500 billion government lending program for distressed companies reeling from the impact of the crisis, including allowing the administration the ability to take equity stakes in airlines that received aid to help compensate taxpayers. It would also send $100 billion to hospitals on the front lines of the pandemic.

“This is certainly, in terms of dollars, by far and away the biggest ever, ever done,” President Trump said at the White House, where he veered from his usual partisan vitriol and praised Democrats for their work on the agreement. “That is a tremendous thing because a lot of this money goes to jobs, jobs, jobs — and families, families, families.”

The deal is the product of a marathon set of negotiations among Senate Republicans, Democrats and Mr. Trump’s team that nearly fell apart as Democrats insisted on stronger worker protections, more funds for hospitals and state governments, and tougher oversight over new loan programs intended to bail out distressed businesses.

Anticipation of the vote sent the markets higher for the second consecutive day, with the S&P 500 up a little more than 1 percent. But investors appeared to grow jittery toward the end of trading as a group of Republican senators delayed a final vote over concerns that the jobless aid was so generous that it could lead to layoffs and discourage people from working.

25 March 2020 (1:04 AM): As coronavirus pandemic surges, hospitals prepare for the grim possibility of ‘ventilator triage’:⁠

Faced with more critically ill COVID-19 patients than equipment to treat them, hundreds of hospitals are mapping out how they can ration care and equipment in order to save the greatest number of patients possible.

In the last two days, guidelines were provided to scores of hospitals around the country, including every hospital in Pennsylvania, that include a point system that could — in extreme cases — end up determining what patients live or die.

“Priority is assigned to those most likely to be saved, and most likely to live longer,” said Dr. Scott Halpern, professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania.

On Monday, Halpern and Dr. Douglas White, chairman of ethics in critical care medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, released guidance to hospitals that is now being adopted throughout the nation.

White said, “the existing approach to allocate ventilators was unfair because it excluded large groups of patients.”

25 March 2020 (1:04 PM)

25 March 2020 (1:05 PM): Last-minute complaints threaten $2T Senate coronavirus emergency aid:⁠

A round of eleventh-hour objections is throwing a curveball into the Senate’s consideration of a mammoth stimulus package.

Senate leadership announced the deal on the $2 trillion bill shortly after 1 a.m., and want to pass it Wednesday as they face intense pressure to take steps to reassure an American public and an economy rattled by the coronavirus.

But a brewing fight over a deal on unemployment provisions is threatening to open the door to a push for broader changes to the bill, which was negotiated by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, warned that unless a group of GOP senators back down from their demand for changes to the unemployment insurance benefits, he would slow-walk the bill until stronger guardrails were put on hundreds of billions in funding for corporations.

“In my view, it would be an outrage to prevent working-class Americans to receive the emergency unemployment assistance included in this legislation,” Sanders said in a statement.

“Unless these Republican senators drop their objection, I am prepared to put a hold on this bill until stronger conditions are imposed on the $500 billion corporate welfare fund to make sure that any corporation receiving financial assistance under this legislation does not lay off workers, cut wages or benefits, ship jobs overseas or pay workers poverty wages,” Sanders continued.

Putting a “hold” on a bill would force McConnell to go through days of procedural loopholes that could delay the bill into the weekend or even early next week.

Sanders’s decision comes after Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) raised concerns that the deal on unemployment benefits would “incentivize” individuals not to return to working.

The unemployment provision includes four months of bolstered unemployment benefits, including increasing the maximum unemployment benefit by $600.

But the GOP senators say that the agreement, which they are calling a “drafting error,” could prompt individuals who would make less working to leave their jobs, or not actively return to working.

“Unless this bill is fixed, there is a strong incentive for employees to be laid off instead of going to work. … We must sadly oppose the fast-tracking of this bill until this text is addressed, or the Department of Labor issues regulatory guidance that no American would earn more by not working than by working,” Graham, Sasse and Scott, of South Carolina, said in a joint statement.

The back-and-forth comes as senators are scrambling to learn the details of the mammoth package.

Graham said they learned the details of the deal during a 92-minute conference call Senate Republicans had on Wednesday morning. They are asking for a vote on an amendment that would cap unemployment benefits at 100 percent of a person’s salary.

Their demand sparked immediate bipartisan pushback.

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) tweeted: “Let’s not over-complicate this. Several Republican senators are holding up the bipartisan Coronavirus emergency bill because they think the bill is too good for laid-off Americans.

A Senate GOP aide pushed back against the four senators, underscoring the divisions within the caucus, saying that “nothing in this bill incentivizes businesses to lay off employees, in fact, it’s just the opposite.”

“Each state has a different UI program, so the drafters opted for a temporary across-the-board UI boost of $600, which can deliver needed aid in a timely manner rather than burning time to create a different administrative regime for each state. … It’s also important to remember that nobody who voluntarily leaves an available job is eligible for UI,” the aide added.

25 March 2020 (1:45 PM): Right-Wing Influencers Are Convinced Dr. Anthony Fauci Is Working With Hillary Clinton To Undermine Donald Trump:⁠

Right-wing influencers and QAnon supporters are waging an information war against Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and top-ranking member of the White House’s Coronavirus Task Force. They are falsely claiming that Fauci is working with Hillary Clinton and the deep state to cause an economic collapse and discredit President Donald Trump.

Followers of the QAnon conspiracy theory, a labyrinthine belief system that posits that President Trump is waging a secret war against a global criminal organization, have spent much of the COVID-19 outbreak struggling to fit the disease into their narratives. At first, they theorized the virus was a bioweapon created by former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. Then, following remarks last month from radio host Rush Limbaugh, a sizable contingent suggested that the virus was actually a deep state hoax meant to damage Trump politically.

In recent days, their baseless speculations have settled on Fauci. QAnon-supporting radio host Bill Mitchell has been the biggest promoter of the latest theory. For weeks, Mitchell has been spinning a conspiracy theory that Fauci is a “Democrat plant” and nicknamed him “Dr. #FearPorn.” Mitchell’s first tweets about Fauci date back to March 3, when Fauci first suggested the closure of schools and businesses.

“Sorry President Trump, but replace this crackpot,” Mitchell tweeted. Several minutes later, Mitchell tweeted about Fauci again, “Have you ever seen the market drop 1000 points AFTER a 50 basis point Fed cut? That’s #FearPorn. Thanks, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Mitchell’s ire against Fauci has seemed to grow over time, as he insists the doctor is spreading fear about the outbreak to hurt the US economy. On March 8, Mitchell tweeted a link to a Fox News article about Fauci, writing, “AM I WRONG THINKING THIS FAUCI GUY IS A BIG DEMOCRAT SPREADING FEAR PORN?”

A week later, Mitchell shared a 2009 NIH interview with Fauci providing an update about the then-outbreak of H1N1 influenza. Mitchell insisted Fauci’s apparently calmer demeanor in the video — which was conducted during the Obama administration — was proof that the doctor was now sowing fear about the coronavirus to discredit Trump.

“You’ll notice none of the over-the-top hyperbole — none of the panic-inducing rhetoric. Watch for yourselves,” Mitchell tweeted.

On the evening of March 20, Mitchell tweeted about Fauci 36 times in 30 minutes. Mitchell was enraged at Fauci going on CNN and publicly disagreeing with Trump’s suggestion that the CDC should allow the use of the anti-malaria drug chloroquine. Subsequently, a man died and his wife needed critical care after they both took a drug containing chloroquine phosphate meant for aquariums after hearing the president speak about the drug.

Mitchell’s tweetstorm against Fauci was intense. He repeatedly accused Fauci of being a Democrat plant, reshared the 2009 H1N1 interview, ran Twitter polls asking his followers if they thought Fauci was a Democrat, accused him of destroying the economy, and demanded Trump fire him.

Mitchell finished his tweetstorm by digging through WikiLeaks’ collection of leaked emails and found an email Fauci sent to Clinton in 2013. “Is Fauci a Hillary plant? Think about this. Trump makes a hopeful statement on #hydrochloroquine and Fauci immediately runs to #CNN, Trump’s most hated #FakeNews outlet to contradict him? That is EXACTLY what a Hillary plant would do,” he tweeted.

It created a swarm. Mitchell’s discovery was written up by pro-Trump blog the Gateway Pundit, which linked to his tweet and another containing a screenshot of a different Fauci email to Clinton.

The next day, conservative online magazine American Thinker published a piece titled “Anthony Fauci, the NIH’s face of the coronavirus, is a Deep-State Hillary Clinton–loving stooge.” American Thinker also picked up the 2009 H1N1 interview. “It seems some viral infection pandemics are more equal than others. At least when it comes to burning a vibrant Trump economy to the ground,” the article read. (The piece was shared Sunday by Fox News host Laura Ingraham.)

