| Trump says Democrats' push for expanded voting threatens Republicans Posted: 30 Mar 2020 10:26 AM PDT  President Trump on Monday criticized attempts by Democrats in Congress to expand voting access for the presidential election in the fall, saying increased voter turnout would keep Republicans from getting elected.
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| Suspected SARS virus and flu samples found in luggage: FBI report describes China's 'biosecurity risk' Posted: 30 Mar 2020 07:45 AM PDT  An FBI report about China's involvement with scientific research in the U.S. has raised alarms. While the report refers broadly to foreign researchers, all three cases cited involve Chinese nationals.
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| The CDC is said to be considering asking people to cover their face in public — but would reserve masks for medical workers Posted: 31 Mar 2020 03:11 AM PDT  So far, the CDC advises social distancing, handwashing, and staying home as the main ways to avoid the coronavirus. Medics have lacked equipment.
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| Do I Have to Pay My Rent or Mortgage During the Pandemic? Posted: 31 Mar 2020 01:44 AM PDT  As March winds down, at least 250 million Americans have been told to stay home or "shelter in place" to help stop the spread of COVID-19. Problem is, many can't help wondering if they can still afford a place to shelter in—if they ever could.Long before the coronavirus pandemic, generous swaths of the United States faced an affordable housing crisis. With millions of Americans losing their jobs and millions more facing unemployment in the near future thanks to a concerted economic shutdown geared at reining in the disease, talk of rent strikes and freezes are in the air.The Trump administration recently nodded to the problem by ordering a foreclosure moratorium on single-family home mortgages backed by the Federal Housing Administration or obtained through government-owned lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie and Freddie have also offered forbearance for borrowers experiencing hardship. And the finance giants have dangled payment relief to indebted apartment building owners who grant respite to renters, a move the Federal Housing Finance Agency estimates could affect 43 percent of the market in multifamily leases. Then there's the $2 trillion stimulus bill that passed last week, which contains language forbidding evictions and late charges on any property receiving virtually any federal aid. It also permits those owing money to Fannie or Freddie to request up to six months of forbearance, though it leaves the onus on borrowers to do so.If your home doesn't fall under one of these categories or programs, and you're wondering if you owe money to your landlord or lender, the answer is probably yes—at least for now. Still, some state and local governments have moved to stem evictions and foreclosures for everyone, and a few are even freezing rent and mortgage payments entirely. Here's a breakdown of COVID-19 rules on housing across every state and many large metropolitan areas. This story will be updated as events warrant.Will the U.S. Run Out of Groceries Under Lockdown?Alabama: No specific government measures to prevent evictions or foreclosures, but local Regions Bank is offering a mortgage payment reprieve and the state Supreme Court has cancelled in-person proceedings until April 16, which may stem new removal proceedings. Individual judges may conduct business via phone or video, however.Alaska: Gov. Mike Dunleavy has forestalled evictions and foreclosures of any tenant or homeowner covered by the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, while the state Supreme Court has halted eviction hearings until May 1 and barred enforcement of outstanding ejectment orders against quarantined people.Arizona: Gov. Doug Ducey has ordered a 120-day stay on eviction orders against anybody quarantined or experiencing hardship because of COVID-19, starting March 24, and has launched a $5 million rental assistance fund. The state's "Save Our Home AZ Program" is offering principal reduction assistance, monthly mortgage subsidy assistance, and second lien elimination assistance.Arkansas: No special COVID-19 programs in place as of this writing.California: Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered a statewide ban on evictions through the end of May, so long as tenants provide notice in writing within one week of their rent coming due that they cannot pay due to the disease. He has also cut a deal with Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, and 200 smaller lending institutions to defer mortgage payments for up to 90 days from borrowers who can show they've lost income during the crisis. Bank of America has assented to a 30-day grace period for mortgage payments. The City of Glendale has banned rent increases through at least April 30 (though not rent payments). Philanthropists in San Diego have established a COVID-19 Community Response Fund to provide rent, mortgage, and utility assistance to struggling locals. Colorado: Gov. Jared Polis has issued non-binding guidance to state-chartered banks discouraging foreclosures, and Denver has reassigned deputies away from eviction enforcement.Connecticut: James W. Abrams, Chief Judge for Civil Matters, has issued a stay of all evictions and ejectments through May 1, and postponed all foreclosure sales until June 6.Delaware: The Justice of the Peace Court has postponed all eviction proceedings until after May 1, while Gov. John Carney has put off all residential mortgage foreclosures until 31 days after he lifts his order of emergency. Late fees or excess interest are forbidden.Florida: No state programs in place as of this writing, but the Orange County Sheriff's Office has put off eviction enforcement "until further notice," as have police in Miami-Dade. The latter county has also called off evictions in its public housing.Georgia: No state programs in place as of this writing. But on March 17, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms issued an executive order imposing an eviction moratorium on the Atlanta Housing Authority, Atlanta Beltline Inc., the Fulton County/City of Atlanta Land Bank Authority, Invest Atlanta, Partners for Home, and the city Department of Grants and Community Development.Hawaii: The Hawaii Department of Public Safety Sheriff Division has indefinitely suspended evictions.Idaho: No state programs in place as of this writing, but Boise public housing has waived rent and ended removals, and a judge has called off eviction hearings in Blaine County.Illinois: Gov. J.B. Pritzker has barred evictions through April 7 by executive order. Courts have ordered longer cessations of evictions, including in Cook County (April 15) and in Peoria, Tazewell, Marshall, Putnam, and Stark Counties (April 17). A court covering Kendall and DeKalb Counties has barred new eviction and foreclosure proceedings for 30 days beginning March 18. Chicago is providing 2,000 residents with $1,000 grants to help cover rent and mortgage payments.Indiana: Gov. Eric Holcomb has decreed an end to evictions or foreclosures until the end of his declared state of emergency.Iowa: Gov. Kim Reynolds has halted foreclosures and evictions for the duration of a declared state of emergency, except in cases involving squatters.Kansas: Gov. Laura Kelly has stayed evictions and foreclosures until May 1.Kentucky: Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order March 25 suspending all evictions for the term of a declared emergency, while the Kentucky Supreme Court suspended all evictions until April 10.Louisiana: Gov. John Bel Edwards has halted evictions and foreclosures.Maine: Maine courts are closed for eviction proceedings through May 1.Maryland: Gov. Larry Hogan has forbidden the eviction of any tenant who can demonstrate