Trump has claimed that despite his executive order on Friday requiring General Motors to start producing ventilators, the U.S. will likely not need them all and will instead donate them to other countries. When asked about New York’s estimate of needing 30,000 to 40,000 ventilators to fight the pandemic, Trump said he thought Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s estimates were “high.”
Trump later announced that he is considering a quarantine on the NYC tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Medical experts said that such a quarantine would have no beneficial effect and Governor Cuomo said that he had no communications with the White House about it and wasn't sure what such a move would mean. Enforcing such a large quarantine would be a significant drain on state and federal resources.
Using a loophole in California's shelter-in-place order, construction on mansions and luxury high-rises continues apace in San Francisco, risking the health of construction workers.
Following several days of name-calling and criticism of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Trump finally granted her request for a disaster declaration. It is unclear how many lives were lost or put at risk due to the delay.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo disclosed that the price of ventilators has risen from $20K to $45K each, due to competition between the 50 states and the federal government, who are all bidding against each other.
The mayor of New Haven CT asked Yale University (his alma mater) if they could provide dormitory space for police officers, firefighters and their families-- the answer was NO. University of New Haven said "yes" right away, with no reservations. Yale dorms are only for rich kids, I guess.
In the wake of Boris Johnson's failed strategy to contain the virus, he and his Health Minister have tested positive for the coronavirus. The U.K. strategy failed because Tory ministers didn't follow the World Health Organization's advice to test every suspected case. They didn't isolate and quarantine. They didn't trace the contacts of victims. These basic principles of infectious disease control were ignored, for reasons that remain unclear.
A ray of hope: A 101-year-old man from Northern Italy has been released from the hospital after a long battle with COVID-19. The man, identified as "Mr. P" was born in 1919 during the historic Spanish Flu pandemic.
Trump seems to have backed off his desire to get the nation back to work by Easter. Even his closest advisors saw the move as a naked attempt to salvage his election chances. Even sycophant LIndsey Graham was reported to have told Trump that if he reopened the nation's economy too early against the advice of public-health experts, he would own the deaths from the virus that would (surely) follow.
Doctors in the Philippines are up in arms over President Rodrigo Duterte's plan to pay volunteer medical professionals helping to contain the virus a daily wage of less than $10 (an amount that is less than the minimum wage). it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that the country is on of the top exporters of nurses.
Spain suffered its largest single-day death count due to the virus, recording 832 fatalities in a 24-hour stretch. Spain is closing fast on China to become the country with the third-largest number of cases (the U.S. and Italy are #1 and 2).
Ireland announced tighter restrictions for its citizens in a bid to slow the spread fo the virus. Irish PM Leo Varadkar said the public should stay at home for the next two weeks in almost all circumstances, with exceptions for food shopping, medical appointments and family care.
There is still no word on a promise Trump made two weeks ago regarding a nationwide network of drive-through testing. In a Rose Garden press conference, Trump said that Target, Walgreens, Walmart and CVS would work with the government to provide space in store parking lots for drive-thru testing sites across the country. Journalists have reported on one site each for Walrgreen and CVS, with two opened by Walmart-- none for Target. Rite Aid, which joined the effort letter, has now opened one drive-thru in Philadelphia.
The world's biggest lockdown due to the coronavirus is happening in India-- where PM Modi ordered a 21-day nationwide lockdown in the densely populated nation of 1.3 billion people. The lockdown included a shutdown of all public transportation, which resulted in workers setting out on foot to walk hundreds and hundreds of miles for the home villages outside the urban centers. The stories of impoverished workers walking along the road they helped build and passing apartment towers they helped construct are heartbreaking.
Trump finally issued an order allowing the Department of Defense to bring former troops back to active duty to assist in the coronavirus response. The reasons for the delay in issuing the order remain unclear.
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