Philippine Canadian Inquirer (National)
Canada, U.S. in touch ‘almost daily’ in coronavirus battle: minister
Canadians. The remaining passengers will remain on board until Tuesday.
All passengers are being tested before disembarking. No details about the health of the Canadian passengers were released.
In an election year, it’s hardly surprising that Trump would be preoccupied with the political consequences.
“The more we know about this developing crisis, the more it is becoming clear that not only is the Trump administration incompetent, but that our current dysfunctional health-care system is vastly underprepared for this pandemic,” Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders said in an email to supporters.
“Sadly, I have very little confidence in the Trump administration to do anything that is right or decent, or certainly based on science.”
Then there was the market reaction: a 2,000-point plunge in the Dow Jones index on a frantic day that saw trading halted temporarily to give investors a chance to catch their breath and resist panic selling.
Cross-border supply chains are already beginning to feel the impact, said Dan Ujczo, a trade lawyer in Columbus, Ohio, who specializes in the Canada-u.s. corridor.
One central issue for suppliers and manufacturers is the question of “force majeure” — a legal principle that refers to a major disruption like a war, civil unrest, a natural disaster or “act of God” that makes it impossible to fulfil the terms of a contract. Whether the outbreak can be considered as such is sure to be a major point of future litigation, Ujczo said.
“At the moment, everyone is just putting out the fires of the day to keep supply chains moving,” he said. “The fallout will come later in the spring, as companies regroup to assess economic impact, restructure procurement and suppliers, and, of course, litigate for damages.”
The political and the practical intersected in other ways Monday.
Liberal MP Anthony Housefather and Toronto city councillor Josh Matlow said they would be self-isolating for precautionary reasons after three people who attended a prominent pro-israel conference in Washington last week tested positive for the virus. Housefather attended the conference in person, while Matlow said he had contact with an attendee. Neither has symptoms.
Trump himself may have had contact, too: he was photographed shaking hands with Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, during the Conservative Political Action Conference last month. Schlapp report