Here are some significant developments:
- The death toll in the United States surpassed 4,600 on Wednesday with more than 211,000 confirmed cases — far exceeding other nations and accounting for about 20 percent of the global total.
- After facing sharp criticism for forcing seniors who don’t usually file tax returns to do so in order to get stimulus payments, the Trump administration said the government will use information on Social Security forms to get payments to seniors.
- At Wednesday’s White House briefing, Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-diseases expert and the face of the U.S. response, said we could “relax social distancing” once there’s “no new cases, no deaths,” but the real turning point won’t come until there’s a vaccine.
- President Trump said officials were “looking at” potential flight restrictions between hard-hit areas of the United States, though he noted that it would be difficult to entirely suspend air travel.
- The governors of Florida and Georgia announced stay-at-home orders, except for essential activities. In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp (R) also canceled school for the rest of the academic year for grades K-12.
- Fauci is facing growing threats to his personal safety, prompting the government to step up his security.
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Pentagon may provide up to 100,000 body bags for civilians
The Pentagon may provide as many as 100,000 body bags for civilian authorities, Reuters reported Wednesday, following a request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Officially known as “human remains pouches,” these 94-inch by 38-inch green nylon bags are typically distributed to war zones and used to store and transport the dead.
But as the White House predicts that as many as 200,000 Americans could die from the coronavirus — even under another month of severe public health restrictions — the agency appears to be looking to use them domestically to deal with the outbreak’s mounting death toll.
A FEMA spokesman told Bloomberg News that the agency is undertaking “prudent planning” for potential future needs, including preparing for “mortuary contingencies.”
Some of the bags will be drawn from the Pentagon’s stockpile of 50,000 bags, and others could be purchased instead, according to the news agency.
The Defense Logistics Agency, a subset of the Department of Defense, is working with an existing contractor that manufactures the body bags to ramp up production and deliver them as soon as they are ready, Reuters reported.
Ellis Marsalis, New Orleans jazz legend and patriarch of musical family, dies after covid-19 symptoms
Ellis Marsalis, a jazz pianist and the patriarch of a prominent New Orleans musical family, died Wednesday after being hospitalized with symptoms of covid-19.
Marsalis, 85, had been tested for the coronavirus and results were pending, according to Nola.com. He was considered a mainstay in the city’s jazz scene for decades and taught many future musical stars, including his four sons, Branford, Wynton, Delfeayo and Jason.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell (D) called him a “legend.”
“He was the prototype of what we mean when we talk about New Orleans jazz,” she said on Twitter, adding, “words aren’t sufficient to describe the art, the joy & the wonder he showed the world.”
U.S. says it bought ventilators and protective equipment from Russia
The United States has purchased medical supplies from Russia, the State Department said Wednesday, addressing some of the mystery surrounding what some see as a chance for pandemic propaganda from the Kremlin.
“Both countries have provided humanitarian assistance to each other in times of crisis in the past and will no doubt do so again in the future,” Morgan Ortagus, a State Department spokesman, said in a statement. “This is a time to work together to overcome a common enemy that threatens the lives of all of us.”
Russia’s Defense Ministry announced that an Antonov-124 cargo plane took off Wednesday for New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The supplies, including ventilators and personal protection items, were handed over to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in New York, the State Department said.
As The Post’s Robyn Dixon reported, neither Russia nor the Trump administration initially elaborated on the aid from Russia or on how many other supplies could be coming from other countries.
“China sent us some stuff, which was terrific. Russia sent us a very, very large planeload of things, medical equipment, which was very nice,” the president told reporters Monday, apparently indicating by mistake that the plane had already arrived.
Trump and Putin had spoken by phone on Monday after an agreement among Group of 20 leaders last week to work together to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
“The United States is committed to the global fight against COVID-19,” Ortegus said in the State Department statement. “We are a generous and reliable contributor to crisis response and humanitarian action across the world, but we cannot do it alone."
Homemade mask might provide protection, but recommendations are mixed
Up to this point in the coronavirus pandemic, public health officials in the United States have advised against healthy civilians wearing face masks, despite a growing grass-roots, masks-for-all movement. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is considering altering those guidelines.