loss of income related to the crisis.Massachusetts: Trial courts are closed through April 21 under order of the State Supreme Judicial Court, preventing evictions from advancing. Gov. Charlie Baker has announced $5 million in rental assistance, while the mayor of Boston has called off evictions by the city housing authority.Michigan: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has banned evictions until April 17, and the state Department of Health and Human Services is offering up to $2,000 in emergency assistance to prevent foreclosures.Minnesota: Gov. Tim Walz has suspended evictions and foreclosures during a declared state of emergency.Mississippi: No programs in place as of this writing.Missouri: No state programs in place as of this writing, but evictions are suspended in Jackson County until at least April 18, in Boone and Callaway Counties until April 17, and indefinitely in St. Louis County.Montana: No programs in place as of this writing.Nebraska: Gov. Ed Ricketts' executive order has postponed all eviction proceedings for anybody impacted by the virus until May 31. The Omaha Housing Authority has called off evictions, while the Metro Omaha Property Owners Association—a landlord group—has requested its members reduce rents by 10 percent in the month of April.Nevada: Gov. Steve Sisolak has blocked all eviction notices, executions, and tenant lockouts via emergency order for the entire length of the pandemic. State Treasurer Zach Conine has announced that lenders have agreed to a 90-day grace period for borrowers, although each mortgagee must reach an individual payment arrangement with their bank.New Hampshire: Gov. Chris Sununu has barred evictions and foreclosures via executive order during the emergency.New Jersey: Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order March 19 placing a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures for at least 60 days. On March 28, he instated a 90-day grace period for late mortgage payments, forbidding banks from charging hard-up borrowers late fees or making negative reports on them to credit agencies.New Mexico: The State Supreme Court has indefinitely suspended evictions of tenants who can furnish evidence the crisis has left them unable to pay rent. Albuquerque has suspended evictions for public housing tenants, while Santa Fe has halted removal of those who can prove hardship.New York: Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence K. Marks has suspended all evictions until further notice, while Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered banks to waive mortgage payments in hardship cases for 90 days. There is no state policy in place on rent payments, despite the governor's claim that he "took care" of the issue.North Carolina: State Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley on March 13 ordered courts to postpone eviction and foreclosure cases for at least 30 days.North Dakota: The State Supreme Court has placed a hold on all eviction proceedings "until further order."Ohio: Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor has requested, but not obligated, that lower courts stay eviction and foreclosure proceedings. Huntington, PNC, Fifth Third, Citizens, Third Federal, Chase, and Key Banks are all offering mortgage assistance to struggling borrowers.Oklahoma: No state policy in place as of this writing, but Tulsa County has halted evictions and foreclosures until April 15, while the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office has suspended enforcement of housing ejectments until "appropriate."Oregon: Gov. Kate Brown has suspended eviction for nonpayment of rent for 90 days beginning March 22.This Is What a Coronavirus Lockdown Means in Each StatePennsylvania: The state Supreme Court decreed March 18 that neither evictions nor foreclosures could go forward for at least two weeks.Puerto Rico: U.S. District Judge Gustavo A. Gelpà has suspended all eviction orders and foreclosure proceedings until May 30. The island's Public Housing Administration announced it will not collect rent from tenants until the expiration of Gov. Wanda Vasquez's order of social isolation—an order she recently extended to April 12. Residents of the government-owned developments will be liable for the payments after the governor's decree lifts, although they may apply for reductions based on loss of income.Rhode Island: Gov. Gina Raimondo ordered courts not to process evictions for 30 days starting March 19.South Carolina: Chief Justice Don Beatty has ordered a halt to all evictions until May 1.South Dakota: No state policies in place as of this writing, but Sioux Falls Mayor Paul TenHaken has established a fund to provide financial assistance to those facing eviction.Tennessee: The Tennessee Supreme Court has ordered judges not to proceed with eviction cases until April 30, unless "exceptional circumstances" prevail.Texas: The Texas Supreme Court halted all evictions until April 19, subject to an extension by the chief justice. A Dallas County judge has put a stop to new removal cases and landlord recoveries until May 17. The city of Austin passed an ordinance March 26 granting renters a 60-day grace period and preventing landlords from initiating evictions. Nonetheless, renters who can pay rent are encouraged to do so.Utah: No state policies in place as of this writing, but the Utah Apartment Association—a trade group— has generated a proposed "rent deferral agreement" for impacted tenants.Vermont: The Vermont Supreme Court has suspended non-emergency hearings such as evictions until April 15, but individual courts may hold such proceedings remotely. Burlington-based affordable housing operators Champlain Housing Trust, Burlington Housing Authority, and Cathedral Square have all committed to suspending evictions.Virginia: The Virginia Supreme Court has suspended non-essential, non-emergency proceedings such as evictions and foreclosures until April 6.Washington State: Gov. Jay Inslee inked a 30-day eviction moratorium on March 18. Seattle has imposed a 60-day moratorium on evictions beginning March 3, with no late fees, and the King County Sheriff has suspended evictions "until further notice."Washington, D.C.: The D.C. Superior Court has suspended evictions and foreclosures.West Virginia: The State Supreme Court has suspended all non-emergency proceedings, including housing-related matters, until April 10, and left open the possibility of extension.Wisconsin: Gov. Tony Evers ordered the suspension of evictions and foreclosures until May 26. Judges in Dane and Milwaukee counties have forbidden sheriffs from executing outstanding eviction orders, and the Milwaukee Housing Authority has said it will not evict anybody during the crisis.Wyoming: State Supreme Court Justice Michael K. Davis has ordered all in-person proceedings suspended, and recommended civil trials be rescheduled, which could serve to delay evictions or foreclosures. But local judges have some discretion on whether to conduct trials via video or teleconference.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Boy, 5, found dead near hiking trail after mother said they got lost Posted: 31 Mar 2020 07:24 AM PDT  After spending the night outdoors, the boy's mother left him to seek help on her own, authorities said.
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| Venezuela prosecutor's office summoned Guaido for 'attempted coup' Posted: 31 Mar 2020 08:16 AM PDT  State prosecutors in Venezuela have summoned opposition leader Juan Guaido for an alleged "attempted coup d'etat" and attempted assassination, Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced Tuesday. In a statement broadcast on state television, Saab said Guaido had been summoned to appear before prosecutors next Thursday following an investigation last week into the seizure of a weapons cache in neighboring Colombia that he said was to be smuggled into Venezuela.
