Donald Trump laments that it cost him billions of dollars to become president as he again refuses to rule out taking bail out money for his business and attacks reporter for 'nasty question'

Asked if he'll take bailout money for his own properties, Trump says 'let's just see what happens'

THE DAILY MAIL

Donald Trump on Sunday lamented that becoming president had cost him billions of dollars after refusing to rule out taking bail out money for his business in the wake of the coronavirus for a second day running.

The president said that it 'cost me billions of dollars to be president of the United States'. He also said wife Melania had never heard him booed before he ran for office.

Trump's comments came during his daily coronavirus briefing.

He had earlier attacked the reporter who asked if he had sold off any of his stock for his 'nasty question' during the Sunday evening press conference into the worldwide pandemic.

Trump said: 'That's a nasty question. It's a nasty question but I guess it deserved to be asked. I don't have stock. I own things.

'Look at my legal costs. It cost me billions of dollars to be president, and I'm so happy I did it. Because who cares?'

Four senators dumped millions of dollars worth of stock while Capitol Hill was being briefed on the threat of coronavirus but before the markets tanked as infections soared, disclosure records have revealed.

Republicans Richard Burr, Kelly Loeffler and James Inhofe and Democrat Dianne Feinstein collectively offloaded up to $11million in stock between late January and early February, according to reports.

Discussing his own wealth Trump said Sunday: 'When I ran I said "this is going to cost me a fortune". I am being sued by people I never even heard of. I think it is very hard for rich people to run for office.'

And when probed for the second day running in whether he would accept government help for his business Trump said 'nobody said thank you very much' when he forgo his presidential salary.

He added: 'But I guarantee if I took it, you would go after me, you in particular would go after me like crazy.'

 

© Provided by Daily Mail President Donald Trump, flanked by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor, speaks during a news conference, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Washington D.C. on Sunday

Trump on Saturday said he will not rule out accepting government assistance for his Trump Organization after the company closed Mar-a-Lago, fired staff, and even shut down the bars at its Washington D.C. luxury hotel in the wake of the coronavirus.

'I don't know. I mean, I just don't know what the government assistance would be for what I have. I have hotels. Everybody knew I had hotels when I got elected. They knew I was a successful person when I got elected so it's one of those things,' he said Saturday at his daily coronavirus briefing.

The administration is working on a financial rescue package for workers and businesses affected by the disease.

'Is it hurting me? Yeah, it's hurting Hilton, it's hurting all the great hotel chains all over the world. It's hurting everybody,' the president said of the economic fallout of the coronavirus. 'Very few businesses that are doing well.'

But, he added, the closures were a good thing as more than 22,000 people in the United States have been affected and almost 300 people have died.

'I think it's a good thing. You don't want people getting together hotels and clubs and everything, you get together. We want to beat this deal. I have many of them, hotels, clubs, things like that where people get together. I would think it would be a good practice to close them up,' Trump said.

The president said he also didn't give his sons - Don Jr. and Eric - who took over running the company after he was elected - any advance warning about restrictions coming to help contain the spread of the coronavirus.

'I didn't speak to anybody,' he said. 'I speak to my sons. They basically follow the rules. When they say close them down in New York, we close them down or wherever they may be having them.'

Several states where the Trump Organization has properties have closed bars, restaurants, gyms, clubs and other areas where large numbers of people gather to help contain the spread.

'Various facilities are temporarily closed given local, state and federal mandates. We anxiously await the day when this pandemic is over and our world-class facilities can reopen,' a spokesperson for the Trump Organization told DailyMail.com.

© Provided by Daily Mail Mar-a-Lago became Ground Zero for the coronavirus after a Brazilian official who dined there tested positive for the disease

© Provided by Daily Mail Bars in The Trump International Hotel Washington D.C. closed because of the mayor's call to close them in order to help stop the spread of the coronavirus

The White House is pushing for a $1 trillion package that would include $200 billion for the airlines and other critical industries directly affected by the coronavirus, such as the hospitality industry. Hotels and restaurants have been hit hard by the pandemic as people are staying home.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a close Trump ally who has dined at Mar-a-Lago, on Friday issued an executive order that all restaurants and gyms in the state must close. Restaurants are allowed to do take-out orders.

Earlier this week he closed bars and nightclubs to slow down the spread of the disease during Spring Break's high peak season.

But the order also affected Trump's Winter White House in Palm Beach, which became Ground Zero for the administration and the virus after a Brazilian official who attended a dinner there March 8 tested positive for the disease.

That had a cascade effect as the president was at the dinner along with several members of his administration and the first family. President Trump has tested negative for the disease.

But the club was closed Monday for a deep cleaning. Other guests from the March 8 event had to be tested for the virus. At least three cases have been tied to attendees there.

Normally, the president would spend weekends at Mar-a-Lago this time of year, where he would enjoy dinner with his fellow club members and spending time at his Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach.

Additionally, earlier this week, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered all restaurants, bars, and clubs to close to help contain the pandemic.

That order closed the restaurant and bar at the Trump International Hotel Washington D.C., which sets just blocks from the White House.

The hotel is a popular watering hole for Republicans. Members of the Trump family have been seen in its bars and restaurants when they are in town. And the president sometimes dines there.

'As an organization we are following federal, state and local direction and guidance very carefully,' Eric Trump, who took over leading the company after his father's election, told The New York Times.



a car parked on a city street: The Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York has fired 40 members of its staff as it struggles ahead of a'significant shortfall in revenues'1/2 SLIDES © Provided by Daily Mail

The Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York has fired 40 members of its staff as it struggles ahead of a'significant shortfall in revenues'
Click to expand

The Trump Organization cut staff - 40 from its New York hotel and 95 per cent from its Washington location - along with closing golf courses in Los Angeles and the Miami area, the paper reported.

In a letter to owners of units in the Trump International Hotel and Tower in New York on Thursday and obtained by The Times, general manager Matthew Vandegrift warned of a 'significant shortfall in revenues.'

'While we recognize that hope is not a strategy, I can assure you we are thoroughly analyzing expenses,' Vandegrift wrote. 'Strategies have been deployed to mitigate the expected financial losses as a result of COVID-19.'

Several business have had to take lay off staff after being closed to help stop the spread of the highly contagious disease.

The Trump Organization owns more than a dozen golf clubs and at least partially owns or operates hotels in Chicago, Hawaii, Las Vegas, New York, Vancouver and Washington D.C., as well as Ireland and Scotland.

The president's Bedminster New Jersey golf club, where he often spends summer weekends, is open for play although the club told members no caddies or other services were available.

At Trump's National Doral Miami club, the golf course is closed but the pool remains open.

Donald Trump pledges to send in the national guard into Washington, California and New York as the hardest hit states are declared disaster zones

Donald Trump on Sunday pledged to send in the national guard into Washington, California and New York, as the hardest hit states were declared disaster zones.

The disaster declaration will provide federal assistance for both emergency protective measures and crisis counseling in Washington, the White House said.

Trump said Sunday: 'And through (Federal Emergency Management Agency), the federal government will be funding 100 per cent of the cost of deploying national guard units to carry out approved missions to stop the virus while those governors remain in command.

'We'll be following them and we hope they can do the job and I think they will. I spoke with all three of the governors today, just a little while ago and they're very happy with what we're going to be doing.'

© Provided by Daily Mail President Donald Trump gestures during a news conference on Sunday

Washington gov. Jay Inslee said the federal declaration was appreciated but added it was a 'first step' that doesn't go far enough. Health officials there reported at least 95 coronavirus deaths in Washington state and nearly 2,000 confirmed cases Sunday.

In a statement Inslee said 'today's declaration does not unlock many forms of federal assistance we have requested to help workers and families who are badly hurting.

'We will continue working with our federal partners to deliver the full suite of disaster assistance that is sorely needed in our state, such as expanded unemployment benefits for workers who lose their paychecks as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.'

