Here are some significant developments:
- Deborah Birx and Anthony S. Fauci, the leaders of the White House task force, emphasized that although the projection of 100,000 to 240,000 deaths were likely, they were hopeful that they could prevent such a high number by adhering to strict mitigation protocols.
- Memos between the White House and the CDC show federal officials are debating whether to recommend that face coverings be routinely worn in public because of increasing evidence that people who are asymptomatic can spread the virus.
- Louisiana reported by far its largest number of new confirmed cases in a 24-hour period Tuesday afternoon, with infections and deaths each jumping about 30 percent. Total known infections in the state hit 5,237 and deaths were up to 239 on Tuesday afternoon.
- Three senior Senate Democrats asked Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to honor the terms of the coronavirus law enacted last week, expressing alarm that President Trump took a step to curb the program’s oversight and pressing to “without delay” nominate a new inspector general to oversee and probe the funding.
- A new report by the CDC shows people of any age with underlying medical conditions are at increased risk if they contract the virus, including people with heart and lung disease, diabetes and even current or former smokers.
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Heightened New York City death toll overwhelms morgues, funeral homes
New York began constructing temporary morgues over the weekend to store bodies, part of the city’s preexisting “surge plan” on handling the dead during pandemics.
A new level of mobilization efforts under that plan was triggered last week, when the city’s daily death toll topped 200 and resulted in far too many bodies for cramped morgues inside hospitals.
Aja Worthy-Davis, a spokesperson for the city’s chief medical examiner, told TIME that at least four “body collection points” had been set up as of Monday at public and private hospitals: two in Brooklyn, one in Queens, and one in Manhattan.
One of the Brooklyn facilities, by the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, consists of a refrigerated trailer set up along the curb, with a wooden ramp to allow hospital staff up to the 53-foot long structure and a wall of panels to shield the temporary morgue from the public, the newsmagazine reported.
“We want to be respectful and kind both to the people who have left this earth and those who live across the street,” Ramon Rodriguez, the hospital’s president and CEO, told TIME. His facility’s morgue can only house nine bodies at once.
The increased death toll has also overwhelmed some funeral homes: In Brooklyn, one Orthodox Jewish facility put out a call for additional volunteers as it said it was “overstacked with bodies," the Forward reported.
As in similar facilities around the country, the coronavirus may force the funeral home to alter or halt the traditional practice of guarding and purifying a dead body until further notice.
Some national parks remain open and crowded as workers catch covid-19
At least seven National Park Service employees have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, yet the Trump administration continues to operate the park system that attracts thousands of Americans each day.
In response to questions from The Washington Post, the agency said Tuesday that as of Monday, seven Park Service employees have tested positive for covid-19, the disease caused by the virus. That figure, which had not been previously reported, doesn’t include workers in the park who are not federal employees.
“The NPS is working with our contractors and concessionaires to track reported cases of their employees as well,” Stephanie Roulett, a spokeswoman, wrote in an email.
The world’s indigenous peoples, with tragic history of disease, implore outsiders to keep coronavirus away
TORONTO — From the Canadian Arctic to the Brazilian Amazon to the Australian coast, indigenous groups are racing to protect themselves from a familiar foe that has historically threatened their very existence: the rapid spread of foreign infectious disease.
Fifteenth-century Europeans introduced smallpox and other diseases to the New World, decimating upward of 80 percent of the indigenous population. The 1918 flu pandemic wiped out entire villages.
Now, as the novel coronavirus advances, indigenous groups are locking down and imploring outsiders to stay away.
The pandemic is exacerbating deep-seated health and socioeconomic inequities throughout the world. Analysts say that makes indigenous peoples particularly vulnerable.
In many communities, key services such as water and housing are chronically underfunded. Many are remote, leaving residents no choice but to travel long distances to access anything beyond basic health-care services.
And indigenous peoples may suffer from higher rates of chronic illnesses, underlying conditions that can put them at greater risk of severe complications from covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
“You combine all these factors together and what you see is a perfect storm of risks,” said Jeff Reading, a health sciences professor at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C. “If the virus gets into a community ... it will spread like wildfire.”
Read more here.
Cuomo’s office defends coronavirus response against criticism from Trump that New York started ‘late’
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s office on Tuesday defended its response to the coronavirus outbreak against criticisms by President Trump that infections were soaring in the state because officials waited too long to take action.
“This is not the time to debate, but the states were not slow to respond — the federal government was absent,” Cuomo spokeswoman Dani Lever said in a statement.
In a White House news conference earlier in the day, Trump repeatedly accused New York of being slow to contain the virus and suggested that Washington state and California had recorded fewer cases because they acted earlier. He leveled similar criticisms at New Jersey and Louisiana.
“For whatever reason, New York got off to a very late start. And you see what happens when you get off to a late start. New Jersey got off, too,” Trump said. “And I think both governors are doing an excellent job, but they got off to a very late start.”
The coronavirus first appeared on the West Coast toward the end of January. New York didn’t record its first cases until late February. New Jersey had its first case in early March.
Cuomo (D) and Trump have had a tumultuous relationship since New York became the center of the outbreak in the United States.
The two leaders have traded jabs some days and avoided confrontation on others. Trump called Cuomo a strong opponent for Joe Biden in the race to be the Democratic nominee for president, before Cuomo, speaking Monday, knocked aside any possibility of running. That was soon after Trump suggested he may put a quarantine order on a few Northeastern states, including New York, and Cuomo responded by saying: “I don’t even know what that means.”
As New York’s outbreak began to soar last month, Cuomo pressed the Trump administration to dramatically expand testing, which was plagued by delays and a lack of coordination among federal agencies, especially in the crucial early weeks after the virus emerged on U.S. soil. Cuomo eventually secured permission to contract with more than two dozen private laboratories, vastly increasing the number of tests the state could perform daily.
At least 1,550 people in New York have died of the coronavirus, the most deaths that any state has confirmed as virus-related, and nearly 76,000 people have been infected.
Wyoming is the only state without a reported coronavirus fatality
Hawaii reported its first death from the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, leaving Wyoming as the only state in the United States that hasn’t announced a fatality from the virus.
The Hawaii victim was a resident of the island of Oahu, Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell announced during a news conference. The patient was an older adult who had preexisting conditions, Bruce S. Anderson, the state’s director of health, said at a later briefing.
Hawaii reported 20 new cases, driving the state’s total to 224 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus. Wyoming has 120 cases.
“I would like to express my deepest heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the victim,” Gov. David Ige (D) said at the briefing.
Harris County, Tex., could release 1,000 inmates from jail in coming days
HOUSTON — Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced Tuesday that around 1,000 inmates accused of committing nonviolent crimes will likely be released from its jail in the next several days to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the facility, which she called “a ticking time bomb."
The inmate population is around 8,000, and 3,000 staff members and contractors come into the facility regularly, Hidalgo said. One inmate has tested positive, two dozen have shown symptoms, and more than 1,100 are under observational quarantine.
Only nonviolent offenders without violent criminal histories will be released, Hidalgo said, in accordance with an executive order signed Sunday by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R).
But the top two law enforcement officials in the Houston area are at odds over the inmates' release, taking to Twitter to state their positions.
Shortly after Hidalgo’s announcement, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo noted that while many local businesses have been closed the past two weeks, the county has seen a nearly 19 percent increase in burglaries.
“Let’s hope people who burglarize vehicles, residences, and buildings aren’t released in large numbers,” Acevedo tweeted — though the judge specified that individuals on home burglary charges will remain behind bars.
On Monday, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez argued in favor of releasing nonviolent offenders for the sake of his deputies, corrections officers and staff, as well as for the inmates' safety.
“I’m also fighting for those in my custody and care that don’t have a voice, the forgotten,” Gonzalez tweeted. “Call them by any name, but they’re still innocent until proven guilty … I’m trying to prevent death from occurring in our jail.”
White House task force paints a grim picture of the U.S. death toll in the coming weeks
The White House coronavirus task force described grimly its projection for the death toll if Americans don’t heed physical distancing guidance for at least 30 more days.
President Trump spoke soberly at the beginning of Tuesday’s briefing, calling the public health crisis “a great national trial, unlike any we have ever faced before,” and said the decisions everyday Americans make are “a matter of life and death.”
“This is going to be a very painful, very, very painful two weeks,” Trump said. “When you look and see at night the kind of death that’s been caused by this invisible enemy, it’s incredible.”
Deborah Birx and Anthony S. Fauci, the leaders of the task force, explained that their projection models showed that 1.5 million to 2 million Americans would die if the public employed no mitigation efforts. With continued physical distancing, they show 100,000 to 240,000 deaths — still a staggering figure.
“There’s no magic bullet. There’s no magic vaccine or therapy. It’s just behaviors,” Birx said. “Each of our behaviors translating into something that changes the course of this viral pandemic. Over the next 30 days.”
Fauci urged people not to be discouraged when they see the fatality rates rising over the next several days. Asked whether the 100,000-death projection is to be expected, Fauci said the hope is that the number will be much lower, but people need to be prepared for the worst.
“We don’t accept that number, that that’s what it’s going to be. We’re going to be doing everything we can to get it even significantly below that. So, you know, I don’t want it to be a mixed message,” he said. “This is the thing that we need to anticipate. But that doesn’t mean that that’s what we’re going to accept. We want to do much, much better than that.”
The White House did not disclose the underlying data and assumptions in the model that generated the chart presented at the briefing, except to say the chart was based on what they were seeing in the hardest-hit locations such as New York and New Jersey. One key question, for example, is what time period the White House’s 100,000-to-240,000-death projection covers. If it covers only the coming few months until summer, as at least one academic model has done, the true death toll will probably be larger.
Zaandam cruise ship still has no guaranteed port as Trump, Florida officials discuss plans
On Tuesday, authorities in Broward County, Fla., where a cruise ship with four dead and two in dire need of medical attention hopes to dock this week, said a plan presented by owner Carnival Corp. does not yet address all their concerns. But county commissioners said they hoped to take action on an updated plan soon, and several said they wanted to allow the ship to offload its passengers at Port Everglades so they could be sent home.
A representative for the U.S. Coast Guard said Holland America Line’s Zaandam and an accompanying ship, Rotterdam, would not be allowed to enter U.S. waters without submitting “a complete plan for self-support of the medical issues occurring on board the vessels.” A Carnival executive said at the meeting that nine people on Zaandam had tested positive for covid-19.
Coast Guard Capt. Jo-Ann Burdian said a group of local, state and federal agencies needed to reach unanimous consent for the ships to dock.
“If not, I think that’s a question for a broader audience at the national government level,” she said.
President Trump said Tuesday evening that he will be speaking soon with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) about how to handle the Zaandam.
"There are people that are sick on the ship,” Trump said, adding: “I’m going to do what’s right. Not just for us, but for humanity.”
DeSantis has said that he does not want passengers from the ship to disembark in Florida. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but during a news conference earlier Tuesday, he said he had asked the Trump administration to get supplies to the ship.
“Just to drop people off at the place where we’re having the highest number of cases right now just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense,” he said.
