The Worst Outcome

If somebody other than Donald Trump were in the White House, the coronavirus crisis would not be unfolding this way.

DAVID FRUMMARCH 11, 2020

At every turn, President Trump’s policy to coronavirus has unfolded as if guided by one rule: How can I make this crisis worse?

Presidents are not all-powerful, especially not in the case of pandemic disease. There are limits to what they can do, for good or ill. But within those limits, at every juncture, Trump’s actions have ensured the worst possible outcomes. The worst outcome for public health. The worst outcome for the American economy. The worst outcome for American global leadership.

Read: Trump’s dangerously effective coronavirus propaganda

Trump’s Oval Office speech of March 11 was the worst action yet in a string of bad actions.

Here are the things the president did not do in that speech.

He offered no guidance or policy on how to prevent the spread of the disease inside the United States. Should your town cancel its St. Patrick’s Day parade? What about theaters and sporting events? Schools and colleges? Nothing.

He offered no explanation of what went wrong with the U.S. testing system, nor any assurance of when testing would become more widely available. His own previous promises of testing for anyone who needs it have been exploded as false. So what is true? Nothing.

Layoffs are coming, probably on a very large scale, as travel collapses and people hunker at home. Any word for those about to lose their jobs? Only the vaguest indication that something might be announced sometime soon.

It’s good to hear that there will be no copays on the tests nobody seems able to get. What about other health-care coverage? Any word on that? Nothing.

The financial markets have plunged into a 2008-style crash, auguring a recession, perhaps a severe one. The Trump administration has had almost two months to think about this crisis. It has trial-ballooned some ideas. But, of course, fiscal policy would require assent from the House of Representatives. Trump is still pouting at Speaker Pelosi. So—aside from some preposterously unconvincing happy talk about the economy—again: Nothing.

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DAVID FRUM

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There was one something in the speech: a ban on travel from Europe, but not the United Kingdom. It’s a classic Trump formulation. It seeks to protect America by erecting a wall against the world, without thinking very hard how or whether the wall can work. The disease is already here. The numbers only look low because of our prior failure to provide adequate testing. They will not look low even four days from now. And those infected with the virus can travel from other countries and on other routes. Trump himself has already met some.

The travel ban is an act of panic. Financial futures began crashing even as Trump was talking, perhaps shocked by his lack of an economic plan, perhaps aghast at Trump’s latest attack on world trade. (Trump’s speech seemed to suggest an embargo on European-sourced cargo as well, but that looks more like a mental lapse of Trump’s than a real policy announcement. The ban on cargo was retracted by a post-speech tweet, although the ban remains in the posted transcript of the speech.) Among other things, the ban represents one more refutation by Trump of any idea of collective security against collective threats. While China offers medical assistance to Italy, he wants to sever ties to former friends—isolating America and abandoning the world.

This crisis is not of Trump’s making. What he is responsible for is his failure to respond promptly, and then his perverse and counter-productive choice of how to respond when action could be avoided no longer. Trump, in his speech, pleaded for an end to finger-pointing. It’s a strange thing for this president of all presidents to say. No American president, and precious few American politicians, have ever pointed so many fingers or hurled so much abuse as Donald Trump. What he means, of course, is: Don’t hold me to account for the things I did.

But he did do them, and he owns responsibility for those things. He cannot escape it, and he will not escape it.

More people will get sick because of his presidency than if somebody else were in charge. More people will suffer the financial hardship of sickness because of his presidency than if somebody else were in charge. The medical crisis will arrive faster and last longer than if somebody else were in charge. So, too, the economic crisis. More people will lose jobs than if somebody else were in charge. More businesses will be pushed into bankruptcy than if somebody else were in charge. More savers will lose more savings than if somebody else were in charge. The damage to America’s global leadership will be greater than if somebody else were in charge.

There is always something malign in Trump’s incompetence. He has no care or concern for others; he cannot absorb the trouble and suffering of others as real. He monotones his way through words of love and compassion, but those words plainly have no content or meaning for him. The only thing that is real is his squalid vanity. This virus threatens to pierce that vanity, so he denied it as long as he could. What he refuses to acknowledge cannot be real, can it?

And even now that he has acknowledged, he still cannot act, because he does not know what to do. His only goal now is to shove blame onto others. Americans have to face that in the grip of this epidemic, the Oval Office is for all practical purposes as empty as the glazed eyes of the man who spoke from that office tonight.

DAVID FRUM is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of Trumpocalypse

Copyright © 2020 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All Rights Reserved.

BBC News

Coronavirus: Trump suspends travel from Europe to US

12 March 2020

US & Canada

Video captionThe US President made the announcement from the Oval Office at the White House

US President Donald Trump has announced sweeping new travel restrictions on Europe in a bid to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

In a televised address, he said travel from 26 European countries would be suspended for the next 30 days.

But he said the “strong but necessary” restrictions would not apply to the UK, where 460 cases of the virus have now been confirmed.

There are 1,135 confirmed cases of the virus across the US, with 38 deaths.

“To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe,” Mr Trump said from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening.

“The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight,” he added. The travel order does not apply to US citizens.



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Mr Trump said the European Union had “failed to take the same precautions” as the US in fighting the virus.

A Presidential Proclamation, published shortly after Mr Trump’s speech, specified that the ban applies to anyone who has been in the EU’s Schengen border-free area within 14 days prior to their arrival in the US.

This implies that Ireland is excluded from the ban as it is not one of the 26 Schengen countries. Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania are also EU members without being part of the Schengen area.

Mr Trump spoke just hours after Italy - the worst affected country outside China - announced tough new restrictions on its citizens . It will close all shops except food stores and pharmacies as part of its nationwide lockdown.

He said the travel suspension would also “apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo” coming from Europe into the US. But he later tweeted to say that “trade will in no way be affected” by the new measures.

Mr Trump also announced plans to provide billions of dollars in loans to small businesses, and urged Congress to pass major tax relief measures in an attempt to stymie the effect of the coronavirus outbreak on the economy.

“We are marshalling the full power of the federal government and the private sector to protect the American people,” he said.

What’s the situation in the US?

Officials had said the risk of infection was low for the general US public, but concern deepened after a number of new cases were confirmed earlier this month.

Containment efforts have begun in earnest. Troops have been deployed to New Rochelle, just north of New York City, where one outbreak is believed to have originated.

The National Guard will deliver food to some individuals who have been told to self-isolate there.

The governor of Washington state has also banned large gatherings in several counties. The north-western state is the focal point of the outbreak in the US, accounting for 24 of at least 38 deaths across the country.

Could the US do what Italy has done?

Who Trump supporters blame for virus ‘hysteria’

How worried should the US be over coronavirus?

What’s the risk on public transport?

And in an unprecedented move, the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced that it would suspend the season after Wednesday night’s games. The decision came after one player for the Utah Jazz tested positive for the virus.

Shortly after the NBA announcement, the Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks announced that he and his wife had contracted the virus in Australia .

Dr Anthony Fauci, director the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Congress that the outbreak is “going to get worse”, and that depended on the ability to contain those infected.

High medical costs make the virus particularly problematic - many Americans avoid doctor’s visits because of unaffordable charges. A lack of paid sick leave is another concern, as are fears about the number of available tests.

But Vice-President Mike Pence, who is in charge of the task force co-ordinating the response to the crisis, has said that “any American can be tested, no restrictions, subject to doctor’s orders”, and that insurers had promised to offset the charges.

What about the rest of the world?

Earlier on Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the outbreak was a pandemic. This is defined as a disease that is spreading in multiple countries around the world at the same time.

WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the number of cases outside China had increased 13-fold in two weeks. He said he was “deeply concerned” by the “alarming levels of inaction”.

Video captionCoronavirus outbreak has officially become pandemic says WHO

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte then announced an escalation in the country’s ongoing lockdown.

He said the majority of shops as well as bars, hairdressers, restaurants and cafes that could not guarantee a metre’s distance between customers would close until 25 March.

Italy has more than 12,000 confirmed cases and a death toll of 827. Nearly 900 people with the virus in Italy were in intensive care, the WHO said.

Elsewhere, Denmark - which has 514 confirmed cases, up 10-fold since Monday - is to close all schools and universities from Friday. The government also urged the cancellation of events with more than 100 people attending.

India suspended most visas for foreigners until 15 April and Guatemala banned European citizens from entering from Thursday.

Meanwhile, the UK is expected to switch to tactics aimed at delaying the spread of the virus rather than containing it.

More on this story



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11 March 2020

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Coronavirus: Up to 70% of Germany could become infected - Merkel

11 March 2020

India suspends most visas to halt coronavirus spread

12 March 2020

Copyright © 2020 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

Trump talks to the nation:

BBC News

Coronavirus: Trump suspends travel from Europe to US

12 March 2020

US & Canada

US President Donald Trump has announced sweeping new travel restrictions on Europe in a bid to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

In a televised address, he said travel from 26 European countries would be suspended for the next 30 days.

But he said the “strong but necessary” restrictions would not apply to the UK, where 460 cases of the virus have now been confirmed.

There are 1,135 confirmed cases of the virus across the US, with 38 deaths.

“To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe,” Mr Trump said from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening.

“The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight,” he added. The travel order does not apply to US citizens.

Mr Trump said the European Union had “failed to take the same precautions” as the US in fighting the virus.

A Presidential Proclamation, published shortly after Mr Trump’s speech, specified that the ban applies to anyone who has been in the EU’s Schengen border-free area within 14 days prior to their arrival in the US.

This implies that Ireland is excluded from the ban as it is not one of the 26 Schengen countries. Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania are also EU members without being part of the Schengen area.

Mr Trump spoke just hours after Italy - the worst affected country outside China - announced tough new restrictions on its citizens . It will close all shops except food stores and pharmacies as part of its nationwide lockdown.

He said the travel suspension would also “apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo” coming from Europe into the US. But he later tweeted to say that “trade will in no way be affected” by the new measures.

Mr Trump also announced plans to provide billions of dollars in loans to small businesses, and urged Congress to pass major tax relief measures in an attempt to stymie the effect of the coronavirus outbreak on the economy.

“We are marshalling the full power of the federal government and the private sector to protect the American people,” he said.

What’s the situation in the US?

Officials had said the risk of infection was low for the general US public, but concern deepened after a number of new cases were confirmed earlier this month.

Containment efforts have begun in earnest. Troops have been deployed to New Rochelle, just north of New York City, where one outbreak is believed to have originated.

The National Guard will deliver food to some individuals who have been told to self-isolate there.

The governor of Washington state has also banned large gatherings in several counties. The north-western state is the focal point of the outbreak in the US, accounting for 24 of at least 38 deaths across the country.

And in an unprecedented move, the National Basketball Association (NBA) announced that it would suspend the season after Wednesday night’s games. The decision came after one player for the Utah Jazz tested positive for the virus.

Shortly after the NBA announcement, the Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks announced that he and his wife had contracted the virus in Australia .

Dr Anthony Fauci, director the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Congress that the outbreak is “going to get worse”, and that depended on the ability to contain those infected.

High medical costs make the virus particularly problematic - many Americans avoid doctor’s visits because of unaffordable charges. A lack of paid sick leave is another concern, as are fears about the number of available tests.

But Vice-President Mike Pence, who is in charge of the task force co-ordinating the response to the crisis, has said that “any American can be tested, no restrictions, subject to doctor’s orders”, and that insurers had promised to offset the charges.

What about the rest of the world?

Earlier on Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the outbreak was a pandemic. This is defined as a disease that is spreading in multiple countries around the world at the same time.

WHO chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the number of cases outside China had increased 13-fold in two weeks. He said he was “deeply concerned” by the “alarming levels of inaction”.

Video captionCoronavirus outbreak has officially become pandemic says WHO

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte then announced an escalation in the country’s ongoing lockdown.

He said the majority of shops as well as bars, hairdressers, restaurants and cafes that could not guarantee a metre’s distance between customers would close until 25 March.

Italy has more than 12,000 confirmed cases and a death toll of 827. Nearly 900 people with the virus in Italy were in intensive care, the WHO said.

Elsewhere, Denmark - which has 514 confirmed cases, up 10-fold since Monday - is to close all schools and universities from Friday. The government also urged the cancellation of events with more than 100 people attending.