For those interested in making and wearing a nonmedical mask, the choices can be overwhelming. There are thousands of mask tutorials online, relying on everything from paper towels to men’s underwear to bras. Additional tutorials are posted daily, and some have millions of views. Which template should we follow? What material is best?
A growing number of experts — medical doctors and virologists among them — say that a homemade mask, even a bandanna, might provide protection as the infection spreads. But because there is little research to indicate how well or what kind of homemade masks work, there is no consensus among experts on a superior design, and the scientists we spoke with were reluctant to endorse any particular pattern.
“That would be dangerous, because there’s no evidence pointing towards one type,” said Raina MacIntyre, an epidemiologist and doctor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney who has studied the usefulness of masks.
Read more here.
Trump administration debates where to send new rapid tests
As Abbott Laboratories began shipping its new rapid-response tests across the country Wednesday, a new flash point emerged in the nation’s handling of the pandemic: where to deploy the covid-19 diagnostics that could be one of the most effective tools in combating the outbreak.
Some White House officials want to ship many of the tests, which were approved Friday and can deliver results in five to 13 minutes, to areas where there are fewer cases, such as rural states and parts of the South.
But officials in hard-hit areas and some public health experts favor directing them to the outbreak’s current hotspots, arguing that delays in test readings have sidelined many first responders and health-care workers and made it harder to isolate the most contagious patients.
During a Tuesday meeting of the White House coronavirus task force in the Situation Room, Vice President Pence and other officials discussed diverting new tests to areas where there are relatively few cases, according to two individuals familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal deliberations.
They said the administration needs “to figure out the spread in places where we don’t quite understand it now,” according to one of the individuals present. The final consensus seemed to be, “Let’s send it to the South and low density areas.”
The competition for the rapid-test machines is so intense that governors and mayors have begun personally calling Abbott executives to negotiate orders.
Read more here.
Los Angeles mayor orders the lights and water to be turned off at businesses not complying with orders
Los Angeles businesses that refuse to close will soon have trouble turning on the lights.
On Wednesday, Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) doubled down on his prior threat and directed the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to cut off the utilities at nonessential businesses that are not complying with the city’s Safer At Home orders. Garcetti also announced criminal misdemeanor charges against eight local businesses have been referred to the city attorney.
“No one wants to take this step,” Garcetti said, “and we won’t have to as long as you follow the rules and protect yourself and protect all of us.”
Last week, Garcetti warned businesses of the potential consequence of turning off the water and power, describing the decision to remain open as “irresponsible” and “selfish.” On March 21, the city issued the order for all businesses to close to the public unless deemed to be essential.
New York’s response to the mounting epidemic is a test for other states
NEW YORK — The Empire State Building blinked red this week as New York became ground zero in the international battle against the coronavirus — a siren not just for battered Manhattan but for state and local authorities across the country racing to avoid a similar fate.
New cases this week drove the state’s total above 75,000, surpassing China’s Hubei province, where the virus emerged in December. The grim milestone was recorded as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo acknowledged having underestimated how overwhelming the situation would become. “It’s more dangerous than we expected,” he said.
That miscalculation, made especially stark by the rapid rate of infection in densely populated New York City, has forced the state to transform itself. Officials have sought to outpace a mounting death toll by pooling resources, erecting field hospitals, coaxing health-care workers out of retirement, pleading for reinforcements and desperately angling to outbid other states for lifesaving breathing devices and other equipment.
But New York is running out of time, quickly approaching an expected apex of cases. Exactly when that peak will arrive is the “$64,000 question,” Cuomo (D) told reporters this week, saying the range of available models suggested the state had seven to 21 days to prepare for the worst.
The tight window will be a critical test of how quickly the state can relieve its overwhelmed hospitals, which have already been directed to increase their capacity by 50 percent while being enlisted in an ambitious burden-sharing plan spanning the state’s public and private systems. The narrow time interval will also accelerate efforts to screen volunteers to maximize health-care staff, as 78,000 in-state medical workers alone came forward to help.
