Coronavirus: British Airways boss tells staff jobs will go

BBC•March 13, 2020

British Airways is among many airlines that have seen passenger numbers shrink and bookings collapse

British Airways is to ground flights 'like never before' and lay off staff in response to the coronavirus.
In a memo to staff titled "The Survival of British Airways", boss Alex Cruz warned that job cuts could be "short term, perhaps long term".

The airline industry was facing a "crisis of global proportions" that was worse than that caused by the SARS virus or 9/11.

Meanwhile, Ryanair told staff they may be forced to take leave from Monday.
An internal memo to Ryanair staff, seen by the BBC, said crew may be allocated to take unpaid leave due to cancelled flights and schedule changes.

BA boss Mr Cruz said: "We can no longer sustain our current level of employment and jobs would be lost - perhaps for a short term, perhaps longer term."
The airline is in talks with unions but gave no further details about the scale of the likely job losses in the video message transcript seen by the BBC.

The airline boss said that British Airways, which is owned by FTSE 100 company IAG, was suspending routes and parking planes in a way they had "never had to do before".

British Airways would "continue to do our best for customers and offer them as much flexibility as we can", Mr Cruz said in the video.

'Don't underestimate this'

Although Mr Cruz said the British flag carrier airline had a strong balance sheet and was financially resilient, he told staff "not to underestimate the seriousness of this for our company".

BA and other carriers' revenues have been hit by the coronavirus response as governments close borders, companies ban lucrative business travel, conferences and events are cancelled and demand for leisure travel slumps.

British Airways boss Alex Cruz said the effect of the coronavirus on the aviation industry will be worse than 9/11

IAG shares bounced on Friday after the global share market rout on Thursday. They closed up 4.8% to 350p per share, but were trading higher before news of the mass groundings broke.

The International Air Transport Association warned on Friday that global airline revenue losses would be "probably above" the figure of $113bn (£90bn) that it estimated a week ago, before the Trump administration's announcement of US travel curbs on passengers from much of continental Europe.

Earlier this month, IAG said flight suspensions to China and cancellations on Italian routes would affect how many passengers it carried this year.

Major US airlines are in talks with the government there over economic relief, as traveller demand plummets.

"The speed of the demand fall-off is unlike anything we've seen," Delta chief executive Ed Bastian said on Friday in a note to staff, which also said the firm would cut flights by 40% over the next few months, ground 300 aircraft and reduce spending by $2bn.

On Thursday, Norwegian Air said it was set to cancel 4,000 flights and temporarily lay off about half of its staff because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The increase in flight cancellations comes after the European Union said it would suspend until the end of June a "use it or lose it" law that requires airlines to use their allocated runway slots or risk losing the lucrative asset.

The law had led to so-called "ghost flights" where airlines were flying near-empty planes in order to keep their slots at airports.

The pilot's union Balpa on Friday called for greater government support for the aviation industry and complained that this week's Budget had not included a cut to Air Passenger Duty (APD) as the industry had lobbied for.

BALPA general secretary, Brian Strutton, said: "Removing APD is just one step that could help airlines make it through their financial woes in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

"The reality is, with such a loss in forward bookings for the summer - the time when airlines make all their profit - the airlines have had to look at ways to save money to keep the companies afloat".

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On coronavirus, White House can’t get its stories straight
Christopher WilsonSenior Writer, Yahoo News•March 12, 2020

On Wednesday night, with markets tumbling and concern spreading about the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump delivered a primetime address from the White House to help calm nerves across the globe. On three central issues, however, Trump gave out misinformation that had to be corrected later, spreading panic everywhere from European airports to the financial markets. It was the latest in a series of confusing, misleading or inaccurate statements from administration officials on a matter of life and death to people in the U.S. and around the world.

Trump said the U.S. would “be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days,” but within hours statements from the White House and Department of Homeland Security clarified that it did not apply to legal permanent residents, or immediate family members of U.S. citizens. The fear of being stranded in Europe resulted in a pre-dawn rush to airports in tourist meccas such as Barcelona by American travelers trying to book flights home.

President Trump addressing the nation about the coronavirus on Wednesday. (Doug Mills/New York Times via AP, Pool)

Trump also said in his address that the restrictions would apply to “the tremendous amount of trade and cargo” across the Atlantic, but an hour later on Twitter he clarified that “the restriction stops people not goods.” The president also said that insurance companies were waiving copayments for testing and treatment related to coronavirus, but a hospital and insurance lobbying firm told Politico there would still be costs for treatment.