Trump also said Sunday he'd ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to ship mobile hospital centers to the hard-hit states of Washington, California and New York amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The president said FEMA will also provide thousands of hospital beds to New York, Califnoria and Washington plus dozens of medical stations which will be with the states in 48 hours.

Two naval hospitals - one the east and west coast - will also be used.

Trump said Sunday: 'I'm a wartime president. This is a war — a different kind of war than we've ever had.'

He added: 'We're sort of a backup for states.'

© Provided by Daily Mail New York City Grand Central Station pictured Sunday amid the coronavirus outbreak

© Provided by Daily Mail A man wearing a face mask walks across the street in San Francisco on Friday, a day after California's Governor Gavin Newsom implemented a statewide 'stay at home order' directing the state's nearly 40 million residents to stay in their homes for the foreseeable future

California gov. Gavin Newsom has earlier written to Trump asking that the state be declared a 'major disaster'.

He said: 'Unfortunately, California has been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.

'Besides California being home to nearly 40 million people, which itself poses significant logistical issues few other states face, California partnered with the federal government in several extremely complex and challenging repatriation missions, which strained California's resources and impacted California's healthcare delivery system.'

There were more than 33,000 cases across the U.S. and more than 400 deaths. New York state accounted for 117 deaths, mostly in New York City.

On Sunday, New York passed Washington state, the initial epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, in the number of fatal cases.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had said earlier: 'I think the federal government should order factories to manufacture masks, gowns, ventilators, the essential medical equipment that is going to make the difference between life and death.'

Cuomo has told hospitals to figure out ways to increase their current beds by at least 50% because predictions from health officials are that COVID-19 cases needing advanced medical care will top 100,000 in New York state in the next month or so. Such a deluge could overwhelm hospitals in a city that has about 53,000 beds.

Hospitals started to feel the crush Sunday, creating emergency room overflows and dedicating COVID-19 wings, with officials in Brooklyn saying a number were becoming overwhelmed.

Health care workers said they were being asked to reuse and ration disposable masks and gloves.

For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough.

For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death. The vast majority of people recover.

Washington also announced that all state campgrounds would be closed until April 30.

© Provided by Daily Mail A worker at Life Care Center in Kirkland wears a mask as she leaves the facility Friday evening. The nursing home has been at the center of the outbreak of the new coronavirus in Washington

Olympic swimmer opens up on coronavirus battle: ‘The worst virus I have ever endured’

With the Tokyo Olympics scheduled for this July, pressure from around the sports world has been focused on the IOC to postpone the Games given the risks athletes and visitors would face with the global coronavirus pandemic.

© Provided by For The Win USA TODAY

We're already seeing athletes struggle with the virus.

South African swimmer Cameron van der Burgh won gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London for the 100-meter breaststroke. He's a world-class athlete and is just 31 years old, but he's been struggling with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

In a Sunday Twitter thread, van der Burgh discussed his multi-week battle with the coronavirus, calling it "by far the worst virus" he had ever faced and urged the public to take preventive measures seriously.

2/ I have been struggling with Covid-19 for 14 days today. By far the worst virus I have ever endured despite being a healthy individual with strong lungs(no smoking/sport), living a healthy lifestyle and being young (least at risk demographic)
- Cameron van der Burgh (@Cameronvdburgh) March 22, 2020

4/ The loss in body conditioning has been immense and can only feel for the athletes that contract Covid-19 as they will suffer a great loss of current conditioning through the last training cycle. Infection closer to competition being the worst.
- Cameron van der Burgh (@Cameronvdburgh) March 22, 2020

6/ Please, look after yourself everyone! Health comes first - COVID-19 is no joke!
- Cameron van der Burgh (@Cameronvdburgh) March 22, 2020

According to van der Burgh, his symptoms have improved - and he no longer has a fever - but he raised issues that the IOC need to consider, especially when it comes to athletes preparing for the Olympics.

In a letter released on Sunday, the IOC set a deadline of four weeks to come to a decision on postponing the Tokyo Games. The IOC has, however, ruled out the possibility of cancelling the Olympics.

Will coronavirus slow the world's conflicts -- or intensify them?
AFP
Syria, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, the Sahel... with the great powers focused intently on the COVID-19 virus, will armed conflicts across the world decrease in severity or intensify? Experts as well as diplomats at the United Nations say there is a serious risk of the latter.  

© Souleymane Ag Anara Malian fighters patrolling on the border with Mauritania on January 22, 2020

For guerrilla fighters and extremist groups, "it's a clear godsend," said Bertrand Badie, a specialist in international relations at France's Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po).


When the "powerful become powerless," he told AFP, one can see "the revenge of the weak over the strong."

In recent days, some 30 Malian soldiers were killed in an attack in northern Mali blamed on jihadists, without drawing any sharp reaction from the Security Council.

In Libya, and Syria's Idlib region -- the object of intense diplomatic attention before the coronavirus stole the spotlight -- fighting continues.

Evoking the "potentially devastating impact of #Covid-19 in #Idlib and elsewhere in Syria," the UN undersecretary-general for political affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, called on Twitter for all parties to show restraint.

"If anyone -- incredibly -- still needed a reason to stop the fighting there," she added, "this is it."

Martin Griffiths, the UN special envoy for Yemen, issued a similar plea: "At a time when the world is struggling to fight a pandemic, the focus of the parties must shift away from fighting one another to ensuring that the population will not face even graver risks."

Up to now, these countries have not been afflicted by Covid-19 on the scale seen in China, South Korea or Europe. But the virus carries the potential, once it reaches into poor and conflict-ridden countries, of having a devastating impact.

In the absence of concerted assistance from abroad, the UN fears "millions" could die.

The pandemic will not necessarily favor any particular group of belligerents, one diplomat noted, because the ravaging disease has been "uncontrollable."

"The pandemic could lead to a worsening of conflicts, with the risk of exacerbating the humanitarian situation and population movements," he said.

- Unseen and unheard -

But the pandemic might also sap the will of the belligerents and their ability to fight in coming months, some experts said.

"Throwing their troops into battle will expose both states and violent non-state groups to contamination, and thus to potentially catastrophic losses of human life," said Robert Malley, president of the Washington-based International Crisis Group.

He believes that the virus "will very certainly diminish the capacity and will of states and of the international system -- the UN, regional organizations, refugees, peace-keeping forces -- to dedicate themselves to the resolution or prevention of conflicts."

It will also throw up a whole set of new obstacles, he told AFP, complicating access to conflict zones, making it harder to organize negotiations in neutral countries, and diverting financial investments to the fight against the coronavirus.

"What government would want to invest in the pursuit of peace in Yemen, Syria, Afghanistan, the Sahel or elsewhere when it is facing an economic, social and political crisis almost without precedent?" he asked.

With the news media obsessively focused on Covid-19, Malley said, "these conflicts, however brutal and violent they may be, will for many people become unseen and unheard."

At the UN, which has been struggling to respond as best it can, diplomats insist that their efforts to monitor regional crises and conflicts will continue, even if the international organization has sharply curbed its schedule of meetings.

"We intend to ensure that #UNSC plays its vital role in maintaining global peace and security," Britain's interim ambassador to the UN, Jonathan Allen, wrote on Twitter. "Covid-19 is the major global focus, but we have not forgotten about Syria, Libya, Yemen."

But Richard Gowan, a New York-based specialist in UN matters, expressed some doubt.

"Security Council diplomats say that it is hard to get their capitals to focus on UN issues," he said.

Among non-governmental organizations (NGOs) dealing with human rights issues, like Human Rights Watch, concern is growing that whole areas of action are falling by the wayside.

One example: diplomats say the much-awaited and repeatedly delayed publication of a UN summary report on the bombing of hospitals in Syria -- originally due at the beginning of the year -- is now not expected before April, at the earliest.

Governors and mayors in growing uproar over Trump’s lagging coronavirus response

Robert Costa, Aaron Gregg WASHINGTON POST

President Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic sparked uproar and alarm among governors and mayors on Sunday as Trump and his administration’s top advisers continued to make confusing statements about the federal government’s scramble to confront the crisis, including whether he will force private industry to mass produce needed medical items.