Poll shows most Americans would not resume normal life right now
Nearly 9 in 10 Americans said if physical distancing was up them and not the government, they wouldn’t feel comfortable resuming their normal activities, according to a Gallup poll released Wednesday night.
The survey found that 42 percent would at least wait until the number of new cases decrease significantly, 38 percent would wait until there were no new cases, and 7 percent are prepared to wait until a vaccine is developed.
Even if the government lifted its social-distancing guidances and stay-at-home orders, 7 in 10 Americans wouldn’t go back to normal right away vs. 22 percent who would.
Only 5 percent of Democrats and 22 percent of Republicans would resume daily life right now if they could. Democrats were more likely to wait until there were no cases before going back to everyday life while Republicans were more likely to do so once the number of new cases decreased for a length of time.
McConnell dismisses Pelosi’s call for action on follow-up stimulus legislation
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he would move slowly on considering any follow-up legislation to the March stimulus bill, and would ignore the latest efforts by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to jump-start talks.
“She needs to stand down on the notion that we’re going to go along with taking advantage of the crisis to do things that are unrelated to the crisis,” McConnell said in an interview with The Washington Post, calling the speaker’s recent comments about a fourth round of virus-related legislation “premature.”
In response, Pelosi said she would carry on.
“The victims of the coronavirus pandemic cannot wait,” she said in a statement. “It is moving faster than the leader may have suspected, and even he has said that some things should wait for the next bill. I hope that we can work in a four corners manner for the common good.”
“Four corners” is a reference to the four leaders of Congress: the speaker, the Senate majority leader and the two minority leaders.
Man charged with intentionally derailing train near Navy hospital ship Mercy
A train engineer was arrested for allegedly driving a speeding train off track on purpose near the USNS Mercy at the Port of Los Angeles because he was suspicious of a government takeover, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
Eduardo Moreno, 44, from San Pedro, Calif., ran the train off the tracks at high speed, crashing through barriers, before stopping about 250 yards away from the ship, which docked at the port last week to help hospitals that are scrambling to care for coronavirus patients. Fuel leaked from the crash but no one was injured. He was charged with one count of train wrecking, which carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Moreno told police and federal agents that he did it because he was suspicious of the Mercy and thought it had an alternative purpose like a government takeover. He acted alone and didn’t plan the attack, he said.
He said he knew the crash would bring media attention and “people could see for themselves,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles said.
“You only get this chance once,” he spontaneously told a responding officer, officials said. “The whole world is watching. I had to. People don’t know what’s going on here. Now they will.”
Social Security recipients who don’t usually file tax returns no longer need to file them to get stimulus payments, Treasury says in reversal
The Treasury Department announced late Wednesday that Social Security beneficiaries who typically do not file a tax return will automatically get the $1,200 payment and no longer must submit anything extra.
The administration announced earlier this week that the beneficiaries would need to file a short tax return in order to qualify for the payments. The announcement drew criticism from Democrats and some Republicans about requiring so many extra hurdles for this vulnerable population to get aid when the government already has their information on file.
The reversal Wednesday came as the administration tries to rapidly get stimulus payments out to Americans in the face of the quickest economic decline in modern history.
“Social Security recipients who are not typically required to file a tax return need to take no action, and will receive their payment directly to their bank account,” Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said.
The $2.2 trillion aid legislation, passed in response to the coronavirus pandemic, directed the Treasury to make payments via direct deposit based on Americans’ tax returns or send checks. The legislation said that if someone has not filed a 2019 or 2018 tax return, the U.S. Treasury should get their information from Social Security, if applicable.
But the Internal Revenue Service posted a notice on its website on Monday instructing Social Security recipients who do not normally send in a return to file a “simple” tax return, which would be available soon.
Fauci, Birx say antibody testing and therapy is a good target, but not an immediate priority
At Wednesday’s White House task force briefing, Anthony S. Fauci addressed the theory that antibodies can be transferred from a person who has recovered to a person who is still fighting the illness, to help bolster their immune systems.
“This is an old concept," Fauci said. "In fact, immunology was born decades and decades and decades ago with the concept of giving passive transfer of serum to an individual to protect them from an infection.”