India suspended most visas for foreigners until 15 April and Guatemala banned European citizens from entering from Thursday.

Meanwhile, the UK is expected to switch to tactics aimed at delaying the spread of the virus rather than containing it.

Coronavirus: Up to 70% of Germany could become infected - Merkel

11 March 2020

India suspends most visas to halt coronavirus spread

12 March 2020

Copyright © 2020 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.

EMOULMENT CLAUSE again!:

POLITICO

CORONAVIRUS

Trump’s travel ban sidesteps his own European resorts

The president announced new travel restrictions on Europeans as the coronavirus pandemic escalated, but a few key spots on the continent were spared.

President Donald Trump’s new European travel restrictions have a convenient side effect: They exempt nations where three Trump-owned golf resorts are located.

Trump is already under fire for visiting his properties in both countries as president, leading to U.S. taxpayer money being spent at his own firms. The president has been saddled with lawsuits and investigations throughout his term alleging that he’s violating the Constitution’s emoluments clause by accepting taxpayer money other than his salary.

The U.S. government proclamation initiating the ban targets 26 European countries that comprise a visa-free travel zone known as the Schengen Area.

The United Kingdom, which is home to Trump Turnberry and Trump International Golf Links, and Ireland, which is home to another Trump-branded hotel and golf course at Doonbeg, do not participate in the Schengen Area. Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania are also not part of the Schengen Area. All three of the resorts are struggling financially.

Ireland’s prime minister, Leo Varadkar, is scheduled to meet Trump at the White House on Thursday in one of the few events related to St. Patrick’s Day that has not been canceled due to coronavirus concerns.

The administration’s European travel proclamation notes that “the Schengen Area has exported 201 COVID-19 cases to 53 countries. Moreover, the free flow of people between the Schengen Area countries makes the task of managing the spread of the virus difficult.”

Trump’s European travel ban comes with several other loopholes.

There are now 460 confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.K., including Nadine Dorries, the British government’s own health minister in charge of patient safety. Wednesday saw the biggest rise in U.K. cases in a single day, and the country’s highest-level crisis committee — known as Cobra — will meet Thursday to consider additional moves to reduce the impact of the virus.

Though they are subject to border checks on arrival, residents of the 26 Schengen Area countries are also free to live and work in the United Kingdom, meaning they could fly to the United States from a British airport as long as they hadn’t spent time within the Schengen countries in the last 14 days.

EU leaders condemned Trump’s move on Thursday, and disputed the president’s criticism of Europe’s handling of the crisis.

“The Coronavirus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel said in a joint statement.

“The European Union disapproves of the fact that the U.S. decision to impose a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation,” they said, adding that the bloc was “taking strong action to limit the spread of the virus.”

© 2020 POLITICO LLC

BREAKING|68,149 views|Mar 12, 2020,04:22pm EST

Trump Will Not Get Tested After Meeting Brazilian Official With Coronavirus

Topline: President Donald Trump met and dined with an individual who has now tested positive for the coronavirus—but the White House said the president will not get tested for the disease.

Fabio Wajngarten, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s press secretary, has tested positive for Covid-19, according to local media, after returning to Brazil from the U.S. this week.
Wajngarten was in close contact with both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence four days ago at Mar-a-Lago, posting an Instagram photo of himself standing next to Trump.
Trump said he “isn’t concerned” about the situation, according to the Washington Post, and White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said, “Both the President and Vice President had almost no interactions with the individual who tested positive and do not require being tested at this time.”
Senators Rick Scott and Lindsey Graham said they will self-quarantine after attending the same event as Wajngarten at Mar-a-Lago. Trump has not made a similar announcement.

Key background: Trump has also been in contact with two U.S. GOP Congressmen—Reps. Matt Gaetz and Doug Collins—who are currently in self-quarantine after being exposed to an individual who tested positive at the Conservative Political Action Conference in late February. Gaetz has since tested negative (Collins has said he does not feel symptomatic).

News peg: Trump has been criticized for downplaying the severity of the virus. He has continued shaking hands, the Associated Press reported, flouting the CDC’s recommendations. And two days ago he equated the disease to the common flu, even as a top health official said coronavirus is 10 times more deadly.

© 2020 Forbes Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.

March 13, 2020



By David Leonhardt

Opinion Columnist

The great problem with economic crises is that they’re reinforcing. People stop spending money, which leads other people to lose their jobs or have their incomes reduced. These layoffs and pay cuts lead, in turn, to further cuts in spending. And so on.

A century ago, economists didn’t understand how to break this vicious cycle — and the Great Depression ensued. Today, economists do understand: Governments need to step into the void and spend large sums of money, until the economy is able to function healthily again on its own. These sums of money have come to be known as stimulus packages.

This morning, House Democrats and the Trump administration seem close to a deal on a stimulus program, in response to the market downturn caused by the coronavirus. (Senate Republicans have largely sat out the talks, deferring to the Trump administration.)

According to news reports, the deal includes two weeks of paid sick leave; tax credits for smaller businesses, to help pay for the leave; enhanced unemployment benefits; and federal funds for Medicaid. It also seems likely to include free virus testing.

Katie Porter, a House Democrat from California, may have played a key role in assuring the free testing. In an exchange that’s worth watching, she pushed the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to agree to it. “I did the math,” Porter wrote afterward. “A full battery of coronavirus testing costs at minimum $1,331.”

Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, said Congress would almost immediately begin working on other legislation to address the virus. That’s the right approach. This crisis is unlike anything the country has been through, in its effect on both public health and the economy. The list of closures, cancellations and delays announced in the last 24 hours is staggering: Broadway, Disneyland, music concerts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Major League Baseball, the N.C.A.A. basketball tournament, hundreds of schools and more.

As Jason Furman, a Harvard economist who helped design the Obama administration’s response to the financial crisis, wrote in The Wall Street Journal last week:

The likelihood that history judges the economic response to coronavirus as too little and too late is much higher than the converse. If the economic shock is small and stimulus proves to be unnecessary, its negative effects are likely to be small. But if the shock is bigger and policy makers fail to act now, it will be harder to reverse the economic damage. With the federal government able to borrow at a negative real interest rate, doing too much is a minimal risk.

Derek Thompson, The Atlantic:

In an outbreak, public-health interventions are the most effective stimulus. In many ways, though, giving people money is a public-health intervention. More than 10 percent of Americans skip doctor appointments even when they feel sick, because they don’t think they can afford it. In the next few weeks, the Trump administration may have to request that Americans withdraw from public life — to “cancel everything.” This request to engage in economically damaging activity may be more palatable for many families if it comes with a financial package that compensates them for the damage. In a precarious economy where millions of people feel like they have to work to survive, more Americans will insist on going to work even as they show signs of illness, which means more Americans will be infected, and sick patients will overwhelm America’s hospitals.

Nicholas Kristof and Stuart A. Thompson, in The Times: “Working with infectious disease epidemiologists, we developed this interactive tool that lets you see what may lie ahead in the United States and how much of a difference it could make if officials act quickly. (The figures are for America, but the lessons are broadly applicable to any country.)”
…

What if We Just Counted Up All the Votes for President and Saw Who Won?

It’s Time to Declare a National Emergency

The U.S. government needs a coordinated response to the coronavirus on par with its response to the 2008 financial crisis.

Trump utterly fails to rise to his first real crisis.

Trump to reportedly declare national emergency over coronavirus – live

Declaring emergency would allow easier flow of federal aid

Unprepared America wakes up to coronavirus, gradually then all at once

Trump promises more coronavirus tests

Trump’s deflecting, xenophobic reaction to coronavirus –

Louisiana will postpone its April 4 presidential preference primary amid ongoing concern over coronavirus, Kyle Ardoin, the state’s top election official announced on Friday.

The Democratic contest will be postponed until June 20. Ardoin is acting to the contest using a provision in state law that allows him to move an election in an emergency situation, according to the Advocate. Louisiana is the first state to postpone its primary election as the nation tries to contain the spread of the virus.

Election officials in other states are rushing to implement last-minute changes to safeguard against the virus. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose this week ordered local election officials to relocate all polling stations from senior centers and assisted living facilities. Some election officials in Illinois and Florida are taking similar steps.

Throughout the country, local election offices are taking extra sanitization steps, providing wipes and hand sanitizer at polling stations.

More reports are suggesting that Donald Trump will be declaring a national emergency at a 3pm press conference today.

A senior White House source said “stand by” when asked if President Trump would be declaring a national emergency today. Now, the president will speak at 3 p.m. and is expected to make that move which would free up up to $42.6 billion for efforts.

Miami mayor tests positive for coronavirus

The mayor of Miami, Florida Francis Suarez has tested positive for coronavirus, the Miami Herald is reporting. Suarez attended an event with a Brazilian government official earlier this week who has since tested positive with coronavirus.

Suarez announced earlier this week that he was not displaying any symptoms, but self-quarantined himself out of safety precaution once he learned that one of Bolsonaro’s staff members tested positive.

Suarez was one of several politicians who interacted with Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and his staff, along with Donald Trump and his staff, when they came to Miami earlier this week. Earlier today, reports said Bolsonaro tested positive for coronavirus, but now other reports are saying the test came back negative.

BREAKING: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, four days after the mayor attended a Miami event with a Brazilian government official who later tested positive for the virus. https://t.co/D9SHXIV1mN

Trump may declare national emergency at 3pm press conference

Three Bloomberg reporters are saying that multiple sources have told them that Donald Trump will announce a national emergency over coronavirus at a press conference this afternoon.

Declaring a national emergency will allow an easier flow of federal aid to state and local governments who are responding to outbreaks.

////BREAKING: Trump plans to declare a national emergency over the coronavirus outbreak, invoking the Stafford Act to open the door to more federal aid for states and municipalities, sources tell me, @jendeben and @SalehaMohsin

White House staff called into ‘urgent meeting’ over Bolsonaro

There are multiple reports that the White House Chief of Staff’s has called for an “urgent meeting” among staff because of news that Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who met with Donald Trump Saturday, has reportedly tested positive for covid-19.

.@JohnRobertsFox: A number of White House staff (including comms team) were just called to an urgent meeting in the Chief of Staff’s office because of the Brazilian President Bolsonaro positive test for coronavirus.

Donald Trump just tweeted that he will hold a press conference at 3pm EST on coronavirus. We got a sneak peak of what he will say from a tweet he posted moments earlier. He said the 40 coronavirus-related deaths in the US is due to the “very strong border policy” in place. “If we had weak or open borders, that number would be many times higher!” he wrote.

To this point, and because we have had a very strong border policy, we have had 40 deaths related to CoronaVirus. If we had weak or open borders, that number would be many times higher!

Keep in mind that the number of cases in the US has been rising dramatically over the past few weeks, yet Trump has stuck to praising himself and his administration for having a handle on a situation that is getting increasingly dire.

Boston Marathon postponed until September

State and local officials have postponed the Boston Marathon until 14 September over fears of the coronavirus outbreak. The race was originally scheduled for 20 April.

WGBH reported that this is the first time the marathon has been delayed in its 124-year history. About 30,000 people run the marathon each year.

10:24 EDT

Trump administration won’t let states use Medicaid to respond to crisis

States experiencing dramatic coronavirus outbreaks are unable to use Medicaid more freely to respond to the outbreak by expanding medical care, the Los Angeles Times is reporting.

The White House has tools it can use to assist states looking to bolster their healthcare efforts, but so far, the Trump administration has not made any moves to ease the burden on states.

As coronavirus has intensified in the US over the last few weeks, Trump has tried to downplay the effect that the illness will have on Americans. He called the illness Democrats’ “new hoax” and has compared it to the flu, which has a far lower mortality rate.

Additionally, as the LA Times point out, Seema Verna, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has been a champion of conservative states who have been trying to cut the number of people on Medicaid.

Here’s more from the LA Times:

Months into the current global disease outbreak, the White House and senior federal health officials haven’t taken the necessary steps to give states simple pathways to fully leverage the mammoth safety net program to prevent a wider epidemic.

That’s making it harder for states to quickly sign up poor patients for coverage so they can get necessary testing or treatment if they are exposed to coronavirus.

And it threatens to slow efforts by states to bring on new medical providers, set up emergency clinics or begin quarantining and caring for homeless Americans at high risk from the virus.