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| IG Horowitz Found ‘Apparent Errors or Inadequately Supported Facts’ in Every Single FBI FISA Application He Reviewed Posted: 31 Mar 2020 08:13 AM PDT  The Justice Department inspector general said it does "not have confidence" in the FBI's FISA application process following an audit that found the Bureau was not sufficiently transparent with the court in 29 applications from 2014 to 2019, all of which included "apparent errors or inadequately supported facts."Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a report in December which found that the FBI included "at least 17 significant errors or omissions in the Carter Page FISA applications and many errors in the Woods Procedures" during its Crossfire Hurricane investigation of the 2016 Trump campaign. After releasing the report, Horowitz said that he would conduct a further investigation to see if the errors identified in the Page application were widespread."The concern is that this is such a high-profile, important case. If it happened here, is this indicative of a wider problem — and we will only know that when we complete our audit — or is it isolated to this event?" Horowitz told lawmakers during a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing. "Obviously, we need to do the work to understand that."Horowitz's office said in a report released Tuesday that of the 29 applications — all of which involved U.S. citizens – that were pulled from "8 FBI field offices of varying sizes," the FBI could not find Woods Files for four of the applications, while the other 25 all had "apparent errors or inadequately supported facts.""While our review of these issues and follow-up with case agents is still ongoing—and we have not made materiality judgments for these or other errors or concerns we identified—at this time we have identified an average of about 20 issues per application reviewed, with a high of approximately 65 issues in one application and less than 5 issues in another application," the report reveals.The Woods Procedure dictates that the Justice Department verify the accuracy and provide evidentiary support for all facts stated in its FISA application. The FBI is required to share with the FISA Court all relevant information compiled in the Woods File when applying for a surveillance warrant."FBI and NSD officials we interviewed indicated to us that there were no efforts by the FBI to use existing FBI and NSD oversight mechanisms to perform comprehensive, strategic assessments of the efficacy of the Woods Procedures or FISA accuracy, to include identifying the need for enhancements to training and improvements in the process, or increased accountability measures," the report states.The OIG concludes by recommending that the FBI "systematically and regularly examine the results of past and future accuracy reviews to identify patterns or trends in identified errors" relating to the Woods Procedure, as well as double-checking "that Woods Files exist for every FISA application submitted to the FISC in all pending investigations."In a letter acknowledging the audit, FBI Associate Deputy Director Paul Abbate said that the issues "will be addressed" by the Bureau's already-issued correctives after the Carter Page review, and added that "the FBI fully accepts the two recommendations."President Trump has relentlessly attacked the FBI's FISA process and the abuses it allowed during the surveilling of his 2016 campaign. He has argued that the FISA abuses invalidate the entire investigation, which he has referred to as an "illegal attempted coup," and slammed the officials involved, including former FBI director James Comey and former acting FBI director Andy McCabe.McCabe admitted in January that the FBI has an "inherent weakness in the process" of obtaining FISA warrants.
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| U.S. Base Workers Set for Furlough in Blow to South Korea Alliance Posted: 31 Mar 2020 03:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. military is set to put almost half of its 8,500 South Korean civilian workers on furlough, as the two sides bicker over the Trump administration's demands for a massive increase in troop funding.About 4,000 workers have been told not to report to American military bases in South Korea as of Wednesday, if the two countries can't find some way to extend a cost-sharing deal that expired Dec. 31. A breakthrough seems unlikely with President Donald Trump asking for as much as a five-fold increase and South Korea showing no signs of paying anywhere near that much.The furloughs, which the Hankyoreh newspaper said would be the first of their kind, will put new pressure on an alliance that Trump has repeatedly criticized since taking office three years ago. The move comes as the U.S. military struggles to keep coronavirus outbreaks from disrupting operations in South Korea and elsewhere and the allies watch for fresh provocations from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.The two sides have been deadlocked over what's known as the Special Measures Agreement, with Trump initially demanding about $5 billion a year from South Korea to pay for U.S. security. South Korean President Moon Jae-in's administration has indicated that it wouldn't pay much more than the almost $1 billion it agreed to in a one-year stopgap deal in 2019.South Korea's lead negotiator, Jeong Eun-bo, said in a statement Tuesday that the two sides were in the "final steps" of negotiations and expressed regret that the U.S. government went ahead with the furlough."If the Trump administration persists in holding to this level of unreasonable demands it will seriously damage the reliability and credibility of our security alliance," said Daniel Sneider, a lecturer in international policy at Stanford University who has written about how Japanese and Koreans view their shared history. "It feeds a strain of Korean nationalism that would want to effectively end the alliance and perhaps bring Korea, de facto, under the security umbrella of China."In the short term, the furloughs of workers, who provide services ranging from security to manning food stations, could mean further disruptions to daily life on bases that serve some 28,000 U.S. service personnel in South Korea. In the longer term, the dispute could accelerate a realignment of an alliance that the U.S. relies on to check China, as well as North Korea.Trump has repeatedly insisted that the U.S. gets a raw deal from partners who host American troops around the world, and he's focused particular ire on the South Korean agreement. Last month, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper told his counterpart, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo, that "as a global economic powerhouse and an equal partner in the preservation of peace on the peninsula, South Korea can and should contribute more to its defense."South Korea's National Assembly must sign off on any deal and Trump's demands have brought about a rare moment of unity from progressives and conservatives in the country who see them as unreasonable. With parliamentary elections set for April 15, siding with Washington could lead to defeat at the ballot box.Missiles Fly"We are currently trying our best to ensure our joint defense posture goes unhindered as well to protect our Korean workers," South Korean Defense Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo said. The USFK Korean Employees Union, which represents the workers, said in a statement last week that negotiations "cannot end with the way the U.S. government and President Trump wants."Negotiators from the U.S. and South Korea met earlier this month in Los Angeles but a wide gap remains between the two sides, according to a State Department spokesman who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations. The official said that South Korea will need to show more focus and