We don't need a stimulus plan. The economy is NOT the issue.
The issue is, and has always been, doing everything possible to CONTAIN the virus, and getting testing kits to ALL those who need it.
Trump has failed miserably, as usual. The CDC went to him months ago, wanting to start containment procedures and testing kits. Trump refused, over and over again, because he didn't want the stock market to drop. He cares more about the market than the lives of fellow Americans -- that is clear.
We are so far behind other countries in containment and test kits. it's absolutely ridiculous. Many more Americans will DIE because of Trump's refusal to act, and his daily LIES about everything related to the virus.
But, like every other incompetent and uncaring 'policy', like every lie he tells, like every crime he commits, not one single Republican will refrain from voting for him. That's the new America we now live in (or die in, for some).
5
Trump sees no need to be tested...it'll go away...let me shake your hand on that!
is this natural selection at work?
8
"Santa Clara County, Calif. — which includes the city of San Jose and much of Silicon Valley — has already banned large public gatherings, and *man* employers have temporarily closed down or asked people to work at home."
Just so my wife can keep working!!!
1
The Brits are testing for the virus. Trump is throwing money at it with a stimulus plan in the U.S.A. The President is insane.
14
Oppositional Defiant Disorder, illustrated:
“Donny, don’t look at the sun in an eclipse.” (Donny looks at the sun)
“Donny, don’t shake hands during a coronavirus pandemic.” (Donny shakes as many hands as he can)
“Donny, whatever you do, do not read Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘The Masque of the Red Death’.” (Donny would read it it but he is functionally illiterate and incurious, so suppose he will have to live the story himself.
14
As horrible as it sounds, could Trump and his stooges deliberately withhold tests of the virus in hopes that the Democratic convention could be sabotaged? Give it thought.
2
I guarantee Trump and Pence are infected. Who is 3rd?
3
Does anyone happen to know if they are testing in PA?
All cases identified are “presumptive.”
1
Trump's behavior in light of COVID-19 is criminal. He's not murdering someone on 5th Avenue, but he is deliberately endangering both himself--by planning on continuing to shake hands--and the lemmings who will attend the rally he has planned in Wisconsin only days from now.
Trump and those willfully belligerent lemmings deserve whatever fate they reap. But, what about all of the people whose jobs it will be to prepare and staff the venue and maintain security PLUS all of those friends, family members, and co-workers who will come in contact with infected lemmings in pursuing days?
Trump is a depraved, immoral man--aided and abetted by the Republican Congress--who gives zero though to anyone other than himself. November 3rd cannot come soon enough.
6
this virus will gut America. It will gut America because the poor and uninsured will avoid treatment because they can’t afford it. It will gut America because too many of you don’t believe in evidence based policy and think thoughts and prayers make a difference. It will gut America because your hubris gets in the way of effective crisis management. It will gut America because you think God is watching over you and so you don’t need to take precautions. It will gut America because you reap what you sow.
8
You know what would be a good sign now, army corp of engineers and FEMA start constructing field hospitals in Central Park, Corona Park, Prospect Park.
4
I can not believe how many are fixated on the economic aspects of and epidemic which could kill vast numbers of Americans.
Is life now so cheap in the US it ranks below CEO bonuses?
8
I am glad that the NYT is keeping track of cases and fatalities and reporting on test kit availability. I don't trust Trump and am losing faith in the CDC.
8
when the going gets tough... the tough get going
1
The CDC under DT is guilty of delayed and limited testing, preventing unnecessary exposure and spreading of disease.
We live under an evil dictatorship that does not protect its citizens. Beyond Shameful.
5
The ongoing scarcity of test kits is outrageous ! Where are the millions by the end of the week that has passed, a test for every American who wants one ?
I still can’t help but wonder whether it is intentional incompetence, since no testing means no confirmed cases.
Which would go hand in hand with this administration’s willful blindness to any inconvenient fact.
Whereas it has no problem inciting other kinds of fears - Muslims, Mexicans, Chinese, Jews, gays ... - and hurriedly diverting billions into useless walls.
5
It’s funny how some people still hope their spring marathon will take place. Um, 30,000 people from 100+ different countries getting closely together and collectively weakening their immune system?
We’re really only waiting for the organizers’ plan B to be finished i.e. an Oct/Nov date...
6
I can't understand why this massive increase in cases is not treated as a crisis. Tracing and isolating cases has failed.
The US has two choices. One is to sleepwalk into a epidemic where the sheer number of new cases will overwhelm the medical services and lead to tens to hundreds of thousands of deaths. Or lock down your economy as China and Italy are doing.
Whatever happens, the US bumbling is a further sign of the incompetence which is now so often associated with the US, the former global leader.
14
@Herne
Agreed. Organizational decay is usually not visible until under severe strain. Before the virus made it across the pacific, most US newspapers and commentators think the US is immune from this outbreak as it is a Chinese/Asian decease. The superior American political system and race will shrug it off, etc.
5
This story tonight in NYT about the Seattle Flu Study is worth everyone's read. It explains how early on doctors and researchers were stopped by the CDC and the FDA from testing for Coronavirus. They had swabs taken for flu that they began testing and found positive Coronavirus cases and were told to cease and desist from testing by the CDC. They realized that the virus was spreading by hundreds even thousands for weeks and they needed to test to understand where it was. The CDC refused and the outbreak was allowed to grow unchecked for weeks. This will undoubtedly be investigated. Hopefully it will become an example for us to learn how to navigate and contain an outbreak.
23
Og course it will not be investigated unless Trump's people are sure they can't be blamed in any way.
1
It seems like in every state in the US, there are many people in health departments who have decided, "I'm not going to use the WHO coronavirus test or allow my top state universities to create tests since that would violate CDC/FDA regulations." Other than Dr. Chu in the article, how come it seems that no one else has started using their own tests or the WHO tests? Despite all indications of a serious emergency, the foot dragging goes well beyond the Trump administration. At this point, no one should be afraid of the FDA/CDC coming after them for trying to do the right thing.
5
@K
Wondering if Dr Chu have contacts in China and understand how serious this virus is and how easy it can spread.
1
Can someone answer this question? I have two relatives who (though vaccinated) have in the past week tested positive for flu. However, their conditions deteriorated very quickly and today both were diagnosed with an unusual form of bilateral pneumonia. Since the Covid-19 tests are still in short supply, neither person has been tested for the Coronavirus. Is it possible to test positive for flu and at the same time have Covid-19—or are the two viruses mutually exclusive?
10
@Angela Minton You have to look at the sensitivity and specificity of each test. In layman's term, how good the tests are at screening (sensitivity) and accurately identifying (specificity) the targeted virus. This situation is not being clearly explained. Our government fails to act promptly and many will suffer. Sure, you can test positive for both, in which case you stand as an unlucky individual.
7
The pandemic is totally out of control because too many people are not taking it seriously, traveling and spreading. As a result, businesses are going to go bankrupt all over the city. Even in the most popular restaurants are empty tonight because we have failed to contain the disease.
As per NY Post, a 32 year old hospital worker from NJ with NO preexisting condition is very sick in a hospital. But I know other 32 year olds who simply shrug off the entire thing and keep flying around.
It seems disease symptoms appear in 5.1 days, and the virus can survive on inanimate objects for 9 days. Not having symptoms doesn't mean one isn't infected, and not limiting mingling and travel means the pandemic continues to grow.
10
The democrats counter to the payroll tax cut is simple. Since it’s to help people with meager means, have the 1% pay for it with a tax increase. Let the republicans say no to helping people so they can protect the wealthy.
9
Here’s my solution for defanging the US Coronavirus outbreak: A call from the CDC to voluntarily shut down everything in which people have proximity to each other for the space of 2 weeks, starting on an agreed-upon date—but soon. Businesses, schools, conferences, sporting events, airline flights—all of it. And all U.S. residents voluntarily self-isolate, going only places they can maintain a distance of 6 feet apart. Make it a patriotic call to arms, a unifying strategy. By the end of that time, I would think that disease burden would be reduced dramatically and cases could be more easily diagnosed because of that.
It would be expensive but perhaps less so, and less frightening and chaotic, than using an uncoordinated Whack-a-Mole strategy on this thing for the next several months.
Do we have the political will to do something like this? I hope so.
23
@Judy Palac
Wouldn’t work unless you let national guard shoot violators. I can already see gangs coming down from Bronx looting closed stores, robbing the few pedestrians, and generally take advantage of the lawlessness. Those thugs are already dunning masks and robbing people on the street.
2
@Judy Palac
Our not too smart mayor is going ahead with St. Patrick's day parade while the scientific community is calling for 6-7 feet distance from people to avoid catching the virus.
Congressional Cities conference just wrapped up in DC. Pelosi was a speaker. That's AFTER we learned that 5 AIPAC attendees and some CPAC attendees tested positive. Our elected officials are not all that smart.Either that, or they can't pass on a free travel opportunity.
4
Money can buy anything, even class, some people say. If true, Trumps money comes with a cardboard roller in the middle of each roll.
5
Nursing homes should ban visitors? Oh my Lord, can you imagine how much more terrible life will be for the institutionalized infirm, many of whom have dementia and will feel abandoned and further isolated? There must be a better way to allow people to visit in protective gear, upping sanitation practices, prohibiting physical contact, etc. You cannot cut off what little social or familial contact people in the twilight of their life receive. It is inhumane.
34
@Ella
Skype- FaceTime -wonderful caregivers who are there daily to assist the residents- are all ways to counteract isolation. we will get through this by being cautious, not by adding more cases to an overwhelmed medical system.
6
My mother is in a nursing home (it’s not called that, but for purposes of making my point here I will use that term). This past Sunday around noon, management released a directive that residents were to receive no visitors until further notice. I had taken my mother out for lunch earlier, so we found the notice taped to the exterior door. I was allowed back in because I’d already been inside that day. My mother, who doesn’t have dementia, was accepting of the situation because she knows that she and all the other residents are at high risk for getting very sick or even dying. At her age (93), she is pretty phlegmatic about crises and takes the long view. Will she miss our visits and excursions (and restaurant food?). Of course! But we can talk on the phone.
11
Tell that to the families of the deceased nursing home patients in Washington. I think they'd beg to differ.
8
A global public health crisis? Let's solve it with a tax cut.
The Republican answer to every problem is a tax cut.
When you are a hammer, every problem looks like a nail.
19
The Feds [TRUMP] have taken the position that they don't care about your health only your money. HHS dances around the idea that they are doing something but in truth are only doing enough to look like they are doing something. They hide behind the notion that "the people wouldn't stand for any of the actions of other countries" or "the feds don't want to get in the way of what State or Local doctors are doing" or "don't worry be happy approach to science and medicine". When you go to the hospital with this virus and they give you a tax break for the cure and can't find a test kit... thank the feds.
11
A nano sized virus wearing a crown has changed the world forever. While it is bad news, it is not the end of the world. Luckily over 95% cases, will not result in fatalities. So 50 of these 1,000 cases could be the number dying, mostly those that are immunocompromised. The uncertainty brings up 3 important questions I get asked.
1) Is Corona virus (CoV) seasonal or with the coming of summer and hotter temperatures the virus will disappear?
My answer is that as long as there is one infected animal or human alive incubating the virus anywhere in the world, there is a potential for spread and eradication cannot be declared. The reason WHO said smallpox is eradicated is because there is no human alive with smallpox and there never was an animal host for smallpox. But the virus stocks of variola, the causative agent of smallpox are in 2 secure locations in the CDC in Atlanta, USA and Novosibirisk, Russia.
2) Assuming that CoV is eradicated optimistically in 2 months, due to herd immunity acquired by the entire world from exposure to small numbers of the virus, could another strain of the CoV emerge?
Highly likely in another 10-15 years there is a possibility that another corona virus could emerge just like 16 years ago there was SARS CoV and now we have the COVID-19 CoV. Both originated in China and emerged over significant period due to the handling of wild animals for consumption. Only if wild animals are left alone in the wild there may not be another pandemic.
5
I do not expect the Republican controlled federal government to do anything that will aim at keeping us safe. But what is the Democratic government in California doing by sitting quietly and not shutting down schools? They obviously do not have enough test kits in our area, considering some family on our neighborhood Nextdoor was very upset that though they were all sick, were not being allowed to be tested for the Corona virus. I am going to presume that they are intelligent, competent people with a reasonable justification for this suspicion of having been exposed to Corona. It almost seems like officials are wishing this virus away. A very scary situation to be in.
How can shutting everything down for a month not be a good decision in the long term? It will reduce community transmissions by keeping mildly sick and potential carriers at home till they overcome the disease, reduce confusion amongst the medical professionals, who all seem pretty confused and have no clear mandate to follow. And will give a chance for families to feel less stressed about the chance of acquiring the disease. It is galling that Universities, companies and individual schools are having to make decisions that should have been uniformly coming from the highest level, from Gavin Newsom. People, make your own decisions, write to your schools and please let your children work from home. This is not a silly little disease.
4
In Washington state, most schools haven’t been shut down. One important reason is that for some children it’s where they get their only meal of the day. Immune compromised children are already staying home.
The stock market is already declining again, now that details of Trump's stimulus plan show that it's nothing but smoke and mirrors. He needs to stop talking so much politics and instead mobilize America and the entire world to stop this virus. Otherwise, this global pandemic will keep eating away at global economy.
7
Several universities in our area are now moving, hopefully only in the short term, to online classes in the wake of this virus and its rapid spread across the country. Even if there hasn’t been a diagnosed case or single positive test in the student body, these decisions are being made, presumably to avoid potential risks. To lower the risk of transmission among students and their larger community.
I think this is wise.
Unfortunately, these university decisions in our state are not uniform or coordinated.
I live with a partner who loves teaching at a large university. And my stomach knots up whenever I think of the fact that her university, about to have students return from spring break, has taken a wait and see attitude. Wait and see if any student tests positive in the next few weeks. Wait and see if any of those students or their teachers ( a fair number in their 50s and even 60s) become ill. Wait and see if sitting a few feet away from your classmate is risk that should have been avoided. Wait and see if a class which could have been taught online gets cancelled because a teacher taught on campus, facing groups of students, and is now ill.
And, of course that leaves me wondering if - in spite of having several weeks worth of food and other basics in our home- if my partner will become dangerously sick because some administrator decided this virus was “ just a other flu” and took that wait and see attitude.
5
Health officials trying to trace back contacts of infected British politician?
At some point this tracing of contacts will become a waste of valuable time.
The virus is in the community.
Anyone who sneezed in the hallway of her building or made her a sandwich is a possible candidate.
32
Minnesota opened 4 curbside testing locations today. You have to call ahead but glad to see access To testing.
30
Isn't this an interesting and unanticipated twist on Brexit! This could really accelerate the demise of the UK. As it was their future was hanging above their collective heads by the providable hair that held the sword of Damocles. As a consequence all of the citizens now live in fear of the change they have wrought on themselves. It will be interesting to see what happens when the thread is cut. Hint... it doesn't look good!
2
If you will look at the bubble charts of covid 19 the trend is for more northern states to have larger bubbles. Even if we allow for differences in population it seems that warmer states might have fewer cases per capita which may portend a slowdown for the warmer summer months. This would give Trump the opportunity to declare victory over the corona virus just before the cases rise again in late November.
6
Or rise again as an October surprise
peoples stop traveling. less pollution and better for climate too!
7
While I yield likely to vote for Trump, if Biden picked Raimondo as his VP I'd vote for them. If he were to choose Raimondo as his VP, the democrats probably have the WH for 4 terms and also the progressives will be subdued until 2036 leaving enough time for Gen Y and Z to earn money and become fans of the capitalist system.
Neither Donald Trump nor Mike Pence have the mental acuity to understand the science and strategies required to defeat a pandemic. They attempt to shield their lack of acumen by quoting religious axioms, concealing their lack of competence, and by sheer duplicity. This US leadership void, during a worlwide pandemic, is a tragedy in the making.
24
The press should be asking why the Trump administration refused to use the WHO approved and effective coronavirus test that they offered to us and instead chose to develop our own, a process that has been a total (and needless) failure.
Why in the world was that decision made? Who benefitted from that bizarre and unjustifiable decision? Who has a financial stake in it?
The untold number of Americans who have, are now and will be suffering because of a needless lack of a credible coronavirus test demand an answer.
71
I would love to hear from people who got stuck on the Grand Princess and voted for Trump. There are a lot of people who say they voted for him, and don't necessarily like him, but haven't been directly harmed by him. They say they like that the economy is doing well so they'll probably vote for him again, even though they supposedly don't like the things he says.
I want to hear from those folks on the Grand Princess. How do they feel after Trump put their lives in danger because he "likes the numbers where they are". How do they feel about just being a dispensable number to him?
50
Using the data from 1point3acres for 1-9 March here's my guesses for the next week. This uses a daily increase of 30.9% in cases. Warning: this is only a guess for your potential interest and has no other value. These numbers will be wrong (my guess is by about +-7%). I pray that they are high. Ora pro nobis.
11-Mar 1346
12-Mar 1762
13-Mar 2307
14-Mar 3020
15-Mar 3954
16-Mar 5176
17-Mar 6776
18-Mar 8871
8
@Roba
Saw his video yesterday. Many people still don’t understand the concept of exponential growth.
I said it 2 weeks ago the cases doubles every 3-4 days and Seattle have way more than the then reported 10 cases given it have spread undetected for up to 26 days.
2
If the western world behaved just like Hubei, with 80k cases and 3k deaths (roughly, for both numbers), we could estimate 400k additional cases globally and 13.6k additional deaths globally. That is if the west acts exactly as China did, for better or worse, with calculations based entirely on their statistics.
2
The only way to reduce the impact of the virus's impact on the economy is to contain the epidemic. Tax cuts won't help if people aren't working, aren't buying, and certainly won't help if they are dead. They are address the symptoms of the economic problem, not the cause.
Two things the federal government can do immediately to contain the epidemic is mandate paid sick leave and make sure testing is free and available. Why can't the Trump administration understand that?
32
From the high level cases being reported, as well as evidence around us, it is obvious that many many more people have this virus but the reluctance and failure to allow testing for regular people prevents accurate assessment and puts our more vulnerable friends and family at great risk of contagion.
The federal government's negligence in this matter is criminal. Perhaps it's not surprising that markets matter more than lives. Here in NYC, the haphazard response I have seen in medical centers in the last few days is only matched by the cautious yet often insufficiently grounded speculations shared by "experts" in the media.
The social contract is in shreds, perhaps we can repurpose it as a mask. The conveyer belt has been switched on... Enjoy the ride.
25
The economic problem of covid-19 is the disruption it's causing to supply chains. A tax cut and lower interest rates will add to the money supply and increase demand. This is the WORST possible thing to do. we
17
Somewhere between the hysteria (which may be warranted) and the actual numbers, survivors and deaths, seems to be a wide open gap. Is this as bad as is inferred or is it still a wild card?
My entire life is on hold and I want very much to stay healthy.
But eventually, unless major changes ensue in treatment, a dwindling outbreak, etc., it feels like I'll never get my life back. That's also frightening.
My extended (elsewhere) family and most of my friends continue to go to shows, out to dinner, to classes, and I feel like (smile) a nerd.
Because they are living as they always did, even being close to them now seems like a risk. What do other people think?
I'm in the high-risk populace, but I'm also someone with a customarily very active life. Maybe no one has the answer.
By the way I am not panicked, just cautious and uncertain. Thoughts?
25
This is not going to go on forever. Continue to be prudent for 4-6 weeks and see where we are then.
15
@HotGumption
High risk = play it safe, really safe. We have but one life. More important than any show or meal out. Does not matter what others do, or think, do what is right for you, hunker down, steer clear of others. That, at least,is exactly what we are doing, not the easiest thing, but, for now, for us, the right thing, for safety’s sake.
23
A considerate question like this deserves an acknowledgement. I get your, in my ears, legitimate and very real concern.
There’s always the scenario where most people take precautions and alter their day to day life, only to hear from non participants “see, nothing happened”. Such hidden costs are unfortunately never obvious to the short sighted. And common in history.
Weighing the options here, risking the lives of a substantial amount of people over the coming year vs some of our near term pleasures like seeing a show. The answer seems clear until we learn more.
I think you’re making the right choices. It will be an unusual road to walk until we know more and likely years until we have vaccines. In the end we can only reduce the damage of this thing by respecting each other enough to not put personal short term satisfactions over the long term health of others. Especially the people who have to be out there to provide for family or care for the sick.
I’m ever so grateful to the hard working people and experts around the world working to figure this one out.
14
Tax cut to address an epidemic? If human civilization lasts long enough for a historian to write "The Rise And Fall Of The American Empire," this might be one of the defining moments of the final chapters.
51
I don’t want to hear another word about this until we are given meaningful epidemiological data. Unless it’s a piece about why we don’t have the data we need to properly assess risk and manage this.
35
@Working Mama
What a great comment. I feel the same. Since the news will keep coming, I'll just need to stop paying attention. This relates to my own question, higher up on thread.
5
meaningful? it is only 2.5/3 months old. so a year from now...
3
Yes, exactly! Where is the science! National Geographic just posted a good article.
1
What kills me is that around the world people are diagnosed with the virus but this is what some Texan had to say: "...we are Texans and being Texans, a virus will not stop us from having a good time. The rest of the country might be babies, but we aren’t. Its the flu, get over it people!!!"
It IS this kind of attitude that allows the virus to spread.
Italy has gotten the message. How many cases and fatalities does it take in the US for people to understand that the Corona virus is not just the flu?
75
What is wrong with Trump?---he can't even follow the "rule" about not shaking hands---he thinks he is even above the law of natural science (or immune to it).
He can't even take that simple step to be a role model for Americans during this horrible time.
53
The big problem for Donald Trump and the Republican Party -- on top of mismanagement of a public health crisis AND the economy -- is that they already gave away the stimulus, back in 2017, when we didn't need one. They cut taxes on Corporations and the Wealthy and we are now running $1 Trillion annual deficits.
Worse yet, we have been running these defecits while the ECONOMY WAS STRONG. So Donald Trump's efforts to give away a lot of stimulus cash right now, in order to buy an election, seem more desperate than any kind of sound fiscal policy.
We need sound, mature political management, not some game show host who talks about his genius and gives away cash for votes.
It's getting desperate out here.
56
You don’t pay a payroll tax if you aren’t working, how does this help people out of work due to the virus. Why doesn’t he increase unemployment benefits to help the people that are actually getting hurt by the virus.
57
I just watched Trump making the statement that they were prepared for Coronavirus and doing a fantastic job. A previous news clip showed him saying there are enough test kits for everyone and they are beautiful. The US is in fact so far behind the world in testing that it is outrageous. This pandemic is exploding because the Republicans destroyed the infectious disease agency that Obama/Biden created.
70
Now why were the comments section on airline problems closed? I will just say that the thought of helping airlines is laughable. The article even praises airlines for “finding” revenue for charging baggage fees and seat reservations! Airlines deserve no sympathy and NO handouts. The hourly workers and people without health insurance need help. Giving them paid sick leave and free virus testing and care will prevent the spread of this epidemic and keep the economy going obviously.
46
The established method of assessing how far a disease has spread is to run tests on a random sample from the population. If this is not being done for the Corona virus it’s pure incompetence, or if it is happening and the results are not being published it’s highly disturbing. Journalists need to stop just slavishly relaying numbers of diagnosed cases and start asking why such vital epidemiological data is not available to us.
61
As a physician, I am very surprised that the governments and media are still delivering a significantly misleading information about the novel coronavirus: only the elder are the risk group, otherwise it's just like a flu.
This is absolutely WRONG!
One of the clinical features of the novel coronavirus infection is a sudden collapse in respiratory system. In early phase, many young patients are asymptomatic or just show mild discomfort like cough and fever. But days after, many patients show sudden deterioration of respiratory functions: shortness of breath, low blood oxygen level, and characteristic CAT scan pattern, which need ventilator or ECMO support. Cardiomyopathy can appear as well. These critical symptoms can persist for weeks, and after that even patients are gradually recovered, they still suffer from chronic lung fibrosis and limited respiratory functions.
So far, no officials in federal governments or news media emphasize these dangers to young people, so unfortunately many people just believe the novel coronavirus is a disease for the elderly.
I do hope NYT reporters can seriously view the danger of the virus to not only old but also whole general population.
144
Thanks Doc. Good to keep in my mind about my kid. He had a cough about 10 days ago. No fever. He seemed to recover quickly. He also eats like a horse. Well actually horses are vegetarian- but he is eating a ton he’s 17.
1
Why can't or doesn't the President follow the advice that his coronavirus task force is giving to the rest of us? Might he be a role model, or even a leader in this time of crisis? Oh, I forgot … the President we currently have is Trump. Never mind.
18
I wish Dr. Fauci would stop being afraid of the president and speak more directly about the spread of the virus and what the country must do to confront the epidemic.
Dr. Fauci should go on national television and tell the public clearly where the U.S. stands with the coronavirus. Who cares if Trump fires him? One of our fine academic research centers would offer Dr. Fauci a position in five minutes. Or, Mike Bloomberg could immediately fund an independent research facility for Dr. Fauci to lead, maybe called the Institute for Truth in Science. Dr. Fauci's voice is a moral imperative.
43
I could not agree more. I am so fed up with being spoon fed lies. Don’t they realize the boat is sinking? Time to fess up. My parents are in the high risk category and I am incredibly concerned for their health. Just because they’re in their 70’s doesn’t make them disposable. Let’s hear it!
9
Thank you Rory. Yeah my Moms 79 and my Aunt is 68. But they’re in good shape. I just gotta get my Mom to take a break from Church and talking to people.
2
Cut taxes. Is that all these guys got? Yes, apparently it is. That’s what passes for governance in right wing America. What a thoughtful, innovative and visionary bunch they are.
35
Here’s a suggestion for the long term and to all of the economists who fret about not enough younger taxpayers funding the retirement folks alive today- stop breeding. Two kids, one for each parent is more than enough! We are and have killed this planet plain and simple. Conservation should be the new catch phrase not maximizing profits for stockholders.
8
I’m amazed that so much of the discussion at tonight’s virus conference and in general relates to “economic/employment” rather than “health” topics. Faced with a global public health crisis, government officials for one of the most “advanced” nations on earth are compelled to suggest “paid sick days” and temporary help for those “earning hourly wages”- all things which are a given in most civilized western countries.
16
The economy! Money! Re-election! Large company profits!
Me!
Nothing about healthcare, or stockpiles, or ways to shore up the strained healthcare system, or about safety nets for those who may be out of work or otherwise impacted. In short: the leadership we do desperately need.
The. Man. Is. Entirely. Blind.
And so heinously unfit!
34
Queen Elizabeth and most of the females of british royal family wear gloves while shaking hands, why doesn’t Trump do that. Sheer bravado methinks.
7
@Patricia Culmer I’m sure Trump is torn right now between his known terror of germs and his desire to downplay the coronavirus to make himself look like he’s handling it well, which obviously he’s not. Go ahead, Trump, keep shaking hands!
7
Just out of curiosity why do you think gloves help? Your hands are a vector to move germs from someone else's hands to your face and it doesn't matter what's on them. You don't get coronavirus through your hands :-)
That video clip of Trump... could he be any worse? (No, please don't answer that.) I cannot understand why he is allowed to speak such nonsense. Really, Republicans? Really? This is what you stand for these days?
30
Why are the democrat candidates not driving a stake thru the heart of this mess of an administration.
23
How do we play with no scoreboard?
