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CORONAVIRUS UPDATE — MARCH 26, 2020

By March 26, 2020No Comments

Driving the Day:

By the Numbers:

Thursday, March 26, 2020, 7:30 AM
Number of US cases reported: 69,197
Number of US deaths: 1,046
Total Number of People Tested in US: 484,062 (may not include all labs)

Associated Press: U.S. coronavirus deaths top 1,000The Atlantic: How the Pandemic Will End
Buzzfeed: Doctors And Nurses Say More People Are Dying Of COVID-19 In The US Than We Know
Gallup: Coronavirus Response: Hospitals Rated Best, News Media Worst
Kaiser Health News: Some States Are Reporting Incomplete COVID-19 Results, Blurring The Full Picture
NPR: ICU Bed Capacity Varies Widely Nationwide. See How Your Area Stacks Up
Vox: How the US stacks up to other countries in confirmed coronavirus cases

What to Watch For:

The president will hold a teleconference with leaders of the G20 at 8:00 AM.  The coronavirus task force briefs the press at 5:00 PM. After voting 96-0 to pass the economic stimulus package, the Senate is in recess until April 20. The House will take up the measure on Friday.

Trump’s Failure to Prepare and How He’s Making It Worse

  • Trump Admin Slashed Preparedness Ahead Of Virus Outbreak:  Reports continue to emerge of catastrophic failures to prepare for a pandemic outbreak in the United States.  After Trump took office, CDC staff in China was cut by more than two-thirds as part of a larger rollback of US health and science expertise in the country, the Department of Homeland Securitystopped updating its annual models of the havoc that pandemics would wreak on America’s critical infrastructure, White House officials ignored a comprehensive pandemic plan assembled by the National Security Council, and Trump’s chronic understaffing of government agencies left the federal government unprepared for this crisis.  Nonetheless, Trump continued to insist at Wednesday’s press briefing that it is “hard not to be happy with the job we’re doing” even as coronavirus deaths crossed 1,000 in the United States.
  • Trump Continues To Plan For A Quick End To Social Distancing Against The Wishes Of Governors And Experts: Trump continues to push for a premature end to social distancing and the “reopening” of the American economy against the wishes of every public health expert and a growing group of Demcratic and Republican  governors.  Trump appears to have gotten the idea of an Easter reopening from calls with wealthy business and evangelical Christian supporters.  During the Wednesday evening press briefing, Trump claimed that Democrats and members of the media want to country to stay shut down in order to harm his reelection chances.
  • Overwhelmed Hospitals Become Overwhelmed Morgues:Hospitals and states continue to plead with the federal government for more help with equipment and supplies as reports emerged of the death of a worker at a New York City hospital where employees were forced to use trash bags for protection due to a shortage of PPE.  New York issued a grim warning to the Department of Homeland Security that its morgues will soon be at capacity and additional assistance will be required.   Despite Trump’s continued claims that testing is widely available in the US, a dangerous backlog of tests is developing making patients wait as long as a week for results.

Associated Press: Trump’s Easter goal in war on virus a nod to faith, business
Axios: Dangerous backlog: Coronavirus results can take a week or more
The Bulwark: Warnings Ignored: A Timeline of Trump’s COVID-19 Response
Foreign Policy (Voice): The Coronavirus Is the Worst Intelligence Failure in U.S. History
The Hill: 16 state AGs urge Trump to use defense law to obtain critical coronavirus supplies
HuffPost: Why Governors Want Trump To Take Charge Of Medical Supplies ― And Why He Hasn’t
New York Times: Job Vacancies and Inexperience Mar Federal Response to Coronavirus
New York Times: Can We Put a Price Tag on a Life? The Shutdown Forces a New Look
New York Times (Opinion): Trump Wants to ‘Reopen America.’ Here’s What Happens if We Do.
New York Times (Editorial): Coronavirus Is Advancing. All Americans Need to Shelter in Place.
New York Times (Opinion): How the World’s Richest Country Ran Out of a 75-Cent Face Mask
Politico: NYC morgues near capacity, DHS briefing warns
Politico: DHS wound down pandemic models before coronavirus struck
Politico: Red state governors buck Trump and stick with social distancing
Politico: Trump team failed to follow NSC’s pandemic playbook
Politico: Trump hasn’t yet released disaster unemployment funds
Reuters: U.S. slashed CDC staff inside China prior to coronavirus outbreak
Wall Street Journal: U.S. Communities Struggle To Deal With Coronavirus Testing Backlogs
Washington Post (Opinion): When will it be safe to go out again?
Washington Post: More than 140 nursing homes have reported coronavirus cases. Federal officials won’t say which ones.

Trump’s Misinformation

  • Mike Pompeo And The State Department Engage In False Diplomatic Name-Calling Instead Of Finding Solutions: Instead of working together with our allies and the rest of the world to solve this global crisis, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been engaged in counterproductive and false name-calling.  Ministers from the G7 were unable to agree on a statement calling for joint efforts to stop the coronavirus because of Pompeo’s insistence on identifying it as the “Wuhan virus” and a UN Security Council resolution on the virus stalled because the US demanded that it be identified as a Chinese virus. Meanwhile, even as Trump publicly bashes our allies for not doing enough to help, his administration is quietly asking other countries to send everything from hand sanitizer to ventilators to the United States.

