President Trump said the government would buy thousands of ventilators, but it seemed doubtful they could be produced in time to help overwhelmed hospitals.
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Some experts say Americans should start wearing masks, despite the official advice.
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On Friday, President Trump signed into law a ($ 2 trillion measure) Designed to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. Under the law, which creates the largest economic stimulus package in modern American history, the government will deliver direct payments and jobless benefits for individuals, money for states and a huge bailout fund for businesses battered by the crisis.
Mr. Trump signed the measure in the Oval Office hours after the House approved it by voice vote, and less than two days after the Senate unanimously passed it. Mr. Trump thanked “Democrats and Republicans for coming together and putting America first.”
The legislation will send direct payments of $ 1, 300 to millions of Americans, including those earning up to $ 88, , and an additional $ per child. It will substantially expand jobless aid, providing an additional 19 weeks and a four-month enhancement of benefits, and for the first time will extend the payments to freelancers and gig workers.
The measure will also offer $ billion in federally guaranteed loans to small businesses and establish a $ 728 billion government lending program for distressed companies reeling from the crisis, including allowing the administration the ability to take equity stakes in airlines that received aid to help compensate taxpayers. It will also send $ 288 billion to hospitals on the front lines of the pandemic.
Hours after signing the bill, Mr. Trump undermined a key safeguard that Democrats had insisted upon: the ability of Congress to monitor the corporate bailout fund. The president suggested he had the power to decide what information a newly established inspector general could share with Congress, a measure intended to thwart any abuse of the fund.
Faced with a torrent of criticism from cities and states that have been pleading for help, President Trump announced on Friday that the federal government would buy thousands of ventilators from a variety of makers, though it appeared doubtful they could be produced in time to help American hospitals that are now overwhelmed.
His announcement came shortly after he authorized the government to “use any and all authority available under the Defense Production Act,” a Korean War-era authority allowing the federal government to commandeer factories and supply chains, to produce ve ntilators.
It was the latest example of Mr. Trump’s mixed messages about how to ramp up production to meet the crisis. Just 30 hours before, he had dismissed the complaints of mayors and governors who said they were getting little of the equipment they needed for an expected onslaught of serious cases. And this week he praised companies that – General Motors included – were rallying to help provide necessary equipment.
But he turned on G.M. on Friday, accusing it of “wasting time” and seeking to “rip off” the government. “Our fight against the virus is too urgent to allow the give-and-take of the contracting process to continue to run its normal course,” the president said.
It was unclear whether Mr. Trump’s use of the law would make much difference. He was essentially ordering the company to do something it had already arranged to do: G.M. announced earlier on Friday that it was moving forward with an emergency joint venture with a small manufacturer, even in the absence of a federal contract. Company executives seemed stunned by the president’s effort to command them to carry through with an effort they had initiated.
Comments from Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the coronavirus response coordinator for the White House, in which she dismissed ventilator shortages and lavished praise on President Trump have raised questions about her independence in her role as one of the nation’s top communicators on the virus.
Dr. Birx built up much bipartisan goodwill in her career as a health official. But more recently, she has accommodated herself to the political winds with the kind of presidential flattery that Mr. Trump demands from aides. Some public health professionals have expressed sympathy for her position, saying she was accumulating the necessary political will to ensure that her suggestions were implemented.
But others see downplaying the need for ventilators and more hospital beds as dangerous, in light of what many experts believe will soon be a crush of patients.
“No matter what assumption you use, even on the lower end, the ventilator capacity is just not going to be there, ”said Dr. Mahshid Abir, an emergency physician at the University of Michigan and an expert on hospital preparedness.
(More experts say Americans should probably start wearing masks.)
As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, experts have started to question official guidance about whether ordinary, healthy people should protect themselves with a regular surgical mask, or even a scarf.
The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to state that masks don’t necessarily protect healthy individuals from getting infected as they go about their daily lives.