As deaths climbed and ahead of a potentially dire week, Trump — who has sought to cast himself as a wartime leader — reacted to criticism that his administration has blundered with a torrent of soaring boasts and searing grievances. He tweeted that Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) and others “shouldn’t be blaming the Federal Government for their own shortcomings. We are there to back you up should you fail, and always will be!”

Trump changed his tone at an evening news conference, however, touting an “amazing” relationship with New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) and saying governors he spoke with on Sunday will be “very happy” with the upcoming federal response.

“The governors, locally, are going to be in command,” Trump said, as he pledged support from the National Guard and federal agencies. “We will be following them, and we hope they can do the job. And I think they will.”

But the growing gulf between the White House and officials on the front lines of the pandemic underscored concerns in cities, states and Congress that Trump does not have a coherent or ready plan to mobilize private and public entities to confront a crisis that could soon push the nation’s health-care system to the brink of collapse.

“We’re all building the airplane as we fly it right now,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) said on ABC’s “This Week.” “It would be nice to have a national strategy.”

Uncertainty prompted by the Trump administration’s statements abounded amid the rancor. Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Peter T. Gaynor said Sunday the president has not yet invoked the Defense Production Act, which would allow the government to order companies to ramp up the production of ventilators and protective masks, among other products.

Gaynor’s remarks directly contradicted what Trump told reporters on Friday, when he said he had “invoked” the law and “put it into gear” — and were coupled with vague optimism about corporate America’s ability to do what is necessary without being compelled by an executive order.

“We haven’t yet,” Gaynor said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” when asked whether Trump has ordered companies to make supplies. He described the Defense Production Act as “leverage” as the administration moves forward and said, “If it comes to a point we have to pull the lever, we will.”

In the meantime, Gaynor said the administration is pleased with how corporations are responding to the pandemic. “It’s really amazing how great America is,” he said. “All these companies are coming up, asking us what they can do to help.”

Trump tweeted on Sunday, “Ford, General Motors and Tesla are being given the go ahead to make ventilators and other metal products, FAST!”

“Go for it auto execs, let’s see how good you are?” Trump added.

© Patrick Semansky/AP President Trump speaks during a 

coronavirus task force briefing at the White House on Sunday.

Major auto companies signaled last week that they are studying the feasibility of making ventilators but made no promises about the pace of production, should it begin. A spokesperson for Ford said, “Ford stands ready to help the administration in any way we can, including the possibility of producing ventilators and other equipment.”

There are many obstacles. Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler — the Big Three automakers — have suspended production at their North American plants through at least the end of March because of the coronavirus and after union leaders sought that pause.

The administration’s sunny outlook about companies’ ability to act was met with sharp disagreement from governors facing mounting illness and deaths from covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

“We need the product now,” Cuomo said at a news conference on Sunday. “We have cries from hospitals around the state. I’ve spoken to governors around the country, and they’re in the same situation.”

Cuomo said the Trump administration must “order factories” to make “essential supplies” and invoke the Defense Production Act as soon as possible, calling it the “difference between life and death.”

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday that there are now 8,000 cases in his city, with 60 deaths. He pleaded with Trump to deploy the military to the nation’s financial capital, home to more than 8 million people.

“April is going to be a lot worse than March, and May could be worse than April,” de Blasio said. “We are very much on our own at this point.”

Anthony S. Fauci — director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and an influential nonpartisan adviser to Trump — appeared to defend the president’s decision-making.

“What the president was saying is that these companies are coming forth on their own,” Fauci said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “I think that’s an extraordinary spirit of the American spirit of not needing to be coaxed. They’re stepping forward. They’re making not only masks, but [personal protective equipment] and now ventilators.”

Many governors and mayors said they feel ill-equipped for the coming storm, particularly the expected deluge of patients at hospitals and health centers.

Pritzker said on CNN that his state has received about a quarter of the personal protective equipment it has ordered from the federal government.

“I’ve got people working the phones calling across the world, frankly, to get this stuff to Illinois,” Pritzker said, as he worried that states are probably “overpaying” in part because of the lack of decisive action by Trump.

On Twitter, Trump dismissed Pritzker as part of a cabal aligned against him that includes “a very small group of certain other Governors” and cable news networks, which he disparaged as “fake news.”

But Democrats were not Trump’s lone critics on Sunday. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a centrist Republican, said the Trump administration, through FEMA, “has to take the lead” in securing medical items.

“We are getting some progress. Now, it’s not nearly enough. It’s not fast enough. We’re way behind the curve,” Hogan said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” as he detailed how Maryland is scrambling to find supplies without any guarantees from the federal government.

Gaynor, however, did not offer any assurances.

“What I’ll say is if you can find it on the open market, go buy it,” Gaynor said on NBC. “Any governor that needs it, and you find it, go buy it. FEMA will reimburse you under this emergency.”

He added, “I hope no one is hoarding” masks “because we’re all in this together.”

Turmoil at hospitals is challenging governors by the hour. Speaking Sunday on CBS, Richard Pollack, president of the American Hospital Association, said “the most immediate thing we need is personal protective equipment: the masks, the gowns, the goggles, that type of equipment to protect our health-care heroes that are on the front lines. That is what is most essential now. If we don’t protect our health-care workers, the system will completely collapse.”

Last week, Trump invoked rarely used wartime powers and announced the deployment of two naval ships as he tried to boost the federal response to the coronavirus outbreak after days of bureaucratic delays and missteps.

“We’ll be invoking the Defense Production Act, just in case we need it,” Trump said, referring to the 1950 law. “It can do a lot of good things if we need it.”

But Trump’s plans were ambiguous, and it remained unclear Sunday how he would implement them.

The president first said Wednesday, on Twitter, that he would be using the broad authorities granted by the act only if needed in a “worst-case scenario.” By Friday, Trump said he had formally invoked the Defense Production Act, “and last night, we put it into gear.”

Behind the scenes, the Trump administration has activated only a very limited set of authorities under the law, including a provision that allows the government to jump the line when ordering from U.S. manufacturers. The more extreme provisions in the law — including authorities that could allow it to take control of private airplanes or use federal funds to get other industries involved — have not been announced.
Click to expand
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When pressed at Sunday’s news conference on why he is not exerting more federal power under the act, Trump suggested it would be akin to countries such as Venezuela nationalizing industries.


“We’re a country not based on nationalizing our business,” Trump said. “The concept of nationalizing our business is not a good concept. . . . We have the threat of doing it if we need it.”

Former Pentagon officials who handled Defense Production Act policy for Democratic and Republican administrations said the Trump administration has so far made little use of the law.

“All of this should have started months ago, so we are behind,” said Bill Greenwalt, a defense consultant who led acquisition policy in the George W. Bush administration. “On production, I think we will find out that our base is not capable of producing what we need as I expect much of it has been outsourced to China and elsewhere.”

Gordon Adams, a former Clinton administration procurement official, said the administration’s efforts are months too late.

“It’s the right authority but it’s way late in the game,” Adams said. “We started hearing about Chinese cases in November. We probably should have been invoking DPA authorities in January or February. We had no plan.”

Fast-moving developments this week will increase pressure on Trump and agencies to offer more guidance and assistance.

Scott Gottlieb, a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration who was appointed by Trump, said on “Face the Nation”: “I think that the scenes out of New York are going to be shocking. I think that the hospitals in the next two weeks are going to be at the brink of being overwhelmed.”

Trump — who will be judged by voters at the polls in eight months — also faced criticism from former vice president Joe Biden, the delegate leader for the Democratic presidential nomination, who issued a statement in response to Gaynor’s interview on CNN.

“Mr. President, stop lying and start acting,” Biden said. “Use the full extent of your authorities, now, to ensure that we are producing all essential goods and delivering them where they need to go.”

robert.costa@washpost.com

aaron.gregg@washpost.com

Seung Min Kim and Toluse Olorunnipa contributed to this report.