10
Trump is going to keep shaking people’s hands! Perfect!
19
Just wondering why trump didn't meet with Democrats as well. Any stimulus package will need Democratic votes to pass.
26
Here we are in New Mexico which, as of today, has tested 69 people out of a state of over 2 million people. The governor talks about how good it is that we have such a small number of people in the state. Meanwhile, tourists keep flocking to Santa Fe and Taos from Texas, Arizona, Colorado, New York, etc. I see license plates from many different states, all of which have cases. People are out, eating at restaurants, staying at hotels, attending museums, while our health department keeps such narrow criteria to be tested, such as travel to Italy and Japan, that there is no way they know if people are really infected. I know we are a poor state but come on. Every state around us has cases--and we don't? Start testing more people, NM, so we can really know if the virus is here or not. We have a large population of older people and their lives are more important than tourism dollars.
58
One bright note. No audience at the next debate. Very good to hear. Their participation in past debates is distracting and often ridiculous. The candidates are forced to play to them, and the moderators often bait them. It totally delegitimizes the seriousness of the forum, and it does not serve the candidates nor the voters who are viewing/ listening. It's just a ratings grab, turning what should be informative and helpful into a silly spectator sport with lot's of "gotcha" moments.
35
Trump, the self admitted "King of Debt", knows only one lever of government: tax cuts and lowering the Fed interest rate during times of prosperity. He has cut the floor out from under the Fed and saddled the US with massive debt. Unlike his other institutional bankruptcies, the US's "Trump Slump" doesn't have the option to either walk away or get bailed out by Deutsch Bank and Putin.
Thanks Mr. Stabile Genius. You and your Republican counterparts are definitely making the US a sicker and poorer country. On the plus side for you and Stephen Miller, who would want to immigrate to a US after you are done making American less than great?
42
“Trump proposes $1 trillion in cuts to social security and medicare funding to prop up the economy through the election.”
There, fixed it.
25
Trump and his cronies have systematically worked to dismantle our social safety nets since he's been in office. These proposed payroll tax cuts, which Trump suggested be permanent, are the next big step: reducing or ending Social Security and Medicare --disguised as benevolence toward the middle class, just like the tax cuts of a few years ago. Taking advantage of a crisis; evil.
38
Why don’t they just cancel the Democratic debate all together. Who will be watching anyway. No one. It is just a big waste of time.
8
@KMW Speak for yourself. The last 2 debates had huge viewership and I’ll definitely be watching, as will most of my friends who car about fixing our country.
8
Allow people under quarantine to collect unemployment until tested and clear..fastest easiest way to get funds to those who need it to eat and pay rent...
29
We don’t care about British minister. This is a global problem, in the EU we don’t care about UK anymore, we care about the Coronavirus worldwide!
4
@Fernando
I would like to know why she thought it was acceptable to attend a social event if she felt like rubbish. Ok she didn't know she had coronavirus but colds and the regular flu are easily passed on to others. Stay at home if you feel sick. The arrogance and entitlement these people have is unbelievable. I am including the man from Missouri under quarantine who took his daughter to a dance. Why wasn't he fined and subjected to a court order to stay home? Unbelievable.
2
Every other country in the world world is employing whatever measures it can think of to try to save the lives of their citizens. Ours, led by the most dishonest, incompetent President imaginable, is proposing tax cuts. Tax cuts!
For those who say “this is no worse than the flu”: A, it is (higher death rate and no vaccine) and B, it is especially deadly to the elderly (i.e. my mom) and anyone with a compromised immune system. I’ll bet every single reader of this article cares about at least one person in those categories.
Facing a life-and-death crisis with literally no leadership is terrifying, and enraging.
63
China’s response to the epidemic in Hubei? Sends 40,000 medical professional and it is one reason the epidemic is effectively quashed in 6 weeks.
Trump’s response to the growing epidemic? Proposes tax cuts and wears a red baseball hat. If this is Trump’s solution, then in 6 weeks there will very likely be up to 1,000 times more cases in the USA than today. Almost 1,000,000 infected.
Trump’s stupidity is beneath contempt. Red lights flashing through Europe and Korea and our latter day Nero fiddles.
66
The doctor who originally sounded the Corona alarm in China died at 34 year old and another Chinese doctor at age 29. Doesn't sound Corona only kills the elderly......
50
@smith hayes There are similarities between the passengers on cruise ships and health care workers that might provide clues as to why they became ill, including fatally ill. Both groups had frequent exposure to the virus. Even cruise ship passengers who were confined to their rooms may have contracted the virus through the air vents ( (although this is unproven )
Also, while only noted briefly by the World Health Organization at a recent briefing , there is a theory that frequent exposure may somehow overwhelm the immune system.
7
@Jace I understand air filtration systems on cruise ships, unlike those on planes, may not trap particles as small as coronavirus. This would not be problem if cruise ships circulated all fresh air, but that is apparently not the case. There is so much research to be done on this. Reminds me a lot of early days of Legionnaire's disease crisis
in mid 70s.
4
@Jace I understand air filtration systems on cruise ships, unlike those on planes, may not trap particles as small as coronavirus. This would not be problem if cruise ships circulated all fresh air, but that is apparently not the case. There is so much research to be done on this. Reminds me a lot of early days of Legionnaire's disease crisis
in mid 70s.
Acc to UCSF researchers, smoking increases mortality 14x https://tobacco.ucsf.edu/reduce-your-risk-serious-lung-disease-caused-corona-virus-quitting-smoking-and-vaping
4
next containment scenario will be no reporting of numbers, a la Russia, N. Korea.
the spin out of the WH including CDC is unreal. oh, the humanity!
we're flying blind into the mountains w/o adequate monitoring/testing.
16
No way that ANY passengers should be able to sue Carnival. It is not Carnival's fault that the virus got on board. It is not Carnival's fault that the ports they planned would not let them dock. These folks should have know based on the Norovirus experience that this was possible. Maybe they are so dumb they have not processed any national news for years? Is our whole US society going to shut down because of the "liability" of staying open where US citizens will sue if they get coronavirus at work? If so, they will not get coronavirus at work but they will soon be out of a job. Stupid Americans cannot add up legal costs and figure out what they are doing to their own economic future? Brought to you by a country that awarded $1 billion in damages from Johnson's Baby talcum powder. No wonder we are going down here in the US.
9
At Colorado State University, the provost is refusing to go to remote learning saying that the virus is not that bad, the risks are low and that professors, staff and students need to just settle down and stop panicking. Our governor just declared a state of emergency and the provost thinks he knows better. Unbelievable.
64
@Bear Lass Sounds like he should have been wearing a Matt Gaetz-denial-gasmask during the announcement.
10
They’re both correct. People do need to settle down and acknowledge that the vast majority of those who contract this virus will not become seriously ill. Prepare, but do so in a way that allows for an organized, and therefore effective, response. I do believe that this outbreak is being flavored just a bit by mass hysteria. That being said, colleges ARE cesspools. Thousands, even tens of thousands in very close proximity, shoulder to shoulder in packed lecture halls, shared eating, sleeping, laundry and bathroom facilities. Massive campuses that could never properly be “disinfected”. Keep calm and carry on, but for Gods sake move the curriculum to online and close the campus. Entire floors of dormitories share the same half dozen shower stalls...
4
@GG I vaguely recall years in early to mid 50s before Salk vaccine for polio. In summer I was not allowed to go to
movies or other crowded indoor places, but they still had movies. Also I don't recall school ever being canceled because of polio. I believe it is also virus. Would love to have more specifics on that and how it affected society (and unlike COVID 19, it affected MANY young people).
3
"President Trump met with some skepticism when he presented a stimulus plan to G.O.P. senators."
He later clarified the need for a stimulus plan by explaining 'You can't have a peanut butter tax cut without a jam filled stimulus plan.'
Genius indeed.
12
More Tax cuts?
If people don't have a jobs because everything is close what difference is it if they cut taxes?
Makes no sense.
5
Regarding the 50 yr old lawyer from New Rochelle who was the 1st or 2d case in NY, the Gov and other officials went to great lengths to make clear he had "underlying medical condition." Yet his wife in her Facebook posts suggests his working so hard and being under so much work-related stress weakened his immune system and says we all need to take it easy. So stress was his underlying condition? If so, shouldn't someone get the word out? If not, then what WAS his underlying condition?
31
It's just an emotional comment without any scientific merit. More to the point how was it possible that his case was handled with such incompetence and negligence? Breathtaking and likely a harbinger for the massive mishandling of this crisis.
8
@ellienyc
Is this the gentleman from Westchester County? If so, one publication last week said he either traveled to either Japan or Italy and another publication last week said nothing about where he traveled, only that he was an attorney.
That wasn’t helpful, “Forverts”.
1
One thing that’s made clear by this outbreak is how little elected officials cared about people’s life vs their image of always in control, the economy, and legacy.
Trump is Trump and how he acts is not a surprise. Dems on the other hand such as Governor Cuomo and Mayor DiBlasio worry far more about scoring political points and projects “I am in control” than actually doing anything.
Both men agreed yesterday that if a student was tested positive, the school would close for a day. What’s one day going to do? Are they going to test everyone? No, so that one day is just a placebo making people think the city/state is doing something.
This thing is coming and there is no preparation. There isn’t enough masks so we are told we don’t need it. A recent study from China on a long distance bus with a super carrier onboard showed all 13 infected didn’t wear masks. Friends working for hospitals in the city say there is no kit in the ER. And if you know what’s ER at hospitals in NY is like you’d know it’s far from isolation ward.
13
@AmateurHistorian "What's one day going to do?" One day allows the cleaning crew to deep clean and remove any opportunity for the returning students to be infected. Lot's of school districts are doing the same thing. I think you should refer to what the CDC recommends, not just what you think.
9
It would be cleaner and safer to keep kids home for a week for now, I’d agree as a parent. I’m waiting for my kids school to close
3
It is our politicians job to keep the American people safe. They must check everyone arriving at any of our borders.
9
@Bob
This is so we don't give them coronavirus?
16
@Bob
What d'you mean, 'check'? Those temperature scans which have proved so ineffective in China and other parts of the world?
Perhaps you mean 'Covid-19 tested'? Guy, the US is way behind the curve on even testing its own citizens, let alone foreigners.
12
Why is it that according to reports, Trump’s plan with the proposed payroll tax cut was only to take effect until the election, then back to normal?
This is all about his election folks, not about us.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-10/trump-tells-gop-he-wants-payroll-tax-waived-through-election
29
Please include the time when the photos were taken; early morning or late evening distorts the impression.
2
Trump lies and lies and lies to us all, and now, we are supposed to believe him? I think not.
47
Trump mentioned yesterday help for people who don't get paid if they can't work, which was also talked about in the task force meeting today.
This article represents the only republican idea as being a payroll tax cut, while depicting Pelosi as the only one showing any concern for the hourly worker.
11
@Nana
If Trump were in favor of an increase in the capital gains tax which allows the rich to pay lower taxes, and if he allowed spending that extra money to increase reserves for social security and medicare for the deserving elderly whose life work earned them eligibility, then we would know Trump cared about the hourly worker.
In reality, the payroll tax is NOT at tax at all, it is an insurance premium paid in advance by working people towards their own old people benefits. If Trump cuts it out he must replace those payments into the Social Security and Medicare systems from somewhere else. And he must NOW say from where.
26
All he cares about is the stock market and his re-election...what an idiot , but we’ve known that all along..except the other half who believe that he is a messenger from god...
35
Not anymore they won’t
5
So true. Unfortunately, his followers will believe whatever he says. Trump blames the coronavirus on the Dems and the media, and they swallow it hook, line and sinker. What will it take for Trump voters to wake up?
16
If there is a real desire to stimulate economic activity, direct money immediately to those who will spend it. That means Americans living pay check to pay check, those in the gig economy and those having to work more than one job to survive.
17
If the major news outlets were truly interested in helping people, and not just selling ads, they would be encouraging people to get flu shots. We already know that vaccines are available, but less than half of adults bother to get one, and thousands die needlessly each year. But who knows, maybe in the future this hype will raise awareness. But hey, it’s way more fun to politicize everything nowadays and get in pointless arguments.
9
What are you reading?? I have read time and time again from media to get the flu vaccine. And news alert, for coronavirus as of now there is NO vaccine.
Please explain what you’re talking about.
15
Are you aware of how much trump has disparaged vaccinations in the past? Google is your friend.
13
@Bill Bill, thanks for making my point for me. For some reason, many people cannot conduct any meaningful discussion on any topic without bringing politics into it. Please re-read my original comment.
The businesses can now help the country by using the trillion dollar tax cut given to them.
25
Dems want to one up Trump? Offer to make a 2% payroll tax reduction permanent and pay for it by making cap gains taxed at death! From the data out there, this would pay for it. No one spends your money more responsibility than YOU!
Maybe go further and offer to eliminate the employee portion of Soc Sec taxes all together w the surtax on folks making north of a couple million. If politicians care about the middle and lower income workers so much, this should be easy!
14
I'm calling it:
"New York Cancels St. Pat's Parade. Market Tumbles."
Yet Disney World will remain open.
11
This is the biggest virus ever. It’s a perfect virus. Viruses have never been better. People say the virus is the best they have ever seen. Some things are going to happen to this virus.
41
@Eric I hear it is really going places.
5
@Eric
We'll see what happens.
4
Trump and Republicans can somehow find money for non-essential businesses but not for ordinary folks who will suffer the brunt of any restrictions on movement or medical expenses should they fall ill. Regular people can’t “write off” their losses. Businesses can.
They also can’t fund our research institutions adequately? So Congress allocated 8 billion and this administration will just spend it irresponsibly.
I truly hope people remember exactly kind of “ help” this administration provides.
16
My wish for the Times. When writing that Trump proposes a stimulus package, essentially tax breaks, please make clear and just as visible in that headline that the tax breaks will eat into Social Security funding. Is that what people really want? It's part of our safety net. It will make the stock market go up, temporarily. But it will make the source of retirement income for millions of people less secure.
55
Beginning of the end for Social Security.
36
Payroll tax cuts for working class people are nothing but a desperate campaign ploy for our man-child business person in chief.
Mr Trump wanting to increase debt by another $800 billion in the short term will cause more harm than covid-19.
Banks and business will prosper, while middle class working people whither and die.
27
There is no doubt that if Obama or Clinton had been at the helm and responded like Trump has in this health emergency, Republicans would have attacked like a pack of hyenas taking down a wounded zebra on the Serengeti.
Dems should be just as unsparing in their criticism of Trump as Republicans have shown themselves willing to be when there is a Democrat in the WH.
46
So Trump wants to eliminate the payroll tax cut for both employees and employers for the rest of the year and perhaps permanently. That would shoot a $1 trillion hole in the federal budget. Where would he get the money? The bankrupter-in-chief wants to bankrupt the country just to get re-elected. The man is insane. Luckily, even the Republicans in Congress won't go along with financial insanity.
27
@RRM I bet they will. They have gone along with everything else.
How does Trump know it will go away? This virus is only four months old. Not to be confused with his mentality age. We won’t know until all four seasons go by. I wish he would shut his mouth and let scientist and doctors do the talking.
30
Trump is already infected.
28
@Mixilplix
He does do a fair amount of international travel!
3
So for all the complainers about the current administrations handling of the Coronavirus, what would you have done different? What would Obama have done different? Please, real examples. Would he have gone on the Ellen Show and asked for people to not panic or make it political? Or would just having higher taxes and putting the country down made you feel better. Every nurse & doctor has now learned just how fake the news really is. Never let a good crisis go to waste. The Democrat Party is the equivalent to an ambulance chasing lawyer.
1
Because that guy in the Whitehouse can't form a sentence except saying it will go away. He has to make it about himself. My 10 year old has a better vocabulary and coherent speech then that guy in the Whitehouse. Plus my child believes in science not the invisible man in the sky.
25
@JOSEPH
Trump should have not proposed defunding the CDC. He should have not gotten rid of the Pandemic team at the National Security agency. Trump should have made sure there was lots of $ available for the CDC to make test kits, for the FDA to relax rules except to verify accuracy of outside test kits, and we should have WAY more testing so that cases can be identified and isolated early. Trump should not minimize the problem. Stay calm but TEST WIDELY.
25
@JOSEPH For a start, Obama created a pandemic response team. Trump fired them all.
33
Donald Trump Jr. 2 years ago called for easing access to gun silencers "It's a health issue", he said (I'm not kidding you). Maybe gun silencers will solve this. Link to Trump Jr.'s remarks below -
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/11/opinion/sunday/husbands-are-deadlier-than-terrorists.html?emc=eta1
8
The "going away" of this virus could be just the first act. I fear it could mutate and return with a vengeance. A lot of the influenzas we have seen in the past few years have been doing just that.
If anything, I hope lessons will be learned from this crisis because the potential of another health crisis could be around the corner.
Prevention, accurate information and telling the truth can be extremely helpful instead of merely sticking one's head in the sand and pretend a situation is not as dangerous as it truly is.
17
Why exactly and I want a serious answer, do companies that make profits in the billions of dollars need a bail out for the slight downturn in the market?
They sell necessities that have to be bought and they are profitable.
Since when is it the responsibility of the people of the USA to top up the profits of extremely profitable corporations? If anything they need to be paying us a LOT more.
35
There were only 17 new cases in China yesterday. China likely has beaten this coronavirus, at least in the current round, while we are still trying to figure out the basics.
12
@Lan Sluder
if the "We" there is Trump yes.
We have professionals who would have handled this but Trump either did not fill the positions since he got elected or he shut down the agency since the election.
His administrations lack of preparedness for contagion has been news since early 2017 at least.
21
The FDA is halting inspections of overseas drugs and medical devices? This seems like a wrong approach at this moment.
24
If this doesn't change a voter's mind in November, then there is truly nothing that will. Bernie Bros should realize this and vote against Trump. Bernie should make them aware, and this time with enthusiasm!
8
Cutting employer taxes puts a bit more money in the company’s accounts. Cutting employee taxes puts a bit more money in the employee’s account, and acts as an INCENTIVE TO WORK WHILE SICK.
11
The corona virus is a global public health crisis. It is not an economic or fiscal crisis.
Please tell me how any kind of fiscal or economic stimulus will help people counter the corona virus. If people stop travelling, and are quarantined in place, then they will not spend any amount of money they have.
The correct public policy response is not tax cuts. (Such as the 0% FICA tax Mr. Trump is proposing.) The correct answer is public policy that arrests the spread of this contagious disease. And that is not a question of fiscal or monetary stimulus.
Donald Trump does not care about people. He only cares about money, and the stock market. Because that is the only metric he thinks could get him reelected.
Trump could issue a $50,000 check to every American right now, and that would not move the needle on the economic impact of this disease. If people are not going out and spending money (in order to avoid crowds and contagion), having more money in their bank accounts will not cause them to do so.
This is a complete and utter failure of leadership.
32
Can anyone tell me how deregulation helps consumers?
Does allowing corporations to dump toxic waste drive down the cost of a meal?
Does climate change help me pay for clothes?
Maybe ignoring Wall Street shenanigans will lower Amazon shipping fees?
14
According to man in charge VP Pence, anyone can get a virus test "with a Doctor's referral".
Won't that requirement cause an under reporting of positive coronavirus cases? We have been told you can have little or no symptoms while also being infected and pass on the virus. A Doctor may not approve such a person for a test.
Is this a deliberate way to under count in the US thus giving Trump the "numbers" he wants?
13
@Elizabeth
Let’s hope this doctors office has enough masks. What about the waiting rooms? Are they separated from someone who just has a broken finger?
Unbelievable. Utterly disrespectful.
Hope we will have enough doctors available if this thing goes out of hand..
7
So sorry, Mr. President, but once again your statements don't pass even a rudimentary smell test. Completely eliminating payroll taxes through the end of the year is more an effort to boost your re-election chances than the economy.
Apparently your prediction of a miracle disappearance of the corona virus in April "like a miracle" is off the table now?
20
"Be calm, there's good things happening." And because it's so good, I'm going to buy your vote with an $800 billion regressive tax cut that no one asked for.
27
Hey let's just ask Americans:
Do you want to stop paying into your retirement medicare and your retirement social security now, to stimulate the economy now, but maybe hurt your retirement in the future?
See what working Americans say!
24
The president would do a better job if he were to consult medical experts that have actually followed the development of thee current and previous medical crisis in the past.
8
Who really cares about the stock market's reaction to coronavirus., Give us the facts about the numbers of cases and fatalities in each state.
16
The Payroll Tax abatement is simply an attempt to buy votes.
It's the equivalent of my returning home to my family this evening proclaiming we've won the lottery, whereas in truth I just borrowed a bunch and delayed the first payment til next January.
The electorate cannot be that gullible? Truly?
18
What good are tax cuts when you aren’t working due to layoffs?
21
Opportunists! Sure suspend payroll taxes, the taxes that support Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security till November (!), and then extend the tax "breaks" indefinitely! Easy way to abolish those vastly important programs!!! Much worse than the tax cuts for the 1% we are now enduring!
21
I wish trump would go away.
There’s as much chance of that as there is for the coronavirus to go away.
......until November.
13
@Steve's Weave - I think the real connection to be raised re this CV outbreak and climate change, is the very real possibility of more *mosquito-borne* virus outbreaks that will be promoted by global warming, coming to a location near you.
4
The surest way to a market meltdown is to create a $ 1.2 trillion hole in the Federal Revenue stream by eliminating the payroll tax. Mr Kudlow has a penchant for casting rosy outcomes to very risky actions. He should try keeping his opinions to a minimum on economic solutions facing ordinary Americans opposite the corona virus considering the low level of credibility within the Trump administration.
9
For anyone is feeling complacent about this disease, they might care to Google ‘An epidemiological disaster is taking place’, to find an article in the Independent newspaper, an account from an Italian doctor that paints an ominous picture.
11
Intuitively a payroll tax cut will have minimal economic benefits for employment, infra-structure, or investment or similar; such a cut is more likely to boost the fondness that some voters have towards their perceived benefactor. That would seem to be more for ‘To the first man, first’.
As for a chief cause of the need for economic stimulation, the President may well right about covid-19 going away. In that regard, check the daily numbers on Coronavirus Cases. Today, another big jump: 4,400. Could that be exponential growth?
Or parabolic growth? Compare Iran and South Korea. Cases in South Korea started by the middle of February; Iran, as week later. Each has a larger population (over50 million), so much room to run; South Korea though has a denser population distribution. Today, South Korea has 7500 cases and 150 new cases; Iran has 8050 cases and 600 new. So, South Korea’s curve is lower and slower; mathematics is not the driving factor.
The telling set of number against ‘Oh my gawd! Exponential growth here’ comes from China. There a huge population in which to grow; the largest base of known infection (80,800) and a longer period for growth. New cases yesterday, 19. The curve is falling down. Thank God and China’s health care for that.
3
Watching the nightly Pence & Bobbleheads press conference now. Why aren’t reporters more persistent with questions about testing? Pence keeps ignoring the calamity of little testing, keeps saying 4 million tests, keeps complimenting his Master, etc. Birks bobs her head so much, she must have neck sprains. Fauci not much better at this point.
Florida can perform only 100 tests per day! People are being denied testing. Long waits for results. This is criminal.
Push, reporters, push. Interrupt, don’t let a lie go unquestioned.
24
I'm concerned that the name, hometown, and occupation of the 50-year-old man with COVID 19 has been featured in this and other articles. Isn't that irrespponsible? It only takes one misguided person to harm this man's family. I think we need to remember Alex Jones and what happened to the poor Sandy Hook parents in Newtown, Connecticut.
14
“And a lot of good things are going to happen. The consumer is ready, and the consumer is so powerful in our country with what we’ve done with tax cuts and regulation cuts and all of those things. The consumer has never been in a better position than they are right now. So a lot of good things are going to happen.”
Donald Judas Trump
WOW! From the president's comment, it really doesn't sound like we need any stimulus!
9
To nip this in the bud, the gov't should immediately cut a $3,000 check payable to the 100 million Americans who need it most. And tell them to stay home from work for the next 2 weeks. The cost will be $300 billion, which will be a bargain if we can stop covid-19 in its tracks. Where will the money come from? The US Treasury will do what it does best--it will create the money out of thin air. If this causes a spike in inflation--which it almost certainly won't--we can deal with this problem later using tax policy. But let's take decisive action right now.
6
Telling everyone to stay home. Are you actually serious? What good is $3000 if there’s no one working to produce goods and services?
2
@WDG - 300 billion is roughly a third of a trillion.
@JMM
It's actually 30% of a trillion.
1
kudlow and trump and the art of economic magical thinking...in the midst of a medical crisis....
8
This is the result of decades of anti-intellectualism and propaganda that had flooded the country. It's bad enough that there are people who think the virus literally comes from a beer brand, it's worse when we have a group of incompetent trying to handle a crisis with hardly any expert help. It's time vote out the GOP and let the Dems fix this again for the 100th time.
13
President Trump should resign over how poorly he has performed regarding the virus outbreak. He will be responsible for many deaths. DJM
7
Best way to help all of humanity these days (along w the economy) would be to quarantine the mouth and online accounts of Trump, his cronies and his devotees. BTW, I mean by the more strict meaning of the word quarantine: 40 days.
12
so tired of seeing overpaid grim faced 'traders' on Wall Street in many pictures presented.
Irrelevant and disturbing.
12
Pelosi shouldn’t give one red cent to Trump for his proposed stimulus package, particularly te temporary elimination of the payroll tax. What we need is universal healthcare and a shoring up of the social safety net, not more bailouts for billionaires and big businesses where taxpayers once again get stuck with the bill. Trump is cruel and incompetent and only interested in saving his own failing businesses. Vote like your lives depend on it, because they do.
15
Trump is a one trick pony. He thinks everything can be fixed with braggadocio, lies, and obfuscation. His indifference to the potential suffering of tens of thousands of persons is a function of his marrow deep elitism. He simply doesn't care. Has never cared. And, will never care about people who, in his eyes, don't matter. When he went off and played golf last weekend he showed us the true person that he is. Indifferent. And disgusting. When the markets come back it won't be because anything he does...but he'll take credit for it. To him, winning reelection at any cost is all he cares about...For those wounded, dead, or sick..they don't stand a chance.
14
Anyone with the virus who cannot afford treatment will Not go to a hospital....they will struggle through and infect a few....
11
An administration that has spent the last three years lying to the public now wonders why no one considers its daily pronouncements believable.
15
So much idiocy to disgust here. From the untethered lies and stupidity spewing from Dear Leader's lips to the meetings with Republicans only to discuss possible financial stimulus to certain industries (trump properties included, of course), to halting FDA inspections. It's impossible to choose which crazy-town topic to address. So I shall just comment two points:
1) By excluding Dem leaders from meetings, Dear Leader is further destroying our constitutional democracy. The Democrats hold the majority in the House. Pelosi is 2nd in line to the presidency. Yet she is not invited to be involved in discussions with wide ranging health and economic repercussions. I don't understand why Pelosi or others in Dem leadership are not in front of the public demanding a seat at the table. (A table they are heads of, as voted by citizens).
2) "FDA halts overseas inspections...". What is the rationale behind this decision? Why no explanation or follow up here? It's as if they (DL & minions) purposely want components of medical equipment, medications and food to be tainted.
Daily, my beliefs that DL and Republicans are sadistic, power-hungry, greedy subhumans are solidified. My father (RIP) used to say "you can't be both a good person and a Republican". His words have never been truer.