Ted Cruz extends his self-quarantine

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, said in a statement that he has extended his self-quarantine after learning that another person he interacted with on 3 March has tested positive for Covid-19.

Cruz tweeted on Sunday that he was in self-quarantine after learning that an attendee at the Conservative Political Action Conference he interacted with tested positive for coronavirus. Cruz said in today’s statement that his self-quarantine was supposed to end tonight and he is showing no symptoms, but will extend his self-quarantine until 17 March.

New: @tedcruz is extending his self-quarantine: “Unfortunately, last night I was informed I had a second interaction with an individual who yesterday tested positive for COVID-19."

Yesterday, the Utah state legislature passed a bill that would ban all elective abortions – which excludes abortion procedures for maternal health or procedure disease – if Roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court.

The bill is a signal that conservative states are gearing up for an overturn of the decision in the near future. Under Donald Trump, the Supreme Court has had two conservative appointees who have had reservations about Roe v. Wade and the right to abortion.

Last week, the Supreme Court heard arguments for June Medical Services v. Russo, a case from Louisiana about a law that significantly restricts abortion access by requiring doctors at abortion clinics to be registered at nearby hospitals. The law is similar to one the Supreme Court overturned in 2016.

The swing vote for the decision is likely to be chief justice John Roberts, who is known for being an institutionalist who does not like to disturb precedent.

The US Food and Drug Administration just sent out word that they will allow New York state’s health department to begin authorizing labs to conduct their own testing for Covid-19 once their tests have been validated.

Testing has been a serious concern in New York state and the US overall, with many fearing there is a shortage of available and quick testing for people who are showing symptoms. New York governor Andrew Cuomo told CNN that the US is “way behind on testing” and called the “federal bottleneck” so bad that he authorized New York officials to contract private labs for testing.

Here’s the FDA press release. Sounds like it authorizes New York’s health department to approve new labs for testing rather than making the labs apply to the FDA for approval.

The house is expected to continue discussion on a coronavirus economic stimulus package when it opens -

© 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

Coronavirus spreads as US declares ‘national emergency’
By Jessie Yeung, Joshua Berlinger, Adam Renton, Meg Wagner, Mike Hayes and Veronica Rocha, CNN
Updated 4:46 PM ET, Fri March 13, 2020

Coronavirus spreads as US declares ‘national emergency’ What you need to know
JUST IN: President Trump said he was declaring a “national emergency” to free up federal resources to combat coronavirus. Meanwhile, travel restrictions into the US go into effect today.
Talk to us: Do you have a question about coronavirus or a story about the outbreak? Share them here.
Stay updated: Our coronavirus newsletter. The Coronavirus: Fact vs Fiction podcast. Alerts on the pandemic in the CNN app. All the latest information and updated case numbers here.
8:39 p.m. ET, March 13, 2020
Brazilian president’s lawyer says she tested positive for coronavirus
From CNN’s Taylor Barnes in Atlanta
Attorney Karina Kufa, who reportedly traveled with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on his recent trip to the United States, tweeted Friday night that she tested positive for novel coronavirus.

“My coronavirus exam came back positive. I returned yesterday from Miami and I isolated myself immediately when I learned about the state of @Fabiowoficial’s health,” she wrote, referring to Bolsonaro’s press secretary, Fabio Wajngarten, who tested positive for the virus on Thursday. “I am following the protocols and feeling well. Now I only need a few days of rest to get back in the fight again!”
The Brazilian newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo, among other Brazilian media, reported that Kufa, who is Bolsonaro’s attorney and the treasurer of a political group launched by Bolsonaro, traveled with the Brazilian president on his recent trip to meet President Trump.

An Instagram account under Kufa’s name includes an image that appears to be the lawyer standing next to an artistic rendering of Bolsonaro in the studio of Miami artist Romero Britto. The Brazilian presidency published an article about Bolsonaro’s visit to Britto’s studio that includes the president standing next to the same rendering.

Earlier on Friday, Bolsonaro said that his own coronavirus test came back negative.
8:31 p.m. ET, March 13, 2020
Washington Monument will temporarily close
From CNN’s Diane Ruggiero

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images/FILE
The Washington Monument will close temporarily, effective Saturday, suspending elevator tours, according to the National Park Service.

Visitors will still be able to visit grounds, as well as other monuments along the National Mall, according to a NPS statement.

7:50 p.m. ET, March 13, 2020
IOC president says governing body will listen to WHO’s recommendation about future of Tokyo Olympics
From CNN’s Homero De La Fuente

If the World Health Organization says the Olympic Games should be canceled, they will be, the Olympics’ governing body president said.

International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said in an interview with CNN affiliate ARD on Thursday that the IOC will listen to the advice of the WHO, and if the WHO tells the IOC to cancel the 2020 Tokyo Games, the IOC will follow that recommendation.

“We listen to the advice of the WHO that is the expert group who is responsible for exactly these questions,” he told ARD. “That is why we have been linked to the WHO in a task force since mid-February and have constant contact. … We will follow the advice of the WHO.”
7:48 p.m. ET, March 13, 2020
Miami mayor says he’s starting to feel the symptoms of coronavirus

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez learned Friday that he tested positive for coronavirus and he said he’s already starting to feel the symptoms.

“You know it feels similar to the on set of a cold,” he told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Friday.
Suarez said he plans to share his experience in the hopes that “it calms people down because it’s something I’m going through myself.”

The mayor went on to say that he’s not sure where he caught the virus, but noted that he was recently in close proximity of someone who tested positive for the virus.

In a statement that he released earlier, Suarez said, “If we did not shake hands or you did not come into contact with me if I coughed or sneezed, there is no action you need to take whatsoever. If we did, however, touch or shake hands, or if I sneezed or coughed near you since Monday, it is recommended that you self-isolate for 14 days, but you do not need to get tested.”

7:48 p.m. ET, March 13, 2020
ICE suspends social visitation at detention facilities because of coronavirus
From CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement is suspending social visitation at detention facilities “as a precautionary measure,” the agency announced Friday in a statement.

There have not been any confirmed cases among detainees in custody, ICE said, adding that the agency is incorporating US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance and instituting screening guidance for new arrivals.

8:03 p.m. ET, March 13, 2020
Poland will close borders to foreigners due to coronavirus
From CNN’s Artur Osinski in London

Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki Julien Warnand/Pool/AFP/Getty Images/FILE
Poland will not allow non-resident foreigners into the country for at least 10 days, starting Sunday midnight local time, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced Friday.

He said the measures were being implemented to tackle the spread of the novel coronavirus. Any Poles coming from abroad will be automatically put into quarantine for 14 days. Goods will be allowed to go through. All international flights and train services will be suspended.

Starting Saturday midnight local time, shopping malls will be partially shut, with only pharmacies, grocery stores, laundromats and chemical stores open. All dine-in restaurants, pubs, bars, casinos and nightclubs will be shut for at least 14 days. It will be possible to order takeaway or delivery food. All gatherings of more than 50 people will be banned.

At least 68 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Poland. Two deaths from coronavirus have also been reported there.

7:18 p.m. ET, March 13, 2020
Trump declares Sunday a national day of prayer
From CNN’s Jason Hoffman
President Trump tweeted that he is declaring Sunday will be a National Day of Prayer as many churches around the country are closed due to the spread of coronavirus.

Large gatherings have been discouraged as social distancing is being used in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus.

“No matter where you may be, I encourage you to turn towards prayer in an act of faith. Together, we will easily PREVAIL!” he wrote in a subsequent tweet.

Read Trump’s tweet:
7:16 p.m. ET, March 13, 2020
Uruguay reports first cases of coronavirus
From CNN’s Jackie Castillo
Uruguay’s Ministry of Health reported four people have tested positive for coronavirus Friday. These are the first cases of coronavirus reported in Uruguay.

All four people entered the country earlier this month from Milan, Italy, the ministry tweeted.

According to statement, the patients are stable and at home.

7:14 p.m. ET, March 13, 2020
Three more shows suspend TV production over coronavirus concerns
From CNN’S Sandra Gonzalez
Three more series have decided to suspend production in wake of heightened concerns over coronavirus.

On Friday, Ellen DeGeneres announced on Twitter her daytime talk show would suspend production until March 30.

Comedy Central also said two of its series, “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” and “Lights Out with David Spade” would also suspend production.

“Our top priority is the safety of our guests and staff. Beginning Monday, March 16th, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and Lights Out with David Spade will temporarily suspend production as a precautionary measure. We will continue to closely monitor the situation per guidance issued by the CDC and public health authorities and hope to return Monday, March 30th," Comedy Central said in a statement.

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A Profile in Courage

The Downfall of the Republican Party

There Is No Christian Case for Trump

PETER WEHNER

That said, the president and his administration are responsible for grave, costly errors, most especially the epic manufacturing failures in diagnostic testing, the decision to test too few people, the delay in expanding testing to labs outside the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and problems in the supply chain. These mistakes have left us blind and badly behind the curve, and, for a few crucial weeks, they created a false sense of security. What we now know is that the coronavirus silently spread for several weeks, without us being aware of it and while we were doing nothing to stop it. Containment and mitigation efforts could have significantly slowed its spread at an early, critical point, but we frittered away that opportunity.

“They’ve simply lost time they can’t make up. You can’t get back six weeks of blindness,” Jeremy Konyndyk, who helped oversee the international response to Ebola during the Obama administration and is a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, told The Washington Post. “To the extent that there’s someone to blame here, the blame is on poor, chaotic management from the White House and failure to acknowledge the big picture.”

Ben Rhodes: How Trump designed his White House to fail

Earlier this week, Anthony Fauci, the widely respected director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases whose reputation for honesty and integrity have been only enhanced during this crisis, admitted in congressional testimony that the United States is still not providing adequate testing for the coronavirus. “It is failing. Let’s admit it.” He added, “The idea of anybody getting [testing] easily, the way people in other countries are doing it, we’re not set up for that. I think it should be, but we’re not."

We also know the World Health Organization had working tests that the United States refused, and researchers at a project in Seattle tried to conduct early tests for the coronavirus but were prevented from doing so by federal officials. (Doctors at the research project eventually decided to perform coronavirus tests without federal approval.)

But that’s not all. The president reportedly ignored early warnings of the severity of the virus and grew angry at a CDC official who in February warned that an outbreak was inevitable. The Trump administration dismantled the National Security Council’s global-health office, whose purpose was to address global pandemics; we’re now paying the price for that. “We worked very well with that office,” Fauci told Congress. “It would be nice if the office was still there.” We may face a shortage of ventilators and medical supplies, and hospitals may soon be overwhelmed, certainly if the number of coronavirus cases increases at a rate anything like that in countries such as Italy. (This would cause not only needless coronavirus-related deaths, but deaths from those suffering from other ailments who won’t have ready access to hospital care.)

Yascha Mounk: The extraordinary decisions facing Italian doctors

Some of these mistakes are less serious and more understandable than others. One has to take into account that in government, when people are forced to make important decisions based on incomplete information in a compressed period of time, things go wrong.

Yet in some respects, the avalanche of false information from the president has been most alarming of all. It’s been one rock slide after another, the likes of which we have never seen. Day after day after day he brazenly denied reality, in an effort to blunt the economic and political harm he faced. But Trump is in the process of discovering that he can’t spin or tweet his way out of a pandemic. There is no one who can do to the coronavirus what Attorney General William Barr did to the Mueller report: lie about it and get away with it.

The president’s misinformation and mendacity about the coronavirus are head-snapping. He claimed that it was contained in America when it was actually spreading. He claimed that we had “shut it down” when we had not. He claimed that testing was available when it wasn’t. He claimed that the coronavirus will one day disappear “like a miracle”; it won’t. He claimed that a vaccine would be available in months; Fauci says it will not be available for a year or more.

Trump falsely blamed the Obama administration for impeding coronavirus testing. He stated that the coronavirus first hit the United States later than it actually did. (He said that it was three weeks prior to the point at which he spoke; the actual figure was twice that.) The president claimed that the number of cases in Italy was getting “much better” when it was getting much worse. And in one of the more stunning statements an American president has ever made, Trump admitted that his preference was to keep a cruise ship off the California coast rather than allowing it to dock, because he wanted to keep the number of reported cases of the coronavirus artificially low.