flexibility to reach a deal, without specifying what the U.S. is asking or what South Korea is offering.While the U.S. and South Korea have been bargaining, North Korea has been busy testing new types of solid-fuel, nuclear-capable ballistic missiles designed to strike anywhere on the peninsula and evade U.S. interceptors. It has fired off at least nine in March alone, a record for a month.Kim warned on Dec. 31 that bigger provocations could soon come, saying he was no longer bound by a previous promise to halt testing of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles. On Monday, a top diplomat was quoted in a state media report issuing a new threat, saying Secretary of State Michael Pompeo's pressure campaign against Pyongyang will result in North Korea looking "to repay the U.S. with actual horror and unrest for the sufferings it has inflicted upon our people."North Korea Fires Missiles Off Its East Coast; 4th Volley This Month The negotiations in South Korea could affect other U.S. allies hosting troops, such as Japan, with Esper saying the Trump administration wants them to pay more, too. Japanese officials are watching the South Korea negotiations closely with the approach of talks set to begin later this year for a U.S-Japan cost-sharing deal.Daniel Pinkston, a lecturer in international relations at Troy University in Seoul and a former Korean linguist with the U.S. Air Force, said the difficulty in reaching a troop-funding deal "sends the wrong signal to allies, competitors, and challengers who must be questioning U.S. commitments and resolve.""It increases the likelihood of miscalculation, arms-racing, WMD proliferation, and even armed conflict," Pinkston said.(Updates with South Korean statement in fifth paragraph.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Wuhan Residents Dismiss Official Coronavirus Death Toll: ‘The Incinerators Have Been Working Around the Clock’ Posted: 30 Mar 2020 09:48 AM PDT  Wuhan residents are increasingly skeptical of the Chinese Communist Party's reported coronavirus death count of approximately 2,500 deaths in the city to date, with most people believing the actual number is at least 40,000."Maybe the authorities are gradually releasing the real figures, intentionally or unintentionally, so that people will gradually come to accept the reality," a Wuhan resident, who gave only his surname Mao, told Radio Free Asia.A city source added that, based on the aggregation of funeral and cremation numbers, authorities likely know the real number and are keeping it under wraps."Every funeral home reports data on cremations directly to the authorities twice daily," the source said. "This means that each funeral home only knows how many cremations it has conducted, but not the situation at the other funeral homes."The city began lifting its lockdown on Saturday after two months of mandatory shutdown, with a complete lift of restrictions set for April 8. Funeral homes in Wuhan have been handing out the cremated remains to families every day, but rumors began circulating after one funeral home received two shipments of 5,000 urns over the course of two days, according to photos reported by Chinese media outlet Caixin, which were later censored.Reports of the funeral's crematoriums working nonstop also raised questions."It can't be right … because the incinerators have been working round the clock, so how can so few people have died?" a man surnamed Zhang told RFA.Wuhan residents said the government was paying families 3,000 yuan for "funeral allowances" in exchange for silence."There have been a lot of funerals in the past few days, and the authorities are handing out 3,000 yuan in hush money to families who get their loved ones' remains laid to rest ahead of Qing Ming," Wuhan resident Chen Yaohui said, in a reference to the traditional grave tending festival on April 5."During the epidemic, they transferred cremation workers from around China to Wuhan keep cremate bodies around the clock," he added.China has used state propaganda in an attempt to avoid blame for the spreading of COVID-19, despite reports showing how the government suppressed initial reports of human-to-human transmission and gagged Wuhan labs that discovered the novel virus resembled the deadly SARS virus of 2002-2003.
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| Some doctors are telling patients to switch from contact lenses to glasses to lower their risk of contracting the coronavirus Posted: 30 Mar 2020 09:23 AM PDT  Evidence suggests the coronavirus can enter the body through the eyes, so some eye doctors say glasses are safer.
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| Mexico's president defends his handshake with 'El Chapo' Guzman's mother — a 'respectable old lady' Posted: 30 Mar 2020 01:35 PM PDT  The president said corruption is a much bigger threat to Mexico than a 92-year-old woman "who deserves my respect."
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| Rep. Velazquez has presumed COVID-19 infection, was near Pelosi, other lawmakers last week Posted: 30 Mar 2020 12:28 PM PDT  Rep. Nydia Velazquez spoke on the House floor Friday and stood near Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the signing of the $2 trillion stimulus bill.
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| 29 Best Closet Organization Ideas to Maximize Space and Style Posted: 30 Mar 2020 04:06 PM PDT |
| Europe's trade system with Iran finally makes first deal Posted: 31 Mar 2020 02:10 AM PDT |
| Cuomo: Rate of hospitalizations decreasing Posted: 30 Mar 2020 12:24 PM PDT  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Monday that the rate of hospitalizations because of the coronavirus pandemic is slowing in the state.
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| 'The watermelons will rot:' U.S. visa confusion in Mexico keeps out agriculture workers Posted: 30 Mar 2020 03:11 AM PDT  Restricted visa services, quickly evolving regulations and increased border controls risk wider labor shortages in the United States produce industry that may leave grocery stores scrambling for fruits and vegetables as spring and summer harvests spread across the United States. On Thursday, more than 100 workers waited in a stifling park in the center of Monterrey, Mexico, backpacks and rolling suitcases in hand, for news about their H-2A temporary agriculture worker visas.
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| Trump news – live: President now admits coronavirus deaths won’t slow until June as hospital ship arrives in New York harbour Posted: 30 Mar 2020 07:24 AM PDT  Donald Trump has branded House speaker Nancy Pelosi "a sick puppy" during an interview with Fox and Friends after extending the timeline for the US to remain in lockdown over the coronavirus pandemic until at least 30 April, abandoning his "aspiration" to have the country back in business by Easter.The White House's top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, has meanwhile warned that his projection of a potential 100,000 to 200,000 American deaths is "entirely conceivable" if not enough is done to mitigate the crisis, with the president commenting that containing the disaster to that level would represent "a very good job".
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| Taliban kill dozens of Afghan forces in two attacks Posted: 30 Mar 2020 04:27 AM PDT  The Taliban have killed about two dozen Afghan police and pro-government fighters, officials said Monday, in two attacks that come as the foes are supposed to be preparing for peace talks. In one of the incidents late Sunday, the insurgents killed at least six soldiers and 13 police and pro-government militiamen at several outposts near a police headquarters building in northeastern Takhar province, provincial police spokesman Khalil Assir told AFP. "The police bravely defended and prevented the Taliban from entering the celebration," Assir said.