19
watching the coronavirus task force news conference. always find it interesting how much more settled I feel when trump isn’t there and when his most lick spittle sycophants like larry kudlow aren’t talking
8
As a data scientist, I would give the NYT (well, all media really - sorry to sound like Trump) very poor feedback for the lack of useful analytics in reporting this outbreak.
Did you know that the average fatality rate in China outside of Hubei province is < 0.8%. And that of those fatalities, the average age is 82. Same in South Korea. Italy's average fatality rate is around 85!
Now did you know that the average fatality rate for those under 50 is < 0.2%! And that includes the most unprepared regions such as Iran and Wuhan in China. That also EXCLUDES the thousands under 50 who thought they had a cold and did not report it. Actual figures might be lower.
Covid 19 is a VERY serious disease. But only for the most fragile among us. We should do all we can to protect them. We should NOT create a massive worldwide panic.
The NYT can do much better analytics than I can. Please do it, and issue recommendations based on it. Stop fear mongering.
7
Larry Kudlow said the lower and middle class are benefiting the most from the great economy.......sure they are all buying second homes and driving Audi’s right
Larry should get out more in those lost and middle working class communities.
11
Mr Trump, can you please go away? Thanks.
10
Pence at news conference: “the president is adamant...”. huh...so where is he? bone spurs must be acting up again....
10
800 billion of tax payers money!!!! are you kidding me??
7
Why stock up on toilet paper? Is diarrhea a symptom?
6
tA fantastic job of reporting and editing this very long, comprehensive review of the latest status of the CV epidemic. Looking for a byline but Don't see one. Must have taken the work of dozens of fast-working people at the Times. Great work, boys and girls at the NYT.
One question: Will any senator shake hands with Trump when they meet today?
2
The Trump administration is doing a fantastic job of addressing the Coronavirus outbreak! Stocks rebounding, and better testing protocols than any other country. Lots of credit to Pence who is the breakout star of this successful crisis containment.
35
Why would this be an editors pick?
83
@Dara great sarcasm!
79
@Dara
Love the satire. Thanks for the laugh.
74
I'm no expert but all it takes is for a bunch of billionaires to get together and agree to make a bunch of money by riding this thing together as it goes up and then make a bunch of more money by agreeing to ride it together as it goes down. Today the roller coaster goes up and perhaps tomorrow they agree that it goes down. It's been like that for a few weeks now.
The stock market is totally broken.
8
A payroll tax cut? That's going to help the economy forward in the face of this virus? It would be hard to think of a more moronic measure to help with the situation. Far better to spend money helping ordinary folks deal with related expenses of testing and treatment. Unbelievable.
212
@Kidcanuck
Moronic? Yes but politically astute.
What politician is going to vote against a tax cut in an election year?
Cutting payroll taxes now will further undermine the Social Security and Medicare trust funds ensuring their eventual demise.
It's a unique opportunity for Conservatives to use a public health crisis to further destroy the social safety net.
195
@Kidcanuck
Better yet, forego the billions of dollars for that stupid wall and re-direct the money for free testing, special masks and other areas of this virus which could be covered by the federal government instead of individuals who can't afford to eat on any given day.
29
@George S.
The people who get their SS payment in their check aren't getting the employer portion. The employer will get it.
They will in fact be giving half their SS funding back to their employer. It's a net lose to working people who get a pay check.
17
@Giovanni -Ciao bello -My daughter and eighteen year old granddaughter were gifted a trip to Italy for her high school graduation by me. They will most likely go next year. I made the deposit which holds til used. They were planning to visit Tuscany, Cinque Terre, a lovely first visit for them. It's their turn to experience the wonders of Italy. I've been many times and will go again. My mom's family emigrated from Italy 1924. Grazie mille.
8
If ever there was a parting slogan of a president, Trump's could be 'Stay Calm, It Will Go Away'.
Let's face it. The main reason Trump is so concerned over his "virus-related stimulus package" is to buy support from Americans because of the election in November.
All he really cares about is himself and whatever he has to do to ensure that people will vote for him.
Same goes with his notion that this stimulus package will "boost the economy". He wants to be able to claim that even in the darkest period of the coronavirus, the economy continued to be strong and healthy.
I will be calm the moment HE goes away and someone who cares about America instead of himself takes over at the helm.
23
I stopped by my local St. Charles Health Care System hospital this morning and they still have a security guard—the one at the entrance I accessed could play as an NFL defensive lineman—asking if I was sick or had traveled out of the country and then requiring me to use the hand sanitizer before entering.
Would love to see Trump come by to visit.
15
Everyone hold onto your hats. I think the economy will be down for a while. It is the small businesses that I worry about the most.
22
"The consumer has never been in a better position than they are right now," said Trump.
False. Contrary to Trump's rosy pronouncements, Americans are hurting, badly, especially when it comes to paying for healthcare, and now we have an epidemic.
Most Americans don't have $400 in the bank. Even if tests are free, patient consumers will be on the hook for trips to the ER or urgent care. One Miami resident was charged $3,270 for treatment and owed $1,400 out-of-pocket.
The average deductible is nearing $2,000 but most workers have not hit their deductibles yet.
If an in-network facility is full and diverts someone to an out-of-network one, a patient could be stuck with a bill exceeding $10,000.
More than 25 percent of U.S. adults have delayed getting medical care for financial reasons. There is no reason to think people will be running to the hospital to go bankrupt now.
The stimulus needed in an epidemic is not money for banks, or cruise ships, or tax cuts, or Trump hotels. The money we need is for people to get healthcare and then get back on the job.
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/9-ways-coronavirus-can-wreak-havoc-on-patient-finances.html
74
Why doesn’t Trump meet with both Dems and Republicans? This is a concern that needs balanced, bipartisan effort.
68
Because he can't work with the Dems. It makes him look weak and as we know his bill will get shut down at the House level. Of course he's too short-sighted to realize how badly the virus just reverted the stock market to the 2008 recession. All the actions they've done has bee reactionary with no forward thinking at all
8
@mormor If you listened to the current update this evening - both political parties are involved in finding a way to mitigate the virus to keep all Americans safe
It would be hard to pocket most of the $8.3 billion with Democrats in the room.
The glee on Mnuchin’s face says it all.
6
Cutting payroll taxes? That will help put Social Security in the hole, which GOP really wants. Why not just income tax adjustment?
54
How does that help Seniors, retired people, The speculative algorithmic stock trading wall street is up and down 1000 points a day like a yoyo. 10 year treasuries have in the past week reached the lowest level in our life time meaning ever.
If Trump wants to help the “People” than he needs to cut each American a check. Corporate America already burned their $1.5 trillion in stock by backs.
8
How about truth and transparency? What is truly amazing is that it is free.
29
It looks like the wealthy surrounding Trump are simply focused on how to enrich themselves further while defunding government.
36
The US is behind the curve on virus testing due to the FDA’s and Azar’s refusal to allow the WHO testing kits to be used in the US.
In South Korea, there is drive up massive testing with fast result times.
Governor Kuomo stated today that he has asked the FDA and CDC why we aren’t able to use the WHO test kits, and he has not received answers to that question. The CDC testing is being done through a company called “Thermo Fisher Scientific”, of which Trump’s Public Financial Disclosure Report in 2017 show him to have an financial interest.
This conflict of interest raises questions.
62
DC isnt going to bolster the economy for anyone but the rich who need nothing in the first place. Only viable boost is direct cash to everyone who has to be quarantined and anyone ordered to stay home from work. Short of this forget the economy, its going down.
16
Policy seems to be being made in a bit of an evidence vacuum.
Compared to South Korea, which has performed 109,591 tests, and Italy (23,345 tests), the United States had by 1 March performed 472 tests and then, on March 2, the "Total tested" figure was removed from CDC's website, presumably so as not to show up how little capacity the US had in this area.
Without knowing the prevalence of the virus, good policy cannot be made or implemented.
33
A payroll tax cut does not help if you’re not getting a paycheck. And a payroll tax cut means cuts to Social Security and Medicaid.
And why, oh why, would you reduce FDA inspections abroad precisely when we will be more reliant than ever on medications and food that are produced overseas?
It would be better to provide direct subsidies and debt forgiveness to employees who are unable to work due to self-quarantine, illness, furlough, or layoffs. It would be better to increase CDC and FDA funding.
Of course, we cannot afford such real stimulus now because Trump and the GOP have already blown up the US budget with tax cuts for the wealthy, interest rate cuts for the wealthy, and profligate spending that has mostly benefited the wealthy. Because of shortsighted greed during the good times, there is now little room left in the budget for real stimulus when it is needed most.
29
Trump and the Republicans are failing the American people. Their response has been a complete fiasco. Our very lives may depend on voting Trump out of office.
32
The US is behind the curve on virus testing due to the FDA’s and Azar’s refusal to allow the WHO testing kits to be used in the US.
In South Korea, there is drive up massive testing with fast result times.
Governor Kuomo stated today that he has asked the FDA and CDC why we aren’t able to use the WHO test kits, and he has not received answers to that question. The CDC testing is being done through a company called “Thermo Fisher Scientific”, of which Trump’s Public Financial Disclosure Report in 2017 show him to have an financial interest. This conflict of interest raises questions.
12
Trump’s pitch for an economic stimulus has nothing to do with the bug. If Obama’s economy tanks, he and the rest of party Trump have nothing to run on.
8
I thought Trump would be a bad president. He has far exceeded my expectations.
53
Payroll tax cut. This is all reminiscent of the very weird and ultimately useless $50 checks that George W Bush’s government mailed to every American in 2007.
27
One trader gets it and there will a stock market crash as they all will get it. Look how close they work. Unbelievable.
3
Could someone explain to me how an economic stimulus is going to help in the fight against the coronavirus?
Is it not a ‘’medical’’, ‘’health’’ issue?
What is being done by the federal government to help eradicate this deadly virus?
20
@Welcome Canada: Everyone know that only the poor get sick.
1
Candidates Biden and Sanders have both acted responsibly in cancelling get-togethers for campaign workers and supporters while waiting for primary results to come in as polls close. Now if only our own *president would take a hint to act like an adult and do the right thing with respect to cancelling his campaign pep rallies as well while we are in the midst of an outbreak of a disease that can kill a lot of Americans - the elderly, those with underlying health conditions, obese people, diabetics. Why put millions of Americans at risk who have little defenses against COVID-19? This isn't the flu - we have vaccinations for the flu, you can protect yourself better from flu, and flu also has a much lower death rate that COVID-19. Wake up, *president Trump, and wake up, Trump supporters. Stay away from those rallies and large functions for your own safety. Better safe than sorry. I'm pretty sure even people in red states have heard that old saying!
9
@Jan N
The Trump rally, A Darwin rally... semantics.
1
"Don't panic, it will go away."---DJT
Phew, I feel so relieved. This has been Trump's containment strategy all along----> wishful thinking.
19
It's been suggested by others, that Big Pharma cronies and legislators with investments in drug companies pressured Trump to reject foreign test kits, months ago, so American companies could develop kits and reap the profits. The notion of Trump trying to financially benefit from ANYTHING is hardly farfetched.
21
Has anyone else noticed that the CDC is reporting fewer US Coronavirus cases than the actual number? Right now their website is saying 647 cases; the actual per NYTimes, John Hopkins, etc. is 950.
That’s a huge disparity.
Is the CDC still a reliable scientific public health entity or just a PR machine for Trump?
26
@LL At this point, I'd say it's the latter unfortunately.
6
Given that the cruise ship industry is sunk. They should turn the cruise ships into floating hospitals. This is a way for them to earn revenue and satisfy the need that is coming for extra hospital beds. Plus it will make quarantine so much easier.
15
“Payroll tax holiday” is code for attacking the main funding mechanism of Social Security. How about raising taxes on the undertaxed rich and using that money to fund infrastructure projects? And as far as paid sick leave is concerned, if people want Democratic policies they should just vote for Democrats.
14
trump dithered and deflected while coronavirus became a national health matter. In failing to develop and deploy accurate tests, and in failing to mobilize the resources of health agencies, he has now lost all control of the situation. State and local governments are taking things into their own hands, isolating groups of those who may be infected, closing schools, issuing work-from-home orders and canceling events.
Too late, trump is now attempting to throw money at the problem, when he should have been developing and executing a coherent national plan and coordinated actions. The stark glare of trump's incompetence has been exposed; concerned citizens need only to open their eyes and see it and, then, vote trump out.
9
In all other places I know the main headlines are about the number of new cases, the number of deaths and the measures in place to stem the virus.
In America, the main headlines are about the markets reaction...
20
I think all the micro managing from the WH is intended to destroy trust in the Federal Government and all the professionalism and expertise we had developed and housed there. .
4
Lots of comments equating Trump to Nero.
Some history: Nero was at least an educated, thoughtful soldier and brought into reign at a time when the empire was already cascading. He was chastised by his political opponents because he actually liked to play a version of the violin at night, instead of Tweet. He ultimately died of stress, trying to desperately have the opposition come to the table as we wanted to form a republic.
Trump is a 3rd grade hood, born into riches and spat at a military school commander who was later fired after complaining to his superiors. Trump somehow graduated Wharton without anyone ever remembering him there and became a shadow for his father who prided himself on owning poverty projects so he could either sue or benefit from the government.
There is one commonality: Both were germaphobes.
Trump has already been infected. Perhaps not by the virus, but by his own disgusting ego.
I voted for him in 2016. I am deeply sorry. I will vote for a Democrat.
29
@Mixilplix:
Thank you for seeing what a terrible president he is, and thank you for voting for the Democratic nominee.
4
@Mixilplix, Your last two lines offer a draft of pure hope in what sometimes seem like pretty dark days. Thank you for that.
6
@Mixilplix perhaps if we get Trump to say his name backwards he will disappear ;)
1
As far as I know, the Republicans didn't tell the Democrats that they must run a communist and a white man, who appears to be suffering from dementia.
They had 4 years to find someone who a majority of Americans could stomach. Honestly, it looked pretty darn easy 12 months ago. They have failed!
Trump might just be one of the easiest sitting Presidents to beat in an election in US history. If I didn't know better I would say the RNC picked Sanders and Biden for the Democrats.
Consequently, Pelosi and Schumer should green-light the President's economic plan.
1
@P&L Sanders isn't a communist, but don't let facts stand in your way.
9
@P&L
You are sitting among the roses and agapanthus of Cap Ferrat, a Russian playground on the French Riviera, telling us that the House Speaker and Senate minority leader must follow Trump’s folly. Nope.
5
@P&L
Sanders is barely socialist by European standards. In the UK, he'd be regarded as a centrist.
3
What is national policy?
Actually, there is none.
For "clarification", you might want to read, "It Took Me 3 E.R. Visits to Get a Coronavirus Test in New York."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/09/opinion/coronavirus-testing-new-york.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage
10
Ah, Donny Donny.
We will all go away.
Some of us faster and sooner than others.
Last time I checked, you were in the burn-out demographic.
As are many/most of your henchpeople.
My concern is with the healthcare providers who will be worked nearly to death trying to save you.
7
Virus shmirus...republicans are using this an excuse to pour more cash into the economy to keep it going until after the election...it’s all they have to run in. Then when they lose and democrats take over, they’ll start screaming about excess government spending...nothing new here.
15
But but if the economy continues to be strong then Bernie or Biden might not win. The economy doesn't matter, nothing else matters (despite the collateral damage to the poor) except defeating Trump. Right NYT commenters?
1
Other things matter a lot- climate change, etc., but if Trump isn’t defeated, none of us will matter.
1
Stock market which goes up and down like bipolar person and our retirement is invested in that.
2
Hey Trump. The person who needs calming is you. Underneath that burnt orange facade, there is catastrophe just waiting to be pushed out.
2
de Blasio calling the national guards in fatigues and military vehicles to the red zone.
Won’t that scare the people and kids?
Oh yeah, it’s citizens, who cares?
It’s the illegals we must be concerned about. We mustn’t scare them by sending ICE to sanctuary cities.
The F.D.A. halts overseas inspections of drugs and devices?
The question is why? Are not safe drugs and devices more important now than ever before? Americans are not idiots. If there’s a logical reason behind the administrations decision to block the FDA during this health crisis, PLEASE EXPLAIN. Not all of us live in this president’s altered reality.
10
Shouldn’t the headline read “Trump immunizes his re-election with massive tax giveaway”?
4
Trump is using this as a sneaky way to kill Social Security. First he is cutting payroll taxes "to help workers" but what that does is start the underfunding of Social Security which will allow the republicans to kill the program and steal OUR money.
Trump and his cabal of corruption are not to be trusted!!!
13
More nasty comments about President Trump. Can you people cut him some slack for a change. He is doing a darn good job in fighting the coronavirus. He has an excellent medical team that is working on this dreaded disease. If President Trump announced that he discovered a cure, the criticisms would not stop. You hate him and nothing he does will ever please you.
1
He told us only he could solve all our problems. We expect a cure within 2 months. He said it would come by then. /s
6
@KMW: Your comment is the best piece of anti-Trump satire tht I've ever seen.
7
@KMW You are joking right?
6
Trade with China is suicide, in the long run
1
donald trump is totally out of his mind. He and the fox news network are spreading lies lies and more lies. The GOP is the devils party. More lies .
12
People coming from the USA are exporting the virus to other countries:
https://www.health.gov.au/news/health-alerts/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov-health-alert
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_outbreak_in_Argentina
My guess is that the spread of the virus in America is wider than what the officials are saying.
6
Trump is short on planning and long on afterthoughts. Stock markets have crashed and because he views the market as an indicator of his success, he is panicking. With Biden doing well in primaries, and Trump looking ineffective in his handling of the coronavirus response, he wants a quick fix. It’s just more evidence he is not fit for public office. He lacks the emotional maturity for high public office.
7
I must say politics aside the sight of the Vice President with the other doctors is reassuring. His demeanor is comforting and he is believable.
This contrasts with a President who is glaring at some in the audience, is looking over someone’s shoulders, and fidgety to say the least.
3
@RSM
That’s why he’s so much more dangerous than Trump. He lies and deceives just as much if not more than Trump but with a straight face that convinces a lot of people.
3
Incubating coronavirus?
I have no idea how many people in my city, state, country are infected with coronavirus. There has been literally no testing since the virus was first uncovered in December, and since I am in California, people are traveling from here to China and back constantly. And, people are traveling all over the United States and the entire rest of the world. Other countries are testing as many citizens as possible. We are testing as few as possible because Trump wants numbers down for as long as possible. I am pretty sure we are on par with Italy regarding percentage of infected population and because we are not being as proactive as China or Italy, the virus will last here at least twice as long. Trump has done everything to invite the virus to stay for awhile.
26
The Stock markets are only rallying today because the Government has promised to give them Free Stuff. The markets are in a bubble that is about to burst, and the last tging that needs to be done is for the Government to huff and to puff, and to waste resources, and ad to the Budget Deficit, all for the sake of temporarily forestalling what is probably inevitable.
18
@Outerboro, since the big dump last week we've seen dead cat bounces, this was the third and it wasn't much of a bounce, either. As the death rate continues to rise as cases rise exponentially with more testing results coming in, more school systems will close, more people will be staying home from work not necessarily from sickness but because they have nobody to take care of their children! Who would send a child to day care in the current health situation, assuming day care businesses will even stay open! Parents who aren't working may not be making any money, some parents may lose their jobs, others may be laid off because the economy isn't going to "get better" while the epidemic gets worse! No income coming in means families may face eviction when they can't pay their rent - evicted in the middle of an epidemic. Increases in foreclosures are possible too. Just what we don't need - more homeless families! Money needs to be kept flowing into the hands of lower income families and families that don't have paid time off or paid sick leave. And jobs must be protected if at all possible. I can't imagine being confronted with choosing either to continue working or taking care of your children at home because their schools and/or day care centers are closed! It's not as if we can magically pull child care providers out of our hats.
6
@Outerboro : The only good socialism is Corporate Socialism, giving $billion breaks to companies and top management for doing nothing. All Conservatives and moderate Democrats are 100% for that.
1
One of my employees felt sick today and went to Open Door and was told the coronavirus test would cost $150. The doctor thought his symptoms were food-related and not from the virus and my employee declined the test purely for cost. Is this the way the system is supposed to work? I thought anyone who wanted the test could get one at no cost.
35
I believe there is a serious shortage of test kits. Thus they establish barriers to dissuade people.
6
@AGM, no they are NOT free for anyone who wants one. Some states are making sure that tests are provided free of charge, but not all states. Some of the larger health insurers are waiving charges for COVID-19 tests as well, but not every insurer. And if you have no insurance but aren't covered by Medicare or Medicaid, lots of luck! This kind of situation is EXACTLY what the Democrats in Congress are worried about, and so are smart Republicans - if there are any smart Republicans. If people put off getting tested because they can't afford to pay for it, and they end up infecting others, end up seriously ill and in a hospital for weeks, or end up dead - who is ultimately responsible? The buck ultimately stops at the President's desk!
3
After hearing the president speak I feel better and I am not afraid. To be calm is great advice. I am very thankful that the President is taking the lead on protecting us.
6
Seriously? I agree that we should stay calm but this is not going to go away any time soon and, given what we’re doing to our planet, this is like the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
44
Should I laugh...or cry?
13
You’re joking right?
16
We see numbers of infected, numbers of deaths, numbers quarantined, etc., from many different countries, but I don’t recall seeing any from or for Russia.
What’s with that? What’s the situation there? What does Putin have to say about all this? What precautions are they taking in Russia?
Just asking.
8
He’s busy making himself president for life. Just backed a change allowing him to potentially stay in power into the 2030s.
6
@CC, Putin isn't letting any information out to the public at all. There are only 20 reported cases thus far, I believe, and Putin has claimed that there is no trans-border transmission taking place along the long area of shared border with China. It's just like North Korea not letting out any information to the public, even though the NK/Chinese border is well known to be one of the "leakiest" borders in the world! Putin has much to worry about; his country has not been in great shape economically for years, and this latest fiasco with OPEC over oil production will crush Russia's economy even more. He's also fighting against increasing political unrest and resistance, the latest play to keep his power now being his "party" advancing the idea for substantial amendments to the Russian Constitution (which is itself a joke) to allow Putin to essentially stay in power permanently. With a rapidly declining birth rate, and increased death rate, especially among males, many of whom die from alcohol poisoning, the country could be close to a not very good tipping point.
7
@CC :
The Russian model is the model the USA has been voting for for decades now. Putin and Trump are the ideal models, not Socialism If you get sick, you are on your own.
America has been wanting this and voting for this since the Obamacare failure. Repeal Obamacare, get the government out of Medicare, Medicaid and CDC. It is not in the Constitution, and Americans vote against it. Vote GOP to restore sanity to America.
Even Moderate Democrats have no stomach for any government in healthcare, as their rejection of Sanders show, and the Red States back them totally.
I’ve noticed that the USA map shows states that have large uninsured populations have no cases: West Virginia, the Deep South, etc. Are there plans to reach these people who do not go to doctors/hospitals?
28
@Elliott : Yes. Pray to their God, Donald Trump to miraculously cure all of them. Those states expect 100% compliance by God.
1
@Elliott, do you consider Georgia part of the "Deep South?" I do - and Fulton County has closed its schools after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. You can find a map of states and their status at the CDC website here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-in-us.html It shows, in fact, that most of the states considered "Deep South" do have reported confirmed cases of COVID-19.
1
"..investors seemed to take comfort from efforts in Washington." Disagree.
Stocks rebounded more because of the decisive action of the NY governor in the face of rapidly escalating cases. Bit of reassurance that even though national leadership is lacking, at least there's competency at the state level.
20
@Margrethe, I would hardly call a thousand point gain in the face of several thousand points lost last week (and not gained back) a rousing rebound. More like another dead cat bounce.
4
Many economists and those on Wall Street are calling for stimulus spending to spur demand. This is the standard Democrat agenda which has eased recession in the past. And Trump is showing signs of following this route.
Democrats should not oppose their own policies if they are promoted by Trump. And they should recognize that Trump may well follow Wall Street and move in the right direction. This is an opportunity for Trump and there’s no assurance that he will fail. And any success will cause great harm to the Democrats’ election chances.
2
Thanks for the threat, but do you mind if we maybe think a little about what makes sense to do, what’s Trump sneaking around, and what’s just plain dumb?
9
@michjas
How can you stimulate demand for products made in China that are not being shipped here? Think Walmart.
8
@michjas: Stimulus spending can take many forms. I am not convinced that either payroll tax cuts or interest rate cuts would provide the kinds of stimulus that are needed. I also think that it’s a profoundly awful idea to reduce FDA inspections abroad.
11
Any extra income people have from their paychecks is going to go towards credit card or other debts. It won’t be pumped into the failing Trump economy.
29
Agreed!
2
"People should “stay calm” and the coronavirus “will go away,” President Trump said on Capitol Hill."
And the moon is made of green cheese.
And the tooth fairy and Santa Claus really does exist.
And if we all click our heels together and say "There's no place like home" every will "really work out".
The more this guy talks the bigger my headache becomes.
Stop already. Just stop.
72
@Marge Keller
Sincere apologies for the many typos. The more this guy talks, the more infuriated I get and the more my hands simply shake. He is just out there in delusional Donnyland.
7
Economic Stimulus? To do what? Buy votes?
Let's see how Trump acolytes rationalize their president now. We've been living in La-La Land for 3 years.....what could possibly happen next?
27
@Sissy Space X If you read through the comments, you'll find a few from his acolytes. They claim that Trump is handling this crisis with "calm expertise" (which was apparently not meant to be a facetious statement), and that he's doing an exceptional job of handling everything (which was also not meant to be facetious).
I am not sure what the intended effect of those comments is meant to be; it certainly doesn't instill confidence in Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. If anything, it shows that there may be no bottom to the blind devotion some people have for Trump, which is frightening in itself. Even Camus' Plague didn't entail this terrifying dimension...
3
As my doctor always told me: "Take these two tax cuts and call me in the morning."
How about paid medical leave? The only way to stop people spreading viruses to each other is to make sure they don't have to be near each other in order to keep their jobs.
58
@DP. what happens if schools close and day care centers close, too. Who is going to take care of the kids? Parents will have to either find somebody somewhere to watch their kids while they're working or stay home from work to watch their kids. We've got a national nightmare in the making.
4
The measures are INSUFFICIENT! I followed the course of the spread in Italy and it started small and slow and exploded in a matter of a very few days to the point where now the entire country is in quarantine. While parades and gatherings are canceled across the globe we have a mayor who thinks that the St. Partick's Day Parade should go on as usual - what planet is DeBlasio from? Additionally, where are the testing kits? WHY have so few people been tested? I firmly believe that the actual number of infected is DRAMATICALLY higher than is being reported and why is this? NO TESTS! I have to wonder if we're being lied to not only by our gangster-president in Washington but by our very own elected officials here in our New York.
32
They don’t want to test because that will show the real rampant problem in our country. Trump is trying to cover up aptly aided by the shameless GOP boot lickers.
7
@ManhattanWilliam, the tests are slowly being shipped as they're produced - so says our government and the CDC, and we will have at least 2 million tests out to labs across the country by the end of this week. Of course, we were supposed to have 1 million already distributed by last week Friday and that didn't happen. But just today the number of cases jumped from 755 this morning to about 900 as reported here and elsewhere this afternoon. So, tests are happening, just not at the pace and in the quantities called for in the face of our current circumstances!