It was not the first time inaccurate coronavirus information came from the White House. Last week, Vice President Mike Pence had to correct Trump about the rules on testing. In a White House briefing, Trump said “anybody that needs a test gets a test” for coronavirus, a misleading statement at the time and still not the case. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has badly lagged other countries in preparing a nationwide testing regime. Yet Trump repeated his claim on Thursday, stating, “Frankly, the testing has been going very smooth.”

Around the same time, across town on Capitol Hill, Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and serves on the White House coronavirus task force, was telling Congress that testing was going anything but smoothly.

“The system is not really geared to what we need right now,” said Fauci. “This is a failing. It is a failing. Let’s admit it. The idea of anybody getting it easily the way people in other countries are doing it, we’re not set up for that.”

As of Thursday morning, the CDC was testing only 100 people per day, a small fraction of those seeking to be tested. Some additional tests were being administered by state public-health agencies and private laboratories, but still far below the rate of testing in other countries.

Trump has downplayed the virus since its earliest days. “We have it totally under control,” he said in January, adding, “It’s one person coming in from China. We have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.”

On Feb. 24, Trump tweeted, “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!”

The following day, White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said on CNBC, “We have contained this, I won’t say airtight but pretty close to airtight.”

On Feb. 26, Trump said at a coronavirus briefing, “When you have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero, that’s a pretty good job we’ve done.”

As of Thursday the United States recorded 1,300 cases, with 38 deaths.

Trump cannot lead America through the coronavirus crisis

Joel Mathis, The Week•March 12, 2020


President Trump's biggest failing may be that he can never not be himself.

On Wednesday, Trump addressed the nation from the Oval Office to discuss the COVID-19 crisis — announcing what actions the federal government will take, and ostensibly trying to reassure the American people that we are collectively up to meeting the terrible challenge before us.

We will see how the policies shake out. After the speech, it became clear Trump had repeatedly misspoken when announcing the details of his administration's plans to confront the new coronavirus: He overstated the extent of a travel ban from Europe, mistakenly said it included "trade and cargo," and wrongly said insurers were waiving co-payments for coronavirus treatments. But technicalities aside, it was clear from the start that the president is not up to the task of reassuring the nation he leads. He was puffy-faced and sniffly, raising new questions about his own exposure to the virus. And he fell back into all of his own worst, easily predictable habits: xenophobia, hyperbole, and problem dodging.

He pitted the United States against outsiders, referring to the "foreign virus" that "started in China" — as though the disease had any idea of or respect for national boundaries.

He boasted undeservedly. "The virus will not have a chance against us," Trump said, even as events outside the White House were quickly indicating otherwise: While cases continued to rise in the U.S., Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the virus was 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu.

Perhaps most dangerously, Trump refused to acknowledge the magnitude of the emergency. "This is not a financial crisis," the president told the nation. "This is just a temporary moment in time we will overcome as a nation and a world." It was an absurd bit of rhetorical nonsense, belied by his announcement of emergency measures to shutter travel, help workers, and assist businesses.

Within minutes of his speech, several developments unfolded: Dow futures immediately plunged. Tom Hanks announced that he and his wife, Rita Wilson, had contracted COVID-19. And the NBA announced it was suspending the remainder of this season after a member of the Utah Jazz tested positive for the disease.

Taken together, these developments indicate that America is in terrifyingly uncharted territory here — and that Trump, the reality show star whose most powerful TV moments were crafted during post-production edits, is simply incapable of performing like a leader in real life when the times demand it.

Even if you despise Trump and his politics, you had to hope against hope that on Wednesday night he would finally summon up something bigger and greater than himself. He did not.

So what now? This president will be in office at least until January. Our national leadership isn't going to get any better soon enough to matter. Responsible Americans will do the following:

Hunker down. At this point, there may not be much choice. Schools are shutting down, sporting events are closed to the public, and workers are being sent home. (The lucky ones who aren't already being laid off, that is.) Every expert in the world — not including the folks at Fox News or on Rush Limbaugh's show — says that "social distancing" will be the most effective way to slow the spread of the virus. This is not a time to try to prove that you're macho, or to be confident that youth will save you. Stock up on groceries, if you haven't already, and stay home if you can.

Help your community. Plenty of folks are going to lose paychecks or suddenly find their grocery bills painfully inflated because kids are staying home instead of eating lunch at school. Clinics that help the poor are probably going to find themselves overwhelmed by new business. Find the organizations in your hometown that best serve the poor and needy, and make a donation. It would be nice to hope that the federal government would swoop in with all the necessary resources, but don't depend on that. Help your neighbors.

