Last week Trump said, “This is a pandemic. I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.” In January, Trump said there were no worries at all. It’s under control, and we have one person coming from China. A month later, he said we’re only at five people and that will drop to zero. It will disappear one day—like a miracle. It’ll be gone by April. Trump accused Democrats of being hysterical about the severity of the pandemic and mocked HHS Secretary Alex Azar for being alarmist. We’re in for a bumpy ride, my fellow Americans.

Here’s what happened in politics (which was mostly sucked up by COVID-19) for the week ending March 30…

Shootings This Week:

1. There were just 3 mass shootings in the U.S. this week (defined as killing and/or injuring 4 or more people). Shooters kill 1 person and injure 11 more.

Healthcare/Coronavirus:

1. I don’t remember hearing about it at the time, but the first recorded case of coronavirus in the US was January 21.
2. Trump activates the National Guard in New York, California, and Washington State.
3. The Justice Department brings a fraud case against a website that claims to be distributing vaccines for the coronavirus on the World Health Organization‘s behalf. A federal judge issues a restraining order blocking the site.
4. The DOJ considers using anti-terrorism laws to prosecute people who threaten to spread the coronavirus on purpose.
5. In July 2018, four months before we started hearing of a pandemic, the Trump administration eliminated the position for a U.S. epidemiologist in China. She trained Chinese epidemiologists who track, investigate, and contain outbreaks of disease.
6. Over the past two years, the Trump administration cut CDC operations in China by two-thirds, with most of the cuts at the CDC’s Beijing office.
7. Dr. Anthony Fauci says there’s only so much he can do to correct Trump’s misstatements during his coronavirus briefings. Fauci recently had to correct Trump on the use of an anti-malarial drug for COVID-19. Trump says it’s a game-changer, but Fauci says it’s all anecdotal so far.
8. After Trump touts hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID-19, a man dies from eating a fish parasite treatment that contains chloroquine phosphate.
9. A study in China finds that the drug is ineffective for treating COVID-19.
10. Last week, Fauci went viral when he smirked and covered his face when Trump mentioned the “Deep State Department” during a press briefing.
11. Fauci pushes for virtual news conferences so the members of the task force don’t all have to be so close together.
12. New York begins testing trial drugs approved for other uses.
13. States begin expanding drive-through testing.
14. Mayor Bill de Blasio says that New York hospitals are already being deluged with coronavirus patients. Even so, playgrounds and parks are still open while Governor Cuomo works on plans to minimize crowds in public places.
15. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro gives a speech saying the country should end mass isolation and open schools. He calls COVID-19 a little flu or cold.
16. Scientists say the coronavirus is not mutating quickly, which means that a vaccine could be very effective.
17. Republican Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio is very proactive about trying to flatten the curve, and says that’s the best way to bring the economy back.
18. The U.K. puts out a call for 250,000 volunteers to help with things like driving patients to appointments, picking up medicines, and checking in on isolated people.
19. The CDC hasn’t held a press briefing on the coronavirus in two weeks.
20. Several news stations stop carrying Trump’s coronavirus briefings live because they are too full of misinformation and can’t be fact-checked in real-time.
21. A study by UnitedHealth Group shows their self-administered coronavirus test is as effective as the current one administered by medical practitioners.
22. The UN’s resolution on the pandemic stalls when the U.S. insists that it calls out China for being the origin of the virus.
23. G20 leaders call an emergency meeting to develop a plan for the pandemic.
24. A group of far-right news sites starts criticizing Dr. Fauci. Trump tries to downplay any tension between the two, but at the same time, he bristles against the medical consensus on the pandemic. Some groups are even calling Fauci an agent of the deep state.
25. WHO officials praise both China’s and the United States’ response to the coronavirus pandemic.
26. The Trump administration maintains that there are plenty of ventilators and thus no need for the “do not resuscitate” conversations that we’re hearing about and no need for doctors to have to decide who to treat and who gets a ventilator.
27. Scientists who model the spread of coronavirus have to update their models to account for the number of people who believe the virus is a hoax. This was not something they thought they’d have to include in the mix.
28. Trump continues to try to shift the blame for the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S. to our governors; specifically, he calls out Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.

• • Whitmer has been critical of the federal response and the failure to deliver the supplies that Michigan needs. Michigan has one of the fastest-growing outbreaks in the U.S.
  • Whitmer says that vendors have been told not to send her state the supplies they order.
  • Trump accuses her of not doing anything.
  • Republicans in Michigan echo Whitmer’s criticisms and requests.
  • Whitmer praises Mike Pence, with whom she has a good working relationship.

29. U.S. State Department documents show that on February 7, the U.S. provided 17.8 tons of respirators and other medical equipment to China to help with their response to the coronavirus.

• • We were likely sending help to the source of a pandemic to help stop the spread.
  • They seem to be returning the favor, though, because this week the U.S. receives 80 tons of medical equipment from China.

30. According to Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), Senators offered the Trump administration congressional funding on February 5 to start getting ahead of the spread of coronavirus. At the time, officials said they didn’t need any emergency funding and could manage it with their existing funding. Here’s what Murphy tweeted at the time:

“Just left the Administration briefing on Coronavirus. Bottom line: they aren’t taking this seriously enough. Notably, no request for ANY emergency funding, which is a big mistake. Local health systems need supplies, training, screening staff etc. And they need it now.”

• • This kind of goes against the argument that we couldn’t do anything about the coronavirus earlier because of the impeachment hearings.

31. The former director of the CDC calls for an investigation into the testing failures that put us so far behind. State and local healthcare organizations abandon attempts to test and tell people with symptoms to self-quarantine at home.
32. The Trump administration ignored the National Security Council’s 2016 pandemic playbook, which provided a color-coded, step-by-step plan for dealing with a crisis like this.

• • According to the playbook, the administration should’ve begun securing medical and protective equipment in January.
  • The playbook details the roles and responsibilities of each agency for each of four threat levels.
  • An NSC spokesman says the document is dated. How dated can it be?

33. Disaster experts say that all the open positions in the federal government, along with the high turnover in this administration make it harder to handle the pandemic.
34. Five government officials say that after weeks of downplaying the virus, the Trump administration is now trying to move quickly to catch up. Shifting responsibilities and Trump’s whims are slowing the process down, though. They say there’s no longterm strategy or focus. Up until now:

• • No one at the White House has devised a strategy to obtain medical supplies longterm.
  • The Trump administration is competing with states for medical supplies.
  • They’re still sorting out which teams are responsible for which parts of the response.
  • There’s still no strategy to make testing widely available.