“I like the numbers,” Trump said. “I would rather have the numbers stay where they are. But if they want to take them off, they’ll take them off. But if that happens, all of a sudden your 240 [cases] is obviously going to be a much higher number, and probably the 11 [deaths] will be a higher number too.” (Cooler heads prevailed, and over the president’s objections, the Grand Princess was allowed to dock at the Port of Oakland.)

On and on it goes.

To make matters worse, the president delivered an Oval Office address that was meant to reassure the nation and the markets but instead shook both. The president’s delivery was awkward and stilted; worse, at several points, the president, who decided to ad-lib the teleprompter speech, misstated his administration’s own policies, which the administration had to correct. Stock futures plunged even as the president was still delivering his speech. In his address, the president called for Americans to “unify together as one nation and one family,” despite having referred to Washington Governor Jay Inslee as a “snake” days before the speech and attacking Democrats the morning after it. As The Washington Post’s Dan Balz put it, “Almost everything that could have gone wrong with the speech did go wrong.”

Read: You’re likely to get the coronavirus

Taken together, this is a massive failure in leadership that stems from a massive defect in character. Trump is such a habitual liar that he is incapable of being honest, even when being honest would serve his interests. He is so impulsive, shortsighted, and undisciplined that he is unable to plan or even think beyond the moment. He is such a divisive and polarizing figure that he long ago lost the ability to unite the nation under any circumstances and for any cause. And he is so narcissistic and unreflective that he is completely incapable of learning from his mistakes. The president’s disordered personality makes him as ill-equipped to deal with a crisis as any president has ever been. With few exceptions, what Trump has said is not just useless; it is downright injurious.

The nation is recognizing this, treating him as a bystander “as school superintendents, sports commissioners, college presidents, governors and business owners across the country take it upon themselves to shut down much of American life without clear guidance from the president,” in the words of Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman of The New York Times.

Donald Trump is shrinking before our eyes.

The coronavirus is quite likely to be the Trump presidency’s inflection point, when everything changed, when the bluster and ignorance and shallowness of America’s 45th president became undeniable, an empirical reality, as indisputable as the laws of science or a mathematical equation.

It has taken a good deal longer than it should have, but Americans have now seen the con man behind the curtain. The president, enraged for having been unmasked, will become more desperate, more embittered, more unhinged. He knows nothing will be the same. His administration may stagger on, but it will be only a hollow shell. The Trump presidency is over

Government coronavirus response: Trump declares national emergency, says he ‘likely’ will get tested

The move comes one day after Dr. Anthony Fauci called U.S. testing "a failing.‘’

President Trump announces national emergencyPresident Donald Trump on Friday declared a national emergency, releasing $50 billion to fight COVID-19.Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump announced Friday he’s declaring a national emergency to deal with the coronavirus crisis as cases increase alarmingly and criticism mounts over how he’s responding to the situation.

He also said he “most likely” will get tested himself, although he said he had no symptoms. “I think I will be,” he said. “Fairly soon, we’re working on that, we’re working out a schedule,” he responded to a reporter’s question, saying not because of any exposure he might have had, “but because I think I will do it anyway.”

He had been photographed last weekend standing next to a Brazilian official who tested positive.

Speaking from the Rose Garden, Trump said, “To unleash the full power of the federal government, I am officially declaring a national emergency.” Referring to that phrase as “two very big words,” he said it would allow him to quickly get $50 billion to states, territories and localities “in our shared fight against this disease.”

With Dr. Anthony Fauci, Vice President Mike Pence, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and other members of his coronavirus task force standing behind him, Trump said, “No resource will be spared – nothing whatsoever.”

The news conference was also an effort to deal with the political fallout two days after a speech to the nation Wednesday night that was seen as largely ineffective, leaving many confused and Wall street rattled.

“Declaring a national emergency does two things: it coveys to the public that the nation faces a serious crisis and that drastic action is necessary and it will immediately make available resources and other support that can be directed to protect communities across the nation,” former Acting Homeland Security Undersecretary John Cohen, now an ABC News contributor, said.

MORE: Two-thirds of Americans concerned about contracting coronavirus, as country grapples with growing crisis: POLL

“This is an important step that based on current conditions should surprise no one – the only surprise is that it wasn’t done sooner,” Cohen said.

“I’m also asking every hospital in this country to activate its emergency preparedness plan, so that they can meet the needs of Americans everywhere,” Trump said in his remarks.

“Emergency orders I’m issuing today will also confer broad new authority to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The Secretary of HHS will be able to immediately wave revisions of applicable laws and regulations to give doctors, hospital – all hospitals – and health care providers maximum flexibility to respond to the virus and care for patients,” the president continued.

MORE: How hospitals can handle an influx of patients with COVID-19

“This includes the following critical authorities: the ability to waive laws to enable tele-health, a fairly new, and incredible thing,” he said. “It gives remote doctor’s visits and hospital check ins. The power to waive certain federal license requirements so the doctors from other states can provide services in states with the greatest need.”

“They can do what they have to do. They know what they have to do. Now they don’t have any problem getting it done,” Trump said. “Today we’re announcing a new partnership with private sector to vastly increase and accelerate our capacity to test for the coronavirus. We want to make sure that those who need a test can get it as very safely quickly.”

He added, “We’ve been in discussions with pharmacies and retailers to make drive-through tests available in critical locations identified by public health professionals. The goal is for individuals to be able to drive up and be swabbed without having to leave your car.”

“Again, we don’t want everyone taking this test. It’s totally unnecessary,” the president said.

Trump then invited Fauci, the widely-respected director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to speak. He called Trump’s actions an example of what he termed a “forward-leaning” approach to the crisis. “We still have a long way to go. There will be many more cases,” he warned. “But what’s going on here today is going to help it to end sooner than it would have.”

“Not only are we bringing a whole of government approach to confronting the coronavirus, we’re bringing an all-of-America approach,” Pence said, speaking after Fauci.

“It’s especially important now that we look after senior citizens with chronic underlying health conditions,” he said, reminding that they “helped us with our homework” and “tucked us in at night.” He later added, “And now it’s time for us to be there for them.”

MORE: Trump attempts to pass blame to Obama administration for shortcomings in coronavirus response

“Some of the doctors say it (the virus) will wash through, it will flow through. Interesting terms – and very accurate,” Trump said in answering a question. “I think you’re going to find in a number of weeks it’s going to be a very accurate term. In times of hardship, the true character of America always shines through.”

His response about getting tested himself came after a reporter asked, “Are you being selfish by not getting tested and potentially –” but he cut her off, saying, “I didn’t say I wasn’t going to be tested.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a point of delivering her own statement about an hour before the president was scheduled to speak. She said House Democrats would pass a package of measures “today” to address what she called a “long overdue response” to the crisis, saying the three most important parts deal would deal with “testing, testing, testing.”

Pelosi said the bill would ensure that free tests would be available for “everyone who needs a test,” saying a coordinated, nationwide approach was needed to “understand the scale and scope” of the problem so that there could be a “science-based response.”

The measure would also include paid sick and emergency leave, she said, as well as enhanced unemployment benefits to help families deal with the economic consequences.

The fast-moving developments came after the Trump administration moved Friday morning to appoint a point person for testing and announced expanded measures in what appears to be an acknowledgement of the lack of available testing and delays in processing the results.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has designated Adm. Brett Giroir to coordinate U.S. testing efforts as the cases of infected Americans grow exponentially. Under the HHS umbrella, the Food and Drug Administration is introducing an emergency hotline for private laboratories and providing new funding for partnerships with companies developing rapid tests that can detect the virus within an hour.

MORE: Coronavirus live updates: Mobile testing starts in New Rochelle, more schools close

The announcement of the boost in testing comes as capacity has struggled to catch up with the demand nationally at public health labs. Fauci called the current system “a failing" on Capitol Hill Thursday even as Trump told reporters the same day it’s been “going very smooth.”

MORE: Government response to coronavirus: Fauci backs Trump travel ban, says testing system ‘a failing’

The House is expected to vote on a stimulus plan Friday to offset the economic fallout to everyday Americans from the outbreak, pending a deal between Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin – the administration’s point person on negotiations.

MORE: House set to vote on coronavirus economic relief once Pelosi and Mnuchin cut deal

Here are Friday’s most significant developments in Washington:

President Trump declares national emergency

Trump administration announces steps to speed up testing

Pelosi says House Democrats will pass a economic relief measure ‘today’ that ensures free tests for everyone who needs one

Here is how developments in Washington are unfolding

Trump declares a national emergency

President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on Friday which he said “will open up access to up to $50 billion” to fight the novel coronavirus.

Trump also announced private sector partnerships to “accelerate our capacity to test for the coronavirus.”

Fauci: ‘We have not peaked yet’

Following two days of testimony before the House Oversight Committee, Fauci gave a warning on ABC’s “Good Morning America” Friday that he has made before as the coronavirus continues to spread: “It gets worse before it gets better.”

MORE: Government response to coronavirus: Fauci backs Trump travel ban, says testing system ‘a failing’

“It will be at least a matter of several weeks. It’s unpredictable, but if you look at historically how these things work, it will likely be anywhere from a few weeks to up to eight weeks,” Fauci said. “I hope it’s going to be in the earlier part, two, three, four weeks, but it’s impossible to make an accurate prediction.”

Pelosi: Agreement is ‘near’ with White House on aid package

Earlier, Pelosi said that she and the Trump administration were close to agreement on a coronavirus aid package to reassure anxious Americans by providing sick pay, free testing and other resources, hoping to calm teetering financial markets amid the mounting crisis.

“We have – are near – to an agreement,” Pelosi said, emerging from her office at the Capitol late Thursday night.

Mnuchin tells worried investors ‘don’t stare at the screen’

When asked Friday what his message is for Americans – especially those close to retirement – who are worried as they look at their 401Ks this morning, Mnuchin sought to project calm amid the economic turmoil caused by the coronavirus.

“Don’t stare at the screen, okay,” Mnuchin said, in offering advice. “It will be higher or a year from now, as I said, people who weathered the crash in 1987, people who weathered the financial crisis. For long term investors, the US is the best place to invest in the world.”

MORE: House set to vote on coronavirus economic relief once Pelosi and Mnuchin cut deal

Mnuchin repeatedly noted that what the U.S. is facing today is “not the financial crisis,” describing it as a temporary situation, but said the White House is looking at taking major stimulus actions to help Americans through this time.

“I can assure you, the president is determined, we will do whatever we need. I think the president is looking at a major stimulus package, whether it’s through the payroll tax cut or through another means of delivering liquidity to hard working Americans,” said Mnuchin.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin speaks with reporters outside White House in Washington, DC, on March 13, 2020.Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

As the administration nears a deal with Pelosi on a COVID-19 aid package, Mnuchin described it as just the “second inning” in a baseball game.

“I think we view this as this is the second inning in a baseball game. The first inning was the $8 billion bill, this is the second inning,” said, Mnuchin, who said the plan to “come quickly back” to Congress on issues facing the airline industry.

His comments illustrate a major shift tone from the administration from just a week ago, when the president’s top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said the administration at that time was not considering any sweeping stimulus measures.

MORE: Trump says he’s ‘not concerned’ that Brazilian official he met with tested positive for coronavirus

Australian official tests positive for COVID-19 after meeting with AG Barr Ivanka Trump

Australia’s minister for Home Affairs, Peter Dutton, said Friday he’s contracted coronavirus.

Copyright © 2020 ABC News Internet Ventures. All rights reserved.

IDEAS

What If the President Gets Sick?

The public deserves to know right away whether the chief executive is infected with COVID-19. He should have gotten tested sooner.

Donald trump acknowledged today that he has been tested for the coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, but says he does not yet know the results. He told reporters at the White House that he took his temperature this morning and it was “totally normal.” At the Conservative Political Action Conference and then at Mar-a-Lago, President Trump stood close to people known to be infected with the coronavirus. Given the contagiousness of the virus, it’s reasonable to worry that the president himself may now be infected. Yet the White House for days insisted that the president did not need to be tested. At almost midnight last night, the White House blasted to reporters a letter from Trump’s doctor repeating the claim that no test was called for. In the president’s reversal today, he made it seem as if the idea had only just occurred to him.