The same press conference during which Fauci sparred with Trump over chloroquine ended with a viral moment where the doctor put his hand over his face, seemingly in embarrassment, as the president joked that the State Department was “the deep state Department.” (Fauci later claimed he had a lozenge stuck in his throat.)

The Fauci facepalm was seized on by Shiva Ayyadurai, a GOP Senate candidate in Massachusetts who questionably claimed to have invented email and was briefly romantically connected to actor Fran Drescher. On March 20, Ayyadurai tweeted, “Time to expose ‘Deep State’ Emperor Fauci & his ‘illustrious’ career of #FakeScience imposing ‘one-size-fits-all’ Medieval Mandated Medicine to profit his BIG PHARMA minions, [at] the expense of crashing our economy.”

Ayyadurai also shared Fauci’s email to Clinton and has made several Periscope videos accusing Fauci of being a member of the deep state. Ayyadurai’s video, titled “How To Kill Coronavirus,” was removed from YouTube for violating community standards. It told people to breathe in hot air from hair dryers.

On Tuesday, QAnon influencer Greg Rubini accused Fauci of making the novel coronavirus in 2015, receiving over 3,000 retweets.

The conspiracy theory has also been spreading on 4chan. On the site’s /pol/ message board, anonymous users have posted dozens of huge threads about Fauci, implying he’s part of a global pedophile ring after surfacing a photo of him and singer Elton John, claiming Trump has secretly fired him, and accusing him of being part of a global Jewish cabal.

The campaign against Fauci is quickly becoming more mainstream — especially as Trump looks to put economic growth ahead of mitigating the damage caused by the virus. Fauci could become a target for conservative outlets like Fox News. Right now, the channel is still backing him, but that narrative could already be shifting. On Sunday, Fox News host Steve Hilton sniped at Fauci for saying that he would be fine overreacting to a public health crisis.

“Well that’s easy for him to say. He’ll still have a job at the end of this, whatever happens,” Hilton said. “Our ruling class and their TV mouthpieces — whipping up fear over this virus. They can afford an indefinite shutdown, working Americans can’t, they’ll be crushed by it.”

Ingraham may have already telegraphed Fox News’ newest narrative for Fauci in a tweet the Fox anchor posted Tuesday. “The left-wing media’s methods are so transparent,” she wrote. “1. Pressure Fauci to criticize @realDonaldTrump in interviews. 2. Hope this leads to a blowup. 3. Slam Trump for not listening to doctors. 4. Blame him for everything.”

25 March 2020 (3:17 PM): Ohio to run all-mail primary through April 28:⁠

Ohio lawmakers have extended mail voting in the state’s primaries until April 28 — but civil rights groups warn the plan could disenfranchise large groups of voters after coronavirus concerns delayed the state’s original primary on March 17.

The Ohio state legislature passed the primary changes as part of an overarching coronavirus response bill, and Gov. Mike DeWine indicated he will soon sign it.

Ohio’s primaries were thrown into chaos last week after DeWine said on the eve of the election that he did not believe it was safe for voters to head to the polls. DeWine said he did not have the authority to unilaterally postpone the election, and his administration supported a lawsuit that sought to delay the primary. After an Ohio court shot down that lawsuit, DeWine’s top public health office ordered polling places closed on Tuesday, effectively delaying the primary without legally pushing back the election date.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose issued a directive last week, following the polls closure, that said the primary was postponed until June 2. But the legislature’s coronavirus response package nullifies LaRose’s order, after lawmakers argued LaRose did not have that authority.

The new law instructs LaRose’s office to send a postcard to every registered voter in the state to notify them of “the methods by which the elector may obtain an application for absent voter’s ballots,” along with relevant deadlines. But the statute does not actually mail every voter an absentee ballot request.

“Please know that if I could send an absentee request to every voter in this primary I would,” LaRose said in a tweet. “Unfortunately [state regulations] prohibits me from doing so and [this bill] did not address that.”

Ballots must be received by 7:30 p.m. on April 28, or postmarked on or before April 27 and received by May 8 to count — a tight turnaround for a state whose election was marred by late confusion. An extremely limited group of voters will be able to vote in-person on April 28, including disabled voters and those without a home address, but for most people, that option won’t be available.

Voting rights groups immediately expressed concern over the new primary, arguing that it disenfranchised voters.

“The April 28 deadline is unworkable,” tweeted Mike Brickner, the Ohio state director of the group All Voting is Local. “It will take time to print & send out postcards to 7.2 million Ohioans. Every piece of mail typically takes 3–5 days. Not sending an app directly to voters draws out already tight timeline.”

Brickner’s concerns were echoed by state affiliates of the ACLU and Common Cause.

A petition circulated by the state affiliate of the League of Women Voters called for a primary no earlier than mid-May and urged the voter registration deadline to be extended until 30 days before the primary.

In a statement, LaRose said he disapproved of the plan passed by lawmakers but would work to fulfill it.

“It’s disappointing that they’ve instead chosen to significantly reduce the time provided for Ohio to bring this primary to a close,” said LaRose, a Republican. “Though I advocated for a different plan, the legislature has spoken, and I will uphold my oath of office by doing everything in my power over the next 34 days to ensure that every Ohio voter has the opportunity to safely make their voice heard.”

25 March 2020 (3:21 PM): Man Who Planned to Bomb Hospital Amid Pandemic Dies in Incident With FBI:⁠

A domestic terrorism suspect in Belton, Missouri who allegedly planned to car bomb a hospital struggling with the coronavirus pandemic died while the FBI was trying to arrest him Tuesday, the agency confirmed. It is currently unclear whether FBI agents shot him or how he died.

The news comes at a time when counterterrorism experts have warned neo-Nazi extremists adhering to ‘accelerationism’ — a hyper-violent doctrine among the far-right seeking to hasten the collapse of society through terrorist acts — have discussed using the global coronavirus pandemic to spur the disintegration of vulnerable governments dealing with the crisis.

After a months-long domestic terrorism investigation into Timothy Wilson, 36, the FBI determined he was a “violent extremist” and an imminent threat to public safety. Counterterrorism agents intercepted him and attempted to arrest him as he picked up what the agency believed was a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) meant for the attack. The FBI said that Wilson was trying to take advantage of the coronavirus crisis.

“With the current health crisis, Wilson decided to accelerate his plan to use a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device in an attempt to cause severe harm and mass casualties,” the FBI said. “Wilson considered various targets and ultimately settled on an area hospital in an attempt to harm many people, targeting a facility that is providing critical medical care in today’s environment.”

“Wilson had taken the necessary steps to acquire materials needed to build an explosive device,” the statement continued.

While multiple local media reports suggest Wilson, who the FBI said was armed at the time of arrest, was killed by a federal agent, the release indicated he was injured during the operation but doesn’t make it clear whether he died in a gunfight or if he killed himself. The New York Times reported Wilson considered targeting a school with a large population of black students, a mosque, and synagogue before ultimately settling on the hospital.

25 March 2020 (3:23 PM): Brazil’s Bolsonaro, channeling Trump, dismisses coronavirus measures — it’s just ‘a little cold’:⁠

He said self-isolation was “mass confinement.” He called the novel coronavirus a “little cold.” He asked, if only people older than 60 are at risk, “why close the schools?”

This was Jair Bolsonaro, leader of Latin America’s largest country, calling on Brazilians to return to jobs, public spaces and commerce amid the coronavirus pandemic, contradicting not only his own health officials, but also the global consensus on how to see countries through the pandemic without a crippling loss of life.

It was a portrait of Bolsonaro isolated and unbound: Alone before the camera, attacking the media, undermining political opponents, indulging talking points he’s used since the crisis began even as the disturbing reality overtook his sanguine predictions.

“Most of the media has been countervailing,” he declared in a national address Tuesday. “They spread the sensation of dread, with their flagship the high number of victims in Italy. The perfect scenario to be used by the media to spread hysteria.”

“In my particular case,” the 65-year-old former army officer added, “with my history as an athlete, if I were infected by the virus, I wouldn’t need to worry. I wouldn’t feel anything or, if very affected, it would be like a little flu or little cold.”

Rather than calming panic and confusion, Bolsonaro’s pronouncements appear to be only fueling them. As confirmed cases and deaths mount — Brazil leads Latin America in both — fear is growing over whether the country’s institutions and leaders will rise to the challenge of a historic moment, with far less room for error than wealthier countries already in the full grip of coronavirus.

The minister of health has warned the health system will collapse by the end of April. Millions of already impoverished people face weeks without income. Hunger could sweep the country. Rio and Sao Paulo clang each night with the sound of panelaços, pot-and-pan-banging protests against Bolsonaro’s dismissal of the virus.

But to Bolsonaro, things aren’t that bad. He says the measures being taken by state governors to slow the disease’s spread — encouraging social isolation, closing churches, malls and schools, banning large crowds — are needlessly excessive.