Contact Congress. The Senate on Wednesday blocked a bill that would require employers to provide paid sick leave to workers during the crisis. The feds at the same time announced that they're tightening food stamp requirements at the end of the month even though the need for food assistance is probably about to rise. Trump isn't the only official with a say in how the country gets through this emergency. Your senators and representative in Congress do too. Make your voice heard, now, on what you think your community needs from the federal government. Do it repeatedly and do it loudly. Then call your state elected officials and do the same.

The president is not up to the task before us. If Americans are lucky, though, we won't have to rely on Trump to lead us through the emergency. He made clear on Wednesday that it is time we turn to each other.

---30---

Why There Aren't Enough Coronavirus Tests in the U.S.

Courtney Linder, Popular Mechanics•March 12, 2020

Photo credit: Kena Betancur - Getty Images

From Popular Mechanics

Above: A researcher works in a lab that is developing testing for the COVID-19 coronavirus at Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Discovery and Innovation on February 28, 2020 in Nutley, New Jersey. (Photo by Kena Betancur/Getty Images)


Although prior COVID-19 test kits had already been created, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) insisted on developing its own.

That led to time-consuming setbacks that have created a country-wide shortage of tests, leaving some sick people turned away.

In response, academic hospitals like the Cleveland Clinic have been developing supplemental tests to make them more widely available as the number of novel Coronavirus cases continues to rise in the U.S.

There's a massive shortage of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) test kits in the U.S., as cases continue to skyrocket in places like Seattle and New York City. This is largely due to the failure of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to distribute the tests in a timely fashion.

But it didn't have to be this way. Back in January and February—when cases of the deadly disease began aggressively circulating outside of China—diagnostics already existed in places like Wuhan, where the pandemic began. Those tests followed World Health Organization (WHO) test guidelines, which the U.S. decided to eschew.

Instead, the CDC created its own in-depth diagnostics that could identify not only COVID-19, but a host of SARS-like coronaviruses. Then, disaster struck: When the CDC sent tests to labs during the first week of February, those labs discovered that while the kits did detect COVID-19, they also produced false positives when checking for other viruses. As the CDC went back to the drawing board to develop yet more tests, precious time ticked away.

"I think that we should have had testing more widely available about a month earlier," Dr. Carl Fichtenbaum, professor of clinical medicine at the University of Cincinnati's School of Medicine, tells Popular Mechanics. "That would have been more appropriate so that we could have identified people earlier on and used some of the mitigating strategies that we’re using now."

As the spread of Coronavirus continues to escalate in the U.S., private institutions like academic research hospitals are scrambling in a mad dash to come up with more test kits. And there is hope: The Cleveland Clinic says it has developed a diagnostic test that can deliver results in just hours, as opposed to the time it takes the existing CDC tests, which can take days.

How Does the COVID-19 Test Work?

 

Photo credit: WPA Pool - Getty Images

Testing for COVID-19 comes in two primary forms: You'll either have your throat swabbed if you're in the U.S., or perhaps have your blood drawn if you're in another country, like China. The different approaches ultimately come down to how scientists have developed the lab tests.

In the U.S., the CDC's diagnostic tool relies on polymerase chain reaction testing (PCR), which detects genetic material found in the virus's DNA. Unlike in other methods, the virus doesn't have to be alive for its presence to be detected.

"We take parts of the virus and we [test] what’s called the conserved parts of the virus, parts that don’t change a lot," Dr. Fichtenbaum explains. "There are always mutations. We’re looking at the genetic code and we take a sequence of what we call primers, or things that will match up with that genetic code, and we put them through a series of steps where the primers will match the genetic code if [the virus] is present."

PCR testing is generally too advanced to be done at a hospital, and is more in the wheelhouse of clinical laboratory settings. There, researchers extract the sample's nucleic acid—one of the four bases found in DNA sequences—to study the virus genome. They can amplify portions of that genome through a special process called reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. That way, scientists can compare the sample to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the novel coronavirus.

SARS-CoV-2 has almost 30,000 nucleotides in total, which make up its DNA. The University of Washington School of Medicine's PCR test hones in on about 100 of those that are known to be unique to the virus.

The researchers are looking for two genes in particular, and if they find both, the test is considered positive. If they only find one, the test is inconclusive. However, the CDC notes, "it is possible the virus will not be detected" in the early stages of the viral infection.

In some cases, Dr. Fichtenbaum says, it's possible to quantify the number of copies of the viral gene present. It could be one, 10, or 10 million, he says, and the higher that amount is, the more contagious you may be, or the further along you may be in the illness.

Why Aren't There Enough Coronavirus Tests?

Photo credit: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

As of press time, the CDC has directly examined some 3,791 specimens in Atlanta, according to data produced on Thursday afternoon, while public health laboratories across the country have tested another 7,288. Notably, some data after March 6 is still pending.