He said he was finally prompted to seek testing after reporters asked him during a press conference yesterday whether he would do so—a press conference in which he was surrounded by other people. By waiting this long to get tested, Trump engaged in gross dereliction of duty. Not only might the president fall gravely ill himself, but he might—and quite possibly already has—spread the illness to others. He has engaged in risky behaviors long after he should have stopped: shaking hands, sharing microphones, gathering crowds, standing very close to people of advanced age.

Any other president would see it as his or her job to model safe behavior. Trump is the president, the head of state. His mental and physical health are vital public concerns. Why is Trump continuing to act in ways that threaten himself and others?

Read: You’re likely to get the coronavirus

At moments of national crisis, there is a strong instinct to support the president’s leadership. In the media, this instinct expresses itself in the impulse to suppress our knowledge of the president’s history and character, and to report on him the way we would have reported on his predecessors. But just as the president has a duty, so do we. Our duty is to describe things as they are, not as we would wish them to be. The coronavirus is a powerful force, but it is not powerful enough to transmute Donald Trump into a different person from the one he was before the crisis.

So when we talk about the president and his protracted refusal to test, we should not write about that decision as if the president who were refusing the test were a figure from Mount Rushmore. It’s Trump. Why did he delay such an urgent health precaution for so long?

Five reasons based on hard experience come to mind.

Donald Trump is a fearful person. He is terrified of sharks. He is especially fearful of disease and death. He banished his chief of staff from the room for coughing. He told a German magazine in 2007 that he would not go near his own children when they were sick. Any medical test is an encounter with mortality. By refusing to look, the encounter is avoided—or postponed. Private citizen Trump hired oddball doctors who assured him that he was in fabulous condition when he obviously was not. President Trump promoted a White House doctor who suggested that Trump might possibly live to 200 given his “fabulous genes.” It’s plausible that Trump doesn’t want to be tested for fear of being told otherwise.

Pro-Trump propaganda depicts the president as muscular and virile. He himself retweeted a meme of his face Photoshopped onto the body of a young Sylvester Stallone. In fact, Trump is obese and rarely exercises beyond hitting a golf ball. A test that revealed illness would pierce the Trump image in ways intolerable to the president. The experience of illness is a humbling one. The ill person tumbles out of a universe of self-sufficiency into another, where he or she must depend on the care of others. But Trump sees himself as always in control, always in command. Better not to know.

Coronavirus tests are in desperately short supply because of Trump’s own negligence and that of his administration. He squandered preparation time because of his own characteristic defects as a manager, most notably his insatiable need for validation and flattery. Trump taking a coronavirus test would remind an anxious country that tests are available only for some, and not others. For Trump to cut to the head of the queue would remind everybody that it is his fault the queue is so long.

Trump’s supreme priority as president has always been to make as much money as he can out of his hotels and resorts. One of his first acts as president was to double the initiation fee at Mar-a-Lago, from $100,000 to $200,000. People willingly paid because Trump dispensed so many rewards to his customers, including ambassadorships of South Africa and the Dominican Republic. But if Trump got sick, it is quite possible he got sick at Mar-a-Lago. What happens to Trump’s resort business if Mar-a-Lago is revealed as a plague spot, a disease epicenter? Business will collapse, and Trump’s personal finances will be hit.

Even when nonlethal, COVID-19 can inflict debilitating suffering on those who succumb. Serious cases must be put on artificial respiration. They may be racked with diarrhea. Organs may fail too. COVID-19 patients can be in the hospital for weeks or even a month before they fully recover. The risk seems greatest for men over 70, with obesity as an additional risk factor—Trump’s exact medical profile.

What happens if President Trump does contract an illness that incapacitates him for days, weeks, or even longer? From the beginning of the Trump administration, many have joked about him as a candidate for the Twenty-Fifth Amendment on psychiatric grounds. If the coronavirus strikes him, depending on the severity, the Twenty-Fifth will have to be invoked on physiological grounds.

Trump is cunning and paranoid enough to recognize how much he is distrusted and disliked even by his own intimates, and certainly by his own party. If he has to step aside from office, will his vice president, Cabinet, and party in Congress really want to let him return? Maybe yes, but will Trump feel he can afford to take the risk? Better to carry on, exploit the weakness of others, and hope that he can bluff his way through self-inflicted disaster to one more comeback. That’s the path Trump has walked so successfully to this point. He’s not going to change now.

DAVID FRUM is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of Trumpocalypse: Restoring American Democracy (2020). In 2001 and 2002, he was a speechwriter for President George W. Bush.

Copyright © 2020 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All Rights Reserved.

{Now the things are beginning to confirm a reduction to primary experience: Mr.Trump waited too long to miss an opportunity to avoid thousands and thousands of infections and deaths, had he did as Phillippine President did:

Not politicize national health issyes, but take the lead, and start immediately to take steps to halt rapid progression.
Why did Trump wait until this was rubbed into his own narcissistic avoidance by institutions and even his closest adhearants?
Does this not at least give an inkling that he is primarily interested about his own political survival , and not the existential survival of the society he was elected to lead and protect?
Will this factor in with those who manage to be able to get up from their suck beds to hobble over to the ballot box?
Will this cross over to the independent thinker, or even his closest hombres, not to mention real democratic idealists?

Let us not hold our breaths for that one! }

Every major political and economic forecast Doug Casey made over the last three decades came true…

From the dot-com bust… to the credit and housing bubble in October of 2006… to the 2008 meltdown.

Doug Casey even predicted the fall of the Soviet Union and correctly forecasted Brexit before it came to a vote.

But nothing comes close to Doug’s new forecast for 2019-2020.

As Doug puts it, a major political coup is unfolding on American soil… that will topple Donald Trump’s presidency…

And give rise to a new socialist state.

The stock market as we know it could lose nearly 40% of its value and a major recession could wipe out the wealth of hard-working Americans.

Just like Venezuela…

The general cost of living — including medication — will be out of reach for boomers, retirees, and even seniors…

Medicare and Social Security payouts will be cut in half to fund new welfare programs.

Food prices will shoot sky high. In fact, major brands like Kellogg’s have warned prices will increase by 12%.

It’s my sincere hope you and your family survive what’s coming.

But only those who prepare will be able to live in peace in a new socialist America.

How do you do that?

But ensure you have what you need to survive when the next recession and socialism hit high gear.

Nick Giambruno
Chief Analyst, The Casey Report

P.S. Fair warning: These are not steps you should take while socialism is in full swing. You have to implement these steps before — which is now.

There isn’t much time left. So I suggest you move quickly so you’re one step ahead.

To prepare, see this important message while you still have time.

The Money & Markets, P.O. Box 8378, Delray Beach, FL 33482.

<<<<<>>>>><<<<<>>>>><<<<<>>>

{The Federal Reserve acts to the tune of almost a trillion dollars, in addition to slashing interest to almost zero :}

The Federal Reserve slashed interest rates to near-zero and unveiled a sweeping set of programs — including plans to snap up huge amounts of government and mortgage-backed debt — in an effort to backstop the United States economy as the spread of coronavirus poses a dire threat to economic growth.

“The coronavirus outbreak has harmed communities and disrupted economic activity in many countries, including the United States,” the central bank said in a statement on Sunday. “The Federal Reserve is prepared to use its full range of tools to support the flow of credit to households and businesses.”

At a news conference on Sunday afternoon, President Trump congratulated the Federal Reserve for its slashing rates to nearly zero.

“It makes me very happy,” he said.

FREE ACCESSThe New York Times is providing full coronavirus coverage to all our readers.
Besides cutting its key interest rate by a full percentage point, returning it to a range of 0 to 0.25 percent, the Fed said that it would increase its holdings of Treasury securities by at least $500 billion and its holdings of government mortgage-backed securities by at least $200 billion “over coming months.”

“The committee will continue to closely monitor market conditions and is prepared to adjust its plans as appropriate,” it said.

The Fed also encouraged banks to use its discount window, which provides ready access to financing, and said it was “encouraging banks to use their capital and liquidity buffers as they lend to households and businesses.” The Fed also eliminated bank reserve requirements — a suite of efforts meant to free up cash for the banks to keep lending.

Poem of 1918 written by a Young girl:

“I had a bird , it’s name was Enza,
I opened the window and
Influenza”

{Now the following footage is 30 minutes, it is really worth while to see it.}

youtu.be/UDY5COg2P2c

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>><<<<<<>><<>><<><><><<<<<<>>>>>>>>>
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>><<<<

The horrific scale of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic is hard to fathom. The virus infected 500 million people worldwide and killed an estimated 20 million to 50 million victims— that’s more than all of the soldiers and civilians killed during World War I combined.Mar 3, 2020

{ How many people died from the black plague? }

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>><<<<<<<<><><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>><<>><<{{<}}<<<{<<>> :

The Black Death: The Greatest Catastrophe Ever. Ole J. Benedictow describes how he calculated that the Black Death killed 50 million people in the 14th century, or 60 per cent of Europe’s entire population. The disastrous mortal disease known as the Black Death spread across Europe in the years 1346-53.

Donald Trump urged Americans to refrain from panic buying basic supplies during the Covid-19 pandemic as the administration announced plans to expand testing for the virus and health officials were preparing to release “advanced guidelines” on how to mitigate its spread.

During a press briefing at the White House on Sunday evening, Trump again appeared to downplay the threat of the novel coronavirus. “Relax, we’re doing great,” he said, during short, meandering comments that focused mostly on celebrating a decision by the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. “It all will pass.”

The president’s remarks stood in marked contrast to his lead infectious diseases expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, who used the same conference to warn: “The worst is ahead for us”, describing the crisis as reaching a “very, very critical point now”. Earlier in the day Dr Fauci had declined to rule out a “national lockdown” of bars and restaurants as he urged more aggressive measures, similar to those in Europe and elsewhere, to contain the virus.

Trump said he had hosted a call with grocery industry leaders earlier in the day who had pushed him to spread a message against hoarding.

“They have actually asked me to say: ‘could you buy a little bit less, please?’ I thought I’d never hear that from a retailer,” Trump said, adding: “They have no shortages. We have no shortages other than people buying anywhere from three to five times [more].”

“Have a nice dinner, relax,” the president added.

Trump’s remarks came at the same time that California governor Gavin Newsom announced that the nation’s most populous state would enforce a closure of all bars and nightclubs, and make restaurants cut capacity by half. The governor also urged all those over 65 to self-isolate.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the leading US government agency for public health, announced a national recommendation shortly after, urging all gatherings of 50 people or over, including festivals, parades, weddings and sporting events, to be cancelled for the next eight weeks. The recommendation did not include schools or businesses.

Twenty-four states have already announced some form of school closure, with the state of Massachusetts becoming the latest to announce on Sunday. Governor Charlie Baker also banned gatherings of 25 people or more in the state.

Mike Pence, the vice-president and head of the president’s coronavirus taskforce, said on Sunday evening there were now 2,900 confirmed cases across 49 states in America, up from 2,200 on Saturday.

As the administration reels from criticism of its slow rollout of tests for coronavirus, Pence announced an ambitious new testing regimen, which he said would allow 1.9 million Covid-19 tests to be processed over the coming weeks at over 2,000 laboratories across the country.

He said the new resources would “enable all Americans who need to be tested to go to a community-based testing site outside of usual health care facilities”.

Pence commended leaders in 10 states for already rolling out “drive through” testing.

Dr Deborah Birx, the White House coordinator for responding to the pandemic, said those most vulnerable to the virus and the healthcare providers treating them should be tested first.

“We ask you to prioritize them and prioritize them in the lines,” she said, adding that the roll-out of more testing would lead to a “spike” in positive results.

The Health and Human Services secretary Alex Azar, described the crisis as “an unprecedented challenge” and acknowledged the pandemic carried the risk of overwhelming the healthcare system in the US. Azar said the administration was working to increase the number of medical supplies, including ventilators, available to fight the pandemic. But he declined to cite specific figures citing “national security”.

Dr Fauci said that new “advanced guidelines” on how to mitigate the spread of the disease would be announced on Monday but there was little more detail on recommended measures of “social distancing”, actions that limit interaction between people in order to prevent further contraction.

Earlier on Sunday, Melania Trump, the first lady who has remained largely absent from public since the onset of the crisis, tweeted a link to the CDC website and urged readers to “Please take action to prevent further illness."

© 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved.