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| China Clashes at Virus Epicenter Show Risks Facing Xi Jinping Posted: 30 Mar 2020 04:06 AM PDT |
| FBI report describes China’s ‘biosecurity risk’ Posted: 30 Mar 2020 08:43 AM PDT  In late November 2018, just over a year before the first coronavirus case was identified in Wuhan, China, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at Detroit Metro Airport stopped a Chinese biologist with three vials labeled "Antibodies" in his luggage.
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| One country is refusing to shut down to stop the coronavirus Posted: 31 Mar 2020 01:36 AM PDT  "It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees!" Lukashenko, who hit the ice for a weekend hockey game, said.
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| Democratic lawmakers call for racial data in virus testing Posted: 30 Mar 2020 02:11 PM PDT  Democratic lawmakers are calling out an apparent lack of racial data that they say is needed to monitor and address disparities in the national response to the coronavirus outbreak. In a letter sent Friday to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, both from Massachusetts, said comprehensive demographic data on people who are tested or treated for the virus that causes COVID-19 does not exist. "Any attempt to contain COVID-19 in the United States will have to address its potential spread in low-income communities of color, first and foremost to protect the lives of people in those communities, but also to slow the spread of the virus in the country as a whole," the lawmakers wrote to Azar.
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| Fact check: will Covid-19 fade in the summer – then return later like the flu? Posted: 30 Mar 2020 10:05 AM PDT  Experts weigh in on whether coronavirus will dissipate during the summer and warn against letting up on physical distancing * Coronavirus – live US updates * Live global updates * See all our coronavirus coverageThe seasonal flu tends to dissipate during the summer, leading some to hope the coronavirus will do the same. Experts explain why transmission of some illnesses lowers with warmer temperatures – and warn against lowering our guard. Why are some viruses seasonal?Dr Marc Lipsitch: What makes seasonal viruses seasonal is a combination of opportunities for transmission – whether school is in term, which facilitates transmission – and what proportion of the population is immune, combined with weather.Humidity is lower in the winter, which is good for transmission. Low humidity makes [virus-carrying] droplets settle more slowly because they shrink to smaller sizes and then friction keeps them in the air, whereas high humidity doesn't do that.Dr Lee W Riley: People still get the common cold [in the summer] and we're beginning to see this new coronavirus in the southern hemisphere. It's more about the way people behave. Can we expect the number of Covid-19 cases to fall this summer?Lipsitch: Based on our best estimates from other coronaviruses, summer alone is not going to bring transmission to a level where the number of cases shrinks. It's just going to grow more slowly.It's really clear that warmer weather does not stop the transmission or growth of the virus. That's clear from Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Singapore and Hong Kong have kept it to a large degree under control, but that's with incredibly intense control measures. There's no question that coronaviruses are capable of transmitting in hotter, humid climates.Dr George Rutherford: Thinking that it's magically going to go away in April or May or whenever is just that – magical thinking. The projections show quite a bit of transmission out through the summer.Riley: It's a completely new virus, so it's really hard to know what would happen. If you try to extrapolate from [related] viruses, then we don't expect for this new coronavirus to completely disappear by the summer.default Could there be a second wave of infections in the autumn?Riley: A reintroduction of the epidemic is certainly possible; it's beginning to happen in Hong Kong. Hong Kong successfully controlled the epidemic early on, and they started relaxing some of their restrictions. Now they're beginning to see new cases reappear.Rutherford: In 2009, we saw a second wave of the swine flu. It started in the spring in Mexico. Some schools in the United States got out early for the summer, and when [students] went back in the fall, it came back in a bump. That [outbreak] was blunted because a vaccine came out that fall. That's not going to happen here. We're going to have to temporize until a vaccine arrives.Lipsitch: If we let up on social distancing before a large fraction of the population is immune, there could be a second peak of infections in the fall, when it's most contagious, due to school being back in session and cooler temperatures. And that would be the worst possible outcome. Will we need to resume social distancing in the fall?Lipsitch: If our strategy is to use social distancing as our main control measure because we haven't figured out anything better, then the best way to do it is to distance until we bring cases down to low enough levels that we can let transmission resume by relaxing social distancing, and have several weeks or months where we don't overwhelm the healthcare system.And then we distance again, and repeat the cycle. With each cycle, we'll get more time off social distancing, because the buildup of immunity in the population helps to slow the spread. So you don't get to the dangerous peak as quickly.That [scenario] will be destructive to the economy, to education, and all sorts of things. But as a means of trying to preserve the healthcare system, if we don't have another approach, it may be our best option.I want to be clear: as an epidemiologist, I'm saying what I think existing tools make possible for the purposes of disease control, and not what I think is socially desirable. Multiple rounds of social distancing are not something I look forward to.Riley: It's conceivable that we may have to do another round of lockdowns, but we need to look even further ahead. What's going to happen next year? Is it going to come back again like the influenza? Is a new type of coronavirus going to come back? Maybe not next year, but maybe, two years from now? This is not the only time we're going to be doing these lockdowns. Is there another approach we could take?Rutherford: I think as shelter in place starts to get peeled back, it's going to need to be replaced with something more along the South Korean model of aggressive contact tracing, quarantine and isolation, and that's going to be the bridge to get us out to when the vaccine comes in. Given the hit on the economy that's going on now, there's going to be a lot of enthusiasm for the South Korean model.Lipsitch: If we can do that, it's great. The challenge is that reintroductions are a constant threat. We've seen it in China. They're trying to go back to work while doing control based on individual cases, but they've had multiple introductions from outside the country now. I think it's what we should aim for, but I'm not hugely optimistic that it will work.Riley: South Korea and Hong Kong had really efficient contact tracing programs, where they would quarantine the contacts of symptomatic people who were diagnosed with coronavirus. It was a much more focused approach to controlling transmission.The problem in the US is we don't have that kind of manpower, and that's probably something that the US really needs to start looking into in a very serious way, because we just totally neglected our public health system infrastructure.Panel: * Dr Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology and director, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health * Dr Lee W Riley, professor and chair of the Division of Infectious Disease and Vaccinology, UC–Berkeley School of Public Health * Dr George Rutherford, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, director, Prevention and Public Health Group, UCSF
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| Iran says natgas exports to Turkey halted after attack by "terrorists" Posted: 31 Mar 2020 01:39 AM PDT |