1
This Coronavirus disease has exposed our healthcare system deficiencies, our arrogant beliefs that we have the best healthcare in the world when we do not even have ENOUGH face masks and protective gear for our medical workers, though we had more than a month to RAMP UP production of these things to prepare for this epidemic as it ravaged other countries; that in addition of the utter FOLLY of having our antibiotics, medical supplies and other drugs sourced out to countries like China and India when we have plenty of Americans in AMERICA who NEED and can DO those JOBS in a more sanitized environment!
SHAME on ALL those drug companies and companies such as NIKE and APPLE who sell Americans EXPENSIVE products like athletic footwear costing upwards of $100 and smart phones and computers costing upwards of $800 but are too GREEDY and too concerned about PROFITS to have those products manufactured here in America which would improve the financial outlook of their AMERICAN consumers!
We Americans have allowed this GREED mentality to go unchecked for way TOO LONG and need to BOYCOTT all those GREEDY companies who care more about PROFITS for themselves and their shareholders than the people in America who are buying their products!
23
Here is the current data points regarding COVID-19 from my county health department (infographic):
https://www.sccgov.org/sites/phd/DiseaseInformation/novel-coronavirus/Documents/Infographic-Santa-Clara-County-CoronaVirus_8.pdf
A few of things about the data are disturbing, and run counter to the current "community understanding" about the seriousness and mortality rates of this virus.
1) about 1/3 of patients detected positive, and aged 60 or under required hospitalization. The common understanding is this would have been expected to be about 20%.
2) Of those that had to be hospitalized, one patient was 20. So much for it being very mild for the very young.
3) small data set in my county so far, but the death rate is 1 in 43, which puts it a little over 2%. Note the person who died, was a woman in her 60s, who had been in the hospital for almost 3 weeks before death. This tells me that so far, there are absolutely no treatment protocols, other than putting the patient on a ventilator and IV.
4) About half of the detected cases now are believed to be community transmission locally. As such.. the county health commissioner ordered a 3 week ban on large public gatherings of 1000 or more people, and strongly encouraged the cessation of public group gatherings under 1000 people.
This is NOT media hype folks, this is official data and response from a county health department that in fact has been dealing with this beginning with patient number 2 in the US.
29
@Chuck This is an excellent analysis of the few pieces of data we currently have. Thank you.
4
“If Dr. Trump says it, then it must be so.l. (Eyeball roll.) Please go play golf and let the experts guide this issue!
14
Are there any experts in the swamp?
2
Reminds me of Obama’s joke that the one and only solution to every problem for the Republicans is “give a tax cut”. Now we can add a virus to the list. The Republicans need to get another tool or two in their box. Eventually America is going to run out of resources to give to big business in order to fix every single problem.
24
New York is allowing freedom of movement in and out of new Rochelle, which is the site of the infection zone. Maybe they should not allow this movement ; what if people are infected? They’re going to be spreading it outside of new Rochelle, setting up new possible cluster zones. Is this a smart thing to allow this? I don’t think so.
3
NYT: Can you please start reporting cases of RECOVERED people as well?
Can you also start breaking down the death by age? By previous medical condition?
This virus is certainly a big deal. But maybe the world is not yet ending. Just reporting averages and cumulative tallies adds to the fear.
Please break down the data a bit more.
17
Finally. Thank you, Mark. This reporting only on deaths is unhelpful and is giving us only a fraction of the story.
1
What about Andrew Cuomo
He’s taking action to contain the coronavirus
Cuomo for president?
7
@Steve Ell: As VP Cuomo could be the pitbull protecting Biden...
The criminal enterprise that is the Trump administration is in hyperdrive again.
The $8.3 billion should be forensically accounted so that voters and taxpayer can see to the exact cent how many will be trousered by Trump, JaVanka, and their ilk.
Even Mnuchin can’t hide his orgasmic face at the amount of stimulus money that the COVID-19 (which Trump has dismissed as a mere hoax days ago) that Republicans will be dividing among themselves.
22
A payroll tax cut is designed to give people more money (and the taxes-are-the-devil GOP are balking at that) so they will spend more money. Our economy relies primarily on consumption of stuff. That consumption benefits corporations, to which the GOP are considering giving enormous relief packages. It will not offset unpaid days off work or medical bills associated with illness or testing.
29
@DB A payroll tax cut will not give any money to people who are not working due to illness, quarantine, or layoff. A payroll tax cut will hurt the SS and Medicare funds even more. This idea is a double hurt to the average American who is trying hard to get by but having a government who will trip him up at every opportunity.
1
I am reassured by our President’s pronouncement that the virus will “just go away.”
Really. Otherwise I would be worried about how the virus would skew the Census or make it virtually impossible to conduct.
I might even be worried that the November election would be postponed indefinitely or that only sane and informed voters would stay away from the polls.
Now that I think about it, I wish that President Trump would “just go away,” so that well informed, honest, and capable leaders could take over helping us deal with this very real and dangerous worldwide crisis.
28
All articles relating to COVID-19 and Trump’s reaction or inaction to it should alway include the phrase “the virus that Trump has dismissed to be nothing but a hoax” — especially when describing the number of deaths and the economic destruction.
24
@Opinioned!
Obviously, it’s not a hoax. But neither is it the end of the world. Some of reportage has verged on hysteria. Let’s just stick to facts.
There have been approximately 20,000 deaths in this country thus far during the current 2019-2020 season, which began in October and runs until May. At least, that’s what the CDC report issued March 6 says. On the other hand, according Worldmeters.com, the current ** world wide** COVID-19 death total is 4,269. There have been 28 deaths in the US, 23 of which have been in the state of Washington.
The idea that tax cuts will resuscitate the markets is magical thinking on par with the notion that a wall will stop illegal immigration. Investors will sit on their money until they see an end to Coronavirus and a return to business as usual. Better direct those tax dollars to the CDC and the NIH if you want your portfolio to recover, mr. president.
22
Trump still thinks he’s selling his condos yet to be built. He has no stimulus plan, despite having announced “major ideas “ for an economic plan to be announced today. Anyone who still thinks Trump has an actual economic plan is nothing but a mark.
16
Evidently, EVERY circumstance calls for Tax Cuts.
How imaginative!
So very clever!
That Donald - He IS a Jolly Good Fellow.
I'd call out the GOP but that train wreck abandoned the station long ago...
17
It's scary that the HHS secretary says that only 5000 'tests'... meaning swabs, which don't confirm anything, have been done so far. South Korea is averaging 10,000 a day. In America, nothing works anymore! Rule of law, health security, voting rights, the economic inequalities, social insurance, gun violence, racism and institutional prejudice, homelessness, the list goes on. What works is weapon sales, zero tax for the rich and corporations, corruption all the way to the top and a greedy GOP destroying the foundation and principles of democractic institutions aided by a partisan SCOTUS.
26
What I find disturbing is the "Political Posturing" that is going on over the Covid-19 issue.
"Captain of the Ship?" but were going to leave town because of a previously scheduled break?
Folks, if your elected leaders are saying anything remotely like that, then you should be angry with them!
If Covid-19 is a serious as these politicians claim, then they should stay in Washington DC and be leaders... instead of leaving town because of a previously scheduled break!
One of the problems with our multi-millionaire politicians, from both sides of the aisle. is the fact that they don't care about the voters!
Sorry folks, during a developing crises, our elected leaders went home because a break had been previously scheduled!
We have elected leaders, Republicans, Independents, Socialists, Democrats, Liberals and Conservatives... who no longer lead!
5
Have any healthy and not elderly people died from coronavirus yet? Anyone know?
@karen
The doctor from Wuhan, China who sounded the alarm about the coronavirus died. He was 34 years old. Another doctor (age 29) also died in Wuhan.
9
@karen
And a 22-year-old member of the Iranian national soccer team.
6
YouTube:
Coronavirus ‘worse than a bomb’ on Italy, says doctor coordinating response
Giacomo Grasselli - a senior Italian government health official who is coordinating the network of intensive care units in Lombardy - explains the “critical” situation in Italy, brought about by the Covid-19 outbreak
"If you are not very careful in controlling the spread of this disease, it will overwhelm your medical system no matter how modern it is".
17
"A lot of good things are going to happen." Could anyone say anything more limp, uninformative, and counter-scientific, even it they tried all night?
Why not "perfect things" while we're at it? Trump is more out of his depth than ever - and that's saying a LOT.
22
Has Trump slashed the CDC's budget as being claimed?
I think that if people were to actually Google the subject and see what factcheck.org says, they might be in for a surprise!
People forget that the President proposes a budget, Congress debates and passes their budget, which goes back to the President for a signature!
So if the CDC's budget has been SLASHED as being claimed by so many people who don't know how to use Google, then what needs to happen is for people to blame the politicians who voted for the budget - which so happens to include both Republicans & DEMOCRATS.
Seeing as how South Korea's health ministry, with a much smaller budget than the CDC's, is able to offer thousands upon thousands of Covid-19 test kits free of charge, one has to wonder what the heck is going on at the CDC?
What group or person is causing the delay of approval for the Covid-19 test kits at the CDC?
If the CDC can't come up with a accurate Covid-19 test kit with their current multi-billion dollar budget (which is larger than South Korea's), then something is seriously wrong with that agency which has nothing to do with money!
Does anybody actually read the Live Updates NYT has on this subject?
Why is so much foreign money being spent in China over the Covid-19 virus? Doesn't China have enough cash reserves from other countries to deal with this issue? Why do they need help from the Red Cross - when they have refused to work with the CDC?
There are ways of looking at this issue!
4
@The Critic While it is true that Trump hasn't slashed the CDC budget, that was not for lack of trying. Deep cuts to the CDC and other health agencies have been in his budget proposals sent to Congress each year.
True. I looked at the line items and wrote about those proposals and congressional action restoring the cuts for trade publications.
2
@The Critic
Because the Red Cross is an INTERNATIONAL disaster relief organisation and CDC is a branch of the US Federal Government?
China is working with the World Health Organisation - a division of the United Nations - which is what you'd expect from any sovereign country.
Remind me when any foreign public health authority expected to manage an American epidemic. AIDS in 1980s San Francisco, for example.
1
Republicans, DO NOT do as Trump is asking! Our national debt is already enormous! Capitalism is about winners and losers, free markets. They will be affected by incompetent people like Trump and Covid-19, also Saudi Arabia’s and Putin’s oil price war!
5
If I stay calm will Trump just away?
13
“A lot of good things will happen” he does have a way with words doesn’t he?
9
But Disney World is just fine to visit.
2
Is it a one-mile radius of the synagogue? Or is it a one-mile zone? If it's radius, then it's a two-mile zone. Important for those living in New Rochelle.
4
Trump inherited a strong economy, just as he inherited his dad's wealth.
He has absolutely no insight or wisdom as to how to keep it going strong, let alone how to fix it. And he wouldn't recognize a wise approach if it hit him upside the head. He only knows how to waste and spend, spend, spend, and of course bankrupt, when he overplays his hand.
It's like asking him what he knows about having a vegan diet. Utterly clueless.
13
A tax cut with a side of suspension of inspection of foods and drugs, rather than reinstating the critical health department divisions he did away with two years ago. Anyone else made the slightest bit uneasy by today’s episode of idiocy?
12
Can the selfish, self-centered motivations of this so-called President be any more blatantly obvious? He unabashedly says he doesn’t want sick and infected passengers — US citizens — being removed from a cruise ship for possibly life-saving treatment because he doesn’t like how “the numbers” will make him look. How does someone so monstrously self-absorbed exist, never mind get elected narcissist-in-chief?
He insanely proposes a tax cut while the country is faced with a national health crisis. Does he, as leaders should, give people hope and assurance that every resource is being used to minimize dangers and contain a rising threat? No, he pays us off, then mixes in some misinformation and outright lies aimed squarely at self-gratification. “Some doctors have asked me how I know so much about this stuff,” he tells us, inferring a mystical knowledge, somehow transferred through a concrete wall of dense ignorance on all matters, from his doctor uncle. But this stable genius also thinks he knows how our cheap minds work. A few paltry bucks returned at tax time will fuel a voter turnout that forgets his self-serving, derelict incompetence when the deadly virus “disappears” and we gratefully re-elect him. Incredible.
8
"Cancel Everything: Social distancing is the only way to stop the coronavirus. We must start immediately"
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-cancel-everything/607675/
Because the United States has been extremely sluggish in testing patients for the coronavirus, the official tally of 604 likely represents a fraction of the real case load. But even if we take this number at face value, it suggests that we should prepare to have up to 10 times as many cases a week from today, and up to 100 times as many cases two weeks from today.
Pandemic: Netflix's new documentary about global outbreaks is eerily timed. The documentary questions our readiness for fast-moving viruses like coronavirus. It is informative, inspiring – and terrifying
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/feb/05/pandemic-netflixs-new-series-about-global-outbreaks-is-eerily-timed-and-moved-me-to-tears
5
"Mr. Trump discussed the coronavirus response with Senate Republicans at their policy luncheon on Tuesday"
The mere fact that Trump is pitching this to the GOP only is a dead give-away that the motivation has nothing to do with a constructive effort at mitigation and all with politics. Another tax cut, camouflaged as for the working class, but just another whack at SSI, will be blocked by democrats, which can then be demonized at will for "playing politics with this crisis".
Sickening.
433
@cbum Taxpayers pay;now or later. Wall Street; Fat Cats; Big Business will get wheelbarrows of cash. Taxpayers? We get to work harder and possibly die
17
@cbum Spot on. Its a bald-faced attempt to de-fund the safety net disguised as "free" money for all.
27
@cbum
I’ve seen something like this for two weeks. I said that we’d see the Trump administration’s tax proposal along with Trump’s tax returns.
Trump gave us some details, but not much.
Don’t give up. Mnuchin is going to have to negotiate with Nancy Pelosi. Trust Nancy. There won’t be anything coming out of the House unless it’s been approved by Nancy.
Just watch. Nancy will have the Democrats come up with something that will help Main Street, then she can blame Trump and the Republicans if it doesn’t pass.
10
I work in a small homeless shelter in a small town in a red part of a purple state. We are dreading the impending arrival of Covid-19, but realize that because our facility is located in a large house (formerly a nun's residence) we are in a much better situation than most shelters. Most of our clientele has mental health issues and the prospect being placed on isolation for even a short time would be horrible for them, probably to the point of causing them to bolt. A number of our staff and most of our volunteers are elderly and are themselves in a high risk demographic. I can barely imagine what shelters in big cities are now being faced with, and the thought of Covid-19 getting into a prison or ICE detention facility sends chills down my spine. Science has always known the next pandemic was on it's way; this is a bad situation made so much worse by having Trump (supposedly) in charge.
10
I was intermittently worried about the foreign sources of raw materials for our food and medicines, because the FDA has already had fewer-than-ideal inspections of foreign manufacturers. And now I’m really worried.
7
LA Times just now:
True number of U.S. coronavirus cases is far above official tally, scientists say
Researchers estimate that at least 1,043 people were infected with the new coronavirus as of March 1, and the true figure could have been as high as 9,484.
That shortage of testing kits sure improves the numbers.
9
Payroll tax cut is an interesting idea. It is certainly the fastest way to get money in the hands of lots of people quickly. It also will reduce the burden on small businesses where cash flow is likely to be a growing problem.
It will also psychologically decouple SS as an earned benefit. This is why Republicans, Democrats and independents overwhelmingly support SS. They don't see it as just another entitlement at the whim of the annual budget. They see it as something they have earned through a lifetime of paying in.
Republicans have been trying to break this connection for decades now. If they get away with this it will be the death of SS as we know it.
16
I’d like to ask all eligible voters to register to vote, and to consider voting by absentee. If COVID-19 enters our general pool of seasonal flu, we need to get as many voters involved in being heard as possible, but safely.
15
If you are under 40 and healthy, your death risk is comparatively low, around 0.5% or less. Elderly people, however, have a more serious problem. Their risk of death is 10%-15% which is shockingly high for the flu. Share your extra hand sanitizer with your elderly family and neighbours. If you must help them, do so without close contact. Do things for them (like shopping) that will allow them to continue to self-isolate. If you must be in close contact, wear a mask - not to protect you, but to protect them from you.
11
That’s the point of the mask!!!! It’s less about protecting yourself. It’s to protect the old and the ones with weak immune system. You might be fine with virus, but a small amount of ppl will die from it.
When it comes to staying safe from, and keeping others safe from, exposure to or infection with the novel coronavirus-19, it’s very different living in a 4-Bedroom house on .5-3.5 acres of private land, for example, than living in a 15-150-1500-unit apartment building with no outdoor space. And it’s very different living in such a building as a tenant than as a homeowner (condo) or coop member; the former having precious little control over the common areas (from elevator buttons to laundry facilities to shared venting ducts), fellow tenants and their guests, and landlords.
Across the country, what regulations are in place, or emergency regulations/ordinances are being put in place to better help and protect the many tens of millions of Americans who live in multi-unit buildings, and renters in particular?
Do whole buildings or entire floors or wings of buildings go under quarantine if one resident has been exposed, infected, has symptoms? What about 2 or 3 or 5 or 10 residents? What if a doorman or cleaning crew member were?
What responsibilities do landlords have in terms of providing safe, frequently and fully disinfected common area space and facilities to tenants (e.g., mailbox areas, laundry rooms and their equipment, exercise rooms, waste collection/management areas and services? What if the landlord or super/manager is sick/unavailable?
What protections are, or soon will be, in place for quarantined tenants who can’t pay or mail rent as a result?
12
Set up a hotline and deploy mobile health crews. Have people with symptoms call the hotline to report possible infection, send crew out to test, isolate and provide care. This is what they are doing in some European countries, like Austria. It will help.
Oh yeah, also make sure people have paid, unlimited sick time and universal, affordable healthcare with as few barriers to care as possible, financial or otherwise. That'll help tremendously.
13
A tax break is probably a good idea.
I say “probably” because a tax cut is applied after one earns their income and at the time they pay their taxes at the end of the year.
But what if a sick worker has to take time off and is not eligible for unpaid leave? That person does not have an income. How does a tax break help that person? I ask this because this is going to impact many low income workers who really need all the help they can get in these troubling times.
I think it would be more appropriate for that person to get money in advance to cover their sick period like the corporations for hand outs during the last financial crisis.
I hope NYT can explain in simple terms how this works so a layperson like me can understand.
9
Does somebody know why the C.D.C. has warned older and at-risk travelers to avoid Japan, but not France, Spain and Germany? There are more confirmed cases in any of the three countries compared to Japan and the number of cases is increasing much faster.
2
@Helleborus yellow= peril. white european= safe.
1
Tax is probably a good idea.
I say “probably” because a tax cut is applied after one earns their income and at the time they pay their taxes at the end of the year.
But what if a sick worker has to take time off and is not eligible for unpaid leave? That person does not have an income. How does a tax break help that person? I ask this because this is going to impact many low income workers who really need all the help they can get in these troubling times.
I think it would be more appropriate for that person to get money in advance to cover their sick period like the corporations for hand outs during the last financial crisis.
I hope NYT can explain in simple terms how this works so a layperson like me can understand.
1
It is inconceivable that the U.S. (a country of 350 million people) has fewer than 900 infections when Italy (with 60 million people) has more than 8,000.
Until testing is widely available in the U.S., it will remain impossible to gauge the true extent of the outbreak.
Respected epidemiologists seem to be estimating that the actual number of cases in the U.S. is around 7,000.
Given the dishonesty of Trump and his cronies it is very hard to accept that the lack of testing and private labs being exempt from reporting results is anything other than a cover up.
We are in big trouble,
18
My friend is a pediatrician inside the NY exclusion zone.
He just called to tell me how frustrated he is that he can’t get coronavirus tests.
Some of his patients were in contact with the family that appears to be the link to so many people who now have Covid-19.
I think that, as in China, once the tests are available, there will be a huge spike in the number of cases. Part of that comes from tests becoming available. It’s not that there are so many new cases. It’s confirmation that people actually have been infected for some time already.
Just the same, a spike will probably drive more fear.
trump needs to be honest with all Americans and stop his lies. Start thinking about protecting Americans and the stock market will take care of itself.
Our safety and national security are at risk.
And what about that condition you have? An arm long enough to pat yourself on the back.
16
I agree that the story about the sick man’s four-day stay in Lawrence hospital in Bronxville, without accurate diagnosis, is disturbing to say the least. The college my daughter commutes to—on MetroNorth from Manhattan—is less than a mile from the hospital, yet the school is holding classes as usual. If schools in New Rochelle, Scarsdale, and even Manhattan and Brooklyn are closing, shouldn’t a school in Bronxville also take heed and minimally move classes online? Emails to the school have had no impact. Maybe this will.
5
@Katia Lief I'm happy to report that the school is canceling classes starting Thursday (not sure why not starting Wednesday) and then going online after spring break. Phew.
Believe me this is the greatest health crisis in history. Nothing like it before. We have a plan: Keep doing what you are doing. I will keep doing what I am doing. I guarantee this will break all records.
4
@Robert Roth "Oh wait, people actually die from the flu and a new vaccine could prevent this? Ok, hold on a sec, back to the drawing board."
1
Trump is saying everything is fine, the Coronavirus will just go away. Well I have a suggestion. Why doesn’t he take a cruise?
25
Options for Trump to stimulate the economy:
1. Divert funds stolen from the Defense department for the wall to fund paid sick leave for low paid workers with no sick leave.
2. Medicare for Gig workers
3. Divert socialist aid to farmers to pay for medical costs to cover co-pays and deductibles and for people with no medical insurance.
4. Payroll tax on people making over $400/yr to recoup payroll tax break for people with incomes below $85K.
17
First, a payroll tax cut only provides benefits to those who remain employed and PAID by their employer. If people take uncompensated sick leave, or get laid off, they get NOTHING. If their hours are reduced, they get less.
Second, the payroll tax cut mainly benefits the RICH. It is a 7.65% tax cut for earnings up to $137,700. The more you make, the bigger the tax cut. Anyone earning more than $137,700 will get a tax cut of $10,534, even billionaires. If you earn $40,000, you would get $3,060. So the rich will once again make out like bandits. They truly NEED a bigger piece of the pie. This is just one example of the obscure nuances in the tax code manipulated for the benefit of the wealthy.
Third, if you are retired, disabled, unable to work, or unemployed, you don't get a tax cut at all. ZERO!
Finally, a payroll tax cut is not free. It will all be funded by EVEN MORE federal borrowing, on top of the already $1 trillion annual deficit, which is artificially boosting GDP and the economy by almost 5%. On top of record corporate borrowing (much of it junk-rated) and credit card debt. The economy is increasingly being built on a house of cards. It won't take much of storm to demolish it.
These are the details and education the NYT needs to provide to its readers.
22
Cuomo shines in a disaster . I am thankful he is on this tough situation.
15
People need to stop ragging on the government and exercise some personal responsibility to lessen their chances of getting the virus. Limit your exposure to crowds. Work from home if you can. Avoid going to theaters, indoor arenas, etc. And wash your hands often.
There is nothing the government can do to keep you healthy. You have to take personal responsibility for your own wellbeing.
3
@Brewster’s Millions
If you ever have a fire or medical emergency I expect you to act accordingly. Handle it yourself.
11
@Brewster’s Millions
There is an awful lot a good working sane government can do to protect its citizens.
11
Trump says the virus "will go away." He is more-or-less correct about this if we don't dwell on the timeline. It would be more correct to say "it will run its course."
1
I'm optimistic that this virus/germ will finally do what the Mueller Investigation and Impeachment could not.
8
Those infrared type thermometer thingies need to be widely and freely distributed so everyone entering anywhere people are closely concentrated can be checked for a fever.
1
Trump needs to implement a plan TODAY whereby if you are sick and have to stay home , or if you are suspected of a victim of community spread and are quarantined for the safety of the public , workers MUST be compensated for that period of time that they must miss work .
We will be in big trouble if those that have the coronavirus continue to work for fear of losing that desperately needed income .
Right now , I feel relatively safe . I am limiting my time out in public as I am a 64 year old who still has Lyme disease — immune compromised and over 60. But my son lives with me , so how do I know where he’s going or has been ?
We all have to be vigilant and hopefully this virus will dissipate ( maybe not end ) in the warmer months to come . But the government must step in NOW and get those funds available to the sick .
2
@Karen E ...re: Lyme - check out website of Dr Savely in DC, you can be cured. Also, Charles E Holman Foundation for Morgellon Disease Research - I have the Lyme co-infectious disease - Morgellons. I used to live in South Jersey, contracted it there. Am almost cured - 99% there:)
Brilliant. The FDA imposes Less safety because things are currently more dangerous. Who is running this show???
13
AND they announce it publicly!?!?
Fortunately other people are acting like leaders... Cuomo for example. Try to just hold on to some hope that Trump’s incredible failure with this virus will tip the scales to end his presidency. That’s the only positive I can find about this situation for now.
9
trump says he has many options. Some have big numbers. Some have very small numbers.
The coronavirus will go away. Very soon. Very, very soon. Stay calm.
And the American consumer is very strong! Stronger than maybe ever in history.
The government is doing a great job. Stay calm.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?
this is the plan? What plan? It will go away?
This like a wish sandwich.
You wish you had a bun and a few slices of meat.
trump is weak. He is making America weak.
The USA needs a true leader. trump is not the one.
trump - when the going gets tough, trump goes to the golf course. You are not up to the job of President.
13
“...and a lot of good things are going to happen.”
Well, THAT absolutely takes the biscuit, as they used to say in England.
12
A one mile containment zone...what does that even mean? Are people prisoners in their own houses for two weeks - even those that have not tested positive for Novel Coronavirous? Will people be arrested if they leave their houses?
Trump meets with Senate Republicans and CEOs of financial companies.
Even in crisis he excludes leaders from the Democratic Party, because he doesn’t consider himself the president of the entire country. Another way Trump is an awful excuse for a leader.
10
This country's health care system is a disgrace. I don't know what more is needed than this crisis to prove that we need a national health care system. South Korea is doing drive-through testing of its population and we can't even supply the tests to hospitals that desperately need them. If this doesn't prove that it's time to ditch a system that allows politicians to be bought by the pharmaceutical industry we are doomed.
7
Instead of tax cuts, how about refunding the programs he cut that deal with these emergencies?
14
I don't support Mr. Trump's proposed payroll tax cut. The main beneficiary of the payroll tax cut is labor intensive business, for example, Mr. Trump's hotels. The biggest loser is Social Security, which is funded by payroll taxes. The benefit to employees would be seen in each paycheck, but only if they are working.
I would rather see paid sick leave for those people under mandatory quarantine.
547
@Rebecca
Right... ? Did he propose those tax breaks because... His hotel is also empty. No visitors?
Could that be that the Don is so broken that he would go bankrupt without.. tax breaks?
Wow that would be the story.
16
@Rebecca Do both. I work for a living. Could use the scratch of a payroll tax holiday.
People should “stay calm” and the coronavirus “will go away,” “It’s really working out,”
“And a lot of good things are going to happen.”
Holy mackerel, what planet is this guy from?
I never thought by simply remaining calm, the coronavirus would go away and that it's really working out.
My head continues to spin and hurt while I try and digest the insanity and ludicrous nature of this advise and assessment from the current president of the United States.
I honest think my cat Fred could do a better job and even a more effective job. I mean heck, the bar can't go much lower, can it?
34
@Marge Keller - I would vote for your cat Fred any day of the week over what we’ve got now. I’m sure he’d do a much better job. And speaking of lowering the bar, it can’t go much lower than Donald Trump. Fred’s operating at a higher level, I’m sure.