NYC death toll passes 1,000
New York City’s death toll from the coronavirus pandemic passed 1,000 on Tuesday, according to the city’s health department, as officials warned that it could be nearly another week before the outbreak peaked.
At least 1,096 people have died from covid-19 in New York City, and more than 8,500 remain hospitalized, according to the health department.
Statewide, New York reported a record 332 deaths in a single day, taking the state’s total to 1,550, according to a Washington Post database, signaling that fatalities could continue to increase sharply.
The rapidly expanding outbreak is threatening to overwhelm New York City hospitals, which are already facing dangerous shortfalls in ventilators, protective equipment and intensive-care beds.
Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) on Tuesday pleaded with President Trump to send thousands more ventilators to treat people with severe cases of covid-19 and called on oral surgeons, plastic surgeons and veterinarians to offer up their devices as well.
He stressed that the window to shore up resources was closing fast.
“We have a quarter of all coronavirus cases in America,” de Blasio said. “This coming Sunday, April 5, is a demarcation line. This is when we must be prepared for what we expect is a huge increase.”
Federal Bureau of Prisons limits inmates to their cells for 14 days
The Bureau of Prisons is restricting all federal inmates to their cells, with limited exceptions, for the next two weeks to try to reduce the spread of the coronavirus behind bars, authorities announced Tuesday.
In a news release, the bureau said the move was meant to “decrease the spread of the virus” and was not in response to “disruptive inmate behavior.” The bureau said it would still allow group movement to facilitate meals, laundry, showers and phone usage.
As of late Tuesday, the bureau had reported 28 inmates and 24 staffers with the coronavirus. One inmate had died.
The Bureau of Prisons, a component of the Justice Department, has 146,000 inmates in 122 federal facilities and another 21,000 inmates in private facilities.
Officials have taken an escalating series of steps in recent weeks to try to combat covid-19, though Tuesday’s move represents a significant escalation. Previously, officials barred almost all visits, stopped transfers between facilities and quarantined new inmates for 14 days.
Attorney General William P. Barr also directed the bureau to increase the use of home confinement for those who had already served a substantial portion of their sentence, were deemed to pose no threat and might suffer from preexisting conditions that would make them particularly vulnerable.
Lousiana’s confirmed cases and deaths spike dramatically
NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana reported by far its largest number of new coronavirus cases in a 24-hour period Tuesday afternoon, with reported infections and deaths each jumping about 30 percent, as state leaders renewed calls for residents to comply with social distancing rules, and crackdowns on violators continued.
The "very sobering numbers" brought the state's total number of cases to 5,237, and 239 covid-19 patients have died, Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said at a news conference. That is an increase of 1,212 cases and 54 deaths over what the state reported Monday. The city of New Orleans had 1,834 total cases and 101 deaths.
The new data pushed up the estimated date when the New Orleans region could run out of ventilators to April 4, and advanced the date when hospital beds in the region may be filled to April 7, the governor said.
Florida governor says White House has not recommended stay-at-home order but that recommendation would ‘carry a lot of weight’
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he is in regular communication with the White House’s coronavirus task force and that, to this point, it has not recommended a stay-at-home order for the state.
“Basically, I’ve said: ‘Are you guys recommending this?’ ” DeSantis (R) explained at a news conference Tuesday. “The task force has not recommended that to me. If they do, obviously that would be something that would carry a lot of weight with me.”
President Trump was asked during a White House briefing about DeSantis’s comments. He dodged the question by saying that the governor “knows exactly what he’s doing” and punted to Vice President Pence.
Pence followed up that the federal government’s posture has been to offer guidance on social distancing, but to ultimately leave it up to the states to enact their own policies. Trump interjected that if a governor was doing something obviously wrong, the federal government would step in, but that in DeSantis’s case “he’s been doing a great job in every respect.”
Florida reported 6,741 confirmed covid-19 cases Tuesday, a jump of 1,037 from the day before. DeSantis noted in his news conference that about 60 percent of the state’s cases are in the southeast region. He said there is “not really any more you can do in those counties,” pointing to the state’s efforts to provide additional testing, close nonessential businesses and dissuade people from leaving their homes.
The governor had described a scene of defiance Monday, when he flew out of Miami and saw a bunch of people on the beach. Florida has closed its beaches to limit the spread of the virus, but DeSantis feels that some elements of crisis management are out of his hands.
“No matter what you do, you’re going to have a class of folks who do whatever the hell they want to,” he said.
CDC to White House: Sweeping use of face coverings may reduce virus spread
Federal officials debating whether to recommend that face coverings be routinely worn in public are responding to increasing evidence that infected people without symptoms can spread the coronavirus, according to internal memos provided to the White House by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Simple cloth masks that cover the mouth and nose can prevent virus transmission from such individuals when they are out buying groceries or seeking medical care, according to the memos obtained by The Washington Post.
But the documents note that widespread public use of masks is not culturally accepted in the United States the way it is in many Asian countries, where face coverings helped reduce the spread of the virus.
The memos were drafted in recent days by the CDC and sent to officials at the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House coronavirus task force for consideration of masks as an additional measure to slow the pandemic.
If adopted by the coronavirus task force, the recommendations would represent a major change in official CDC guidance that healthy people don’t need masks or face coverings. The memos make clear the coverings under discussion are not medical masks, such as N95 respirators or surgical face masks, which are needed by front-line health-care workers and are in extremely short supply.
At a White House briefing Tuesday, President Trump was asked about people using face coverings. “My feeling is there is no harm in using a scarf or something,” he said, adding that medical masks should be reserved for hospitals. “I would say do it. You wouldn’t have to do it forever.”
Read more here.
U.S. tops 800 daily deaths, passes China in reported fatalities
On Tuesday, the number of reported coronavirus deaths in the United States for the first time topped 800 in a day, according to data compiled by The Washington Post.
The total U.S. death count exceeds 3,700, which is more than the numbers reported by China. The previous highest U.S. daily toll was more than 500.
Most deaths Tuesday were in New York, where 332 people were reported dead. Michigan reported 75 deaths, New Jersey reported 69 and Louisiana reported 54. Nationwide, there were more than 24,000 new confirmed cases reported Tuesday.
The new total did not include deaths from Washington, where officials are working to fix a glitch in the health department’s system for tracking the outbreak. The state, one of the country’s early epicenters, has been unable to provide updates on its figures since Saturday.
Anthony S. Fauci and Deborah Birx, members of the White House coronavirus task force, said the country’s death toll could top 200,000 in the course of the pandemic. Officials, including President Trump and New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D), have warned that it could be weeks before deaths peak in the United States.
“Everybody wants to know one thing: When is it over? Nobody knows,” Cuomo said at a news conference on Tuesday. “It is not going to be soon. Calibrate your expectations.”
The U.S. death count reached another grim milestone Tuesday: It is more than the number of people who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which killed about 3,000 people.
Other countries also set new highs for death counts Tuesday, including Spain, which reported 849 deaths in the previous 24 hours, and France, which recorded nearly 500 deaths in that time.
California to release 3,500 inmates to limit spread of coronavirus in state prison system
California estimates that as many as 3,500 inmates could be released early as part of an ongoing effort to limit crowding in prisons and the spread of coronavirus.
The plan was announced by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on Tuesday, and the state additionally implemented a suspension of intake by county prisons, estimating that that could cut inmate population by 3,000 in the next 30 days. As for the early release protocol, it applies first to those serving terms for nonviolent crimes who were set to be released within the next 30 days. Then, once those inmates are accounted for, it extends to nonviolent offenders who were set to be released within 60 days.
On Tuesday afternoon, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) reported 6,932 confirmed cases in the state. Earlier in the day, state lawyers urged a three-judge panel that “extraordinary and unprecedented protective measures” were needed to protect inmates in California’s 35 state prisons, according to multiple reports.
This came soon after the chief doctor at New York’s Rikers Island called the prison facility a “public health disaster unfolding before our eyes.” The doctor, Ross MacDonald, issued his warning in tweets Monday night, urging New York officials to address a growing problem inside prisons.
VA is preparing to treat civilians in northern New Jersey to help with overflow of patients in New York
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie said his health system may soon be drafted to treat civilians in northern New Jersey who have been hit by the fast-spreading covid-19
outbreak in the New York area, fulfilling its “fourth mission” to treat nonveterans.
VA opened its first beds to nonveterans last week in response to a request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, providing 35 acute-care and 15 intensive care beds to patients at its New York City hospitals. Next could come requests to take in patients from the emergency, 1,000-bed field hospital that New York City opened this week in the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Wilkie said. The patients are not infected with the virus, but are freeing up conventional hospital beds.
VA itself is facing a surge in veterans testing positive for coronavirus as testing has become more available. The agency reported 1,347 positive test results Tuesday, up from 1,166 the day before, with 41 deaths, up 14 from Monday.
The biggest outbreak among veterans remains in New Orleans, where coronavirus cases have erupted. Most infected veterans, 226, are in outpatient care, while 32 are hospitalized. Wilkie said the VA health system must weigh the need for care it anticipates among veterans who test positive with its goal of treating civilians in hot spots around the country.
“It’s a balancing act between the needs of our veterans and our desire to go outside the system,” he said. “We’re not going to be able to meet all of New York City’s needs, but we can provide a bridge."
VA hospitals have now designated two zones to isolate coronavirus cases from other patients, according to a pandemic plan released Friday. The health system also has postponed most elective surgeries and closed some satellite clinics to free up doctors and nurses to treat covid-19 cases.
De Blasio says he’s waiting on more help from White House, calls on local surgeons, veterinarians to pitch in with ventilators
With New York City bracing for the peak of the coronavirus outbreak to potentially hit in as soon as a week, Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) issued an urgent call to federal officials, including President Trump, as well as regular city dwellers to step up with help, and fast.
“We have a quarter of all coronavirus cases in America,” de Blasio said Tuesday afternoon from the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, where courts have been turned into a makeshift hospital for coronavirus patients. “This coming Sunday, April 5, is a demarcation line. This is when we must be prepared for what we expect is a huge increase.”
De Blasio said he’s requested 1,000 nurses, 300 respiratory therapists and 150 doctors from the ranks of both reserve and deployed military personnel to boost caregiving capacity when the wave of new cases hits. He said the federal government has already supplied 2,500 ventilators, a crucial resource during the pandemic, but that the city needs a total of 15,000 in short order.
“I have reiterated that need and that request … and I’m waiting on an answer from the White House,” de Blasio said. He thanked the federal government for showing “a much more vigorous approach in recent weeks,” but stressed that the window to shore up resources before the outbreak’s apex in the city was small.
“We know April is going to be very tough,” he said.
De Blasio promised to send any ventilators received from the federal government to wherever in the country they’re most needed once the crisis in New York is contained.
The mayor also called on oral surgeons, plastic surgeons and veterinarians to offer up their devices as well.
“If you’ve got a ventilator in your office, in your operating room, we need it now,” he said. “This is a war effort. Everyone needs to contribute. You’ll get them back when this is over.”
De Blasio confirmed several other efforts to slow the growth rate of new cases, including the release of 900 jail detainees held at Rikers Island — largely those eligible due to their low-level offense or underlying conditions that create a greater health risk. He said he expected more releases to follow, but the number was not immediately unclear. De Blasio also halted all nonessential, non-emergency construction and postponed tax lien sales for several months.