| Coronavirus: Why are planes still flying? Posted: 30 Mar 2020 09:57 AM PDT  A number of global airlines are still running passenger flights amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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| ‘I Don’t Think You Should Really Listen to What He Says’: Don Lemon Says CNN Should Not Carry Trump’s Coronavirus Pressers Live Posted: 31 Mar 2020 06:16 AM PDT  CNN anchor Don Lemon on Monday night broke with the network's head over the live broadcasting of President Trump's coronavirus press briefings, calling it "a plot" and warning that Trump is "never, ever going to tell you the truth.""I'm not actually sure, if you want to be honest, that we should carry that live. I think we should run snippets. I think we should do it afterwards and get the pertinent points to the American people because he's never, ever going to tell you the truth," Lemon told fellow host Chris Cuomo during their nightly handoff.He pointed to Trump's sparring with media during the question-and-answer periods of the briefings, saying the president reacts to questions negatively "because he wants his base to think that the media is being mean to him and they're attacking him.""It is all a plot. It is all orchestrated. And if you can't see it, I don't know what you're looking at," Lemon claimed. "It's obvious, it's transparent to me . . . those press briefings have become his new 'Apprentice.' They've become his new rallies. And he treats the press and the media as if he's talking to the people at his rallies. It's the same thing. It's no different except the audience isn't there."After Cuomo pushed back, saying that there is "too much of a need for information" to broadcast the live pressers, Lemon went further, saying he is not "frustrated," but is just "pointing out the obvious.""Pointing out the obvious, especially as a journalist, is not being political. If we don't do that, then we are not doing our duty as journalists to point that out," Lemon argued. "That's our job to point that out. That's exactly what he's doing."He then began impersonating Trump, challenging Cuomo to ask a "real question" and responding with what he called a "stock answer.""I don't like wasting people's time and I don't like people being bamboozled. That's it," Lemon stated. ". . . Whether he gets reelected, that's not on me. People can vote for whoever they want as their president but as a journalist, I want to make sure that they're getting the right information, their time is not being wasted, and that the administration is not using our airwaves to have the president promote things that aren't necessarily true. That's it."CNN chief Jeff Zucker told employees on Monday that while "it's a very difficult decision, as of now, we are going to continue to carry those briefings."Trump's polling numbers have risen in recent weeks, with overall positive views on his handling of the coronavirus. Last week, Trump scored a net positive approval rating for the first time in the Washington Post-ABC News poll.CNN chief political correspondent Dana Bash praised Trump after a coronavirus press briefing earlier this month, saying his tone is one "that people need and want and yearn for in times of crisis and uncertainty."
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| Australia’s Banking Chiefs Warn of Extreme Economic Pain Ahead Posted: 29 Mar 2020 07:38 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Australia's banking chiefs are braced for a nightmare scenario of a 10% economic contraction, "shockingly high" unemployment and spiraling loan losses as shockwaves from the coronavirus ripple through the economy.As Prime Minister Scott Morrison's administration follows other countries in shutting down large segments of the economy to try to stem the virus's spread, signs of individual and business tolls are starting to multiply.Tens of thousands of workers have already been sent home as retailers and airlines all-but close and queues outside job centers lengthen. Australia's lenders are watching this play out in real time, with hardship telephone numbers ringing off the hook as consumers and businesses try to access relief packages.Banks are the "ICU unit of the economy," Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Shayne Elliott said Monday at an Australian Financial Review event -- conducted online due to the pandemic. "Corporates and households will come into care and we will have this unfortunate role at some point of having to decide who comes out at the end."A week ago, Commonwealth Bank of Australia Chief Executive Officer Matt Comyn said he would have estimated the economy would shrink by about 5% in the first quarter. Now, a 10% contraction is a "reasonable assumption," Comyn said at the same event. "No question there are going to be higher loan losses."The nation's banks have special dispensation from the competition authority to co-operate throughout the crisis and have banded together to launch a range of hardship measures, including allowing consumers to suspend mortgage payments for up-to six months.National Australia Bank Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Ross McEwan echoed his counterparts on the dire outlook for the economy."I think you will see very, very large GDP drops," he told the the same forum. "Unemployment will also go shockingly high for a period of time."NAB's economics research team said Friday the jobless rate could soar to 12% and hold there for the remainder of the year.Right now, the three CEOs emphasized that the focus is on getting through the crisis and being prepared to help the economy reboot on the other side. In the medium term, that's likely to mean tough choices about who gets help."There is no playbook for this," McEwan said. "We've not seen this sort of health and financial crisis at the same time."For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Las Vegas moved hundreds of homeless people to sleep 6 feet from each other in a parking lot after their shelter was hit by the coronavirus Posted: 31 Mar 2020 04:58 AM PDT  Photos of homeless people sleeping six feet apart inside painted white boxes on the ground drew widespread criticism.
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| Coronavirus lockdowns are working, according to data from digital thermometer app Posted: 30 Mar 2020 09:36 PM PDT  Three-quarters of Americans have been urged or ordered to stay at home, to the extent possible, to stop the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, and those measures appear to be working, The New York Times reports, citing data from internet-connected thermometer company Kinsa. The thermometers and their app upload temperature readings to a centralized database, allowing Kinsa to track fevers across the country. It started mapping fevers to catch flu outbreaks in 2018, and it modified its software to look for "atypical" COVID-19 fevers earlier in March.Kinsa's million-plus thermometers have been recording up to 162,000 readings from around the U.S. each day since the coronavirus started spreading, the Times reports. Only strict social-distancing measures — closing bars and restaurants, asking people to shelter in place — led to a significant drop in fever readings, while declaring a state of emergency or limiting the size of public gatherings had little effect. Data from New York and Washington State's health departments have buttressed Kinsa's findings, showing drops in hospitalizations a few days after Kinsa spotted the falloff in fevers.The Kinsa readings certainly look "like a way to prove that social distancing works," Dr. William Schaffner at Vanderbilt University tells the Times. "But it does shows that it takes the most restrictive measures to make a real difference." Kinsa data appears to show that social distancing is also reducing transmission of the seasonal flu."People need to know their sacrifices are helping," Kinsa founder Inder Singh tells the Times. "I've had friends text or call and say: 'Inder, this seems overblown. I'm sitting at home by myself, I don't know anyone who's sick, why am I doing this?'" Read more about the fever mapping at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is what real coronavirus leadership looks like Relax about Biden Fox News reportedly fears its early downplaying of COVID-19 leaves it open to lawsuits
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| U.S. set to lose title as top oil producer as demand plunges and gas drops below $1 per gallon Posted: 30 Mar 2020 09:57 AM PDT  Gas has dipped below $1 a gallon in Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wisconsin — but most people are not driving.