12
@Lindsay K
Fred's my guy alright. He has a good heart, he loves my husband and me and he has taken the other felines in our home under his wing. He's become their newest "Gramps".
This country continues to decline in extremely serious trouble. I just can't stop laughing (and it's a nervous laughter) when I read and re-read Trump's ridiculous statement "Stay calm and the coronavirus will go away." I doubt the Onion could have come up with a dumber line that than.
Thanks for the vote for Fred. He may be a write in one the GOP ballot. . . He could certainly give Mitch a run for his money.
4
Ok, comments from Trump today on the virus are nothing short of ludicrous.
Mr. Trump, it appears is betting his reelection chances and his presidential legacy on his hunch that the coronavirus and its effect on our country is a "nothingburger. "
Oh that this bet only affected him? The outcome is unknown but if I were him I'd be hedging my bets on both sides. Or in plain English, tell the truth.
7
@Mark
The guy is a conspiracy racist nut case with mental health issues. He has lied so much and surrounded himself all his life with people who say what he wants to hear. He wouldn’t be able to find the truth if it hit him in the face, drug him down the street and then ran over him.
3
You know that I don't care if Health care is Private,Public or Provided by God , but you would think that this notion that private hospitals and private companies who are providing testing for the coronavirus would be obliged to provide daily updated data .
Personally I think that the Admin are hiding a lot ,its a bit like someone putting their foot down on both the accelerator and the brake ..
and finally , Trump's comments re getting tested , despite being exposed toa potential virus carrier is completely irresponsible .. "I think it's no big deal !"
How many of his MAGA mugs will take this on board and act in a similar manner .....??
I wonder if he will turn up for a later press conference and whether he will answer the above question ..
As Del boy (from Fools and Horses ) was oft known to say in exasperation .... "You Dipstick !! "
2
Quite scarey news tell your elder friends and relatives to avoid large gatherings
1
Albany needs a quarantine too.
Melania. Any comment at all? About anything?
11
Be Best.
That should take care of everything. Problem solved.
9
@Mixilplix
Be Best! (whatever the heck that really means).
6
My elderly sister with Alzheimer’s and who is not in good health is in an assisted facility in Long Island . I called a few days ago and they said that they are checking visitors as to whether they have visited any hotspots abroad . But now that is not enough . In my opinion , they should ban all visitors for awhile . Nassau County where she lives has been increasing in numbers of those who have been infected just in the last few days .
I’m very worried because she can’t protect herself .
9
I’d say to check with state of New York, and hit that joint over the head with it repeatedly.
Our country cannot keep functioning if we continue, as we have done for the last forty years, to destroy the social safety net; refuse to give people a living wage and access to healthcare.
Let us hope that this is a major wake up call to both government and the business elite. We are interconnected and interdependent.
20
@Anonymous
The wealthy are disconnected and global. We are just their loan shark scheme to extract wealth from. Kind of like a tax for the rich. Their solutions all revolve around what benefits them. Scraps will be given to us with heavy string attached.
2
"'Be calm. It’s really working out,' Mr. Trump, who has been accused of understating the seriousness of the epidemic, told reporters after the meeting. 'And a lot of good things are going to happen. The consumer is ready, and the consumer is so powerful in our country with what we’ve done with tax cuts and regulation cuts and all of those things. The consumer has never been in a better position than they are right now. So a lot of good things are going to happen.'"
Consumers will be under quarantine. That payroll tax cut might pay for a few on-demand movies if you have sick leave, but it won't cover rent and food if you don't.
19
"President Trump briefed Senate Republicans on Tuesday on his ideas for an economic stimulus package to respond to the coronavirus, including a payroll tax cut. But the idea of a payroll tax reduction is running into bipartisan opposition on Capitol Hill, where Democrats are openly hostile to the idea and some Republicans are skeptical, including Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader."
In case anybody is wondering what the "payroll tax" is, it is the amount of each paycheck that goes to fund Social Security and Medicare. In other words, Trump's seemingly big-hearted proposal is a stealth attack on Social Security and Medicare, and that's why (in case you're wondering) Democrats are openly opposed to this "cut," which, as always with Trump and Republicans, is aimed at sticking it to the little guy in the long run. It would be the camel's nose under the tent, and Democrats aren't falling for it.
129
Exactly!
14
@Ed
It’s finally his moment to bankrupt the entire United States of America
2
Isn’t it interesting that the economy always has money to save corporate America but never any money to build rural schools and medical facilities; to house the homeless, to increase wages, to reduce medical costs, to repair our infrastructure, etc. but when speculators start losing money the tax payer is squeezed further to bail out the rich. When Americans begin to understand that this system has swung too far for the interest of the few at their own expense things might really change. Look at the airlines. They got a break as a result of 911 and they still charge us extra even for a seat even though your fare should guarantee you a seat and free luggage space. Now they barely provide water. How much money will Trump get for himself and his family out of these incentives? But don’t worry about coronavirus. It’s just a cold that will sneeze a bunch of money into the ‘struggling’ rich.
88
@Maria Rodrigue
obviously, the country must rally around those poor, desperate petrochemical corporations, and they must get more stimulus money to continue their global heating scheme going.
2
This is so transparent. What Trump is vying for is a "targeted tax cut to impacted industries" like airlines, hotels, convention centers, golf courses, country clubs, etc.
Guess which of Trump's businesses will immediately file for government "relief" for funds that don't have to be paid back if he manages to get this pushed through?
One has to view literally every one of Trumps proposals as somehow benefiting him personally. He just doesn't really bother otherwise.
84
@Brian
Let’s call it finally what it is: this guy is disgusting
3
Trump couldn’t be more transparent. The tax cut would be a hedge against a recession, rise in unemployment, slowdown in GDP growth and concomitant decline in the stock market, all of which he thinks would be a huge problem for his re-election. First things first. Good for the Democrats for wanting to aim any cuts to people who really need them.
22
"President Trump briefed Senate Republicans on Tuesday"....
Apparently this isn't something worthy of informing and engaging of our entire government, just Republicans.
Instead of rising to the occasion with a unifying effort and message commensurate with something of grave national and international concern, to Trump this is just another partisan battle.
What a complete and total absence of the leadership we need now.
45
Trump is frozen in fear (of losing the election, not of losing citizens) so it is up to Cuomo and other local leaders to fight the coronavirus.
37
The sheer irony is the “containment area” in New Rochelle New York also happens to be where a Trump Plaza condominium apartment complex is located. I hope the Trump Organization doesn’t bill the federal government for the loss of income or benefit from a hardship based tax exemption.
After all they do claim that they are serving the country and not benefiting from it.
15
Why are medical personal, doctors, nurses, etc., seen still in their "scrubs" outside hospitals?
Scrubs are not fashion statements or outdoor garments - they are for inside a hospital or other such medical facilities.
Why do hospitals allow their staff to enter or exit the premises in scrubs?
Not just in the flu season or this "special-flu" season, no one should be wearing hospital scrubs outdoors - these people go straight in and out of infectious wards, operating rooms and ICUs in these scrubs; there should be a ban on such garments outside a medical facility!
17
@Vai RN here- If you work in an operating room, you come to work in street clothes and change into hospital scrubs before you enter the OR, and change back into your own clothes before you leave. Nurses in patient care areas caring for patients with contagious illnesses have to put isolation gear on before entering the patient's room and remove it immediately after. We are trained to do so in a manner that should leave clothing clean. At every facility I have worked at, if a nurse's scrubs (which are rarely provided by the facility, except for OR personnel) get soiled, we could get some clean hospital scrubs to change into. Clothing is rarely the source of disease transmission, it is things like improper hand washing that is the major problem. That said, during my hospital days there were a few times when my neighbors may have gotten a bit of a show when I stripped off my dirty scrubs before entering my house because of something I'd encountered during the night. (Although in 20 years I have only been sickened by a patient one time, from an extremely infectious norovirus- one patient gave everyone who entered her room, plus our families, a nasty 3 day bout of diarrhea and vomiting). Banning scrubs outside a facility would probably not make one bit of difference in our battle against Covid-19. What is really needed is sufficient supplies of isolation gear, masks, beds, and of course enough well-trained personnel (sorely lacking in the US).
7
@Vai
This is the policy at the 2 hospitals in our area; however In Ann Arbor, we see hospital workers wearing them around town & outside hospital.
U Michigan Hospital: "Do not wear scrubs outside hospital: As health care professionals, it is our duty to ensure the safety of all employees, patients and families — and removing scrubs in the hospital goes a long way toward achieving that goal."
"Scrub suits may not be removed from the Healthcare System or be worn to and from work." (St. Joseph Healthcare). https://stjosephshealth.org/images/Dress_Code.pdf
Hand washing is more critical.
4
FYI: “these people” do not enter sensitive areas of hospitals with the scrubs they were out on the Y usually cover up with white coats or jackets, also change out of used scrubs on a regular basis. Please, do some research before criticizing our brave and dedicated healthcare workers!
3
An economic stimulus package (that happens to include hotels) = is not priority. Rolling out tests, quarantine facilities, food supplies, services are. What a hopeless lack of leadership.
51
Trump invited Wall Street executives and Republican lawmakers to his meeting on how to fix the pending economic crash.
Because, you know, those people have always understood exactly how to help working people....
39
America needs more than a lame 'stimulus package' to weather this looming catastrophe; we need a president and a Senate willing to tell the truth, put people above politics, and pull out all the stops to keep Americans safe. So far from Trump and company all we've heard are falsehoods, obfuscations, declarations of a giant 'hoax,' and blame directed at the media and his predecessor. He needs to grow up, make big-boy decisions and, for once, make this about us and not about him.
12
Trump’s playbook is simple. Don’t test Americans for Coronavirus and the numbers will stay low.
51
But the deaths won’t. Have we ever charged a president with criminal negligence?
Can we start?
7
@JLW : Simply attribute the deaths to illegal immigrants. Who will know the difference? Who will care? No Real American.
Here in Alaska, things aren't much better.
While the State Department has told people to stay off cruise ships, our state capitol, Juneau, (whose economy relies heavily on the cruise ship industry) is preparing to accept a ship that has already been turned away by 4 ports in Asia. They say the ship will be 'cleaned' and a given a 'new crew'. Why don't I feel comforted?
So far Alaska doesn't have any coronavirus. Wait and see how long that lasts.
And, if oil goes to $20 a barrel, Alaska will really be hurting. We're already broke, and were struggling mightily with our budget even before this happened.
And I don't understand what this payroll tax cut is supposed to accomplish.
Or why they're suspending FDA inspections in foreign countries, for god's sake.
Between the virus, the stock market, our insane government and climate change, I feel like I'm watching the end of the world.
43
When will we learn that conservatives have contempt for governing and government.
Debt and bailouts is their business plan. For decades their policies have been to favor the few at the expense of the many yet, they are
getting away with trickle down...
again!
16
Republicans are just fetishists. A payroll tax cut? To treat a virus? Honestly? When you are unemployed because your travel/entertainment/tourism/service industry gig has disappeared — how much more money will you get to keep out of that check you're not getting? Zero, that's how much.
Universal healthcare on the other hand would help everyone in a pandemic, leaving no trail of crippling debt, allowing the consumer economy (which we all rely on) to reboot quickly once it's over.
26
The Trump administration recommends a tax cut as a solution to the spread of a disease? Does Trump not understand that the low wage workers, waiters, cashiers and such will lose their jobs and not be paying income tax because they have no income.
34
Nothing like a payroll tax cut for people who stay home and don’t spend any money. Even more useful for those with no paid sick leave. Sounds like Kudlow is at it again.
31
"Stay calm and it'll go away." That's right up there with "Ask not what you can do for your country, but what your country can do for you" for presidential wisdom.
11
I’ve stayed calm and so far Trump has not gone away.
7
Let's hope Rob and Laura Petrie are all right!
7
@H.Clarke. Lol. I needed a good laugh. So many have no clue who they are, so hopefully they will put Google to work.
2
Do they live in a Petrie Dish?
@H. Clark
They haven't been since June 1, 1966.
1
Should I be worried no one is inspecting overseas pharmaceuticals and supplies, that I'm taking foreign drugs, that there are shortages of medical supplies, or all of the above?
A photo accompanying this article shows Mitch smiling as he walks alongside Donald. Now that's worrisome.
24
If an asteroid or a solar flare hits earth,we are doomed. Cant even handle a virus with sense.
7
YouTube:
Coronavirus ‘worse than a bomb’ on Italy, says doctor coordinating response
Giacomo Grasselli - a senior Italian government health official who is coordinating the network of intensive care units in Lombardy - explains the “critical” situation in Italy, brought about by the Covid-19 outbreak
"If you are not very careful in controlling the spread of this disease, it will overwhelm your medical system no matter how modern it is".
12
Let's all give Gov Cuomo a big applause. Making his own Hand Sanitizer and distributing food. Now that's leadership.
As senior's being in the highest risk category we can't even find hand sanitizer. I guess Trump's thought is to just let us die. What an absolute failure of government
38
“During earlier outbreaks of other coronaviruses, including SARS, a lot of transmission occurred in hospitals “during procedures like intubation,” said Stephen Morse, a professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.
A spokeswoman for NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, which owns Lawrence Hospital, declined to say whether staff members in the room at the time were wearing protective gear such as N95 respirator face masks, which offer more protection against the new coronavirus than surgical masks.”
Hope hospitals are not putting healthcare workers in risky setting for saving money
Their most valuable assets are healthcare workers
4
If dealing with the impact of the virus is bipartisan, why brief only Republican congressmen?
20
The Republican cure-all --- a tax cut. Just ducky, as they circle the wagons about "entitlement" cuts.
I'm SICK of them trashing the Treasury for their rich friends, only to have a Democrat come in and clean up the mess.
If a Democrat wins the election, cue the GOP whining about the deficit, conveniently forgetting what they exacerbated.
19
@jules
When President Obama tried to do anything, the Republicans screamed "How are you going to pay for it?" The Republicans let Trump spend like a drunken sailor. Meanwhile, Mrs. Trump is busy with her plans to build a tennis pavillion at the White House when the country is broke.
I can't wait until November 3, 2020. Are we there yet?
2
At least the State of New York is doing something about this. No so in Dallas, Texas, where the annual St. Patrick's Parade, scheduled for March 14, 2020, and attracting an estimated 120,000 people, is on schedule. Shame on the Dallas and Maverick officials who put the lives of their citizens in danger. This is downright criminal behavior!
11
@Don Juan Agreed. If Boston can forgo this year's St Patty's Day parade then Dallas should too.
1
NYC has NOT canceled the St Patrick’s day parade- blame it on de Blasio
1
@Don Juan - The St. Patrick’s Day parades in Chicago and, incredibly, in NYC, are still on, too. Two of the largest cities in America are still having their parades in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak. Unbelievable.
On a saner note, Boston and San Francisco, as well as the Irish cities of Dublin and Cork, all canceled their parades, so hopefully other cities will follow suit. (Note to American cities and towns: if two Irish cities can cancel their parades, you can cancel yours. You don’t get some sort of perseverance prize for parading during the coronavirus outbreak.) For those cities that do cancel, I don’t want to hear any whining from bands or parade organizers or some business owner who paid money for a float or any “what about the children?” nonsense. This is a public health crisis. St. Patrick’s Day will come again next year, but the unmanaged coronavirus is here now.
Consider this, everyone: when the release of the new “James Bond” movie in theaters, originally set for the end of April, is pushed back to November by its producers, yet parades and other large-scale public gatherings are still being green-lit by public officials, something is very wrong with the way this outbreak is being managed.
2
The dragon, China rising again after over 50,000 Chinese persons had tested positive and over 2,000 died. President Xi's visit to Wuhan certainly may demonstrate success, against the virus to some reporters but what kind of success is it when the responsibility of spreading the virus to the rest of the world is not accepted? Countries of the world including the USA which currently have 700 cases positively identified predominantly in Washington state, holding its primary today, California, NY and Florida.
Historically, China should take total responsibility for creating this panic pandemic and the UN should pass a resolution condemning China for its negligence, hiding of the truth initially, persecuting whistle blowers like the brave Dr. Li WenLiang, the true hero of the Chinese people, that resulted in the origin of the Corona virus and for the spread of the disease that devastated several countries and resulted in deaths due to a nano sized virus spread across our planet that did not see this coming. So I say what success is demonstrated when the monster of the panic has become a pandemic set free to the rest of the world. This apparent alleged success is a crime against humanity and nothing less. If this is success, bask in it. History will record the president of China, Xi, who presided over one of the worst crisis since 911 and the reign opf terror that followed.
6
There’s only one element in the coronavirus equation that should ‘go away’ ... by November at the latest.
13
The New Rochelle piece is a game changer for me.
7
What was Trump doing at Walter Reed late last year?
8
@SteveH. I don't know but I bet it has something to do with the weird plug or patch on the right side of his head in some photos.
1
For those who claim that Trump hasn't slashed the CDC's budget every year he has been in office, here are his own Health and Human Services Department budget numbers for CDC:
https://www.hhs.gov/about/budget/fy2018/budget-in-brief/cdc/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/budget/documents/fy2019/fy-2019-detail-table.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/budget/documents/fy2020/fy-2020-detail-table.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/budget/documents/fy2021/FY-2021-CDC-Budget-Detail.pdf
-19% FY 2018
-20% FY 2019
-19% FY 2020
And a proposed -23% FY 2021.
21
@J Anders
Yes, those are Trumps numbers!
So please show us what the Democratic controlled House of Representatives, under Pelosi's leadership, actually passed!
1
At least Gov Cuomo knows how to lead. Trumpsters take note.
15
Sending out the National Guard may not be such a good idea. I remember hurricane Katrina and how General Honore had to calm everybody down so that they wouldn't point their guns at innocent civilians...
CNN just reported that the House physician has adviced the Representatives to use the "live long and prosper" gesture from Star Trek instead of shaking hands. You guys are taking this seriously, right?
China is close to getting it under control. South Korea is testing like mad. Italy is going to be fine after the lockdown. Iran is a big problem, they don't test enough. But compared to that your American CDC doesn't even know how many tests there are done, or how many are positive!
_That's_ why their graph shows a slowdown in new cases.
It's not slowing down, they just don't report the numbers!
Because the don't have the numbers!
Because they don't WANT to have the numbers!
Because they were TOLD not to get the numbers!
Because their boss - President Donald J. Trump - is only interested in keeping the numbers down so he can get reelected!
Can you impeach a president for allowing American citizens to needlessly die out of poltical consideration? If so please do...
25
I’m a physician and a political centrist. In general, I don’t harbor strong opinions about the economy or politics.
I do know about medicine, however. And I practice near the new NY epicenter of CV-19. And Trump’s tweet is the first thing that has really chilled me about this presidency.
This country is already plagued with many people, at all levels, who don’t understand the depth of their own idiocy.
Electing one of those idiots as our leader is a really, really bad business plan. Let’s make a better decision this November.
52
An excellent definition. Trump doesn’t understand the depths of his own idiocy.
7
We'd all have a lot more in usable funds just by halving Trump's golf excursions or having his family stay at home instead of dining with him on Air Force One.
15
"Nursing homes should bar most family and friend visits, the industry says."
There are many nursing homes who were absolutely yearning for a day like this. Nothing warms an abusive for-profit nursing home's cackles like a break from loved ones' scrutiny.
We'll see if Covid-19 scrutiny in them makes up for it.
8
WHY IS TRUMP HALTING OVERSEAS FDA INSPECTIONS?
THIS is the time where drug reliability is critical and any mistakes of short-cuts could be devastating. Wew used to pride ourselves on the reliability of the FDA, but under this fake administration, such is no longer the case.
I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION - not ambiguous and meaningless drivel from the Ignoramus-in-Chief. He sticks his little dump hands in everything when he should be letting experts do it. That is the sign of a severely handicapped insecure Tyrant who is afraid that someone else may get it right.
19
The picture of the guard in Italy - his face mask is sideways. WTF
1
Trump: “A lot of good things are going to happen.”
People are dying! What a slap in the face to families and friends.
Insensensitive is a compliment to this ignoramus.
16
How typical: Trump is going to brief senators of the Grifters On Parade party -- not all senators. Let's see -- another dose of welfare for the rich and corporations should do the trick.
Paybacks are hell and they are coming as sure as the coronavirus.
7
“...the bloc’s member states to contain the virus varied widely from country to country, often with little relation to the actual size of the outbreaks, reflecting the lack of international coordination.”
That from the article is false. Evidently the NYTimes missed one of the most recent reports written by infectious virus experts worldwide. From: ‘Inferring high-resolution human mixing patterns for disease modeling, March 4, 2020, database at https://github.com/mobs-lab/mixing-patterns, arXiv.2003.01214v1 [q-bio.PE] 25 Feb 2020, Article at: https://www.mobs-lab.org/2019ncov.html
The article clearly states that virus disease transmission patterns vary from country to country, region to region, and subregion to subregion; thus international responses will vary also. I observe this article in the NYTimes contains a serious mistake by asserting responses to the virus vary country to country, inferring thus, there appears to be no international cooperation. The sentence from the NYTimes article is false and needs to be modified to reflect the facts, immediately.
3
Trump says good things are going to happen.
What an absolute moron!
12
Can’t wait to see all the “good things” Trump says are going to happen with this virus. Perhaps dying quickly so one won’t ever again hear any more drivel from this vulgar man
14
A payroll tax cut is not going to stop the Coronavirus ... BUT, you know what will ...FUND THE HEALTH LABS ... so they can do their jobs protecting America. Trump is dangerously clueless and putting our country on the trajectory of Italy, no doubt about it.
448
I think you mean public health laboratories. The commercial labs are doing just fine, thank you very much.
7
@Patty
As it is with everything republicans do, the "side effects" that do harm are the actual intention of the thing.
11
The story about the New Rochelle man who went undiagnosed for four days, and so spread the disease widely at the hospital and in his community, is disturbing.
The day the man went to the hospital, on February 28th, the virus had already spread to 48 countries; worldwide there were over 80,000 cases. The US had 65 cases, and the news in the previous days was that it was spreading throughout the community on the west coast without travel to hot spots.
Two days before that, a study out of China showed that CT scans were actually better at diagnosing the virus than tests.
One more detail to lay the setting: the CEO of the hospital where the man was admitted is one of the highest paid people in New York making $7.3 million a year.
Hindsight is 20/20; but if New York Presbyterian was not prepared for the virus, and marveled at man's spider-web lung scans without suspecting it, you do start to wonder why the heck not? What are we paying CEOs mega-millions for? And what other hospitals around the country are similarly inept? And tell me again what makes ours the best healthcare system in the world?
689
Shows how bad other systems are. But don’t worry we have the best leadership in the world. Very good leadership. The best.
22
@Sherry Fantastic--unnecessary CT scans cause a not insignificant number of unnecessary cancers. Getting into a pattern of diagnosing COVID with them sounds like a terrible idea, reliability of the the method notwithstanding.
The world is already ramping up towards full-panic mode over this pandemic, I hope that if we can at least apply some common sense regarding diagnostics, quarantine, and procedures and not cause more deaths than necessary.
11
@Sherry Rated 37th in the world!
27
After reading the article of the 50 year old lawyer in NY who went to the hospital with pneumonia symptoms, ended up infecting a plethora of people before he was even diagnosed with the disease, it seems to me *ALL* hospitals should treat any patient with "cold like" symptoms as a potential coronavirus carrier. For the hospital staff's own safety, they must protect everyone by being hyper-vigilant.
This disease is much more pervasive than the numbers show because people are *not* being tested for the virus. It's like if you pretend it isn't there, it can't be there. This is a terrible way to approach the disease. I fear Canada is no better.
Seattle now with four senior care centers with the virus demonstrates how pervasive the virus already is in "community". Of course, the death rate for those in the care facilities is trending at about 15% for those over 80 based on the numbers being published. That is high.
As a person with with a somewhat compromised immune system, I take the Coronavirus seriously. It scares me and I don't want to get it. Even my work has been laid-back in their approach to the disease. I wrote corporate on 3 March, and on 3 March they finally sent out a "standard procedure", but it is just posted on a bulletin board.
Everyone needs to be hyper-vigilant.
16
Some hospitals are doing this. At least one network in my area has designated a single entrance and is screening everyone at the door. If you present as a concern you’re directed to the ED.
In Italy the government tried everything to fence in the spread of the virus with even soldiers patrolling on the streets and sending individuals back to their homes.
Even with these drastic measures it was not possible to cut down infection rates dramatically.
In some hospitals in Northern Italy they triage the incoming patients - those with an ample chance for survival are allowed for ventilationt, the others doomed to fight for their lives. A doctor said 'It is like war'.
This just to give you Americans an idea what may lay ahead of you and you seem unfortunately to be vastly unprepared for this.
38
No problem in America.
No need to worry.
The impeached Liar just said that the virus will just go away.
4
While the media has gone into near panic over Covid-19 we have quickly forgotten that we do know how to deal with this.
The average number of deaths world wide from annual flu viruses in about 500,000.
The swine flu killed about 530,000 people and the the H1N1 virus claimed about 800,000 people world wide.
These are tragic figures, but none where declared to be a world wide pandemic and each were eventually contained without major economic disruptions.
Convid-19 is more contagious than the average seasonal flu and so special precautions are warranted.
But we should be facing this virus with a measure of caution but an equal measure confidence that a truly coordinated international effort will lead to a solution.
4
@Drspock It is about the odds of dying. How many millions had the flu last year? In the U.S., there were 16,500,000 reported cases. There were 34,000 deaths. The odds of dying were .02%. The odds dying from the coronavirus are 3-4%. Yes, it is mainly affecting people with compromised immune systems and the edelery. But, should we not be concerned??
11
@drspock
Not to mention statistically, based on the numbers coming out of Washington State, the deathrate is 15% for those over 80. That is a high percentage rate.
1
@Drspock Granted, Doctor, there is always sensationalism in the media, but I think the "panic" can also be attributed to the fact that the Chinese have restricted travel and quarantined populated cities, the Italians have locked down portions of their country, the Saudis have closed the most holy site in the Islamic world, and international stock markets are in full-scale panic (in part because the markets--particularly the U.S. with its mounting, colossal debt and deficit--are dangerously fragile to begin with). I mean, what are they thinking? We should just "stay calm and it'll go away." Be more like our new patron, the Russians: just don't talk about it.
4
If the best way to stop a pandemic is to avoid crowding, then why CUNY, the largest university in NYC, hasn't taken the preventive measures that most private universities in the city have taken? Columbia, NYU, and Manhattan College in the Bronx have already closed and switching to online instruction. Why haven't public schools taken any measure as well? Oh, they are just waiting for a confirmed case to pop up so that they can do something about it when it is already too late.
16
Isn't a payroll tax cut another way of asking the workers to pay for this crises. Reduce their tax now but then Social Security is underfunded by that amount in the future. On top of that, this is a progressive tax. One that is skewed towards providing progressively more relief to the higher earners who will be the least affected by a "Trump Recession". This must be stopped. A recession is not a reason to give money to Trump's friends who are not hurt and do not need relief.
The best way to help out those who are economically hurt is to provide a higher level and longer duration of unemployment insurance. Put a moratorium on bank interest payments on home mortgages below a certain cutoff. Increase funding to the food stamp program and medicaid. Then have the Federal Government make up the difference to the states who pay the bill currently. Just give money to those who need it.