Infusions of antibody-rich plasma — the clear liquid that remains when blood cells are removed — may help a sick person’s immune system fight off the illness. The same concept was successful against polio, measles, mumps and flu.
Doctors and researchers are hopeful that a “convalescent plasma” treatment will help provide short-term relief to the health-care system and its patients while scientists develop a long-lasting vaccine — something that could take more than a year — or full antibody therapies, which drug companies are also working on.
Fauci said he wouldn’t be surprised if a number of researchers are pursuing the treatment. “It’s the right thing to do,” he said.
Whether developing an antibody test should be the priority right now is a different matter. Fauci said developing such a test is the right goal, but that it wasn’t something that should be prioritized over testing for the infection and a vaccine.
“Right now, that's not our immediate problem,” Fauci said.
Task force coordinator Deborah Birx said she’s focused on getting a simple screening test for the infection, particularly for health-care workers who are putting their lives on the line every day. But she said she’s also encouraging researchers and scientists to work on the antibody test.
“The peace of mind that would come from knowing you already were infected. You have the antibody, you’re safe from re-infection 99.9 percent of the time,” she said.
Anthony Fauci receives bolstered security after threats
Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-diseases expert and the face of the U.S. response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, is facing growing threats to his personal safety, prompting the government to step up his security, according to people familiar with the matter.
The concerns include threats as well as unwelcome communications from fervent admirers, according to people with knowledge of deliberations inside the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Justice.
Fauci, 79, is the most outspoken member of the administration in favor of sweeping public health guidelines and is among the few officials willing to correct President Trump’s misstatements. Along with Deborah Birx, the coordinator of the White House’s coronavirus task force, Fauci has encouraged the president to extend the duration of federal guidance on social distancing, presenting him with grim models about the possible toll of the pandemic.
“Now is the time, whenever you’re having an effect, not to take your foot off the accelerator and on the brake, but to just press it down on the accelerator,” he said Tuesday as the White House’s task force made some of those models public, warning of 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the United States.
The exact nature of the threats against him was not clear. Greater exposure has led to more praise for the doctor but also more criticism.
Last month, an article depicting him as an agent of the “deep state” gained nearly 25,000 interactions on Facebook — meaning likes, comments and shares — as it was posted to large pro-Trump groups with titles such as “Trump Strong” and “Tampa Bay Trump Club.”
Fauci has become a public target for some right-wing commentators and bloggers, who exercise influence over parts of the president’s base. As they press for the president to ease restrictions to reinvigorate economic activity, some of these figures have assailed Fauci and questioned his expertise.
Asked Wednesday whether he was receiving security protection, Fauci told reporters, “I would have to refer you to HHS inspector general on that. I wouldn’t comment.”
The president interjected, saying, “He doesn’t need security. Everybody loves him.”
Pence sidesteps questions about reopening Obama-era health-care exchanges to give more Americans access to insurance
In the White House media briefing room Wednesday, President Trump decreed Vice President Pence “a great professional” for sidestepping a reporter’s question about how uninsured Americans can afford coronavirus testing or treatment.
If the Trump administration will not reopen the Obama-era exchanges to allow uninsured Americans to purchase health-care coverage during the coronavirus pandemic, how can uninsured Americans afford testing or treatment, Fox News’s John Roberts asked.
Trump passed the question to Pence, who defended the decision not to open up the exchanges, saying that Medicaid has been expanded and some private insurers were waiving testing co-pays.
“I fully expect, I think as the president does, too, that we’ll see more of that for people that have insurance,” Pence said. “We’ll continue to provide flexibility for Medicaid, for people that don’t have insurance and we’ll make sure that Medicare has the flexibility to meet this moment.”
But even after Pence finished, Trump said his response wasn’t addressing the question of uninsured people.
“It’s one of the greatest answers I’ve ever heard,” he said. “Because Mike was able to speak for five minutes and not touch your question. I mean that’s what you call a great professional.”
About 27 million uninsured Americans may not be able to afford a coronavirus test, and among those, some are vulnerable to infection if their work exposes them to the public.
“I think it’s a fair question,” Trump said. “It’s something we’re looking at.”