“It will pass shortly,” he predicted Tuesday. He called on businesses and schools to reopen. “Our lives have to continue; jobs should be maintained.”

25 March 2020 (5:00 PM): Politico reports: Trump team failed to follow NSC’s pandemic playbook:⁠

The Trump administration, state officials and even individual hospital workers are now racing against each other to get the necessary masks, gloves and other safety equipment to fight coronavirus — a scramble that hospitals and doctors say has come too late and left them at risk. But according to a previously unrevealed White House playbook, the government should’ve begun a federal-wide effort to procure that personal protective equipment at least two months ago.

“Is there sufficient personal protective equipment for healthcare workers who are providing medical care?” the playbook instructs its readers, as one early decision that officials should address when facing a potential pandemic. “If YES: What are the triggers to signal exhaustion of supplies? Are additional supplies available? If NO: Should the Strategic National Stockpile release PPE to states?”

The strategies are among hundreds of tactics and key policy decisions laid out in a 69-page National Security Council playbook on fighting pandemics, which POLITICO is detailing for the first time. Other recommendations include that the government move swiftly to fully detect potential outbreaks, secure supplemental funding and consider invoking the Defense Production Act — all steps in which the Trump administration lagged behind the timeline laid out in the playbook.

“Each section of this playbook includes specific questions that should be asked and decisions that should be made at multiple levels” within the national security apparatus, the playbook urges, repeatedly advising officials to question the numbers on viral spread, ensure appropriate diagnostic capacity and check on the U.S. stockpile of emergency resources.

25 March 2020 (5:41 PM): The Trump Adminstration insists that the U.N. call out Chinese origins of coronavirus:⁠

The Trump administration is pushing the U.N. Security Council to call attention to the Chinese origins of the coronavirus, four diplomats posted to the United Nations told NBC News, triggering a stalemate as the global body seeks to cobble together a response to the pandemic.

Talks among U.N. Security Council nations over a joint declaration or resolution on the coronavirus have stalled over U.S. insistence that it explicitly state that the virus originated in Wuhan, China, as well as exactly when it started there. China’s diplomats are enraged according to the diplomats, even as they seek to put their own language into the statement praising China’s efforts to contain the virus.

26 March 2020: Man Charged With Making Death Threats to Nancy Pelosi in Coronavirus Rant:⁠

A Texas man, ranting on social media about the congressional response to the coronavirus outbreak, has been charged with making death threats to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats, federal prosecutors announced on Thursday.

Gavin Weslee Blake Perry, 27, of Wichita Falls, Texas, wrote on his personal Facebook page on Monday that Ms. Pelosi was part of a satanic cult and that she and other Democrats should be killed, the authorities said.

The posts were still online as of Thursday night.

Prosecutors said that Mr. Perry wrote, “If youre a dem or apart of the establishment in the democrats side I view you as a criminal and a terrorist and I advise everyone to Go SOS and use live rounds.”

The post, which used an abbreviation for “shoot on sight,” included a screenshot of what appeared to be two tweets by Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader. One, by Mr. Schumer himself, was critical of President Trump’s handling of the health emergency.

The second was written by someone impersonating Mr. Schumer and criticized Mr. Trump for barring travelers from entering the United States from China.

“Shoot to kill,” Mr. Perry wrote, according to prosecutors. “This is a revolution.”

Mr. Perry was charged with transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce and faces up to five years in prison.

Mr. Perry, who was arrested on Wednesday and remains in custody, did not have a lawyer as of Thursday night, according to court records. He made an initial appearance in United States District Court in Northern Texas on Thursday via videoconference.

The threats against Ms. Pelosi were posted beneath an article from an anti-abortion website that Mr. Perry shared on Facebook.

“Nancy pelosi is apart of a santanic cult and so are rhe people who work closly with her,” Mr. Perry wrote, according to prosecutors. “Dems of the establishment will be removed at any cost necessary and yes that means by death.”

Ms. Pelosi’s office declined to comment, and Mr. Schumer’s office said it could not immediately comment on Thursday night.

26 March 2020: The United States takes the worldwide lead in confirmed coronavirus cases:⁠

The United States officially becomes the country hardest hit by the pandemic, with at least 81,321 confirmed infections and more than 1,000 deaths. This was more reported cases than in China, Italy or any other country.

26 March 2020: Trump Says He Will Label Regions by Risk of Coronavirus Threat:⁠

President Trump said Thursday that he planned to label different areas of the country as at a “high risk, medium risk or low risk” to the spread of the coronavirus, as part of new federal guidelines to help states decide whether to relax or enhance their quarantine and social distancing measures.

“Our expanded testing capabilities will quickly enable us to publish criteria, developed in close coordination with the nation’s public health officials and scientists, to help classify counties with respect to continued risks posed by the virus,” Mr. Trump said in a letter to the nation’s governors.

In it, the president thanked Republican and Democratic governors alike for “stepping up to help America confront this unprecedented global pandemic.”

But in a video teleconference with governors to discuss the response to the virus, and in a television appearance late Thursday night, Mr. Trump struck a less conciliatory tone, criticizing some of them instead for “taking” from the federal government.

In the call, he rebuffed a plea from Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington for a more forceful response to the outbreak, according to two officials familiar with the conversation. Later, during an interview with the Fox News host Sean Hannity, the president singled out Mr. Inslee as well as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan for requesting federal aid at all.

“We have people like Governor Inslee, he should be doing more,” Mr. Trump said. “He shouldn’t be relying on the federal government.” The president called Mr. Inslee a “failed presidential candidate” who was “always complaining.”

As for Ms. Whitmer, who has sent Mr. Trump a request for a major disaster declaration for her state, he did not refer to her by name.

“We had a big problem with a woman governor — you know who I’m talking about — from Michigan,” the president said. “All she does is sit there and blame the federal government, she doesn’t get it done and we send her a lot.” He said he did not like dealing with governors who “take and then they complain” and described Ms. Whitmer as a new governor who “has not been pleasant.”

He also reiterated his desire to start opening up some parts of the country in the near future. “I think we can start by opening up certain parts of the country, the farm belt, certain parts of the Midwest, other places,” he said.

26 March 2020: After Considering $1 Billion Price Tag for Ventilators, White House Has Second Thoughts:⁠

The White House had been preparing to reveal on Wednesday a joint venture between General Motors and Ventec Life Systems that would allow for the production of as many as 80,000 desperately needed ventilators to respond to an escalating pandemic when word suddenly came down that the announcement was off.

The decision to cancel the announcement, government officials say, came after the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it needed more time to assess whether the estimated cost was prohibitive. That price tag was more than $1 billion, with several hundred million dollars to be paid upfront to General Motors to retool a car parts plant in Kokomo, Ind., where the ventilators would be made with Ventec’s technology.

Government officials said that the deal might still happen but that they are examining at least a dozen other proposals. And they contend that an initial promise that the joint venture could turn out 20,000 ventilators in short order had shrunk to 7,500, with even that number in doubt. Longtime emergency managers at FEMA are working with military officials to sort through the competing offers and federal procurement rules while under pressure to give President Trump something to announce.

By early Thursday evening, at the coronavirus task force’s regular news briefing, where the president often appears, there was still nothing to disclose, and the outcome of the deliberations remained unclear.

But a General Motors spokesman said that “Project V,” as the ventilator program is known, was moving very fast, and a company official said “there’s no issue with retooling.”

A Ventec representative agreed.

“Ventec and G.M. have been working at breakneck speed to leverage our collective expertise in ventilation and manufacturing to meet the needs of the country as quickly as possible and arm medical professionals with the number of ventilators needed to save lives,” said Chris O. Brooks, Ventec’s chief strategy officer.

The only thing missing was clarity from the government about how many ventilators they needed — and who would be paid to build them.

26 March 2020 (6:54 AM): A record 3.3 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits as the coronavirus slams economy:⁠

A record 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, as restaurants, hotels, barber shops, gyms and more shut down in a nationwide effort to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

Last week saw the biggest jump in new jobless claims in history, surpassing the record of 695,000 set in 1982. Many economists say this is the beginning of a massive spike in unemployment that could result in over 40 million Americans losing their jobs by April.

Laid off workers say they waited hours on the phone to apply for help. Websites in several states, including New York and Oregon, crashed because so many people were trying to apply at once.

“The most terrifying part about this is this is likely just the beginning of the layoffs,” said Martha Gimbel, a labor economist at Schmidt Futures.

The nation’s unemployment rate was 3.5 percent in February, a half-century low, but that has likely risen already to 5.5 percent, according to calculations by Gimbel. The nation hasn’t seen that level of unemployment since 2015.