35. FEMA finally takes over the emergency responsibilities that Health and Human Services had been trying to handle.
36. Trump continues to claim that the Obama administration acted very late during the H1N1 pandemic. If I haven’t already mentioned it, Obama declared a national health emergency 12 days after the first case was identified (and days before the first death). Test kits were approved and shipped out just two weeks after the virus was identified.
37. Health experts are still predicting that COVID-19 could cause between 100,000 and 200,000 deaths in the U.S.

Shortages:

1. Trump says that nobody in their wildest dreams thought we’d ever run out of ventilators. Medical experts have been saying since at least 2011 that the U.S. didn’t have enough ventilators to see it through a pandemic.
2. The Trump administration reaches out to other countries (including China) to see if they’ll sell us things like hand sanitizer, respirators, masks, gloves, gowns, biohazard bags, and inhalers.
3. The White House cancels its announcement of a deal with GM and Ventec Life Systems to produce up to 80,000 ventilators. The deal was going to cost the government more than $1 billion.
4. Authorities refuse to ship the nearly 1.5 million N95 respirators sitting in an Indiana warehouse because they’re expired.
5. Tesla promises to donate hundreds of ventilators to New York. He’s purchased 1,255 of them so far. Not all of the ventilators were the kind we need right now, but hospitals were able to retrofit them.
6. Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers West finds 39 million N95 masks that they’ll give to state and local governments and to medical facilities.
7. After New York Governor Andrew Cuomo asks the federal government for thousands of ventilators, Trump says he doesn’t believe the state needs 30,000 to 40,000 ventilators. The projections say otherwise. New York is still two weeks out from expected peak usage.
8. The Trump administration sends 170 ventilators to California, but they‘re all broken. The state is repairing the ventilators to distribute them to hospitals.
9. At a press conference, Trump suggests that healthcare workers are stealing masks and selling them illegally.
10. Some states ask retired medical personnel to return to work to help contain and treat patients during the pandemic. 40,000 volunteer to help New York.
11. Ford, 3M, and General Electric team up to product respirators, face shields, and ventilators.
12. Trump says that Ford, GM, and Tesla are already making ventilators, but they aren’t, and it will take several months to ramp that up.
13. Companies and individuals are doing what they can to help:

• • Gap and Ralph Lauren repurpose factories to start producing medical masks and gowns.
  • Creative Americans are sewing face masks to help protect medical workers and laypeople.
  • Prisma Health develops a device that lets one ventilator support up to four patients.
  • Apple donates 10 million face masks.
  • Pornhub donates 50,000 surgical masks.
  • Crocs donates shoes to healthcare workers.
  • Dyson is building 15,000 ventilators.

Closures:

1. The number of states implementing stay at home orders except for essential travel for things like food and medicine rises from four to 26 this week. The holdouts are Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Dakota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.
2. Trump says he wants the country opened up by Easter, and pushes his case for Americans to return to work. Experts say that opening up too early will defeat the purpose of staying at home in the first place. Trump says more people will die if the economy goes into a depression; health experts say more will die if we lift the restrictions too soon.

• • And thus starts the isolation wars between the right and the left. The truth is, there’s no easy answer for how to move back to what we consider normal.
  • Governors push back on the idea and are still asking for more federal assistance.

3. The CDC issues travel advisories for New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
4. Franklin Graham reopens Liberty University.
5. California suspends accepting inmates in state prisons for 30 days. Crowded conditions make prisons prime for outbreaks. Bill de Blasio releases 200 inmates who committed low-level offenses and have less than a year left to serve. He’s also working on releasing people in high-risk categories.
6. While gun stores are closed in several areas, a loophole in Los Angeles County’s lockdown orders allows gun stores to stay open. Lines are around the block. Tip: You can’t kill a virus with a bullet.
7. Communities near national parks and popular hiking areas ask visitors to stay away after too many people crowd into them. Leaders keep saying people can get out and walk and hike, so people flock to public hiking areas.
8. Parts of California shut down their beaches after too many people come to hang out there.
9. New York cancels all elective, non-critical surgeries to increase hospital bed capacity. Other states have already been doing this and using it as an excuse to stop abortions.
10. The White House asks people who leave the New York area to self-isolate for 14 days, claiming that 60% of new cases in the U.S. are coming out of NY. In some states, police are enforcing it.
11. Six of Trump’s top seven revenue-producing resorts and clubs shut down, putting him in the uncomfortable position of having to balance the interests of the American people with his own economic interests.
12. The Israeli government approves emergency measures allowing them to track cellphone data for people who are infected. They’ll use this for contact tracing.
13. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey says Alabama won’t order people to stay at home because “we’re not New York State” or “California.” Alabama has fewer cases of coronavirus, but their rate of increase is nearly that of New York.
14. An epidemiologist in a small town in Oklahoma saw the pandemic threat months ago and started mobilizing his town in mid-February. In the absence of a statewide order, other cities and towns in Oklahoma took it upon themselves to prepare.
15. The U.K. shuts down non-essential businesses and ends gatherings of more than two people for three weeks.

Exposures:

1. Nearly 200 members of the NYPD test positive for the coronavirus.
2. Representative Ben McAdams (D-UT) is in the hospital with low oxygen levels from COVID-19.
3. Famed playwright Terrence McNally dies from complications of COVID-19.
4. Amazon workers at six warehouses test positive for the coronavirus.
5. A group of people in Kentucky throw a coronavirus party, presumably in order to contract the virus and become immune. At least many of the did contract it.
6. An immigrant in ICE custody tests positive for the coronavirus.
7. The president of Harvard University and his wife test positive for the coronavirus.
8. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson tests positive for the coronavirus. He’s working from home and says he has mild symptoms. His Health Minister also tests positive and his chief medical officer has symptoms.
9. Dozens of nursing homes face coronavirus outbreaks.

Numbers:

1. Deaths in Italy continue to climb, and Italian mayors crack down on people ignoring the stay at home orders.
2. Germany’s fatality rate is 0.5%, the lowest in the world. Their health experts say it’s because of their thorough testing program. They’re testing early and often.
3. The U.S. leads the world in the number of confirmed coronavirus infections. New York has around 5% of all coronavirus cases worldwide, and they’re doubling every three days.
4. Here are the numbers by the end of the week:

• • 124,665 people in the U.S. are infected so far (that we know of), with 2,191 deaths, up from 26,747 infections and 340 deaths as of last week.
  • 691,867 people worldwide have been infected, with 32,988 deaths, up from 307,280 infections and 13,049 deaths as of last week.

International:

1. The speaker of Israel’s Knesset resigns over backlash from his refusal to reopen parliament during a time when large gatherings are banned. Some people think the closure protects Netanyahu and the far right.
2. The DOJ unseals criminal charges against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on drug trafficking charges.
3. Homeland Security requests military forces to be deployed at the U.S.-Canada border. Canada says that would damage our relationship.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. Protestors in Mexico briefly shut down a portion of the U.S.-Mexico border when they block traffic to try to stop people entering from the U.S. The protestors are afraid Americans will bring the virus with them.
2. Unaccompanied migrant minors in U.S. custody test positive for coronavirus.
3. Hate crimes against Asian Americans continue to rise, and many Asian Americans say they’re afraid to leave their homes.