Regardless, with about 1,000 confirmed cases in the U.S., those figures suggest roughly one in 11 people tested have actually contracted the novel Coronavirus. Surely, if more tests were available, those numbers would be higher, Dr. Fichtenbaum says. Because of the CDC snafu and an initial muted reaction to the outbreak from President Trump's administration, we're about a month behind on the diagnostics front, he adds.

During a Congressional hearing on Wednesday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the public health care system is failing to make tests available to people who may have contracted COVID-19.

"The idea of anybody getting [the test] easily the way people in other countries are doing it, we're not set up for that. Do I think we should be? Yes, but we're not," he said.

Updated to reflect #coronavirus testing capacity in hospital and clinical laboratories pic.twitter.com/WriCUMiyqS
— COVID-19 Test Capacity (@COVID2019tests) March 11, 2020

The silver lining: The CDC is now working in tandem with private labs to make more tests available. The concern then becomes how many tests these labs can actually perform each day. Experts estimate that most labs will have the capacity to complete about 100 tests per day, which just isn't good enough to contain COVID-19 at this point.

Who Is Actually Getting Tested?

Photo credit: China News Service - Getty Images

Just because your doctor may have ordered you a COVID-19 test, that doesn't mean you'll actually receive one.

According to CDC guidelines, there are three general classes of patients who seek the diagnostic test, and it's up to the discretion of the health care systems to administer them. With limited supply, those are tough decisions. The classes are:


Hospitalized patients who have signs and symptoms compatible with COVID-19 in order to inform decisions related to infection control.

Other symptomatic individuals such as, older adults (age ≥ 65 years) and individuals with chronic medical conditions and/or an immunocompromised state that may put them at higher risk for poor outcomes (e.g., diabetes, heart disease, receiving immunosuppressive medications, chronic lung disease, chronic kidney disease).

Any persons including healthcare personnel, who within 14 days of symptom onset had close contact with a suspect or laboratory-confirmedCOVID-19 patient, or who have a history of travel from affected geographic areas within 14 days of their symptom onset.

Testing can be quite restrictive, and people who aren't in a high risk category, or who have traveled to a country where there are cases of COVID-19—but had no known exposure to the virus–are turned away.

"Once we relax the standards for testing so that we can test on anyone we think appropriate, and it’s not as complicated, we'll be able to reduce the spread," Dr. Fichtenbaum says.

Right now in Ohio, where Dr. Fichtenbaum is based, doctors must fill out a four-page form and conduct in-depth tracing of a patient's movements before they can administer a test, he says. Not only is it time-consuming, but it may result in the patient not receiving a test at all—and could have contracted the virus.

New Test Kits Are on the Way

Photo credit: THOMAS KIENZLE - Getty Images

To expedite the availability of diagnostics, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in late February that academic hospital systems had the green light to develop their own test kits.

The move allows these institutions to rely on their own internal validation upfront, rather than wait on the time-consuming FDA approvals process before using the tests. While FDA approval is still ultimately required under this policy, once the hospitals themselves have determined the tests are accurate and safe, they can begin using them.

"We will continue to help to ensure sound science prior to clinical testing and follow-up with the critical independent review from the FDA, while quickly expanding testing capabilities in the U.S.," Dr. Stephen M. Hahn, FDA commissioner, said in a prepared statement on February 29.

Dr. Fictenbaum says this is the norm during pandemics. Typically, medical systems that don't have their own clinical laboratories lean on the CDC for diagnostic tests, while more robust institutions create their own.

Hospitals across the U.S. are making strides in this endeavor. In Washington, where the CDC's faulty tests stymied the progress of testing, potentially aiding the community spread seen there, the University of Washington Medical Center has developed a COVID-19 test based on WHO recommendations, unlike the CDC. The hospital system has the capacity to conduct about 1,000 tests per day, and is working to ramp that up to 4,000 or 5,000 daily tests.

The Cleveland Clinic's test, meanwhile, should only take about eight hours to turn around a positive or negative result and should be ready by the end of March.

In a statement provided Thursday to Popular Mechanics, the Cleveland Clinic says it will soon have the capabilities to conduct on-site testing. "We are in the process of validating our testing capabilities and will soon send out more information."

Moving forward, Dr. Fichtenbaum expects the FDA to soon approve what's known as multiplex testing, which will allow labs to run 96 tests at once, rather than work with one specimen at a time.

"They need to approve that at each lab and they’re slow," says Dr. Fichtenbaum. But he anticipates the FDA will give the all-clear in the next few days. Then, it's just a matter of manufacturing the tests, which should happen rapidly.

In the meantime, community spread continues, despite self-quarantine measures, countless canceled events, and sweeping work-from-home policies. The number of positive cases is probably significantly higher than the data shows, says Dr. Fichtenbaum, which only worsens the contagion.