Associated Press: Coronavirus briefings are the new campaign rallies for Trump
CNN: The US is asking other countries for everything from hand sanitizer to ventilators to help fight the coronavirus
Columbus Dispatch: Ohio stops daily reporting of new unemployment claims at request of Trump administration
Daily Beast: CNN and MSNBC Staffers Wary of Airing Trump Coronavirus Pressers: ‘So Full of Misinformation’
The Independent: Trump rages against Nato allies during coronavirus briefing
Kaiser Health News: Trump’s Boast About U.S., South Korea Coronavirus Testing Misses The Mark
NBC: U.S. insisting that the U.N. call out Chinese origins of coronavirus
Politico: Pompeo, G-7 foreign ministers spar over ‘Wuhan virus’
Vox: The Fox News moment that revealed a dangerously confused president
Washington Post (Opinion): How reporters should handle Trump’s press briefings

Looking Out For Themselves

  • People Close To Trump Can Get Tested, Everyday Americans Can’t: The Washington Post reported that as access to testing for regular Americans remains restricted, politicians with close ties to Donald Trump, including Rand Paul and Mick Mulvaney have been allowed to jump the line for immediate access to testing.
  • Billionaires And The Governor Of Mississippi Want People To Go Back To Work, Workers And Local Officials Aren’t So Sure:  A growing chorus of billionaires is calling for Americans to go back to work despite the risks to public health with former Wells Fargo CEO Dick Kovacevich calling for healthy workers under 55 to go back to work immediately even though, “Some of them will get sick, some may even die, I don’t know.” In Mississippi, Governor Tate Reeves issued an order overruling local jurisdictions and declaring most businesses “essential” in an effort to force people back to work.

Axios: America’s incomplete coronavirus shutdown
CNN: Trump repeatedly praised China’s response to coronavirus in February
NBC: U.S. insisting that the U.N. call out Chinese origins of coronavirus
Bloomberg: Billionaires Want People Back to Work. Employees Aren’t So Sure
Daily Beast: Trump to New York: You’ve Been Mean to Me, Drop Dead
Jackson Free Press: Governor Orders Limited Gatherings, Declares Most Businesses ‘Essential,’ Supersedes Local Safety Efforts
New York Times: Fine Print of Stimulus Bill Contains Special Deals for Industries
New York Times: Virus Rules Let Construction Workers Keep Building Luxury Towers
New York Times (Opinion): Trump to New York: Drop Dead
Politico: Infighting erupts in Trumpworld as coronavirus attacks mount
Politico: Pandemic sparks new front in abortion wars
Politico: How the government will track $500B in bailout funds
Vox: Trump commits to helping blue states fight the coronavirus — if their governors are nice to him
Washingtonian: President Trump’s DC Hotel Promises a “HUGE Celebration” Soon
Washington Post: Should older Americans die to save the economy? Ethicists call it a false choice.
Washington Post: Politicians jockeying for covid-19 tests find proximity to Trump is the fastest route
Washington Post: He urged saving the economy over protecting those who are ‘not productive’ from the coronavirus. Then he faced America’s wrath.

Other News

Affordability And Access
New York Times: Gilead Withdraws Request for Special Orphan Status on Experimental Virus Treatment
ProPublica: Medicaid Abruptly Canceled Her Health Insurance. Then Came the Coronavirus.

Campaigns and Elections
Politico: Republicans forging ahead with Charlotte convention
ProPublica: Voting by Mail Would Reduce Coronavirus Transmission but It Has Other Risks

Congress
Politico: How the $2 trillion deal came together and nearly fell apart

Democratic Response
Politico: Priorities USA begins $6 million blitz of anti-Trump coronavirus ads
Politico: Biden blindsides Trump’s Florida ally

Economic Impact
Bloomberg: Fired Americans Send Unemployment Websites Crashing Down
CNN: Egg prices are skyrocketing because of coronavirus panic shopping
New York Times: Restaurant Closings Inflict Collateral Damage on Other Businesses
New York Times: Inside American Airlines’ Scramble as Virus Grounds Jets by Hundreds
Washington City Paper: Restaurants Are Morphing Into Makeshift Grocers to Feed the Community
WLBT: Waffle House closes 365 locations across the U.S.