Desperate and angry state leaders push back on Trump admin claims of mass mask shipments

By Alice Miranda Ollstein

Governors, mayors and front-line health care workers confronting rising numbers of critically ill coronavirus patients said Sunday they have not received meaningful amounts of federal aid, including the shipments of desperately needed masks and other emergency equipment that administration officials say they have already dispatched.


As the crisis spreads, the Senate was moving forward with a rare Sunday procedural vote despite a breakdown in negotiations between Democrats and Republicans on a third coronavirus aid package. Among the points of contention: funding for hospitals and conditions on the billions of dollars that would flow to impacted corporations. The Senate wants to pass the bill containing both broad economic stimulus measures and direct help for American families as early as Monday.

Meanwhile, the pressure on hospitals in hard-hit areas is mounting, and several Democratic governors are demanding a more coordinated national response to get supplies as fast as possible to where they are needed most critically. But President Donald Trump hit back at the governors' televised pleas, tweeting Sunday that they "shouldn't be blaming the Federal Goverment for their own shortcomings." He told the governors the federal government's role is to be there "to back you up should you fail, and always will be!"

“We are desperate,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy told ABC Sunday morning. “We've had a big ask into the strategic stockpile in the White House. They've given us a fraction of our ask.”

© Misha Friedman/Getty Images A doctor examines someone for a COVID-19 test inside a tent at St. Barnabas hospital in New York City.Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer echoed that urgency, saying her state’s hospitals are dealing with about 800 confirmed cases of the virus — up from only one just 12 days ago — and are struggling with serious shortages of both test kits and protective equipment for medical workers. The shortages have forced hospitals to adopt risky practices like reusing masks and having staff wear bandanas when no mask is available.

A lack of personal protective equipment puts medical personnel at greater risk of becoming infected or placed in quarantine, exacerbating hospitals' existing staff shortages.

“We’ve got to have those masks,” Whitmer said. “Had the federal government really started focusing when it became clear that the whole world was going to be confronting this, we would be in a stronger position right now ... Lives will be lost because we weren’t prepared.”

The nation's main hospital association is also reporting ongoing gaps in the supply line, despite the mobilization of some federal aid from the Strategic National Stockpile, donations from other industries and other sources.

"There is a supply. Many people have them, but there's a gap and we're going to need more," Richard Pollack, the CEO of the American Hospital Association, told CBS. "If we don't protect our health care workers, the system will completely collapse."

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Peter Gaynor, whose agency was not activated to run the pandemic response until Friday, painted a more optimistic picture in Sunday morning appearances on ABC and CNN. He said masks and other equipment in the Strategic National Stockpile are well on their way to states — particularly hard-hit areas like Washington, California and New York.

“They have been distributed. They've been distributed over the past couple of weeks. They're shipping today. They'll ship tomorrow,” Gaynor told ABC. “We are shipping from our national stockpile, we're shipping from vendors, we're shipping from donations. It is happening.”

Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH, offered similar assurances on CBS' "Face the Nation."

"The resources that are being marshaled are going to be clearly directed to those hot spots that need it most," he said. "So not only is New York trying to get resources themselves, but we're going to be pouring it in from the federal government. So it would be a combination of local and federal. But it's very, very clear that they are a very high priority."

But Gaynor and other administration officials sidestepped repeated questions on exactly how many masks were being shipped and when they would be in the hands of doctors and nurses who need them.

“I can't give you a rough number,” he said in another interview on CNN, adding that governors should not depend on federal disbursements and should try on their own to obtain masks and other equipment.



  Slide 1 of 50: Residents clap and bang utensils from their balconies to cheer for emergency personnel and sanitation workers who are on the frontlines in the fight against coronavirus, in Mumbai, India, March 22, 2020. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas

“If you find it on the market, go ahead and buy it. FEMA will reimburse you for it,” he said. “This is a shared responsibility.”

Several governors pushed back, warning that pitting states against one another, the federal government, and other countries in a bidding war on the private market is no way to respond to a pandemic that requires a coordinated national response to obtain and allocate emergency goods.

“It’s a wide, Wild West…out there,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said of his attempts to obtain supplies. “And indeed we’re overpaying, I would say, for [personal protective equipment] because of that competition.”

"We need the federal government to get us those test kits,” Whitmer agreed. “We need PPEs. And frankly a patchwork strategy of each state doing what they can is — we’re going to do it if we have to, but it would be nice to have a national strategy.”

Governors, congressional lawmakers and mayors continued to plead with the White House over the weekend to use the powers of the Defense Production Act to speed up manufacture of masks, ventilators and other scarce supplies as many hospitals say they’re set to run out within days.

Trump also tweeted Sunday morning that he has given a handful of car companies "the go ahead" to make ventilators and other unnamed "metal products" for hospitals, but gave no indication of a timeline or quantity. Converting factories from making cars to making medical equipment cannot happen immediately, and could take several months. In the meantime, hospitals need immediate help.


Ford, General Motors and Tesla are being given the go ahead to make ventilators and other metal products, FAST! @fema Go for it auto execs, lets see how good you are? @RepMarkMeadows @GOPLeader @senatemajldr— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 22, 2020

“We've gotten no indication of any factory on 24/7 shifts. We've gotten no shipments,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said on NBC. “I can’t be blunt enough: If the president does not act, people will die who could have lived otherwise.”

De Blasio also called on the president to mobilize the military's health care workers to immediately deploy to coronavirus hot spots like his own city.

"All military personnel who are medically trained should be sent to places where this crisis is deep, like New York, right now," he said. "Why are they at their bases? Why are they not being allowed to serve? I guarantee you they're ready to serve. But the president has to give the order."

Though Trump signed the defense act last week, Gaynor confirmed that the administration has yet to use it to order any companies to manufacture more products. He suggested such a step wasn’t necessary as companies are already stepping up.

“We haven't had to use it, because companies around the country, donations, they are saying, ‘What can we do to help you?’ And it's happening without using that — that lever,” he said. “If it comes to a point where we have to pull the level, we will.”

Both in private calls with the White House and in public interviews, lawmakers are insisting that time is now.

“We cannot wait until people start really dying in large numbers to start production, especially of more complicated equipment like ventilators and hospital beds,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) told CNN. “We need to start this production right now to get ready for the surge that is coming in two to three weeks.”

The GOP coronavirus relief package is a dream for big corporations, and a nightmare for struggling Americans

Linette Lopez BUSINESS INSIDER 

© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

At a press conference on Thursday, President Donald Trump reiterated that his administration wants to put workers first in its efforts to mitigate the economic devastation caused by the spread of coronavirus.

And while that is ideal, his party is crafting legislation that does just the opposite.

The administration on Tuesday said they were crafting a rescue package of at least $1 trillion which included plans to send checks to Americans "in about 2 weeks," according to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

But Mnuchin's two weeks turned into "before the end of April" in a meeting with Senate Republicans immediately following the press conference. After that it went back to early April, but the payment - at least for poor Americans - became less generous.

According to a bill released Thursday, Republicans are now talking about prioritizing money for "taxpayers" (by which they mean only income tax, not things like sales tax which all Americans pay). Under this plan, Americans who make less than $75,000 would get up to $1,200 while poor families who pay less in taxes would get $600.

It's also been reported that GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham and soon-to-be White House Chief of Staff Rep. Mark Meadows are actively trying to convince Trump to reject these cash payments all together.

This idea is ludicrous, stingy, and harmful to our economy and society in crisis.

In fact there are a bunch of ideas in this bill that would do nothing to help struggling Americans:

The bill waives nutrition requirements for meals for senior citizens - the population most likely to get sick and end up needing care.

The bill offers a pathetic $10 million for minority businesses, which Business Insider's small business reporter Dominick Reuter roughly calculated, could round out to about $2 a business.

And of course, in the Senate Republican bill big corporations get a huge tax cut. In fact, they would pay far less tax on their foreign entities. Making them bring cash home from abroad was one of the selling points of the GOP tax cut that was passed at the end of 2017. 

Corporate lobbyists have been working against it ever since. Now, in the middle of a crisis, they got it.

