Lawmakers have signaled that they are close to passing an economic stimulus deal. The stimulus package would include direct payments to taxpayers, as well as other stimulus measures to benefit. businesses. But senators and the White House are still negotiating the final language of the bill. Here’s what you need to know about the US bailout.
The White House asked people who had traveled from New York to another part of the country to self-quarantine for two weeks. The directive came as New York announced a soaring number of cases, as the state tested more residents for the virus
During the briefing, Donald Trump reiterated that he hopes the country will begin scaling back distancing measures by Easter.“I just thought it was a beautiful time,” he said, as an explanation for why he chose Easter.
Anthony Fauci, the infectious disease expert advising the administration’s coronavirus response, did not directly respond to whether the president’s timeline was realistic. Instead, he emphasized the need for data to inform public health policy.
Global stock markets were buoyed by the Federal Reserve’s efforts to boost the US economy. The Dow Jones recorded its best day since 1933 gaining 2,113 points.
Miami mayor, still under quarantine himself, asks city to shelter-in-place
Francis Suarez, who tested positive for Covid-19, issued a message from self-quarantine: City residents should shelter. in. place. .
Yesterday, I was retested as part of the official process to be released from quarantine. Here are my results as well as some major announcements regarding new testing and safety measures in the @CityofMiami. pic.twitter.com/EuEhtAJxGr
Suarez has said that he’s experienced little to no symptoms, writing in the New York Times that his diagnosis has provided him “a rare opportunity to put a face to this virus, to shed much-needed light about what it’s like to live with it, and bring a sense of calm to my city’s residents”.
In a video message, he also said that Miami has opened a new testing center and made provisions to test elderly residents at their homes.
The Guardian’s Mario Koran reports from California:
Leaders in California are scrambling to prepare the state amid a shortage of hospital beds, limited access to masks and ventilators and a patchwork approach to testing, as a surge of cases in New York provides a warning of how quickly the coronavirus crisis could spiral out of control.
The number of cases in New York state had soared by Tuesday morning, with 25,665 confirmed infected with 210 deaths. “We are now in New York City the epicenter of this crisis in the United States of America,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday. “The worst is yet to come.”
Three thousand miles west in California, where a statewide stay-at-home order took effect Friday, California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, was readying the state for a 90-day surge in cases, a demand that would require adding 50,000 hospital beds to the state’s portfolio. Tuesday saw the death of a patient under the age of 18 in Los Angeles, who is believed to be the nation’s first child death from the virus.
The projections Newsom offeredrose over the past week as the governor took to Facebook live to hold near-nightly press conferences. Newsom said Monday night the state is also hoping to secure 1,000 beds in hotels to shelter the unhoused during the outbreak.
The number of coronavirus cases. in Kentucky has jumped to 163, according. to governor Andy Beshear. At least one case was contracted at a “coronavirus party”, Beshear said.
“Anyone who goes to something like this may think that they are indestructible, but it’s someone else’s loved one that they are going to hurt,” he said. “Don’t be so callous as to intentionally go to something and expose yourself to something that can kill other people. We ought to be much better than that.”
It was unclear how many people were at this party, or when it was held.
Beshear said he would order all businesses not providing “life-sustaining” services to close Thursday night, for 10 days. Grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations, banks, and other essential businesses will remain open.
New York is reporting more cases — but it's also testing more.
Today’s briefing made clear that New York is now being treated as a hot zone. The state reported 25,665 cases of Covid-19, as of. this morning, with 210 deaths. Nearly 15,000 cases were concentrated in New York City.
But New York is also testing residents more often.
Other than Louisiana, which has really ramped up its testing, a lot of those states may be about a week behind the curve in New York in terms of both social distancing *and* testing/case-detection.
FEMA spokesperson clarifies: They didn’t need to use the DPA after all.
UPDATE: FEMA spokeswoman Lizzie Litzow tells me "at the last minute we were able to procure the test kits from the private market," meaning no DPA after all. FEMA administrator Gaynor told CNN this morning the agency was utilizing the wartime production act. https://t.co/8NNG4GuExY
Both Donald Trump and Mike Pence indicated during the briefing that there was no need to invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) to compel private companies to produce masks, ventilators and other vital supplies needed to contain the spread of disease and treat those infected.
But their comments appear to contradict what Peter Gaynor, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), said earlier today. This morning, Gaynor told CNN that his agency was “going to use the DPA for the first time today”.