Amid reports that an Amazon warehouse worker in Staten Island who organized a strike Monday was fired, de Blasio said the city’s commission on human rights would open an investigation immediately (Amazon told CNBC the worker was fired for violating social distancing guidelines). The sheriff’s office is inspecting the warehouse to ensure Amazon is complying with social distancing orders. (Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos also owns The Washington Post.)
Texas governor rejects ‘shelter in place’ language but asks Texans to stay home until April 30
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott won’t call it a stay-at-home order but announced Tuesday that he is asking Texans to limit personal interactions and venture outside only for essential services such as banking, grocery shopping and exercising until the end of the month.
The Republican modified a previous executive order by invoking “essential services and activities protocols” that will close schools until May 4 and extend the time Texans are expected to stay home across the state while “still having the freedom to conduct daily activities so long as you are following the presidential standard of good distance practices.”
Abbott was under pressure to declare a uniform statewide order that would correct the patchwork of regulations to stop the spread of the coronavirus across Texas’s 254 counties — nearly half of which have at least one case of covid-19. But the order stopped short of using the same kind of dire language adopted by other states and some of Texas’s largest cities, including Dallas and Houston.
The governor praised citizens for helping to keep the state’s numbers relatively low compared with those of other states.
“Distancing practices that you all are doing, they’re working,” Abbott said during the news conference. “But as President Trump said just two days ago, now is not the time for us to let up in these distancing efforts.”
The order is enforceable by local law enforcement and could result in a fine or jail time. Anyone in violation may also be subject to a quarantine order from state health officials.
Texas has tested more than 42,992 people, and fewer than 10 percent have obtained a positive result. More than 3,200 people have been diagnosed with covid-19, and 41 have died. The governor said Texas has used about 2 percent of its overall bed capacity.
Putin to send medical supplies to United States
MOSCOW — A Russian plane loaded with medical equipment and protective medical gear was ready to take off for the United States on Tuesday, the Kremlin said, after President Vladimir Putin offered help to President Trump.
The two presidents discussed the novel coronavirus problem at length by phone Monday, Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday. They also discussed oil prices, agreeing that the current price was too low.
“In view of the current epidemic crisis in America, the Russian side offered aid in the form of medical equipment and protective gear. Trump accepted this aid of a humanitarian nature with gratitude,” Peskov said late Tuesday, adding that the flight was ready to depart before midnight Moscow time.
He said Putin offered the aid on the understanding that once the United States ramped up its own production, it would be ready to reciprocate with similar equipment and protective gear, should Russia need it.
No details were available on exactly what equipment was included in the cargo and whether ventilators were included. Trump thanked Putin for sending help during a Monday evening news conference.
“Throughout the day today technical discussions and preparations were carried out for a Russian flight which we now expect to depart before the end of today,” Peskov said. But he hinted at difficulties from some U.S. officials in finalizing arrangements for the flight in comments reported by Interfax.
More than a week ago, Russia sent 15 planeloads of equipment, testing kits, and experts whom it described as military virologists and epidemiologists to Italy, which has been hard hit by covid-19. The Russian teams have been engaged in disinfecting facilities in northern Italy.
Although Italy’s Ambassador to Russia Pasquale Terracciano said it was important that the cargo included 600 ventilators, Italian newspaper La Stampa cited an unnamed government official saying that 80 percent of the cargo Russia sent was useless.
France’s official death toll passes 3,500, with more than 7,500 new cases confirmed
Nearly 500 people in France who contracted the coronavirus have died in the past day, health officials said Tuesday, bringing the country’s total death toll to 3,523.
The official French government count, which included 499 deaths since Monday, only included deaths recorded at hospitals, meaning the toll could still increase.
The number of newly confirmed cases also sharply increased by 7,578, likely in part because a growing number of people are being tested. The country’s total number of confirmed cases has now surpassed 52,000.
Earlier this month, France implemented lockdown measures to try to slow the infection rate. The death rate has increased over the past several days.
McConnell claims impeachment ‘diverted the attention’ of Trump administration from coronavirus response
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that the impeachment of President Trump distracted the administration’s attention away from the coronavirus crisis, defending the president amid criticism of the delayed U.S. response to the pandemic.
In an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, McConnell blamed the Democratic-led impeachment effort, even though Trump was acquitted by the Senate on Feb. 5 — more than three weeks before the first coronavirus death in the United States.
“It came up while we were, you know, tied down in the impeachment trial,” McConnell told Hewitt. “And I think it diverted the attention of the government, because everything, every day, was all about impeachment.”
Indiana has more cases than previously reported
Indiana health officials on Tuesday corrected their accounting of the spread of the coronavirus in the state, saying the number of confirmed cases was in the thousands, instead of the hundreds, as they previously reported.
The Hoosier State now has more than 2,000 confirmed cases and a death count nearing 50 — a sharp increase from the 12 deaths that the state’s health department recorded just last week.
State Health Commissioner Kristina Box said in a Tuesday news conference that the new, higher numbers don’t mean that the positive cases and deaths all happened in one day. The results posted on the agency’s website each day are based on when it receives data, she said.
“The deaths that were reported today actually have occurred in the 14 days prior to this, from March 21 to March 30,” Box said.
Box explained that the department doesn’t report a death until there is a confirmed positive test for covid-19. Private labs can take up to two weeks to report results to the Indiana State Department of Health, she said. Health officials go into their data and match results with patients, but sometimes they find that the patients have already died, she said.
County reporting can also alter death data.
“I do not want Hoosiers to see these rising numbers and think that that means the peak has arrived,” she said. “We have a very long way to go before we reach the peak, and I cannot say enough about how important it is for you to continue to stay home.”
Indiana had its first confirmed case of covid-19 on March 6.
Emergency federal court order grants release of ICE detainees because of coronavirus
A federal judge in Harrisburg, Pa., ordered the immediate release of 10 people held by U.S. immigration authorities in three Pennsylvania county jails Tuesday because their age or health put them at a heightened risk of contracting the coronavirus, their lawyers said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, which represented the plaintiffs along with the ACLU national prison project, the Immigrants Rights Project and the Dechert law firm, said the ruling was the first such emergency release granted by a federal judge in a group of cases brought by the group in coronavirus outbreak.
“At this point, it is not a matter of if COVID-19 will enter Pennsylvania prisons, but when it is finally detected therein,” U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III wrote, referring to the illness caused by the coronavirus. He added, “It is not unlikely that COVID-19 is already present in some county prisons.”
The ACLU of Pennsylvania said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement previously released three of the 13 original plaintiffs, with the remainder detained in York, Clinton and Pike counties.
“The court determined that ICE cannot keep elderly and medically vulnerable people safe and, thus, must release them,” state ACLU Legal Director Witold Walczak said in a statement.
Correction: An earlier version mistakenly called this the first emergency federal court. order.
New York tops 300 deaths in a day as Cuomo says the state has been 'behind this virus from day one’
Confirmed cases of the coronavirus and related deaths continue to rise in New York, where the state recorded 332 new deaths Monday for a total of 1,550, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) said Tuesday.
The increase marks the first time New York has reported more than 300 deaths in a day and signals how sharply the overall U.S. death toll is rising. Friday was the first time the single-day death toll from all states combined topped 300.
“I’m tired of being behind this virus. We’ve been behind this virus from day one,” Cuomo said during his daily news conference. “We underestimated this virus. It’s more powerful, it’s more dangerous than we expected.”
Cuomo noted that his younger brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, had tested positive for the virus that morning. The governor said his brother is fit and healthy and “is gonna be fine,” but he couldn’t help but grow emotional.
“He’s a really sweet, beautiful guy. And he’s my best friend,” the governor said. “But there’s a lesson in this. He’s an essential worker, a member of the press, so he’s been out there. If you go out there, the chances you get infected are high.”
Keeping people physically distanced — along with rapidly expanding health-care capacity — is key to girding for the outbreak to reach its apex in New York, which has reported more cases and deaths than any other state. Cuomo said exactly when cases will hit their peak is the “$64,000 question” but that the projected time frame is between seven and 21 days.
State officials and hospitals are running background and credential checks on health-care workers from around the country who have come to New York to boost the ranks and offer relief to the state’s first responders. Cuomo said volunteer personnel may be approved for work as soon as Thursday.
Ethiopia postpones its first truly democratic elections
NAIROBI — Ethiopia’s first multiparty elections were still five months away, but that wasn’t far enough in these trying times, according to the country’s election board.
“Due to the pandemic we were forced to suspend our activities,” the election board said Tuesday night in a statement.
The August election was set to be the first test at the ballot box for Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who has been lauded for his changes to Ethiopia’s closed political sphere, which have also included the release of thousands of prisoners and lifting the bans on opposition parties.
Abiy won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize in part for his democratic reforms, as well as for reaching a peace agreement with neighboring Eritrea.
Ethiopia hasn’t seen an explosion of coronavirus cases yet, but testing has been slow to ramp up, potentially masking the spread of the virus.
The election board said a new election timetable would be announced when the pandemic “is over.”
Britain’s true death toll could be more than 20 percent higher if non-hospital deaths are counted
LONDON — The death toll from the novel coronavirus in Britain could be more than 20 percent higher than previously reported by health departments, according to new figures from the country’s national statistical institute.
On Tuesday, Britain recorded its biggest single-day toll of 381 deaths, bringing the total number to 1,789. Michael Gove, Britain’s cabinet office minister, said at a news conference that the increase was “deeply shocking and disturbing.”
But the actual figure could be higher. A separate batch of statistics published Tuesday found that the death toll related to the coronavirus was 24 percent higher if the tally included non-hospital deaths.
Those figures, from Britain’s Office for National Statistics, showed that there were 210 deaths in England and Wales through March 20. In the same time period, England’s National Health Service and Public Health Wales recorded 170 coronavirus-related deaths.
The different numbers come down to different methodologies, according to the statistics office.
The governments’ health departments count only deaths that occur in hospitals after a patient has tested positive for the coronavirus. The statistics office includes deaths in the community and in homes, as well as deaths where the coronavirus is mentioned on the death certificate, even if it is only suspected.
More than 25,000 people have tested positive for the coronavirus in Britain. This includes Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is still self-isolating, and Prince Charles, heir to the British throne.
Americans have rapidly adopted social distancing practices, Gallup poll finds
Americans have sharply cut back on visiting public places and attending even small gatherings, and a growing majority are willing to abide by extended “social distancing” measures to limit the coronavirus outbreak, according to several nationwide surveys.
Gallup polls illustrate the stark shift in the past two weeks. In a survey conducted Friday to Sunday, 83 percent of U.S. adults reported they had “avoided small gatherings of people, such as with family or friends.”
That was an increase from 68 percent one week earlier and just 23 percent who said they avoided small gatherings from March 13 to 15, when there were fewer than 4,000 reported cases in the United States and fewer than 70 reported deaths.
And while 3 in 10 Americans were avoiding going to public places such as stores and restaurants in mid-March, that rose sharply to 72 percent a week later and 78 percent in the latest Gallup survey. A still-larger 89 percent said they have avoided traveling by airplane, train or bus.