26 March 2020 (7:23 AM): China Is Open for Business, but the Postcoronavirus Reboot Looks Slow and Rocky:

More than two months after imposing quarantines to counter the coronavirus, China is getting back to work. It is a slow and rocky process, one that rests on the world battling back successfully against the pandemic.

With new infections dwindling, factories are restarting, stores are reopening, and people are venturing outdoors. In some ways, China is where the U.S. and Europe hope to be within weeks or months.

Yet many Chinese factories find demand for their products has evaporated. Consumers in China and elsewhere are reluctant to spend over worries about what they have lost and what lies ahead.

For U.S. businesses tied to global trade, exporters and multinational companies, China’s limited return to normal foreshadows the potential for a sluggish U.S. recovery. Consumption, which makes up more than two-thirds of the American economy, looks to be hobbled by lost jobs, fallen income and diminished confidence for an unknown period. Even countries emerging from national lockdowns later than others will likely see weaker demand among trading partners also hurt.

26 March 2020 (10:00 AM): Coronavirus: Mexicans demand crackdown on Americans crossing the border:⁠

Mexican protesters have shut a US southern border crossing amid fears that untested American travellers will spread coronavirus.

Residents in Sonora, south of the US state of Arizona, have promised to block traffic into Mexico for a second day after closing a checkpoint for hours on Wednesday.

They wore face masks and held signs telling Americans to “stay at home”.

Jose Luis Hernandez, a group member, told the Arizona Republic: “There are no health screenings by the federal government to deal with this pandemic. That’s why we’re here in Nogales. We’ve taken this action to call on the Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to act now.”

26 March 2020 (2:25 PM): U.S. government has 1.5 million expired N95 masks sitting in an Indiana warehouse:⁠

Nearly 1.5 million N95 respirator masks are sitting in a U.S. government warehouse in Indiana and authorities have not shipped them because they are past their expiration date, despite Centers for Disease Control guidelines that have been issued for their safe use during the coronavirus outbreak, according to five people with knowledge of the stockpile.

Department of Homeland Security officials had a conference call Wednesday to figure out what to do with the masks, which are part of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s emergency supplies. DHS officials decided to offer the respirators to the Transportation Security Administration, whose workforce has been clamoring for protective equipment, according to three of the people who described the plans on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.

CBP has no plans to offer the masks to hard-hit hospitals, or hand them over to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, three of the people said.

26 March 2020 (8:06 PM): Trump Rejects New York’s Plea For Ventilators: ‘I Don’t Believe You Need’ That Many:⁠

President Donald Trump rejected calls from New York’s governor that the state needed tens of thousands of new ventilators to treat a mass of patients infected with the novel coronavirus, saying he didn’t believe those numbers were accurate.

“I have a feeling that a lot of the numbers that are being said in some areas are just bigger than they’re going to be,” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday night. “I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators. You know, you go into major hospitals sometimes, they’ll have two ventilators. And now all of a sudden they’re saying can we order 30,000 ventilators?”

He added: “Look, it’s a very bad situation. We haven’t seen anything like it, but the end result is we’ve got to get back to work, and I think we can start by opening up certain parts of the country.”

27 March 2020: Trump signs coronavirus relief bill into law:⁠

Mr. Trump signed a $2 trillion measure to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Lawmakers said the bill, which passed with overwhelming support, was imperfect but essential to address the national public health and economic crisis.

27 March 2020 (5:52 AM): After Trump Attacks Whitmer, She Says Vendors Aren’t Sending Desperately Needed Coronavirus Supplies:⁠

After President Donald Trump issued scathing comments about Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, saying she’s “not stepping up,” and “doesn’t know what’s going on,” she told WWJ 950 the state is having trouble getting the equipment they need to fight the novel coronavirus.

“What I’ve gotten back is that vendors with whom we’ve procured contracts — They’re being told not to send stuff to Michigan,” Whitmer said live on air. “It’s really concerning, I reached out to the White House last night and asked for a phone call with the president, ironically at the time this stuff was going on.”

The other stuff was Trump speaking with Sean Hannity on FOX News about Whitmer, a Democrat who has said very pointed things about the federal government’s lack of coordinated response to the coronavirus crisis. Trump said of Whitmer, “She is a new governor, and it’s not been pleasant … “We’ve had a big problem with the young — a woman governor. You know who I’m talking about — from Michigan. We don’t like to see the complaints.”

Michigan’s request for disaster assistance has not yet been approved by the White House, and Trump told Hannity he’s still weighing it.

“She doesn’t get it done, and we send her a lot. Now, she wants a declaration of emergency, and, you know, we’ll have to make a decision on that. But Michigan is a very important state. I love the people of Michigan.”

27 March 2020 (6:58 AM): Alabama Gov. Refuses To Issue Shelter In Place Order: ‘We Are Not California’:⁠

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) said during a new conference on Thursday that she would not issue a shelter in place order that 21 other states have enacted to prevent further spread of COVID-19.

“Y’all, we are not Louisiana, we are not New York state, we are not California,” Ivey told a reporter who had asked about a potential order. “And right now is not the time to order people to shelter in place.”

The governor asserted that businesses need to stay open to provide food, medical supplies and jobs.

“We’ve got have all the materials that are needed to keep Alabamians working as much as we can,” she said.

27 March 2020 (10:23 AM): Thousands of Ukrainians wait at Polish border to get home:⁠

Thousands of Ukrainians queued in long lines on Friday at the last three border crossings with Poland that remain open to get to their homeland before Ukraine closes its borders due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Footage from private broadcaster TVN 24 showed crowds of people, many wearing face masks, waiting outside the railway station in the city of Przemysl to cross the border.

“All this doesn’t meet the Sanepid (Sanitary Epidemiological Service) or Health Ministry recommendations. The expanded restrictions ban gatherings of more than two people, allow only essential travel, and look what you see behind,” the mayor of Przemysl, Wojciech Bakun, said.

27 March 2020 (12:43 PM): Lawmakers from both parties unleash fury at Kentucky congressman:⁠

President Donald Trump called for throwing him out of the Republican Party. Former Secretary of State John Kerry called him an “a — hole.” His Democratic colleagues said he threatened the public safety of everyone in the Capitol. And even his own Republican House leaders tried to talk him out of it, according to a source.

But despite the pleas and taunts, Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie did it anyway, calling for a recorded vote on the largest economic stimulus package in US history, briefly unifying almost all of official Washington in their view of him as a nuisance.

On Twitter, Massie explained his problems with the $2 trillion bill responding to the coronavirus pandemic. He said the bill was “stuffed full of Nancy Pelosi’s pork,” including $25 million for the Kennedy Center, which Trump has defended since it’s “essentially closed.” Massie also said the stimulus “should go straight to the people rather than being funneled through banks and corporations like this bill is doing,” criticizing the legislation’s hundreds of billions of dollars for distressed companies hit hard by the economic fallout.

Massie noted that “millions of essential, working-class Americans are still required to go to work during this pandemic.” He asked, “Is it too much to ask that the House do its job, just like the Senate did?”

For many members of the House, the answer was yes. The outcome of the bill was all but assured; it passed on a voice vote Friday, two days after the Senate unanimously approved of the legislation. The members ultimately came back simply to deny Massie’s motion to request a roll call vote.

But Massie’s move forced members to scramble back to Washington during the middle of the pandemic. Trump said on Twitter that the congressman was a “third rate Grandstander” who “just wants the publicity.”

Rep. Pete King, a New York Republican, tweeted his complaints about being forced to return the Capitol on Friday morning, but did not cite Massie by name.

“Heading to Washington to vote on pandemic legislation. Because of one Member of Congress refusing to allow emergency action entire Congress must be called back to vote in House. Risk of infection and risk of legislation being delayed. Disgraceful. Irresponsible.”

Massie said Pelosi and Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy conspired to create a “cover up” for their members and deny a recorded vote. To Trump, Massie joked, “I’m at least second-rate.”

Democrats pointed out that Massie could’ve easily made clear that he opposed the legislation without trying to force the hands of Congressmen.

“It’s an act of vanity and selfishness that goes beyond comprehension,” said Rep. Dan Kildee, Democrat of Michigan. “He should be ashamed of himself and the country should scorn him.”

Rep. Thomas Suozzi, Democrat of New York said Massie should “cut it out,” saying his family wasn’t happy he was in the Capitol and noted the general “anxiety” about being in the building.

Rep. Dean Phillips, a Minnesota Democrat, wrote on Twitter that Massie should’ve advised his colleagues of his plans on Thursday night “so we can book flights and expend ~$200,000 in taxpayer money to counter your principled but terribly misguided stunt.”

But some of Massie’s Republican colleagues took to the congressman’s defense.

Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, tweeted back at Trump that Massie “doesn’t warrant this dressing down.” Gosar added, “Thomas — Hang tough brother.”

And Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, called Massie on Twitter “one of the most principled men in Congress,” who “loves his country.”

“He is defending the Constitution today by requiring a quorum,” said Roy. “There’s nothing 3rd rate about that, @realDonaldTrump.”

“Back off,” added Roy.

Massie’s move may also have implications for his reelection campaign.

The Republican Jewish Coalition PAC announced Friday that “it will endorse and support Republican Todd McMurtry in his race to defeat Thomas Massie,” as well as fundraise on McMurtry’s behalf. This group is closely aligned with casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a Trump supporter and donor.

Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matt Brooks slammed Massie for having “recklessly decided to hold up the stimulus bill designed to help Americans who are struggling because of the coronavirus,” promising to convey to voters in the district “why it is so important to support McMurtry.”

27 March 2020 (1:26 PM): Trump orders GM to manufacture ventilators under the Defense Production Act:⁠

President Trump on Friday compelled General Motors to manufacture ventilators to help handle the surge of coronavirus patients, using his power under the Defense Production Act.

Trump announced that he’d signed a presidential memorandum requiring the company to “accept, perform and prioritize” federal government contracts for production of the much-needed medical equipment shortly before signing into law a $2 trillion stimulus package to help prop up the economy during this public health crisis.

“Our negotiations with GM regarding its ability to supply ventilators have been productive, but our fight against the virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal course,” Trump said in a statement. “GM was wasting time. Today’s action will help ensure the quick production of ventilators that will save American lives.”

Trump had hinted earlier in the day via tweets that he might take the action, writing what seemed like an order that GM start making the ventilators, but he did not then explicitly state that he was invoking the Korean War-era law.

“As usual with ‘this’ General Motors, things just never seem to work out,” Trump tweeted. “They said they were going to give us 40,000 much needed Ventilators, ‘very quickly’. Now they are saying it will only be 6000, in late April, and they want top dollar.”

“Always a mess with Mary B.,” he added, referring to Mary T. Barra, the company’s chief executive.

“Invoke P,” Trump said in the tweet.

In a subsequent tweet, he explained that “Invoke ‘P’ means Defense Production Act!”

The White House did not immediately respond to questions about Trump’s intentions.

27 March 2020 (2:15 PM): Trump chips away at Congress’ role in coronavirus relief oversight:⁠

President Donald Trump intends to ignore provisions in the newly passed $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill intended to shore up Congress’ oversight of the massive rescue program.

The legislation establishes a “special inspector general” to review and investigate loan decisions made by the treasury secretary as part of the coronavirus relief effort, an accountability measure that was a central part of Democrats’ demands to shore up transparency in the bill. The provision requires the inspector general to notify Congress if he or she is “unreasonably refused or not provided” any information.

But in a signing statement issued shortly after he approved the bill, Trump says he’ll be the last word on whether this provision is followed.

“I do not understand, and my Administration will not treat, this provision as permitting the [inspector general] to issue reports to the Congress without the presidential supervision required” by Article II of the Constitution, Trump said in the signing statement.

Trump also indicated he would treat as optional a requirement in the bill that key congressional committees be consulted before Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of State or U.S. Agency for International Development spends or reallocates certain funds.

“These provisions are impermissible forms of congressional aggrandizement with respect to the execution of the laws,” Trump says in the statement.

Asked about the signing statement on MSNBC, Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the president’s move “no surprise.”

“But Congress will exercise its oversight,” Pelosi said. “And we will have our panel appointed by the House to, in real time, to make sure we know where those funds are going to be expended.”

27 March 2020 (3:48 PM): Trump says he told Pence not to call governors who aren’t ‘appreciative’ of White House coronavirus efforts:⁠

President Donald Trump said Friday that he instructed Vice President Mike Pence not to reach out to governors who aren’t “appreciative” of his administration’s efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus in their states.

“If they don’t treat you right, I don’t call,” Trump said of those state leaders.

“I think they should be appreciative. Because you know what? When they’re not appreciative to me, they’re not appreciative to the Army Corps [of Engineers], they’re not appreciative to FEMA. It’s not right,” Trump told reporters at a daily press briefing at the White House.

The president mentioned Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, both Democrats who have been critical of the White House’s actions to combat the deadly pandemic.

Trump said that Pence “calls all the governors. And I tell him, I’m a different type of person, and I say, ’Mike, don’t call the governor of Washington. You’re wasting your time with him.”

“Don’t call the woman in Michigan. It doesn’t make any difference what happens,” Trump also said he told Pence, who leads the U.S. response to the coronavirus.

27 March 2020 (4:34 PM): North Macedonia joins NATO, adopts alliance’s COVID-19 response tool:⁠

North Macedonia became the newest member of NATO Friday.

“North Macedonia is now part of the NATO family, a family of thirty nations and almost one billion people. A family based on the certainty that, no matter what challenges we face, we are all stronger and safer together,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday.

On Tuesday, North Macedonia began the formal application process to join the European Union.⁠

NATO allies signed the country’s accession protocol in February 2019, and all 29 national parliaments subsequently voted to ratify its membership, according to the alliance.

“In a very difficult moment for our country, for Europe and for the whole world, today we have received beautiful and long-awaited news from Brussels: The Republic of Northern Macedonia is starting negotiations for EU membership. The EU General Affairs Council has agreed that our country should start accession negotiations with the EU as soon as possible,” North Macedonian prime minister Oliver Spasovski said in the country’s official announcement.

Stoltenberg is expected to attend a flag-raising ceremony for North Macedonia in Brussels, Belgium, on Monday, along with NATO military committee air chief marshal Sir Stuart Peach and Zoran Todorov, the Chargé d’Affaires of the Delegation of North Macedonia to NATO.

NATO also announced Friday that North Macedonia has adopted NATO’s Next Generation Incident Command System to coordinate its response to the COVID-19 pandemic and provide the public with rapid updates.

The system was created to allow smoother coordination between government agencies and nonprofits providing disaster response, and to provide the public with real-time information on the current status of the pandemic in their area, as well as information on where to seek supplies like food and medicine.

28 March 2020: The C.D.C. issues a travel advisory for the New York region:⁠

The C.D.C. urged residents of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to “refrain from nonessential domestic travel for 14 days effective immediately.” The advisory did not apply to workers in “critical infrastructure industries,” including trucking, public health, financial services and food supply.

28 March 2020 (10:03 AM): Trump considering ‘enforceable quarantine’ for N.Y., N.J. and parts of Connecticut:⁠

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he was considering an “enforceable quarantine” in the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut area due to the coronavirus outbreak, saying the decision could come as soon as later in the day.

“Some people would like to see New York quarantined because it’s a hot spot. New York, New Jersey, maybe one or two other places. Certain parts of Connecticut quarantined,” Trump said as he left the White House en route of Norfolk, Va. to see off the USNS Comfort, a Navy hospital ship that is headed to New York to provide extra hospital space to help fight the outbreak.

“I am thinking about that right now. We might not have to do it but there’s a possibility that sometime today we’ll do a quarantine, short term, two weeks, on New York. Probably New Jersey, certain parts of Connecticut,” Trump continued.

Trump’s comments left local officials puzzled over what an “enforceable quarantine” would include, as many states have already implemented restrictions, and it appeared that the president had not discussed the idea with governors of the impacted states before floating the idea.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that although he talked to Trump Saturday morning just moments before Trump’s announcement, the possibility of a federally mandated quarantine was not addressed.

“I didn’t speak to him about any quarantine,” Cuomo said. “I don’t even know what that means.”

“I don’t know how that could be legally enforceable,” Cuomo continued, adding, “I don’t even like the sound of it.

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said in a statement that he had been in “close communication” with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Cuomo.

“I look forward to speaking to the President directly about his comments and any further enforcement actions, because confusion leads to panic,” Lamont.

When asked by reporters at the White House to clarify Trump’s proposal, Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., who was recently named chief of staff, said “we’re evaluating all the options right now.”

29 March 2020 (4:55 AM): California governor: 170 ventilators sent from Trump administration were ‘not working’:⁠

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Saturday that 170 ventilators shipped by the federal government to help his state respond to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus were “not working” when they arrived.

Newsom made the remarks during a press conference in which he noted that the number of coronavirus patients in intensive care units had doubled since Friday, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Newsom said that the stockpile of ventilators had been sent to Los Angeles County by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). He noted that a company called Bloom Energy was fixing the equipment.

“Rather than lamenting about it, rather than complaining about it, rather than pointing fingers, rather than generating headlines in order to generate more stress and anxiety, we got a car and a truck,” Newsom said after touring Bloom Energy’s ventilator refurbishing site in Sunnyvale, Calif.

“We had those 170 brought here to this facility at 8 a.m. this morning, and they are quite literally working on those ventilators right now.”