• • For weeks, Trump has called the virus the Chinese virus. But then he switches his tune and says it’s not China’s fault and that he’ll no longer call the virus the Chinese or China virus.

• • Both he and his administration continue to blame China, though, and to call it the Chinese or Wuhan virus.
  • Trump pushes the G7 to call it the Wuhan virus in their official statement on the pandemic, causing the statement to stall.
  • So while other countries are focused on things like calling a temporary halt to all hostilities between nations, the U.S. is focused on making sure someone else gets the blame.

4. Cramped and crowded conditions in refugee camps around the world create the perfect environment for coronavirus outbreaks.
5. A pastor who leads a weekly bible study for Trump’s Cabinet members says in a blog post that gays and environmentalists, among others, have ignited God’s wrath, which is why we’re going through this pandemic.

Climate:

1. A federal judge strikes down the permits for the Dakota Access Pipeline that were affirmed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The judge says the permits violate the National Environmental Policy Act.
2. The oil and gas industry asks the Trump administration to ease some regulations to make the distribution of fuel easier. The requests cover regulations that mostly cover record-keeping and training, but the industry says they aren’t asking to ease safety regulations.
3. The EPA suspends enforcement of environmental regulations for the indefinite future while we grapple with COVID-19, allowing power plants, factories, and other facilities to determine for themselves if they can meet legal requirements on reporting air and water pollution.

Budget/Economy:

1. 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week, the largest increase in new jobless claims in history. The unemployment rate increased two points from 3.5% to 5.5%.
2. After economists and advisors say this for a week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell finally agrees that we might be in a recession.
3. Behind the scenes, Democratic and Republican lawmakers are working together to hammer out an agreement on an enormous stimulus package. Both sides blame the other for blocking the package, when in reality, they’re negotiating for the best bill. I don’t know why they have to politicize it.
4. The stock market continues to fall despite stimulus attempts by the Fed but then soars after Congress passes their $2.2 trillion stimulus bill, bringing the market out of the bear market it had fallen into.
5. Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) demands a last-minute recorded vote on the coronavirus relief package, forcing members of the House to get back on planes and travel to Washington D.C. at a time when states are restricting non-essential travel.

• • A recorded vote means that a majority need to be present to pass it.
  • Three Representatives have tested positive.
  • Massie receives backlash from members of both parties.

6. No one gets everything they want in the stimulus bill, but Democrats get increased aid for small businesses and workers, as well as more oversight over spending, and Republicans get the aid they wanted for businesses. The bill includes:

• • $150 billion for states.
  • $130 billion for hospitals.
  • Expanded unemployment benefits, which are extended to self-employed workers.
  • Around $1,200 for every American making less than $75,000.
  • Homeowner and renter protections.
  • Small business loans.
  • Oversight for funds paid to businesses.

7. Trump Organization businesses are banned from receiving funds from the stimulus package.
8. Trump doesn’t invite Nancy Pelosi to the signing ceremony for the coronavirus relief bill, despite her role in the negotiations. Apparently, they aren’t speaking.
9. The Trump administration halted the collection of defaulted student loan debt for the time being.
10. Some states order a moratorium on evictions of rental tenants. California enters a deal with major banks to protect homeowners from foreclosure.

Elections:

1. The stimulus bill passed by Congress includes $400 million to strengthen elections and promote vote-by-mail options. The original House bill called for ten times that,
2. Trump’s re-election campaign sends cease and desist letters to TV stations that are airing an ad critical of his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
3. A federal court of appeals overturns restrictions on accepting ballots in Arizona. Now voters who vote at the wrong precinct can still have their vote counted, and early voters can let someone else drop their ballots in the mail.

Miscellaneous:

1. Not liking their coverage so far, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis bans Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times reporters from his press conference on the coronavirus response.
2. PG&E pleads guilty to 84 counts of manslaughter in the 2018 Camp fire in Northern California.
3. Trump appoints John Voight and Mike Huckabee, among others, to the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees.
4. Trump brags about the ratings of his coronavirus task force press briefings.

Polls:

1. 72% of Americans think their governor is doing a good job of handling the pandemic. 50% think Trump is.
2. 93% of Americans say they’re practicing social distancing measures.

Here’s another catch-up recap. This is the week my family ends our Napa vacation early and chases the shutdowns from Northern California down to Los Angeles and Palm Springs and even out to Colorado. It‘s surreal listening to the news while motoring through California’s stunning landscape. It’s also the week Trump said he always viewed this as a pandemic, even long before it was ever called a pandemic. But he also says, “Nobody knew there would be a pandemic or epidemic of this proportion.” In reality, Trump has been playing down the dangers of the virus while also taking some steps to mitigate the spread. So mixed messages.

Here’s what happened in politics for the week ending March 22…

Shootings This Week:

1. There were 5 mass shootings in the U.S. this week (defined as killing and/or injuring 4 or more people). Shooters kill 1 people and injure 23 more.

Russia:

1. In a continuation of reversing or lessening charges brought as a result of Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, the Department of Justice drops its case against Russian companies Concord Management and Consulting and Concord Catering.

• • The companies were charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government by meddling in the 2016 elections.
  • The case was set to go to trial in a few weeks.

Legal Fallout:

1. Former Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA) receives an 11-month sentence for stealing campaign funds.

• • Fun fact #1: Duncan Hunter was indicted on 60 counts in 2018, yet he was still re-elected to the House.
  • Fun fact #2: When I called into that district during the elections, people told me they’d rather vote for a criminal than a Democrat. Hunter was out of office within a year.

2. After receiving a classified briefing on the coronavirus pandemic, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) warned some of his private wealthy donors about the dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic but he didn’t publicly contradict Trump when he downplayed the pandemic.

• • And then Burr sold off up to $1.7 million in stocks. In the week after that sale, the market started to slump and has lost close to 30% since.
  • A week prior to the stock trades, Burr co-wrote a reassuring op-ed about the pandemic for Fox News.
  • Burr requests a Senate ethics investigation into his stock trades.

• • Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), who is married to the CEO of the company that owns the New York stock exchange, also traded millions of dollars in stocks, selling shares in retail companies and purchasing stock in a company that makes medical protective gear.
  • Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Jim Inhofe (R-OK) also had stock trades, but they do not seem suspicious at this time. Neither were at the classified briefing.
  • Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) is also accused of selling off stock after the briefings, but his sales seem to be part of a two-year selloff of shares of his family’s company.
  • Caveat: When I say they traded stock, for the most part, somebody else made those trades as is customary for Members of Congress.