Those findings mirror a Washington Post-ABC News poll released last week in which 91 percent of Americans said they are “staying at home as much as possible” because of the coronavirus outbreak, and 93 percent said they “are maintaining distance from other people.”
Americans also appear willing to continue such practices to limit the outbreak’s spread in their own communities. Gallup has tracked adults’ willingness to stay home for a month if public health officials recommend doing so because of a serious outbreak of coronavirus in their community.
A 64 percent majority said they are “very likely” to follow a month-long stay-at-home order, up from 58 percent who said this one week ago and 41 percent two weeks ago.
Vast coronavirus ‘field hospitals’ fill convention halls that hosted wedding expos and dog shows
LONDON — A new temporary 4,000-bed hospital is scheduled to open here this week, providing vital capacity for a health-care system that doctors fear will be overwhelmed if a surge of new coronavirus cases appear as forecast.
The new “Nightingale Hospital” in the ExCel center in east London is expected to start receiving its first 500 patients as early as Wednesday.
Last week, a contractor installing electric cables posted a shaky cellphone video that pans across the cavernous convention center that is being converted into three vast coronavirus wards.
The space goes on and on — six football fields long. It had been booked for a wedding expo this week, before the ban on large gatherings. Instead, it will house as many as 4,000 beds and two morgues.
British newspapers called the footage showing the scale of the new hospital “chilling.”
Just as foreboding, Britain’s National Health Service announced this week that the need for staff members at the Nightingale is so great that furloughed flight attendants from easyJet and Virgin Atlantic airlines will be sent in to assist doctors and nurses. The cabin crews will perform duties such as changing bedding.
Three more temporary hospitals are being readied in Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.
It is not just beds and oxygen machines that are in short supply in Britain. Andrew Goddard, president of the Royal College of Physicians, told the Press Association on Tuesday that one in four doctors working for NHS are absent from work because they were sick from the virus, or self-isolating because of symptoms or possible exposure.
Read more here.
Italy confirms another 837 deaths and more than 4,000 new infections
An additional 837 people have died in Italy after contracting the coronavirus, Italian officials said Tuesday, bringing the country’s death toll to 12,428.
The daily death toll marks a small increase compared with the day before, when 812 deaths were recorded.
Italy also confirmed an additional 4,053 cases of the virus Tuesday, almost equal to the 4,050 new cases recorded Monday, and lower than the 5,217 on Sunday.
On Tuesday, buildings across Italy flew flags at half-staff in a sign of solidarity with families who have lost loved ones to the virus, which has caused more deaths in Italy than in any other country. Italy has confirmed nearly 106,000 cases of the virus since February.
The Vatican also flew its flag at half-staff Tuesday. In a statement, the Holy See said the move expressed its “closeness to the victims of the pandemic in Italy and in the world.”
This week, Italian officials said the country’s lockdown, which is intended to slow the spread of the virus, would need to be extended until at least Easter, which falls April 12.
Walmart will start checking workers’ temperatures, providing protective gear
Walmart will begin checking workers’ temperatures and providing them with gloves and masks, the retail giant announced Tuesday, stepping up its safety protocols as it hires roughly 5,000 employees a day to meet heightened demand during the coronavirus crisis.
Most retailers have been pummeled by the coronavirus shutdown — Macy’s, Kohl’s and Gap confirmed Monday that they would furlough tens of thousands of workers — but not Walmart. The nation’s largest private employer has ramped up hiring and is on track to have 150,000 jobs filled by the end of May, executives announced Tuesday. It has shortened its hiring process from an average of two weeks to “as little as 24 hours.”
But as the outbreak tightens its grip on the United States and dozens of states enact lockdown orders, those still leaving home to work are increasingly vulnerable. Walmart said that its employees are eligible for two weeks of paid leave if they need to quarantine and that absences would not be held against them.
Read more here.
As virus spikes among ultra-Orthodox, Israel deploys security forces to make them stay home
JERUSALEM — Israeli police are cracking down on ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods around the country, which have emerged as coronavirus hot spots as residents continue to ignore stay-at-home orders and bans on gatherings meant to stem the epidemic.
Authorities have carried out raids on synagogues and deployed helicopters, which hover over streets filled with black-clad religious students, after these crowded, insular communities recorded some of Israel’s highest rates of infection.
As police have pushed into some of these neighborhoods, violence has broken out. Young ultra-Orthodox men threw rocks at police in Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim neighborhood Monday after officers broke up a gathering at a synagogue and cited residents for straying more than 100 meters from their homes. Thirty residents were fined up to $1,400 for violating health restrictions, and the army sent patrols into the neighborhood Tuesday.
Officials are considering locking down entire ultra-Orthodox areas.
Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, himself an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who had been criticized for not clamping down more vigorously, called for police to control access to the city of Bnei Barak after an ultra-Orthodox funeral there drew hundreds of mourners in defiance of police.
“There is no public that is exempt from the regulations, and there is no population that can stand aside and not participate in the law,” Litzman said in an interview with the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
Government officials say most members of the ultra-Orthodox, or Haredi, communities complied with restrictions when they were imposed nationwide more two weeks ago. But some sects have flouted these rules, in Israel as well as in sections of New York, New Jersey and London, as urgent public health messages have failed to penetrate a population isolated by cultural, religious and language barriers.
Read more here.
Lebanese banks stop dollar withdrawals, pending airport reopening
BEIRUT — Banks in Lebanon will no longer offer any dollar withdrawals until the Beirut international airport is reopened, AFP reported Tuesday, a sign of even more grim times to come for the cash-strapped country.
The country closed the airport on March 18, first suspending commercial and private passenger flights until March 29 and later extending the closure until April 12. The shutdown was announced in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the country, which has frequent flights to and from Iran, the focal point of the virus’s spread in the region.
Lebanon has recorded 463 cases of the coronavirus and 12 deaths. It imposed a national lockdown, allowing only necessary businesses such as pharmacies, markets and delivery restaurants to operate. It also announced a strict curfew from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m., during which period everyone is banned from leaving their homes.
Lebanon is in the throes of a financial crisis and a pronounced dollar shortage, pushing the Lebanese to protest in mass numbers in October and causing then-Prime Minister Saad Hariri to resign. For months, the banks introduced incremental capital controls, capping dollar withdrawals, stopping outgoing international transfers and limiting online transactions.
On Tuesday, quoting a member of the Lebanese banking association, AFP reported that all dollar withdrawals would be halted “pending the airport reopening.” The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told the French news agency dollar imports are no longer possible because of the coronavirus, which caused the airport shutdown.
Why dollars cannot be imported as cargo, though, remains unclear as the Beirut airport continues to allow flights for cargo, as well as for the military, diplomatic delegations and international organizations, among others.
Trump promotes false claim that House Democrats sought pay raise in stimulus bill
President Trump on Tuesday promoted a debunked claim that House Democrats sought to give pay raises to members of Congress in the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill passed last week in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
On Twitter, Trump shared a post with his 75.6 million followers from a user who sought to contrast Trump’s posture on the pandemic with that of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whose relationship with the president has remained strained since the impeachment process.
“Donald Trump donated his salary to fight the virus, Nancy Pelosi asked for a raise. This is all you really need to know,” wrote a Twitter user with the handle @CHIZMAGA.
Trump has donated his quarterly salary to a variety of government initiatives since taking office, and the White House announced last month that, this time around, he was giving it to the Department of Health and Human Services to help with the coronavirus response.
But independent fact-checkers have found claims about pay raises for members of Congress — which circulated widely on social media in recent weeks — to be false.
A House stimulus proposal included $25 million for “salaries and expenses,” but that money was never intended to boost salaries of members of Congress, congressional aides said.
“The funding is to support the House’s capability to telework, including for the purchase of equipment and improvements to the network,” Evan Hollander, a spokesman for the House Appropriations Committee, told FactCheck.org, one of the organizations that debunked the salary claim. “It will also provide for reimbursement costs for the staff of the House Child Care Center and covers the costs of the House food service contracts. In addition, it will support the Sergeant-At-Arms on continuity of operations matters.”
A similar provision was included in the version of the bill crafted by Senate Republicans.
CNN’s Chris Cuomo tests positive for coronavirus
CNN anchor Chris Cuomo revealed Tuesday that he has been infected with the coronavirus.
Cuomo said in a tweet that he had been in contact with people who subsequently tested positive for the virus. His own symptoms included fever, chills and shortness of breath — common signs of the illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The 49-year-old expressed concern that he could spread the virus to his wife and children. “That would make me feel worse than this illness,” he said.
Cuomo said he is self-quarantined in his basement, where he intends to keep working on his shows, including anchoring “Cuomo Prime Time.” He was last at the network’s offices on Friday, CNN reported.
“We will all beat this by being smart and tough and united,” he said on Twitter.
Cuomo’s profile has risen further during the coronavirus crisis, owing to his sometimes affectionate, sometimes prickly interviews with his brother, New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D). From his basement on Monday night, the CNN anchor kept pestering his brother about whether he would consider running for president.
“He is going to be fine,” Andrew Cuomo said of his brother at a news conference on Tuesday. “He’s young, in good shape, strong. Not as strong as he thinks. But he will be fine. But there’s a lesson in this: He’s an essential worker, a member of the press, so he’s been out there. If you go out there, the chances you get infected are high.”
Read more here.
Facing travel bans, the Mormon church has chartered jets to bring thousands of missionaries home
When Britain Bashore landed back in Utah last week after nearly two years volunteering as a missionary in the Philippines, the 19-year-old was greeted with little of the public fanfare that at any other time would have marked the occasion.
There were no throngs of extended family members waiting at the bottom of the airport escalators and no parents standing at baggage claim with balloons. Instead, Bashore’s immediate family, careful to follow social distancing guidelines, met him in the parking garage at the Salt Lake City International Airport and ushered him into their Subaru — without his checked luggage, which they abandoned for later rather than risk the crowds.
Bashore was one of about 1,600 Mormon missionaries rushed home to the United States from the Philippines this month on five flights chartered by the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as borders closed and airlines shut routes amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The arrival of so many missionaries at once led to chaotic scenes at Salt Lake City’s airport, drawing sharp rebukes from state leaders who said the families’ behavior violated public health guidelines and put the community at risk. The church later coordinated with local officials to reinforce guidelines for safe airport pickups.
The evacuation from the Philippines was only one part of a much broader moment of upheaval within the church’s mammoth global network: the return home of Mormon missionaries on a scale rarely seen in the church’s history. For thousands of missionaries, the coronavirus pandemic has wrought logistical nightmares and disrupted one of the faith’s most cherished traditions.
Read more here.
Nigerians worry about hunger as Africa’s most populous country orders nearly 30 million into lockdown
After Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered nearly 30 million people to stay at home for two weeks, a persistent question surged on social media: How will we eat?
Most residents in locked-down areas, including Africa’s most populous city, Lagos, cannot afford to stock up on food, advocates say.
An estimated 70 percent of Nigerians don’t have the money for a 14-day supply, said Isa Sanusi, a spokesman for Amnesty International in the Nigerian capital, Abuja. Many squeeze into buildings that lack refrigerators or reliable power.