HHS did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill.

29 March 2020 (5:00 AM): As coronavirus cases explode in Iran, U.S. sanctions hinder its access to drugs and medical equipment:⁠

Sweeping U.S. sanctions are hampering Iranian efforts to import medicine and other medical supplies to confront one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks in the world, health workers and sanctions experts say.

The broad U.S. restrictions on Iran’s banking system and the embargo on its oil exports have limited Tehran’s ability to finance and purchase essential items from abroad, including drugs as well as the raw materials and equipment needed to manufacture medicines domestically.

The Trump administration has also reduced the number of licenses it grants to companies for certain medical exports to Iran, according to quarterly reports from a U.S. Treasury Department enforcement agency. The list of items requiring special authorization includes oxygen generators, full-face respirator masks and thermal imaging equipment, all of which are needed to treat patients and keep medical workers safe, doctors say.

The tough measures are part of a U.S. “maximum pressure campaign” against Iran, adopted by the Trump administration after it unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal Iran had signed with world powers.

Iranian medical workers and global public health experts say it is not possible to determine exactly how much U.S. sanctions have affected Iran’s capacity to fight a virus that by official counts has infected more than 35,000 Iranians and killed at least 2,500 — some estimates put the toll far higher — while spawning outbreaks in other countries. But they say it is clear that the Iranian health-care system is being deprived of equipment necessary to save lives and prevent wider infection.

“There are a lot of shortages now. . . . [Hospitals] do not have enough diagnostic kits or good quality scanners, and there is also a shortage of masks,” said Nouradin Pirmoazen, a thoracic surgeon and former lawmaker in Iran.

Pirmoazen, who now lives in Los Angeles, said that he is in regular contact with former colleagues and students at the Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran, which is part of Iran’s National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases.

“Medical staff who want a specific type of medicine or equipment are having difficulty transferring money outside of Iran due to the sanctions,” he said, adding that doctors and nurses at Masih Daneshvari have been overwhelmed by the crisis.

An employee of a major pharmaceutical company in Iran who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that “the sanctions have definitely made the import and production processes longer and more expensive.”

“Some suppliers are afraid and not willing to work with us anymore,” she said. “The sanctions have reduced Iran’s capacity to control the outbreak.”

29 March 2020 (2:36 PM): Manufacturers Seek U.S. Help in Deciding Where to Ship Scarce Medical Goods:

Producers and distributors of medical supplies across the country are raising red flags about what they say is a lack of guidance from the federal government about where to send their products, as hospitals compete for desperately needed masks and ventilators to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The issue is taking on greater urgency as supplies run short in hard-hit regions. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, for example, said the city could run out of supplies after a week, saying in a CNN interview the city would “need a re-enforcement” after that to address a crisis that is certain to last much longer.

Company executives say they are ill-equipped to make decisions about which hospitals and states should first receive their medical supplies and are calling on the government to step in.

“It’s really the allocation piece that’s most important to us right now because we just cannot and never will have a window into what the most urgent need is,” said Scott Whitaker, chief executive of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, a trade association that represents producers of medical devices.

Charlie Mills, chief executive of Medline Industries Inc., a large privately held manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies, said as the company works to ramp up its production of supplies, it is being inundated with orders. He said he would welcome the government having a “strong say” in how to respond.

“All of our customers are wanting more,” Mr. Mills said. “The federal government might be in a better position to decide where it would go.”

Mr. Trump on Sunday met with executives from about a half-dozen medical supplies producers and distributors — including Mr. Mills — as well as executives from United Parcel Service Inc. and FedEx Corp., to discuss how to address the shortage of supplies.

So far, the Trump administration hasn’t provided the companies with formal guidance about where to distribute their products, leaving them to make such decisions on their own. Hundreds of companies last week sent a breakdown of their inventories of masks, ventilators and other medical supplies to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to a document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, and have been waiting for the agency to advise them on which areas are most urgently in need of supplies.

The White House referred a request for comment to FEMA. A spokeswoman for FEMA declined to give a timeline for when the agency would provide allocation guidance to companies. “We have been able to make connections with multiple companies, but due to the large volume of response, the task force is still reading through the offers,” she said.

29 March 2020 (4:34 PM): Trump Blames Hospitals for Coronavirus Mask Shortages:⁠

President Trump has been focused on shifting blame for whatever becomes of the coronavirus outbreak. And on Sunday, he set about blaming hospitals and states for the well-established shortages of equipment to deal with the situation.

During the daily White House coronavirus briefing in the Rose Garden, Trump suggested that hospitals had squandered or done worse with masks and were “hoarding” ventilators and that states were requesting equipment despite not needing it.

Trump’s boldest claim was about masks. He noted that current demand wasn’t commensurate with what hospitals typically use and suggested that masks were “going out the back door.”

“It’s a New York hospital, very — it’s packed all the time,” he said. “How do you go from 10 to 20 [thousand masks per week] to 300,000? Ten [thousand] to 20,000 masks, to 300,000 — even though this is different? Something is going on, and you ought to look into it as reporters. Are they going out the back door?”

Trump added: “How do you go from 10,000 to 300,000? And we have that in a lot of different places. So somebody should probably look into that because I just don’t see from a practical standpoint how that’s possible to go from that to that.”

It wasn’t clear exactly what Trump was suggesting hospitals had done with the masks, given that demand for them has understandably increased exponentially during a global pandemic involving a respiratory disease. (Such masks aren’t needed for all patients.) New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) earlier this month indicated that masks might have been stolen from hospitals and called for an investigation, but he has indicated nothing on the scale of Trump’s remarks.

Later, Trump was asked whether he was accusing hospitals of “inappropriate” use of the masks, and he said he was not.

“No,” Trump said, but then he suggested that might actually be the case. “I want the people in New York to check — Governor Cuomo, Mayor [Bill] de Blasio — that when a hospital that’s getting 10,000 masks goes to 300,000 masks during the same period — and that’s a rapid period — I would like them to check that, because I hear stories like that all the time.”

29 March 2020 (7:14 PM): President Trump extends social distancing guidance until end of April:⁠

Days after President Trump said he hoped the country would be “opened up and raring to go” by Easter, he instead announced on Sunday an extension of federal guidance on social distancing through April, in a continued effort to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

It was an abrupt reversal for the president, who last week tweeted that “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF,” amid a volatile stock market and record applications for unemployment benefits. He made comparisons to car crashes and “a very bad flu season,” downplaying the virus’s potential death toll.

But public health experts widely scoffed at Trump’s idea of packed churches and bustling businesses by Easter on April 12. The nation has reached more than 136,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, and more than 2,400 related deaths — with numbers continuing to climb across the country. New York continues to be hit particularly bad, eclipsing 1,000 confirmed deaths related to the coronavirus on Sunday.

Calling his previous statements targeting Easter “just an aspiration,” Trump said he now expects the COVID-19 death rate to peak in two weeks, around the same time as the holiday.

“Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won,” Trump said at an evening news conference in the White House Rose Garden. “That would be the greatest loss of all.”

Trump said that by June 1, he expects the country “will be well on our way to recovery.”

“The peak, the highest point of death rates — remember this — is likely to hit in two weeks,” he said. “Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won. That would be the greatest loss of all.”

In the press conference, he argues with “PBS NewsHour” reporter Yamiche Alcindor over what the president had said, or hadn’t said, about New York’s need for ventilators. Trump falsely denied saying that governors were requesting equipment they didn’t need.⁠

29 March 2020: Trump: If we only kill 200,000 people we’ve done a good job:

“So you’re talking about [worst-case scenarios of] 2.2 million deaths, 2.2 million people from this. And so if we could hold that down, as we’re saying, to 100,000 — it’s a horrible number, maybe even less — but to 100,000. So we have between 100 and 200,000, and we altogether have done a very good job.”

29 March 2020 (11:57 PM): Exclusive: Justice Department reviews stock trades by lawmakers after coronavirus briefings:⁠

The Justice Department has started to probe a series of stock transactions made by lawmakers ahead of the sharp market downturn stemming from the spread of coronavirus, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The inquiry, which is still in its early stages and being done in coordination with the Securities and Exchange Commission, has so far included outreach from the FBI to at least one lawmaker, Sen. Richard Burr, seeking information about the trades, according to one of the sources.

30 March 2020: Neo-Confederate Group Moves Ahead with Conference Amid COVID-19 Outbreak:⁠

Michael Hill has no intention of letting a global pandemic cancel plans for the League of the South’s annual conference.

The 68-year-old Hill, president of the League, posted the following to the group’s website on March 18.

“At present, we are doing more than simply ‘monitoring’ the situation. We are actively making plans and raising funds to help our members who are in financial straits, and we are moving ahead with our plans for upcoming events, including our 2020 national conference in late June.”