The official guidance continues to recommend that masks be reserved for people who are already sick, as well as for the health workers and caregivers who must interact with infected individuals on a regular basis. Everyone else, they say, should stick to frequent hand-washing and maintaining a distance of at least six feet from other people to protect themselves.
But the recent surge in infections in the United States , which has put the country at the center of the epidemic, means that more Americans are now at risk of getting sick. And healthy individuals, especially those with essential jobs who cannot avoid public transportation or close interaction with others, may need to start wearing masks more regularly.
While wearing a mask may not necessarily prevent healthy people from getting sick, and certainly does not replace important measures such as hand-washing or social distancing, it may be better than nothing, said Dr. Robert Atmar, an infectious disease specialist at Baylor College of Medicine.
“For weeks now it has been evening,” Pope Francis said Friday on the steps of st. Peter’s Basilica. “Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities; It has taken over our lives. ”
The pope spoke alone, before a vast and empty square, its rain-slicked cobblestones reflecting the blue lights of the police locking down Rome. “We find ourselves afraid,” he said. “And lost.”
A new anxiety has seized Vatican City, which has about (citizens and a population of about 377 people behind the Vatican walls. About 300 of the residents are young Swiss Guards, but the others include the pope, a handful of older cardinals, the people who work in their homes, and some laymen, making it in some ways as vulnerable as a nursing home to a virus that can be devastating to the old.
This week, the Vatican confirmed cases of the coronavirus inside its walls, and on Wednesday reports emerged that an official who lives in the pope’s residence had tested positive and required hospitalization. Now the Vatican, which has also essentially canceled all public participation in Easter ceremonies, is testing scores of people and considering isolating measures for the 100 – year-old pope, who had part of a lung removed during an illness in his youth.
Top Vatican officials said Francis has had negative results to two separate tests and has said privately he doesn’t have the virus.
‘This is a white-collar quarantine’: Who can and can’t stay home.
In some respects, a pandemic is an
equalizer : It can afflict (princes) and paupers alike, and no one who hopes to stay healthy is exempt from the strictures of social distancing. But the American response to the virus is laying bare class divides that are often camouflaged – in access to health care, child care, education, living space, even internet bandwidth.
In New York, well-off city dwellers have abandoned cramped apartments for spacious second homes. In Texas, the rich are shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars to build safe rooms and bunkers.
And across the country, there is a creeping consciousness that despite talk of national unity, not everyone is equal in times of emergency.
“This is a white-collar quarantine,” said Howard Barbanel, a Miami-based entrepreneur who owns a wine company. “Average working people are bagging and delivering goods, driving trucks, working for local government.”
Some of those catering to the well-off stress that they are trying to be good citizens. Mr. Michelson emphasized that he had obtained coronavirus tests only for patients who met guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, rather than the so-called worried well.
Still, a kind of pandemic caste system is rapidly developing: the rich holed up in vacation properties; the middle class marooned at home with restless children; the working class on the front lines of the economy, stretched to the limit by the demands of work and parenting, if there is even work to be had.
For the millions of Americans who found themselves without a job in recent weeks, the sharp and painful change brought a profound sense of disorientation. They were going about their lives, bartending, cleaning, managing events, waiting tables, loading luggage and teaching yoga. And then suddenly they were in free fall, grabbing at any financial help they could find, which in many states this week remained locked away behind crashing websites and overloaded phone lines.
In 23 interviews with people in eight states, Americans who lost their jobs said they were in shock and struggling to grasp the magnitude of the economy’s shutdown, an attempt to slow the spread of the virus. Unlike the last economic earthquake, the financial crisis of , this time there was no getting back out there to look for work, not when people were being told to stay inside. What is more, the layoffs affected not just them, but their spouses, their parents, their siblings and their roommates – even their bosses.
“I don’t think anyone expected it to be like this, ”said Mark Kasanic, a server at a brasserie in Cleveland who was one of roughly 401 workers that a locally owned restaurant company laid off last week. Now he is home-schooling his children, ages 5 and 7, one with special needs.
