Pandemic triggers US shutdown

THE lights went out on Broadway, Disneyland shut its doors, every major sports league was suspended and states closed their school systems as the full threat of the coronavirus hit home across the US yesterday.

The impact was felt at the very top, with US President Donald Trump revealed to have been in close contact with a confirmed COVID-19 sufferer and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau placing himself into isolation after his wife tested positive.

Mr Trump, who has not yet been tested for the virus, said he understood Americans were worried as Wall St sank to its lowest point since the 1987 crash.

“It will end,” he said of the crisis. “People have to remain calm.”

And of the millions of people changing their plans, he said: “I think it’s fine if they want to do it. I don’t think it’s an over-reaction.

“But I wouldn’t be generally inclined to do it. I really wouldn’t be.”

The White House has been accused of fumbling the rollout of tests, with current US testing among the worst rates in the developed world.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it had analysed about 11,700 tests, many repeated on the same patients, compared to 20,000 done each day in South Korea. Health authorities admitted testing had not met expectations but said conditions would soon improve.

“The system is not really geared to what we need right now,” said Dr Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health. “That is a failing. It is a failing, let’s admit it.”

Both Democratic presidential candidates slammed the federal response, with Bernie Sanders indicating the death toll could be higher than that of US servicemen in World War II (405,000).

Frontrunner Joe Biden said: “This administration has left us woefully unprepared for the exact crisis we now face.”

Yesterday was by far the worst for Americans in the unfolding crisis, as warnings about how every aspect of their lives could change became reality. Thousands of students will not be at school for at least three weeks in broad swathes of the nation ranging from Ohio and San Francisco to Connecticut.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a state of emergency but said he was unlikely to close schools because many low-income families relied on them to feed their children.

The NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball suspended competition, putting billions of dollars of revenue and thousands of jobs at risk.