Hill’s decision goes against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recommendations against gatherings of more than 10 people. Older adults, in particular, are likely at higher risk for the disease, the CDC notes. The average age of the League’s state chairmen and national staff is roughly 57.

30 March 2020: More states issue stay-at-home directives:⁠

Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., issued orders requiring their residents to stay home. Similar orders went into effect for Kansas and North Carolina. Other states had previously put strict measures in place. The new orders meant that least 265 million Americans were being urged to stay home.

30 March 2020: Trump: “We inherited a broken test”:⁠

Cases top 163,000. The number of tests crosses the 1 million mark, still behind where the country needs to be. Trump tells Fox News:

“We inherited a broken test” for COVID-19.

Trump’s impossible claim is Pants on Fire. There could be no test before the new virus emerged. China first confirmed its existence Dec. 31, 2019, and shared its genetic sequence Jan. 7. The CDC’s first shipment of tests to states contained tainted reagents. That and bureaucratic delays cost the U.S. several critical weeks in testing.

30 March 2020: Trump: Deaths will be at a low number:

“New York is really in trouble, but I think it’s going to end up being fine. We’re loading it up, we’re stocking it up. … And then by a little short of June, maybe June 1, we think the — you know, it’s a terrible thing to say, but — we think the deaths will be at a very low number. It’ll be brought down to a very low number from right now, from where it’s getting to reach its peak.”

30 March 2020 (6:05 AM): Viktor Orban Takes Sole Command of Hungary With Pandemic Emergency Law:⁠

Hungary’s parliament handed Prime Minister Viktor Orban the right to rule by decree indefinitely, effectively putting the European Union democracy under his sole command for as long as he sees fit.

While governments around the world assume emergency powers to fight the coronavirus, locking down all aspects of every-day life and shutting borders, few democracies have given their governments such latitude without an end date.

Hungary’s ruling party lawmakers overrode the objections of the opposition in a vote on Monday, handing Orban the right to bypass the assembly on any law. The Constitutional Court, which Orban has stacked with loyalists, will be the main body capable of reviewing government actions.

“I don’t know of another democracy where the government has effectively asked for a free hand to do anything for however long,” said Renata Uitz, director of the comparative constitutional-law program at Central European University in Budapest.

The emergency-rule law “poses no threat to democracy,” Orban told lawmakers after the vote.

The legislation’s scope is “limited” and envisions only “necessary and proportionate measures” to fight COVID-19, Justice Minister Judit Varga told journalists on Friday. The cabinet has already been granted emergency powers and the legislation actually gives parliament the right to end that, she said.

Varga asked journalists not to “distort” facts, a crime the legislation makes punishable by as long as five years in jail for anyone deemed hampering the virus fight.

30 March 2020 (11:23 AM): White House asking hospitals to email them data on coronavirus patients:⁠

Vice President Mike Pence has taken the extraordinary step of asking the nation’s nearly 4,700 hospitals to submit via email daily updates to a federal inbox on how many patients have been tested for novel coronavirus, as well as information on bed capacity and requirements for other supplies.

The request from Pence to hospital administrators was a stunning admission by the government that it still doesn’t have a handle on the scope of the fast-moving virus and what it needs to combat it.

The letter also exposed serious limitations to the federal government’s ability to communicate directly with states and health care providers, despite being several weeks into the crisis and after years of planning by both Democratic and Republican administrations on how to prepare the nation for a pandemic flu.

30 March 2020 (1:35 PM): New York: makeshift hospitals set up as Cuomo warns ‘tsunami is coming’:⁠

In New York City on Monday, ghostly white tents were pitched in Central Park, a huge medical ship docked in the harbor and the state’s first temporary 2,500-bed emergency overflow hospital opened, all heralding a new front in the fight against COVID-19 — as the state recorded its first thousand fatalities from the disease.

With 66,497 positive coronavirus cases and 1,218 deaths, New York has become the center of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States. But the governor, Andrew Cuomo, warned on Monday that his state was a harbinger of what’s to come across the country.

“I don’t care if you live in Kansas. I don’t care if you live in Texas. There is no American that is immune. What is happening to New York is not an anomaly,” Cuomo said at a press briefing.

“Anyone who says this is a New York City-only situation is in a state of denial.”

Cuomo hit back at Donald Trump’s repeated assertion that the state has exaggerated its need for life-saving medical equipment.

The governor said on MSNBC on Monday morning: “The science people, the government professionals have to stand up and look the president in the eye and say this is not a political exercise. This is not press relations. It’s not optics. The tsunami is coming.”

30 March 2020 (3:39 PM): Pelosi aims to move fast on next rescue package:⁠

House Democrats are moving rapidly on ambitious plans for a fourth coronavirus relief package, with Speaker Nancy Pelosi eager to put her imprint on legislation that she says could be ready for a vote in the coming weeks.

Pelosi told reporters Monday that Democrats are in the early stages of drafting another major bill that will not only shore up health systems and protect frontline health care workers but could include substantial investments in infrastructure.

“Our first bills were about addressing the emergency. The third bill was about mitigation. The fourth bill would be about recovery. Emergency, mitigation, recovery,” Pelosi said on a conference call. “I think our country is united in not only wanting to address our immediate needs — emergency, mitigation, and the assault on our lives and livelihoods — but also, how we recover in a very positive way.”

But Democrats’ approach could put them on a collision course with senior Republicans, who say they are very much in wait-and-see mode when it comes to another potential multi-trillion-dollar bill and are warning Pelosi not to try to jam the Senate with a progressive plan.

“They’re approaching it — it seems like — as an opportunity to pass their political and ideological agenda. We’re approaching it as, ‘How do we protect the public health and our economy?’ And those are pretty divergent goals,” said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is close to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

The early skirmishing suggests that the next round of deal-making might not go nearly as quickly as the last rescue package, even as economists say much more government assistance is likely to be needed — and potentially soon.

31 March 2020: New school curriculum raises eyebrows in Orban’s Hungary:⁠

Along with a controversial new bill that greatly increases the power of Hungary’s far-right Prime Minister Victor Orban, which has been described by critics as a power grab, the country’s education system is also facing reforms reflecting the government’s nationalist propaganda.

When Orban presented the new National Core Curriculum (NAT) at the end of January, nobody suspected that two months later, all schools in the country would remain closed until further notice.

The coronavirus crisis has practically brought Hungary’s education system to a standstill.

“Apart from a few exceptions, homeschooling is currently not working in Hungary,” Ildiko Reparszky, a teacher at Mihaly Fazeka’s high school in Budapest, told DW.

The state’s online learning platform regularly breaks down. Many teachers and students do not have access to stable internet connections or laptops, especially in the poorer regions of the country.

“The current situation shows how the modernization of the education system has been neglected in recent years,” said Reparszky.

Even though the school system is collapsing, the Hungarian government wants to maintain the launch of its much-criticized nationalist curriculum in September. Protests against it are growing. Teachers’ associations, students, parents, professors and intellectuals have been criticizing the ideologically driven, overloaded new program.

31 March 2020: Wartime Production Law Has Been Used Routinely, but Not With Coronavirus:

Chemicals used to construct military missiles. Materials needed to build drones. Body armor for agents patrolling the southwest border. Equipment for natural disaster response.

A Korean War-era law called the Defense Production Act has been used to place hundreds of thousands of orders by President Trump and his administration to ensure the procurement of vital equipment, according to reports submitted to Congress and interviews with former government officials.

Yet as governors and members of Congress plead with the president to use the law to force the production of ventilators and other medical equipment to combat the coronavirus pandemic, he has for weeks treated it like a “break the glass” last resort, to be invoked only when all else fails.

“You know, we’re a country not based on nationalizing our business,” Mr. Trump said earlier this month. “Call a person over in Venezuela, ask them how did nationalization of their businesses work out? Not too well.”

The Defense Production Act includes a range of authorities including issuing loans to expand a vendor’s capacity, controlling the distribution of a company’s products and the more commonly used power of compelling companies to prioritize the government’s order over those of other clients.

The law’s frequent use, especially by the military to give its contract priority ratings to jump ahead of a vendor’s other clients, has prompted those most familiar with it to question why the administration has been so hesitant to tap it for a public health emergency that as of Tuesday has killed more than 3,600 Americans and sickened 181,000.

“What’s more important? Building an aircraft carrier or a frigate using priority ratings or saving a hundred thousand lives using priorities for ventilators?” said Larry Hall, who retired in August as the director of the Defense Production Act program division at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “If we used the president’s logic, most of our economy is already nationalized. But it isn’t.”

On Friday, the president said he had finally pressed the law into action to force General Motors to step up efforts to manufacture ventilators. Then the federal authorities raided the home of a hoarder in Brooklyn and his warehouse in New Jersey, invoking the Defense Production Act to recoup tens of thousands of surgical masks.

