Coronavirus stimulus payments begin April 9, but some won’t receive checks until September

The day before the scheduled launch of the federal government’s massive new small business lending program, banks being tapped to dole out the money questioned whether it was ready to launch.

The $349 billion program, known as the Paycheck Protection Program, is a key element of the $2.2 trillion economic rescue package passed by Congress last week. Administration officials have said money from the emergency loan fund would start flowing to small businesses affected by the coronavirus outbreak Friday, delivering a sharply streamlined, same-day approval process unheard of in the history of federally backed small business lending.

But JPMorgan Chase, the country’s largest lender, said Thursday it did not expect to begin accepting applications for the program Friday, as scheduled. Other banks said they were accepting applications but didn’t expect to process or approve them until after the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration finalized rules for the program.

Some banking officials have warned that the abbreviated review process ― which allows borrowers to attest to their own eligibility without the government’s approval ― will make the program a magnet for fraud. Although the SBA will be able to audit lenders and borrowers later, it will fall primarily to private bankers to make decisions about who should receive taxpayer-backed loans.

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Anthony S. Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease expert, said Thursday on CNN that he thinks the entire country should be under stay-at-home orders.

“If you look at what’s going on in this country, I just don’t understand why we’re not doing that,” he told the network’s Anderson Cooper. “We really should be.”

Cooper had asked Fauci, who’s quickly become a familiar face as he advises on the White House’s coronavirus response, if it makes sense to him that some states have yet to issue stay-at-home orders.

“I mean, whether there should be a federally mandated directive for that or not — I guess that’s more of a political question — but just scientifically, doesn’t everybody have to be on the same page with this stuff?” Anderson asked.

Fauci agreed, though he said he did not want to “get into” the “tension” between a federal mandate and states’ rights.

President Trump maintained at Thursday’s coronavirus task force briefing that he would leave the decision about stay-at-home orders up to the states, rather than issue a blanket national one. He argued that many states have issued such policies on their own and many have kept the spread of covid-19 low.

Deborah Birx, the doctor coordinating the task force, urged Americans Thursday to do more social distancing — to which Trump countered that Americans should be “thrilled” with how well most states had done at keeping their case counts down.

Fauci also said on CNN that it’s “not a bad idea” for people to wear face coverings in public, as the White House is expected to advise in a reversal. He said the issue is “being discussed really very actively” and will be on the coronavirus task force’s agenda Friday.

“We say six feet away from each other, but when you go out … there’s going to be times where unwittingly you’re going to be closer than that,” Fauci said, adding that covering to one’s face would protect others — especially since people without symptoms can transmit the virus.

Dr. Deborah Birx said Thursday that the White House coronavirus task force is missing about 50 percent of the data from coronavirus testing nationwide.

Birx, the response coordinator of the White House coronavirus task force, said that while there have been 1.3 million tests administered, only 660,000 have been reported.

“The bill said you need to report and we are still not seeing 100 percent of the tests,” Birx said at Thursday’s news briefing. Vice President Pence had announced last week that all state and hospital labs were required by law to report their coronavirus test numbers to the CDC.

“We appreciate the groups that are reporting, [but] not everyone is reporting yet," Birx said. “... [but] what we are seeing finally is testing improving, more testing being done and still a high level of negative in states without hotspots, allowing them to do more of this surveillance and containment.”

White House coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx cautioned Thursday that masks are no substitute for social distancing, as The Post reported that the White House is expected to urge Americans to begin wearing cloth masks or face coverings in public.

“The most important thing is the social distancing and washing your hands,” Birx said at the coronavirus task force briefing. “And we don’t want people to get an artificial sense of protection.”

President Trump said at the briefing that he does not expect any mandate to wear face coverings: “If people want to wear them, they can." Birx said later that when the advisory on the issue comes out, “it will be an additive piece … rather than saying this is a substitute for.”

Her words came as some state and local leaders have begun to issue their own guidance on face coverings — urging their use while grocery shopping, for example — while warning similarly against a false sense of security or taking much-needed medical-grade masks from health-care workers.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said at his Thursday news conference that statewide guidance issued Wednesday would not mandate mask-wearing in public in part because of concerns that would just intensify shortages.

