Once the CDC designates the Coronavirus an influenza pandemic emergency, Trump is free to invoke The Stafford Disaster Relief Act. Then the fun really starts. Read it for yourself.
Stocks wilt on growing doubts about U.S. virus response
Asian shares and Wall Street futures fell on Wednesday, as growing scepticism about Washington’s stimulus package to fight the coronavirus outbreak knocked the steam out of an earlier rally.
The markets were expecting Trump to come forward with concrete packages. Instead Vice President kiss ass told them to not shake hands
Markets had been recovering from a brutal global selloff on Monday that was triggered by the double shock of an oil price crash and the worsening outbreak. Those gains faded away in Asia, with U.S. stock futures falling 3% and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 1.3%. Australian shares were down 3.6%, while Japan’s Nikkei stock index slid 2.27%. Euro Stoxx 50 futures were up 0.17%, but German DAX futures were down 0.2%, and FTSE futures fell 0.56%. Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would take “major steps” to ease economic strains caused by the spread of the flu-like virus. Headlines focused on discussions of payroll tax cut, which helped lift market sentiment. Continue reading “Stocks wilt on growing doubts about U.S. virus response”
CDC: Americans over 60 should ‘stock up’ on supplies, avoid crowds
Older Americans, especially those with underlying health conditions, should stockpile supplies and avoid unnecessary travel, a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Monday. Most Americans are likely at risk of catching the novel strain of the coronavirus, said Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Older Americans are especially susceptible to serious outcomes. “As the trajectory of the outbreak continues, many people in the U.S. will at some point in time this year or next be exposed to this virus, and there’s a good chance many will become sick,” Messonnier said. “The reason to stock up now is to kind of stick close to home.” Messonnier said global data from Japan and South Korea show that people younger than 60 generally have better outcomes if they catch the virus. However, people older than 60 are at higher risk for serious illness, especially if they have underlying health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease or lung disease, Messonnier said. Younger people with underlying health problems are also at risk, but older people with health problems are the most vulnerable. She added that her parents are in their 80s, and even though they don’t live in an area where there is currently community spread of the virus, she advised them to stay close to home. “The highest risk is those who are older and with underlying health conditions,” Messonnier said. “I think if you’re in one of those groups, separately or together, you need to be thinking towards what personal protections you want to take.” Messonnier’s warning follows new guidance from the CDC that emphasized that older adults and people with underlying health conditions are most at risk for severe disease caused by the coronavirus, and should avoid crowded places, long plane trips and “especially” cruise ships. Health officials have steadily ratcheted up their warnings to the public, even as some in the Trump administration attempt to downplay the severity and impact of the virus. Officials have also begun moving toward a strategy of mitigation, after efforts to contain the virus to just a few areas have failed.
Italy expands lockdown to whole country
People walk in an almost empty St. Mark’s Square in Venice, Italy, Monday, March 9, 2020. Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte says he is restricting travel nationwide to try to stop the spread of the new coronavirus. Conte said Monday night a new government decree will require all people in Italy to demonstrate they need to work, have health conditions or other limited legitimate reasons to travel outside their home areas. The battle to halt the coronavirus brought sweeping new restrictions Monday, with Italy expanding a travel ban to the entire country, Israel ordering all visitors quarantined just weeks before Passover and Easter, and Spain closing all schools in and around its capital. Even as workers in Beijing returned to their jobs and new infections in China continued to subside, Italians struggled to navigate the rapidly changing parameters of the nation’s self-imposed lockdown.
The fears fanned by the virus sent Wall Street stocks tumbling to their biggest drop since 2008, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 7.8%. Global oil prices suffered their worst percentage losses since the start of the 1991 Gulf War. Continue reading “Italy expands lockdown to whole country”
Europe tanks at open amid coronavirus, oil crisis
European equity indices were red across the board at the open on Monday as the coronavirus outbreak coupled with crashing oil prices rattled markets. Adding to the turmoil were plunging Treasury yields with the 10-year US Treasury note dropping below 0.4% for the first time ever. Brent futures for May settlement were down 25.98% to $33.51 per barrel at 8:48 am CET, while West Texas Intermediate for April tumbled 27.91% to $29.76 a barrel at the same time. The drop in prices comes after last week’s failed OPEC+ meeting, which led Saudi Arabia to slash crude prices for April. The DAX sank 7.47% at the open, as the FTSE 100 lost 1.82% in the first minute of trade, only to fall nearly 9% minutes later. The euro gained 1.13% against the dollar at 9:05 am CET, buying 1.14335. At the same time, the pound advanced 1.10% versus the greenback to go for 1.31762.