"I think that COVID-19 is probably more prevalent in our communities than we think," he says.

U.S.

CDC tested only 77 people this week; coronavirus testing slow around the nation

Alexander Nazaryan

National Correspondent

,

Yahoo News•March 12, 2020

1:15

1:51

Trump announces that U.S. will suspend all travel from Europe, excluding U.K.

 These restrictions will also not apply to the United Kingdom. 

WASHINGTON — Despite insistent promises from the Trump administration, coronavirus testing in the United States appears to be proceeding with a marked lack of urgency. An examination of state and federal records by Yahoo News finds that American states are, on average, testing fewer than 100 people per day — while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had tested fewer than 100 people total in the first two days of this week.

Meanwhile, a single private lab is performing tests, according to a trade group representing such facilities. The administration has repeatedly said that private enterprise would play a critical role in making sure that all Americans who need a coronavirus test receive one.

U.S. officials on Tuesday were faced with an onslaught of questions from members of Congress, amid reports of South Korea’s drive-through coronavirus testing locations.

“This is not a problem we can test our way out of,” said Stephen Redd, MD, head of the CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, in testimony on Wednesday. It was an admission that, in a nation of 320 million, testing every person will be impossible. 

Redd also revealed in his testimony that the total number of people tested for the coronavirus by the CDC was 1,784. That means that, as of Wednesday morning, the CDC had tested only 77 people for the coronavirus since Sunday. According to a CDC spokesman, the number that had been tested as of Sunday was 1,707.

A medical technologist tests a respiratory panel at Northwell Health Labs in Lake Success, N.Y., where the same test will be used on COVID-19. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

Speaking at a different hearing on Wednesday, CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD, said public health labs — that is, labs run by individual states — were ready to “test up to 75,000 people,” presumably because they had received test kits from the CDC.

Redfield also said on Wednesday morning that 75 public labs were ready to perform tests across the United States. In fact, the number is even higher — 81, according to Michelle Forman, a spokesperson for the Association of Public Health Laboratories. Those labs each have the capacity to perform 100 tests per day.

So far, however, only 7,617 people have been tested in state laboratories, according to the COVID Tracking Project, a database that updates the test statistics from states and the federal government. (Some of those statistics don’t include negative tests, which means the number tested could be higher.) On Tuesday, the 50 states cumulatively had tested only 2,728 people, meaning an average of 55 people tested per state.

Administration officials have repeatedly said that private industry would step in and meet the deficit. But it was because of an administration directive that private laboratories could not prepare for a coronavirus surge until earlier this month. “We just haven’t been getting information about how to get those kits,” Mark Birenbaum of the National Independent Laboratory Association told Yahoo News last week. 

CDC Director Robert Redfield at a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

As a result, Birenbaum said in a subsequent conversation, only a single private lab in the United States is performing coronavirus tests. He said he was aware of “one that will begin testing on March 16, and seven to 10 that are still setting up.” He later added that the total number of labs preparing to test for the coronavirus was actually 15.

More testing will inevitably reveal more coronavirus cases. The United States now has 1,300 cases, with 38 deaths. Trump admitted last Friday that he was hesitant to have coronavirus-infected passengers disembark the Grand Princess cruise ship on U.S. shores because, as he explained, “I like the numbers being where they are.”

The numbers where they are as of today are not especially troubling, but likely not because the coronavirus has failed to take hold. “Low case counts so far may reflect not an absence of the pathogen but a woeful lack of testing,” explained former Department of Homeland Security official Juliette Kayyem in an article for the Atlantic. 

CDC tested only 77 people this week; coronavirus testing slow around America

WASHINGTON — Despite insistent promises from the Trump administration, coronavirus testing in the United States appears to be proceeding with a marked lack of urgency. An examination of state and federal records by Yahoo News finds that American states are, on average, testing fewer than 100 people per day — while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had tested fewer than 100 people total in the first two days of this week.

Meanwhile, a single private lab is performing tests, according to a trade group representing such facilities. The administration has repeatedly said that private enterprise would play a critical role in making sure that all Americans who need a coronavirus test receive one.

U.S. officials on Tuesday were faced with an onslaught of questions from members of Congress, amid reports of South Korea’s drive-through coronavirus testing locations.

“This is not a problem we can test our way out of,” said Stephen Redd, MD, head of the CDC’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, in testimony on Wednesday. It was an admission that, in a nation of 320 million, testing every person will be impossible.