All of that is stomach churning, but the worst part is what will happen to low income families. Punishing Americas poorest at a time like this is not only callous, but would slow our economy's recovery. If there's anything we've learned from China's experience with coronavirus, it's that you want to keep the economy as going as normally as possible while people are practicing social distancing. That means ensuring that people can pay as many bills as possible and that, when the social distancing period is over, people have money in their pockets to spend again.

We need to be generous to *everyone right now. It's the only way we're going to get through this with minimal damage. Unemployment claims are about to explode, with data from only 15 states putting them somewhere around 600,000 and the possibility that as many as a million people could file for unemployment insurance over the next week. Wall Street is now coming to terms with the idea that this could be the worst global recession since WWII.

House Democrats are trying to put together a more generous plan, offering Americans $2,000 a month with an additional $1,000 for every child until the crisis is over. This is more like it. But all of this needs to move faster. We don't have time for callous proposals, we have to do right by Americans right now.

Trump's party should put our money where his mouth is and actually help all American workers through this calamity, not grandstand on ideology to hurt the poor.

*Except companies that spent all their cashflow on stock buybacks during boom times and are now asking for a bailout. The President said on Thursday that they should be treated differently from companies that invested their money. I agree. They shouldn't be allowed to do stock buybacks if they accept taxpayer money, and their executive compensation should be regulated.

NATIONALIZE 3M

Half a million N95 masks are on their way to New York and Seattle, manufacturer says

A large manufacturer of protective N95 masks for medical workers said it is shipping half a million masks to New York and Seattle, with arrivals starting Monday.

3M said it is ready to rush additional shipments across the country and will almost double production of the masks over the next year, to an annual rate of 2 billion masks worldwide. That is a bigger increase than the 30 percent boost the company announced Friday.

3M factories in South Dakota and Nebraska are now producing 35 million N95 masks a month, 90 percent of which are designated for health-care workers after a change in law last week eliminated the threat of lawsuits from such sales.

The other 10 percent will go to industrial workers who are “also critical in this pandemic,” in sectors including energy, food and pharmaceuticals, 3M Chairman and CEO Mike Roman said in a statement Sunday.

The change signed into law Wednesday protects manufacturers from liability when selling N95 masks to the health-care sector that were designed for industrial use. Both types filter at least 95 percent of airborne particles, but they can vary in design and fit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The liability protection covers certain types of disposable N95 masks designed for industrial use, and some that are past their expiration date, if they’ve been safely stored and are in good condition, the Food and Drug Administration said in a March 2 letter. The FDA said the benefits of using such masks, also known as respirators, outweighed the risks, given the widespread shortages in hospitals.

“Based on the totality of scientific evidence available to FDA, it is reasonable to believe that the authorized respirators may be effective in preventing [health-care worker] exposure to pathogenic biological airborne particulates” amid shortages, the FDA said. It added that “the known and potential benefits of the authorized respirators … outweigh the known and potential risks of such product.”

The letter did not elaborate on the benefits and risks.

Previously, 3M’s U.S. factories sold the bulk of their masks to industrial customers, with only about 14 percent going to health-care workers, Vice President Pence said last week. Masks for health-care workers typically have to be manufactured on production lines certified by the Food and Drug Administration. Masks for construction workers and other industrial users are approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH.

3M also manufactures the masks in Europe, Asia and Latin America. “Our products are being similarly deployed to support the COVID-19 response in those respective regions,” Roman said.

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) on Sunday urged the federal government to take control of medical supply acquisition and distribution, saying states were driving up prices by competing with each other for masks and other gear.

“The states simply cannot manage it,” Cuomo said at a daily briefing. “In some ways we are savaging other states. I’m trying to buy masks. I'm competing with California and Illinois and Florida. And that’s not the way it should be.

“Price gouging is a tremendous problem and it’s only getting worse. There are masks that we were paying 85 cents for. We’re now paying $7. Why? Because I’m competing against every other state and in some cases against other countries around the world,” he said, without naming the mask suppliers.

“I will contract with a company for 1,000 masks. They’ll call back 20 minutes later and say the price just went up because they had a better offer,” Cuomo said.

3M spokeswoman Jennifer Ehrlich said the company “has not changed the prices it charges for 3M respirators as a result of the covid-19 outbreak, but the company cannot control the prices dealers or retailers charge for 3M respirators.” She did not provide details of 3M’s pricing.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) also called the competitive buying among states a problem in an interview with CNN on Sunday, describing it as the “wild West.”

Cuomo urged the federal government to use the Defense Production Act to “order factories to manufacture masks, gowns and ventilators,” and to distribute the goods in an orderly fashion.

President Trump has given mixed messages in recent days about whether he is invoking the Defense Production Act, at times saying he has and at others saying he hasn’t. He’s given a variety of reasons for not doing so, including calling the acquisition of medical supplies a job for governors.

On Sunday, Trump and his trade adviser, Peter Navarro, told a briefing they didn’t see a need to force companies to produce medical supplies under the Defense Production Act because some were increasing production voluntarily. “We’re getting what we need without putting the heavy hand of government down,” Navarro said.

THIS IS AN INDUSTRIAL N95 RESPIRATOR THE HEALTH CARE ONE

HAS A PLUG ON THE FRONT

© Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg N95 masks manufactured to OSHA standards.

The upcoming job losses will be unlike anything the US has ever seen

© Jim Gehrz / Minneapolis Star Tribune


When the damage the coronavirus inflicts on the U.S. jobs market becomes clearer, it could be unlike anything the country has ever seen.

Judging by a host of forecasts from economists, the avalanche of furloughs will easily break the record for most in a single month.

Upcoming weekly jobless claims will shatter the standards set even during the worst points of the financial crisis and the early-1980s recession. Those numbers are expected to be bad, in fact, that the Trump administration, according to several media reports, has asked state officials to delay releasing precise counts.

While the headline unemployment rate is highly unlikely to approach the 24.9% during the Great Depression, it very well could be the highest in almost 40 years, something unthinkable for a jobs market that had been on fire as recently as February.

© Provided by CNBC

Job losses will be counted not in the thousands or even hundreds of thousands, but rather in the millions. Whether the total count from this recession ends up breaking records from previous periods is uncertain, but it looks like a good bet that if nothing else, the number for April will outpace by a large margin any single month in U.S. history for a drop in nonfarm payrolls.

5 million in April alone?

The worst month for job losses during the financial crisis was 800,00 in March 2009.

Some forecasts see April quintupling that or worse. Forecasts for that month range from 500,000 to 5 million.

"There's just so much that we don't know about how long the disruption to economic activity related to the containment of the virus will be. That does make forecasting these things very difficult," said Jeremy Lawson, chief economist at Aberdeen Standard Investments. "By the time you get to the April payroll number, which may be right at the deepest level of contraction, yes, those numbers are plausible certainly."

Because of the way the Labor Department conducts its sampling, the March nonfarm payrolls report probably won't reflect the worst of the layoffs. Where those numbers will show up is in upcoming weekly jobless claims figures.

Next Thursday's report alone could show claims going from 281,000 in this week's report to 2.25 million, according to Goldman Sachs. Bank of America says it will be even worse, with a number more like 3 million.
Looking further ahead to April, Lawson said a drop of 500,000 for the month "is not an unreasonable starting point." Other forecasters, though, see a far gloomier picture.

Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, sees the possibility of five million job losses in that month alone.

"We never imagined we'd write anything like this," Sheperdson said in a note. "The shock will be so great that it will leave policymakers with no choice but to pass much more stimulus than is currently under discussion."

When all is said and done, the unemployment rate will be 10.6% and there will be 17.9 million Americans on the unemployment line, or about 12 million more than in February, according to a projection from Steven Blitz, chief U.S. economist at TS Lombard. The current jobless rate is 3.5%, the lowest in more than 50 years.

If Blitz is right, that would put unemployment at its highest percent level since December 1982.