“People live by the day,” he said, “and the lack of stable electricity makes it difficult for people to store food for longer periods.”
As life crawled to a halt Tuesday in Lagos, clearing highways that are normally jampacked with traffic, the government pledged to distribute food to the 200,000 neediest households, or roughly 1.2 million people. Videos of the state-provided supplies surfaced on Twitter, with some residents asserting that they would not be able to subsist on the contents, which included rice, beans, bread and dry pepper.
Some said they felt stuck. The bus services had stopped. Only hospital staffers, grocery store clerks and delivery drivers, among other essential workers, were allowed to move.
“As civilians, we must play our part,” Akin Abayomi, health commissioner for Lagos state, said at a Tuesday briefing. The state, he said, wants to “avoid two people literally coming within two feet of each other or touching what someone else has touched.”
One Twitter user responded to a Nigerian government official: “The truth is hunger will kill most of us b4 the expiration of the [two weeks]."
Russian president’s visit to an infectious-diseases hospital puts him a handshake away from the virus
The chief doctor of Moscow’s main infectious-diseases hospital treating coronavirus patients has been diagnosed with the virus — a week after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, shaking his hand and traveling with him in a elevator.
The doctor, Denis Protsenko, has become something of a celebrity in Russia as the main face of the medical fight against the virus. He was “feeling fair” after testing positive for the coronavirus, Interfax reported, and has self-isolated in his office.
After meeting Protsenko at close quarters last Tuesday, Putin donned a yellow hazmat suit and a mask to visit hospital wards and speak to patients, triggering a wave of memes on Russia’s Internet.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov played down fears that Putin, 67, may have been infected, saying the leader is being tested regularly and “is well.” Peskov did not indicate whether Putin would go into self-quarantine because of his contact with Protsenko.
On Tuesday, Russia recorded a sharp increase of 501 new cases to reach 2,337 infections, with 11 deaths attributed to the virus.
With Moscow, St. Petersburg and many other cities under lockdown, the State Duma on Wednesday passed several laws to deal with the crisis, enabling the government to implement a state of emergency if necessary and impose stiff penalties on people breaching self-quarantine rules.
A person who fails to self-isolate and causes two deaths faces a seven-year prison term under the new law, while a person who causes one death could be jailed for five years. Individuals, businesses and officials face steep fines for breaches.
Timing of House’s return to Washington is uncertain, majority leader says
Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) advised House members Tuesday that the timing of their return to Washington remains uncertain because of the coronavirus outbreak and that members should be prepared to work through previously scheduled recesses when they do.
“We will listen to the advice from medical experts as to when we can proceed with the business of Congress in Washington, so it is not possible to give a definitive return date,” Hoyer wrote to members.
Under previous guidance, neither the House nor the Senate plans to reconvene for votes before April 20. Hoyer’s letter suggests that Congress could be working through much of its traditional August recess, as well as some recesses before then.
Belarus, whose leader has called for vodka and saunas to stop outbreak, reports its first coronavirus death
Belarusan President Alexander Lukashenko has made clear for several weeks that he is not willing to let coronavirus disrupt daily life in his nation.
As death tolls have skyrocketed globally and many countries have closed their borders and shut down nonessential businesses, Lukashenko has advanced his own solutions to the crisis, urging citizens to drink vodka and visit saunas. He has denounced measures that other countries have taken to stem the spread of the virus, describing them as “frenzy and psychosis.”
It’s not that Lukashenko doesn’t believe in the coronavirus. The former Soviet bloc country he has led for about a quarter-century has reported 152 cases so far, and it recorded its first virus-linked death Tuesday, according to Belta, a Belarusan news agency.
But Lukashenko seems intent on continuing to defy public health experts’ advice for people to stay home. Last weekend, he even suited up to play hockey.
“It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees!” he told a reporter just before the game. “Sport, especially on ice, is better than any antiviral medication. It is the real thing.”
Turkmenistan bans the word ‘coronavirus,’ endangering citizens
CAIRO — In most nations, information about the coronavirus is seen as vital to saving lives.
Not in Turkmenistan, one of the world’s most closed countries. There, the government has banned the word “coronavirus” from the Turkmen vocabulary in a move to suppress all information about the pandemic, the watchdog group Reporters Without Borders said in a statement Tuesday.
And that is placing its citizens in danger, the group said.
The state-controlled media in the autocratic nation, which borders Iran, is prohibited from using the word. You can no longer find “coronavirus” in health information brochures that have been distributed to hospitals, workplaces and schools, according to the Turkmenistan Chronicle, one of the few independent news outlets, whose website is blocked inside the country.
And what happens to Turkmenistan residents who decide to wear face masks or chat with their friends about the virus on the street or at bus stops? They could be arrested, according to local journalists who spoke with Reporters Without Borders.
“The Turkmen authorities have lived up to their reputation by adopting this extreme method for eradicating all information about the coronavirus,” said Jeanne Cavelier, the head of the group’s Eastern European and Central Asia desk. “This denial of information not only endangers the Turkmen citizen most at risk but also reinforces the authoritarianism imposed by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov.”
In Turkmenistan, the president is known as “Father Protector.” This month, he gave orders to fumigate public areas — not with traditional sanitizers or disinfectants — but with a plant called “harmala,” according to Reporters Without Borders.
The country ranks last in the group’s World Press Freedom Index. The government controls all media in the country and cracks down severely on journalists who report for media outlets outside the country.
Turkmenistan, naturally, has reported no cases of the coronavirus.
More than 3,000 have died in U.S., surpassing 9/11 death toll
The death toll from the coronavirus in the United States surpassed 3,000 on Tuesday, according to state and county health agencies — more than the number of people who died in the initial Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.
After the immediate attacks, thousands of responders died of illnesses related to their efforts, and tens of thousands more are still being treated for 9/11-related illnesses.
The first U.S. coronavirus-related death was reported Feb. 29 in Washington state. The nation’s death count has since continued to rise as states and municipalities implement increasingly strict lockdowns and social-distancing measures in an attempt to stymie the virus’s spread.
U.S. health officials have warned Americans to steel themselves for the situation to worsen before it improves. Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus coordinator, told NBC News on Monday that as many as 200,000 Americans could die in the pandemic even “if we do things together well, almost perfectly.”
President Trump said Sunday that federal guidelines to continue social distancing would continue through the end of April after he previously said he hoped the country would be operating as usual by Easter on April 12. He said he now expects coronavirus-related deaths to peak in about two weeks.
Italian politicians have a message for Germany: After WWII, we helped you. Now, it’s your turn.
BERLIN — A group of Italian politicians including mayors and regional presidents from some of the most virus-stricken parts of Italy had an urgent message for Germans on Tuesday: After World War II, the world helped you. Now, it’s your turn.
In an open letter published by Germany’s conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily, the Italian politicians urged their “German friends” to give in to demands for the joint issuance of debt by the members of the euro zone, so-called eurobonds, amid the current crisis.
Eurobonds have been strongly rejected by European countries with a relatively low debt burden — including the eurozone’s biggest economy, Germany — over fears that such instruments would tie them to high-debt nations such as Italy or Greece and discourage austerity.
But the idea for a limited coronavirus bond program has found a growing number of prominent backers in recent days, including European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, according to the Financial Times.
The aim of eurobonds, the group of Italian supporters wrote Tuesday, is not to make other nations pay for Italy’s old debts, but rather to provide “sufficient means for a great European rescue plan for the economy, the health and social sectors."
They added that “German debts after 1945 reached 29.7 billion Deutsche Marks” (more than $7 billion at the time), an amount the country “would never have been able to repay.” Through debt relief agreed by more than 20 nations — including Italy — West Germany was able to avoid a default and prosper in the following decades, the Italian politicians reminded their German counterparts.
Addressing tensions with Trump, Pelosi says they’ll speak directly about pandemic ‘if necessary’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Tuesday that she feels no urgency to speak directly with President Trump about the nation’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, saying the two would do so “if necessary.”
“I don’t know what I would learn in a conversation with the president,” Pelosi said during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” in which she responded to reports that her relationship with Trump is so strained that they have not spoken directly since last year.
“Well, I’ve always spoken to presidents on an as-needed basis,” Pelosi said. “It’s a historic occasion when the speaker and the president speak. It’s history. What is the purpose, and what is the urgency?”
She reiterated that during negotiations over the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill passed last week, House leaders negotiated with representatives “tasked” by the president, adding, “We respect that.”
“As long as that gets the job done, I think that’s fine,” Pelosi said.
“If it’s necessary, I’m sure we will speak,” she added of Trump.
Pelosi did not dispute reports that she and the president had not spoken since the fall but noted that she did appear with him at his State of the Union address in the House chamber in February. At the end of Trump’s speech, Pelosi tore up a copy of his prepared remarks.
More recently, Pelosi has accused Trump of “fiddling” while people die of the novel coronavirus, and he has called her a “sick puppy” in response.
During her MSNBC appearance, Pelosi suggested that she and the president communicate through their respective television appearances: “We speak to each other right now, and that’s what he really hears, what people say publicly much more than what you might say in a call.”
Trump signaled Tuesday that he had watched Pelosi on MSNBC to see “what moves she was planning to further hurt our Country.”
“Actually, other than her usual complaining that I’m a terrible person, she wasn’t bad," Trump wrote on Twitter. “Still praying!”
I watched a portion of low rated (very) Morning Psycho (Joe) this Morning in order to see what Nancy Pelosi had to say, & what moves she was planning to further hurt our Country. Actually, other than her usual complaining that I’m a terrible person, she wasn’t bad. Still praying!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 31, 2020
Hogan: Trump’s claim that testing issues are resolved is ‘just not true’
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan called President Trump’s claim that testing is no longer a problem “just not true” and said states are “flying blind” without enough data to identify the true scope of the coronavirus pandemic.
Hogan, a Republican who chairs the National Governors Association, said in an interview on NPR’s “Morning Edition” that the president’s take on testing was “aspirational” and that none of the testing advancements Trump touted in a conference call with governors on Monday have been deployed yet.
Trump told governors that he “hasn’t heard about testing for weeks” and that the United States has tested more than any other country.
Hogan went on to say he believes that the White House coronavirus team that includes Vice President Pence and physician Deborah Birx are working with the facts, and “we’re listening to the team, the smart team.”
In a separate appearance on CNN’s “New Day,” Hogan said governors were pushing the federal government to coordinate the purchase of scarce coronavirus supplies. Otherwise, states will be bidding against each other, he said.
Hogan called the stay-at-home order he issued Monday one of “the last tools” in his arsenal. He said he ordered people to stay home partly because epidemiologists and other scientists said the spike in Maryland’s cases resembled one two weeks ago in New York, which is now the main flash point of the outbreak in the United States.
Medical staff on the front lines also sacrifice at home
Health-care workers across the United States are putting in long hours to help coronavirus patients while cutting short time and closeness with their loved ones to decrease their risk of spreading the virus.
Arabia Mollette, an emergency-room physician at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., told NBC’s Hoda Kotb that she had not seen her family in more than two weeks and that she often communicates with them through FaceTime. It’s a step she and many of her colleagues have taken to protect their family members and friends from exposure to the potentially deadly virus.