Redd also revealed in his testimony that the total number of people tested for the coronavirus by the CDC was 1,784. That means that, as of Wednesday morning, the CDC had tested only 77 people for the coronavirus since Sunday. According to a CDC spokesman, the number that had been tested as of Sunday was 1,707.
A medical technologist tests a respiratory panel at Northwell Health Labs in Lake Success, N.Y., where the same test will be used on COVID-19. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)

Speaking at a different hearing on Wednesday, CDC Director Robert Redfield, MD, said public health labs — that is, labs run by individual states — were ready to “test up to 75,000 people,” presumably because they had received test kits from the CDC.

Redfield also said on Wednesday morning that 75 public labs were ready to perform tests across the United States. In fact, the number is even higher — 81, according to Michelle Forman, a spokesperson for the Association of Public Health Laboratories. Those labs each have the capacity to perform 100 tests per day.

So far, however, only 7,617 people have been tested in state laboratories, according to the COVID Tracking Project, a database that updates the test statistics from states and the federal government. (Some of those statistics don’t include negative tests, which means the number tested could be higher.) On Tuesday, the 50 states cumulatively had tested only 2,728 people, meaning an average of 55 people tested per state.

Administration officials have repeatedly said that private industry would step in and meet the deficit. But it was because of an administration directive that private laboratories could not prepare for a coronavirus surge until earlier this month. “We just haven’t been getting information about how to get those kits,” Mark Birenbaum of the National Independent Laboratory Association told Yahoo News last week.
CDC Director Robert Redfield at a House Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

As a result, Birenbaum said in a subsequent conversation, only a single private lab in the United States is performing coronavirus tests. He said he was aware of “one that will begin testing on March 16, and seven to 10 that are still setting up.” He later added that the total number of labs preparing to test for the coronavirus was actually 15.

More testing will inevitably reveal more coronavirus cases. The United States now has 1,300 cases, with 38 deaths. Trump admitted last Friday that he was hesitant to have coronavirus-infected passengers disembark the Grand Princess cruise ship on U.S. shores because, as he explained, “I like the numbers being where they are.”

The numbers where they are as of today are not especially troubling, but likely not because the coronavirus has failed to take hold. “Low case counts so far may reflect not an absence of the pathogen but a woeful lack of testing,” explained former Department of Homeland Security official Juliette Kayyem in an article for the Atlantic.

That could lull Americans into a false sense of security about the severity of the disease, and the disruptions that the disease could cause. “If Americans conclude that life will continue mostly as normal,” Kayyem writes, “they may be wrong.”

Photos of ravaged grocery stores show how people are panic-buying across the US in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic

Empty grocery shelves, long lines, and fights over toilet paper show how Americans are panic-buying in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.


Not a 'normal Friday at Costco': The scene at a South Carolina grocery store

Genna Contino, Greenville News, USA TODAY•March 13, 2020

Kolby Carignan thought he was being proactive by getting a head start on his weekend grocery trip Friday morning. He headed to the Greenville, South Carolina, Costco 30 minutes before the store opened.

However, "It definitely wasn't a normal Friday at Costco," Carignan told the Greenville News Friday afternoon.

A line – almost the length of the store – had formed. Shoppers clutched their carts, waiting for the doors to open.

And once the store opened, people made a beeline for the toiletries section. A huge single-file line formed, and shoppers could barely move, Carignan said.

Customers at grocery chain HEB in Austin, Texas shop for products on March 13,, 2020 as the city responds to concerns of the spread of the new coronavirus and COVID-19.

"People bumping carts into each other, people snarling at each other because somebody else got to the toilet paper, or the water, or the freaking paper towels before them," Carignan said in a video to his social media followers after finishing his shopping.

Though Carignan said he didn't see anyone physically assault anyone, he did see two women "passive-aggressively" argue over the last packs of toilet paper.

"I've never experienced adults acting like children in a maximum capacity like that," Carignan said.

This is the scene at many grocery stores across South Carolina and the rest of the country amid the coronavirus outbreak. Here's what major grocery store chains in upstate South Carolina say they're doing in response:
Publix


Implemented a "heightened disinfection response program"


Suspended in-store food demonstrations until further notice


Applied purchase limits on some key items to allow more customers to get what they need


Have delivery and curbside pickup options available for customers who want to avoid crowds
Lidl


Stores are cleaned daily with "EPA-recommended sanitizing solutions approved for use in mitigating against COVID-19"


"Working diligently to secure our supply chain and limit impacts on availability to the largest extent possible"


Modified employee attendance policy and employees are encouraged to stay home if they are sick


Restructured benefits so employees can get up to two weeks of pay if they have to miss work because they have the virus or are part of a government- or company-instituted quarantine


Limited non-essential travel for employees
Aldi


Focused on keeping water, pantry staples, pre-made meals, cleaning supplies and toilet paper in stock