Elsewhere, the Economic Policy Institute projects three million job losses during the summer, while Citigroup economist Veronica Clark said the rise in jobless filings "is just the start of a period of a rapid increase in claims over the next few weeks."

"If there is not a normalization of activity by mid-April (which looks increasingly unlikely), we would not be surprised to see job losses in the multi-millions next month," Clark wrote.

One survey released Thursday painted a far gloomier mosaic: SurveyUSA indicated that 14 million people already have experienced temporary layoffs, while 2% of the workers have lost their jobs outright. A bright side: a Towers Watson survey said 52% of employers who experience a shutdown will continue to pay employees.
A call for even more stimulus

The big layoff numbers are not likely to show up until the April data is released in early May. The March report could be somewhere around flat as the sample period the Labor Department will use for its estimate is the week ended March 14, before some of the worst news came about companies cutting workers.

Since then, Marriott International has announced it will cut thousands of workers, and similar moves are expected to be executed throughout the hospitality and food and beverage industries.

One upside to the coronavirus scenario is most economists still expect the downturn to be brief compared to other recessions, with the worst news front-loaded.

"As socialization returns and shuttered businesses reopen, the economy will take on the look of a more typical recession," Blitz wrote. "With a 'regular' recession in place, made less severe by the planned [$1 trillion] of fiscal spending, the unemployment rate will fall into mild recession territory, probably 6% by year-end. This will be the odd cycle, where the highest unemployment rate comes at the beginning."

Still, those kinds of numbers could push policymakers into even more stimulus than currently contemplated.

"If this response includes enough fiscal stimulus that is well-targeted and sustained so long as the economy remains weak, job loss will be substantially reduced relative to any scenario where policymakers drag their feet," wrote Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute. "Even with moderate fiscal stimulus, we're likely to see 3 million jobs lost by summertime. Keeping this number down and allowing any job loss to be quickly recouped after the crisis ends should spur policymakers to act.

Exclusive: U.S. axed CDC expert job in China months before virus outbreak

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Several months before the coronavirus pandemic began, the Trump administration eliminated a key American public health position in Beijing intended to help detect disease outbreaks in China, Reuters has learned.

© Reuters/Kim Kyung Hoon FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: Medical staff in protective gear work at a 'drive-thru' testing center for the novel coronavirus disease of COVID-19 in Yeungnam University Medical Center in Daegu

The American disease expert, a medical epidemiologist embedded in China’s disease control agency, left her post in July, according to four sources with knowledge of the issue. The first cases of the new coronavirus may have emerged as early as November, and as cases exploded, the Trump administration in February chastised China for censoring information about the outbreak and keeping U.S. experts from entering the country to help.


“It was heartbreaking to watch,” said Bao-Ping Zhu, a Chinese American who served in that role, which was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 2007 and 2011. “If someone had been there, public health officials and governments across the world could have moved much faster.”

News to stay informed. Advice to stay safe.
Click here for complete coronavirus coverage from Microsoft News

Zhu and the other sources said the American expert, Dr. Linda Quick, was a trainer of Chinese field epidemiologists who were deployed to the epicenter of outbreaks to help track, investigate and contain diseases. As an American CDC employee, they said, Quick was in an ideal position to be the eyes and ears on the ground for the United States and other countries on the coronavirus outbreak, and might have alerted them to the growing threat weeks earlier

.

© Reuters/Andrew Kelly FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: Workers direct traffic at a testing facility for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Jones Beach on Long Island in New York

No other foreign disease experts were embedded to lead the program after Quick left in July, according to the sources. Zhu said an embedded expert can often get word of outbreaks early, after forming close relationships with Chinese counterparts.

Zhu and the other sources said Quick could have provided real-time information to U.S. and other officials around the world during the first weeks of the outbreak, when they said the Chinese government tamped down on the release of information and provided erroneous assessments.

Quick left amid a bitter U.S. trade dispute with China when she learned her federally funded post, officially known as resident adviser to the U.S. Field Epidemiology Training Program in China, would be discontinued as of September, the sources said. The U.S. CDC said it first learned of a “cluster of 27 cases of pneumonia” of unexplained origin in Wuhan, China, on Dec. 31.

Since then, the outbreak of the disease known as COVID-19 has spread rapidly worldwide, killing more than 13,600 people, infecting more than 317,000. The epidemic has overwhelmed healthcare systems some countries, including Italy, and threatens to do so in the United States and elsewhere.

In a statement to Reuters, the U.S. CDC said the elimination of the adviser position did not hinder Washington’s ability to get information and “had absolutely nothing to do with CDC not learning of cases in China earlier.”

The agency said its decision not to have a resident adviser “started well before last summer and was due to China’s excellent technical capability and maturity of the program.”

The CDC said it has assigned two of its Chinese employees as “mentors” to help with the training program. The agency did not respond to questions about the mentors’ specific role or expertise.

“CDC has had a 30-year partnership with China CDC and close collaboration,” the statement said. “We had the right staff to engage China and ability to provide technical assistance were it requested.”

The CDC would not make Quick, who still works for the agency, available for comment.

Asked for comment on Chinese transparency and responsiveness to the outbreak, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred Reuters to remarks by spokesman Geng Shuang on Friday. Geng said the country “has adopted the strictest, most comprehensive, and most thorough prevention and control measures in an open, transparent, and responsible manner, and informed the (World Health Organization) and relevant countries and regions of the latest situation in a timely manner.”

One disease expert told Reuters he was skeptical that the U.S. resident adviser would have been able to get earlier or better information to the Trump administration, given the Chinese government’s suppression of information.

“In the end, based on circumstances in China, it probably wouldn’t have had made a big difference,” Scott McNabb, who was a CDC epidemiologist for 20 years and is now a research professor at Emory University. “The problem was how the Chinese handled it. What should have changed was the Chinese should have acknowledged it earlier and didn’t.”

ALERT FROM CHINA’S CDC

Alex Azar, secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS)said Friday that his agency learned of the coronavirus in early January, based on Redfield’s conversations with “Chinese colleagues.”

Redfield learned that “this looks to be a novel coronavirus” from Dr. Gao Fu, the head of the China CDC, according to an HHS administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Dr. Redfield always talked to Dr. Gao,” the official said.

HHS and CDC did not make Azar or Redfield available for comment.

Zhu and other sources said U.S. leaders should not have been relying on the China CDC director for alerts and updates. In general, they said, officials in China downplayed the severity of the outbreak in the early weeks and did not acknowledge evidence of person-to-person transmission until Jan. 20.

After the epidemic exploded and China had imposed strict quarantines, Trump administration officials complained that the Chinese had censored information about the outbreak and that the United States had been unable to get American disease experts into the country to help contain the spread.

Azar told CNN on Feb. 14 that he and CDC director Redfield officially offered to send a CDC team into China on Jan. 6 but still had not received permission for them to enter the country. HHS oversees the CDC.

“Dr. Redfield and I made the offer on January 6th - 36 days ago, 60,000 cases and 1,300 deaths ago,” Azar said. “We made the offer to send the CDC experts in to assist their Chinese colleagues to get to the bottom of key scientific questions like, how transmissible is this disease? What is the severity? What is the incubation period and can there be asymptomatic transmission?”

Days later, the World Health Organization secured permission to send a team that included two U.S. experts. The team visited between Feb. 16th and 24th. By then, China had reported more than 75,000 cases.

On Feb. 25, the first day the CDC told the American public to prepare for an outbreak at home, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused China of mishandling the epidemic through its “censorship” of medical professionals and media.

Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since then, as Trump has labeled the coronavirus the “Chinese virus” - a description the Chinese have condemned as stigmatizing. Last week, the Chinese government announced that Americans from three U.S. news organizations, The New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, would be expelled from China.

ONCE ‘FRIENDS,’ NOW RIVALS

The decision to eliminate Quick’s job came as the CDC has scaled back the number of U.S. staffers in China over the last two years, the sources told Reuters.

“We had already withdrawn many technical public health experts,” the same expert said.

The CDC, however, disputed that staffing was a problem or that its information had been limited by the move. “It was not the staffing shortage that limited our ability” it said.