Those actions could presage a wider use of the law now that Peter Navarro, the White House trade adviser, has been appointed the coordinator of Defense Production Act policy. The law gives the government the power to subpoena firms and force companies to fulfill the government’s contractual obligations before those of other clients. Mr. Navarro, who has in the past criticized multinational companies like General Motors and Walmart for cheating workers and sending jobs abroad, appears to relish his new role marshaling American industry.

31 March 2020: Trump warns that the hardest days lie ahead:⁠

Trump asks Americans to be prepared for the “hard days that lie ahead.”

“This is going to be a very painful — very, very painful two weeks,” he said. “When you look and see at night the kind of death that’s been caused by this invisible enemy, it’s — it’s incredible.”

The coronavirus death toll reaches about 3,700

31 March 2020 (5:58 AM): U.S. House, Senate leaders split on need for more coronavirus legislation:⁠

The nation’s top two congressional leaders were divided on Tuesday over the need for more legislation to deal with the fallout from the coronavirus crisis after three earlier bills were approved, including a $2 trillion economic relief measure.

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers needed to take up a fourth coronavirus-related bill to focus on recovery in the aftermath of the outbreak, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged a “wait-and-see” approach.

“I hope that in this next bill that we will be able to address the concerns of our state and local governments. That is absolutely essential. We need to do more,” Pelosi, a Democrat, told MSNBC in an interview.

McConnell, speaking on conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt’s syndicated program, said policymakers should instead wait to see how the crisis unfolded in coming days and weeks before jumping on further legislation.

“We’ll have to wait and see,” the Republican Senate leader said, adding that lawmakers first need to see the effect of the latest recovery measure aimed at shoring up the economic freefall in the wake of massive closures aimed at stemming the outbreak.

31 March 2020 (12:39 PM): Governors plead for medical equipment from federal stockpile plagued by shortages and confusion:⁠

As states across the country have pleaded for critical medical equipment from a key national stockpile, Florida has promptly received 100 percent of its first two requests — with President Trump and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis both touting their close relationship.

States including Oklahoma and Kentucky have received more of some equipment than they requested, while others such as Illinois, Massachusetts, and Maine have secured only a fraction of their requests.

It’s a disparity that has caused frustration and confusion in governors’ offices across the country, with some officials wondering whether politics is playing a role in the response.

Governors are making increasingly frantic requests to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for materials. State and congressional leaders are flooding FEMA with letters and calls seeking clarity about how it is allocating suddenly in-demand resources such as masks, ventilators, and medical gowns.

“Frustration level is high,” Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) said of the struggle to find ventilators for patients infected by the novel coronavirus. “We’re hoping we’ll be able to get them. The federal government needs to help us with that. There’s no question.

31 March 2020 (1:26 PM): A son used a bucket truck to visit his mother on the third floor of her assisted living home:

An Ohio arborist with a bucket truck is making a strong entry for son of the year award.

Charley Adams hasn’t been able to visit his mom Julie at her Ohio assisted living home because of coronavirus restrictions, so he came up with a clever way to visit her without violating social distancing rules.

Adams owns Adams Tree Preservation in Youngstown and like any tree service business, he has a truck with a bucket attached to an adjustable boom for trimming hard-to-reach branches.

The truck’s boom is tall enough to reach his 80-year-old mom’s third-floor window, so he drove over for a visit. He said he checked with Windsor Estates Assisted Living before he came over, and they thought it was a neat idea.

The staff is taking great care of his mom and he appreciates everything they’re doing to keep residents safe, but he said it’s been tough for everyone.

31 March 2020 (1:28 PM): HHS holding up delivery of 2,000 U.S. ventilators, Pentagon says:⁠

A senior military general says the Pentagon has not yet delivered any of the 2,000 ventilators it offered to the Department of Health and Human Services two weeks ago because HHS has asked it to wait while the agency determines where the devices should go.

Lt. Gen. Giovanni Tuck, the Pentagon’s top logistics official, said in an interview with a small group of reporters Tuesday that the military arranged for an initial batch of 1,000 ventilators to be delivered, but HHS asked it to wait.

Tuck also told reporters that of the 5 million respirator masks the Defense Department offered to provide to HHS as personal protective equipment for health care workers and others, about 1.5 million have been sent. He said another 500,000 are due to be shipped this week. The rest will be delivered when HHS asks for them, he added.

31 March 2020 (2:19 PM): Trump rejects Obamacare special enrollment period amid pandemic:⁠

The Trump administration has decided against reopening Obamacare enrollment to uninsured Americans during the coronavirus pandemic, defying calls from health insurers and Democrats to create a special sign-up window amid the health crisis.

President Donald Trump and administration officials recently said they were considering relaunching HealthCare.gov, the federal enrollment site, and insurers said they privately received assurances from health officials overseeing the law’s marketplace. However, a White House official on Tuesday evening told POLITICO the administration will not reopen the site for a special enrollment period, and that the administration is “exploring other options.

31 March 2020 (4:36 PM): U.S. sailors will die unless coronavirus-hit aircraft carrier evacuated, captain warns:⁠

The captain of a nuclear aircraft carrier with more than 100 sailors infected with the coronavirus pleaded Monday with U.S. Navy officials for resources to allow isolation of his entire crew and avoid possible deaths in a situation he described as quickly deteriorating.

The unusual plea from Capt. Brett Crozier, a Santa Rosa native, came in a letter obtained exclusively by The Chronicle and confirmed by a senior officer on board the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, which has been docked in Guam following a COVID-19 outbreak among the crew of more than 4,000 less than a week ago.

“This will require a political solution but it is the right thing to do,” Crozier wrote. “We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die. If we do not act now, we are failing to properly take care of our most trusted asset — our Sailors.”

In the four-page letter to senior military officials, Crozier said only a small contingent of infected sailors have been off-boarded. Most of the crew remain aboard the ship, where following official guidelines for 14-day quarantines and social distancing is impossible.

“Due to a warship’s inherent limitations of space, we are not doing this,” Crozier wrote. “The spread of the disease is ongoing and accelerating.”

He asked for “compliant quarantine rooms” on shore in Guam for his entire crew “as soon as possible.”

“Removing the majority of personnel from a deployed U.S. nuclear aircraft carrier and isolating them for two weeks may seem like an extraordinary measure. … This is a necessary risk,” Crozier wrote. “Keeping over 4,000 young men and women on board the TR is an unnecessary risk and breaks faith with those Sailors entrusted to our care.”

The Navy did not respond to The Chronicle’s requests for comment Monday, but on Tuesday morning as the news spread, the Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly spoke to CNN.

“I heard about the letter from Capt. Crozier (Tuesday) morning, I know that our command organization has been aware of this for about 24 hours and we have been working actually the last seven days to move those sailors off the ship and get them into accommodations in Guam. The problem is that Guam doesn’t have enough beds right now and we’re having to talk to the government there to see if we can get some hotel space, create tent-type facilities,” Modly said.

“We don’t disagree with the (captain) on that ship and we’re doing it in a very methodical way because it’s not the same as a cruise ship, that ship has armaments on it, it has aircraft on it, we have to be able to fight fires if there are fires on board the ship, we have to run a nuclear power plant, so there’s a lot of things that we have to do on that ship that make it a little bit different and unique but we’re managing it and we’re working through it,” he said.

“We’re very engaged in this, we’re very concerned about it and we’re taking all the appropriate steps,” Modly said.

31 March 2020 (4:55 PM): Pence task force freezes coronavirus aid amid backlash:⁠

Last week, a Trump administration official working to secure much-needed protective gear for doctors and nurses in the United States had a startling encounter with counterparts in Thailand.

The official asked the Thais for help — only to be informed by the puzzled voices on the other side of the line that a U.S. shipment of the same supplies, the second of two so far, was already on its way to Bangkok.

Trump aides were alarmed when they learned of the exchange, and immediately put the shipment on hold while they ordered a review of U.S. aid procedures. Crossed wires would only confuse our allies, they worried, or worse — offend them. And Americans confronting a surging death toll and shortages of medical equipment back home would likely be outraged.

Vice President Mike Pence soon realized another step was needed: After a phone call asking a foreign leader’s help with key supplies, he ordered his staff to make sure the review process wasn’t holding up coronavirus-related aid to countries that were assisting the United States.

The incidents have spurred the Pence-led coronavirus task force to scrutinize all of USAID’s deliveries to countries requesting personal protective equipment (PPE) needed to fight the outbreak, according to people directly involved in the discussions, causing tensions between aid officials and task-force members.

The administration has also placed a moratorium on overseas shipments of USAID’s stockpiles of protective gear and is asking that the equipment be sent to the U.S. instead, other officials said.

April 2020 continues in Part 2. Click here to read on.