The latest
Stimulus reversal: On Wednesday, we told you that people who get Social Security would have to file a simple tax return in order to get their stimulus checks. The new hurdle drew enormous criticism, and a few hours after we sent the newsletter, the Treasury Department reversed its decision. You can catch up on stimulus check details here.
The extremely grim American death-toll projections that the White House shared on Tuesday have already been revised upward. Here's what we know about the model the task force is using, and how it has changed.
The White House has rejected the idea of re-opening healthcare.gov — the Affordable Healthcare Act website — to help people find insurance. In Wednesday's White House briefing, Pence answered a question about opening the marketplace by saying, “We have Medicaid for underprivileged Americans,” though Medicaid does not address the people in the middle, who either didn't have health care coming into the coronavirus crisis or were recently laid off and lost their coverage.
The Empire State Building blinked red this week as New York became the new focal point in the battle against the virus. New York is running out of time, quickly approaching an expected apex of cases, and the state's scramble is a siren to the rest of the U.S.
New York, the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak, is projected to lose between $10 billion and $15 billion of revenue in the fiscal year that starts Wednesday. Ohio state agencies are looking to cut 20% in spending, and Cincinnati is furloughing 1,700 city workers. Georgia may have to renege on a $1,000 pay raise for teachers that state House lawmakers had budgeted for in the coming year. California is already dipping into reserves and has warned state agencies not to expect full funding next year.
States, cities and counties rely on revenue from taxes on income, sales of goods and even on gains from the stock market -- all sources of money that the virus threatens to wipe out as the U.S. is poised for a recession. Despite the unprecedented federal stimulus package that includes $150 billion for states and municipalities, officials like New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio say more help is needed to make up the funds that local governments are losing, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called for “significantly more” aid for states.
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Our take on the latest developments
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They came out in force in a 2003 outbreak of respiratory disease, and now they look to spread even more widely.
Masks, that is. They became a staple in many Asian nations 17 years ago as residents tried to ward off the SARS virus. Officials in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan have recommended wearing masks in crowded places such as buses or subway cars, and some eastern European countries are now requiring their use.
Office workers and pedestrians embraced protective masks in Hong Kong, while many Western nations have yet to do so.
Photographer: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg
Neither the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nor the World Health Organization have embraced the use of masks by the uninfected public. Surgical masks, the flat, paper variety, don’t block out virus inhalation, while many people don’t know how to properly use a more face-fitting version, called a respirator. Solid proof is lacking about whether wearing a mask in public even helps, and hospital workers who do know how to use them should get first priority. If health-care workers don’t have masks for protection, more of them will become infected, depleting their ranks and in turn the quality of care available to all of us.
The best use of them by non-medical personnel, these organizations say, is in patients who may be coughing or sneezing; a mask may block the flight of infectious droplets from their nose and mouth. That view may be about to change. George Gao, director of China’s CDC, has said that the failure to use masks in the U.S. and Europe is a “big mistake.’’ In light of the possibility that people without coronavirus symptoms are spreading the disease, the U.S. CDC is reviewing its guidance on masks. The WHO is also reconsidering its stance. If the U.S. recommends masks for the public, it will be a vital challenge to ensure their supplies for doctors, nurses and other workers caring for desperately ill coronavirus patients – along with others who interact daily with those caregivers. Thousands of hospital workers have already fallen ill with potentially lethal Covid-19, and if it continues, there may not be enough professionals to care for the patients. |
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The approval process can be frustrating when people are dying. But cutting corners can have devastating consequences. Get the latest headlines and today’s big story in 15 minutes.
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Sponsor Content by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association
Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are enhancing access to care during the coronavirus outbreak by waiving prior-authorization and copays for diagnostic testing, expanding telehealth and increasing access to prescriptions. Learn more.
What you should read
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Patients have been locked up, beaten and shamed.
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Country’s easing death rate suggests outbreak may have peaked.
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Preliminary findings should be viewed with caution, researcher says.
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Prague leader symbolizes skepticism of outreach by Beijing.
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About 1 in 5 NYC hospitalizations occur in people under age 44.
This is courtesy of the
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- Tourism: In the Chron, Gregory Thomas reports that California could lose a daunting $54 billion in tourism revenue in 2020 because of the COVID-19 shutdowns.
By the end of 2020, the state could lose a total of $54.5 billion in travel spending.
The rapidly expanding coronavirus pandemic has effectively frozen the transportation and hospitality businesses, leading to the closures of hotels, small businesses and parks around the state in March.
“This erases more than a decade’s worth of progress and will return California to 2009 levels of travel spending,” according to an analysis overview posted to Visit California’s website on April 1.
- The blame game: For Capitol Weekly, Scott Soriano writes that because the apparent origin of the virus in Wuhan, China, which has been widely reported, the result has been racial attacks against Asian-Americans.
One of the least-talked-about symptoms of the COVID-19 pandemic is the rise in anti-Asian discrimination, harassment and violence. While there has been abundant anecdotal evidence of this phenomenon, only recently has anyone tried to quantify the bigotry. Two California-based groups and a professor from San Francisco State University are taking a lead on the issue.
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