&&&&&& &&&&&&&&

Incompetence

POLITICO

ANALYSIS

The incompetence pandemic

The first victim of the coronavirus? Leadership.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson holds a news conference to give the British government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak on March 12, 2020. | Simon Dawson/Pool via

BERLIN — Welcome to politics’ darkest hour.

If the coronavirus outbreak has taught us anything beyond the necessity of careful hygiene, it’s that the first victim of a pandemic is leadership.

At no time in the past 75 years has the world been in more need of a “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself” moment; and at no time have global leaders so utterly failed to deliver.

From Beijing to Brussels, from Rome to Washington, London and beyond, politicians haven’t just failed to rise to the occasion, they’ve engaged in a dangerous game of parsing, obfuscation and reality-denial that has cost lives and delayed a resolute response.

Even though virologists have been warning for weeks that the outbreak could explode, political leaders, particularly in the West, did little to halt its advance.

Like the virus itself, which scientists have traced to the Chinese city of Wuhan (and leaders there denied and downplayed for weeks), the prevailing political strategy for confronting the crisis was Made in China.

Few may have expected inspired leadership from U.S. President Donald Trump, who dismissed the coronavirus as a Democratic “hoax” and just days ago predicted it would disappear “like a miracle.” Even so, his fumbling of a national address on the emergency, followed by his trademark blame-shifting for his government’s lack of preparedness (“I don’t take responsibility at all”), will be remembered as a low point in American political leadership.

Solidarity with allies? Think again. Trump followed up his ban on Europeans traveling to the U.S. (a decision he announced without even making a courtesy phone call to EU leaders beforehand) with an attempt to reportedly buy a vaccine-maker out from under the Germans’ noses, aiming to guarantee Americans are first in line for the corona shot the firm is developing.

The irony is that the Trump administration previously opted not to use the German-developed coronavirus test endorsed by the World Health Organization, choosing instead to develop its own version, which has proved unreliable. The decision has created massive delays in testing in the U.S., allowing the “foreign virus,” as Trump calls it, to spread unabated. South Korea tests more people per day than the U.S. has in total in the weeks since the outbreak began. The fiasco didn’t stop Trump from falsely claiming last week that “testing has been going very smooth.”

While Trump gets the most attention for his corona bungling, he’s hardly alone. Brazilian strongman Jair Bolsonaro, who met the American president last week in Florida, characterized the coronavirus panic as a media-fueled “fantasy.” A day later, his press secretary tested positive.

If there’s one leader who should recognize the historic gravitas of the moment and rise to it with stirring rhetoric matched by action, it’s the man who modeled his political career on Winston Churchill, Boris Johnson.

Instead of offering “blood, toil, tears and sweat,” however, Johnson has sounded more like the Grim Reaper.

“Many more families are going to lose loved ones before their time,” he said in a televised address on Friday, insisting that his government has “a clear plan.”

Trouble is, the strategy underlying that plan, dubbed “herd immunity,” appears to have unnerved more people than it has reassured, fueling fears that Johnson has no plan at all.

“The realization has struck No. 10 that Britain has lost control of Covid-19, but it should at least look as though it is doing something,” the Sunday Times concluded.

What about Angela Merkel? After all, crisis is the German leader’s speciality. From the financial implosion of 2008 to the refugee crisis of 2015, Merkel has thrived in times of peril.

Until now.

The German chancellor, revered by some as the “leader of the free world,” left management of the pandemic to her youthful health minister, Jens Spahn.

She only emerged from her corona shell following last Monday’s market meltdown and after Italy was forced to impose draconian measures to bring the spread of the virus under control. Asked why it took her so long to engage publicly, Merkel insisted she had been monitoring the crisis from behind the scenes since January.

“I make a decision about when and where I address an issue according to the circumstances and the facts,” she said.

Yet the facts were there for all to see. Truth is, Merkel has been more focused on the refugee influx on Greece’s border with Turkey and the crisis in Libya in recent weeks.

Even as Merkel has tried to maintain a sage public demeanor, the government’s response to the crisis has been marked by crossed wires and confusion.

Merkel’s economy minister, Peter Altmaier, repeatedly played down the economic risks posed by coronavirus, saying that he didn’t expect it to become “a major burden for the global economy.”

Then reality set in. After a rollercoaster week in the markets, he and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz on Friday unveiled Germany’s “bazooka,” an unprecedented program to extend unlimited liquidity to German companies hit by the crisis.

On the ground, Germany’s virus-fighting effort has been no more coherent. While some states have closed schools, others have not. Last week, Berlin canceled all cultural events only to permit a professional football match. Following an outcry, the game was closed to the public and then canceled altogether.

The city initially allowed its bars and clubs to remain open, then announced on Friday they would have to close on Tuesday. Over the weekend, city leaders decided to impose the closure immediately, dispatching police across the German capital to eject patrons. Meanwhile, Munich’s beer halls remain open, at least for now.

Most blame Germany’s incoherent crisis-fighting on the country’s federal structure, which leaves authority over key policy areas, including public health and education, to Germany’s 16 states.

Amid the lack of clear political direction, many Germans were convinced until this week that the outbreak would be no worse than a seasonal flu.

A similar picture has emerged across much of Europe. After weeks of largely ignoring the unfolding crisis, leaders from France to Austria have been forced by a sudden explosion of cases to impose severe limits on their citizens.

Just a week ago, France hosted the largest Smurf convention ever, drawing more than 3,500 visitors. On Saturday, the country’s prime minister announced the closure of all bars, restaurants and non-essential shops.

Though it makes sense for EU members to tailor their coronavirus strategies to local requirements, the variety of approaches across the region suggests little, if any, real coordination.

Anyone hoping European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen would plot a coherent path forward has been disappointed.

On Monday, as Italy’s government shut down public life in the country and stock markets melted, von der Leyen appeared before the press to boast about her first 100 days in office. Like an eager pupil who wanted to show the world how well she had prepared for her big speech, von der Leyen seemed almost offended that reporters were forcing her to address the gathering coronavirus storm.

Even then, she didn’t seem to understand the gravity of the situation.

The Commission’s “coronavirus response team” had the situation under control, she insisted.

© 2020 POLITICO LLC

{This is one way to interpret the afirmentioned : — WW 2 gave the U S a tremendous boost, to take it out from the depressive prognosis for Capitalism’s trials, a very large boost, that overfed , prior disparaged , hopelessly screwed consumers were politically cornered into.

World markets were controlled for a generation and living standards were sustained by liberal support from government borrowing, which finally had to be financed by then Communist China.
The fact is, this is reaching a climax, so the here elite decided enough is enough, time to take out the Chinase vs. Russian established collusive instability, to pull the plug sort of speak, as the seeming defeat of the South East Asian underbelly removed from the equation.

Trump was drawn in , by a kind of silent agreement, either play the humorous role that will play ok, thus relieving the establishment’s debt over him of tremendous failures both personal and financial: that some have had over him, including international clientele.

The tequila sunrise did not avail to lessen the morning glory of pushing new world order preceptions to where expectations were programmed to arrive to by now, and the great divide between pseudo capitalist\ socialists and pure would have been retrograde union busting early 20th century hostile takeover capitalists would have liked to create a grand Capitalistic synthesis.

It didn’t happen, and the cycle is stumped…

Note: California is in ‘lock down mode’

The Dow suffered its worst single-day point drop in history. With investors panicking over the extent of the coronavirus crisis, the Dow dropped 2,997 points, or nearly 13%.

{Trump says recession is likely}

California lockdown

LA County, the Nation’s Most Populous, Orders Closure of Restaurants and Bars

This will affect nearly 10 million people in cities like Long Beach, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Culver City, Beverly Hills, and Pasadena

By Matthew Kang

on March 16, 2020 1:34 pm

Santa Monica Pier at dusk, Santa Monica, California

Today the nation’s most populated county, Los Angeles County, announced a sweeping closure of dine-in restaurants, bars, nightclubs, and other entertainment venues. (As in much of the country under similar orders, takeout and delivery are still allowed.) This order matches the one made by the City of Los Angeles, which announced closures for hospitality establishments late on March 15 in an effort to reduce interaction and curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.

This means cities like Long Beach, West Hollywood, Culver City, Glendale, and Santa Monica, which are essentially surrounded by Los Angeles city limits and often have lesser known boundaries, would have to follow the larger county government directive. Whether a restaurant or bar is in Cerritos or Westlake Village, El Segundo or Santa Clarita — all establishments will have to cease dine-in services.

LA County, which has over 10 million residents in 88 incorporated cities and unincorporated areas outside of the City of Los Angeles, issued a directive that the entire county have one standard. Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said in a live broadcast that “there may be people infected everywhere in the county,” and to “minimize non-essential activities” as much as possible. As of March 16, there were 94 cases of COVID-19 in the county.

Previously, California Governor Gavin Newsom directed bars, wineries, and breweries to close across the state, and restaurants to reduce seating capacity by 50 percent and follow social distancing guidelines. The county guidelines will now exceed the state’s.

LA County’s closure mandate comes just after six San Francisco Bay Area counties, with populations totaling 6.7 million, ordered their residents to “shelter in place,” meaning people would be required to stay home except for “essential needs.”

“We are doing everything we can to avoid having to order entire communities to isolate,” LA County’s Ferrer said, but “nothing is off the table for anybody, anywhere in the United States at this point.”

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio announced that all bars and restaurants are required to shut down by March 17 at 9 a.m., with the exceptions for takeout and delivery. More than a half dozen states, including Illinois, Ohio, and Massachusetts have issued a lockdown of non-essential businesses over the last two days.

I’m predicting a mass exodus of restaurants during the recession. No way these owners can stay open unless they are back by big money. I’m predicting up to 60% of these non-chain restaurants to fold.

Once rent, food costs, and construction costs go down, I expect a new wave of owners to come in and take advantage of lower costs. We are going to have less sitdown restaurants, and more quick serve restaurants with kiosks to reduce labor costs. Also I can see a lot more street vending coming into play as it makes more economical sense for owners AND customers.

© 2020 Vox Media, Inc. All Rights
Reserved

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{Some more hyperbole}

The Coronavirus Outbreak

Trump Now Claims He Always Knew the Coronavirus Would Be a Pandemic

The president tried to rewrite his history with advising Americans about the coronavirus. His own words prove him wrong.

“We have it totally under control,” President Trump said in January.Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

March 17, 2020

WASHINGTON — For weeks, President Trump has minimized the coronavirus, mocked concern about it and treated the risk from it cavalierly. On Tuesday he took to the White House lectern and made a remarkable assertion: He knew it was a pandemic all along.

“This is a pandemic,” Mr. Trump told reporters. “I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.”

This is what Mr. Trump has actually said over the past two months:

On Jan. 22, asked by a CNBC reporter whether there were “worries about a pandemic,” the president replied: “No, not at all. 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.”

On Feb. 26, at a White House news conference, commenting on the country’s first reported cases: “We’re going to be pretty soon at only five people. And we could be at just one or two people over the next short period of time. So we’ve had very good luck.”

On Feb. 27, at a White House meeting: “It’s going to disappear. One day — it’s like a miracle — it will disappear.”

On March 7, standing next to President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil at Mar-a-Lago, his club in Palm Beach, Fla., when asked if he was concerned that the virus was spreading closer to Washington: “No, I’m not concerned at all. No, I’m not. No, we’ve done a great job.” (At least three members of the Brazilian delegation and one Trump donor at Mar-a-Lago that weekend later tested positive for the virus.)

On March 16, in the White House briefing room, warning that the outbreak would “wash” away this summer: “So it could be right in that period of time where it, I say, wash — it washes through. Other people don’t like that term. But where it washes through.”

That comment on Monday was part of Mr. Trump’s inching toward a more urgent tone in recent days. But his assertion on Tuesday that he had long seen the pandemic coming was the most abrupt pivot yet from the voluminous number of claims and caustic remarks he has made about the disease.

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump spent much of a lengthy news conference praising his administration’s response to the pandemic, saying the only mistake his administration made had been a mismanagement of relationships with the news media.

When asked why he had suddenly adopted a somber and realistic tone about the virus on Tuesday, the president denied that he had changed his mind at all.

“No, I’ve always viewed it as very serious,” Mr. Trump said. “There was no difference yesterday from days before. I feel the tone is similar, but some people said it wasn’t.”