Courts/Justice:

1. In light of the coronavirus pandemic, the Justice Department asks Congress to allow judges to detain people indefinitely without trial during emergencies. They also request authority to extend deadlines for prosecutions and the authority to pause at any point in the justice system (from pre-arrest to post-trial proceedings). That means you could be arrested and never see a judge until the emergency is over—and yes, you’d be in jail that whole time. They request a pause on the statute of limitations during an emergency.
2. And while the DOJ is doing all that, law enforcement and attorneys are working on getting detainees released to reduce the chance of spreading the coronavirus in crowded prisons and jails.
3. Mitch McConnell asks veteran federal judges to step down so that Trump can appoint and the Senate can confirm more young right-wing judges to the courts. A balanced court system will never be good enough for Mitch.
4. The Supreme Court suspends arguments indefinitely, including some cases involving Trump.

Healthcare/Coronavirus:

1. There is still no toilet paper or disinfectant to be had.
2. Joe Biden urges Trump to exercise the Defense Production Act to order companies to mass-produce needed medical equipment like ventilators and masks.
3. Mike Pence says the private sector is increasing products for the needed equipment.
4. Trump does invoke the Defense Production Act but says he’ll only use it in a worst-case scenario. Two days later, he says he’s put it into high gear.

• • Some companies are already working to switch over to manufacturing medical equipment and protective gear, but the effort is piecemeal and uncoordinated.

• • The Defense Logistics Agency could coordinate all this by controlling inventory and allocating it based on need countrywide.

5. The Department of Veterans Affairs changes its mission statement by removing its fourth mission — to back up our public health systems in times of crisis.
6. New Rochelle, NY, develops as a hot spot for coronavirus infections. Governor Cuomo requests military assistance.
7. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology urges its students studying abroad to return home, especially if they’re currently in a country with “poorly developed health services and infrastructure” like the U.S.
8. Dr. Fauci says that we should plan to hunker down for a while to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. This is as much for us as it is to give our medical professionals time to ramp up and prepare.

• • Fauci has become the presence most Americans trust during the White House coronavirus briefings. He walks a very fine line, trying to contradict the president diplomatically during press briefings so as not to anger Trump while making sure Americans have the facts.
  • Fauci has been at the forefront of several epidemics, including HIV, West Nile Virus, H1N1, and Ebola.
  • A rift starts to develop between Dr. Fauci and Trump and between Dr. Fauci and some White House Advisors. They think Fauci corrects Trump too much. You’d think it’d be more important to keep us all informed of the facts.

9. As with all previous travel bans, the ban on European travel causes chaos, confusion, and long waits at airports.
10. Another cruise ship is sailing around in limbo, this one from Fort Lauderdale, FL, to the Mediterranean. One passenger has died from COVID-19 and five others, who have been removed from the ship, are infected or suspected to be. Antigua and Spain both turned the ship away, and it will dock in France and then in Italy.
11. Hawaii turns away two cruise ships requesting to dock there but does allow them to refuel and stock up supplies.
12. Trump now says the outbreak could last until July or August.
13. The head of WHO says we need to be testing every suspected case. We aren’t doing that right now.
14. U.S. officials say that U.S. intelligence agencies issued classified warnings in January and February about the pandemic and related dangers. At the same time, Trump and others were still downplaying the seriousness of the situation.
15. Trump touts an untested drug, hydroxychloroquine, to treat COVID-10, calling it a game-changer. He says this just a few minutes after Dr. Fauci says we should be careful about even calling the drug fairly effective because we just don’t know.

• • This drug is an anti-malaria drug and has other currently approved uses as well, like treating lupus and arthritis.
  • There was already a shortage of hydroxychloroquine, and this just makes it worse.
  • Later in the week at a coronavirus press briefing, Trump says the FDA approved treating COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine. The FDA Commissioner contradicts him at the briefing, saying we’d want to test that in a clinical trial setting first.

16. Ohio’s attorney general orders a halt to any non-essential abortions during the coronavirus pandemic. This will hurt victims of domestic abuse the most, as well as people who are already financially strapped and are being hurt even worse by business closures. Other states clarify that their bans on non-essential procedures do not apply to abortions.
17. Last year, Trump banned research on fetal tissue. This year, that’s blocking progress in coronavirus treatment and vaccine research.
18. Trump activates the National Guard in California, New York, and Washington.
19. The last remaining emergency hospital built to handle the coronavirus crisis in China’s Wuhan province closes down.
20. The U.K. appeals to automobile manufacturers to switch to making ventilators.
21. The CDC has not been present for the past week’s worth of coronavirus press briefings.
22. Trump waives fees at U.S. national parks as a way to encourage people to get out into the fresh air during the stay at home orders (the orders allow people to be outside, just at a distance and not in large groups). But this backfires as parks become overcrowded over the weekend, as do U.S. beaches.
23. The majority of people being killed by the coronavirus so far are men.
24. Russia announces its first coronavirus death and then reverses it.
25. Trump has tried to make China the enemy in this pandemic and accuses U.S. media of siding with state propaganda from China in their coverage. Whatever that means.
26. People start tuning in to Governor Cuomo’s press briefings over the White House press briefings because Cuomo presents his information in a factual, no-nonsense manner that still comes across as empathetic.
27. The former head of the White House’s National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense, which Trump dismantled in 2018, says our response to the pandemic would’ve been more thorough and speedy if we still had this agency today. At the same time, he says we have capable and committed health organizations handling the situation.
28. Several states that run their own ACA marketplaces reopen enrollment so people can get healthcare coverage during this crisis. The Trump administration has so far refused to open the federal marketplace for states that rely on it.
29. California’s governor enlists tech companies to help develop more targeted testing.
30. Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick says grandparents would be willing to die in order to keep the economy humming. So they’d be willing to die to save the planet for their grandchildren but not willing to switch over from fossil fuels to renewables. Weird.
31. Coronavirus testing is more available to the wealthy, celebrities, and people who just happen to have the right doctor.
32. Trump offers to help North Korea fight the coronavirus, even though they haven’t reported any cases yet.
33. Jared Kushner is running his own team of government officials and representatives from private industry to combat the coronavirus. As of this week, he hasn’t attended any of the pandemic meetings. His focus is on drive-through testing sites, but he also says the virus isn’t a “health reality.”

• • Members of the real pandemic team are now unsure of the chain of command and of how to respond to emails from Kushner’s team.

