Tag: pandemic

US coronavirus cases hit 100,000

The Hill logoThe United States now has more than 100,000 known cases of coronavirus, passing a new milestone, according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.

The mark comes shortly after the United States this week moved into first place in the world, passing China and Italy, in the number of known cases.

The outbreak is expected to only get worse in the coming days and weeks, as the upward trajectory continues. The U.S. is now adding more than 14,000 new cases per day, according to The New York Times tracker, a number that has continued to rise.  Continue reading.

Trump issues order to bring former troops back to active duty to assist in coronavirus response

Washington Post logoPresident Trump issued an order Friday night that permits the Pentagon to bring former U.S. troops and members of the National Guard and Reserve back to active duty to augment forces already involved in the U.S. military’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, senior U.S. officials said.

The president said Friday night that the decision will “allow us to mobilize medical, disaster and emergency response personnel to help wage our battle against the virus by activating thousands of experienced service members including retirees.”

The president did not clarify whether anyone will be involuntarily recalled to duty, but said some retirees have “offered to support the nation in this extraordinary time of need.” Continue reading. Free article.

House passes $2 trillion coronavirus relief bill, with Trump to sign quickly

The Hill logoThe House on Friday passed a historic $2 trillion coronavirus relief package, overcoming eleventh-hour hurdles erected by a GOP lawmaker that sent furious lawmakers across the country racing back to Washington to move the emergency legislation to President Trump‘s desk.

The enormous package, approved by the Senate late Wednesday night, provides hundreds of billions of dollars for the industries, small businesses, unemployed workers and health care providers hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, which has devastated economies around the world.

Trump has said he’ll sign the bill immediately. Continue reading.

Trump Again Called For Return To Work Without Mass Testing

Donald Trump once again called on the country to be reopened this week, even as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases continues to swell.

Given his administration’s failure to enact widespread testing, that could mean sending workers back to business without knowing who among them is infected.

Trump claimed that the media wanted to continue social distancing efforts as part of some ulterior motive to hurt his reelection. Continue reading.

Cuomo pushes back on Trump over ventilators: ‘I operate on facts’

The Hill logoNew York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday pushed back on President Trump‘s assertion that his state does not really need thousands more ventilators to fight the coronavirus outbreak there, saying “I operate on facts.”

“Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion, but I don’t operate here on opinion, I operate on facts and on data and on numbers and on projections,” Cuomo said when asked about Trump’s comments the previous night.

Trump, speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity, questioned whether the state, which is at the center of the coronavirus outbreak, really needed 30,000 more ventilators, which Cuomo has been pleading for from the Trump administration. Continue reading.

U.S. cities have acute shortages of masks, test kits, ventilators as they face coronavirus threat

Washington Post logoNearly 90 percent of U.S. mayors who responded to a national survey on coronavirus preparedness said they lack sufficient tests kits, face masks and other protective equipment for their emergency responders and medical workers, while 85 percent said they do not have enough ventilators for their hospitals — critical shortages that could lead cities and towns to be quickly overwhelmed should the virus spread through their communities.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors survey, published Friday, was conducted from March 20 to March 24 and includes data from 213 U.S. cities in 41 states and Puerto Rico, representing a combined population of 42 million. The shortages of essential items and equipment the cities are facing “has reached crisis proportions,” according to the report.

“Despite their best efforts, most cities do not have and cannot obtain adequate equipment and supplies needed to protect their residents,” the report says. “This is a life-threatening crisis that will continue unless the federal government does everything in its power to help us safeguard our first responders and health care workers — our first line of defense — and the millions of other public servants in our cities whose work today puts them at risk.” Continue reading. Free article.

Gouged prices, middlemen and medical supply chaos: Why governors are so upset with Trump

Washington Post logoMasks that used to cost pennies now cost several dollars. Companies outside the traditional supply chain offer wildly varying levels of price and quality. Health authorities say they have few other choices to meet their needs in a ‘dog-eat-dog’ battle.

Inside RWJBarnabas Health, New Jersey’s biggest health-care network, hospital leaders are so desperate for medical supplies to combat the coronavirus pandemic that they’re paying 50 times the usual price.

Confusion and want are so massive that they’ve been willing to work with sellers they don’t know, even paying upfront for the equipment they need. The threat of fraud is everywhere: A recent delivery of 500,000 surgical masks from a Chinese supplier turned out to be medically useless. They appeared designed for a nail salon.

“We’re burning through cash, but there’s no other option,” the network’s chief medical and quality officer, John Bonamo, told The Washington Post. “The rules as we know them don’t exist anymore.” Continue reading.

With Trump, You Can’t Possibly Be Cynical Enough

During a recent spate of cynicism, I made a prediction to friends: Before this thing is over, Trumpists will be calling the COVID-19 virus God’s will. So let’s get back to work, save the stock market and let the disease sort them out. There are more than 300-million individuals resident in the United States. Surely we can spare a few million old timers who were going to die anyway.

But you almost can’t get cynical enough. Before the day was out, Boss Trump was hinting that maybe time had come to kiss grandpa goodbye: “America will again and soon be open for business—very soon,” he said during the daily performance of the Mighty Coronovirus Art Players. “We cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself.

Interviewed on (where else?) Fox News, the Lt. Governor of Texas suggested that grandparents should be willing to die to protect the economy for their grandchildren. Continue reading.

The Memo: Economic disaster poses danger for Trump

The Hill logoThe economic suffering caused by the coronavirus crisis is becoming starker by the day, posing a huge political danger to President Trump and raising the stakes for his push to reopen the economy.

Trump looks like he could roll the dice by pushing to open up the economy by Easter. Doing so would be in contravention of the advice of most public health experts.

But the president seems desperate to fight for a second term with at least some evidence that the worst has passed and the economy is recovering. Continue reading.

As Virus Toll Soars, Trump Says ‘A Lot Of Good Things Are Happening’

On Thursday, the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus went over 1,000 and the number of people who have tested positive reached 81,578.

On that same day, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that 3.28 million people filed for unemployment insurance — by far, the most who have ever done so in a single week in American history.

Despite those grim figures and the ongoing spread of the virus, coupled with the declining economic outlook, Donald Trump told reporters at his daily briefing that “a lot of good things are happening.” Continue reading.