Besides denying the seriousness of the coronavirus over the past two months, he had also displayed an acerbic tone toward people who took it more seriously.

During a campaign rally in South Carolina on Feb. 28, Mr. Trump accused Democrats and the news media of hysteria and unfairly criticizing his administration by engaging in what he said was a political “hoax.” Some of his critics have stretched his comment to suggest that he was calling the virus itself a hoax, but his supporters have argued that he was referring to the Democratic criticism, not the virus itself.

And until recently, he and several of his advisers had privately mocked his health and human services secretary, Alex M. Azar II, as alarmist.

Another theme has been the president’s offering inaccurate information.

At a campaign rally on Feb. 10, Mr. Trump suggested that the virus would be gone by April, a claim he has frequently repeated, even though his advisers had warned him that much about the virus was still not known.

As his administration came under intense criticism for a lack of urgency in issuing guidance to Americans or expediting tests for the virus, Mr. Trump continued misrepresenting what was available.

“Anybody right now and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test,” the president said on March 6 during a tour of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. “They’re there. They have the tests and the tests are beautiful.”

During that visit, Mr. Trump praised his own “natural ability” to grasp scientific theories, and then he likened the quality of the test to a White House recounting of a phone call. “The transcription was perfect, right?” he asked reporters. “This was not as perfect as that, but pretty good.”

While his administration struggled to form a uniform answer about testing, Mr. Trump also made misleading claims about whether there would be a vaccine for the virus.

On Feb. 29, the president said a vaccine would be available “very quickly” and “very rapidly,” as he praised his administration’s actions as “the most aggressive taken by any country.” His statement about how long it would take for a vaccine to be publicly available was corrected by Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a member of the coronavirus task force, in front of reporters.

© 2020 The New York Times Company

{Minchin in considering personal grants to boost economy}

USA TODAY

Trump and Mnuchin say they are considering legislation that would include sending checks to most adult Americans to help them through the economic devastation of coronavirus disruptions.

“We’re looking at sending checks to Americans immediately,” Mnuchin said at a news conference Tuesday. He said all measures being considered are “stuff that needs to be done now. This is no fault to American workers. For medical reasons, we are shutting down parts of the country.”

{They are considering $1,000 to every American}

Wartime authority and eviction relief: Here are the major changes announced by Trump’s coronavirus task force

JEANINE SANTUCCI | USA TODAY | 1 hour ago

President Donald Trump announced he is invoking the Defense Production Act to address the coronavirus crisis.

ASSOCIATED PRESS, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and the White House coronavirus task force announced the administration is enacting a wartime provision in response to the spread of the virus, and referred to the virus as an “enemy.”

It’s just one step the task force has taken to combat the coronavirus pandemic. In a series of press conferences over the last several days, the president has declared a national emergency and warned that Americans may need to practice social distancing through the summer.

Here are the updates the White House team gave on Wednesday to combat COVID-19:

Defense Production Act

The Defense Production Act grants the president the ability to direct the production of certain equipment. Trump did not say specifically how the administration plans to use the wartime authority, but it could allow for the expansion of the production of vital medical supplies like face masks and ventilators. Trump said the White House has “targets” for equipment.

“We need millions of masks,” Trump said. “We need respirators.”

‘How bad is this?’ It’s bad’: Trump shifts tone as pandemic worsens, crisis hits economy

The act gives Trump the authority to direct private companies for matters of public defense. And in 2009 that authority was expanded by Congress to allow for preparation for emergency response services.

Reports of a shortage of personal protective equipment at hospitals continue to surface. On Tuesday, the White House task force requested that construction companies donate any heavy duty N95 masks they have to hospitals and stop ordering more from manufacturers.

HUD to suspend foreclosures, evictions

Trump said that the Department Housing and Urban Development would suspend foreclosures and evictions through the end of April amid the coronavirus outbreak, which has resulted in layoffs and missed work.

Also on Wednesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said it would suspend foreclosures and evictions for at least 60 days for single-family homeowner mortgages backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.

Border between US and Canada closing

Trump announced earlier Wednesday that the border between the U.S. and Canada would temporarily close to discretionary travel, though it will remain open to trade. He said it was a mutual agreement with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic,” Trump tweeted Wednesday.

At the coronavirus task force press conference Trump said the restrictions would likely last for 30 days.

Trump also confirmed that he plans to invoke a provision that would allow him to prohibit certain people from entering the country, including asylum seekers and those entering the country illegally at the southern border. But, he said, the U.S. would not be closing the southern border.

Measures to alleviate strain on health care system

The federal government is recommending health care providers and patients postpone any elective procedures to free up hospital resources for urgent coronavirus cases. Officials have warned that a surge in cases could overwhelm the health care system, underscoring the need for social distancing measures.

“We fully appreciate that this is going to have a major impact on the health care system,” said Seema Verma, director of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Trump also said health officials are working on a “self swab” coronavirus test that would allow front-line health care workers to test themselves for the virus. “It would free up a lot,” Trump said.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the Pentagon would also make 5 million masks available from its reserves to the Department of Health and Human Services, with the first million immediately available. The Defense Department will also make up to 2,000 ventilators available as needed, Esper said.

And Trump said the government is ordering “thousands and thousands” of ventilators in case they are needed to treat coronavirus patients.

Millennials should take precautions

Dr. Deborah Birx said at the Wednesday press conference that other countries have reported that young people are becoming ill from the coronavirus, which has been officials have advised affects the elderly and medically vulnerable the most.

“You have the potential to spread it,” Birx said of the millennial generation. She urged young people to take precautions.

The task force has been asking Americans to avoid contact with others so they reduce the risk of unknowingly transmitting the virus, without showing symptoms, to those who could be the most impacted.

Contributing: Courtney Subramanian, John Fritze, David Jackson, Tom Vanden Brook

© Copyright Gannett 2020

Fox News

DEBRA MESSING

Published March 18, 2020

Debra Messing says ‘MAGA’ supporters ‘will die,’ blasts Trump’s coronavirus response

Debra Messing shared a video criticizing Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and questioned whether or not the president’s supporters will turn on him as the death toll rises.

Messing has been very vocal on social media about her criticism of Trump and his administration in the past. On Tuesday, she took to Twitter to share a video of recent interviews in which Trump seemed to downplay the threat of the coronavirus. The president’s words are juxtaposed with a graph that seemingly depicts the rapid rise of cases in the United States.

“LIAR-IN-CHIEF,” Messing began her tweet. “#Maga have been unmoved by the 16500 lies 45 has made since elected. Now that innumerable people (including MAGA) will die, because of his lies and inaction, I wonder if MAGA will recognize that 45 must be voted out?”

ROB REINER DEMANDS DONALD TRUMP BE REMOVED FROM OFFICE OVER CORONAVIRUS HANDLING

The total number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus worldwide has now surpassed 200,000, according to Johns Hopkins University, while the death toll has topped 8,000.

IDRIS ELBA TESTS POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIR

Trump has been criticized by many in both Hollywood and politics for downplaying the severity of the virus as cases began to pour into the United States. The video Messing shared contains sound bites of the president saying things like, “We have it totally under control.”

He is also heard calling the coronavirus a “hoax” concocted by the Democrats and saying that it will “disappear” like a “miracle.”

Debra Messing said ‘MAGA’ supporters ‘will die’ amid coronavirus outbreak. (Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEW

Messing is among the many celebrities who have taken to social media to criticize Trump for the way he’s handled the outbreak so far as well as to warn followers of the dangers about the rapidly spreading sickness.

Coronavirus

©2020 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. All market data delayed 20 minutes.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the economic relief plan included payments of $1,000 for American adults and $500 per child sent within three weeks. It is not clear if Americans of every income bracket will be eligible for the payments or how they will be disbursed to those who do not have bank accounts. The Trump administration has proposed sending $500 billion directly to Americans in two waves.

“What we’re really focused on is providing liquidity to American businesses and American workers,” Mr. Mnuchin said on the Fox Business Network on Thursday. “This is an unprecedented situation.”

Mr. Mnuchin insisted that the Treasury and the Federal Reserve were working in lock step and were prepared to do whatever was necessary to provide liquidity to American companies so that they can weather the crisis without laying off workers.

He said that businesses that take advantage of emergency loans would be given loan forgiveness if they cannot pay them back.

He also suggested that the federal government was open to taking equity stakes in companies.

ESCALATING INTERVENTION President Trump invoked wartime law and expanded economic relief measures.

{ A social avenger: the tiny unseen enemy forcing the mammoth Capital to reverse in substantial disgrace}

----- zzz zzz-----------???

Recompense?

POLITICS

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

PUBLISHED THU, MAR 19 2020 11:57 AM EDT

President Trump said he directed the FDA to investigate whether an existing drug for malaria can be used to treat the coronavirus.

Some scientists have said the anti-malaria drug chloroquine could be a treatment for the coronavirus.

It is important “not to provide false hope,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said at the White House’s daily press briefing on the coronavirus.

The World Health Organization said last month that there is “no proof” the drug is effective in treating the coronavirus.

President Donald Trump said Thursday he directed the Food and Drug Administration to investigate whether an existing drug for malaria can be used to treat the coronavirus.

There are no proven therapies for the COVID-19 virus, which has rapidly grown into a pandemic. U.S. health officials say a vaccine ready for public use could take 12 to 18 months. But some scientists have said the anti-malaria drug chloroquine could be a treatment for the virus.

It is important “not to provide false hope,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said at the White House’s daily press briefing on the coronavirus. But Trump has “asked us to be aggressive” and “break through exciting, life-saving treatment, and we’re doing that at the FDA,” Hahn said.

The World Health Organization, however, said last month that there is “no proof” the drug is effective in treating the coronavirus.

Trump claimed that the U.S. would be able to make the anti-malaria drug available “almost immediately” and that “it’s been approved.” But multiple outlets reported minutes later that the FDA had not approved chloroquine for use in treating the coronavirus.

The FDA did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.

The announcement at the briefing Thursday came hours after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the White House’s massive economic stimulus proposal would include $500 billion for direct payments to Americans.

US President Donald Trump listens to FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn (R) speak on the latest developments of the coronavirus outbreak, in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House March 19, 2020 in Washington, DC.

Brendan Smialowski | AFP | Getty Images

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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--------!!!–!!!—!!–!!–!!!------

{For once Trump may be right on}

POLITICS

Trump blames China for coronavirus pandemic: ‘The world is paying a very big price for what they did’

PUBLISHED THU, MAR 19 2020 11:54 AM EDT

President Donald Trump doubled down on blaming China for the coronavirus pandemic.

“It could have been stopped right where it came from, China,” Trump said at a White House press conference.

Trump has repeatedly called coronavirus the “Chinese virus,” and been criticized for doing so, both by Chinese officials, and by others, including former Vice President Joe Biden. Trump has said that term is “not racist at all.”

President Donald Trump emphatically blamed China for the coronavirus pandemic Thursday, and again made a point of using the term “Chinese virus.”

“The world is paying a very big price for that they did,” Trump said, referring to Chinese government officials not sharing information sooner about the coronavirus outbreak when it began there.

“It could have been stopped right where it came from, China,” Trump said at a White House press conference.

He argued that American officials would have been able to act faster if China’s government had fully shared information about the outbreak, which began around the city of Wuhan.

“It would have been much better if we had known about this a number of months earlier,” Trump said.

Two months ago, Trump praised China’s response to coronavirus, saying that country “has been working very hard” to contain the virus, and writing in a tweet that, “the United states greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency.”

But in recent days, Trump has repeatedly called coronavirus the “Chinese virus,” and did so again at the beginning of his press conference.

His habit of doing so has drawn strong criticism from Chinese officials and from a number of U.S. politicians, including former Vice President Joe Biden, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Flanked by members of the Coronavirus Task Force, U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news briefing on the latest development of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House March 19, 2020 in Washington, DC.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Trump defended his use of that term, saying it was “not racist at all.”

“Because it comes from China,” Trump said when asked Wednesday why he continued using the term. “That’s why.”

“I want to be accurate.”

China on Thursday for the first time since the outbreak began reported no new domestic cases of coronavirus.

Asked if he believed that report, Trump said, 'I hope it’s true."

“But who knows?” Trump said. “I hope it’s true.”