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| NYC sees 1st child virus death; Chris Cuomo tests positive Posted: 31 Mar 2020 05:07 AM PDT  New York City reported its first coronavirus death of a person under 18 years old as the number of fatalities in the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak continued to rise rapidly, and as the brother of the state's governor tested positive. City officials announced Tuesday that 250 more ambulances and 500 paramedics and EMTs are headed to New York to help manage record numbers of calls for assistance. Deaths from the coronavirus continued to climb steeply in New York, topping 1,500 by Tuesday, according to Cuomo.
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| U.S. House Speaker Pelosi will not take coronavirus test Posted: 31 Mar 2020 06:09 AM PDT  U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Tuesday she does not plan to be tested for coronavirus despite her proximity to the latest lawmaker diagnosed with the illness. U.S. Representative Nydia Velazquez, a Democrat from New York, said on Monday that she had been diagnosed with a presumed case of coronavirus after developing symptoms of the ailment on Sunday, although she had not been tested. Velazquez was in the Capitol on Friday and attended a ceremony at which Pelosi signed a $2.2 trillion coronavirus response plan.
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| Why Taiwan has become a problem for WHO Posted: 30 Mar 2020 10:23 PM PDT  Taiwan is effectively locked out of the World Health Organization - and tensions are rising.
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| Trump suggests US should treat Germany as an enemy because of World War II Posted: 30 Mar 2020 06:42 AM PDT  Donald Trump is suggesting the United States should treat Germany more like an enemy because the two countries were adversaries in World War II as the president again lobbied for closer US-Russian relations.If he turns the off-the-cuff remark into US policy, Mr Trump would try fundamentally overhauling the post-World War II global power dynamic that saw Western countries bring Germany into their sphere while combating Moscow and fighting the spread of communism in the post-war era. But with little opposition to the American-German alliance in Congress, especially the GOP-run Senate, such a plan would face ample pushback – including from within his own party.
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| Egypt Could Deepen Rate Cuts to Combat Virus, Central Bank Governor Says Posted: 30 Mar 2020 01:37 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Egypt has scope to further cut interest rates to combat the impact of the coronavirus on an economy that's in good shape after sweeping reforms, the central bank governor said.Tarek Amer's comments came after the central bank on Sunday introduced temporary cash withdrawal restrictions, a step he said was necessary after customers took 30 billion pounds ($1.9 billion) from banks in the past three weeks. The measure, which could be revisited soon, seeks to encourage people to use bank transfers and e-payments."We want to stop putting cash under the mattress," Amer said in an interview aired on local TV.The Arab world's most populous nation, which has reported 609 cases of the virus and 40 deaths, has enacted other measures to support the economy, including deferring credit repayments for six months. The central bank is due to make its next rate decision Thursday.Amer said late Sunday that the economic program launched in 2016, which sharply devalued the currency and cut spending, has put Egypt in a position to withstand the crisis.While other economies could fall into recession in the second and third quarter of the year, Egypt will see only a dip in growth, he said. Also providing a cushion is the drop in global oil prices and an expected decline in the import bill, he said, adding that Egyptians typically spend $3.5 billion while traveling abroad -- cash that will now be saved.Egypt Makes Largest-Ever Rate Cut to Tackle Fallout of OutbreakWhile foreigners have withdrawn about $500 million from the stock market in the recent period, that will be more than offset by 20 billion pounds of central bank support for the bourse, Amer said.Other tools available include more rate cuts, Amer said. The monetary policy committee reduced key rates by 3 percentage points after an emergency meeting earlier this month, although that still left Egypt with one of the world's highest real rates.Indicators such as inflation "are good," Amer said.Other takeaways from the interview:Debt-installment payments that are being deferred for six months total around 1.8 trillion poundsEgypt has paid all obligations to foreign investors who sold off treasuriesExpects import bill to drop from slightly over $11.8 billion to $7 billionEgyptians traveling abroad spend around $3.5 billion; that money will now be saved, given travel restrictionsExpects government to cut fuel prices given the crash in global crudeFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The top infectious disease expert in the US says we're seeing 'glimmers' that social distancing is helping, but says a turnaround is yet to come Posted: 31 Mar 2020 08:12 AM PDT  Dr. Anthony Fauci said in an interview with CNN on Tuesday that social distancing seems to be dampening the spread of the coronavirus.
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| Florida, Illinois Emerge as Potential Coronavirus Hotspots Posted: 30 Mar 2020 11:57 AM PDT  Recent updates to state coronavirus case numbers suggest Florida and Illinois may join New York and Washington as hotspots for the virus, with Governor Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.) announcing a stay-at-home order for southern Florida until May and Illinois seeing its largest single-day increase in cases on Sunday.Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb on Monday warned that the two states could be "new epicenters of spread."> THREAD: We'll update charts daily for Florida, Louisiana, Illinois, and Michigan as epidemic becomes national in scope; new epicenters of spread emerge. Florida faces significant challenges with growing spread from seeds likely introduced weeks if not months ago and slow reaction pic.twitter.com/NZRqwGylFF> > -- Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) March 30, 2020> Update for Illinois pic.twitter.com/nCMqdTGKdF> > -- Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) March 30, 2020DeSantis said at a press conference Monday that his order will apply to Broward, Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Monroe counties, which have over 50 percent of the state's 5000-plus cases. The state's COVID-19 case count jumped 523, according to a state update on Monday morning."The 'Safer-At-Home' [order] is the right move for southeast Florida," DeSantis said. "This is the time to do the right thing. Listen to all of your local officials. We will do this through the middle of May, and then see where we're at."On Sunday, Illinois health officials announced 18 new deaths — including that of an infant —and 1,105 new cases of the coronavirus, the state's worse increase to-date despite having the first case of human-to-human transmission in the U.S. over a month ago.Governor J. B. Pritzker warned that the upward curve is likely to continue for weeks."It is fair to say that most of the models I've seen . . . show that we'll be peaking sometime in April," Pritzker said at his daily coronavirus news conference. "We're not yet close to that."Last week, New York governor Andrew Cuomo warned other states that New York's outbreak was "your future.""New York is going first. We have the highest and the fastest rate of infection. What is happening to New York is going to wind up happening to California, and Washington state, and Illinois," Cuomo stated. "Where we are today, you will be in three weeks or four weeks or five weeks or six weeks. We are your future."