“My fiance and I, we sleep in two separate spaces,” Mollette said on NBC. “It’s been tough for everyone, including the family members, as well as the families of the health-care workers and health-care workers themselves.”
New York has more than 66,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, with a projected rise that could severely strain its already exhausted health-care system, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) has said.
As the United States continues to rack up positive test results with no vaccine in sight, some doctors from Georgia to California are camping in tents outside their homes in an attempt to keep their families safe.
Timmy Cheng, an Irvine, Calif.-based doctor who has treated several coronavirus patients, told NBC Bay Area that his family brings him food from the garage doorway.
“They run away, then I go pick up the food,” he said.
De Blasio: It was ‘unacceptable’ that onlookers ignored social distancing to watch hospital ship
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) has a clear message for people who continue to flout his social distancing orders: “That’s unacceptable.”
Those who ignore the rules may face fines of $250 to $500 if police catch them, de Blasio said Tuesday during an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show.
The mayor’s warning came in response to a question about the mass of onlookers who crowded the waterfront Monday morning to watch the USNS Comfort, a U.S. Navy hospital ship, dock in Manhattan. The vessel will treat non-coronavirus patients to free up beds in shore-based hospitals for those with covid-19, the illness caused by the virus.
De Blasio acknowledged that the ship was an emotional sight for New Yorkers, whose city has become the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak — but the social distancing rules remain.
At least one person has already been arrested under the mayor’s order, ABC7 New York reported.
“Anyone who is not social distancing at this part is putting other people in danger,” de Blasio said. “We’ve said it, we’ve educated, we’ve given the message, and if we have to give out fines, we will.”
De Blasio’s frustration is shared by officials around the United States as some residents continue to ignore stay-at-home and social distancing orders. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s (D) disapproving stare was turned into a meme after she shut down popular recreation spots along Lake Michigan, while Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) told CNN on Tuesday that violating his state’s stay-at-home order carries penalties that include jail time or a fine.
Maryland issued a stay-at-home order that carries violation penalties like jail time or a fine. Gov. Larry Hogan says it was “one of the last tools in our arsenal.”
— New Day (@NewDay) March 31, 2020
“We believe it’s necessary to further get people off the streets” to save lives, he added.https://t.co/x3n0ctxBLk pic.twitter.com/ndMVgTji7M
Chinese factories bounce back, amid skepticism about China’s accounting of the crisis
China’s manufacturing sector is recovering as restrictions imposed to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus are gradually lifted, according to official data released Tuesday, even as widespread skepticism about China’s accounting of the crisis persists.
The country’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, a survey of firms to gauge sector sentiment month to month, jumped to 52 out of 100 in March, up from a record-low 35.7 in February, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. A reading above 50 signals an expansion, while a figure below that level implies a contraction.
Having declared the pandemic largely contained at home, China has moved to restore normal life. The country was the original epicenter of the crisis, but it has since been surpassed in numbers of cases by the United States, Italy and Spain.
Analysts and public health officials outside China have questioned the accuracy of such comparisons, given skepticism about its reported figures.
Appearing to respond to international and domestic criticism, China’s government indicated Monday that it would begin releasing data on asymptomatic patients with the coronavirus, who had previously been excluded from Chinese figures.
While China has publicly broadcast its success in fighting the outbreak, international public health experts have warned that the fight against the coronavirus needs to continue.
“Let me be clear. The epidemic is far from over in Asia and the Pacific. This is going to be a long-term battle, and we cannot let down our guard,” Takeshi Kasai, regional director for the Western Pacific at the World Health Organization, told a briefing Tuesday.
The World Bank estimates that the pandemic will cause economic growth to slow significantly in China and its neighbors this year. In the worst-case scenario, growth in China would stall at 0.1 percent, the bank said in a report released Monday.
Top doctor at Rikers Island calls the jail a ‘public health disaster unfolding before our eyes’
The chief doctor at Rikers Island sent an unsettling warning to law enforcement officials on Monday night, saying that it’s “unlikely” that even herculean efforts by health professionals inside the jail can quell the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus within its walls. Rikers is a “public health disaster unfolding before our eyes,” he wrote.
In a Twitter thread addressed to the district attorneys in the city’s five boroughs, the doctor, Ross MacDonald, urged the prosecutors to support the continued release of vulnerable inmates to avoid a public health disaster. At least 167 inmates and 137 corrections staff and health workers have tested positive for the virus, according to the New York Times.
“I am raising this alarm for a reason,” Ross MacDonald, chief medical officer of New York City’s correctional health services, wrote. “I simply ask that in this time of crisis the focus remain on releasing as many vulnerable people as possible.”
MacDonald was responding to a letter that the district attorneys in all five of the city’s boroughs sent to Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) and his corrections commissioner on Monday, which was reported in the New York Times and New York Post. The prosecutors said they did not feel that the mayor or city officials were heeding their public safety concerns for some releases, reflecting an ongoing debate about how to best balance public safety against public health.
Read more here.
Family bade final farewell over FaceTime as both grandparents died on the same day
In early March, 85-year-old Delores “Dee” Tofte felt sick. By March 7, she was too weak to stand and her speech was impaired, her daughter Lori Kohler told The Washington Post. An ambulance carried Dee to the hospital in Vancouver, Wash.
Her husband, 86-year-old Merle Tofte, followed four days later. He had a vicious cough, fever and body aches, Kohler said. Two days later, both Toftes tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Portland television station KATU reported.
The vast coronavirus pandemic is cruel, mercilessly robbing aged parents and grandparents of weeks, months, even years of life. It has stripped away the customary ways of saying our last goodbyes, before and after death. Containing the virus means no deathbed visits and no funerals, even as the pandemic has claimed more than 3,000 lives in the United States. The alternatives, the video chat and phone call, are poor substitutes for a hand squeezed lovingly or a last embrace.
But the Toftes’ children had no other options.
Their five children were barred from visiting Dee and Merle in the hospital. Meanwhile, the Toftes’ conditions worsened. Merle, who had respiratory problems, was placed on a ventilator on the hospital’s fifth floor, Kohler said. Dee was also struggling, two floors below. On March 16, doctors informed their children that the couple had just hours to live.
The family, five children and four grandchildren spread across three locations in the Pacific Northwest, called Dee and Merle on FaceTime to say goodbye. Two granddaughters sang Doris Day’s “A Bushel and a Peck,” which was the couple’s favorite love song to croon together.
On March 16, fewer than 10 days after Dee first started showing symptoms, both she and her husband died within hours of each other.
Read more here.
Dubai locks down historic center for ‘intensified sterilization procedures’
DUBAI — Dubai, the commercial hub of the United Arab Emirates, tightened its lockdown for one of the oldest parts of the city on Tuesday for the next two weeks to battle the spreading novel coronavirus.
The city’s al-Ras area, home to a gold market and spice market, is densely populated, largely with residents from South Asia and Iran. And it has some of the more traditional buildings in a city otherwise known for glitzy malls and towering skyscrapers.
“Dubai’s Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management announces increased restrictions on movement in Al Ras area of Dubai for two weeks effective from Tuesday to facilitate intensified sterilization procedures,” read a tweet from the government.
Further messages said the three main roads leading into the neighborhood would be blocked and three metro stations would be shuttered, while everyone except residents of the area would be barred from entering.
“Teams from the Dubai Health Authority will provide all essential supplies to the residents of the area during the two-week period,” read another announcement, suggesting that no one would be allowed to leave to purchase food.
Since Thursday, the wealthy Persian Gulf emirate has been locking down nearly all movement at night to conduct deep-cleaning operations of public transportation and streets, with police in patrol vehicles ordering residents to stay home and helicopters buzzing overhead. The new measures focused on the al-Ras neighborhood, however, signal an escalation, raising worries about the spread of the pandemic.
The UAE has reported 611 cases, three-quarters of them in the past week. Five fatalities have been announced.
Organizers of Dubai’s Expo 2020 World’s Fair also said Monday they support the one-year postponement of the six-month event set to begin in October.
“Many countries have been significantly impacted by covid-19 and they have expressed a need to postpone Expo’s opening by one year, to enable them to overcome this challenge,” tweeted organizers.
Dubai’s crown prince, Hamdan bin Mohammed, also announced Tuesday that the government would inject an undisclosed amount of equity into the flagship long-haul airline, Emirates, “considering its strategic importance to the Dubai and UAE economy.”
One of the world’s biggest long-haul airlines, Emirates has turned Dubai into a global travel hub, but on March 24, all passenger flights into and out of the country were suspended.
Europe exports medical goods to Iran, using mechanism to avoid U.S. sanctions
BERLIN — The German Foreign Ministry confirmed Tuesday that a mechanism was used for the first time to export “medical goods from Europe to Iran,” in hopes the system will shield the involved parties from the U.S. sanctions that have hampered Iranian efforts to import medicine and other medical supplies.
The announcement came as Iran confirmed 141 new coronavirus deaths and more than 3,000 new cases within 24 hours, amid one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks in the world. At least 2,898 people have died in the country, according to official figures.
The Paris-based Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (INSTEX) was formally registered by Britain, France and Germany in early 2019 and was expected to operate essentially like a clearinghouse for credit points.
It was a closely watched element of European Union efforts to preserve the Iran nuclear deal, after President Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal from it in 2018 and reimposed sanctions. The agreement’s other signatories — including Germany, France and Britain — stuck to the deal, but INSTEX did not immediately live up to its expectations, analysts said, with no transactions concluded for more than a year.
In a statement Tuesday, the German Foreign Ministry maintained that “INSTEX aims to provide a sustainable, long-term solution for legitimate trade between Europe and Iran as part of the continued efforts to preserve the JCPOA,” or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is officially known.
The Trump administration, like its predecessors, has technically maintained an exemption from sanctions on the sale of humanitarian items to Iran. The Treasury Department recently approved a Swiss-sponsored mechanism allowing for the trade of food, medicine and other supplies with Tehran, without triggering U.S. sanctions.
In practice, however, the U.S. restrictions — including penalties for conducting business with a range of Iranian banks and companies, including the Central Bank of Iran — have discouraged Western counterparts from trading with Tehran.
With doughnuts and embroidery, ‘Fauci fans’ pay tribute to their hero
Early last week, Nick Semeraro decided that he wanted to find a way to honor Anthony S. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. As the owner of a small doughnut shop in Rochester, N.Y., he had been closely tracking the latest news about the coronavirus pandemic. And night after night, he was impressed by how Fauci approached the crisis in a calm, knowledgeable manner.
So, as a tribute, Semeraro put the renowned immunologist’s face on a doughnut. Expecting to sell a few hundred, he was shocked when the store sold out day after day, with thousands flying off the shelves. Donuts Delite was besieged with requests to ship the buttercream-frosted creations all over the country, and one Fauci fan drove three hours just to pick up a dozen. Soon, bakeries in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania followed suit, using edible paper to decorate pastries with Fauci’s likeness.