The U.S. CDC team in Beijing now includes three American citizens in permanent roles, an additional American who is temporary and around 10 Chinese nationals, the agency said. Of the Americans, one is an influenza expert with expertise in respiratory disease. Coronavirus is not influenza, though it is a respiratory disease.

The CDC team, aside from Quick, was housed at U.S. Embassy facilities. No American CDC staffer besides Quick was embedded with China’s disease control agency, the sources said.

China in recent weeks has reported a dramatic slowdown in new cases, the result of drastic containment measures including the lockdown of Hubei province, home to 60 million people.

Nevertheless, the infectious disease experts who spoke with Reuters said, the United States could use people like Quick with contacts on the ground, especially if fears of a second wave of infections materializes.

Thomas R. Frieden, a former director of the CDC, said that if the U.S. resident adviser had still been in China, “it is possible that we would know more today about how this coronavirus is spreading and what works best to stop it.”

Dr. George Conway, a medical epidemiologist who knows Quick and had served as resident advisor between 2012 and 2015, said funding for the position had been tenuous for years because of a perennial debate among U.S health officials over whether China should be paying for funding its own training program.

Yet since the training program was launched in 2001, the sources familiar with it say, it has not only strengthened the ranks of Chinese epidemiologists in the field, but also fostered collegial relationships between public health officials in the two countries.

“We go there as credentialed diplomats and return home as close colleagues and often as friends,” Conway said.

In 2007, Dr. Robert Fontaine, a CDC epidemiologist and one of the longest serving U.S. officials in the adviser’s position, received China’s highest honor for outstanding contributions to public health due to his contribution as a foreigner in helping to detect and investigate clusters of pneumonia of unknown cause.

But since last year, Frieden and others said, growing tensions between the Trump administration and China’s leadership have apparently damaged the collaboration.

“The message from the administration was, ‘Don’t work with China, they’re our rival,’” Frieden said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Taylor reported from Washinton; Tony Munroe contributing from Beijing)

World's richest spend $1 billion on 'bargains of a lifetime'

Anders Melin and Ben Stupples

Some of the world’s wealthiest people spent more than $1 billion combined to boost their stakes in companies as markets around the world tumbled.

Activist investor Carl Icahn increased his holdings in Hertz Global Holdings and Newell Brands, according to regulatory filings. Warren Buffett’s holding company added shares of Delta Air Lines, while the heirs of the Tetra Laval fortune plowed $317 million into International Flavors & Fragrances stock.

Equity indexes across the globe have plummeted in recent weeks, largely over uncertainty about the long-term impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Some airlines and retail mall operators have lost more than half their value.

But corporate executives, board members and large shareholders have been buying stock in their companies at the largest rate relative to sales since 2011. Some, like Bill Ackman, are optimistic that equities will rebound quickly as long as measures to halt the spread of the virus are strengthened and ultimately prove successful.

“These are bargains of a lifetime if we manage this crisis correctly,” Ackman, the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, tweeted Wednesday, conditioning that on a temporary shutdown and closing of U.S. borders.


‘Significant Shortages’

The billionaire Barry Sternlicht, the head of Starwood Property Trust, urged the federal government to direct its efforts at helping service-industry workers.

“We’re facing World War III for 90 days,” not for a decade, Sternlicht said Tuesday in a Bloomberg TV interview. The following day, he bought $2 million of shares in Starwood, the country’s largest commercial mortgage real estate investment trust.

Still, the outlook for a rapid recovery is far from clear-cut.

A U.S. government plan to fight the coronavirus included the assumption that the pandemic would last 18 months or longer, and would involve several waves of infections. The March 13 plan said federal authorities and individual consumers will likely experience “significant shortages” as supply chains are affected.

Transmission of the virus may pick up again once social distancing restrictions are eased, according to a March 16 report from the Covid-19 response team at London’s Imperial College. Additional efforts at distancing of entire populations could put further strain on economies.

© Bloomberg Optimistic Buyers

For some, it didn’t take a pandemic to start buying. The Rausing family, who are the beneficiaries of a trust that owns Tetra, have been accumulating stock in IFF for several years. Energy Transfer LP founder Kelcy Warren has spent several hundred million dollars over the years buying stock in the pipeline empire.

While it’s not uncommon for founders or heirs of family businesses to buy shares in their companies during slumps, corporate executives and board members do so less frequently.

Many of them already receive the bulk of their compensation in equity. So in the rare instances they do buy, it’s usually more about demonstrating their confidence in the business than making opportunistic financial bets.

And plenty of corporate insiders are selling -- even with the drops in equity indexes. Last week, George Yancopoulos, chief scientific officer of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, unloaded shares worth millions of dollars, while Microsoft Corp.’s Satya Nadella sold stock on March 3. Both transactions were part of scheduled trading programs.

Archaeological Headlines 

Archaeologist Creates 3-D Blueprints of Historic Yukon Structures
YUKON, CANADA—CBC News reports that archaeologist Peter Dawson of the University of Calgary and his colleagues are using a drone and a terrestrial laser scanner to create 3-D replicas of historic sites at Pauline Cove, which is located on Herschel Island, in the Beaufort Sea off Yukon’s northern coast. The sites are in danger of being destroyed by wild animals, polar tourism, and erosion. The island has lost about 65 feet of coastline in the past 20 years, Dawson explained. The sites include structures built by Inuvialuit, American whalers, Anglican missionaries, and the Northwest Mounted Police, he added. “It’s giving us a really, really good record of the outside of the buildings and the inside of the buildings and an overview of the historic settlement area,” Barbara Hogan, manager of historic sites for Yukon Tourism and Culture, said of the project. When completed, the images will be stored in an online archive with historic information for public use. To read about a 900-year-old barbed arrow point recovered from the ice in southern Yukon, go to "Time's Arrow."

Study Examines Food and Gender in Bronze Age China
DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND—According to an Otago Daily Times report, an analysis of isotopes in teeth suggests that boys and girls living in China’s Central Plains during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty some 2,500 years ago were fed different foods. Bioarchaeologist Melanie Miller and her colleagues found that children were breastfed until they were between the ages of two-and-a-half and four years old, when they were weaned onto foods made from wheat and soybeans. The girls, however, were weaned slightly earlier than the males, Miller said. Females continued to eat more wheat and soy as they grew up, while males ate more millet, she added. Miller and her team think these dietary differences could reflect the social inequality that emerged in China's Bronze Age. Read the original scholarly article about this research in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. To read about hominin teeth that belonged to individuals living at least 80,000 years ago in southern China, go to "An Opportunity for Early Humans in China."


Donkeys in 1,100-Year-Old Chinese Tomb May Have Played Polo
SHAANXI PROVINCE, CHINA—A team led by Songmei Hu of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology analyzed animal bones recovered from the looted ninth-century A.D. tomb of a Chinese noblewoman named Cui Shi, and determined that she was buried with at least three donkeys, according to a Science Magazine report. Fiona Marshall of Washington University in St. Louis said donkeys were not usually buried in such high-status graves, even in northwest China’s Tang Dynasty capital of Xi’an, which was located at one end of the trade route known as the Silk Road. The donkey bones found in Cui Shi’s tomb, however, were too small to represent useful pack animals, and they also showed wear similar to that found on animals who run and make frequent turns, Marshall added. Ancient texts indicate that Cui Shi was married to a skilled polo player who won the favor of Emperor Xizong. Cui may have also played the popular, fast-paced game, which was usually played on horseback, while riding a slower, safer donkey, Marshall explained. To read about a tomb unearthed in Shaanxi that is decorated with paintings depicting a sumptuous family feast, go to "Underground Party."