Applied purchase limits on some items


Intensifying sanitizing at stores, warehouses and offices


Encouraging sick employees to stay home and extended employees' sick leave policy
Walmart


Increased cleaning and dedicated an associate to clean key areas through the day


"Evaluating whether to modify store hours at some 24-hour facilities to allow for additional cleaning"


Pursuing an easier way to sanitize shopping carts


Have plans to use a third-party for sanitization if a location were to be impacted by the virus


Working to keep stores stocked and prices fair


Working to replenish paper products and cleaning supplies quickly


Diverting products to areas of the country where they're most needed and delivering directly to stores


Taking a firm stance against third-party sellers price gouging


Created a new policy with more flexibility on sick days and "pay options and support if they are affected by the virus"


Have online shopping and pickup options available
Sam's Club


Ensuring CDC-guidelines on cleanliness in stores


Increased frequency of cleaning in bathrooms, cafes and water fountains


Wiping down carts with disinfectant after each use


Posting hand sanitizer at entrances, exits and registers


Providing employees with up-to-date information


Working to replenish paper products and cleaning supplies "as fast as humanly possible"


Have Scan & Go, pickup and delivery options available
BI-LO


Updating stocking plans each day

Limiting customers to two items each for household cleaning, first aid, personal cleaning, facial tissues and respiratory care items

Note: Local Costco managers said they were not allowed to speak with media. The Greenville News has left a voicemail with the corporate office

OUCH

China's richest man to donate 500,000 coronavirus testing kits, 1 million masks to U.S. to help 'in these difficult timesCHEEKY ALIBABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES 
Billionaire Jack Ma, China’s richest man and founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, is lending a hand to the United States by donating 500,000 coronavirus testing kits and one million masks.

© Getty Jack Ma

His namesake charity announced the donation Friday on Twitter, pledging to “join hands with Americans in these difficult times.”


“Drawing from my own country’s experience, speedy and accurate testing and accurate personal protective equipment for medical professionals are most effective in preventing the spread of the virus,” the Jack Ma Foundation said in a statement. “We hope that our donation can help Americans fight against the pandemic!”

The U.S. government hopes to ramp up testing after failing to produce enough test kits to handle the number of people experiencing symptoms in this country.

As of Thursday, fewer than 14,000 specimens had been tested since January, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In South Korea, meanwhile, nearly 20,000 people are being tested every day.

The majority of Americans are still not allowed to be tested because of strict federal guidelines prioritizing elderly people and those with underlying medical conditions.

Ma’s foundation said the pandemic can no longer be resolved by any individual country.

“Rather, we need to combat the virus by working hand-in-hand," the charity wrote. "At this moment. we can’t beat the virus unless we eliminate boundaries to resources and share our know-how and hard-earned lessons.”

Ma, whose nearly $40 billion net worth makes him the world’s 21st richest person, has recently donated supplies and money to several other countries affected by the fast-spreading coronavirus outbreak, including Iran, Italy, Japan and Spain.

In January, the business magnate donated 100 million yuan, or about $14.3 million, to support the development of a vaccine against the viral infection.

JACK MA MAKES HIS BILLIONS OFF HIS WAGE SLAVES 

WHO WORK 9-9 6 DAYS A WEEK

The first COVID-19 case originated on November 17, according to Chinese officials searching for 'Patient Zero'

© BSIP/UIG Via Getty Images

The original case of the novel coronavirus emerged on November 17, according to data from the Chinese government reviewed by South China Morning Post.

The identity of the person has not been confirmed, but it appears to be a 55-year-old from the Hubei province.
It wasn't until December that Chinese authorities realized they had a new type of virus on their hands.

The first case of the novel coronavirus emerged on November 17, according to a Chinese government analysis of coronavirus cases reviewed by the South China Morning Post.

It wasn't until late December that Chinese officials realized they had a new virus on their hands. But even then, China's government clamped down on sharing information about COVID-19 with the public, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The data reviewed by the Post, which has not been made public, suggest that the virus was first contracted by a 55-year-old man from the province of Hubei, China. But as SCMP noted, the evidence is not conclusive. The identity of "Patient Zero" - the first human case of the virus - has still not been confirmed, and it is possible that the dataset isn't complete.The new data about "Patient Zero" is consistent with other research

Chinese health authorities reported the first case of COVID-19 to the World Health Organization on December 31. Later, a team of researchers published evidence that the first individual to test positive was showing symptoms December 8, which is the date of the first confirmed case, according to WHO.


Other research, published in The Lancet in January, found that the first individual to test positive was exposed to the virus December 1.