Triggering the act would help Fema access about 60,000 test kits, Gaynor said, also noting that the administration would also insert “DPA language” in the contracts for its order of 500m protective masks.
Last week, Trump issued an executive order invoking that 1950 law, so the government could ask companies to prioritize the production of crucial medical supplies. Ever since, the administration has dismissed the need for such measures, arguing that companies are voluntarily stepping up to make necessary products, and that ordering companies to supply the equipment would amount to socialism.
The president concluded the briefing with a rare compliment to Congress.
“I also want to thank Congress because whether or not we’re happy that they haven’t quite gotten there yet, they have been working the long hours,” he said. “ I’m talking Republicans and Democrats, all of them, the House, the Senate.”
White House advises people traveling out of New York to self-quarantine
One key takeaway from that very brief briefing: The White House seems to have new guidance for people who have already left New York to self-quarantine for two weeks.
“We are asking anyone who has traveled out of the New York City metropolitan area to anywhere else in the country to self-isolate for 14 days,” Mike Pence said during the briefing. “We have to deal with the New York City metropolitan area as a high-risk area.”
Antony Fauci emphasized that one out of every 1000 New Yorkers may be infected.
It doesn’t seem that New York governor Andrew Cuomo was told about the new public health policy prior to the briefing. When CNN’s Kaitlan Collins asked whether Cuomo had been given a heads up, Trump responded that “we’re talking to them about it.”
Fauci responded with a more measured message. The timeline of when the US should ease physical distancing measures is “really very flexible,” he said, “You can look at a date but you have to be very flexible.” Fauci once again emphasized the need for data to inform public health policies.
“No one is going to want to tone down things when you see what’s going on in a place like New York City,” he said. “It’s going to be looking at the data.”
Trump evaded a question about why he’s fixated on easing back distancing measures by Easter. “I just thought it was a beautiful time,” he said. But he said he’ll “be guided very much by Dr Fauci” and Dr Deborah Birx.
“Maybe we do sections of the country,” Trump said, appearing to think out loud about how he could make the Easter timeline work.
Mike Pence reiterated that he doesn’t see a need to invoke the Defense Production Act to compel private companies to produce vital supplies, because so “we see industries stepping up” on their own.
Pence said that Apple is donating 9m masks - which medical staff need. He also referred to McDonald’s move to offer curbside delivery for truckers who aren’t able to use drive-thru — which is nice, but less of a necessity.
Larry Kudlow addressed the financial rescue package that lawmakers are currently debating. The bill will total $6 trillion, he said - including $4 trillion in liquidity from the Federal Reserve and $2 trillion in direct relief (including payment to individuals, small business loans and unemployment insurance).
In his update, Kudlow referred to “chief of staff Meadows,” even though Mark Meadows is still a member of Congress. Meadow’s aide had clarified earlier that Mick Mulvaney is still the acting White House chief of staff.
Kudlow said the impact of coronavirus will last “weeks,” not much longer. “It’s only going to be weeks,” he said. “Weeks and months, not years.”
Fauci did not address how realistic Trump’s wish to scale back social-distancing measures by Easter is. Instead, he obliquely referenced the importance of testing and gathering data.
Anthony Fauci, who has resurfaced for this briefing, addressed the crisis. He emphasized the need to test more widely, to gather more data that can inform public health officials as the development policies.
“The idea about self-isolating for two weeks will be very important,” Fauci said, especially for New Yorkers living in the most severely impacted areas in the country.
Deborah Birx, the physician coordinating the coronavirus task force, noted that 60% of all new cases in the US are coming from New York and urged recent visitors to self-quarantine for two weeks.
“This experience shows how important borders are,” Donald Trump said, referencing his exclusionary immigration policies.
The president has used the crisis to push border control policies he has supported for years.
He also said that the US “should never be reliant on a foreign country” and that his wish for America is for it to be a “self-reliant nation” that is “dependent on no one”.
Trump said we are already “begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel”, even though cases of Covid-19 are continuing to rise in the US.
He also reiterated his hesitation to invoke the Defense Production Act to amp up production of crucial medical supplies, noting that some businesses are already beginning to ramp up production of key supplies.
Many Democratic lawmakers, including New York governor Andrew Cuomo, have asked the president to use the DPA to help hospitals treat covid-19 cases.