During an interview on CNBC’s “Fast Money” on Wednesday, Hayman Capital Management founder Kyle Bass said that referring to the virus as the “Wuhan flu” or other terms noting its Chinese origin is warranted because of a long-standing practice of popularly naming pandemics after their perceived point of origin, such as the Spanish flu and West Nile virus.

“If we start naming diseases after numbers, we’re never going to remember what kind of disease it is,” Bass said.

He said the Chinese government has “propagandized” by asking people to refer to current outbreak as COVID-19 or coronavirus.

“We can call it whatever we want to call it. I’m not going to call it what the Chinese government wants me to call it,” Bass said.

Earlier Wednesday, when asked about Trump calling coronavirus the Chinese virus, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of World Health Organization’s emergencies program, said: “Viruses no know borders and they don’t care about your ethnicity, the color of your skin or how much money you have in the bank.”

“So it’s really important we be careful in the language we use lest it lead to the profiling of individuals associated with the virus,” Ryan said.

Coronavirus live updates: Italy death toll overtakes China’s, Trump eyes banning bailout buybacks

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No Empathy, Only Anger

Those seeking to support Trump’s party line need an excuse for their months of denial and deception—and they’ve found it.

DAVID FRUM2:29 PM ET

On the evening of June 21, 1941, American Communists went to bed subject to one party line. At the sun set, Britain was fighting an imperialist war against Germany, about which the United States must remain neutral.

American Communists awoke on June 22, 1941, to discover the party line abruptly changed. Hitler had invaded the Soviet Union. Now the war was a struggle between democracy and fascism, one the United States must immediately join.

The personalities on Fox News executed a similarly abrupt and total pivot on March 13, 2020. The Washington Post produced a stark before/after anthology of the same hosts saying precisely opposite things a few days apart.

Read: How to misinform yourself about the coronavirus

Yet the many weeks of denial have had their effect. An Economist poll released March 18 found that only 38 percent of Fox News viewers took the virus seriously, half as many as among MSNBC and CNN viewers. For Trump’s sake, Fox risked the lives of its own audience.

Like the old Moscow-line Communists, the upholders of the Trump party line now need an excuse for their long history of denial and deception. They insisted it was not Trump’s fault that he, and they, squandered precious weeks and that his administration is suddenly dithering and failing. No, no, Trump’s failure was China’s fault! Did video evidence contradict the Trump party line? They accused anyone who recalled the truth of repeating Chinese propaganda.

The Trump party line swaps new lies for old. Whereas once the ideological enforcers called concern over the virus a hoax, now they say that it’s a hoax to remember they said it was a hoax.

What If the President Gets Sick?

The Atlantic has been pulled into the crosshairs of the new lies that replaced the old lies in a retweet by the president himself. In response to an article that documented how China’s official lying had aggravated the crisis in that country, and lamented that Trump’s official lying had done the same here, the president’s Twitter feed repeated a slur that The Atlantic “spews communist China’s propaganda.” This from a man who as a private citizen condoned the Tiananmen Square massacre, and who as president praised the mass-murdering Kim Jong Un as “one in 10,000.”

Trump wants Americans to call the novel coronavirus “the Chinese virus.” Trump’s new slogan aims at two goals.

Peter Wehner: The Trump presidency is over

The first goal is to shift blame away from Trump’s failures and onto China’s. This goal is very unlikely to succeed. We all saw Trump’s catastrophic misjudgments inflict their toll in real time. It was not the Chinese Communist Party that decided to host a cash-for-access party at Mar-a-Lago for Donald Trump Jr.’s girlfriend on the weekend of March 6–8, when a responsible president would have already begun modeling safe behavior. It was not the Chinese Communist Party that closed trans-Atlantic aviation and made no provision to receive throngs of returning Americans—exposing air travelers to hours of penned-in close contact with visibly sick people. It was not the Chinese Communist Party that urged Americans to buy stocks at the end of February, devastating the savings of anyone foolish enough to trust financial advice from Larry Kudlow, Eric Trump, or this president.

No, Trump won’t succeed in shifting blame.

It’s the second goal that could succeed. By revving up hate among their supporters against China, Trump and Fox can redirect those supporters’ rage from the dangerous target it might otherwise find: the trusted political and media figures who lied and lied and lied to them, exposing those supporters to disease and death for their own crass ends. Hate China, not me!

A president who sincerely mistrusted China would not have to resort to name-calling after the fact. He would have acted decisively, in good time. Instead, Trump relied on China to do his job for him. Trump tweeted on January 24: "China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!” It was Trump and Fox, not the independent media, who repeated Chinese propaganda and put Americans at risk.

A personal note: I was a target of one of Trump’s key media allies on Fox on Tuesday night, Tucker Carlson. Carlson has played an interestingly complex role on the Fox network. On the one hand, he was the first Fox host to speak some measure of truth about the virus, on Monday, March 9, two days after the infection-spreading birthday party at Mar-a-Lago. On the other hand, Carlson is the most explicit of Fox’s race-baiters, the Fox personality furthest from traditional conservatism and nearest to the new alt-right. Carlson is the main voice on Fox for Russian state propaganda, not only about Ukraine but even about such boutique issues as Montenegro. Carlson escapes the dilemma by attributing Trump-administration decisions to everybody except Trump himself, even blaming the Vanity Fair reporter who interviewed him instead of the president of the United States. “If you believe that the current paralysis is all Trump’s fault, you’re absolving an awful lot of guilty parties, maybe including yourself.”

Anyway, the personal bit:

China’s ambassadors are already spreading the lie that the Wuhan virus originated here in America, maybe created in a lab by the Pentagon. Don’t be shocked if at least one American media outlet promotes that idea. Many of them are already parroting the rest of the Chinese Communist Party line. A week ago, aging propagandist David Frum of The Atlantic suggested calling the coronavirus, quote, “The Trump plague” instead of the Wuhan virus.

What’s notable here is not the reference to me, but that Carlson builds his case against America’s independent media by citing something that has not happened: no reputable media organization has repeated China’s claim that the virus originated in the United States. When I tweeted March 9, “Wuhan virus or Trump plague?,” I was referencing not Carlson’s fantasy about what the media might say, but the hard fact that Trump had exposed Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel and other dignitaries to the coronavirus by proceeding with his weekend at Mar-a-Lago. Sadly, Carlson himself was one of those also exposed by Trump’s irresponsibility.

While Trump, Fox, and Carlson try to redirect the anger of the people they betrayed, it’s worth noticing something strikingly absent from the speeches and writings of this administration and its Trump-line network: a word of sympathy or compassion for the thousands of Americans getting sick and dying on this president’s watch, as a result of this president’s neglect of his duties. They’re not capable of such language. They gain power by targeting outsiders. A virus is the ultimate outsider, but it’s not a very satisfying target for rage. Only human beings will do, human beings marked in some way as different: by nationality, by ethnicity, by race.

After the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush made an early visit to a Washington mosque. He spoke feelingly against bigotry, and helped curb the rash of hate crimes that erupted in the fall of 2001.

Trump and his party-line media do not do that. They cannot do that. That would take empathy—and empathy might dangerously remind Americans of the tragic cost of Trump’s mismanagement and absent leadership. Rage is all they feel, so rage is all they can express. Hatred fills their hearts, so hatred fills their mouths. The government and the government-line television network are, for the time being, in the charge of broken souls. Those broken souls are breaking a nation.

DAVID FRUM is a staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of Trumpocalypse: Restoring American Democracy (2020). In 2001 and 2002, he was a speechwriter for President George W. Bush.

{Chinese connection transcended within -bounded political considerations}

The Guardian - Back to home

Coronavirus: Donald Trump steps up attacks on China and the media – video

Donald Trump

Trump sows confusion with claim coronavirus drug will be ready soon

President said malaria drug would be available ‘almost immediately’ but officials say chloroquine must still be tested

Donald Trump has sown fresh confusion about the US government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic by claiming that a therapeutic drug will be available “almost immediately” – only to be contradicted by officials.

In the latest measure to combat the spread of the virus, the State Department on Thursday issued a new alert urging Americans not to travel abroad under any circumstances and to return home if they are already abroad unless they plan to remain overseas

The global level four warning was unprecedented as such alerts are generally reserved for specific countries embroiled in conflict, natural disasters or where Americans face specific risks.

But the significant move came shortly after a worryingly rambling performance at Thursday’s White House press conference, the president asserted that chloroquine, used to combat malaria, had been approved and would be made available by prescription.

Medical workers self-isolate amid fears of bringing coronavirus home

“They’re doing great with the vaccines but there’s still a long process, but the therapies are something we can move on much faster potentially,” he told reporters. “And the treatments that will be able to reduce the severity or duration of the symptoms – make people better.

“Chloroquine, or hydroxychloroquine, this is a common malaria drug. It’s also a drug used for strong arthritis … It’s been around for a long time, so we know if things don’t go as planned it’s not going to kill anybody … It’s shown very, very encouraging early results, and we’re going to be able to make that drug available almost immediately.”

But minutes later, Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, cautioned that in fact chloroquine has not been approved for use against the coronavirus and must still be tested for its effectiveness and safety.

Chloroquine “is already approved, as the president said, for the treatment of malaria as well as arthritis condition”, Hahn pointed out. “That’s a drug that the president has directed us to take a closer look at as to whether an expanded use approach to that could be done to actually see if that benefits patients.

“And again, we want to do that in a setting of a clinical trial, a large pragmatic clinical trial to actually gather that information and answer that question that needs to be asked and answered.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday 10,491 cases of coronavirus, an increase of 3,404 from its previous count. The death toll rose by 53 to 150, it said, the biggest one-day jump so far.

The Trump administration has been widely condemned for its sluggish response, particularly to testing kits and medical equipment. Mike Pence told the briefing, without providing data: “Tens of thousands of tests are being performed every day.” Earlier this month, the CDC said around 2,500 tests were being performed daily.

The vice-president also claimed that companies have hugely increased their production of protective industrial masks and many construction companies are donating their stocks to hospitals. Medical workers have decried the widespread lack of protective equipment.

Trump, who built his political career on his ability to steward the economy, is now fighting to rescue it from a once in a generation catastrophe. Last week the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose by 70,000.

Trump signed an aid package, which the Senate approved earlier on Wednesday, that will guarantee free testing, paid sick leave to workers who fall ill, family leave for caregivers and food assistance for those in need.

Asked if he would support the federal government moving to take an equity stake in companies that need bailouts, Trump replied: “I do. I really do.”

He added: “We will be helping the airline industry. We will be helping the cruise ship industry. We probably will be helping the hotel industry … There’s a lot of executive power. If we don’t have to use it, that would be a good thing, not a bad thing.”

Trump also took a swipe at China, where the virus was first reported, musing: “If people would have known about it, could have been stopped in place, it could have been stopped where it came from, China.”

This prompted criticism from his presumptive rival in the presidential election, Democrat Joe Biden. His campaign said in statement: “The reality is, he did know about it and experts spent months trying to prompt Trump into action as he downplayed the growing threat of the virus and praised the Chinese government’s bungled early response – at a time when Vice-President Biden warned him not to take their word about the disease.

“Now, as this crisis explodes on his watch, Trump is desperately lashing out to try to cover up his incompetence and mismanagement.”

In a series of bizarre riffs, Trump described social distancing as a “hot term” now and chastised reporters for sitting too close together. He railed against the media for failing to give him credit for banning travel from China. “I got a [coronavirus] test because you people were driving everybody crazy,” he said.

Trump has been condemned for using the xenophobic term “Chinese virus”. In a profoundly weird finale, a reporter from the pro-Trump One America News Network asked: “Mr President, do you consider the term ‘Chinese food’ to be racist because it is food that originated from China?”

He answered: “I don’t think that’s racist at all.”

Unusually, Trump is not thought to have made contact with the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, the architect of his impeachment last year. Instead he has delegated negotiations to the treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, who is said to have established a working relationship with Pelosi.

On Thursday the Senate began work on a $1tn-plus package to stem the economic fallout of the pandemic. The majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said the bill would include direct financial assistance to Americans, lending to key industries including airlines and money for more medical equipment.

“These are not ordinary policies. This is no ordinary time,” McConnell said on the Senate floor. “We have to beat back this virus

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