The fact that researchers are continually hiking back the date of the earliest infection means that there still may not be sufficient evidence to identify "Patient Zero," but the new Chinese government data sharpens what we know.

© STR/AFP via Getty Images

Other scholarship, published by a team of infectious-disease researchers from China, found that WeChat users were using terms related to symptoms of the novel coronavirus more than two weeks before officials confirmed the first case of infection.

"The findings might indicate that the coronavirus started circulating weeks before the first cases were officially diagnosed and reported," wrote Business Insider's Holly Secon.

If confirmed, the report on WeChat users' lends further support for the newest government finding that the earliest case of the novel coronavirus did indeed originate in mid-November.Identifying Patient Zero is important for containing the virus

As officials try to locate Patient Zero, the new government data provides clues about the emergence and spread of a virus that has thrown the world into tumult.

"We don't know who the very first Patient Zero was, presumably in Wuhan, and that leaves a lot of unanswered questions about how the outbreak started and how it initially spread," Sarah Borwein, a doctor at Hong Kong's Central Health Medical Practice, told the South China Morning Post. 

© STR/AFP via Getty Images

For experts, finding Patient Zero is not simply a matter of digging through data and conducting research. It is also a race against the clock. As time passes, it becomes more difficult to locate Patient Zero as the number of infections increases - and to identify the areas that have been exposed to the virus the longest.

"We do feel uncomfortable obviously when we diagnose a patient with the illness and we can't work out where it came from," Dale Fisher, chair of WHO's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, told Reuters. "The containment activities are less effective."

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TRUMP TRANSPARENCY

A Fox News host tried 4 times to ask a Trump official if there were enough ventilators and ICU units for coronavirus patients, but couldn't get a straight answer

Fox News' Martha MacCallum grilled a top health official on whether there will be enough medical equipment to go around during the coronavirus crisis. YouTube/Fox News


Fox News' Martha McCallum tried fruitlessly to grill a top Trump administration health official on whether the US has enough medical equipment like ventilators to treat a growing number of coronavirus patients.

Other countries, such as Italy, have seen dire shortages of such equipment and have reportedly had to make tough decisions about which patients should be given which resources.

McCallum asked the question to Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, four different times, but was unable to extract a clear answer.

At one point, Verma pivoted to praising President Donald Trump for taking "such bold and decisive action," though his administration has been fiercely criticized for its handling of the pandemic.

A top US health official dodged questions repeatedly from a Fox News host on Thursday over whether the country could see a shortage in medical equipment needed to treat severely ill coronavirus patients.

Fox News' Martha McCallum tried four different times to get a straight answer out of Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. But Verma pivoted away from the question each time.

After initially discussing the shortage of coronavirus tests, McCallum brought up a growing concern over the capacity of the US healthcare system to handle the volume of anticipated patients. Other coronavirus-stricken countries have had similar shortages, including Italy, where doctors have reportedly had to make tough decisions on which patients should get vital equipment, such as ventilators.

"In terms of actual equipment, we heard Bernie Sanders today for one coming out and saying there's a major shortage of ICU units, we've heard that there's a shortage of ventilators, even swabs and equipment for the actual tests. What's being done about that?" McCallum asked Verma.

"Well that's why we have an emergency prepared system. We're used to dealing with disasters," Verma replied, going on to describe the government's response to hurricanes in Puerto Rico and Florida in 2017 — which was widely panned for its lack of compassion and ineptitude.

"So are you saying that we do have enough?" McCallum interrupted, to which Verma responded that health officials are "meeting with providers on a daily basis" and have "been putting out so much guidance."

McCallum later tried to interrupt Verma again, though Verma continued talking over her.

Finally, before ending the nearly five-minute segment, McCallum tried one more time to get an answer.

"Before I let you go, I want to ask you one more time. Are there going to be people in this country who don't get a ventilator if they need one?" McCallum said. "Can you reassure everyone tonight that there's not a shortage of ventilators and ICU units?"

Verma's response: "And that's why the president has taken such bold and decisive action. We're not waiting for this to get worse, we're not waiting for this to be a crisis in our healthcare systems."

Verma went on to tout several recent actions the Trump administration has taken, including implementing a travel ban on some parts of Europe and issuing travel advisories on the risks of boarding cruise ships.

But President Donald Trump has been fiercely criticized for downplaying the coronavirus crisis, and taking insufficient action to contain the pandemic. The US has reported 41 coronavirus deaths among more than 1,700 cases so far.

McCallum appeared to lose patience at Verma's final response.

"Okay. That's not a direct answer to the question, but it sounds like a hope that there won't be enough sick people and we won't run out of ventilators because we have mitigated. And we certainly hope that's the case," she said.

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