34. Not long after tweeting a picture of himself in a packed restaurant with his family, Oklahoma’s Republican governor is briefed on the tripling of cases in his state and does an abrupt about-face: “We need all Oklahomans to take this really, really seriously. If we take no actions at all, the cases will outstrip our capacity and our health-care system.”
35. New York City asks the state to let them use the Javits Convention Center as a medical facility in case their hospitals get overrun. States begin setting up other public spaces as field hospitals, and Navy hospital ships are on the way to New York and Los Angeles.
36. The U.S. military also plans to provide 2 million respiratory masks and 2,000 ventilators.
37. The U.K. has had a very relaxed response to the pandemic and has not implemented any social distancing measures to slow the spread. Despite requests from hundreds of scientists to implement stricter measures, all they do is ask people over 70 to self-isolate. Their rate of infection is about the same as other European countries that have already implemented social distancing measures.
38. The White House suspends all testimony before Congress from officials working on the pandemic response.
39. Clinical trials for coronavirus vaccines start this week.

Shortages:

1. The Strategic National Stockpile is already running out of the needed medical equipment, but it’s not being doled out by need. Florida received everything they asked for and New Jersey got less than 6% of what they asked for despite the greater number of cases in New Jersey.
2. Testing has been slowed down by shortages of the following: masks to protect people who administer the tests, swabs to collect samples (Italy has the largest manufacturer), kits to pull the virus’s genetic material out of the samples, chemical reagents (we have three manufactures, all of whom failed to provide enough), and trained people.
3. The U.S. military flies 500,000 test swabs from Italy to Tennessee.
4. Memorial Sloan Kettering, one of the top U.S. cancer hospitals has a week’s supply of protective gear and already has staff and patients testing positive for the coronavirus.
5. California Governor Gavin Newsom issues an order allowing the state to take over hotels and medical facilities to treat coronavirus patients.
6. Hospital workers start re-using PPE, including masks, gloves, and protective gowns. Most healthcare facilities report shortages.
7. Hospitals in Italy and Spain are out of rooms and don’t have enough supplies. Doctors are forced to ration care to patients who have the greatest chance of survival. (The U.S. has fewer hospital beds than Italy, per capita).
8. Without a single point of leadership from the federal government directing our overall response, states start competing with each other for resources and equipment. Hospitals still don’t have the protective equipment and ventilators they need, and states are getting mired in bidding wars trying to supply them.

• • Trump says governors shouldn’t blame the federal government for their own shortcomings.
  • And then the federal government outbids the states on supplies so states can’t get them. So instead of centralizing the acquisition process and making sure there’s no price gouging, the federal government helps to drive up the cost of supplies through bidding wars.

Exposures:

1. Two Representatives announce that they tested positive for coronavirus, causing several of their colleagues to self-quarantine as a precaution. Congressional staffers are also testing positive.
2. A sailor aboard the USS Boxer tests presumptively positive.
3. Two emergency room doctors are now in critical condition with the disease.
4. Italy is the hardest-hit country outside of China, with nearly 25,000 cases and 1,809 deaths. By the end of the week, the number of deaths in Italy passes the number reported in China. Spain and France are the hardest-hit countries after Italy.
5. House Intelligence Committee investigator Daniel Goldman tests positive (and looks like shit, I might add).
6. The White House gets its first confirmed case of COVID-19 when a member of Mike Pence’s staff tests positive. Pence says he has not been tested.
7. Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) and Ben McAdams (D-UT) test positive, increasing concerns among Members of Congress that they should not be holding in-person sessions.
8. Senator Rand Paul (R-TN) tests positive for the coronavirus. During the five days he was waiting for his results, he worked as usual and went to the Senate gym. This causes his colleagues Mitt Romney and Mike Lee to self-quarantine as they had spent time with Paul during those days.
9. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under quarantine after a doctor who gave her a vaccine tested positive (not a coronavirus vaccine, in case you were wondering).
10. More NBA players test positive this week. The total for the league is now at 14.
11. Prince Albert II tests positive for the virus, as does the EU’s Brexit negotiator.
12. Prisoners start to test positive or show symptoms, including at Rikers Island in New York.
13. People generally think that people under 55 aren’t at as much risk for the virus, but they make up nearly 40% of hospitalizations for COVID-19.
14. New York City reports positive coronavirus tests among its homeless population.
15. Dozens of healthcare workers are sick with COVID-19, and several are hospitalized.

Closures:

1. The Peace Corps suspends all operations and brings all volunteers home.
2. The International Olympic Committee pushes this year’s summer Olympics back to 2021.
3. San Francisco issues a stay at home order for three weeks, which extends to all six Bay area counties. Other cities and counties follow suit. Some states merely issue curfews.
4. San Francisco allows people to shop for necessities, but being out for any other reason is a misdemeanor.
5. By the end of the week, all of California is under a stay at home order. Governor Newsom warns that 56% of Californians could be infected if we don’t stay at home with the exception of essential trips for things like food and medicine.
6. The CDC recommends that no gatherings of 50 people or more be held anywhere in the U.S. for the next eight weeks. Researchers say we need three months of social distancing.
7. New York City closes all public schools, libraries, restaurants, and bars. Restaurants can stay open for take-out only.
8. By the end of the week, public and private schools are closed for more than half of U.S. children.
9. Massachusetts, Washington, Louisiana, and Ohio close bars and restaurants, allowing take-out only.
10. Meanwhile, Representative Devin Nunes (R-CA) urges people to go out and eat in a restaurant, and the governor of Oklahoma takes a selfie of him and his family enjoying a meal at a packed restaurant.
11. California asks all people 65 and older to stay at home for now. This also includes people with compromised immunity.
12. Germany and Argentina close their borders. France closes all non-essential businesses and orders people not to leave their homes. The EU restricts all non-essential travel. Dozens of other countries implement partial or full lockdowns on their people or borders.
13. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi issues a total lockdown of 1.3 billion people for three weeks.
14. The Vatican closes its traditional Easter celebrations to the public.
15. Trump cancels the G-7 Summit scheduled for June.
16. With all that, NATO is still holding in-person meetings.
17. The Trump administration advises against all non-essential travel and to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people. The State Department issues a travel warning against traveling abroad.
18. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau closes the border between U.S. and Canada, setting off a flurry of travel between the countries as snowbirds head home to Canada and students head home to the states. The U.S. and Mexico agree to stop non-essential travel between the two countries.

Numbers:

1. Coronavirus deaths in Italy outnumber those reported inside China for the first time. New infections in China and South Korea, two of the first epicenters, start to decline. Morgues in Italy are at capacity, and the government sends military trucks to offload the coffins.
2. Iran, another epicenter for the coronavirus, now has nearly 1,300 dead.
3. New York’s death toll passes Washington’s and is the highest in the U.S.
4. The number of confirmed cases in the U.S. doubles within two days.
5. Here are the numbers by the end of the week:

• • 26,747 people in the U.S. are infected so far (that we know of), with 340 deaths.
  • 307,280 people worldwide have been infected, with 13,049 deaths.
  • There are cases of coronavirus infection in every state.

