March 16 Coronavirus Morning and Evening Updates
Hello, welcome to “The Daily Moth.” It is Monday, March 16. Here are updates on the coronavirus pandemic.
There are now over 3,800 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S. with 69 deaths. West Virginia is the only state that doesn’t have a case of the coronavirus. Worldwide, it’s over 170,000 cases.
Last night the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a recommendation that there be no gatherings of 50 or more people in the U.S. for the next eight weeks. That’s from now until May 15. This applies to weddings, festivals, churches, concerts, sports, parades. This does not apply to the day to day operation of organizations such as schools, institutes of higher learning, or businesses. They can still gather, but for regular gatherings such as weddings or festivals, it is recommended they stop for eight weeks.
Ohio, Illinois, California, Washington, Kentucky, and Michigan have ordered all bars and restaurants to close. Many restaurants will offer take-out delivery, but indoor dining will be closed. Governors are doing this to strongly persuade social distancing to slow down the spread of coronavirus. The Ohio and Illinois governors said they are seeing that many are not taking this pandemic seriously.
Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey announced a ban of gatherings of more than 50 people. They’re following the CDC’s recommendations. We might see other states follow suit.
New Jersey’s governor said residents will not be allowed to travel from 8 pm ET to 5 am ET except for essential travel.
The U.S. Supreme Court will suspend oral arguments and postpone the scheduled dates for March because of coronavirus.
CNN reported that there are “active discussion within the Trump administration to encourage a possible curfew” across the nation to require non-essential businesses, not counting food stores or pharmacies but to regular businesses, to close by a certain time each night — focusing on malls, restaurants, and bars. So this might be coming.
There are drive-through testing programs that are staring to be set up across America. There is still no information on a “website” where you can look up to see where you can get tested if you think you have coronavirus. We should expect for that kind of information to come from a state or local level. We’ll have to wait for those developments.
The Federal Reserve, the central bank of America, announced yesterday that they have cut down interest rates to near zero. They also announced they would pump $700 billion into the U.S. economy — in a “quantitative easing program.” The hope was to continue to simulate the economy. This morning the DOW Jones went down over 2,000 points, forcing trading to halt temporarily for 15 minutes. It erased the gains after President Trump declared a national emergency on Friday that would make $50 billion available to support state and local efforts to stop the virus. Stocks went up then, but all that is gone. As of now, it’s a little bit better with the DOW down 1,600 points. It’s still a huge drop. It will change through the day. What we are seeing is clear — this coronavirus pandemic will severely disrupt the U.S. economy, from Wall Street down to our wallets, as we see disruptions in everyday life.
In airports across the United States, there are news images and videos of extremely crowded, long lines by travelers from international countries who are forced to go through baggage lines, customs checks, and questions by the CDC. Some said it took them six or seven hours to wait and are concerned that this would only spread coronavirus even more. There were a lot of people who criticized the federal government for not making sure things went smoothly. President Trump acknowledged the problems by tweeting “pardon the interruptions and delays.” He said he wants to make sure that screenings are going smoothly.
Italy, the country with the most cases after China with almost 25,000 confirmed infections, are saying that their healthcare system is overwhelmed with hospitals over capacity. There are news images of temporary hospitals set up in tents. It is said that doctors are forced to decide who lives and dies — and that most people over 80 years of age will be “left to die” because there are not enough ventilators.
There may be a similar crisis here in the United States. An article in NPR explained that a ventilator is important because when people have a respiratory virus, their lungs are inflamed and it can block the transfer of oxygen from the air into our blood supply. They will need ventilators to supply higher levels of oxygen and push air into lungs. Healthcare experts say the U.S. is not prepared to face a pandemic of this level. There is some talk of the U.S. going into a “wartime type” effort to manufacture ventilators in mass quantities similar to what we did during WWII to manufacture weapons.
The European Union may restrict non-essential travel to the EU for 30 days.
That’s all the updates for now. I am going to continue to cover the coronavirus pandemic and you can expect more news and interview videos from us.
https://www.axios.com/ohio-governor-bars-restaurants...
https://www.nytimes.com/.../world/coronavirus-news.html...
https://www.cnn.com/.../coronavirus-outbreak-03-16-20.../
https://www.bbc.com/.../coronavirus-italian-patients...
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Hello, here is a Monday evening update on the coronavirus pandemic. At the end of this video I will also recap the Democratic debate last night.
There are now over 4,200 cases of coronavirus. Just this morning it was at 3,800. Clearly we’re in the middle of a global pandemic with over 180,000 confirmed cases. Italy has 28,000 cases, Iran has 15,000 cases, Spain has almost 10,000 cases. Canada has 415 cases. Mexico has 53 cases.
President Trump and the White House Coronavirus Task Force gave a briefing from the White House this afternoon.
Trump announced new guidelines that recommended every American, for the next 15 days, to avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 people, to avoid eating and drinking at bars, restaurants, and food courts, and for anybody with even mild symptoms to stay home. The guidelines are not mandatory, but highly recommended.
Trump said we are fighting an invisible enemy and that this is a “very bad one.” He said if everyone makes those changes and sacrifices now, we will defeat the virus as a nation and will have a big celebration together.
Trump warned that we could be dealing with the coronavirus crisis until July or August.
Today U.S. stocks plunged even deeper, with the DOW falling almost 3,000 points for the worst day since 1987.
Trump said we could be heading towards a recession — an economic decline — but said the U.S. economy would go back up after the pandemic ends.