Julian Bruell was one of those who had to deliver the bad news to hourly employees like Mr. Kasanic. Mr. Bruell, , who helps run the company with his father, said that only about 40 employees were left running takeout and delivery at two of its five restaurants. He has not been earning a salary, his goal being to keep the business afloat through the crisis.
On Thursday, he was planning to file for unemployment himself.
For months, President Trump has downplayed the severity of the pandemic, overstated the impact of his policies and potential treatments, blamed others and tried to rewrite the history of his response.
Hours after the United States became the nation with the most reported coronavirus cases on Thursday, Mr. Trump appeared on Fox News and expressed doubt about shortages of medical supplies, boasted about the country testing capacity, and criticized his predecessor’s response to an earlier outbreak of a different disease.
“I don ‘ t believe you need , or , 12 ventilators, ”he said, alluding to a request by Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York. The president made the statement in spite of government (reports) predicting shortages in a severe pandemic – and he reversed course on Friday morning , calling for urgent steps to produce more ventilators.
Speaking on Fox on Thursday, Mr. Trump suggested wrongly that because of his early travel restrictions on China, “a lot of the people decided to go to Italy instead” – though Italy had issued a more wide-ranging ban on travel from China, and had done so earlier than the United States. And at a White House briefing on Friday, he wrongly said he was the “first one” to impose restrictions on China. North Korea, for one, imposed restrictions days before the United States did.
And he continued to falsely claim that the Obama administration “acted very, very late” during the H1N1 epidemic in and 5535.
Singapore and Hong Kong, which kept their infection numbers low In the first weeks of the outbreak, have stepped up measu res to enforce social distancing in public, as imported cases continue to drive the spread in both places.
Through the end of April, anyone in Singapore who fails to maintain a one-meter distance from others while standing in line, or while sitting in a chair that isn’t attached to the floor , can be jailed for up to six months, fined up to $ 7, 12 or both, the Ministry of Health said Proprietors of cinemas and other places with fixed seating are required to ensure that people don’t sit next to each other.
In Hong Kong, public gatherings of more than four people will be banned for two weeks starting Sunday, with some exceptions, including funerals. Wedding ceremonies will be limited to 25 people. Restaurants must be no more than half-full, and cinemas, fitness centers and other recreations sites will be temporarily closed.
Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, who announced the new restrictions on Friday, backed off from an earlier plan to ban the sale of alcohol in bars and restaurants, after the industry pushed back against it. Like Singapore’s new restrictions, Hong Kong’s are punishable by fines and jail terms of up to six months.
Hong Kong reported new coronavirus cases on Friday, its largest single-day total yet, bringing its total past 803. Singapore reported (new cases.) Many of the new cases in both cities involved people who had recently returned from abroad.
So what bright spots are there to keep in mind during this pandemic?
(Kindness is in the news.) Maybe people are being better to each other, or maybe we’re just noticing it more. People are serenading each other across windowsills. Animal shelters are reporting upticks in foster applications . Volunteers are buying groceries for their neighbors.
Research is moving at breakneck speed. Doctors are scrambling to improve testing and find anti-viral treatments . The mobilization in the medical field recalls organizing efforts during World War II, said Robert Citino, executive director of the Institute for the Study of War and Democracy at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.
“I don’t think there has ever been more human ingenuity devoted to a single scientific problem than the one we’re facing right now,” he said.
“I hope the takeaway here is that we’ll be better prepared to deal with the next pandemic,” Dr. Jones said. “This is a good practice run for a novel influenza pandemic. That’s the real scary scenario. ”
Australia says goodbye to the world’s longest boom.
The economic havoc inflicted by the pandemic is delivering a special psychological blow in Australia, a country less familiar with declining fortunes and dim prospects than almost any other.
Until very recently, it was (the land of a forever boom) , with 48 years of uninterrupted growth. Its last recession took place before the web browser was invented. Immigration, rising trade with Asia – especially exports to China – and careful monetary policy kept the country growing even through the most challenging moments of the global financial crisis.