International:

1. The new acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell, fires the acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center, which was put in place after 9/11 to protect from further attacks against the U.S.

Ban:

1. We catch a glimpse of Trump’s briefing notes, where it’s clearly visible that he crossed out the “Corona” in Coronavirus and replaced it with “China.” He’s been catching flack recently for insisting on calling it the China or Chinese virus despite the fact that hate crimes against Asians are on the rise right now. And it’s all Asians, not just Chinese, because haters don’t bother to try to tell different ethnic groups apart. Trump and other Republicans push and defend calling it the “China virus.”

• • Global health organizations warn against using a regional name to refer to a disease for this very reason.
  • Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) also defends the term, saying that the virus is China’s fault because they “eat bats and snakes and dogs and things like that.” It’s super convenient to forget that the Swine Flu started in the U.S.

2. Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) votes against the coronavirus relief package because it provides aid to people in domestic partnerships, including gay people.
3. Advocacy groups sue the Department of Health and Human Services over their proposal to stop enforcing nondiscrimination protections for a variety of services, including foster care, adoptions, homeless shelters, and elder care, among other services.
4. Racist groups and neo-Nazis urge their members who test positive for the coronavirus to spread contagion to the police and Jews.
5. Citizenship and Immigration Services temporarily suspends all in-person services, including asylum offices and support centers. They’re providing what services they can without being face-to-face.

Budget/Economy:

1. The Dow Jones drops 3,000 points in one day despite the Feds’ attempts to calm the market. The Dow dips below 20,000 for the first time in three years, wiping out all the gains under this administration.
2. Lenders start to offer deferred payments on mortgages. Now isn’t the time to be proud. If you think you might have trouble with your payments, call your lender NOW.
3. Senate Republicans introduce a $1 trillion relief package that would send direct cash payments to many Americans and would provide tax relief to businesses, loans to small businesses, and financial bailouts to hard-hit industries.

• • Remember when they thought bail-outs were a bad thing? Different president, different rules, I guess.
  • Steve Mnuchin predicts that without this package, unemployment will reach 20%.

4. Senate Democrats want some student loan forgiveness built into the relief package. House Democrats want provisions that protect workers, like expanding sick leave and banning companies that receive aide from using it to buy back stock or reward executives instead of taking care of workers.
5. The Trump administration asks state officials to hold off on releasing unemployment numbers for fear they will spook the stock market.
6. By the end of the week, 80 million Americans are under stay at home orders and the economy is slowing down much faster than expected.
7. Millions of Americans apply for unemployment benefits this week, with nearly 3 million expected first-time claims.
8. Amazon suspends non-essential shipments to warehouses, restricting the types of things we can order and increasing shipping times for non-essential items. Of course, they are also out of toilet paper, disinfectant, and protective gloves.
9. The Trump administration delays tax day until July.

Elections:

1. And then there were two… with only Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders left in the Democratic presidential primary, this week’s debate is more focused. And more white. And more masculine.
2. Connecticut, Ohio, and Georgia push back their presidential primary elections.

Miscellaneous:

1. Sean Hannity denies he ever called the coronavirus a hoax. He called it hoax just last week. Several Fox News personalities are pivoting from downplaying the pandemic to warning about the dangers of the virus.
2. A reporter shoots Trump a softball, asking what he’d say to people who are frightened by the pandemic. Trump responds by calling him a terrible reporter and saying that was a nasty question.

Polls:

1. Trump’s aggregate approval rises to 43.7%. That’s pretty high for him, and pretty surprising given the nature of his press briefings.

This is the week things get serious with the coronavirus. The WHO calls it a pandemic, states start shutting down schools and other gathering places and tell people to restrict their social activities. Trump stops holding rallies, but not to worry—he finds an outlet by making his pandemic briefings into a new version of political rally.

Here’s what happened in politics for the week ending March 15…

Shootings This Week:

1. There were 7 mass shootings in the U.S. this week (defined as killing and/or injuring 4 or more people). Shooters kill 17 people and injure 18 more.

Russia:

1. Following a federal judge’s criticism last week of Attorney General William Barr’s handling of the Mueller report, a federal appeals court rules that the House Judiciary Committee is entitled to see grand jury testimony from Robert Mueller’s investigation.
2. Putin is working to implement changes to Russia’s constitution to allow him to remain in office past his term limit, which is up in 2024. The new rules would let him run for two additional six-year terms.
3. The Russian parliament approves the bill to allow Putin to stay in power the extra 12 years.
4. Russia starts prodding hate groups to spread and amplify racist messages while also pushing Black extremist groups to commit violence ahead of our elections.
5. Trump’s new acting director of national intelligence, Richard Grenell, declines to meet with Congress about Russia’s interference in our elections because he doesn’t know enough about it.

Legal Fallout:

1. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) drops his efforts to subpoena Andriy Telizhenko, a former official of the Ukrainian Embassy, in the Homeland Security Committee’s investigation into Hunter Biden. He wants to investigate more first.
2. Two New York City employees say they accepted bribes from the Trump Organization in return for lowering their assessments of Trump properties for property tax purposes.

Healthcare/Coronavirus:

Healthcare:

1. The Kentucky House passes a bill that would amend its constitution to explicitly state that women don’t have a legal right to an abortion. Kentucky voters would have to pass a referendum in order for the change to be made.
2. A handful of states, including Ohio and Texas, take advantage of the pandemic to include abortion as non-essential services that can’t be performed at this time, with certain exceptions for life-threatening circumstances.
3. When Trump is asked to reconcile White House efforts to kill the ACA with trying to guarantee coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions, Trump can’t come up with an answer.
4. A few weeks ago, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said they’d come up with a healthcare plan after the Supreme Court makes the final judgment on the ACA. The White House budget director said they just weren’t ready to reveal their plan. This, after 10 years of trying to kill the ACA and having time for the GOP to come up with their own plan.

Coronavirus:

1. Starting in mid-January, the Trump administration ordered all coronavirus discussions to be classified. This prevented people who should’ve been informed from taking part, slowing down the response.
2. The New York attorney general’s office orders televangelist Jim Bakker to stop selling a fake cure for the coronavirus, threatening legal action. He sells his snake oil for $125 a bottle.
3. The Grand Princess cruise ship is finally allowed to dock in Oakland, CA, but the passengers remain quarantined aboard. Twenty-one passengers have tested positive so far.

• • The DoD provides four quarantine facilities for the passengers.
  • Remember that last week Trump didn’t want to let the ship dock saying, “They would like to have the people come off. I’d rather have the people stay… because I like the numbers being where they are. I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault.”

