Tag: COVID-19

WHO raises coronavirus threat assessment to highest level

The Hill logoThe World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday increased its coronavirus risk assessment to “very high” and warned foreign governments not to underestimate the threat.

Cases of the coronavirus have continued to spread outside China, but WHO officials said there is still a chance of containing the virus if action is taken quickly.

“The continued increase in the number of cases, and the number of affected countries over the last few days, are clearly of concern,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Friday. Continue reading.

How ‘conservatism’ could kill us all

AlterNet logoNothing confirms the human need for strong, honest and competent government like a looming pandemic. The possibility that thousands, or even millions, could die from a randomly transmitted virus reminds us of our species’ vulnerability — and why society cannot exist without institutions that can protect us from such staggering existential threats.

Only government can impose quarantines and precautions when necessary. Only government can trace contacts, control transportation and monitor communities. Only government can ensure that drugs, medical devices and care will be adequately distributed — and that sufficient resources will be directed toward production of a vaccine as soon as possible, without regard to profit.

At a moment like this, it suddenly becomes clear that every problem — indeed, the most pressing problems — cannot and will not be solved by “the private sector.” If that seems blazingly obvious, please inform the Republicans who constantly tell us they want to “shrink government down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” Facing a potential catastrophe, those old jeers from the right sound utterly mindless. Continue reading.

How Health Care Inequities Increase The Pandemic Peril

Right-wing media have lied for years about the American health care system, downplaying the fact that millions of people are either uninsured or lack access to affordable health care.

With a possible pandemic on the horizon, that’s a real problem.

A perfect example of this problem is evident in the Miami Herald’s reporting about Osmel Martinez Azcue. After visiting China, he felt sick. Taking the advice of experts, he went to the hospital, where it turned out that he did not have the novel coronavirus strain known as COVID-19, but rather the common flu. He was then billed $3,270, but he may only have to pay $1,400 for the tests he was given if he can prove to his insurance company that the flu he contracted was not related to a preexisting condition. The Herald noted that so-called “junk plans” that don’t actually cover common medical expenses contribute to this problem, writing that “often the plans aren’t very different from going without insurance altogether.” Continue reading.

Here are 3 obvious — and 5 less obvious — tips to be safe in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak

AlterNet logoAmid the carnage of the First World War, a flu epidemic took hold in the front-line trenches and subsequently spread around the world, infecting one-quarter of the world’s total population and ultimately killing more people than the war itself.

Before it was over, somewhere between 50 million and 100 million people died from what became known as “the Spanish flu.” The currently accepted mortality rate for the Spanish flu is between one and three per cent, and its total mortality numbers are shocking in part because of its widespread reach, proliferating throughout country after country around the globe.

A familiar name

The Spanish flu pandemic was triggered by a virus that is now a household name: H1N1. H1N1 resurfaced in 2009, again spreading to the far reaches of the planet, but with only a small fraction of the death toll of its first emergence. Continue reading.

Stocks open with steep losses after market slides into coronavirus correction

The Hill logoStocks opened Friday with another round of steep losses following the market’s Thursday plunge into a correction.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank by more than 700 points at the start of Friday trading, falling 2.8 percent. The S&P 500 index also fell 2.6 percent, while the Nasdaq composite took a loss of 2.4 percent.

All three major indexes have fallen more than 10 percent below their most recent peaks, which is the formal threshold for a correction. Wall Street has suffered its worst week of losses since the 2007-08 financial crisis as public health officials warn of a likely coronavirus outbreak within the U.S. Continue reading.

White House chief of staff claims press covering coronavirus to take Trump down

The Hill logoWhite House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Friday downplayed the threat of the coronavirus but acknowledged likely school closures and disruptions to public transportation in the United States as a result of the outbreak.

He also accused the press of peddling a false narrative about the administration “scrambling” to contain the virus, saying he briefed Congress with other top health officials six weeks ago. He accused the media of ignoring the coronavirus until now because publications were too preoccupied with Trump’s impeachment before that, which he called a “hoax.”

“Why didn’t you hear about it?” Mulvaney told an audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday morning in a discussion with Stephen Moore, an economic expert at the Heritage Foundation. “The press was covering their hoax of the day because they thought it would bring down the president.” Continue reading.

Trump says he can bring in coronavirus experts quickly. The experts say it is not that simple.

Washington Post logoThe White House official charged with leading the U.S. response to deadly pandemics left nearly two years ago as his global health security team was disbanded. Federal funding for preventing and mitigating the spread of infectious disease has been repeatedly threatened since President Trump’s election.

Despite the mounting threat of a coronavirus outbreak in the United States, Trump said he has no regrets about those actions and that expertise and resources can be quickly ramped up to meet the current needs.

Former federal officials and public-health experts argue that an effective response to a epidemiological crisis demands sustained planning and investment. While the administration’s response to coronavirus has been criticized in recent weeks as slow and disjointed, people in and outside the White House have warned for years that the nation is ill prepared for a dangerous pandemic. Continue reading.

Trump Administration Faces Economic Test as Coronavirus Shakes Markets

New York Times logoIf the virus spreads in the United States, the Federal Reserve might have to cut rates. But how fiscal policymakers respond is likely to be even more important.

WASHINGTON — The global spread of the deadly coronavirus is posing a significant economic test for President Trump, whose three-year stretch of robust growth could be shaken by supply chain delays, a tourism slowdown and ruptures in other critical sectors of the American economy.

The outbreak of the virus in China has already disrupted global trade, sending American companies and retailers that rely on Chinese imports scrambling to repair a temporary break in their supply chains. Its spread to South Korea, Italy and beyond has hindered global travel. Economic forecasters say that the effects will hurt growth in the United States this year even if they do not intensify — and that if the virus becomes a global pandemic, it could knock the world economy into recession.

Stock markets have plunged this week on fears about the virus, with companies such as Apple and Microsoft among the most prominent businesses that have warned that supply chain disruptions could slow sales. Analysts said this week’s declines were on track to be the steepest since the 2008 financial crisis. Continue reading.

U.S. Health Workers Responding to Coronavirus Lacked Training and Protective Gear, Whistle-Blower Says

New York Times logoTeam members were not properly trained, lacked necessary gear and moved freely around and off military bases where Americans were quarantined, a complaint says.

WASHINGTON — Federal health employees interacted with Americans quarantined for possible exposure to the coronaviruswithout proper medical training or protective gear, then scattered into the general population, according to a government whistle-blower who lawmakers say faced retaliation for reporting concerns.

The team was “improperly deployed” to two military bases in California to assist the processing of Americans who had been evacuated from coronavirus hot zones in China and elsewhere, according to a portion of a narrative account shared with Congress and obtained by The New York Times ahead of a formal complaint to the Office of the Special Counsel, an independent government agency that handles federal whistle-blower complaints.

Staff members from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families were sent to Travis Air Force Base and March Air Reserve Base in late January and early February and were ordered to enter quarantined areas, including a hangar where coronavirus evacuees were being received, the complaint said. They were not provided safety-protocol training until five days into their assignment, said the whistle-blower, who is described as a senior leader at the health agency. Continue reading.