National Post (National Edition)
U.S. RAMPS UP ADVICE, LIMITS GATHERINGS TO 10 PEOPLE
Outbreak could last until August: Trump
Donald Trump urged all Americans Monday to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people and to stop eating in bars and restaurants due to the coronavirus crisis.
In a major escalation in government guidance, the U.S. president encouraged children to be schooled from home and urged people not to take discretionary travel.
“If everyone makes these critical changes and sacrifices now we will rally together as one nation and we will defeat the virus and we’re going to have a big celebration all together,” Trump said.
The U.S. president said the guidelines would apply for 15 days. However, he also warned the outbreak in America could last until July or August.
Trump also said he was considering more drastic measures such as getting the army to help build hospitals or closing the U.S. borders, though said that was not happening yet.
During the press briefing, Trump said it was possible the U.S. economy was heading for recession, saying “well it may be.”
Top U.S. health officials noted that tests on a possible vaccine for coronavirus have begun. The trial, being run out of Seattle, involves 45 people who will be monitored for the next year to see if the vaccine is working.
The new guidelines were issued just a day after the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said Americans should cancel any gatherings of more than 50 people.
In New York, mayor Bill de Blasio called for a “wartime mentality” as he closed the city’s nightclubs and cinemas and said restaurants can remain open only for take-away services.
More than 32 million children in America were ordered home from school in 33 states. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court delayed oral arguments for the first time since the Spanish flu epidemic in 1918 and the White House cancelled its Easter Egg Roll ceremony.
Cases were up to more than 3,600 — double what they were on Thursday — with steep drops on the stock markets.
The Dow Jones fell almost 12 per cent in early trading, triggering an automatic pause on trading for the third time in two weeks, before rallying a little later in the day.
The U.S. Senate grappled over what to do with a wide-ranging coronavirus economic stimulus bill passed by the House of Representatives, as Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer urged an additional US$750 billion to address the crisis.
“We will need big, bold, urgent federal action to deal with this crisis,” Schumer said in a statement outlining a plan to fund a range of emergency operations, including boosting hospital capacity, expanding jobless benefits, delivering help to small businesses and funding childcare for health care workers.
The proposal — which approaches the magnitude of the response to the 2008 financial crisis — comes as lawmakers argued over the fine points of the more modest multibillion-dollar coronavirus relief bill already passed by the Democratic-controlled House.
At the opposite end of the political spectrum from Schumer, Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas also called for a more aggressive response to the outbreak, saying that tax breaks in the House-passed bill were not structured in a way to help employees of businesses that have to shut down. “The House bill doesn’t go far enough and it doesn’t go fast enough,” Cotton, a conservative, said in remarks on the Senate floor.
“The Senate is committed to meeting these uncertain times with bold and bipartisan solutions,” Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said in a speech on the chamber floor, noting that the House had not yet forwarded its bill for the Senate to vote on.
It was unclear whether the 53 Republicans in the 100-seat Senate would coalesce around that wide-ranging measure.
It would require paid sick leave for some workers, expanded unemployment compensation and nearly $1 billion in additional money to help feed children, homebound senior citizens and others, and has White House backing.
Airlines for America, a U.S. trade group, called for $50 billion of government help as airlines come under immense financial pressure. Companies such as Nike, Apple, Urban Outfitters, Patagonia and Abercrombie & Fitch said they would be closing some stores. The government has promised that grocery stores will remain open.
Trump used a telephone call with state governors to tell them to buy ventilators amid criticism of the government’s approach.
Jerome Adams, the U.S. surgeon general, told Fox News: “When you look at the projections, there’s every chance that we could be Italy.”
Andrew Cuomo, the New York governor, yesterday said the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in New York had now reached 950 — the highest for any U.S. state.