• • Health officials, including Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, urge the administration to shut down the cruise ship industry, but some White House officials argue that they don’t want to hurt Florida’s economy this close to the election.
  • The four biggest cruise lines in the world suspend their excursions that originate in the U.S. Trump says he requested this. Princess Cruises had previously suspended all trips for 60 days.

4. Administration officials start blaming each other for the lack of planning and subsequent scattershot response to the coronavirus.
5. The World Health Organization designates the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic due to its rapid spread in multiple countries and the exponential growth of new cases.
6. Satellite images show new football-sized sections of graveyards in Iran dug out to handle the vast number of deaths from COVID-19.
7. Trump calls Washington Governor Jay Inslee a snake while talking about how beautiful the coronavirus tests are and about that “monster” ship sailing around off the West coast with infected passengers. Washington is the first state with reported cases and deaths from COVID-19.
8. After New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declares a state of emergency in New York, Trump accuses him of politicizing the pandemic.
9. Last week while trying to compare COVID-19 with the flu, Trump expressed shock at how many people die from the flu and said he didn’t know people died from the flu.

• • Trump’s grandfather died from the flu.

10. Trump comes under fire for disbanding the pandemic team that Obama put in place following the Ebola epidemic. Word from the White House is that the team was part of a reorganization that included a merger of three different groups.

• • Trump indicates that he thought he could reassemble the team “very quickly.”
  • There’s been some disagreement over whether it’s correct to say that he disbanded the team when some team members were merged into other national security positions. But the facts are that the office was disbanded, some team members were let go, and the office no longer exists.
  • As Anthony Fauci diplomatically describes the change, “I wouldn’t necessarily characterize it as a mistake. I would say we worked very well with that office. It would be nice if the office was still there.”

11. The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) delays the annual threat assessment report, which warns that the U.S. isn’t prepared for a pandemic. The details of the report aren’t public yet.
12. While health experts say testing is one of the most important things for slowing down the spread of the virus, there’s still a shortage of tests available in the U.S. Doctors are meeting with resistance from health departments over whether patients should be tested.
13. Private labs don’t have to report their numbers to the government, so we don’t really know how many people have been tested.
14. Insurance companies, Medicare, and Medicaid agree to cover the full cost of coronavirus testing.
15. Representative Katie Porter (D-CA) gets CDC director Redfield to commit to free coronavirus testing for everybody. She had to break down the full out-of-pocket cost to the consumer for testing.
16. While the average citizen with COVID-19 symptoms is still having a hard time getting tested for the virus, it’s a different story for professional athletes, celebrities, and elected officials.
17. Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass) and dozens of members of the House urge the Trump administration to invoke the Defense Production Act to mobilize businesses to produce testing kits, gowns, masks, ventilators, and other equipment needed by our medical workers to handle this pandemic.
18. Healthcare providers across the country start asking how they can access the critical equipment stored in the Strategic National Stockpile for emergencies such as this.
19. After resisting pleas from Democrats to declare a national emergency, Trump finally issues an emergency declaration.

• • This could allow states to use Medicaid funding to respond to the pandemic, something states have been begging for. States still have to negotiate the details, though, which will take time we don’t have.
  • It makes the national stockpile available and provides disaster-level assistance to states.
  • It allows FEMA to provide and coordinate assistance to individual states and their efforts.
  • States can start applying for federal assistance.

    Mixed Messages:

1. The Trump administration says that every American can get a test for the virus if a doctor deems it necessary. Trump himself says anyone who wants a test can get one. It’s uncertain whether there are enough tests for that. He later says we don’t want to test everyone.

• • Trump says we’re getting millions of test kits, and that they’re perfect just like his call with the Ukraine president was perfect (forgive me if that doesn’t make me feel more confident). He says we’ll have 5 million test kits within a month but that we probably won’t need that many.
  • Last week, Mike Pence said we wouldn’t have enough test kits to meet the demand.

2. Doctors and patients complain that the tests aren’t available to them. The CDC revises its guidelines so that more people can qualify to be tested.
3. A shortage of test kits hampers our ability to trace infections, which would help slow down the spread of the virus.
4. Trump goes from playing down the effects of the virus to suddenly taking it very seriously for some reason. He gives an Oval Office address to explain what’s going on.

• • Trump says that health insurance providers will waive all co-payments for treatments for COVID-19. Health insurers have to clarify that, no, they’ll fully cover testing, not treatment.
  • He says he’s suspending all travel between the U.S. and Europe (except the U.K.) for 30 days, including trade and cargo.

• • • His administration later clarifies that trade and cargo are not currently suspended and that the restrictions only apply to foreign nationals who’ve been to the Schengen area. It doesn’t apply to U.S. citizens nor their immediate families.
    • His exception of the U.K. means that people can still travel to his resorts. Also, the U.K. is looking to be one of the worst-hit.
  • He literally read the speech directly off the teleprompter and still, he could not get it right.

5. Trump begins a series of press conferences, no doubt meant to inform and calm the masses. But he makes so many misstatements and spends so much time boasting about his presidency that the masses are more confused than ever. He even brings up Fox News ratings, because that’s super important when we’re dealing with a pandemic.

• • The administration continues to send out mixed messages, even within the press briefings, as health officials and experts contradict Trump frequently in the middle of the briefings.
  • Health officials and experts intermingle compliments for the administration’s response to soften their corrections of Trump. After all, they don’t want to piss him off.

6. Democratic Senators send Mike Pence a letter asking for clarification of Trump’s comments from the briefings.
7. Trump accuses Democrats of inflaming the coronavirus situation and says the risk to the average American is very, very low. At the same time, Mike Pence says people are irresponsibly downplaying the seriousness of the pandemic.
8. While expressing understanding for the severity of the pandemic, Trump also downplays it by tweeting, “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!”
9. Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt sends out a memo giving Interior officials talking points to downplay the seriousness of the coronavirus. Two days later, Bernhardt praises Trump for taking decisive and unprecedented measures to protect the American people from the coronavirus.

   Exposures:

1. Two-thirds of U.S. Senators are over 60, putting them in the high-risk group for contracting the virus.
2. Even though Members of Congress are anxious about going into work, and some have already started self-isolating, it’s business as usual, with members coming in to work.

• • Senator Ted Cruz and Representatives Mark Meadows, Paul Gosar, Doug Collins, and Matt Gaetz self-isolate after coming into contact with someone infected with the coronavirus at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
  • When Gaetz was alerted about it, he was on Air Force One with Trump.
  • It turns out that the infected person at CPAC met with high-profile speakers at the conference, took photos with several of them, and hung out in the green room for the event.