Even as whole swaths of the global economy are collapsing, the pandemic has created a robust cottage industry of Fauci-themed merchandise, from bottle openers to magnets to mugs. On Etsy, you can buy “Honk for Dr. Fauci” bumper stickers, prayer candles depicting “St. Fauci” and socks printed with Fauci’s face. Graphic T-shirts bear slogans such as “I Need a Hero” and “In Dr. Fauci We Trust.”
If so inclined, you can even decorate your home with an “I Heart Dr. Fauci” throw pillow, or purchase a replica of Fauci’s jersey from the time he captained the basketball team at Manhattan’s Regis High School. Lingua Franca, which sells cashmere sweaters embroidered with resistance-friendly slogans for $380 and up, recently began taking orders for an army-green “Dr. Fauci Fan Club” knit.
Read more here.
Trump administration says gun shops are ‘essential’ businesses
As most businesses nationwide are shut down over the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump administration is making sure gun stores stay open.
In a Sunday memo, the Department of Homeland Security effectively told states that employees in gun shops are considered “essential” and should be allowed to continue working.
This decision reflects the “demands of current events as well as supply chain complexities,” Christopher Krebs, director of DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told the Wall Street Journal.
In recent weeks, statewide shutdowns of all “nonessential businesses” have sparked debates over what, exactly, that label includes, with differing interpretations from one state to another.
Amid a surge in gun sales, firearms stores proved to be a particularly contentious category: Officials in Austin tried to close all gun shops, but they were overruled by Texas state authorities. Legal battles erupted over orders in California and Pennsylvania.
At the urging of various gun lobby groups citing the Second Amendment, the DHS order Sunday appeared to settle the debate. The move sparked almost immediate outrage from gun-control groups, which said it was a “contemptible and exploitative” attempt to put profits over public health.
The federal list of essential employees — which otherwise includes doctors, police officers and similar workers — is advisory in nature, but many states have been using it to determine which businesses should be allowed to stay open.
On Monday, the DHS order prompted at least one concrete change: New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) backtracked on his previous order to shut down gun stores, saying that they would be allowed to operate by appointment during limited hours.
Spain’s coronavirus death toll exceeds 8,000, but growth rate slows
MADRID — Spain on Tuesday announced 849 coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours, marking the deadliest day so far in the country’s outbreak that has now cost at least 8,189 lives, amid mounting questions about how long a tightening lockdown is sustainable.
But there were some signs that the restrictions may be showing something of an impact. The death toll grew by less than 12 percent — a slower pace than early last week when it increased by more than 20 percent.
“The slow down tendency is being maintained and the influence on the curve is showing that little by little the measures are having an effect on the trend,” said Spain’s emergency health response chief, Fernando Simon, via video conference from his home where he is quarantined, after testing positive earlier this week for covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases in Spain totaled 94,417 on Tuesday, growing by around 11 percent — a slower rate than a week ago.
Spain has been one of the world’s most virus-stricken nations, and its health system in parts of the country is struggling to cope with the outbreak. Hospital intensive care units have already reached or exceeded capacity, according to El Pais newspaper. The virus has infected more than 12,000 health workers in Spain.
Noack reported from Berlin.
Furloughs at Gap, Macy’s and Gannett signal mounting economic distress
Major companies signaled a new wave of economic distress Monday, sending hundreds of thousands of workers home without pay, as the Trump administration scrambled to get stimulus money to Americans already feeling the weight of unpaid bills.
Macy’s announced it will furlough most of its 125,000 workers as sales evaporated with the shuttering of 775 stores. Kohl’s and Gap also announced furloughs of about 80,000 each. Media giant Gannett announced furloughs for newspaper employees who earn more than $38,000 a year and pay cuts across the company. Sysco Corp., the country’s largest food distributor, also confirmed thousands of furloughs and layoffs of undisclosed numbers of workers worldwide.
The massive cuts have prompted some economists to predict the unemployed could top an eye-popping 40 million by mid-April, with deep economic consequences for workers struggling to make rent and mortgages amid public health isolation orders.
The tanking economy has ratcheted up the pressure on the Trump administration to turn the largest stimulus package in American history into immediate relief for businesses and workers. The Treasury Department, in particular, faces a staggering list of tasks as it tries to rapidly create massive new federal programs aimed at shielding Americans from the economic impact.
Read more here.
Empire State Building flashes red and white as coronavirus death toll continues to rise
In a tribute to medical workers battling the novel coronavirus, New York’s Empire State Building flashed red and white on Monday night to symbolize “America’s heartbeat.” Photos and videos of the monument’s new look circulated widely on social media.
“The @EmpireStateBldg reminding us that the city is in the middle of an emergency,” tweeted writer Rita J. King, who was sheltering in place on Monday evening.
The @EmpireStateBldg reminding us that the city is in the middle of an emergency. pic.twitter.com/50TjEjOogN
— Rita J. King (@RitaJKing) March 31, 2020
“Starting tonight through the COVID-19 battle, our signature white lights will be replaced by the heartbeat of America with a white and red siren in the mast for heroic emergency workers on the front line of the fight,” the Empire State’s official Twitter account wrote Monday.
The building is not the only monument changing colors during the crisis.
Last week, Britain’s London Eye lit up blue, to pay tribute to the country’s national health-care system and its workers. The same evening, thousands stood out on their doorsteps to applaud the emergency services in a nationwide tribute entitled “clap for our carers.”
We’ll be supporting #ClapForOurCarers by lighting up the capital in a bold NHS blue this Thursday 26th March at 8pm, you can show your love by giving the biggest applause from your windows as part of this fantastic campaign.
— The London Eye (@TheLondonEye) March 24, 2020
Read more here: https://t.co/1yZeHkdOEs pic.twitter.com/MJ5jEpOAb3
Earlier this month, Dubai’s famous Burj Khalifa skyscraper projected the message “stay home, stay safe” to residents in both English and Arabic. The official Twitter account of the world’s tallest building shared a video of the monument adding “we are all in this together.”
#StayHome #خلك_في_البيت pic.twitter.com/cfG3bJIzmM
— Burj Khalifa (@BurjKhalifa) March 23, 2020
Coronavirus on the border: Why Mexico has so few cases compared with the U.S.
MEXICO CITY — The U.S.-Mexico border has long been a region of contrasts. But people in both countries are puzzling over the latest one: The number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on the Mexican side is just a small fraction of the U.S. count.
On Sunday, confirmed cases in California topped 6,200, compared with just 23 in Baja California. Arizona had 919 cases, dwarfing the 14 in neighboring Sonora. New Mexico reported 237 cases; in Chihuahua state, there were six.
The U.S.-Mexico border is the busiest in the world, with an estimated 1 million legal crossings per day. The neighbors’ economies are intertwined.
So why is there such a big difference in cases?
The disparity reflects, in part, a time lag. Mexico did not report its first case until Feb. 27 — a month after the virus was detected in the United States. To date, the country has counted 993 cases, less than 1 percent of the U.S. total.
But Mexico is also pursuing an unorthodox strategy. It is relying less on tests, and more on its own disease modeling, to guide its response to the pandemic. Authorities are wagering that they can fine-tune their response to the virus, even as it has outwitted health officials in the United States and Europe.
Read more here.
As Wuhan reopens, China revs its engine to move past coronavirus. But it’s stuck in second gear.
Residents of Wuhan, the Chinese city where the coronavirus began, are emerging into the daylight after 10 weeks confined to their apartments, unable to exercise, shop for groceries or walk their dogs.
The subway and intercity trains are running again. Shopping malls and even the Tesla store are reopening. State-owned companies and manufacturing businesses are turning on their lights, with everyone else to follow.
“I’ve been indoors for 70 days. Today is the first time that I came outside,” one woman who ventured into a mall this week told local television.
China’s leaders say the country has largely won the battle against its outbreak, reporting each day that domestic transmissions are negligible or nonexistent. The gradual reopening of other parts of Hubei province, and now of Wuhan, the provincial capital, is testament to that.
But winning the war is proving to be a tougher proposition. That involves not only preventing a second wave of coronavirus infections, but also restarting the economy. And it’s becoming increasingly clear that officials cannot achieve both things at once.
Read more here.
Home abortion approved in England during coronavirus crisis
LONDON — In a move to protect women seeking an abortion during the covid-19 pandemic, Britain announced temporary measures that will provide access from home in England to the two pills needed to terminate a pregnancy.
The new measure means that those seeking an abortion are no longer required to visit a hospital or clinic to obtain the first pill before taking the second at home. Doctors can now prescribe both pills to women who are up to 10 weeks pregnant to take after a telephone or video consultation.
Monday’s announcement followed a period of confusion. On March 23, the government said that abortions would be available at home, before backtracking the same day and saying the legislation had been “published in error.”
The U-turn prompted the Royal College of Midwives, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) to write to Britain’s health secretary, Matt Hancock, in a bid to bring about change.
Then on Monday, the government announced the approval of two “temporary measures in England to limit the transmission of coronavirus (COVID-19) and ensure continued access to early medical abortion services.”
In Scotland and Wales, the pills are already allowed to be taken at home, but Northern Ireland only decriminalized abortion late last year and taking the pills at home remains illegal.
Tent hospital in Manhattan’s Central Park asks volunteers to support ‘statement of faith’ rejecting same-sex marriage
The group building a makeshift tent hospital for coronavirus patients in Manhattan’s Central Park is asking all volunteers to read and follow a “statement of faith,” including rejections of same-sex marriage and abortion.
As the toll of the outbreak on New York continues to increase dramatically, Mount Sinai Health System has been working with the relief group Samaritan’s Purse to open a 68-bed respiratory care unit that will begin treating patients as early as Tuesday.
Praised by Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), the tent facility is one of several efforts to expand medical capacity across the city: A 350-bed facility is set to be erected at the Queens tennis arena where the U.S. Open is held, while a temporary hospital has been constructed inside a Manhattan convention center.
Unlike the other projects, Samaritan’s Purse has asked all volunteers working at the field hospital — including health workers — to pledge to 11 declarations, Gothamist reports, including one that defines marriage as “exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female” and another that says “human life is sacred from conception to its natural end.”
The Christian group was founded by Franklin Graham, a minister with a famous preacher as a father and a history of making incendiary comments, and has specifically sought out Christian medical staff for the tent hospital.
As some local lawmakers questioned whether LGBTQ patients would receive equal treatment, a spokesperson for de Blasio told Gothamist that the field hospital must adhere to Mount Sinai’s nondiscrimination policy.
“Our record on human rights is clear; and we are confident that the joint effort by Mt. Sinai and Samaritan’s Purse will save New Yorkers’ lives while adhering to the values we hold dear by providing care to anyone who needs it, regardless of background,” she wrote to the news blog.
Saudi Arabia quarantines select neighborhoods in holy city of Mecca
DUBAI — Saudi Arabia is putting several neighborhoods in the revered city of Mecca, home to Islam’s holiest site and focus of an annual pilgrimage, into 24-hour lockdown to combat the spread of the coronavirus, authorities announced Monday night.
The entire country already has a nighttime curfew, which is extended to the midafternoon in several cities. But under the new measure, people will not be allowed to leave these Mecca neighborhoods for 24 hours until further notice “when it is confirmed that there are no cases that require dealing with.” Those living in the area will be allowed to leave their homes only from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. for urgent needs, defined as “health care and groceries.”