“If individuals want to have face coverings that is a good thing and a preferable thing in addition to the physical distancing,” he said.

Earlier this week, CDC Director Robert Redfield confirmed in an interview with NPR that the agency’s guidance on mask-wearing was “being critically re-reviewed, to see if there’s potential additional value for individuals that are infected or individuals that may be asymptomatically infected.”

The World Health Organization, which has also not recommended masks for the general public, is also reconsidering its guidance, officials said.

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After spending more than two weeks searching for a port that would allow its passengers — some of whom are sick with the novel coronavirus — to disembark, Holland America Line’s Zaandam cruise ship pulled up late Thursday afternoon in Port Everglades, Fla.

It was accompanied by Rotterdam, a sister ship that took on hundreds of passengers last weekend off Panama. Between the two ships, 250 guests and crew have reported flu-like symptoms since March 22. Four people died on Zaandam, including two who tested positive for the coronavirus; nine people in total have confirmed cases, a Carnival executive said this week.

Thursday’s arrival followed days of negotiations, reluctance from Florida’s governor and intervention by President Trump — as well as intense pressure from those with loved ones or constituents on board and South Florida residents who wanted the vessels to find safe harbor in someone else’s backyard.

According to a plan that parent company Carnival Corp. worked out with a group of federal, state and local authorities, most passengers are expected to be off the ship by late Friday night. Priority to disembark on Thursday was going to 14 people in need of immediate care at local hospitals; the company paid for private ambulances to take them to the facilities in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

Another 26 passengers were still showing symptoms, according to the repatriation plan, and will stay on the ship in isolation until they recover enough to travel.

“It’s all going to be done in ways that are not going to expose the people of Florida to any of the illnesses that may be on there,” Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) told Fox News Thursday. “Obviously you’ve got to be safe when you’re doing this stuff.”

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The White House announced that Trump took a second coronavirus test and once again tested negative.

This was the new rapid test that is administered in about a minute and produces the results in about 15 minutes. It wasn’t clear exactly why Trump took the test; he suggested there wasn’t immediate concern, but that he took it just to try it out.

“I think I took it really out of curiosity to see how quickly it worked and fast it worked,” Trump said. “And it’s a lot easier. I’ve done both. And the second one is much more pleasant — I can tell you that. Much more pleasant.”

These speedier tests are not available to most Americans, but Trump said more of them are being made.

Deborah Birx said that right now the government is prioritizing “the presidential 15-minute test” in remote, rural areas without access to more sophisticated testing, like Indian reservations, and in places that require more surveillance, like nursing homes.

The Navy on Thursday removed the captain of an aircraft carrier crippled by the coronavirus, two days after a blunt letter the officer wrote warning the service of the need to get more sailors off the vessel created a furor.

Navy Capt. Brett Crozier, the commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, was relieved of command at the direction of acting Navy secretary Thomas Modly.

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Vice President Pence announced Thursday that the White House was considering direct payments to hospitals to cover coronavirus treatment costs for uninsured Americans.

Pence said the administration is considering using some of the $100 billion allocated for hospitals in the stimulus package to go toward the cost of treating the uninsured.

“We don’t want any American to worry about the cost of getting a test or the cost of getting treatment,” Pence said. “We’ve expanded coverage through Medicaid, we’ve expanded coverage through Medicare.”

“We will find a way to pay for your coronavirus treatment,” he said.

President Trump also reiterated Thursday at his briefing that he will not reopen HealthCare.gov, the website for the Affordable Care Act health plans, to help more Americans buy insurance during the coronavirus crisis. Instead, he said they are “doing better than that.”

“We are going to try to get a cash payment to the people and we are working out the mechanics of that with legislature,” Trump said. “We are going to try to get them cash payments because just opening it up doesn’t help as much.”

Pence said the proposal would be brought to Trump on Friday from the White House coronavirus task force, with an expected announcement also to occur Friday.

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