3. Trump hosts a gathering where some guests later test positive for the coronavirus. He refuses to be tested or to self-isolate. Eventually, he relents and tests negative, according to his doctor.

• • Senators Rick Scott (R-FL) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) self-isolate after they interact with Trump.

4. Days after meeting with Bill Barr, Ivanka Trump, and Kellyanne Conway, the Australian minister for home affairs tests positive for the coronavirus.
5. Two Mar-a-Lago guests test positive.
6. Last week, nine cases of COVID-19 were linked to attendees of a Biogen conference in Boston. Now two major Boston hospitals have set up temporary testing facilities to test all attendees.
7. A physician in Washington State tests positive for COVID-19 and is in critical condition.

   Closures:

1. Colleges and universities move their classes online to protect students from the coronavirus.
2. With no clear guidance from the Trump administration, mayors and governors in Washington, California, and New York start to issue recommendations about cutting down mass gatherings—first recommending we stay away from gatherings of more than 250 people and then lowering that to 50 people.
3. States start closing schools, including the Los Angeles Unified School District—the second largest district in the U.S.
4. States restrict visiting senior homes and nursing homes.
5. States start extending the tax deadline past April 15.
6. All large venues, including Broadway theaters, amusement parks, casinos, and sports arenas, close down.
7. The Council on Foreign Relations cancels their coronavirus conference because of coronavirus.
8. Italy locks down the entire country for the next month to curb the spread of the virus. The EU questions whether they can even do that, but Spain follows suit and France shuts down nonessential businesses.
9. The NBA suspends its games until further notice after a player for the Utah Jazz tests positive for COVID-19. The NCAA cancels March Madness; the NHL, MLS, and MLB suspend their seasons; the Indian Wells tennis tournament cancels; and the PGA will not allow fans to come watch.
10. St. Patrick’s day celebrations and parades are canceled in Ireland and cities worldwide.
11. Melania cancels a fundraiser in California and Trump cancels all of his political rallies. This is how we know things are serious.
12. China begins to allow factories and other businesses to reopen in Wuhan province. Closing down businesses has been a blow to their economy.

   The Numbers:

1. The CDC says that the worst-case scenario is that 200,000 to 1.7 million people in the U.S. could die from the pandemic. Those projections do not take into account the mitigation enacted in multiple states so far, which should bring those numbers down.
2. Trump says the pandemic will go away, and that it’s about 600 cases and 26 deaths in the U.S. He says the risk to Americans is very, very low. Here are the numbers by the end of the week :

• • 1,678 people in the U.S. are infected so far (that we know of), with 41 deaths. Tests are ramping up, but still number only in the thousands.
  • 153,517 people worldwide have been infected, with 5,735 deaths.

3. More than 3 dozen states report cases of coronavirus infection.

International:

1. Trump receives strong condemnation from European officials after he announces a ban on travel between the U.S. and Europe with the exception of Great Britain. Trump didn’t give them any warning, and Great Britain is having problems with COVID-19 as well.

• • The surprise announcement causes Americans abroad to panic and scramble to get flights home.

2. I have no problem with the ban, other than that it excludes the U.K for no good reason. But the WHO calls the move “entirely unwise” and says there’s no evidence that it will reduce transmission since it’s already a pandemic.
3. In the midst of a pandemic, the U.S. military finds time to carry out airstrikes against militia sites in Iraq that are backed by Iran in retribution for an attack that killed two U.S. troops and one British troop.

Border Wall/Shutdown/National Emergency:

1. Trump says that building a wall will contain the coronavirus. The director of the CDC says it won’t.

Travel Ban/Immigration/Discrimination:

1. The Supreme Court allows Trump’s “Remain in Mexico” policy to stay in place while the court considers whether or not to hear the case against it. A federal judge previously found the policy illegal. Human rights groups argue that this places asylum seekers in even greater danger with the spread of COVID-19.
2. ICE scales back their operations, only making arrests that are critical to national security.
3. For the second straight year, white terror suspects outnumber terrorists of any other ethnic group in the U.K.

Climate:

1. The Trump administration formally restricts the type of research that can be used as the basis for environmental and public health regulations. The restrictions prevent agencies from using studies that use certain personally identifying or confidential information, like that on which a great deal of medical science is based.

Budget/Economy:

1. Markets take a dive around the world, including a 2,000-point drop in the Dow Jones in just one day. Trump gives a speech meant to calm the market, but it drops another 1,700 the following day.

• • The low for the Dow Jones this week is close to 21,000—down nearly 8,000 points from the peak. So far the Dow Jones has fallen 20% from its height.
  • U.S. markets slide so hard that we’re now in a bear market, putting an end to the 11-year bull market run.
  • Trump administration implements emergency financial measures after his announcement of a ban on travel from Europe contributes to one of the stock market drops. The markets rally a bit after Trump’s declaration.

2. Trump considers a stimulus package to help businesses and workers that will be hit in the economic downturn caused by the pandemic.
3. Democrats try to pass emergency paid sick leave legislation, but Republicans in the Senate block it because they don’t think either the federal government or businesses should have to pay for it.
4. The White House and Congress start talks about ways to provide a relief package to rescue the U.S. economy even as health officials debate which parts of the economy should shut down to slow down the spread of the coronavirus.

• • They’ll look at cutting payroll taxes, providing loans to small businesses, and providing paid leave for workers.
  • At this point, Trump is willing to dive into relief measures, but top Republicans say it’s too soon.

5. In the end, Democrats and the White House reach a deal on an economic relief bill, which includes tens of billions of dollars in funding for things like paid sick leave, unemployment insurance, and coronavirus testing, as well as relief for businesses.
6. Russia and Saudi Arabia continue their oil war, glutting the market and causing oil prices to plunge 25%. If they drive the prices low enough, it will affect U.S. shale oil producers.
7. White House officials block former national security advisor Tom Bossert from reaching Trump to warn him about how dire the economic picture is in light of the pandemic. Several of Trump’s other advisers, including Jared Kushner, think the problem is more about public psychology that health.
8. Companies begin their first round of layoffs in the U.S. over coronavirus pandemic concerns.
9. The Federal Reserve cuts interest rates to zero and announces a buyback of at least $700 billion in government and mortgage bonds. They also provide an additional, temporary $1.5 trillion for the repo market.
10. The GOP-led Senate passes a rebuke of Betsy DeVos over her refusal to provide the required student loan forgiveness for victims of fraud by for-profit colleges.

Elections:

1. Louisiana and Georgia postpone their upcoming presidential primaries over coronavirus fears.

Miscellaneous:

1. Former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who Trump said would go through some very bad things, receives yet another award for her service. This one is from Indiana University.
2. Less than nine hours after Trump asks Congress to stop the bipartisanship and come together, he tweets out attacks against Schumer and Pelosi.