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| U.S. is swiftly deporting migrant children at the border Posted: 30 Mar 2020 07:23 PM PDT  "Despite everything I experienced along the way, they deported me the next day," one indigenous teenager from Guatemala told CBS News.
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| The coronavirus crisis hasn't changed Joe Biden's mind on 'Medicare for All' Posted: 30 Mar 2020 01:58 PM PDT  "Single payer will not solve that at all," he said Monday. Bernie Sanders begs to differ.
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| Doctor recommended no action for U.S.' Pelosi after coronavirus contact Posted: 30 Mar 2020 02:39 PM PDT  The U.S. Congress' attending physician recommended U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi take no particular action after she was in contact with Representative Nydia Velazquez, who has been diagnosed with coronavirus infection, Pelosi's spokesman Drew Hammill said on Monday. The physician found Pelosi's contact with Velazquez to have been of "low risk," Hammill said. Velazquez, a Democrat from New York, announced in a statement earlier on Monday that she had been diagnosed with a presumed case of coronavirus, although she had not been tested, after developing symptoms of the ailment on Sunday.
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| Treasury wants airlines to say how they will pay back loans Posted: 31 Mar 2020 09:13 AM PDT |
| China lockdown may have blocked 700,000 virus cases: researchers Posted: 31 Mar 2020 08:40 AM PDT  China's decision to lock down the city of Wuhan, ground zero for the global COVID-19 pandemic, may have prevented more than 700,000 new cases by delaying the spread of the virus, researchers said Tuesday. Drastic Chinese control measures in the first 50 days of the epidemic bought other cities across the country valuable time to prepare and install their own restrictions, according to the paper by researchers in China, the United States and the UK, published in the journal Science. "Our analysis suggests that without the Wuhan travel ban and the national emergency response there would have been more than 700,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases outside of Wuhan by that date," he was quoted as saying in a press release.
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| Singapore gay sex ban: Court rejects appeals to overturn law Posted: 30 Mar 2020 08:54 AM PDT  A judge rejects three appeals, saying the law "remains important in reflecting public sentiment".
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| Hong Kong Warns Quarantine-Breakers They’ll Face Prosecution Posted: 30 Mar 2020 07:25 PM PDT |
| Apple employees are reportedly using new, unreleased Apple products at home because of the coronavirus Posted: 31 Mar 2020 07:47 AM PDT  Apple is notoriously secretive about new, upcoming products, but the company is letting some employees take them home due to coronavirus.
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| No, America’s Response to Coronavirus Isn’t the Worst in the World Posted: 30 Mar 2020 01:02 PM PDT  The coronavirus pandemic is already a catastrophe. How we fare in comparison to the rest of the world is hardly of paramount importance. Once the Chinese government hid the outbreak, failed to contain it, and then misled the world, there remained little possibility that any nation, much less an enormous and open society like the United States, was going to be spared its devastation.Yet, when the political media isn't preoccupied with a gotcha du jour, pundits, partisans, and journalists have seemed downright giddy to let their minions know that the United States now has the most coronavirus cases in the world. It took a six-siren-emoji tweet from MSNBC's Joe Scarborough to tell us that fact.Here is how the New York Times' Paul Krugman framed the number:> America's response to the coronavirus is the worst in the world, which is shocking and has a lot to do with a leader who is completely unfit, temperamentally and intellectually, for the job 1/ pic.twitter.com/sGZuFUukgr> > -- Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) March 29, 2020A Nobel Prize–winning economist surely understands that we don't have enough data to definitively declare the United States the world leader in cases. Even if we did, it doesn't necessarily follow that this is the fault of public policy. There are plenty of unexplained coronavirus disparities around the world.The Financial Times chart that that is circulated by Krugman and his fellow pundits, and sometimes cynically deployed as a means of attacking the administration's response, is largely useless as a point of comparison. For one thing, a graph illustrating per capita cases in all the nations that the Financial Times chart includes looks different. A chart that combined all the cases in European nations — the continent has approximately the same population as the United States — would also look dramatically different. The known cases in Spain and Italy alone are nearly twice as many as the United States right now.Cross-country comparisons at a given point in time fail to account for many things, including density and time. Iceland is not like Italy, and New York is not like Alaska. And simply because nations such as Italy and Spain experienced outbreaks earlier and more deadly than nations such as Germany and Sweden does not mean the disparities are destined to last.Moreover, testing in the United States began slowly before being ratcheted up quickly (and criticism of that delay is a fair one). Thus, the curve reflects the reality of expanded testing as much as it reflects reality of the disease. And though I'm not a statistician, I do know that nations have varied criteria for testing, varied standards of testing, and varying effectiveness in the testing they do perform. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese coronavirus tests sent to European nations, for example, have turned out to faulty. The data are incomplete. Krugman's claim lacks vital context.Speaking of China, accepting the veracity of numbers offered by the ChiCom government without any skepticism might be good enough for The New York Times and other outlets, but it shouldn't be enough for anyone who values facts.It's also worth mentioning that the timeline of these charts are also uncertain. It's unlikely we know when the tenth or hundredth case was actually transmitted in China or Iran or even here -- and it's possible that some people had died and some others had recovered before most people understood the magnitude of the future pandemic.All of this is worth keeping in mind when as we see journalists harping on the overall case number without context. If you want to continue to utilize this once-in-a-century pandemic as a cudgel against your political adversaries, have fun. But the most important gauges of success right now are flattening the curve so that hospitals aren't overwhelmed with new patients, ramping up our testing capacity to get a better handle on the virus's properties, and measuring the number of recoveries from coronavirus. Not owning Donald Trump.The United States has already dealt with coronavirus far better than the Chinese government. The fatality rate in the U.S., so far, is nowhere near that of Italy. Our dynamism is one of the reasons why an early high case count is a not a measure of either national success or failure. It's not our nature to allow the state to close down borders, travel, or trade, or to stop interactions with the world — or with each other, for that matter. And yet, many of same people who incessantly and cynically warned of the coming Fourth Reich are now blaming the administration for not acting like a dictatorship. It's difficult to keep up.
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