Governors and Mayors
New York Times: Governors Tell Outsiders From ‘Hot Zone’ to Stay Away as Virus Divides States
Sarasota Herald Tribune:  Coronavirus Florida: DeSantis gambles on less aggressive response
USA Today: ‘An unprecedented situation’: Coronavirus clamps down on statehouses as legislatures scramble to adapt
Washington Post (Opinion): Let Andrew Cuomo speak for America, not Trump

Hospitals and Health Care Workers
ABC News: As Coronavirus Pandemic Surges, Hospitals Prepare For Grim Possibility Of ‘Ventilator Triage’
Axios: New York ER doctor: “Soon, our hospitals are gonna be overwhelmed” by coronavirus
The City: Frontline Nyc Medical Staffers Describe Daily Battle At Struggling Hospitals
Kaiser Health News: Hospital Suppliers Take To The Skies To Combat Dire Shortages Of COVID-19 Gear
McClatchy: New antibody test for coronavirus workers sent to Washington, Florida, California
New York Post: Worker at NYC hospital where nurses wear trash bags as protection dies from coronavirus
New York Times: Nurses Share Coronavirus Stories Anonymously in an Online Document
Politico: Health workers fear U.S. hospitals will become coronavirus hot spots
Stat: A sports medicine office morphs into a coronavirus clinic, braced for the onslaught
Washington Post: Hospitals consider universal do-not-resuscitate orders for coronavirus patients
Washington Post: Some health-care workers resist orders to work without adequate protection

International
Bloomberg: Spanish Doctors Are Forced to Choose Who to Let Die
Wall Street Journal: ‘My World Collapsed With a Bang’: How the Coronavirus Ravaged a Family
Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Is Advancing on Poor Nations, and the Prognosis Is Troubling
Washington Post: Prince Charles testing positive illustrates how the coronavirus does not discriminate

In the States
Al.com: Alabama abortion clinics deemed essential amid COVID-19 business closures
Axios: The fight for New York
Bloomberg: NYC’s 911 Overwhelmed With Record Number of Emergency Medical Calls
Bridge MI: Coronavirus spreading faster in Detroit than nearly anywhere in United States
NBC: Entire senior home in New Jersey, 94 people, presumed to have coronavirus
New Orleans Times Picayune: ‘It’s like a war zone’: Fighting coronavirus, limited ICU beds, bracing for chaos in New Orleans
New York Times: 13 Deaths in a Day: An ‘Apocalyptic’ Coronavirus Surge at an N.Y.C. Hospital
Politico: ‘We are your future’: Will all of America become like New York?
Politico: Half of New Yorkers likely to get coronavirus, de Blasio says
Talking Points Memo: COVID-19 Fears Swell In Rural America As Pandemic Erupts In Far Away Cities
Washington Post: ‘Take it very seriously’: Pastor at Arkansas church where 34 people came down with coronavirus sends a warning

Media
Daily Beast: BuzzFeed Slashing Employee Pay Amid the Coronavirus Crisis

Personal Preparedness
New York Times (Opinion): Coronavirus Advice from a Grocery Store Worker
People: Should You Be Washing Your Vegetables with Soap? How to Safely Cook at Home During Coronavirus
The Wirecutter: Amazon Is Having Supply Chain Issues. Here Are Some Trustworthy Alternatives.

Public Safety
Los Angeles Times: Domestic abuse victims in ‘worst-case scenario’ during outbreak, providers say
New York Times: For Abused Women, a Pandemic Lockdown Holds Dangers of Its Own
Washington Post: ‘Disaster waiting to happen’: Thousands of inmates released as jails and prisons face coronavirus threat

Science
New York Times: What Does Our Body Temperature Say About Our Health?
New York Times: Can You Become Immune to the Coronavirus?
Washington Post: The coronavirus isn’t mutating quickly, suggesting a vaccine would offer lasting protection

Social Impact
Bloomberg: Newest Shortage in New York: The City Is Running Out of Dogs to Adopt
The Guardian: Comrade Britney Spears! Star calls for strike and wealth redistribution
New York Times:  What I Learned When My Husband Got Sick With Coronavirus
Wall Street Journal: As Coronavirus Panic Spreads, Living Underground Doesn’t Seem So Strange

Workers
Bloomberg: Uber and Airbnb Lobby for Gig Worker Bailout
New York Times: ‘Plz Cancel Our Cleaning’: Virus Leads Many to Cast Aside Household Help
Vice: Cuomo’s Prison Workers Say They’re Not Actually Making Hand Sanitizer

Trump Tweets 

96-0 in the United States Senate. Congratulations AMERICA! [@realDonaldTrump, 3/25/20]

I hear that Fake News CNN just reported that I am isolated in the White House, wondering out loud, “when will life return to normal?” Does anybody really believe that? There was no leak, they made it up – they are CORRUPT & FAKE NEWS. I have been packed all day with meetings, I have no time for stupidity. We’re working around the clock to KEEP AMERICA SAFE! [@realDonaldTrump, 3/25/20]

The LameStream Media is the dominant force in trying to get me to keep our Country closed as long as possible in the hope that it will be detrimental to my election success. The real people want to get back to work ASAP.  We will be stronger than ever before! [@realDonaldTrump, 3/25/20]

Congratulations to Prime Minister Abe of Japan, and the IOC, on their very wise decision to present the Olympics in 2021. It will be a great success, and I look forward to being there! [@realDonaldTrump, 3/25/20]

The four hospitals that we (FEMA) are building in NYC at the Javits Convention Center are moving along very well, ahead of schedule. Many additional ventilators also delivered. Good conversation with Governor Cuomo! [@realDonaldTrump, 3/25/20]

Just reported that the United States has done far more “testing” than any other nation, by far! In fact, over an eight day span, the United States now does more testing than what South Korea (which has been a very successful tester) does over an eight week span. Great job! [@realDonaldTrump, 3/25/20]