The problem is, Trump has already given away so much money to fund corporate and billionaire tax relief and increase military spending. God forbid, he might have to cancel some of those programs and/ or tax cuts and spend the money where it is needed to help hard hit Americans!
36
@Common cause
And remember, until today payroll taxes weren't "taxes", according to the GOP. (Thus the claim that 47% of Americans don't "pay taxes".)
How can you cut a tax that's not a tax?
17
As a Democrat, I’ve never been a huge fan of Cuomo. However, I have to say he is exerting leadership in the absence of any from the federal government.
52
The payroll tax relief is merely an effort by Trump to buy votes. If we didn't have an election at hand there would be no such proposal. After the big tax revenue giveaway the debt has skyrocketed.
31
Watch what happens with any "payroll taxcut" Trump and Republicans cook up. They'll suspend collection of FICA and call it a successful stimulus.
But, first of all, it won't be a stimulus because, although people may use the little extra money in their paychecks to pay off debts, they won't be making new (stimulating) expenditure on restaurants or trips because fear of the novel coronavirus.
And, second, UNLIKE Obama, who also suspended FICA tax collection during the Great Recession, they will NOT use the General Fund to pay back the Social Security Fund once the "stimulus" is over. This will be another backhanded way to gut Social Security while pretending to be heroes.
56
Interesting how the GOP has claimed for years that people who pay payroll taxes aren't "paying taxes". (Thus the claim that 47% of Americans don't pay "taxes".)
So exactly how is this a "tax cut", GOP? Does the definition simply change one week to the next?
49
Responsible news outlets have a responsibility to explain the "stimulus" payroll tax cut they put in their stories will actually weaken Social Security and Medicare funding. That's what Trump has long wanted. So the MSM are doing his work for him. The news should be about Trump promoting a stealth way to diminish the safety net for millions. Many of us believe the MSM has ill-served us during Trump's presidency. This is an example.
72
@blgreenie
But I thought the MSM was Trump's "#1 Public Enemy"?
Good example of him being scared of his own shadow.
There are many people like myself, who can reasonably follow a regimen of social distancing that relies on careful management of contacts with other people. But there are many more people who cannot.
I don't understand how a school can close for disinfection, and then immediately allow pupils to return without testing the pupils. Children are ideal carriers of the virus, whether or not they become infected. By carrying it unknowingly to their homes or their neighborhoods, they open a 2-way street to virus-bearing people, and re-infect the school-building itself.
The only way to limit the hazard at the school is to test every single pupil, and to quarantine any pupil who is positive. If multiple cleanings and tests are required, so be it.
In the meantime, closing the school seems like a crude but obvious step during this period when evidence of effectiveness of mitigation is not available because of the non-availability of tests, not to mention quick-turnaround processing capability for tests.
Telling people to remain calm seems like a very effective way of inducing panic.
21
One does not need an advanced degree in public health to know how insufficient this measure is. Tests to determine who already has the disease are in short supply. Covid-19 virus is notoriously difficult to detect, even if tests were readily available. Many patients experience no symptoms at all and don’t seek medical attention. Asymptomatic hosts of the virus may not know that they have been exposed to it—in the subway, say. Their unawareness, however, doesn’t make them less contagious. They are vectors freely spreading the virus everywhere. Isolation and quarantine are effective measures sometime, but with Covid-19, a much more Draconian approach is needed. It is questionable if it’s even too late for the “shelter-in-place” option.
13
SO why does Don the Con only want to meet with Repubs about a tax cut? If he doesn't have the whole of congress on board, it will go nowhere. Is this just another ploy to his base so he can say he tried to help the little guy? It would have been better if they had not used the tax cut a couple years ago so they would still have some ammunition for the upcoming recession. And none of this does anything to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
27
@BigFootMN
All the Wall Street executives were invited to the meeting, too. Because, of course, they know best about how to help the little working man.
9
The worst time could begin next week, when spring break ends and numerous students who travel around the US or overseas bring the virus back to their universities. All universities should change to remote education or online courses, at least for the next 2 weeks to avoid the potential infection.
17
So now we know what it takes for the GOP to offer a tax cut to the working class.
If you’re rich, you get a trillion dollars as soon as they take charge. If you’re not, you get a payroll tax cut when there’s a once-in-a-century pandemic.
My fellow Americans, please remember this when they’re promising the moon and stars come election season.
48
cuting the payroll tax helps businesses who have employees and gives a few dollars to those same employees while taking away from the Social Security contributions. It does absolutely nothing meaningful in any way to help low wage earners or gig workers or independent contractors or the self employed with little or no staff. Like anyone who has the mortgage or rent to pay , no paid sick leave and little savings these folks go to work, no matter how well they are. Some of us might think this lame offer is just a joke if it wasn't so awful and so clearly and woefully unhelpful to almost all of us.
3
@Jane Tompson Except it's a tax cut aimed directly at defunding the safety nets the working class relies on.
4
It’s not just that Trump has gutted social services. He gave the rich a massive tax cut producing a massive deficit. Now with no money to deal with this crisis. He wants to fund it by cutting payroll taxes, which will further weaken Social Security and Medicare. What a cynical ploy. I have a better idea. How about rescinding the tax cut for the rich? They’re going to be victims too.
57
Curious why Trump is only talking to Republican lawmakers about Covid 19 strategies. I pay taxes that cover salaries and expenses for elected officials and staff bureaucrats. If I happen to be a Democrat does that mean representation for me is null? Is Trump only the president for Republicans? If that is the case, may I please have a refund for the past 3 yrs of taxes?
48
Good evening from a country lost in a dystopian nightmare. All the people are walking around in surgical masks. If one person with a mask meets another person with a mask, the trajectory of both people changes. Schools are closed, courts are closed, homes are closed to friends. The only disease that seems to exist is the coronavirus. All the other sick people don't seem to count. My father (82 years old) has cancer, he does not move from his bed, but all the doctors seem busy fighting (and fearing) this new enemy. And our government tells us every day that things are going to get worse. It's all surreal.
33
@Alfredo Alfredo
Good evening Alfredo. I am sorry for you, your country and you and your dad's suffering. Our country is a few weeks behind you in number of cases; we'll be living the dystopian nightmare next.
10
@Alfredo Alfredo Here in Pisa we are experiencing a very different situation. Yes, there is much less traffic around (which is good) but frankly you don't have the impression of a seized or shocked city. People are still going out, nearly all respecting safety rules. Very few wear masks. No signs of hysteria for the time being.
2
@Alfredo Alfredo I agree on the heath system strain , but it is not true that people Are going around with masks. Fake news , people are moving around without mask
More faux concerns and false platitudes from Republicans that do not care. Remember conservationism does not include compassion. It is every person for himself. Sharing and helping others is socialism that should be immediately snuffed out. All the better so no one can see that it actually works.
19
I see many reasons particularly during a world pandemic to criticize Trump. His denial about the significance of the outbreak on our population and his out and out lies to the public are astonishing. However this morning I see CNN hosts and others locking in on the notion that Trump is somehow being derelict to not be tested for Coronavirus. His known exposure to second hand PUI is fairly remote. His need for testing is not indicated. I prefer that my news sources be driven by political hacks. That's why I don't listen to FOX news. But it is embarrassing to see the partisanship ramping up over this issue when it is blatantly not science driven. Trump politicizes everything and this attack plays into his factless narratives of fake news.
5
They are reflecting Trump’s failure to lead by example. He should model social distancing and isolate. He was exposed. Where I am, his exposure means mandatory two weeks on home isolation.
If everyone else known to be in contact with a person infected with CVID-19 is expected to self quarantine then why wouldn't the president show leadership by taking the test and be quarantined if testing positive? We expect our communties to do their and yet he is more susceptible than most of us, given his age and the amount of time he spends with multiples of other people.
" So last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year. Nothing is shut down, life & the economy go on. At this moment there are 546 confirmed cases of CoronaVirus, with 22 deaths. Think about that!
7:47 AM - Mar 9, 2020 "
This is what the President tweeted this morning. He is unable to comprehend the danger of a surge of any contagious disease in the absence of a vaccine or treatment.
The outbreak unfolds in northern Italy is almost a mirror image of Wuhan. The population in northern Italy is 16 millions, Wuhan 11 millions. Italy has a population of 60 millions and so is Hubei province. For the past week, the number of confirmed cases in Italy surged over 9,000 with over 500 deaths. Overnight, PM Conte announced lock down whole country to limit travel and congregation.
We need more testing to be done urgently to identify infected patients for isolation or treatment and to quarantine the contacts. Hopefully, this can prevent the surge of an outbreak to minimize the inevitable morbidity and mortality.
Trump in an night interview with Hannity at Fox News said, " Patients with mild symptoms can go to work and many never seen by a doctor ".
If we listen to the president contrary to health official recommendations, five congressmen may not be required self quarantine after close contact with a confirmed covid-19 attendee in CAPC. Ironically, Matt Gaetz wore a gas mask in the House Chamber few days before his self quarantine.
15
At airports throughout the world arriving passengers are checked for signs of the coronavirus. In the US we are not doing this. The sheer incompetence is frightening. I saw Hannity last night talking about a hoax, getting angry about the media coverage warning us of what could happen here. This dangerous man is calling this a hoax. The chickens may be coming home to roost and this administration and Fox propagandists may finally be exposed for the maniacs they are. Sadly many of us, possibly millions, may have to suffer and some die. What a price some of us we may have to pay, how much unnecessary suffering will happen? I just cant see this administration getting it's act together and taking this as seriously as other countries. Shame on them.
23
How about the billionaires cough up some of their tax cuts to help with this virus and the care of their fellow Americans?
33
@Patriot1776
Hahahahahahahahaha!!!!
Thank you for the humor.
2
Let’s not forget; trump played golf all weekend. If he’s concerned, one would never know it from his schedule.
21
Trump will get criticized for focusing on the market, but a market collapse would create a global economic catastrophe, the effects of which would dwarf the virus.
4
Who cares about money when your grandparents and asthmatic cousin are dead? Always finding Trump’s silver lining is one thing, but in the face of a pandemic it’s beyond human decency.
12
The thing that will tank the stock market and the world economy is seeing the US President ignoring a world-wide pandemic in order to play golf.
Everyone in this country is having the jitters because everyone knows that Trump is way out of his depth.
2
@AACNY : Yes, you get it, why are people all of a sudden more important than cash? These liberals....
Wow. Homeless
„One study last year found that 30 percent of homeless people had chronic lung disease“.
Those were once completely normal people.
What happened to the world? I am crying.
7
Trust only the medical doctors and experienced public health officials. With time, their predictions for a spreading crisis are coming true, by the hour. Having undermined science, Trump now wants to throw money around to stimulate the economy. Trump has failed in every way as a leader. He is entirely and hideously unfit for office. Our entire nation is in big trouble, worsening every day. Push Trump aside!!
14
I can understand why they wouldn’t want to be going to factories in China or India to get samples for testing. But I do not understand why they can’t sample the drugs as they enter the US.
6
DIARY FROM A QUARANTINED COUNTRY - DAY #1
We took our dogs out for a walk with a bit of fear since we didn't know what to expect (doomsday-like empty streets? Police everywhere?). I was surprised. Never seen so many people out on a Tuesday afternoon, enjoying sporting outdoor life in the sun in the main city park along the river. Certainly, the lockdown of schools and offices helped. Not a single cop around. People were (mostly) keeping safe distance but didn't give up social life. Dogs, in particular, are always an excellent excuse to socialize. But what really surprised me was everyone's great composure. Data shows that we are still in the exponential phase of the epidemic curve, but my country seems to face it with unexpected calm. I don't think it's recklessness. I think it's just patiently waiting for better days without being brought overly down by a situation you have little control of. This gives me hope that we could bear this weird, suspended month of March facing some personal restrictions but keeping our spirit up. This will be of utmost importance.
23
From what you say, it sounds like Italy is Keeping Calm and Carrying on. This is good news but wondering to what you attribute the measured response of Italians during circumstances that could have easily created mass panic. Americans are looking to Italy for guidance since our government offers only lies and confusion.
7
I don't know. However, Italians are used to cope with difficulties: this might explain their resilience. I reckon that reactions may be of a different kind in northern regions where the highest number of cases are concentrated. So far Tuscany has had only around 2% of positive people.
Just saw on CNN’s website that Harvard is vacating all students — they’re telling all students to clear out within 5 days.
On a related note, an employee working for Biogen attended their meeting in Cambridge and is positive for COViD-19. All their employees are now being told to work from home, not just those based in Cambridge, but all employees (the company had a meeting recently with ppl based at Cambridge, Basel, and RTP). The employee at RTP was the one who’s positive.
The same Cambridge, home to Harvard.
Strap yourselves in — it’s going to a bumpy ride...
8
Cutting payroll tax = cutting social security
20
@Mary
The GOP floated cuts to Social Security and Medicare earlier this year, which landed with a thud in their voter base.
Looks like they've simply found another way down the rabbit hole by bankrupting those programs using COVID-19 as the means.
6
How exactly does a tax cut - bringing in *less* revenue to the federal government - help respond to the urgent need for accessible health care?
22
Meanwhile, in Sacramento, they've issued a press release throwing in the towel on quarantine after 10 confirmed infections, giving the go-ahead so a regional basketball game can be played tonight. That's great. Thanks for the memo. Nice to see where the priorities are for local government. Resigned to infection, our elderly will suffer.
12
Update from the Marina del Rey Costco:
Having stripped the shelves bare of toilet paper; panic buying has now progressed to bottled water.
Cooler heads are not prevailing. This is beginning to resemble a disaster movie....
15
@ George s
Go read the Stephen king novel “ the stand”
2
@George S - I was just in my local Stop & Shop, and saw four people who had carts full of those wrapped 12-packs of bottled water - three packs each. One of the shoppers even had giant packages of toilet paper and paper towels in her cart in addition to the water. The shelves at Stop & Shop were almost completely bereft of antibacterial soap - there were four bottles left, and I was amazed they were still there at all. There was no antibacterial soap to be had at ShopRite or Target, and I haven’t seen hand sanitizer anywhere. I even called Bath and Bodyworks in my local mall, but they were completely sold out and I couldn’t order it online, either.
It seems that Target, as of this past weekend, has started to limit the number of “key items” customers can buy per every store purchase, in order to allow all customers to get what they need. This is apparently in response to the run on paper towels, sanitizer and cleaning supplies. Perhaps other stores will follow suit. Hopefully this will slow down some of the more insane shoppers and calm things down a bit, although it’s hard. There’s no leadership on a national level whatsoever.
The article implies that the closure of schools and banning of large gatherings in the Czech Republic and other Eastern European countries is an overreaction, because there are relatively fewer cases here.
I am deeply grateful that early, proactive measures are being taken! It is imperative to get out in front of this epidemic while contract tracing is still feasible and few community transmissions occur.
One thing you can say in admiration for the formerly Communist nations: they still know how to close a border.
On a more serious note, the more time we buy, and the smaller the outbreak, the greater hope we have of making this a crisis instead of a disaster.
I hope we all get through this with cooperation, compassion, and a sense of collective responsibility and concern. All one people on one small planet,
12
Since the start of ot this outbreak, my staet has only had 300 test kits available. As of yesterday, those were down to 30 - enough to test 2 people for the required 2 times for a valid test.
I have been sick for 2 1/2 weeks, and got a flu test and chest x-ray 2 weeks ago. The flu test was negative, but the chest x-ray got me a diagnosis of "acute bronchitis". Despite the fact that I spent the weekend before I got sick in Seattle, I have been told by my doctors and every state agency I've contacted that there is no way to be tested for coronavirus unless I'm hospitalized because I haven't been to China.
On the radio this morning, Oregon Health Authority announced they'd found no new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. I wonder how many, like me, are just walking around untested? How can they even release "case numbers" if no one is being tested?
71
This is very disturbing. I thought restrictions were lifted on testing... unless it’s due to the fact there aren’t enough tests. Take good care of yourself and stay vigilant. We cannot always believe what they are telling us.
13
@JSL
It is due the fact that there aren't enough tests. OHA says they "hope" to get more from the CDC this week. But until that happens, only a tiny fraction of those who possibly have the virus are getting tests.
6
I’m sure that has nothing to do with Trump wanting to keep his “numbers” down. Next he’ll be telling us obituaries are fake news.
I’m so mad I can’t see straight.
3
The job is the federal government is to manage a portfolio of risks that no other entity has the resources or appetite to take on - defense, education, food safety, sanitation, climate, and yes, a global pandemic. The scattershot information and response to Covid-19 that we're seeing now has its roots in willful neglect and attempts to exploit federal resources for private profit.
To understand the background of the Trump administration's response to Covid-19 I suggest people read Michael Lewis' 'The Fifth Risk'. The book outlines how the Trump administration purposely and willfully - even before his inauguration - ignored and attempted to exploit all areas of federal governance, including the USDA, DOE, and NOAA.
33
Per Putin’s plan. Why is it not reported extensively that all inexplicable behavior by trump, somehow benefits the goals of Putin?
1
“We are the captains of the ship,” Pelosi says “We are the last to leave.” But they'll be "unlikely to approve any additional emergency measures related to this week, before leaving town for a previously scheduled recess."
Recess now? and probably just to dial for dollars! God save us from these pols. Next they'll be saying to take a cruise like T just did.
10
These politicians will be first to leave, not last. Remember ....they gave us Obamacare, while everyone in Congress has a different medical insurance plan then the rest of the country.....not Obamacare. I dont need to know anything more !
2
If every major city just locked down for a mere week it would significantly reduce transmission rates. It would give us time to restock shelves of medical supplies etc. and get our medical personnel safe again.
It seems that travelers are the main culprits in spreading the virus across the globe. If you don’t have to travel...Stay home.
We need bold leadership in this country.
18
Exactly ! Pretend it’s a snowstorm, for crying out loud. Let’s be brave and humble and stay in for the greater good, like our parents and grandparents in WWII blackouts.
9
China today: 26 new cases in population of 1.45bn.
Switzerland today: 123 new cases in population of 8.5m.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
That is: an average person is now nearly a THOUSAND times more likely to get the Plague in rich, efficient, super-clean Switzerland than in China.
Soon an economically resurgent China will be banning visitors from the US and Europe.
'The Decline of the West'?
Xi's strict top-down control may not be very nice for a lot of people in a lot of ways - but as Dr Aylward explained in his great interview here at the NYT, it sure works for some things (and please NYT, exempt such great coverage from the paywall!)
9
House on fire. Trump's response: Give'm another tax cut! Quick!
19
@Observer - The problem is leadership. Who is the leader in this? Not Democrats. Who is in charge? Not Democrats.
Who established an agency of government to be ready to deal with a pandemic? The Democratic President Obama. Who properly funded the Center for Disease Control? Obama.
Who cut funding for both? President Trump.
Last time I looked, Trump wasn’t a Democrat.
35
Reading who's invited to the presidential briefing, I wonder whether the president's roll-out proposal only for Republican politicians? Wow. What about the rest of us, including doctors, healthcare providers, and, dare I say, average people in America (that includes non-Republicans)? If we can't work together on this, we can't work together at all.
33
What will happen to all the homeless people when they fall ill?
6
Read between the lines and you'll get the real answer
3
@Rachel Power
I think we know the answer to that. It ain't pretty.
4
Simple answer — nothing. Don’t think little, if any, effort will be made to test them, even if symptomatic.
There’s an epidemiological terms for folks like these, who are extremely marginalized with no access to the delivery of healthcare services, vectors.
All you ppl out there who say we can’t afford M4A, tell me this, are you comfortable having millions of uninsured, sick ppl out there will the ability to infect others? Do you really want to enter an epidemic of epic proportions under circumstances like these? Inquiring minds want to know.
2
Why hasn’t the dictator been tested?
17
NYT reporters, assignment editors, and copy editors... a respectful request:
Please heavily weight independent experts over any other sources.
We so badly need science RN. I need all and only guidance from informed and reliable experts.
I cannot get distracted by noise right now. It’s so dangerous, and not constructive.
Yes, normally it would be useful to know what the leader of our country’s executive branch does and says. But dogged reporting has established what kind of source he is. Not the best.
Especially this week, news and guidance needs to come only from trustworthy experts.
26
Better to produce a vaccine ASAP.
These monetary/fiscal measures won't help much.
Didn't Trump cut funding for CDC recently?
That should teach the "stable genius" a lesson!
11
@Janak
No, he didn't cut funds.
What Trump did do was issue an unprecedented authorization to bypass red tape and speed up the test development process.
Thanks to this, Trump will likely get tests out in half the time it has taken the CDC to do so in previous pandemics. Then, it took months and as long as a year in one case, and thousands had died.
5
@AACNY. What vaccine? Even if production is fast-tracked, do you realize that it could take a year or more to bring it to market? Same goes for antivirals.
I’ve worked in Pharma for much of my professional career. Before being approved by FDA, you have to prove safety and effectiveness. Do you have any idea how many drugs don’t make it past Phase III?
31
@AACNY
I get your satire (I assume it was that)!
However, I was referring to CDC funding, not funding for the test.
Wait and see.
8
If you are going to send push alerts to phones announcing a containment zone around New Rochelle, please don't make me have to scroll through five pages of history of the virus to find this info. If there is breaking news, that should be the info I land on when I click on the push alert.
22
I’m starting to get the uneasy feeling that the coronavirus pandemic may very well be the plague of biblical proportions we human beings so richly deserve for our misbehavior in modern times. Far too many of us have been selfish, materialistic, lying, insensitive, unserious, racist, sexist, elitist, clannish fools. All of these moral shortcomings are perfectly reflected in the poor quality of our leaders and our governments. We abandoned social responsibility and the community ethic a long time ago. Now that we may need these moral values to survive this crisis we appear to be caught flat-footed. I hope those of us who do survive learn the lessons the Good Lord may be trying to teach us.
4
How about no Tax Cuts or Corporate Bailouts during an Election year? Just wait until after the November Election before deciding how and where to allocate money. Besides, let's not forget that Puerto Rico should be at the head of the queue.
Corporations and the 1 Percenters have been receiving gifts and goodies for the entirety of the Trump Administration. They should have gleaned enough profit from the productive parts of the economy to be able to withstand a market correction.
Funny how Middle Class families who suffer some bad luck often lose their house. But after just a couple of weeks where speculating, overleveraged suffer some financial setbacks, and the Federal Government wants to make good their losses.
15
If Trump actually briefs only Republican Senators and not the whole of Congress, we'll get to see how close these old white males are willing to stand to him now that there's a chance that the stable genius has run into the virus.
Perhaps a photo op of a doctor inserting a long swab deep up the President's nose is just the morale booster we all need... (I am pretty sure that Nancy Pelosi would be willing to dress up as a nurse if she is offered an opportunity to do the procedure.)
Well the germophobe in chief is on the job. Why is everyone so worried? What could go wrong?
13
They were standing pretty close to him yesterday. At the very least he looks terrible and sounds like he’s got a cold.
2
Too late, it's already down to 97th St. Chabad which means all of Manhattan soon.
8
@CacaMera please explain?
1
How, really, is this virus transmitted, and how easily? Sounds simple, but it is not. It appears that the sickest patients "shed" virus through the lungs and pose the greatest risk, but is that true for every patient? Is there an oral/fecal route lurking on the subways and shopping carts? What about possible asymptomatic carriers? It seems that our national anxiety could be quelled by community wide screening, a well known public health measure. This must be given the same importance as a tax cut, or building a wall. Do we have public health nurses to do case finding? Do we now only care about the homeless because they might spread this disease? Is public transportation now a concern because it is, well, public?
11
WHY?? “Food and Drug Administration said that it would stop routine inspections of food, drugs and medical devices overseas through April, citing the worldwide spread of the coronavirus.”
21
@LP exactly! Why isn't this explained? It sounds like a horrible idea.,
15
Stop the St. Patrick's Day Parade!!!
10
@bronxite - Keep the parade but we can all watch at home on t.v.
Follow what our government in NZ is doing; they are the equivalent of the Democrats in the USA. We only have 5 cases of the virus and none in the South Island, so far. Our CENTRAL government has it under control; if USA central government is not leading and showing the way then the Mayors of regions have to step up and make their own local government laws because of slack central government direction for the coronavirus.
12
The democrats are right about this one. Leave it to Trump to offer some lame stimulus that only the wealthy could feel. Reducing payroll taxes will not cover two lost paychecks and medical bills, which is what a volunteer quarantine would be like.
This is the risk that billion and trillion dollar companies took when they did not offer paid leave and medical coverage. Now people have to come to work sick. Many will not have medical coverage either.
31
Why does "The Pretender" only brief GOP members on these matters of national importance? When did we stop being a representative democracy?
26
November, 2016.
19
In S Korea, Shinchunji group notoriously evaded the government protocols and uncooperative to the healthcare tracking, but the healthcare ministry was swift with implementing policies to handle the crisis. Still did not impose lock down of the city but closed the facilities.
Not sure how US will handle the similar crisis when it happens, as we know thousands of people still going to conference , CPAC aipac, that’s Shinchunji waiting to explode here in DC
S Korean government made all testing (after pre testing) free, treatment free, and gave a daily allowance to self quarantined around $50/ day per person. This is better for the hourly wage workers, and people who are uninsured or underinsured.
12
Exactly!! The South Korean response was thorough, speedy, compassionate and sensible and they are turning the corner on the virus.
Why can’t we learn from their example? Before Trump, they were a favored ally.
5
@JDC - Here in Washington, Governor Inslee passed some emergency bill that will allow unemployment benefits to be used for workers that have to miss work due to illness or quarantine.
2
Learn from Chinese that began to use masks in the community early enough. In Italy under WHO indication face masks are not prescribed unless you or your relatives are sick. Now we are topping the world in terms of deaths. This virus is different from SARS, as a Lancet article points out, more infectious and transmitted mainly by apparently healthy persons . If there are cases , whenever people gather they should Wear appropriate masks. And gather as les as pissible.
4
@Max
China has that honor. Italy has a lot of cases. The EU is tightening borders between countries. We are behind in this pandemic; the CDC had its budget cut, as did the NIHS. We needed medical and science experts; instead we had the 'great brain', and with 'great genes' as well.
2
We need paid sick leave or special unemployment benefits for people forced to self quarantine. This will cost a lot of money but with interest rates so low it is the obvious thing to do. Let's hope our politicians can lead on this, rather than react, too late, to increasingly bad news.
12
Maybe the corporations, who saw fit to not extend healthcare to their workers or sick leave or raise wages for the last 40 years, maybe they can pick up this tab. Maybe the corporations should “lead” on this. With their money.
5
@tanstaafl - Our governor already passed new legislation tapping into unemployment for quarantined individuals.
A federal bailout of Trump properties faced with plummeting occupancy rates must be the first order of business.
21
When VP Pence has a press conference to give an update on coronavirus. he directly addresses the president, who is either standing or sitting beside him, rather than speak directly to the American people. I find this strange and disconcerting.
46
@Angela Minton Everything about the last three years has been strange and disconcerting. If there was ever anyone who defines "obsequious" it is Mike Pence.
10
Pence is the Uriah Heep of all 45 Vice Presidents. I have come to find him unwatchable. The banality of evil personified.
7
Obama had set up an agency to deal with pandemics. Trump dismantled it and fired the scientists. Obama fully funded the CDC and Trump cut their funding three years in a row. Obama would have known how to deal with this threat. I wish a thinking, rational person was still president.