Saudi Arabia announced on Monday 154 new cases, including 40 in Mecca, bringing its total to 1,453. Eight fatalities have been reported.
Mecca is home to the Great Mosque surrounding the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure that all Muslims pray toward and must visit at least once in their lives if possible. With the onset of the pandemic, Saudi Arabia closed the doors to the mosque and suspended the umrah, or year-around pilgrimage to Mecca.
The annual hajj, the main pilgrimage, is set to take place in late July, and there has been no word about its suspension.
Saudi King Salman, meanwhile, has said that all citizens and residents — even those in violation of their visas — will receive medical care for ailments related to covid-19 free of charge.
Real estate agents are still selling during pandemic
Rob Wittman is astonished that in a time of social distancing, real estate agents are holding open houses, allowing inspections and closing sales.
“It’s just bothering me — the cavalierness of the agents around me,” said Wittman, a real estate agent who planned to open his own brokerage, NextHome Reach, in early March but instead is sheltering in place because of the novel coronavirus outbreak. “There are too many [real estate agents] to count bragging about touring houses, their lame protective gear, or their prowess for sales during this crisis.”
Normally, spring is the busiest time of the year for the housing market, with buyers coming out in droves.
Now, as nonessential businesses are closing to wait out the pandemic, some real estate professionals are carrying on as usual — albeit with masks, gloves and hand sanitizer. Agents were holding open houses until they were prohibited by local officials.
Home appraisers and inspectors are donning masks and gloves. Settlement companies are putting buyers and sellers in separate conference rooms and opening a new box of pens for each client who comes to a closing.
Read more here.
Vietnam orders lockdown, bans gatherings of more than two
Facing a rise in cases of the novel coronavirus, most of them imported, Vietnam’s government on Tuesday imposed strict social distancing measures that will last for 15 days, banning gatherings of more than two.
Across the country, people will be restricted from leaving their homes other than to buy food or medicine, or to work in essential businesses and factories. People must also keep a six-foot distance from each other when outside. The measures will kick in April 1.
Vietnam has already closed its borders to all foreign arrivals — including those of Vietnamese origin but who hold foreign passports — and suspended international flights into the country.
The socialist-run country is adamant that it must keep cases of the coronavirus in the country, now at 204, under 1,000, and has been working hard to limit the number of clusters and instances of community transmissions.
Vietnam has also quarantined tens of thousands of people in facilities run by the army to reduce the spread.
South Korea opens schools online after delays amid virus concerns
SEOUL — In virus-hit South Korea, students will go back to school online after a month-long delay to the start of the new semester due to infection concerns.
The schools were due to open on April 6 after three postponements since early March. More than 6 million students throughout the country have been affected by the school closures.
South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said on Tuesday schools are still not ready to be opened as new infections continue to emerge.
“We have mobilized all our resources to bring down the infection risks but still haven’t reached the level where children can go to school safely,” he said at a governmental meeting in Seoul.
South Korea has recently been seeing a downward trend in infections, although small outbreaks continue to emerge. The daily count of new infections has been hovering around 100 for the past several weeks.
“It is hard to postpone the start of the school year and make students miss out on their right to education,” said Chung. He said schools will begin the new semester online starting April 9. “It requires a lot of preparation. Every student needs to be guaranteed access to equipment and an Internet connection,” he said.
Earlier this month, South Korea’s national Educational Broadcasting System started live broadcasts of more than 400 classes for students of all 12 grades from elementary to high school.
“In terms of production scale, 150 crew members will specially produce 472 classes in 10 studios and broadcast them in real time,” EBS said at the time in a statement.
The government also said that the schedule of the highly competitive college entrance exam will be pushed back by two weeks. The national exam held annually in November has been rescheduled to early December, Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae said.
Trump embraces extended shutdown over reopening economy, as furloughs, fatalities increase
As the number of coronavirus fatalities soars in the United States and health experts warn that no area will be spared by the outbreak, President Donald Trump is steeling the nation for an extended shutdown through the end of April.
It’s a stark shift in tone for Trump, who is now embracing the death toll projections that he once downplayed. After his task force showed him data predicting the coronavirus could cause between 100,000 and 200,000 fatalities nationally, he agreed “right away” to extend social distancing guidelines.
“Well, it’s so bad for the economy, but the economy is No. 2 on my list,” Trump said on Monday. “First, I want to save a lot of lives.”
Monday was the first day that the U.S. death toll grew by more than 500, according to data compiled by The Washington Post, with almost half of those fatalities in New York. As of early Tuesday, more than 160,500 cases had been reported across the country.
Trump said the United States has administered more than 1 million tests, and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said authorities are testing 100,000 samples a day.
In New York, where more than 1,000 people have died, the state’s known death rate is around 1 percent, health officials said. But the actual rate may be lower, because priority is being given to those who are exhibiting clear symptoms or have compromised health.
Even after Congress passed an unprecedented economic relief package last week, Monday brought fresh evidence of economic pain due to the virus: Macy’s, Kohl’s and Gap said they would furlough tens of thousands of workers.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday that lawmakers are considering new bills focused on infrastructure, protections for front-line workers and funding for the District of Columbia, which was treated as a territory — not as a state, as it usually is in similar pieces of legislation.
And the Justice Department is investigating the possibility that at least one member of Congress, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), sought to protect his investments from the economic downturn sparked by the outbreak. As Burr received frequent briefings on the threat, he sold 33 stocks estimated to be worth between $628,033 and $1.7 million.
Both public health and politics played a role in Trump’s coronavirus decision
In announcing that the country would remain shut down through April because of the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump and his advisers pointed to factors ranging from grim computer models showing millions of potential deaths to the unsettling sight of body bags lined up outside a Queens hospital.
But for Trump, political considerations also played a meaningful role, according to three people familiar with the discussions, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share candid discussions.
Aides and advisers say the president was heavily influenced by briefings from scientific and public health officials, as well as by the stark reality of the virus, including projections of greater deaths depending on what measures the government takes.
But Trump campaign officials and political allies had also briefed the president in recent days about their fears of reopening the economy too soon, arguing that a spike in deaths could be even more politically damaging in November than the current economic downturn, according to two of the people familiar with the discussions. Campaign officials declined to comment.
Read more here.
New Zealand government model suggested ‘worst case’ would see two-thirds of country sick, nearly 30,000 dead
New Zealand’s government publicly released a series of declassified reports on Tuesday that attempted to model the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The scenarios, drafted in February and March for New Zealand’s health ministry, offered a glimpse of what motivated government policy in response to the pandemic. So far, New Zealand has 647 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and just one death.
Under one worst-case scenario, produced by Nick Wilson of the University of Otago Wellington, the outbreak would peak in July and leave roughly two-thirds of the country, 3.32 million people, sick. Under this model, Wilson writes, “27,600 would be expected to die."
That figure would be roughly 0.6 percent of New Zealand’s total population, making it considerably higher then warnings from U.S. officials about the potential for hundreds of thousands of deaths in the United States.
“This death toll would far exceed the death toll for NZ from World War One (18,000 deaths) and from the 1918 influenza pandemic (9,000 deaths),” Wilson wrote.
At a meeting of New Zealand’s Epidemic Response Committee on Tuesday, John Ombler, head of the government response to the outbreak, said that New Zealand had been lucky that the virus reached it late as it could watch how other countries handled their own outbreak.
“We have been able to learn from what they have done in order to move quickly,” Ombler said, according to Radio New Zealand. “The whole point is to stop person-to-person spread.”
New Zealand is currently under a nationwide lockdown that will last for four weeks. Separately on Tuesday, the country extended a state of emergency for another week.
Analysis: Coronavirus kills its first democracy
You could say that Hungary was already “immunocompromised.” A decade under the nation’s illiberal nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orban, has corroded the state’s checks and balances, cowed the judiciary, enfeebled civil society and the free press, and reconfigured electoral politics to the advantage of Orban’s ruling Fidesz party. So, when the coronavirus pandemic hit, Budapest’s ailing democracy proved all too vulnerable.
On Monday, Hungary’s parliament passed a controversial bill that gave Orban sweeping emergency powers for an indefinite period of time. Parliament is closed, future elections were called off, existing laws can be suspended and the prime minister is now entitled to rule by decree. Opposition lawmakers had tried to set a time limit on the legislation but failed. Orban’s commanding two-thirds parliamentary majority made his new powers a fait accompli.
The measures were invoked as part of the government’s response to the global pandemic. Hungary had reported close to 450 cases as of Monday evening, and Orban has already cast the threat of the virus in politically convenient terms, labeling it a menace carried by unwelcome foreign migrants and yet more justification for his aggressive efforts to police the country’s borders. “Changing our lives is now unavoidable,” Orban told lawmakers last week when justifying the proposed bill.
Orban’s many detractors elsewhere in Europe see this gambit as a potential pathway to dictatorship.
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Japan likely to bar visitors from U.S. as it battles sharp rise in coronavirus cases
TOKYO — Japan is likely to bar foreign visitors from the United States, as it expands travel bans that already encompass visitors from Europe, China, South Korea and Iran, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday.
The number of confirmed cases rose by 94 to 1,987 on Monday, with the cumulative total later topping 2,000 on Tuesday as more test results came in, according to a tally by the Reuters news agency. That puts Japan in 31st place globally in terms of numbers of confirmed cases, although experts believe it may be significantly underestimating its tally due to restrictions on eligibility for tests.
With infections also surging in the capital in recent days, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike warned in a news conference on Monday night that the city stands at a crossroads. She again appealed for people to avoid crowded, poorly ventilated spaces.
“We want young people to stay away from karaoke parlors and live-music venues, and we want older people to refrain from visiting bars and nightclubs,” she said, according to the Nikkei Asian Review.
But pressure is growing for the government to take much stronger action, by declaring a state of emergency, and enforcing a lockdown.
“I personally feel it’s time [Japan] makes the declaration, and devises measures based on that,“ said Satoshi Kamayachi, an executive board member of the Japan Medical Association who also serves on a government coronavirus expert panel, according to Kyodo News.
Meanwhile, the government announced that the country’s prime minister and deputy prime minister will avoid attending the same meeting as a precaution against coronavirus infection, Reuters reported.
Coronavirus pandemic could kill as many as 200,000 in U.S., White House warns
The White House’s coronavirus coordinator on Monday warned that the pandemic could kill as many as 200,000 Americans in even a best-case scenario as state officials intensified their stay-at-home directives — further erasing any hope that the country would have a speedy recovery from the global health crisis.
As deaths across the world from covid-19 climbed above 37,000 and those in the United States rose to more than 2,900, federal and state officials offered grim warnings that the country should expect things to get worse before they get better.
Deborah Birx, the coronavirus coordinator, told NBC News that the United States could record 200,000 deaths even “if we do things together well, almost perfectly.” President Trump, who a day earlier announced that officials would extend their guidance to Americans to practice social distancing through the end of April, said the move was necessary to prevent catastrophe: He now expects that virus-related deaths will not peak for an additional two weeks.
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