Trump said the federal government would help the airlines, who are facing what could be their worst crisis in history. Airlines had asked for more than $50 billion in emergency relief.
Trump said the federal government is considering a national lockdown, ordering a national quarantine, imposing a national curfew. He said he might look in locking down certain areas in the U.S.
Right now, the states with the most cases of coronavirus is Washington State and New York.
Trump said they have ordered a lot of ventilators and respirators and encouraged states to buy those devices on their own because it will be a faster process for states. There was some controversy on this because some states expressed frustration that they needed help from the federal government.
Trump tweeted this morning that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo needed to “do more.” Cuomo responded via Twitter “I have to do more? No — YOU have to do something! You’re supposed to be the President.” Cuomo then tweeted an op-ed article in the New York Times in which he implored Trump to direct federal troops to step in to create hospital beds, order shutdowns of schools and businesses, and to allow states to take over the testing processes. That’s Cuomo’s concept.
Dr. Anthony Fauci from the National Institutes of Health said they have a vaccine trial in Seattle and that it’s started today. It’s the first phase. Dr. Fauci said the approval process was done in record time. He explained that there is a group of people who will be injected on “Zero day” and then injected again in 28 days. They will observe if the vaccine creates a productive response. Dr. Fauci said last week that it could take 12 to 18 months before we have a vaccine that is available to all. So there is still a long way to go.
San Francisco and five other counties in Northern California ordered all residents to “shelter in place.” It means to stay home unless you absolutely have to come out, such as getting groceries, going to work, picking up medicine, or walking the dog.
Actor Idris Elba announced on Twitter that he tested positive for COVID-19. He said he feels okay, has no symptoms so far, but have been isolated ever since he found out he was possibly exposed.
The New York Times reported that scientists tracking the spread of the coronavirus said that for every confirmed case, there is likely another five to 10 people in the community with undetected infections. Many people have mild symptoms so they might not know they are spreading it. So there could be up to 40,000 cases right now in the U.S.
WFLA News posted helicopter or drone footage that showed thousands of people sunbathing and swimming in Clearwater Beach, Florida. It shows that there are many people who ignore the recommendations to practice social distancing, so we can expect the virus to continue to spread at an alarming rate.
States and the federal government might be forced to impose strict orders to force people to stop socializing, in the same way that Italy has. We might see that day coming.
Tomorrow is when four states are scheduled to vote: Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio. Ohio will be delaying in-person voting to June 2. Arizona, Florida, and Illinois will still open polls.
France has announced a country-wide lockdown for 15 days, following Spain and Italy.
Canada announced they will be closing their borders to non-citizens. They will make exceptions for air crews, diplomats, immediate family members of citizens, and at this time, U.S. citizens.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canadians who are traveling outside of the country should come home, and that they must self-isolate for 14 days.
Every incoming air traveler to Canada will have to complete a health assessment before they can board a plane. If a person has symptoms of COVID-19, they will be barred from getting on a plane to Canada. If there is a sick Canadian aboard, the Canadian government will support them aboard.
Trudeau is in self-isolation at his official residence in Ottawa because his wife, Sophie, tested positive for coronavirus.
News just broke that McDonalds will no longer allow people to dine inside, but would allow drive-thru orders and pick-up orders. That’s huge coming from McDonalds.
Now, let’s do a brief recap of the Democratic debate last night between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders. The debate was in a small room at the CNN studios in Washington, D.C. The debate was supposed to be in Arizona, but because of coronavirus, it’s moved there.
Biden and Bernie greeted each other with an elbow bump. They stood six feet apart during the debate because of coronavirus.
Bernie said we have to shut up President Trump right now. He said we have to make sure that every American who is sick with coronavirus will be able to get treatments without worrying about how to pay for it. Bernie said he is worried if hospitals can deal with the upcoming crisis.
Biden blamed Trump for our delay in response to the coronavirus pandemic. He said we did not accept the World Health Organization’s offer for help. Biden said we are not prepared for this and are not providing equipment to first responders.
Bernie said the coronavirus crisis shows that we have a dysfunctional healthcare system and questioned why we as a nation are spending so much money on healthcare but are unprepared for this pandemic.
Biden pointed out that Italy has a single payer system (universal healthcare that is similar with Bernie’s Medicare for All vision) but that it is not working for them as there are many infected. Biden said he would solve this crisis by bringing in experts in the Situation Room and doing what they recommend.
Biden made a promise that he would pick a woman to be his vice-president running mate if he won the nomination. Bernie said he would more likely pick a progressive woman with views similar to his.
Bernie said he has the courage to take on large industries such as the fossil fuel industry and the pharmaceutical industry, then said Biden was taking money from those industries.
Biden said he was the one who led the U.S. into the Paris Climate Accord and that he wants to invest in high-speed rail.
That is all the updates for now. I’ll be back here tomorrow morning with more updates. Have a good evening with your family and loved ones. Please consider staying at home until it is absolutely essential to go outside. Stay healthy and stay with the light!
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/16/world/live-coronavirus-news-updates.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage#link-dbd8ae4
https://www.mediaite.com/trump/trump-goes-after-cuomo-on-twitter-to-do-more-on-coronavirus-response-cuomo-fires-back-you-have-to-do-something/
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/15/opinion/andrew-cuomo-coronavirus-trump.html
https://twitter.com/Sameena1K/status/1239618435212029958
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/16/coronavirus-response-canada-closing-borders-to-non-citizens.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/16/first-human-trial-for-coronavirus-vaccine-begins-monday-in-the-us.html
https://twitter.com/WFLA/status/1239618604255059975
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