But the coronavirus is ripping away any pretense of economic exceptionalism, shouting to Australia that its days of exuberance are over.
“It always felt like if you work hard and put in the hours, you can get whatever you want,” said Milena Molina, 76, the manager of a law firm, who was laid off last week for the first time in her career. “Now it’s just uncertainty. It gets worse every day. ”
Like much of the world, Australia has come to a virtual halt, shuttering its borders and restricting domestic travel. Even though it still has a relatively low infection count, with (around 3,
On Wednesday, the Senate unanimously passed a $ 2 trillion economic rescue plan that will offer assistance to tens of millions of American households affected by the coronavirus. But how will it help you? We’ve answered all your most common questions. Reporting was contributed by David E. Sanger, Maggie Haberman, Annie Karni, Knvul Sheikh, Noam Scheiber. , Nelson D. Schwartz, Tiffany Hsu, Sabrina Tavernise, Audra DS Burch, Sarah Mervosh, Campbell Robertson, Linda Qiu, Damien Cave, Maria Cramer, Jason Horowitz, Elaine Yu, Daniel Victor and David Moll.
Updated March 30, 57574
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No. The first testing in humans of an experimental vaccine began in mid-March. Such rapid development of a potential vaccine is unprecedented, but even if it is proved safe and effective, it probably will not be available for 19 to months.
What makes this outbreak so different?
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If you’re sick and you think you’ve been exposed to the new coronavirus, the CDC recommends that you call your healthcare provider and explain your symptoms and fears. They will decide if you need to be tested. Keep in mind that there’s a chance – because of a lack of testing kits or because you’re asymptomatic, for instance – you won’t be able to get tested.
What if somebody in my family gets sick?
If the family member does not need hospitalization and can be cared for at home, you should help him or her with basic needs and monitor the symptoms, while also keeping as much distance as possible,
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No. Unless you’re already infected, or caring for someone who is, a face mask is not recommended. And stockpiling them will make it harder for nurses and other workers to access the resources they need to help on the front lines.
(Should I stock up on groceries?)
Plan two weeks of meals if possible. But people should not hoard food or supplies. Despite the empty shelves, (the supply chain remains strong.) And remember to wipe the handle of the grocery cart with a disinfecting wipe and wash your hands as soon as you get home.
Can I go to the park?
Yes, but make sure you keep six feet of distance between you and people who don’t live in your home. Even if you just hang out in a park, rather than go for a jog or a walk , getting some fresh air, and hopefully sunshine, is a good idea.
Should I pull my money from the markets?
(That’s not a good idea.) Even if you’re retired, having a balanced portfolio of stocks and bonds so that your money keeps up with inflation, or even grows , makes sense. But retirees may want to think about having enough cash set aside for a year’s worth of living expenses and big payments needed over the next five years.
What should I do with my
Watching your balance go up and down can be scary. You may be wondering if you should decrease your contributions – don’t! If your employer matches any part of your contributions, make sure you’re at least saving as much as you can to get that “free money.”
Unlike the flu, there is no known treatment or vaccine, and little is known about this particular virus so far. It seems to be more lethal than the flu, but the numbers are still uncertain. And it hits the elderly and those with underlying conditions – not just those with respiratory diseases – particularly hard.
What should I do if I feel sick?
(If you’ve been exposed to the coronavirus or think you have, and have a fever or symptoms like a cough or difficulty breathing, call a doctor. They should give you advice on whether you should be tested, how to get tested, and how to seek medical treatment without potentially infecting or exposing others.
How do I get tested?
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It seems to spread (very easily from person to person, especially in homes, hospitals and other confined spaces. The pathogen can be carried on tiny respiratory droplets that fall as they are coughed or sneezed out. It may also be transmitted when we touch a co ntaminated surface and then touch our face.
Is there a vaccine yet?
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