31
@Linda - We saw Obama's ability to deal with an event like this at Flint, Michigan. What did out president do? He went to Detroit to make a speech where he pointed the finger at the Republicans who pointed the finger at...
Finally, Cher Bono had enough of our politicians and got on the phone and ordered a million bottles of water from Iceland and had it flown into the people of Flint.
If Obama were in charge, we would be just as bad off.
@tom harrison The Flint water debacle was a failure of state and local government, not a federal matter. Their crooked Republican governor fraudulently appointed a crooked Republican "emergency manager" who had the genius idea of spurning a safe water supply in favor of a local source that was polluted and damaged pipes so badly that they learned lead into the city's drinking water. All to save some money.
If Obama had ridden in on a white horse with a federal solution, every Republican in sight would have howled about the evil federal government imposing its will on Michiganders and found ways to obstruct the solution. It would still be in court today.
Bottled water is a Band-aid, not a solution.
I'm glad Trump refused the test. That way his kit can go to someone more worthy which includes any one of 320 million Americans.
30
Better than a stimulus: make sure the tests for the COVID-19 illness is FREE for everyone and make sure that everyone who gets sick is covered so no one has to go bankrupt from this. Instead of stealing once again from Social Security, It was a terrible idea when Obama did it and it is a terrible idea now.
14
@Mark
Obama did not steal from Social Security; that was the Bush/Cheney idea. Social Security is protected from government theft.
5
@Linda Miilu
Except when they bankrupt it through the back door by doing a FICA tax cut, as Trump proposes.
So let's spell this out. Our public health "system" is under-funded and under-staffed. Wait times for subsidized housing are years long in many areas. The "safety net" of social services for the elderly, poor and vulnerable has been gutted. So, what does Humpty-Trumpty do to address this dangerous health crisis? Why, push for another tax cut, of course! Whatever the problem, his solution is always the same. I don't think we can handle all this winning.
762
@ARNP
Earlier this year the GOP was floating cuts to Social Security and Medicare because they are "bankrupt". Now they want to do to these programs what they did to the deficit - blow them up with a tax cut.
Hypocrisy at its finest. Oh, and don't be surprised if the hole they'll blow in SS/Medicare becomes justification for those cuts they've always wanted.
63
@ARNP thanks for so eloquently articulating my thoughts!
27
@ARNP
Did you miss the $8.3B spending bill the president just signed?
11
"Schools and other large gathering facilities like community centers and houses of worship within the area will be closed for two weeks beginning on Thursday, Mr. Cuomo said."
Thursday...so we have three more days, to get infected. Not stopping the St. Patrick's day parade, another brilliant solution. Korea got a handle on its situation by taking aggressive action and testing. Italy has now shut down. Just shut everything down now, before we have more cases. Doing it a week later only means more cases and we're behind the ball already because the very stable genius that runs this country had a hunch that the US wouldn't get it.
7
@thewriterstuff - There is nothing stopping each of us from self-quarantining or limiting our exposure to each other. Several restaurants here in Seattle have had to temporarily close due to lack of business.
1
Where is the conservative mantra coined by leading figure Grover Norquist now?
"The goal is to make government small enough that we can drown it in a bathtub."
Maybe those cavalier, selfish types who have advocated that shortsighted idea, to the detriment of our society, should get treatment last.
Or get submerged in the tub.
11
Why isn't St. Patrick's Day Parade cancelled in NYC?? Our mayor consistently has minimized the Corona Virus. There should be a consistent procedure re: large gatherings!!
5
The flu kills (CDC) about 80,000 people annually -- and perhaps twice that number -- in the United States. The Covid virus has, so far, killed a couple of dozen people.
Both are viral respiratory infections and the prophylaxis is precisely the same for each. Why, then, are we not quarantining people and communities because of the flu or taking other drastic steps?
Since the nature and prophylaxis of the two infections is virtually identical but our response to them is so different than something other than best medical practices must be at work.
That "something" is really two things. One is sensationalist journalism and the other is the politicalization of Covid in order to attack Trump.
Such a vastly disparate response to nearly identical situations leaves little room for anything other than cynicism.
@Observer
You go right on believing that.
4
@Observer
This novel virus is not identical to the flu. Flu shots are no protection against COVID-19. There is no vaccine; it will take more than a year with full funding and expert R&D to develop a vaccine. That has been reported in the newspaper you are posting to.
7
Its been a right wing dream to "shrink government down to a size where it can be drowned in the bathtub". Look at the size of trump's cabinet. Everyone's been FIRED by trump!
Its small enough, but I believe we start with the stable genius first!
6
Trying to fix a raging deadly disease with a tax cut shows how deranged Trump’s thinking is. People’s health and lives are at stake yet Trump is proposing a tax cut?
I listened to Bill Deblasio today and I think his decision to keep the New York City kids in school could really backfire. Luckily individuals under 20 are not getting impacted as much as older people or people with extenuating medical conditions.
If NYC kids become carriers of the virus the healthy kids may not suffer too bad. Kids with complicating factors could have a much tougher time fighting the virus. The biggest problem I see is that parents, grand parents, care givers, and others are infected by the kids who are carrying the virus.
10
As a resident of New Rochelle, I've found it very hard to get tested for my recent flu symptoms. Several people I know in New Ro are in the same boat. I really hope this containment zone policy opens up some testing.
20
@Amy - I'm not sure why we are all getting so hung up on testing. Our doctors won't treat us any differently (other than to quarantine) if we test positive than if we just show severe flu symptoms with some pneumonia or bronchitis tossed in. They don't start reaching for other meds just because it came back COVID-19.
The theory is, if we know we have COVID, we aren’t running around spreading it to hospital employees, who then must quarantine. Then there is no one to treat the sick.
But sure, this is all a Democratic hoax to make Trump look bad. Those cunning Dems even got the Chinese and Italians to dynamite their own economies to make the Great Golden God look like a moron.
Or...Maybe he IS a moron.
@tom harrison Because I’ve been self quarantining for 5 days. If I’m negative, I’ll stop.
1
How does a payroll tax cut help hourly workers? It is my understanding that employers pay payroll taxes. Does this cut come with a mandate to provide paid sick leave? Otherwise I don’t see it how that helps workers at all.
31
@Elli
Payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare are split between employer and employee.
The employer takes the worker’s portion out of gross pay and sends it to Uncle Sam.
I haven’t seen any details of Trump’s proposal, but I would guess the worker would see the payroll taxes added back to the paycheck.
Anyone with better information?
1
It is one thing to announce economic stimuli discussions but the paucity of public health information and regular updates from the federal government, especially the CDC, is shocking. President Obama was confronted with a global economic crisis so economic issues were paramount.
We are facing a pandemic not seen for decades or perhaps a century and the greatest country on earth is floundering, being governed by a president who is clearly adrift. How can things not become worse than they have to under this president?
26
@AGoldstein /...the greatest country on earth????
Isn’t the proof in the pudding?
2
@AGoldstein
To answer your question, luck and competent state/local officials, and especially nurses, CNAs, first responders, doctors.
2
The Covid-19 virus pandemic – a veritable Black Swan event – aims a dagger at the heart of Donald Trump’s re-election prospects. It is the greatest threat to his presidency in his 38 months in office.
No matter how soothing the talk from Trump and his cronies, they cannot tweet away a devastating outbreak of lethal disease nor a rapidly swooning economy.
It’s the economy, Stoopid!
This is the first crisis of the Trump presidency not caused entirely by the president’s own calamitous misbehavior. With a bit of luck, it will be the last.
81
@Warren
This really isn’t a Black Swan. Though the particular pathogen was unknown, public health officials have been warning of this for years.
Because of those warnings, Trump is even more culpable for reducing/eliminating agencies formed to tackle just this event.
5
This horrible virus is undeniably exposing Donald Trump for the fraud he is and has always been. Donald Trump has gotten away with it his whole inherited life. He’s not going to be able to get away with this one.
86
But Impeached and Pence just said the virus is contained...
were they (gasp) lying???
33
Canceling all political rallies would be an excellent idea. (Including for Trump!)
Why hasn’t Disneyland been closed at ALL worldwide locations during this epidemic???!! Now is not the time for corporate greed by one of our wealthiest corporations.
29
When I listen to president (lower case intentional) repeatedly lie about test kits and then blather about, “the numbers,” I think of the old joke about the drunk who looks for his keys only under the streetlight, because that’s where he can see them.
28
More importantly, has the President been tested for the virus?
If not, why not?
If so, what are the results?
11
@joe s
I am confused about this. Won’t he just test negative until he has symptoms?
@Joe S. he probably has been tested, but I guess admitting to it means 1) that indeed it is not a hoax and 2) how quickly the test was made available to him but not to many who might need it too. Also, if he tests positive and it is made public, then what? dilemmma!
5
@Shell
People can test positive and not have symptoms -- there are probably thousands if not hundreds of thousands of untested, asymptomatic people in America who can still transmit the virus to others.
My point is that Trump is the President of the United States, and his health is important to the functioning of the country, and the world. We should know if he is at risk, or has been compromised. Maybe he's as healthy as they say, but he's still a million years old, so there is cause for concern.
1
South Korea had an easier task, with 90 per cent of cases in the city of Daegu and concentrated in the followers of one Christian church.
But the reaction was swift: the government locked the city down, but perhaps even more crucially it ordered testing on an unprecedented scale.
With nearly 200,000 people checked, it was far easier to contain known cases and stop them infecting others. There were only 35 new cases today, down from 909 two weeks ago.
meanwhile here at home we is stillll waaaiittinnng.
37
Shinchunji group notoriously evaded the government protocol and uncooperative to the healthcare tracking, but the healthcare ministry is swift with implementing policies to handle the crisis. Not sure how US will handle the similar crisis when it happens, as we know thousands of people still going to conference , CPAC aipac, that’s Shinchunji waiting to explode here in DC
1
@Mary Elizabeth Lease - They are still waiting for test kits at the nursing home where about 16 people have died here in the Seattle area. But I read this morning that the UW now has a drive-thru testing and soon the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will have home test kits. But its beyond late for all of that. People have been walking around this city for weeks exposing each other and its starting to show.
1
@tom harrison
my brother got his doctorate at UW and his wife did her residency at Group Health prior to its absorption by the Kaiser Borg and still have friends there who describe events as surreal and terrifyingly real.
Stay safe and enjoy the zen solitude while you can.
My guess is Trump already has the virus. If he's meeting with Republicans only, perhaps they'll all get affected.
27
This may be my imagination—but it seems like Democratic governors are taking speedy and decisive action in regard to Covid-19—while Republican governors are following Trump’s partisan, “bury-your-head-in -the-sand” policy. I sure hope I’m wrong!
33
Is Corvid-19 more of a Chinese threat to the world than a health threat? There seems to be a panic as if there's going to be another Mongol invasion.
Russia sees an opportunity here to get back at America and drive US fracking oil/gas out of business.
Diseases come and go, it is part of nature's (god, gods, GOD) plan. We can only live and die with it. Amen.
1
@David
"Russia sees an opportunity here to get back at America and drive US fracking oil/gas out of business."
Trump should've thought about that when it forced a halt of the 96% completed pipeline from Russia to Europe. But he wanted a pipeline from Israel to Europe instead.
3
@David
We can do a lot more than sit back and mumble about gods’ plans.
Yes, pathogens will continue to evolve and thus present threats......against which our species will deploy the knowledge gained by science. More people will live because of it.
If only the world would have reacted this way when HIV appeared.
21
@Jesus Deluna
Instead of two weeks like Covid-19, HIV had an incubation time of years. By the time symptoms widely arose, it was already everywhere.
3
Unfortunately they tried to. There was often talk about mandatory quarantines for those with AIDS and I believe in Cuba actually did that.
2
@Jesus Deluna Unfortunately, they did. As in, overrreacted and refused to touch, hug and kiss even though it was safe to do so.
3
Trump is gaming a stimulus to break the hold of the virus on the nation? Who does he think he is? Nero? Is this his $5 and a loaf of bread for continuing to attend Trump’s Circus? Why not articulate the actions needed to beat down this illness to save lives? Where are the Democrats in your meeting?
11
The news is clear. Vaccine wont be available for a year or more... on fast track. Short term, containment to shrink cases is the ONLY plan.... million tests are out there, many millions more coming which may drive a more focused containment plan once data on results is compiled.
2
@Cromwell
Nothing is ever clear when Trump is directing traffic with his finger and mouth.
5
Why is Trump only briefing the Republican senators?
32
@Betty Boop
I know you know the answer. ;)
2
This is from the ground zero in Italy:
https://threader.app/thread/1237142891077697538
" 3/ The current situation is difficult to imagine and numbers do not explain things at all. Our hospitals are overwhelmed by Covid-19, they are running 200% capacity
4/ We’ve stopped all routine, all ORs have been converted to ITUs and they are now diverting or not treating all other emergencies like trauma or strokes. There are hundreds of pts with severe resp failure and many of them do not have access to anything above a reservoir mask.
5/ Patients above 65 or younger with comorbidities are not even assessed by ITU, I am not saying not tubed, I’m saying not assessed and no ITU staff attends when they arrest. Staff are working as much as they can but they are starting to get sick and are emotionally overwhelmed. "
39
It’s interesting to see Trump literally adopt the measures of the “radical left” to combat Covid-19. The steps he was talking about yesterday are right out of the “Socialist” playbook the right have been against for years. And considering the right have been pushing the idea that the flu is worse, one has to ask: if Covid-19 deserves this response, then wouldn’t that mean these policies should be adopted more permanently?
8
Hey! I beg to differ. Over here where Socialism still has some welcome legacy, we are handling the outbreak a lot more coherently and proactively than Trump.
1
This virus isn’t going away any time soon. In fact there are virtually no viruses we’ve eliminated besides smallpox. Even the SARS virus likely remains in civet cats. This new coronavirus will almost certainly continue circulating for at least another year. A vaccine and effective antivirals will hopefully come online by next year. But before this epidemic subsides a lot of people will probably get sick, and a not insignificant number will die. Buckle up. This is probably going to be a long and bumpy ride.
7
@Michael Tyndall - You can forget about a vaccine by next year. Phase I of the local vaccine test being done by Kaiser Permanente will be 14 months. Then, comes phase II and III and that is if they get lucky the first time around.
@tom harrison
You may well be right. My wife worked for Kaiser Permanente and was involved in some of the pediatric vaccine trials done in the Bay Area. The integrated healthcare system with several million members was instrumental in collecting solid data. People don't realize how powerful Kaiser data was in the approval of various childhood vaccines.
Anyway, my comment about timing was related to Dr. Fauci's statement that the earliest a vaccine might be available was a year to 18 months from now, i.e. sometime in 2021. That assumes the earliest attempts are successful, and that follow on tests through the various phases are quickly ready to go and similarly successful.
I am tired of our response to pandemic on all levels and our believe in American Exceptionalism.Do we really think that we are so unique that Covid -19 is not going to touch us?!
I am tired of people claiming that this is a hype and just another influenza,
Especially physicians who don’t take an effort to educate themselves.I am tired of CDC and local public health authorities who have outdated guidelines and recommend screening only those with symptoms, who traveled to high risk countries. They haven’t noticed that most of the places are high risk or will be soon!I am tired of local health institutions not making enough effort to be prepared for outbreak.Most of all I am tired of lack of cohesive, uniform strategy on all levels in this country to mitigate dangers of rapidly spreading pandemic.
I am not giving up though.On my local levels, I am trying to stir things up a bit, demand answers and action.I work in a hospital and surely administration is trying to prepare for spread of Covid-19 here.Are they doing enough? In my opinion not, especially when instead of being proactive, they mostly rely on local Department of Public Health.
I am bracing myself, collecting literature and guidelines from Medical Professional Societies and Institutions how to work in new environment and how to safely treat my patients.
When pandemic subsides, I would like though to have answers from those responsible for our unsatisfactory response to it.I think we should keep them accountable.
35
I read that Mr. Trump will discuss his plan with Republican lawmakers only. As my Representative and Senators are Democrats, does that mean I can just buzz off as far as the Executive branch is concerned?
64
@Jonathan My Reps in Florida are all Republican; I email them every day; it is like talking to the wall; I do not exist to them. Trump walked into his GOP only lunch just now; Republicans cheered him. They anticipate money falling from the sky; they salivate;we perish.
13
I have my doubts about Gov. Cuomo's "containment" efforts. My own view is that we should assume it's already spread everywhere (despite the lack of diagnoses) and work backwards.
Focus on priorities: Doctors and hospital staff, then high risk citizens. The rest of the population can take self-imposed measures (ex., self-quarantine, hand washing, etc.).
9
Cuomo’s trying to buy time. Time to get test kits, supplies, and public education in place. Maybe time for warm weather to set in.
Which he needs, largely because your boy Trump hacked away what had been in place to deal with all this, and has now stooged around for going on three months.
When he wasn’t golfing, that is.
5
@Robert - I wouldn't count on warmer weather helping. I can see the tulip tree outside starting to bloom. Daffodils have been up for weeks and people have already started working out in the yards. The last time I remember wearing my winter coat was in December when we had 2" of snow for a total of 48 hours. And everyday, more cases are popping up here.
Here in a Austria, this is what it looks like. The government just announced a number of significant measures, including the closure of all universities beginning on Monday, restrictions and checks on the Austrian-Italian border, a prohibition on indoor gatherings of more than 100 people as well as a prohibition on outdoor gatherings with more than 500 people. There has also been an appeal for social distancing and companies have been urged to allow workers to work from home.
Almost from the very beginning of the outbreak, anyone with symptoms was advised to stay home (in order to avoid infecting others) and ring a dedicated hotline (1450) at which point a determination would be made regarding the best course of action. Here in Vienna, if the person's condition was deemed to be serious, then a dedicated team would transfer the person to a special section of a city hospital trained in treating epidemics.
At this point, over 5,000 people have been tested across the country, and the present restrictions are meant to safeguard hospitals from being overwhelmed by an overlap between flu cases (high at the moment) and COVID-19 cases (rising).
Aside from a few missteps, this seems to be a proactive, rational, and effective approach with some success (for now).
117
@HB641 proactive, rational, and effective. I don't really understand these words in regards to the current administration handling of the situation.
6
@HB641
Same here. It seems very simple, from this perspective. I, an expat American, expected the arts and education to be superior here in Eastern Europe, but I never thought that it would put America to shame in administering a public emergency.
9
Where is Sen. Rand Paul saying that government has no place in this? The people of Kentucky voted for small government and low regulations. Libertarians believe the CDC interferes with all powerful private corporations from stepping in and solving the problems way more quickly than government.
Kentucky, like all conservative states. voted to keep government out of the healthcare business. Red States voted for GOP Senators to keep government small and do nothing ever.
As usual, liberals are ruining everything with government interference, which is why Kentucky will vote GOP again. Conservatives voted for the government to do nothing, and Trump is delivering, as promised.
50
Smart assessment of why good government is needed!
2
We, the Iranian people, are hopeful for the future, along with the health and medical staff. I hope things calm down again.
27
@faryam
Sending you wishes for a more peaceful tomorrow with better health for all.
1
I am no economist, but wouldn't trying to control the coronavirus be the best thing for our US economy right now? Once the virus can get under control, the economy will start to come back. More testing, more stringent measures, more truth is the best option.
134
Great point. It’s either limited, shorter financial pain now, or lengthened, more drawn out pain later. Let’s get it done now so we can all get back to business in a few months.
5
@Native Texan :
Government needs to step aside and let the Free Markets work. The CDC interferes private corporations from stepping in and fixing the problem. Just shrink government, remove all these "safety regulations" (like "testing") and let the Free Market (Medical Monopolies who care way more for profit than humans) fix everything.
That is the Conservative, GOP way, that all the Red States vote for decade after decade. Simple, commons sense solutions.
12
@Native Texan
I think we should assume the virus will continue to spread uncontrollably; although I'll await the results of NYS Gov. Cuomo's containment measures, which include using the National Guard.
I believe it's unrealistic to think we can "contain" this in the general population. The better step is to focus on who absolutely cannot get it -- ex., health care professionals and at-risk individuals -- and focus the bulk of our efforts there.
In other words, work backwards. Assume everyone will get it and take extraordinary measures to protect those who absolutely cannot.
7
Republicans should enact “Coronavirus Medicare for All” for a year, renewable year by year, as necessary. This will allow for those without insurance to be tested, treated, etc. ( Not my original idea but critically important for this Republican Congress. Or, they can hide their heads in the sand.
12
@Neil :"
The worst words any American can hear, ever:
"I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
@gratis
Reagan closed mental hospitals and Community Health Centers which dealt with drugs and alcoholism. As President he cut Federal funding for public health programs. He had Alzheimers when he left office. I lived in D.C. at the time; it was common knowledge that Nancy and friends ran the WH. Reagan was a poor Governor and a worse President. He was a Grade B actor, a Borax salesman, and a mouthpiece for right wing GOP Congress people.
1
@Linda Miilu :
Perhaps, but the GOP has adopted his words and elected the GOP fo 40 years on these ideas.
‘President Trump will go to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to brief Republican senators on his ideas for an economic stimulus package to respond to the coronavirus crisis’
I assume Trump intends to get congressional action, which is odd without the involvement of Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats. Trump deserved more than impeachment over his Ukrainian shakedown for campaign dirt, but he needs to forget his ego and remember he works for all the people. Trying to freeze Democrats out is childish pique and demonstrates both his immaturity and his incompetence.
Meanwhile, his current stunt is another self centered PR move that will delay real congressional action. Whatever he and Republicans are planning will almost certainly be more limited and business centric. Instead, it needs a strong focus where the harm is most severe, namely the homeless, the working poor, and those uninsured or poorly insured. Selected businesses or sectors may need targeted relief, but bailouts can’t become another treasury heist by those already well off.
Once again, Trump appears to be fiddling while Rome burns.
29
What is this- briefing only GOP senators? Why only the GOP? This man cannot and will not let politics go, not even in the most dire times. He must go. Our country, our people deserve so much better. God bless our country and our people. We will prevail.
110
Classic right-wing tactic to further slash Social Security and other parts of the social safety net. A payroll tax cut will require future cuts in benefits to "pay" for it.
This is a long-term strategy of the GOP and why he's only meeting with Republican senators. They are using a public health crisis to advance their ideological goals of destroying the last remnants of the New Deal.
And I'm sure the Democrats will foolishly go along. What politician will oppose tax cuts in an election year?
19
@George S.
I saw an article a couple of days ago that Pelosi & Schumer want unemployment insurance for those who have to be quarantined as part of a stimulus package. I haven't seen any other articles about that since.
1
Half of the Republicans believe the treat of this virus is overblown, so what are they going to tell trump? Let's use this as an excuse to give a gift to our constituencies.
7
Why is he meeting only Republicans? Isn’t he president of the whole country?
63
@Dr. OutreAmour : no.
12
Having assumed the persona of Mussolini for the past three years it is impossible for Trump to step into the character of FDR.
29
It is 2020 and GOP is using Herbert Hoover's play book.
7
Media and commenters have castigated Wuhan authorities for allowing that mass holiday potluck dinner early in the epidemic. Now NYC goes on with Saint Paddy's.
21
@Pigsy
Dublin has cancelled its parade. A foolish decision if NYC sticks to it.
Not only the parade, but the jam-packed bars will be worse than crew quarters on a 18th century sailing ship.
3
Wow! Trump is really going to brief Congress on something!
After all, he is a stable genius. His new program should include presidential self-isolation to prevent the spread of dangerous ideas. He has great immunity, as exemplified by his response to scientific thought and security briefings. His tests for infection are the greatest, if only they can be deployed. And the marvel of his closure of CDC's pandemic operation! After all, the case statistics are much better when no one is tracking them.
6
My career for thirty five years was to determine failure based on variables, controlling the variables, and improving the quality of the assemblies and products we sold. We performed billions of procedures to ship millions of finished goods. From my experience, there is no published information to determine any accurate mortality rate for this virus. We have numbers of deaths, age and sex, how many people who have been tested, and how many tested people have/had the virus. Doctors are saying older people, people with high blood pressure, people with diabetes, people with weak immune systems, and people with respiratory problems are more likely to die from the virus. That describes most people that die. If you had a million people of all ages and known illnesses be exposed to the virus, and documented types of treatments and outcomes, you could start a statistical analysis. Then sub groups would be would be studied again and again. That is what delays pharmaceutical companies from rushing for cures to known diseases. Any scientist that is stating a death rate for this disease is making educated guesses, based on what little evidence is currently known, and that is far from being accurate by any definable measures. Journalist with a calculator are scaring the public.
1
Nonsense.
You need to read the papers coming out of China and WHO. If you can.
I did. It’s good, careful work.
5
Go look at the New England Journal of Medicine website. Specifically their Coronavirus section. Plenty of stats to pore over.
1
@Robert The results listed of a small group doesn’t give any indication of of how many people were exposed to the virus that didn’t become ill. Without a control group, they are only analyzing infected, detected cases. What is the percentage of people exposed to the virus that it hasn’t been transmitted to? Good careful work doesn’t reflect accurate numbers of unknown variables. Using the numbers Fauci examined from China, is everyone under 15 immune from the disease? If so, why are elementary schools closing in South Korea?
Vermont has one confirmed case (of course, far more in reality) but, up here in out teeny tiny state, we already have drive-by testing! Proud of the state & the hospitals for already figuring it out and implementing it, everyone everywhere needs to learn from wise plans & decisions, old & newfangled both, from anywhere around the globe. Too bad the trump administration & the CDC are mired in really bad decisions with unwise sluggish leadership (Redfield should be out but he seems obsequious to trump, just the way trump likes it), not taking tips from other countries where this has already broken wide open. Learn from South Korea, from Italy, from China...what worked, and what decidedly did not. Be sharp, we are many steps behind this virus, this pandemic, not at all in front of it, no matter what authorities might want you to hear. And use your own common sense.
11
Two weeks ago, Italy had just 153 coronavirus cases. Today it has more than 9,000 and the entire country is in lockdown.
10
@Mary Elizabeth Lease - I'm waiting to see Seattle get locked down but by and large, we all seem to be hiding in our homes.
It has been so quiet I can hear a pin drop in my very loud neighborhood. The hookers are not fighting over who gets this corner tonight, the sirens are not blaring, no one is screaming in the parking lot - just Zen quiet.
This is hardly a time for levity, but at least the heightened security and diminished passenger traffic at Milan Central Station will cut down on the rampant petty thievery there.
5
Trump should meet with house members and senators from both parties.
Yet another act showing how negative he is.
15
Trump is the uncool, rich kid no one likes, but they like to play with his toys so they use him. The rich investors and big business will squeeze more handouts from him, because he desperately hopes the market will go up after such stimulus. Unfortunately, with a viral pandemic on hand and no plan how to contain it whatsoever, demand for goods and services will keep collapsing, investor confidence will keep melting and the market will keep selling off. So we will not only keep losing in our 401K plans but then he will destroy Social Security as well. His rich "friends" will be even richer though.
7
Why does NY Governor Cuomo present an easy understanding of the virus and our guy in the Whitehouse can't calm the public?
17
Seriously? The President of the United States is briefing only the Republicans? Can he represent EVERY American just once, like during a health emergency for instance. He disgusts me.
79
Why are all the people at the checkpoints wearing masks? Masks do NOT protect you! If you have symptoms you should stay home and wear a mask to protect others if you absoultely must go into public. But if you have symptoms YOU SHOULDN'T be checking others! These photographs immflame the situation.