Neolithic Artifacts Unearthed in Slovakia
TRNAVA, SLOVAKIA—According to a report in The Slovak Spectator, decorated ceramics, tools made of antler, and stone tool fragments made by members of the Lengyel culture have been unearthed in western Slovakia by a team led by archaeologist Andrej Žitňan. The artifacts, estimated to be more than 6,000 years old, were excavated near a medieval fortification wall in the town of Trnava. “Its existence until these days is a matter of lucky circumstances because it was preserved in the narrow area between the wall and the filled town ditch,” said Peter Grznár of the local Regional Monument Board. The town is also known for Neolithic figurines called the Trvana Venuses, which have been dated to about 6,700 years ago. Žitňan said the new discovery suggests the Neolithic settlement that once stood on the site was larger than previously thought. To read about a cache of Roman-era artifacts uncovered near Bratislava, go to "World Roundup: Slovakia."


“Little Foot” Fossils Examined with High-Tech Tools
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA—According to a statement released by the University of the Witwatersrand, Amélie Beaudet and her colleagues examined high-resolution microcomputer tomography scans of a 3.67 million-year-old fossilized skull and first cervical vertebra recovered from South Africa’s Sterkfontein cave system. The bones are part of a nearly complete Australopithecus skeleton known as “Little Foot.” The study suggests that the hominin moved its head in a manner consistent with tree-climbing ability. The well-preserved fossils also offer information about the size of arteries that passed through the vertebra, and thus the amount of blood flow to the brain. Little Foot’s blood flow is estimated to resemble the blood flow observed in modern chimpanzees, or about three times lower than in modern humans. Beaudet said the low blood flow to the brain could reflect the individual’s small brain size, a poor-quality diet, or a need for energy in another part of the Australopithecus anatomy. Increased blood flow to the brain is thought to have emerged much later in human evolution, she added. To read about another Australopithecus cranium found in Ethiopia, go to "Artifact."


Possible Insect Rock Art Found in Iran
TEHRAN, IRAN—According to a statement released by Pensoft, a five- and one-half-inch petroglyph in central Iran has been described as a possible part man, part praying mantis by entomologists Mahmood Kolnegari of Islamic Azad University of Arak, Mandana Hazrati of Avaye Dornaye Khakestari Institute, Matan Shelomi of National Taiwan University, and archaeologist Mohammad Naserifard. Mantises have bulging eyes, flexible necks, elongated bodies, and enlarged forelegs for gripping prey such as flies, bees, and sometimes small birds. The image depicts a creature with six limbs, including grasping forearms, and middle limbs that end in loops or circles. It also has a triangular head topped with an extension resembling that found on the local species of mantis. The artwork is estimated to be between 4,000 and 40,000 years old. To read about a medieval Islamic empire in Iran, go to "Minaret in the Mountains."


Study Suggests Hominins Grew Faster Than Modern Humans
BURGOS, SPAIN—According to a statement released by Spain’s National Center for Research on Human Evolution, paleoanthropologist Mario Modesto-Mata and his colleagues suggest that the hominins who lived in northern Spain’s Sierra de Atapuerca reached adulthood several years earlier than modern humans. The researchers analyzed the hominins’ tooth enamel, which is set down in layers at regular intervals which are specific to each species, after they developed a technique to estimate the amount of tooth enamel lost through wear and tear. Modesto-Mata said the hominins from Sima del Elefante, who lived some 1.2 million years ago; Gran Dolina-TD6, who lived some 850,000 years ago; and Sima de los Huesos, who lived some 430,000 years ago, may have grown up to 25 percent faster than modern humans. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Scientific Reports. To read about the most complete hominin cranium older than 3 million years ago ever discovered, go to "Artifact."

Possible Maya Capital City Explored in Mexico
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS—According to a statement released by Brandeis University, a team of researchers including Charles Golden of Brandeis University and Andrew Scherer of Brown University has uncovered a Maya site in southeastern Mexico that may have been the capital of Sak Tz’i’, a kingdom mentioned in inscriptions uncovered at other Maya sites. Translated as “white dog,” Sak Tz’i’ was a small state founded in 750 B.C. and surrounded by more powerful states. The city was protected on one side by steep-walled streams, while masonry walls were built around the rest of the site, but the researchers suspect the city’s leaders must have engaged in political maneuverings with the kingdom’s stronger neighbors in order to survive for more than 1,000 years. The team members have found evidence of pyramids, a royal palace, a ball court, sculptures, and inscriptions describing rituals, battles, a mythical water serpent, and the dance of a rain god. The researchers will continue to work to stabilize the site’s ancient structures and to use light detection and ranging technology to map the area. Read the original scholarly article about this research in the Journal of Field Archaeology. To read about conflict between Maya centers, go to "Maya Total War."
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Graves of Ottoman Soldiers Unearthed Near Istanbul
ISTANBUL, TURKEY—Hurriyet Daily News reports that the remains of 30 Ottoman soldiers have been unearthed in a suburb of Istanbul. Rahmi Asal of the Istanbul Archaeology Museums Directorate said the men had served in the 86th Regiment of the Ottoman Army during the Balkan War. More than 650 Ottoman soldiers were killed near the site where the graves were found by advancing Bulgarian soldiers on the evening of November 17, 1912. The excavation recovered uniform buttons, belts, belt buckles, spoons, pouches, a compass, cigarette holders, bayonets, mirrors, and two rings. Collar numbers and seals allowed researchers to identify five of the men, Asal added. To read about an archaeological survey conducted at the World War I battlefied of Gallipoli, go to "Letter from Turkey: Anzac's Next Chapter."

Traces of 18th-Century Glass Factory Revealed in Scotland
EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND—Construction work near the mouth of the Water of Leith revealed traces of the Edinburgh and Leith Glassworks, which was founded in the mid-eighteenth century and demolished in 1912, according to a report in the Edinburgh Evening News. The excavation unearthed remnants of one of the factory’s six huge furnace cones. Each one once stood between 80 and 100 feet tall with a 40-foot diameter base. Traces of buildings such as a workshop and a warehouse were also found. Edinburgh Council archaeologist John Lawson said the glassworks made bottles for French wine, Spanish sherry, and Portuguese port imported in wooden casks and barrels. Locally produced whisky and medicines also created a demand for glass bottles, he explained, until the late nineteenth century, when the glassworks was dissolved, the equipment sold off, and the site was converted to use as a lumber yard. To read about a nineteenth-century glass factory in the northeast United States, go to "Letter from Philadelphia: Empire of Glass."

Islamic-Era Palace Gate Uncovered in Spain
ANDALUSIA, SPAIN—According to a Times of London report, traces of a multilevel gateway to the massive fortified palace built in the tenth century A.D. by Abd-al-Rahman III, the first caliph of Cordoba, have been uncovered in southern Spain. Alberto Canto of the Autonomous University of Madrid said that the gate is thought to mark the eastern entrance to the palace parade ground at the ruins of the royal city of Medina Azahara. As many as 20,000 people were once part of the lavish palace household, which included a zoo, an aviary, four fish ponds, 300 baths, weapons factories, and barracks for the soldiers of the royal guard. The palace was destroyed in A.D. 1010 during a civil war. “Everything collapsed and so we found buried the remains of its tiles, wood, nails, beams, hinges, and ornaments,” Canto said. To read about a Roman arch excavated in Andalusia, go to "Making an Entrance."

Stela Reveals Early Mayan Writing
EL ASINTAL, GUATEMALA—France24 reports that a stela discovered in September of 2018 at the Tak’alik Ab’aj Archaeological Park in western Guatemala has provided new insights into the development of early Mayan writing. Researchers are still in the process of translating and interpreting the glyphs on the stone, which is believed to have been erected sometime in the late Maya Preclassic period (ca. 300 B.C.- A.D. 250) and depicts a ruler adorned with regalia, as well as references to deities associated with maize and cacao. But according to Tak’alik Ab’aj technical director Christa Schieber, the site was a laboratory for experiments in early Mayan writing. The stela, she said, provides context for a vertical sequence of glyphs that will help scholars learn more about how the system developed. Tak’alik Ab’aj is thought to have been founded by the Olmecs around 1500 B.C. and was gradually absorbed into the growing Maya world some 800 years later. To read more about Maya archaeology in Guatemala, go to "The City at the Beginning of the World."

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