CDC has tested ONLY 1,583 people for coronavirus
America has the lowest testing rate in the civilized world and they are covering it up
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has tested 1,583 people for the coronavirus since the first cases were identified in the U.S. in January, health officials said Saturday. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Stephen Hahn told reporters at the White House that figure would increase as more tests are shipped nationwide to address demand. But officials made clear that an individual could be tested only if it was approved by a doctor or public health official, contradicting President Trump’s pervious claims about test availability. Meanwhile, the CDC had recently shipped enough kits to public health labs to test 75,000 patients, Hahn said. The CDC and public health labs had run 5,861 tests for the coronavirus as of Friday, Hahn said, though officials could not say how many total patients have been tested. Nineteen people have died in the U.S. from the coronavirus, and more than 300 cases have been confirmed domestically, including community outbreaks spread in Washington state and California and a growing number of cases in New York state. After facing criticism over the CDC’s slow pace of testing in the U.S., the FDA made it easier for commercial labs to manufacture and perform their own tests. More than 2.1 million of those tests will be shipped by Monday to commercial labs, Hahn said, which would translate to roughly 850,000 people who could be tested because current CDC guidelines require two swabs per patient.
Continue reading “CDC has tested ONLY 1,583 people for coronavirus”
Italian PM signs decree imposing quarantine
More than a quarter of Italy’s population have been placed in mandatory quarantine as the government attempts to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has signed a decree to impose quarantine and limit movement into and out of large areas of the north, including Milan and Venice. Movements within the region will be allowed only for “non-deferrable” business or health reasons. The so-called red zone is in Northern Italy and includes Lombardy and several other provinces. The ban of movement begins on Sunday and lasts till 3 April. In this zone, all public gatherings will be suspended and schools, museums and theaters will be closed.
Mr Conte said: “For Lombardy and for the other northern provinces that I have listed there will be a ban for everybody to move in and out of these territories and also within the same territory. “Exceptions will be allowed only for proven professional needs, exceptional cases and health issues.”
The outbreak in Europe. Credit: PA Graphics
Around the world, more and more countries are bracing for a surge in virus cases. Western countries have been increasingly imitating China – where the virus first emerged late last year, and which has suffered the vast majority of infections – by imposing travel controls and shutting down public events. On Saturday, Italy saw its biggest daily increase in coronavirus cases since the outbreak began in the north of the country on February 21. In its daily update, Italy’s civil protection agency said the number of people with the coronavirus rose by 1,247 in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 5,883. Another 36 people also died as a result of the virus, taking the total to 233. There was chaos and confusion hours before Mr Conte signed the decree, as word spread that the government was planning the quarantine. “Nobody told me,” said Maurizio Rasero, adding that he had hundreds of messages on his mobile phone from alarmed citizens. “It’s incredible that information that is so delicate and important would come out in the newspaper first, leaking everywhere even before local authorities learn about it.”
Continue reading “Italian PM signs decree imposing quarantine”
Panic buying forces stores to limit purchases of toilet paper and masks
Retailers are having to take drastic action to limit the number of toilet paper rolls, face masks and hand sanitizer bottles each person can buy as customers stockpile goods over fears of the novel coronavirus outbreak. The epidemic has infected more than 97,000 people and killed 3,300 globally, leading to growing alarm that has resulted in mass bulk buying around the world. Australian supermarket chains Woolworths and Coles both began limiting toilet paper purchases to four packs per person this week. Costco Australia is also restricting how much toilet tissue, disinfectant, milk, eggs and rice each customer can buy.