3
Ao our 401k's are tanking and now Trump wants to raid the SS coffers in the form of a "payroll tax reduction"....But hey, per Trump, we will have cheap gas to drive us to those non-existent future jobs.
Here's an idea: why don't you undo your tax cut for the 1%? It is way past time that those people start feeling some of the pain the rest of us have to deal with.
Worst President Ever
161
I have not seen anyone comment on the value of being outside in sunlight and fresh air. A hike in the woods has got to be good for avoiding the virus and a robust immune system. So go out there and don't cough on anybody!
19
@Anne Hard to do in Mid-Manhattan.....
6
@Anne - Sunlight? In Seattle? If you go out in the woods for a hike you have to endure black bears and cougars and always run the risk of accidentally stumbling upon a meth lab or neo-Nazi training camp. Or the latest Green River Killer.
I'm gonna stay home with the door bolted. I have plenty of weed and Ethiopian coffee beans inside to weather it out. And 40 seasons of Survivor to rewatch full of young folks running around a Fijian beach in their wet underwear. Call me when the pandemic is over.
The president is meeting with republicans to discuss an “economic stimulus package to respond to the coronavirus crisis”
Why is it only always about money for republicans?
What about the sick? What about the at-risk elderly?! They don’t need a tax break. They need care.
30
He's trying to keep the economy from going down the toilet which it is teetering on the edge of doing. You better pray he succeeds. if you think the poor and the elderly are going to benefit from a massive economic depression you are incorrect.
@NYmom Wouldn't an emergency program to produce and distribute an adequate number of virus test kits, as well as ventilators and other vital treatment resources stimulate the economy?
One comment. “The President will brief Republican senators...” This is a national crisis. Set partisanship aside and focus on what’s best for the nation.
15
No fear!
I‘m Your CORONA-President!
I‘ll make Your CORONA great again!
6
Where is Hollywood? They touted their superior lifestyle, social stance, political opinions, and activism at every award show, interview, and tweets but why are they so quiet on COVID-19?
If we always towards Hollywood for guidance and leadership on climate change, renewable energy, income/gender/racial policies why aren’t we look for their superior leadership today?
George Clooney and Joaquin Phoenix should lead the CDC and NIH. We need them more than ever.
5
First, last and always, we’re Americans. When we need leadership, we look to our elected representatives.
And especially the President. Pity we don’t have one.
20
@AmateurHistorian Where is Trump; he is President;not Hollywood. Trump is prepping to throw money at a virus. Doctors Worldwide agree this is the best solution. Not!!!
3
What bothers me the most, is that we have an administration that is seriously occupied with denying the scope of the covid-19, as a virus which is spreading, than putting a system in place to go about knowing its depth, effects, educating the masses and in constant communication with its people, governors, and above all having a message of unity.
8
Michigan doesn't have cases because we have tested merely 63 people - we only have testing capabilities for 375-400 people. More than 400 people are being monitored but have not been tested because we don't have enough tests.
How can public health decisions be made without information? The incompetence is spectacular.
63
The very least our government can do is to stop the price gouging running rampant in this country. Today a gallon of Clorox on Amazon costs 37 dollars. Other bleach and disinfectant products run as high as 59 to 65 dollars a gallon. Tomorrow the cost could be even higher. This is criminal conduct—equivalent to looting after a natural disaster. Will food and water be next? How do I follow CDC guidelines and make ourselves safe when I can’t afford to buy the basic necessities?
17
@Angela Minton
You're talking about bleach?
Bleach and ammonia can be had at any dollar store for $1 a bottle (a quart bottle I believe).
1
Gaaah...don’t use ammonia, and for heaven’s sake, don’t mix it with bleach or Comet or something.
4
Have you tried to buy it? Shelves are empty at all retail outlets near me.
2
I remember the New York Times ran a story every three days since late January criticizing the Chinese government and nitpicking every little thing from people that can't get a bed in a hospital to insufficient testing kits and supplies in supermarkets. One highlight was of course saying in a democracy this disease would not have progressed to the extent it did because of transparency.
So the democratic west had about a month's notice of this epidemic when it started in late January in China. Since the New York Times said democracy and transparency is superior in dealing with epidemics, then surely with this much time to prepare its not possible for there to be community spread in the west. After all, the United States even went against WHO guidelines at the time and banned Chinese entry to the US in late January.
What do we see today? US supermarkets rationing toilet paper, insufficient testing kits, and a government that keeps playing down the epidemic despite mounting cases and deaths.
Ironically, part of the reason the American response has been so tepid is because its body politic and media companies spared no effort in its earlier messaging blaming China, Chinese habits, and the communist government. So if it starts to enact the same measures as China it would be a tremendous humiliation.
16
How do we really know how many coronavirus cases there are in the country, since the reported numbers have been kept artificially low because of the scarcity of available tests.
Despite the President's blather about having the virus "under control", he would have absolutely no way of knowing that that's true without an active nationwide testing program, and that simply does not exist. More Trump-generated fake news.
We would need the availability of literally several millions pf tests spread throughout the nation, trained medical staff who know how to administer it and a careful tracking system to find contacts of victims of the virus to have a basic idea of how extensive the pandemic is in the US, and because of Trump stalling none of that has happened. There's not even solid, truthful information about how many test kits are being produced every day, and where they're going.
You have to wonder how bad it will get before the administration gives us real numbers and real information about what they're doing to stop the spread of what may well be an epidemic.
22
The powers that be are doing us all a big disservice.
The only reason numbers of infected people aren't higher in the US is because we are not testing.
In Italy they're testing like crazy and providing daily updates on their website (infected, critical, cured, total). Full transparency.
In the US, the most medically advanced nation in the world, we're bungling things.
We cannot measure what we don't count!
19
I think a lot of people would find a small degree of comfort having even one of the "crucial type of respirator masks" available to them to wear.
The importance of such a measure and gesture so small yet so significant clearly continues to elude and escape this president.
5
Except that they are largely made in China...
1
Do we have any idea the likely number of cases in the U.S.? Shouldn’t we? Isn’t this information CRUCIAL to determine how we respond to the crisis? Shouldn’t we do everything possible to find out? Shouldn’t this be a major priority of the CDC and the federal government?
(The government is acting incompetently. If Democrats point this out, Republicans say they are trying to bring down Trump. Their refusal to deal with the outbreak in favor of propping up Trump is a dereliction of duty, to say the least. Democrats need to speak up more. Trump seems to have cowed them too.)
13
I was at my doctor's office the other day to discuss a recent health issue I have encountered. He asked me a ton of questions and took a bunch of tests. He will monitor my symptoms but is fairly sure the grief I am experiencing from the sudden passing of a very close friend is at the root of my situation.
The sense of relief and trust I have for my doctor (whom I have known for many, many years) is similar to how I feel towards the incredible folks at the NYTimes. I've said this before, but I feel it warrants repeating - I would be lost without their continual and dogged reporting and investigative efforts and stories. Heck, there is not a lot of truth or facts emanating from the White House or their supposed "Communications" Division. And the information given out is either half-truths or bold face lies.
It's one thing to feel confident in one's personal physician. But to have more faith and trust in the NYTimes than I could ever feel with THIS president and administration - well that indeed is a very sad, deplorable and scary scenario. It was bad enough to not trust the Nixon administration. But in all honesty, what those folks did and what is presently going on seems like small spuds to this farm girl.
Thank you NYTimes for keeping us afloat with the news stories and updates on a daily, if not hourly basis. Yet another solid reason why I am a subscriber to this news source.
23
I am glad that UW in Seattle following the model available in The U.K. and S. Korea of drive through testing.
I hope the patients wear disposable gloves and masks in car, so they do not infect family members who may not know how to sterilize the vehicle sufficiently,
3
While it seems draconian and an overreaction, from a physician’s perspective early and stringent quarantines are probably the best way to contain the spread of an epidemic/pandemic virus. Many of my fellow physicians agree and, not being on the coronavirus task force who must cater to falsely praising Trump, we are free to speak the truth.
26
The last time I went to my doctor for a flu, he didn't tell me to take a tax cut and call him in the morning.
Maybe I'm real "densely", but how do tax cuts kill viruses?
Who knew the solution to disease would be so simple?
Just print more money and the disease will go away.
I like it!
922
@T If it took you a month to get over a life-threatening flu maybe you would understand.
7
@T I like to idea of not being tested. I hope he refuses O2 as wells. Keep that democrat 02 away from me!
3
@T
people who must stay home without pay don't pay payroll tax on non-existing pay anyway. It goes to show how ignorant these people are, not just Trump, it is all the millionaires around him and shows how far removed from the American people really are. They could not govern if they even wanted to.
93
Oh look everyone, there is a fire! I hope highly trained and well equipped team is headed this way. Trump: let’s just throw money at it and hope somehow it helps.
270
@NotDave Well, he is adept at burning through money.
15
@Pam G
I think it's more like him burning through OUR money.
24
@NotDave
It reminds me of King Canute tipping money into the sea, in order to stop the tide.
Didn't work.
11
We have a pandemic emergency, our health care system is lacking in what is needed to handle it, our country is further in debt than we've ever been, and 45's answer is tax breaks?
Does anyone else see how crazy this sounds?
It is obvious why he was forced to file for bankruptcy so many times. He is a reactionary with no longterm plan, and is clearly flustered.
The senate needs to step in to provide the checks and balances they are meant to do. Trump has no idea what he's doing and he's destroying us.
18
Worth noting the known caseload is suppressed in the US. The administration’s public statement is that anyone who wants to get tested can, and all you need is a doctor’s orders. That’s untrue. There is a rigid protocol that fails to account for community spread; physicians are ordering tests the CDC refuses to process.
34
I think the press needs to be careful how they present the increase in the number of cases. I checked March 1 data for the US -- at that time we had 87 cases. So we've gone up a factor of 10 or close to it. But, what does that mean about the virus? Of all the people who have tested positive for the virus since then -- how many were already exposed on March 1? How many people became exposed after March 1 by contact with people who were asymptomatic or thought they just had a cold. I don't think we'll continue to see this level of growth in cases going forward.
If you look at the global numbers we had 87k on March 1 -- now we have 114k. So clearly the growth rate in the number of cases globally is slowing globally.
I also think everyone needs to recognize that most of the cases still occurred in China, in a highly densely populated area where it spread before anyone knew what was happening and the initial responses weren't adequate.
Certainly, we'll see more cases. But the number of new cases we see globally and the US should slow and many of those will be the artifact of delays in testing or people becoming exposed before we really had any handle on the virus.
What is true is that fear and anxiety have spread much faster than the disease -- thanks to the MSM. While caution is advised, I wonder what the MSM will do (who've used corona to hammer Trump) will say when it turns out that Trump is right and this is pretty much like the flu.
2
It’s not that comparing this to the flu is entirely inaccurate, it’s just not a useful comparison. If global spread is slowing, it’s because drastic measures are being taken. Countries don’t just shut down every flu season. Blaming the media for panic gives far too much credit to the media and not enough credit (blame?) to people. The media makes information public, and it’s up to us to decide what to think or do about it.
4
What’s this you’re saying about densely populated areas and an inadequate initial response? Nothing like that here...
6
Be well. Stay well.
Denial is not a river in Egypt.
5
Hey Italy. Is it really necessary to deployed police armed with machine guns in the street?
6
@RG They actually have carried Beretta submachine guns for decades (some, not all, of course). Not stating an opinion on police and firearms, but it's not something new or unusual. Many European countries have police on the street carrying them, especially during times of emergency. I don't know much about guns but I think I've seen National Guardsmen carrying them in Grand Central and Penn Station sometimes, too.
7
Just a quick question:
It Trump approves federal money to "pay sick time for employees"affected by the virus....
Will we be reading in 4 months or so that Jared Kushner got MILLIONS to pay for his handful of "employees" sick time?
How bout Trump for his hotel staffs?
Here's a sample headline. I give you permission to save it and use it when the time is right:
"Trump family secures millions to pay sick time wages for thier employees during Covid-19 outbreak...."
27
If you want to understand the nature of our preparedness under the current administration, I recommend this piece in Foreign Policy magazine:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/01/31/coronavirus-china-trump-united-states-public-health-emergency-response/
Some highlights:
"White House efforts included reducing $15 billion in national health spending and cutting the global disease-fighting operational budgets of the CDC, NSC, DHS, and HHS. And the government’s $30 million Complex Crises Fund was eliminated."
"In May 2018, Trump ordered the NSC’s entire global health security unit shut down… The month before, then-White House National Security Advisor John Bolton pressured Ziemer’s DHS counterpart, Tom Bossert, to resign along with his team. Neither the NSC nor DHS epidemic teams have been replaced. The global health section of the CDC was so drastically cut in 2018 that much of its staff was laid off and the number of countries it was working in was reduced from 49 to merely 10."
"Klain [epidemic 'czar' under President Obama] has been warning for two years that the United States was in grave danger should a pandemic emerge. In 2017 and 2018, the philanthropist billionaire Bill Gates met repeatedly with Bolton and H.R. McMaster, warning that ongoing cuts to the global health disease infrastructure would render the United States vulnerable to, as he put it, the “significant probability of a large and lethal modern-day pandemic occurring in our lifetimes.”
117
Trump knew all about the risks of these cuts. This information has also been published in federal annual national security updates. This is what incompetence looks like. Now, what’s going on with the testing debacle?
3
Any subsidies to businesses should be contingent on the business providing PAID sick leave to all employees below managerial level. And no layoffs.
As a piece in the NYT noted a few days ago, people who do lose their jobs should have immediate unemployment benefits.
42
Maybe Trump should pay all of us a visit (only via TV though...he's been shaking too many hands) and explain something. I believe it was only last week that he declared that "like a miracle" the corona virus would disappear in April. So, unless he has now changed his mind, why do we need an economic stimulus package that wouldn't start until April at the earliest.
Has he now changed his mind? If so, why?
17
@Tom Q
When asked he also said he "wasn't looking at the stock markets"...
Riiiigghhht,
6
A real leader would provide a plan for the health and safety of its people first. The economy and stock market come after a cogent and effective plan is in place to both reassure the people that their financial future is ok and to support compliance to the health plan (I.e. paid sick days, etc). To do these in reverse is a fatal flaw and will cost many lives and create chaos. It will also prove ineffective for the financial markets/economy and we will see continued volatility and declines. Sadly, it also shows that the man in the White House cares nothing about us, the people whose lives are at stake.
13
@KFC Not a single country has a plan except to lock everything and everyone and then "airdrop" supplies. So stop with this "plan" thing.
1
Close the schools. Now. Free lunch and child care will be little consolation when little Timmy brings home a deadly pathogen which has a high likelihood of killing or hospitalizing grandma. .6% fatality estimate (low estimate). Let's say 10% of New Yorkers get it (low estimate). That's 51000 deaths in the five burroughs. How many school lunches and hours of free childcare is that worth?
15
That is not, “sci,” guy.
@Sci guy Sci guy -- you may be right policy wise, but your math is flawed. The population of NYC is 8.4 million. If 10% got the virus that would be 840k people. 840k *,006 = 5100 deaths, not 51,000. 5100 deaths is bad enough but get the math right and not over state it. Readers will quote your figures etc.
2
@Sci guy - As of yet, across the entire globe, there have not yet been 5,100 deaths so I fail to see how the five burroughs will defy statistics.
It's disturbing that the rest of the world is enacting quarantines, medical testing and active measures for dealing with the virus. And here in the US, our priorities are financial subsidies.
95
Hats off to both China and Italy for sacrificing their economies to protect their citizens. How ironic that our country's economy is also tanking, not because we have closed tourist attractions, disallowed spectators at sporting events, or banned travel within the U.S., like other countries have done, but because our president has bungled taking any sort of control of this global outbreak. If his response was as "perfect" as his Ukrainian phone call, then why are U.S. cases of COVD-19 exploding exponentially and why did our stock market turn bearish so suddenly? Neither viruses or markets lie.
30
Mayor DiBlasio and Gov. Cuomo:
PLEASE CLOSE CUNY OR MOVE COURSES ONLINE.
I never type in caps, but this is an urgent matter. Teachers and students are receiving emails from College presidents containing cleaning info and hygiene tips. People over 60 with underlying conditions are told to contact their chairs about online teaching, but are not being encouraged to teach online. Moreover, many of our students are older, have underlying conditions, or live - it’s a commuter university - with older or other vulnerable people.
CUNY must be closed, or courses must move online. The technology is in place for online teaching; CUNY can move online in a day or two.
Fordham, Columbia, Barnard and NYU are going on line, and CUNY has the technology for online teaching available and in place.
Please - help us. The CUNY administration has offered Clorox, soap and Mr. Clean, not common sense. The CDC, NIH and our state and local governments have advised older people and those with underlying conditions to stay home. Yet the policy at CUNY remains that those of us who believe we qualify can ask - apparently, must document - their need. That is ridiculous, particularly given that EVERYONE COMMUTES, the virus is highly contagious, there is airborne transmission, and people have older relatives at home.
PLEASE. HELP. NOW.
20
@RMC UC Berkeley went online yesterday. Good luck.
1
Trump hasn't been tested for the coronavirus despite his close contact with others who were exposed. Highly irresponsible, considering he's a husband, a father, and a grandfather.
Why is the media, once more, letting him off so easily? Is there no concern that he might be a vector of contagion, exposing his supporters, his staff, and his family to Covid-19?
503
Also irresponsible for him not to be tested considering he is interacting with people crucial in the medical, scientific, military and other leadership of US.
63
@PABD he says he hasn't been tested, but, he has an image to uphold. would he admit it if he has been tested?
63
@PABD
Maybe he refuses. What can the media do?
5
As an NP working urgent care; NYT coronavirus coverage has been outstanding. The Wash Governor's leadership on this: BRAVO. The drive thru testing is brilliant. Let the front line providers input be actionable. The general public's understanding of infectious disease is absent and NYT coverage has been the best I've read next to WHO/CDC info.
690
@Theresa I could not disagree more. There is no clear accounting of the number of people being tested in the United States; very little discussion of the availability of tests in different areas of the US and so on. The numbers of people found to have the coronavirus should be always placed in context with the total sample of people tested. The CDC is even worse in its accounting of what's going on.
23
@Marco
I am of the opinion that Trump does NOT want people to be tested because then the number of people infected will go up. Therefore I do not believe for one moment his statements about the number of kits available, those sent, and those being manufactured etc. This is a big farce and we, the American people , will pay the price. OR maybe even HE will!! I ask the same question. Why hasn't he been tested? Considering his age and probable health problems (which his doctors hide), perhaps it is pay back time!!?? I rest my case!
66
@Marco
The US must be withholding info on the virus from WHO. For the last 3 days, the count of people confirmed with the virus has been 213 on their website! Same total. Same # deaths (as only 11).
This is obviously a PR move by the Trump administration. But it is BAD epidemiology!
Here’s the link to the WHO:
https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200309-sitrep-49-covid-19.pdf?sfvrsn=70dabe61_4
You can check the prior days!
New York Times estimates 750+ cases.
The withholding of info from WHO is unconscionable!
46
The scariest thing to me about Coronavirus is what the current U.S. administration is actively PREVENTING us from knowing. I have no doubt there will be (have been?) deaths because of Trump's narcissistic repression of facts to make his utterly incompetent reign look good.
Whatever we do learn about this virus comes from the indefatigable reporting of the New York Times and other patriotic media outlets who champion truth over politics.
Thank you for all you do to keep us informed and safe.
32
There seems to be one big difference now which I have not seen before: The US stock market is following what is happening in the rest of the world. It used to be that that the US sets the direction for the rest of the world but ironically it seems to be reversed thanks to the coronavirus.
Another big statistic to look at is mortality rate. China outside Wuhan, Korea, other parts of Asia it is so much better than the rest of the world. It seems that if you can control the virus for it not to exceed the capabilities of your medical system, the effects can be mitigated. So you need a good medical system and a good response. The US has neither.....
34
@EastCoastResident
Markets don't work like that. Sometimes the U.S. market leads and sometimes it follows. It depends on what happens where.
The U.S. medical system, though flawed, has first-rate aspects. It's biggest problem is that not everyone can afford it. The president's response has been horrible. The rest of the country is on it.
As for China, please. The Chinese created a problem that they belatedly have been handling. They get no points for finally coming to grips with the Pandora's Box they have unleashed on the world. -- thegamesmenplay.com
I'm not sure how anyone is supposed to assess the level of risk posed by covid-19 in the absence of serious testing by the government to determine what the infection rate actually is, and what the mortality rate is.
It certainly is baffling to be forced to assume that it is "highly" dangerous to older people or health-undermined individuals without knowing how many people are actually contracting the disease. It appears as if evidence-based science is being ignored.
Surely someone somewhere is filling this information void.
25
I like this stuff. You know, my uncle he was at MIT. He taught for like a record number of years. He was a great super genius. I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand. Every one of these doctors said how do you know so much about this? Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for president, but you know what? What they’ve done is really incredible. I understand that whole world. I love that world. I really do.
(Donald’s real insights)
138
I work in a healthcare system in which I cannot order a Covid-19 test if I believe it is indicated. I must speak to infection control who then speaks with public health (exactly who in public health is unclear).
It is irrelevant how many test kits have been produced if there are multiple levels of bureaucracy between the patient and the test.
We must acknowledge that we have absolutely no idea how many people in the U.S. are infected with Covid-19.
399
@Dave Agreed. Our number of confirmed cases in Michigan is only zero because we have tested only 63 people. We have no idea what's going on.
21
@Dave
It worries me that health professionals comment on their inability to get or order tests when their judgment suggests it. We are going to be under-reporting the number of I’ll people by the thousands.
4
Stimulating the economy won't get rid of the virus. You can put a bandaid on a cut, but it won't stop you from getting other cuts. Politicians have really become useless.
21
@Btb Not politicians in general. Why would you say such a thing? It wasn't that long ago that we faced the threat of Ebola. Under the leadership of Barack Obama.
And I do mean leadership.
11
Money over people...this is his distraction from his failing on the response to coronavirus. How will sick & possibly dead people benefit from tax cuts again? Where is the healthcare, where is the emergency urgency of the government response? He can declare a state of emergency to build a wall but he can't take the coronavirus seriously. This is God, Great Spirit, whatever you call it, testing his chosen one...not the democrats. I think the chosen one is failing miserably.
27
Two days ago the US State Department warned Americans, especially the elderly, to avoid cruises because they present a higher risk of coronavirus infection and make U.S. citizens vulnerable to possible international travel restrictions, including quarantines.
However coronavirus and quarantines aren’t the only dangers cruise lines pose to travelers.
My wife and I are in our 70’s so yesterday I called Regent cruise line to cancel our upcoming cruise to the Baltic. I was informed that our $4,000 deposit would not be refunded but instead put in a “Reassurance Account” to be applied to a future cruise that must be booked within a year.
No one knows if the coronavirus will be gone in a year, my wife and I are getting older and less mobile, and based on recent events we have zero confidence in the ability of Regent and other cruise lines to keep their ships from becoming floating Petri dishes.
Indeed, based on my conversation with Regent I can confirm that cruise lines are not likely ever to give deposit refunds—bookers beware!
Exposure to coronavirus is frightening, disruptive and dangerous whatever one’s age, so think twice—or 3 or 4 times—before booking with Regent or any other cruise line; they do not refund deposits even when their trips are scheduled to stop in countries with confirmed coronavirus cases and the US government recommends not taking cruises.
Contact your Senators and Congresspersons to let them know the other dirty secret of Regent and other cruise lines.
72
@Mon Ray I am sorry your plans have been derailed and that Regent is not returning your deposit. That said, cruise ships have always been "floating Petri dishes."
7
@Mon Ray i bet if you really raise a ruckus they will give you your money back. lie, if necessary. that’s been my experience.
@Mon Ray
Here in Alaska, they are *permitting* the docking of a huge cruise ship that has already been turned away at 4 Asian ports.
The ship operators say the vessel will be 'completely cleaned' and 'manned with all new staff' before docking in Juneau.
We don't have any coronavirus yet but I guess we're going to get it now.
Juneau is a small, isolated town with only 45 hospital beds. There is no road system - all their food & supplies come in by boat or plane. There is *no way* they will be able to cope with a big outbreak.
Unbelievable. And so sorry about your 4K.
3
I’m going to repost here a comment I made elsewhere about testing;
I would like more information on testing in the United States, which has lagged behind Europe and Asia. We won’t know how widespread the coronavirus is until testing is widely available.
Among my questions:
How many people are being tested each day?
What are the criteria to be tested? Who decides (the CDC, Hospitals)? Is it the same as other countries or as recommended by the WHO? If not why not?
Who is doing the testing? Is there a single standard test or many tests?
Are we following WHO guidelines for managing the epidemic? Are we doing enough testing?
The federal government was slow to react to COVID-19. They could have started using the WHO test weeks ago. Instead the CDC created a faulty test (later fixed) and it took too long before institutions other than the CDC were allowed to use their own tests.
I still don’t know if we doing enough testing or even have the resources yet to do it.
61
@Eric The best source of information is CDC or local County Dept of Health. Two local counties in California in my vicinity test only symptomatic people with history of travel to high risk countries or contact with somebody positive for Covid-19.I find it interesting mental exercise to browse those sites and see their incompetence, lack of insight and mental paralysis.
This morning I ordered tea from India. Last summer’s tea. I will carefully wipe off the boxes that arrive. But at least the Tea will have been vacuum-packed last summer.
I am not buying any tea picked this year.
So I am buying ahead. While last year’s crop is still available.
This is just one example of how this virus will affect the world-wide economy. It’s going to be devastating long after people are well, and things have calmed down.
I notice that many here in the retirement community seem not to understand the ramifications of the virus. That we could all end up quarantined, or sick, or worse... for some of us, dead. I fear too many may watch Fox.
Watching Fox (should we being calling it “Tox”?) could be detrimental to your health, your well-being, even your life.
40
@TheraP
Pox News would be far more fitting.
@TheraP: Studies of coronaviruses have shown the viruses can survive outside the body for an average of 4-5 days, with an upper range of 9 days.
Ergo, coronavirus will not persist on tea leaves. Buy tea picked whenever. If you’re that worried about it, store the tea for two weeks and any live virus on it will be dead.
Another thing that kills viruses? Boiling water, like what one makes tea with.
Harvard just officially announced all classes are going virtual and students must move out of the dormitories by March 15th.
12
Drive through testing.
You've got to hand it to Americans.
7
@Jared Uh Jared, it was actually pioneered in South Korea.
Try paying more attention.
11
@Jared
Nothing surprises me anymore since I was able to have my pet medications delivered to my house (thank you Dennis Miller - I borrowed your line.)
2
It's actually a great idea that was implemented first in S. Korea, I believe.
5
Italy’s lockdown experiment is already a success because Italians surely must feel great relief knowing that their government is acting decisively—and with a plan! Unfortunately, we are operating in the dark—frightened and confused—as our president continues to put his own interests before the welfare of the American people. Where are FDR and Winston Churchill when we need them!
18
Republican Tax Cuts? That's the answer to a public health crisis???
Is this April 1?
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@Frank Roseavelt: No, it’s February 2, Groundhog Day. Like the Bill Murray movie where he relives the same thing over and over and over again.
So, Trump's solution to the Coronavirus epidemic is to pump money into the stock market? So if your house is on fire, the solution is to go out and buy a new car, not call the fire department? What frightens me more than Trump's idiocy is the idiocy of the average Republican who see this a the proper response to a serious health problem.
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