In the United States, Kroger says it is capping individual purchases of “sanitization, cold and flu-related products,” while Home Depot is curbing the number of face masks in single orders placed online and in stores. In the United Kingdom, Boots is limiting the purchase of hand sanitizer to two bottles per customer, and UK online grocer Ocado has advised customers to place orders further in advance in the wake of “exceptionally high demand.” Emergency food service providers — which send freeze dried meals to people preparing for crises such as natural disasters — are also experiencing a huge surge in sales. “We’re doing approximately our average monthly orders in a day,” said James Blake, chief of Emergency Food Storage UK, the largest emergency food supplier in Europe. “Our tins have a 25-year shelf life so people are really thinking about stocking up.” At a Coles supermarket in Brisbane, Australia on Wednesday, toilet paper was completely sold out. One worker at the store told CNN Business that his shift had been hectic as customers mobbed the aisles. When a new delivery of toilet rolls arrived that afternoon, workers didn’t even have time to unpack the goods before shoppers swooped in, he said. Things were so frantic that workers simply handed packs straight to customers, the employee added. He said he didn’t want to be named because he wasn’t authorized to speak to media. “It’s crazy,” one customer muttered after spotting empty shelves at the store. “Insane,” another person said. Continue reading “Panic buying forces stores to limit purchases of toilet paper and masks”
Cuomo declares state of emergency in New York as state coronavirus cases soar to 76
Gov. Cuomo declared a state of emergency Saturday to deal with the worsening coronavirus crisis, as the number of cases jumped to 11 in the Big Apple — including one in Queens — and 76 across New York. Saturday’s numbers more than doubled the cases in the city, which stood at five on Friday, the governor said at a noon press conference. There were 21 new cases outside the city, from 44 the day before, he said. “We are testing aggressively, said Cuomo. “The more positives you find, the better.” Identifying people who have the virus is good, because they can be isolated and they won’t continue to infect people, the governor said. He couldn’t say how many tests are being conducted, but said thousands have results still outstanding. A state of emergency frees up $30 million that will be used to expand testing and purchase items such as masks and protective gear for healthcare workers, the governor said. Sen. James Sanders Jr. said the Queens case was in Far Rockaway. Other new cases include two people who were previously on a cruise, while the other five new cases were spread within the community, the governor said. There are four cases in Nassau County, and two in upstate Saratoga County. One woman in Saratoga county had been in contact with a person from Pennsylvania who has tested positive at a conference in Miami, Cuomo said. There are now 57 cases in Westchester County and two in Rockland County that can be traced to a cluster tied to attorney Lawrence Garbuz, 50, believed to be connected to the majority of the state’s cases so far, officials have said.
“Westchester is an obvious problem for us,” the governor said. “They talk about the contagion in clusters and the clusters tend to infect more and more people.” Garbuz, a New Rochelle lawyer, commuted to work in Midtown by Metro-North before he fell ill and became the state’s second case earlier this week. Since then, his wife, Adina, and two of his children, a 14-year-old girl and 20-year-old son, have tested positive, as did a neighbor who drove him to the hospital. Garbuz is believed to have contracted the virus in Westchester and not through travel. Multiple members of The Young Israel of New Rochelle synagogue, where Garbuz worships, have also tested positive. Cuomo said the state is reconsidering how to address the quarantine period for people in Westchester who are quarantined after coming in contact with people who have tested positive, to apply to their last contact with other people. The quarantine period is typically 14 days after last contact. There is no need to cancel large gatherings across the board at this point, Cuomo said, although that may have to happen in Rockland and Westchester counties. Cuomo said the state has a protocol in place to test people who are known to have contact with someone who has tested positive. As private labs ramp up their capacity, more tests will be available and the protocol will be expanded.
“You know what’s worse than the virus? The anxiety and the fear and the confusion,” he said.
China NHC reports lowest virus case number so far
China’s National Health Commission (NHC) reported a significantly reduced number of COVID-19 cases with 99 new confirmed in the past twenty-four hours. This marks the lowest number since January 20, when the NHC released its first round of figures. Of the newly reported cases, 25 were seen outside the country’s Hubei province where the outbreak began. Additionally, the total number of patients in China stands at 80,651. In the meantime, Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) revealed 483 new people were confirmed to be affected by the disease in the country in the past day to reach 6,767 in total, while the nationwide death toll stands at 44 with one additional fatality reported since yesterday’s update.